What is this, an orphanage?!

You know, it is said that we learn something everyday. For instance, I learned yesterday that snoopy has a hard time with his German grammar.

It would seem that Bethesda has learned that the likelihood of an entire nation without any children, is near zero.

No child left behind

They first integrated kids in Fallout 3, and dazzled as we were, I guess we didn't give it that much thought. It's not like there were a lot of them, unless you went to little lamp light, which between a maze of dark, unruly caves and pestering younglings, was a fricken hell. Blasted kids.

A lot of people have questioned Oblivion since then. How come there are no kids in Oblivion? What, do people just... "appear?" This isn't like the dwarves of LotR, so Bethesda has heard your prayers and designed little snot-noses (kids) to roam the cities in Skyrim, which in a neat way, also opens up for more quest possibilities.

For the same obvious reasons that applies in Fallout, are the kids in Skyrim essential, meaning that they can't be killed. Who would want to kill a child anyway? (This guy!) Besides, why include that option when we know that it'll get them a horde of furious parents with the ethically view point that that is "just sick and wrong?"
I am also sure that Bethesda realises that one of the first mods we're gonna see is one that allows us to put a bullet in one of these little punks, without having them stand up again. ever.

Combat!

Frost Troll

Combat is one of the most important aspects of The Elder Scrolls, and as you might have expected, it'll also be so for Skyrim.

We've always enjoyed picking up a big weapon and go smashing and hacking our adversaries to bits, whilst we scream evil slurs at our screen. At least that's what I think.

So have we evolved from the Hack'n'Slash experiences we had with the previous titles? We have moved forward, but not too far.

First of all, magic will now be equipped just like any other piece of equipment. It is no longer a different system from melee combat, which means that you'll have to prepare your spells beforehand, which means that being a mage will be so much more engaging.

You have two triggers - Left & Right. You can assign any weapon or spell to each hand, you can even dual-wield. Should you dual-wield the same spell and use both hands simultaneously, you will create a much more powerful version of that spell, be that healing or fireball or whatever...

Surrounded by Draugr

Defending, so you don't die, and attacking, so your adversary does. It's always been pretty simple, but the Bethesda game Studios has been looking to improve on that, and making it more challenging and less dull. How did they do this? Well, they made sure that you can't just hold down the block-button by adding something called "shield bash," which is activated if you do just that. You need to perfect your timing to block. It is so far unclear how you block when not wearing a shield.

Unfortunately, apart from that (and the awesome new blood effects) there is not anymore new additions to melee combat on your side. The Draugr, which are undead who rise from the graves to make you join them down there, have been shown to use tactical movement, where they adjust their position according to each other, and not the mindless, independent movement from the previous games.

After beating up your opponent, you will get the opportunity to perform a finishing move, unique for each weapon and creature, meaning that there will be A LOT.

The magic combat has seen more improvement. First of all, spells feel more like this ancient, powerful arcane power that you possess, which is actually a weapon that you choose to yield, instead of a supplement to use when there is a small distance between you and your enemies.

Di-heal

The spells look at lot more authentic, the fireball looks deadly and wielding it will definitely be a great compensation for having a small you-know-what (penis.) Magic battle will also be more engaging. Your shield spells need the same kind of timing that your physical shield does, and you also need to fire at the right time, should the soon-to-be-dead guy battling you also be using a shield spell.

Using an AoE fire spell

Ranged combat will be a little different. You can no longer run backwards as quickly as in Oblivion, which means that you'll have to turn around and sprint away in order to get some air between you and whatever might be trying to kill you. There are different kinds of Bows (no crossbows, I hear) in form of low-end and high-end bows. The low-end (as seen in the demo in the bottom of this site) are strung more quickly, the high-end a little slower. You prepare your arrows for penetrating the heads of your opponents a lot slower overall, in Skyrim, which means that you'll also do good in preparing some poison.

To wrap it all up, I need to say that combat with various creatures in Skyrim, will be more interesting, giving that they now all have more than just one melee and or ranged attack, like they had in Oblivion (which most can relate to.) The Frost Atronach was shown to possess several abilities. The creatures who doesn't possess several abilities, like wolves, make it for it by attacking strategically in groups.

