Skyrim - The Collector's Edition

For months, people have been wondering whether there will be a collector's edition or not. We had heard nothing on the matter, until the end of the presentation at QuakeCon yesterday.

Now I can with pleasure inform you that there most definitely WILL be a collector's edition! Dance, little elves!
It will include:

• The game (Of course)
• The map (duh!)
• "The making of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" DVD
• "The Art of Skyrim" Official Artbook
• A statue of Alduin, sitting atop a word wall

Fan labor

Unfortunately I could in no way follow the events of the Skyrim Presentation at the QuakeCon yesterday, since real life called (Girlfriends birthday) but I hope whomever did had a good time.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but at the QuakeCon, whilst watching the Skyrim presentation, a woman went into labor! You think that is crazy? Then get this: She stuck around until the end! We send her Elder Scrolls Honors - she must seriously love Skyrim!

There is an article about it her: http://www.1up.com/news/skyrim-presentation-sends-woman-labor-stuck-around-over

But if anyone had the audacity to record the presentation, I ask you to either send it to me, or to iOblivionIV on youtube - Thank you

Partnership

As I've mentioned before, I did this to quench people thirst for information. This is the first time ever, that I work with game coverage or anything like it, or even managed a website, so needless to say: This has been a challenge for me.

So far I've pushed through and have been able to gather as much data as I could, not that I am done, mind you. Still, as I looked for information on the internet here the other day, I came across a certain youtube user whom seemed quite skilled. He turned out to be fricken brilliant.

 I wrote him, if he might be interested in helping out on the site and despite his busy schedule, he agreed to feed me information and even maybe co-write at some point. I have no doubt that he will be a valuable asset to the Skyrim Coverage project, so a very warm welcome to him.

Of course I shall reveal his screen name: iOblivionIV
he has his own youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/iOblivionIV
Once the youtube app here on blogger stops messing with me, as the poor little boy I am, I will tape it stuck to this site as well, so that people will be able to follow it from here.

On another notion, I would once again like to advertise for the Skyrim Coverage facebook page, which you can find here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skyrim-Coverage/137705802978253

-
McBraas

Skeletons!

Undoubtedly you have read about the Draugr! The scary zombie warrior, taken straight out of Norse mythology. Todd Howard mentioned to us that the Draugr would be one of the most common enemies in the game, which partly lead me to believe that there would be no classic skeletons and zombies. Another thing that lured me to that conclusion, was that the idea of a hybrid often was discussed on various forums.

As you probably have already guessed, my deduction was wrong and I say so with joy! I am telling you, hitting one of these bony fellows right in the kisser with a properly aimed fireball and then watch it split apart, flying in every possible direction as a result, was one of the most enjoyable activities in Oblivion.

Skeleton (Oblivion)

Without saying too much, because I'll do so in another article, I will be getting some help here on Skyrim Coverage. My new partner here is a fricken blessing, so you better appreciate him! Anyway, I don't have a picture of this skeleton, but our new friend does on his youtube channel, which also contains a lot more info!
Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZhER3H2Iq8

Alchemy

Some people like to call the way you did alchemy in Oblivion a minigame. I like to call it the "What alternative is there?" technique. It wasn't a minigame, but what I wonder is... Will Skyrim have one? For alchemy that is? I assume not, since Todd Howard doesn't really fancy them.

Still, Alchemy IS in Skyrim. Each of the class specializations, not that you're supposed to choose one of them, has its own skill. In Oblivion, alchemy was anything but useful - I often mixed potions for kicks, but the skill was never really needed.

Alchemy will be the Stealth craft skill in Skyrim, with more focus on making deadly poisons and if my wishes to the flying spaghetti monster comes true, also smoke bombs!
The several new climates also comes into play as we unfold our adventure in the art of creating liquids that make people die, since they will provide us with different kinds of ingredients, meaning that if you want to make something incredibly awesome, you have to travel around and get the appropriate ingredients first!

Master Howard has revealed to us that Alchemy will work differently from how it did in oblivion, but sadly we must remain in the dark of whatever the fuck it is he means by that.

A whisper in the wind: Lycanthropy rumors

As previously mentioned, werewolves and vampirism were definitely taking into consideration by the dev team, but we were never really told which side of the coin that they landed on. We still don't know if it'll be so, but thanks to a fellow Skyrim enthusiast on youtube, we can get some good foundation for assuming so - and if not in the game to begin with, then probably via DLC. Keep in mind that I only talk lycanthropy and not vampirism here.

