Mai'q the Liar

I thought about coming up with a fun pun for the name of this article, but the mere thought of Mai'q is enough to bring everyone more joy than Santa Clause and Pokémon put together.

Mai'q as he appeared in Morrowind

For those of you who don't know who Mai'q the Liar is or his purpose in the game, allow me to illuminate your minds - It'll be my pleasure. Then you can tell me in the comment section, why you learn useless information like when the second world war was or how much time passes before your brain register that you're full, instead of checking up on important stuff like Mai'q!

Mai'q the Liar is a Khajit who first appeared in Morrowind, with the purpose of admitting some company humor to the game - kind of an Easter Egg. What Mai'q does is simple - He lies and spread deceitful rumors about things that fans wanted to be in the game or complained wouldn't be in the game, prior to its release.

Take for instance this one quote of his: "You wish to become a lich? It's very easy, my friend. Simply find the heart of a lich, combine it with the tongue of a dragon, and cook it with the flesh of a well-ridden horse. This combination is certain to make you undead." Which is a reference to a wish among the fans, granting us the ability to become a lich. None of the ingredients actually exists in the game.

Mai'q also returns in Oblivion, running at an extreme speed between cities. Everytime you meet him, he has a different quote for you - A good one is this: "I do not wish to fight on horseback. It is a good way to ruin a perfectly good horse... which is, to say, a perfectly good dinner." Which is a reference to the lack of mounted combat, which won't be included in Skyrim either, surely making hundreds of fans cry their eyes out.

Will Mai'q be with us in Skyrim? I gotta say, I don't believe he will. 200 years have passed since the story of Oblivion took place - How long do Khajit live? I have no idea, but I doubt that it's that long. Still, if he isn't in Skyrim, I am sure that they'll give us an equivalent that we will all enjoy!

Mai'q as he appeared in Oblivion

Dwarven Ruins be back, lad!

Most of us who played Morrowind both remember and enjoyed the dwemer ruins, or dwarven ruins if you prefer. Morrowind was kind of an alien world, with giant mushrooms and strange creatures you don't normally see in western fantasy games. It also had Cliff Racers, which made us want to poke our eyes out, but that's another story.

To me, the dwarven ruins were sort of the only thing I could relate to except for stuff like grass and water. Naturally, not seeing them in Oblivion, was kind of a set back, yet a minor one. Instead they were "replaced" by Ayleid ruins, which in a way were also kind of cool.

It is however with great joy that I can announce the return of Dwarven ruins in Skyrim. I think it only fair to assume that they won't look that much alike those in Morrowind, though. It's exciting and you're happy, and that's final!

Biggest time-skip, ever! - part 2 (Wuz goin' on?)

As I said in my previous article, we are looking at a time skip covering 200 years. Also, the mere shock of the news that the Altmers had taken over the Empire, was enough to make me go Oh, Snap!!


But let us take a moment and delve into the world of The Elder Scrolls. What happened during our 200 years of absence? I can tell you that it'll have an influence on the game, 'cause not every race is as fond of each other as they were in Cyrodiil 200 years ago, which was just one big melting pot.

Right after the Oblivion Crisis, you all remember that there was no heir to the throne. Naturally this made every province see an opportunity to go in and get some real influence, by taking over the Empire (Through politics) and as you might've guessed, this gave birth to resentment and jealousy.

Not long after, the Empire begins to crumble and a lot of nations secede from it. The Mane of Elsweyr is assassinated, and the Imperial rule weakens in the provinces, and are being pushed out. Then, with less than a 1,000 men, Titus Mede marches in and takes the Imperial City by force and thus proclaims himself the new Emperor. A couple of years later, he fathers a son, whom he names Attrebus. Attrebus plays an important role in the book: "The Infernal City."

The Mages Guild (The Imperial guild from Oblivion) dissolves and splits into two different guild, the first called Synod and the other one called College of Whispers. Again--> Oh, snap!!

Red Mountain (The volcano in Morrowind) erupts and takes down most of the Island, which is of course, very, very sad.

If you read the book, you'll also learn something about Umbriel (not the moon,) a floating city with the incredible ability to turn anyone underneath it into undead! Can I get a hallelujah?!! No? .... Okay.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed getting up to speed. I can also tell you that there have been a lot of fighting in-between nations, in spite of having the new Mede Empire established. A lot of hatred is out there, which we will definitely notice in Skyrim, as racism has its glorious return in this coming title.

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:     :)

Playable Races & Character Creation

So in Arena, we were able to choose between 8 races, which means that we were missing out on Imperials and Orcs. In Daggerfall they added the option of becoming a Vampire or a Lycanthrope, which in this case were either a werewolf or a wereboar, which, I am sorry, is just silly.

So did they add the remaining two in Morrowind? Yes, yes they did, and we love it! Indeed, these 10 races were also available in Oblivion. So will there be added any new races to the roster, in the upcoming title? No, there won't. The races remain Imperial, Orc, Redguard, Altmer, Dunmer, Bosmer, Breton, Imperial, Khajit, Nord and Argonian.