Frost Atronach in Skyrim

Skyrim has seen some improvements, granted that it's few, I do believe that they will be quite enjoyable.

Vampirism and Lycanthropy so far

Clarification is in order. Many ask if there will be vampires or werewolves in Skyrim. I can tell you that this article will be very short, 'cause the only thing there is to say to that is: We don't know!

Either Bethesda wants to keep it secret in order to maintain our excitement and interest, maybe they haven't decided yet, or they simply aren't a part of the game.

I will fill you in, should more news arise.

*EDIT
I've heard a podcast with Todd Howard, stating that they have been playing around with both lycanthropy and Vampirism, but if they don't think it's gonna add to the game, then they won't include it (kinda like what they said about mounts.)

Marketing is only as important as orientation!

When I bought Oblivion and Shivering Isles, I received a map of the game. I got Morrowind from my brother, but sources indicate that they did the same back then.
True to their previous actions, they choose to do it again.
Rumors have been circling that you have to preorder the game in order to get your hands on such a map, and let me just start out by saying that that is completely wrong!

Burlap / Hessian

There will be a difference when you preorder, though. You'll get your map, no matter what, but there is a difference in the quality. The ones who do not preorder the game, will receive a map, printed on paper. The ones who do, will receive a map in a high quality material, similar to Burlap (Hessian.) If that is important to you, I suggest you get right to preordering!

Oh, and remember that the preorder offer is limited to gamers in North America and Europe, only! So if you're not in either places, you're gonna have to do with paper for now.

I want to be "More than friends..."

You know how to make friends? Of course you don't! That is why we like in-game companions! In Oblivion, which came out back in 2006, making friends were fairly simple. Play the "persuasion game" in get people to like you. The "friends" back then didn't really feel like friends. The only advantage it had was that they smiled when talking to you, and that they would help you in a fight, should they be in the vicinity.


The friendships of Skyrim have been promised to be a lot more engaging. The friends will actually feel like friends and it'll be a lot easier to distinguish between them and your enemies. Both in their talk and the way they react towards you. It also plays an integral part in the Radiant Story system.

I possess a valuable skill: I speak German. I don't have the biggest vocabulary, but I get by. This skill was needed when I read a German article from, written in April.

A circling rumor, which is also integrated in the "fake article" (an article filled with bullshit,) is that Bethesda has included romantic relationships. Opinions on whether it's a good idea or that it's an idea worth a bucket of salmon differ a lot. But nonetheless, can it be true? The bullshit article would persuade us to believe that it is not. Yet, the German article might bring hope to those who desperately wants to hook up with some NPC's.

Since it's from April, we know most of the info, yet when we read through it, it claims that some of the developers said that they were looking into both romantic relationships and friendships.

Here is a quote: "Auch romantische Beziehungen und Freundschaften sollen sich demnach in der Planung befinden."

It means: "Also romantic relationships and friendships should therefore be in the plan" - They DID talk to the devs, and it's a legitimate site, so they are probably not lying. It does however not confirm that there will be relationships, but only that they were looking into it. Until we hear more of on the topic, we can't state it as fact, but it is most definitely as possibility.

*EDIT
You can read my new article "Will you marry me?" on the romantic relationships, which have indeed been confirmed.

Skyrim story... Discontinued?

Some people have been wondering, whether the game will end or continue, after you've defeated Alduin and completed the games main quest.

The reason for the distress is that the team made it so that Fallout 3 ended, after completing the main quest. Fans were in a rage and Bethesda took notice, which is why they changed it in their expansion pack.

So will they pull the same stunt in Skyrim? The answer is no. That has been confirmed. They really took notice to the uproar in Fallout, and will probably never do it again.

Which means that you can continue to wander the wastes, tundras, forests and mountains of Skyrim, even after you've completed your heroic world-saving quest.

Modification!!

As always, Bethesda supports modding - for PC.
In Oblivion, console players didn't get to enjoy the various mods that the PC-users made use of.

Everyone will be happy to hear that modding will return, and that Bethesda will provide a creation kit on the release date, so we can get right to it!

So here I hold the answer to every console users most asked question: There WILL be modding for Consoles! That's right! (Both the PS3 and the Xbox360)

It will work like this, though: You create and download mods on your PC, and then you, via a neat way (I think maybe created by Bethesda,) transfer the mods to your console, and they should work just fine.

