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.