Disappointing as that may be for some, remember that 10 races is already a huge roster with many possibilities!

The team has already stated that they've worked hard on making each race a lot more unique, yet not more powerful than each other. They really want to give it a different feel when you play as an orc, as opposed to an Altmer, but still without any change in the gameplay. I am not totally sure of what they mean, but they really emphasize that there is a difference. They also mention that your race and gender, you be male and female, has an influence on how some people respond to you. In Morrowind we saw some heavy racism, especially from the Dunmers, but that kinda disappeared in Oblivion, since Cyrodiil is such a melting pot. Nonetheless, racism will return in Skyrim, especially given the turmoil after the collapse of the Septim Empire. As far as I've heard, Nords aren't too crazy about Dunmers and Altmers.

But lets take some time to talk about character creation. So far we've been allowed complete access to alter our characters face, and we will still be able to. Some Oblivion players will agree with me that the faces of Oblivion (I just popped a vein, whilst writing this,) eventually grew, well, ugly. We've been assured that making a cool character face will be A LOT easier. Besides, if you've seen the pictures, which you have 'cause they are in this post, you'll know that the faces looks absolutely gorgeous!

We'll have more options. By that I mean that we know can give our characters scars and a beard. That's right, we can finally create Chuck Norris, as we've always dreamed! The picture of an Orc and the one of a Redguard also shows a scar over each of their left eyes, killing the color of the pupil, turning it white. Awesome? Without a doubt! Have a look for yourselves!

Personally, I am set on creating an Orc! How about you?

Music with Soule in it ;D

Have you ever thought about what makes a scary movie "scary?" Is it the big dude with a machete and a hockey mask? The stunning, yet spooky special effects? Or might it be the actress' amazing skills, convincing us that they are in fact scared?

The answer is no, ladies and gentlemen, the most important thing, which makes a movie scary, an adventure epic, or "A Walk to Remember" so sad that you'll wanna cry your eyes out, is: (drumroll) The Music!

I once saw "Daddy Day Care", which is a comedy about some guys starting a day care, which guys can't do, because they're guys. Evidently. Anyway, just a teeny, tiny scene, with the most creepy music ever, was enough to spook the crap out of me on par with that of "The Grudge." So you can see what I am talking about, I took the liberty of finding the clip on youtube! Just go 35 seconds into the video and listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osAhJ_Kl_J0&feature=related

See what I mean? I thought so!

I don't know if you are aware of this, or not, but music is also some of the most important thing in games, especially in The Elder Scrolls series. Unfortunately, it seems that not many pays that much attention to it and its creator, which is why I chose to make this post about Jeremy Soule, the man who will be creating the entire Skyrim soundtrack. Be you a man of musical interests or not, I think you'll find it interesting.

If you've played the previous Elder Scrolls Titles: "Morrowind" and "Oblivion," then you will already be familiar with his work. Should Skyrim be the first title of this series that you will be playing, I am sure that you've still heard his art before. Soule has actually won several awards for the music, he has created for oh, so many video games and is looked up to by many for his skill and his engagement. Before he creates the music, especially when it comes to his most preferred genre: RPG,  he likes to get a good look at the storyboards and the art work, in order to give the music "the right feel, to it."

Games that he have composed music for includes:

• The first five Harry Potter games
• If you've enjoyed the books or the movies, then certainly you will have also tried just one of the games, in spite that they get worse every year :) Personally, I had the first and second game for PS1 when I was younger, and I loved them. Since then, not so much :)
• D&D titles like "Neverwinter Nights," "Icewind Dale" and "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance"
• I think that we can all agree that these titles were epic, with Soule's music just making the even more epic. Playing Neverwinter Nights 2, where some of his music was reused, were one of the first places that I noticed him 
• Lets not forget Dungeon Siege I & II
• I am not a player, but I hear that it is great
• Then there is also the Guild Wars series, Star Wars: KOTOR I & II and Company of Heroes

As you all can see, Jeremy Soule is talented and have actually composed music for oh, so many titles. Many more than these I've mentioned here. Soule will indeed also compose the soundtrack for Skyrim, and I couldn't be more thrilled about it! If you've watched the trailers, you've already heard a good bit of it, and I can only assume that you love it.

In addition to this information, I also have a little treat for you. An artistic fellow on Youtube, called mrpantsleeves have combined the themes of Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim into one in order to psych us up! A thank you goes to him! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H7kjsRQG-k

Also, Tobuscus (you might have heard of him,) also on youtube, have made one of his "literal trailers" featuring the Skyrim trailer and it is definitely also worth a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMKJ9fDM2mo

With all that said, I think we have enough musical knowledge regarding Soule and Skyrim for now. Enjoy the videos and Soule's music. I know I will!