So far, they do not have a security system, so be very careful when you choose to transfer a mod to your console (Though you probably won't be able to, until there is.) There is nothing stopping it from ruining the game and or the console. Todd Howard stated that they think that the modding part of Skyrim is important and that they WILL create some sort of security system, but it won't be ready for the release.

Draugr!

Tired of the ol' skeletons? Thinking the zombies are to cliché? Then allow me to welcome you to Skyrim, where neither exists. Instead, we have a wonderful hybrid: The Draugr.

The Draugr are undead, but not the dull old type of undead. These bad boys retain not only their bones, but also their cold, dead flesh, and full control of their bodies. This enables them to also use armor and weapons - ergo, a hybrid of the Skeleton and the Zombie from Oblivion. They also have beards!

The dreadful Draugr

So the Draugr, which we are going to be seeing a lot of throughout our adventures in the land of Skyrim, are basically just undead Nord warriors, risen to do battle with you, because you are being a dick and disturbing their resting place, which you definitely will, because you are a daredevil.
Dovakiin! Dragonslayer & Disturber of the Dead!



Sound good?
...
...
Yeah, it does!!

There were also Draugr in Arena, but I really doubt that anyone remembers them. Or can recognize them for that matter, since they are not, like 5 pixels anymore (Exaggeration.)

But are the Draugr Bethesdas idea? Well, to put them in the game, sure, but they actually hold their origin in the cold Scandinavia, which, as you might have guessed, means that it's Viking stuff.

D&D = Dungeons and Draugr

I don't know what is is with the sudden fixation on Vikings and Norse mythology, but it is getting more and more known, as well as popular. I guess that the WoW expansion "Wrath of the Lich King" helped it along, but its been in the spotlight before that, only growing.

In plain old Danish, the word is Draug and the plural is Draugar. It seems that Bethesda has decided to use Draugr for both the singular and plural words. They come from Norse mythology. ANother word for them is aptrgangr, Old Norse for "again-walker" (apt = again, still) (gang = to walk, to stroll.)

In Norse mythology, the Draugr have superhuman capabilities, being able to achieve superhuman strength, as well as adjust their size as they please. The only actual way to get rid of them, was to make a hero wrestle the draugr back into his grave, which would give him rest. They are basically immune to weapons. They usually either bothered their old family, you know, from before they died, or else they were guarding graves, which were filled with riches (The Vikings left the valuables of the deceased with them.)

Battling the Draugr

Although Norse mythology dictates that there are both land and water draugr, I think we'll only be able to enjoy the land Draugr in Skyrim. But enough of Norse mythology... For now.

In Skyrim they seem to attack in groups. That is, after the awesome animation of seeing them rise from their graves, 'cause they don't just stand around, you know! When fighting them, they seem able to, well, not move retarded as enemies id in Oblivion. In the footage I have spotted that they don't move independent of each other, but rely on each other, which means that the way one Draugr moves, can affect on the way another one does. It looks like combat with these bad boys is going to be... What's that word again?

... Oh, that's right! AWESOME!

Death from Above!!!

Hands off, this article has nothing to do with Skyrim. If you look apart from the fact that a person on the Gamespot forum thought that the dragons in this game were going to be cliff racers, which is just despicable.

This article is about something that amuses me, when it comes to Cliff Racers.

The feared "Cliff Racer"

For those of you who didn't play Morrowind, Cliff Racers are miniature, dragon-like creatures, populating Vvardenfell. They were hated intensely for their ability to detect one from long away and then stalk the player without being noticed. Seriously! They were SO silent! This often caused a horde of them descending on us, leaving us only with regret, anger and lone tears. Oh, and death too! Even the development team have admitted that the sheer amount of Cliff Racers in the game was a mistake. As in, there are too many!

That is not the amusing thing, however. The amusing thing is when I in Oblivion hear good citizens mention Cliff Racers. Not only do they mention them, but they mention a "Saint Jiub," whom supposedly drove them out of Vvardenfell, which they made him a saint for. So who is this Jiub? At first I thought the the name was familiar, but couldn't quite put it. As I started up Morrowind, and made a new character, who is the first person I see in the game? I think to myself: "Of Course!"