Now I know that you all ache for Skyrim more than Winnie-the-Pooh aches for honey and more than the Bush administration craved oil resources, so I'm am sure you will want to watch his videos, filled with neat details, which is why I linked them in the bottom of this post.

An interesting thing he mentions is that they've finished adding the characteristics of a werewolf's human-form, which includes yellow eyes and snarling!

The thing about this youtuber is that I don't know him, but you know what? I have him pegged as a good guy - he strikes me as a fellow who does this to make the Skyrim fans smile - He's the Santa Clause of Skyrim news. I'd consider myself Santa Clause of Skyrim news, but unfortunately I am often pretty damn mean.

But you should go watch - if anything, I'd call it reliable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAwbDZnxqv0&feature=channel_video_title
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L63pV_uTSCw&feature=related

Trespassers will be shot; Survivors will be shot again...

... And I can't wait to hammer the sign into the ground, as I with great pleasure scout around for intruders on my new property.

...
Oh, did you think I meant in real life? No way - I'll probably live with my parents until I die, but that isn't really the point here. The point is that we WILL indeed have the pleasure of owning property (houses and the like) in Skyrim.

It was a grand touch to Oblivion to have a place of your own and in Skingrad you could even get a sla... I mean, maid.

What I would like to know is whether we will be able to purchase more than mere houses, 1 for each city. Maybe just a hunting lodge in the forest or a mansion in the hills would be nice! Given that they take great notice to the modding community, maybe we'll even have some better "museum" options in our homes, so that we won't tip over every dynamic object in an attempt to carefully black our black sword of infinite doom in a display case.

I'm not sure if you can have children, but you can definitely have your spouse moving into your home, should you decide that you want to settle down or that you merely want dinner ready at any given point when you're taking a break from your adventures. Otherwise the whole concept of marriage seems redundant.

Should you be able to undulate into the bedroom and make your own little screamer... Well then I guess there is no point in playing The Sims anymore, is there?

How many homes you can own is unknown ATM, but I have it on questionable authority that it'll be a more than in Oblivion.

Entertainment beyond belief

You know what? I am not going to spoil a thing!
Just click this link: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/118/1182292p1.html
And hop to it, people!

New pictures^^

About a week ago, some new pictures were released and I figured I'd just go ahead and post them here - You can thank me by sending me a smiley, 'cause I've run out. Oh, I'll also add them to the picasa web album, which you can find a link to on the right sidebar.

Here you go:

 As you can see, this is a camp. Fascinating, I know. Notice also the scaleable mountain in the background, which is a good example on how the world will feel better.

 If this isn't awesome, what is?

 This guy seems to be a Nord - apart from the clipping issue near his left hand, it is gorgeous! Check out the cool armor too!

 We finally got to see a screenshot of the dwemer ruins - excitement!

 By god, a Draugr! Looking good - It's nice that all the enemies don't look exactly like each other! Even the wolves can have different looks!

A dragon right outside Bleak Falls Barrow, which you can spot in the upper left corner.

Have some Class...

This is pretty much old news, which I for a great deal of time have neglected to write about, solely because of the fact that I forgot to - bummer.

The class system is simply put the most simple, realistic and brilliant system I have ever seen in all my years of gaming. In most western RPG's, you get to choose a class, which most usually specializes in either Melee combat, magic or stealth - A concept not lost on the previous Elder Scrolls titles. Since the poll on this site clearly states that the majority of gamers began their adventures in Tamriel with Oblivion, let's use that as an example.

In Oblivion we could pick one out of several classes, after our tiring endeavours under the Imperial City prison, or we could create one ourselves - again choosing a specialization of either combat, magic or stealth. Then we picked out 7 major skills, causing us to level up when we used them.

The Elder Scrolls has also been about immersion and being who you'd like to be, which is why the developers takes it to the next level this year and completely remove all classes from the game, which saves us the trouble of having to greatly regret our choice at the beginning of the game, as we suddenly figure out that we want to be something else.

This also means that there'll be no major or minor skills, holding you back - suddenly have a change of heart and want to change your days of dirty close-combat to something that seems more dignified and sophisticated like, say, a pyromaniac magic-user? No problem!