"Saint Jiub"

Jiub is a fellow prisoner, on the same boat as you, when you start up the game. The funny thing is that he says like two things and then you don't see him again for the remainder of the entire game. I believe that the rumor in Oblivion is a little joke from the team, for those who played Morrowind. It is definitely because they took notice to the Cliff Racer issue. On this rare occasion, I will make a smiley:     :)

Radiant AI - The Skyrim population moves!

We all very much enjoyed the Radiant AI in Oblivion. Finally the lifeless dolls we called NPC's got life and actually started doing something, allowing us to engage in a much better role-playing experience.

After years, I still see people asking: "WTF is Radiant AI?"
In order to calm down the masses, I will give a very light and basic explanation of the Radiant AI, then  talk about Radiant AI in Skyrim.

Radiant AI is what makes the NPC's move around, do jobs, eat, sleep and so on. Very basically, radiant AI gives the NPC's rules and needs, which they will do their best to fulfill. I have some fun anecdotes from the first testings of radiant AI.

In one example, one NPC is given a rake and the need to rake leaves. Another NPC is given a broom and the need to sweep the street. This all worked smoothly. Then they tried switching the items between the two NPC's, so that the other one had the item they needed. It ended with one of them killing the other in order to get their needed item.

In another one, some Skooma addicts killed a merchant, in order to get enough money to buy their fix.

I hope that is enough explanation, if not, please write and I'll do better.

NOW! On to the interesting part! Skyrim!
Oblivion (good start) was, as I said, a major improvement on the role-playing experience, giving each NPC a daily schedule.

Skyrim will succeed that, giving each NPC a job, a way to contribute to their respective cities and families, which they will perform everyday, except the weekend I hope, 'cause nobody should work on weekends. And that's final!

Radiant AI also decides how the NPC's react to the player character. Of course their is their disposition towards you, which will alter depending on your actions. Things that you can do, that'll make them nicer towards you, is kill the big-ass battle machine of a dragon, raiding their town. I imagine that if a person likes you enough, like in Oblivion, they'll even help you out. Unless they're pantsies, of course!

Should you choose to break into their house, in the middle of the night, a friend  might offer you lodgings, as opposed to an stranger or an enemy, who'll probably threaten with calling the guard. Who wouldn't?

If you prance into someone's house and start taking their stuff, or merely pushing the vases off the furniture, don't expect them to be too crazy about you either. It has been said that, should you tip their stuff of their tables, eat their food or swing a weapon to close to them, they WILL act appropriately, based on their prior relationship with you.

So there you have it: More realistic population and more realistic relationships. This is going to be awesome, don't you think?

Arachnophobia!

Spiders aren't insects, did you know that? They are arachnids; A whole different class of animal. No matter if you are familiar with this or not, know that a lot of people fear them. They are creepy. Sometimes they are fast. Sometimes they are big. Sometimes they even jump (and into my eye, even! Needless to say, I don't find them nearly as fascinating anymore!)

The fear of spider is called Arachnophobia, and I sorely hope that you don't have it, 'casue then your adventure in the lands of Skyrim, will be over quickly. As shown in the trailer, and in the April presentation, as well as the demo they showed behind closed doors at E3, there will be huge spiders in this game. Funnily enough, the only size we've seen so far, is like 2 and a half times bigger than ourselves. Oh, snap!

So giant spiders are confirmed to be in this game. We don't know how typical it'll be to run into them, or where they... "Chill." Get it?
We also don't know the variations of Spiders there will be, but we can easily assume that there'll be more than one type. Skyrim will have 9 regions and 7 different, major climates / terrains and has already shown to have different kinds of giants and dragons. I find it easy to assume that the creatures vary from climate to climate, so lets take a wild guess and say that the spiders will as well, shall we?

ATM, we don't know much more about the Spiders. We know that there's a big ass one, in Bleak Falls Barrow and that they put cobweb all over the place, which BTW is described as awesome. Those who saw the full demonstration claims that next to none of the strings of cobwebs covering the walls, looked alike. No textures just copied over.

Anywho, I'll bring more spider, when there is more spider to be brought. Cheerio!

Giants!

Once upon a time, a mighty fine gentleman said: "I recognize my limits, but when I look around, I realise, I am not exactly living in a world of Giants."

Well, we can state two things! That man was the 42nd prime minister of Italy, Guilio Andreotti, and second that just because he doesn't, it doesn't mean that we can't!

That's right, folks! Skyrim will feature giants. Big, hardcore, mammoth-pelt wearing, badass, hard hitting, amazingly tall, brute giants! I bet the adoring fans of the mudcrap will die out quickly, in favor of the giants! So far we know of two kinds: The "hill-type" we see in the demo, and then a "frost giant" has been mentioned by some who saw the presentation back in April.

But what are these giants up to? What do they do? Well, as opposed to previous games, monsters don't always just stand around and wait for you to come by so that they can hurt you, causing you to sing Haddaway. No more!!

These brutes will be all over Skyrim, tending their business. You will seldom see them walking alone, not that that isn't possible, but they are humanoids. And like all humanoids, they tend to group up.  You can find them wandering the tundras, with their flocks of mammoths, whom they use as herding animals, for food and for pelt to make their clothes out of.

In the trailer we see the option of trying to speak to them, but sadly enough, in the demo, Howard chooses to be a dick and attack the mammoths instead, 'causing the giants to attack him, only for one of them to be snatched up by a dragon, randomly popping in.

As soon as you see the giant grab its giant bone club, you can't help but think: RUN! Even though, you aren't the one playing. They look powerful and like someone you just don't wanna piss off. I even had the audacity to yell "Run, Howard, RUN!" As I watched the video. Seeing them in action has really got my blood boiling for more!

But they are not just there to do battle with! As I said, they didn't actually choose to attack Howard, let alone pay notice to him, before he viciously assaulted one of their mammoths. The Nerve. There was even an option to speak with them. I don't know if you actually could, but they are intelligent humanoids and perfectly capable of talking.

Can you piss them off without attacking? Yes, you can! If you get in their pathway too much, they might think of you as a nuisance and try to, well, kill you. You are merely an intelligent insect, after all.
I actually hear rumors that they have their own city, but I have yet to confirm that, but it would definitely be cooool.

Another rumor states that when you loot them, you are actually looting their nostrils and the space in-between their toes, but that might as well be jibber-jabber, since they actually have pouches.

So that's it for the Giants, for now! If you wanna watch them, look at the demo in the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Points of non-barren Interest

I guess everything is interesting in Tamriel.
The Dungeons
The Cities
The Monsters

But lets talk for a minute, about the actual Points of Interest
If some of you are unsure what this entails, let me explain: A PoI (Point of Interest) is not a dungeon, nor a city. It's a point of interest that you find out in the wild. It could be a camp, a clearing, a dragon graveyard or as in Bethesdas example: A Necromancer Altar, which actually just might be in Skyrim.

There are plenty of these to be found in the teams previous titles, and there will also be a lot to find in the land of Skyrim. Actually at least a 100 PoI's have been confirmed to be a part of the game, so there'll be plenty to do.

Unlike the other games though, Todd has mentioned that they will not just make huge area of nothingness, like in Oblivion, where we could walk around that big-ass forest, covering the entire map, for a long long time, without encountering anything. Sure, maybe we'd run into a dungeon, but they're are all alike. We wanted varied PoI's all over in Oblivion, and that is what we'll be getting from Skyrim!

New engine & Havok Behaviour

Everyone who played Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, will have noticed that all of these games share one thing: The Engine.

Not that I would call that an issue, although it is part of what made fans say that Fallout was, and I quote, "Oblivon with guns."

Since 2006, however, we have grown weary of watching the same engine at work, time after time. A magnificent job as it does, its time is over and we must wave goodbye with a tear in our eyes, all the while knowing that it had a good, long life with lots of joy.

Now, say hello to Skyrim anno 2011, using a brand new engine, developed by Bethesda themselves and planned for use during their next couple of games.

The engine features stunning possibilities, as you all may have seen.

The team is using Havok Behaviour technology for their animations, which is a huge step up. So you better be fricken excited!

PC Requirements - Part I

So my more and more frequent visits to the Gamespot PC forum has allowed me to see the same questions asked, over and over again, with no salvation to be found. I am of course talking about people, shuttering in fright, that their trusty PC or laptop, may not be able to run Skyrim.

I am here to shorten down these questions a bit, in hope that they will no longer fill the already busy walls of the forums.

Of course we would all like to know the PC requirements, but we can only theorize at the moment, for one very specific reason: THERE ARE NO SET SPECIFICATIONS, as of yet. Therefore we won't know entirely. I encourage people to stop asking on these forums, 'cause it is not like anyone will be able to give you a decent answer.

However, this game has to run on this generations consoles. I am talking PS3 and Xbox360. Therefore, you shouldn't worry too much. Use your console to judge on this topic. I do however swear, that the second that I find out more, I will post it and slop it up, all over the PC board. Thank you, for your time.

Dark El...Dun...Alt...High... Eh?

I just wanna make sure that people are aware of the different names of the races of Tamriel, since I will probably be using the -mer names on this blog!

So first of, mer means elf. So any name of a race, which ends in -mer (suffix, if you are educated) signals that we are talking about a race of elves. To make sure that people know which is which, I have made a list, and it is as following:

Dunmer - Dark Elf
Altmer - High Elf
Bosmer - Wood Elf
Orsimer - Orc
Dwemer - Dwarf
Falmer - Snow Elf
Chimer - not relevant, but a specific sect of Altmer

I don't know if you are interested in the lore. If you want, I'll provide it in neat, subjective articles, so you don't have to go through long, dusty, tome-like articles in order to get the interesting info. I won't do it without a heads up, though.

Anyway, I hope this will help. Cheerio!

20 Weeks left!

I don't know about you, but I've been following the progress of Skyrim intensely ever since I found out about it, back in January. Now the clock in the bottom of this page tells me that there are 20 weeks left, and I just wanted to share my excitement!

Now a handsome young lad on the Gamespot forums brought forth the marvellous idea that I should change the clock, by setting the timer to midnight, when the day officially begins, since a lot of people would be going for the midnight release event. Now there are two reasons that I won't enter and edit the HTML code for my clock. The first is that 9 AM is the time I, myself, will personally rise from bed and cry on the very date we are waiting for. The second is that it is set in the GMT +1 time zone, and since Skyrim is released world wide, I don't really see the point.

There are two concerns for me on 11.11.11 The first obviously being the release of Skyrim, the second that my clock is gonna be messed up.

Anyway, shiver in excitement, folks! We're only 20 weeks away! :D
Here's a little treat for my readers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9eGtyqz4gY

Akatosh = Alduin?

It's very late, so I'll make this short. Actually this is just an excuse I make, since there is not a lot to say on this topic. I am just filling out.

...

...

Anyway, to business! It seems to me as if a lot of people are having trouble understanding the relationship between Akatosh and Alduin, so I'll try to explain.

Lets start out with Akatosh.
Akatosh is the chief deity of the nine divines, mainly worshipped in Cyrodiil. He embodies the qualities of Invincibility, endurance and everlasting legitimacy. Just so I am sure that everybody is up to speed, his avatar is a dragon.



Now to Alduin, the counterpart of Akatosh, or the Nordic variation of him, if you prefer. He is depicted as "The World Eater," a dragon god, functioning as brutal, ravaging firestorm that destroyed the world that existed prior to this one, in order for this one to rise. The Nords see him as a god of time and not only as the destroyer, but also creater of worlds.

Now how does this fit in with Akatosh. Instead of making a long explanation, I thought I'd just give an example that people can relate to. I assume most people know about old Greek mythology, yes? Well, they all have Roman counterparts! Like Hades had Pluto. Athena had Minerva. Are had Mars. Zeus had Jupiter, or Tinia, if you prefer the Etruscan counterpart.

So you see, it is kinda the same deal with Akatosh and Alduin. They are counterparts, from different cultures. They have some similarities and they also differ in some ways. I hope I have made clear for everyone to understand.

Conversations with 70 different people

Let's have a talk, shall we? About what, you ask? Well about talking, of course! BGS have made everything so, very fluent in Skyrim, so why not the conversations as well?

Bethesda has moved on from the zoom-in, stop-time idea, plaguing the hardcore RPG'ers in Oblivion. With their new technology, they have achieved the americ... They've achieved the Elder Scrolls dream. You can now walk up to any person and with the press of a button, signal that you wish to enter a conversation with them. From there, a neat menu, or list, respectively, will appear on your screen, with options of things you can say. All the while, the world goes on without you.

Should you peruse a citizen with your astounding vocabulary, you'll notice that they won't be nearly as engaged as in the previous games. As you may have heard, every citizen has a job, apart from the beggars, I assume. Talking to a person in the middle of their job, won't stop them from doing it, but rather, they will look at you briefly, then move on with their task, whilst still talking to you, only to glance at you from time to time to let you know that they are still listening. You DO have a sword after all. Which is probably why you can merely leave without saying goodbye, not that they would like it if you did, given that it is SO RUDE!

But it does work! Wanna end a conversation? Don't wanna be a nice guy and say goodbye? Just walk away! You would be SO RUDE! But, you could do it, if you can handle the pressure of having people dislike you for being SO RUDE!

Naturally, we will still see the vast difference in their facial expressions, depending on whether they like you or hate you. This was kind of a "wow" in Oblivion, but we really do expect it in Skyrim. Without it, I would think a riot would be appropriate.

A new addition, however, is the incredible increase of voices that are to be used. A lot of us got a little tired of hearing the same voice, per race-->gender in Oblivion. Seriously! Everyone sounded the same! Thought it may have felt like less, there were 14 voice actors in Oblivion, including Sean Bean and Patrick Stuart. Not having to have to pay those two this time around, are sure to have helped, 'cause in Skyrim we will have a whole 70 voice actors and 47,000 recorded lines of dialogue! We have been told that we will be able to recognize many of the actors' voices, which is really exciting, but so far, the only know is Max von Sydow, the voice of Esbern, as well as the Narrator.

I know what you must be thinking! "WTF, MAN?!" And you are in your full right to. We are also less likely to run into the same, old repeated dialogue is therefore also less likely. Whilst you walk among the world-engaged NPC's in each of the hand crafted towns, you are sure to enjoy the realistic, natural variety.

Dragons!

There are tons of things about Skyrim that excites us, but I'll bet that the only thing that can freak us out, like hearing an ostrich talk or losing our virginities by accident, is the dragons! In this here post I'll be explaining what kind of part they take in the Skyrim game experience.

Do Battle!

As you all know, we'll be playing as the last dragonborn, which basically means that we are born with the soul of a dragon. That is also the reason the Alduin, the game antagonist, don't like us. We have a fair chance at fighting back.

So we know that dragons play a very important part of the main quest. They have recently returned and they are scaring the crap out of people. Alduin leads his own pack of dragons, called Jills, which are black dragons.

That is not the only type of dragon, though. With the magic of sight, my eyes spotted both a red dragon and a blue, frost dragon in the gameplay demo from E3 (Watch at page bottom.) Pictures also reveal brown dragons.

This guy will be waiting for you at Bleak Falls Barrow!

When will we encounter these magnificent creatures? Well, not from the initial get-go, but not soon after. The main quest will of course cause some obligatory dragon encounters. In general, dragons will show up at random. In the demo, Howard is fighting a giant and then suddenly, without warning, it swoops down, grabs the giant and before we've actually gathered ourselves to absorb what just happened, it has tossed away the giant, off into the distance, and goes straight for our dragonborn hero.

Dragons are infinite, meaning that you can't kill every dragon. Even after the main quest is over, you'll be able to get your blood pumping, battling one of these bad boys. Combat with them is deemed to be quite exciting. They aren't scripted, so as mentioned before, they can pop up at random, but even more so, the ways they fight can vary greatly. They all have tons of patterns to choose from. They can do bombing runs, they can land and bite the crap out of you, smack you around with its tail, and even bite down on the aiding guard, smacking him around a bit and then throw him out like yesterdays garbage.

The feel of the combat is bound to be epic, and every dragon battle will be unique. Should you manage to overcome your fear and not run away, you'll probably die. Still, should you even manage to bring down one of these bastards, you'll get to absorb its soul, given you points to spend on your dragon shouts.

So what have we learned? Dragons are unscripted, have several entries and strategies, they use at random, creating epic and unpredictable battle scenarios. They can and will attack others than the dragonborn, they can even attack cities. The player can absorb their souls, which will be converted into a sort of currency, used to gain dragon shout abilities. There will be a variety of Dragons, including Alduins black dragon pack, called "Jills."

A dragon sitting atop a temple. Lets hope it doesn't spot us!

This is definitely the most wanted, requested and exciting feature of Skyrim and even though we won't be allowed to ride them, we will definitely all leave our families and friends for months in order to battle these magnificent fiends.

Spell Tomes

Remember Oblivion? Remember DLC for Oblivion? I do! A thing I loved was the Spell Tomes! Good news! I've just confirmed that they are making a return, although we don't have to pay for it as DLC this time around. 

If you never got to enjoy this feature, let me explain: You prance around the world, humming a tune of your own choice. Suddenly you raid a dungeon or kill a person (preferably innocent) and go for the loot. You find a spell tome! What now? You open it, read the contents and are given the option of learning the spell. In your malicious quest for power, you humbly agree. You now know the given spell and all is well.

Whether it's the exact same system in Skyrim as it was in Oblivion, remains to be seen. But hey, what could be so different about it?

Run, Forrest, run!!

We've been running for years! Since Arena! In Morrowind, one could argue that we didn't move fast enough, which was quite remedied in Oblivion. Indeed it was! Since it is how we get around, it is quite a delicate subject, that often goes unmentioned. But not this year, because the guys at Bethesda introduces a new running system in Skyrim, that'll blow our minds! Seriously! And It'll hurt!!

Run! Don't lag behind!

In their more recent title, Oblivion, running was a skill to be found in athletics. The more you ran, the greater the skill, the faster the running. Naturally, this caused many to pick it as a major skill. When working on Skyrim, the developers thought to themselves: "Hey, isn't this kind of silly? Who would make a character that doesn't run?" - And you know what? They have a point. Who would make a character that doesn't run? (Since floating isn't available.)

Therefore they have removed Athletics as well as Acrobatics, since it is kind of the same deal for jumping. Instead, they've given us an already fixed running-speed and fixed jumping-height, so it looks more realistic than Oblivion, where you could end up jumping to ridiculous heights, or in Morrowind, where you in the beginning could barely jump more than a toddler.

They've also implemented another little treat: "Sprinting." With sprint we can, well, sprint for a limited amount of time. When we've regained our breath, we can sprint again! Not only that, but one of the famed dragon shouts actually allows us to do an Über-sprint, and move really fast! And there is three levels to that!

There will be more on the dragon shouts later on, but be sated with the über-sprint for now. Cheerio!

Guilds, Guilds, Guilds...

Guilds are a very important feature in The Elder Scrolls. I personally love The Houses and guilds in Morrowind, and even more so in Oblivion. But ah, let us not get lost in sweet memories now! Let's move on and look at the future! It is shining so bright, in the land of Skyrim!

You know what there will also be in Skyrim, besides shining light? If you've read the topic, the first bit of text, or merely glanced at the picture to the left, then you've probably already guessed it. That's right! GUILDS!

Since they've been such a huge success in the past, they are of course also a part of Skyrim and what I am about to tell you will most definitely psych you out. So hold on to your comfy chairs and get ready for a rough ride!

Apart from the "houses" in Skyrim, which aren't actual guilds, but more like ruling houses, over each region (9), there are also "real" guilds, more precisely 4 real guilds and they as following:

(drumroll...)
Thieves guild! That's right! A good ol' favorite! We know not who will be leading it this time around, but they are gonna have to work hard to beat The Gray Fox, that's for damn sure!

Aaaaand.... (drumroll...)

Mages guilds! Or actually it's called "The College of Winterhold" this time around and I think it won't be nearly as influential as the one in Oblivion.

Aaaa... (Smacks the guy who does the drumroll...)
Fighter guild! Again, with a name change! This time around our fighters guild is called "The Companions" and we know absolutely nothing more!!



Drumroll! DRUMROLL! DRUM... Oh, right...

By Hashakgig1106 - Snatched it from DeviantArt

And a personal favorite, as I know it is for many! THE DARK BROTHERHOOD! YEAH :D THE FRICKEN DARK BROTHERHOOD. A dutch magazine was nice enough to squeeze this information out of Howard, and we love it! So far, no more news on them, but I will keep you posted! Cheerio!