Who's Excited For Skyrim?

[Eldan]

My computer is six years old and still runs Fallout 3 pretty well. And I need a computer anyway, like, for example, to use the internet, which I'm doing now, or for work, which I did before, so that, in the end, it doesn't make much of a difference and I can just buy a few hundred dollars more - less than the price of a new console, really - to upgrade my computer a bit.

I have a computer because I want mods. You know, those things that turn Oblivion into a game worth playing.

Anyway, I'll go fly my dragon mount over to Elsweyr now. I'd take the fly spell, but that has no space for the rest of my adventuring party.

[Volthawk]

I recently got a new computer due to my old finally dying (been dying for a few years), and my new one should be good enough for Skyrim. Funny thing is my stepdad is actually planning on getting two copies, since I want to play on the PC (for mods) and he wants to play on the PS3 (he doesn't have a computer good enough for gaming, just a laptop, and I think he prefers playing games on the console anyway).

Of course, after this, I don't think I'll be getting much new stuff for a while...

[Eldan]

In my experience it's just that, well...
Cost of cheap computer + cost of PS3 + cost of good TV screen > cost of good computer.

[Cespenar]

PC Gaming is for the birds.

Ca-caw! I'm a bird.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

My sister is going to buy it for the X-box, simply because she doesn't like PC RPG controls, generally, and my obsession with mods exasperates her. I'm holding off on buying it for a little while, as I still have so much homework to do...

But I will get the game for PC later, and it will be mod-tastic!

[Somebloke]

While I loved being able to mod morrowind, my experiences as a rental room bachelor mean that I tend to operate with laptops, so the PC is not for me. XBox it is.

[Starwulf]

Starwulf, this is probably a) something you've already looked into and b) a piece of advice you're almost certainly tired of hearing, but why on earth haven't you upgraded to broadband or something else more 21st century? When I moved to Britain I was laughed at for using dial-up.

Because there is nothing else that can be had where I'm at. Nothing, I've looked into all options, only dial-up. I live on top of a mountain in rural Western Maryland. I can't even get Satellite because I have to many trees obstructing the view. Well, I COULd get satellite, but my regular Dish goes out every time it rains or the wind blows, so a Satellite dish connection would be just as bad, if not worse. At least with dial-up, I have a steady connection.

And no, moving is not an option, both because of money, and because I love where I live, it's one of the most beautiful, scenic places a person could see.

[Fayd]

Starwulf, my previous experience with Bethesda is that they will make patches available as stand alone downloads. Admittedly, things could have changed between now and then, but...

[Greensleeves]

Having spent a lot of the day reading up on Skyrim and looking at various clips on YouTube when I should have been writing an essay, I am currently incredibly excited about the game.

I have a few characters I'd like to play.

A Nord Shaman/elementalist type of character. Light Armour, One Handed, Destruction, Restoration. No conjuration at all though.

A Orc/Redguard Warrior type. Two Handed, Heavy Armour, Smithing, Enchanting. Maybe some Archery.

A Dark Elf assassin.

I'll probably play a bit on all three over the three days following the release of Skyrim. Let's just hope I've managed to finish my two essays before Friday.

[Avilan the Grey]

And this is why I'm getting it for 360. PC Gaming is for the birds. Well, or rich people who can afford to buy a brand new top-of-the-line system every 6 months

Um actually... no. This is how it USED to be, before games were co-developed for consoles. These days a good mid-price range laptop will last about 3 years before you need to upgrade.

And anyone that has the choice to buy a Bethesda game on PC and doesn't take it... three words:

Mods.

Fanmade Patches.

My sister is going to buy it for the X-box, simply because she doesn't like PC RPG control

I know, different strokes for different folks and all that but... (sound of mind boggling)what?(/sound of mind boggling)

In my experience Console RPG "controls" are EXTREMELY slow, clumsy and you have to have an extreme amount of patience doing the simpliest things, like picking spells to throw.

Skyrim might be different, I don't know.

[Divayth Fyr]

Starwulf, my previous experience with Bethesda is that they will make patches available as stand alone downloads. Admittedly, things could have changed between now and then, but...

Are there any standalone patches for Fallout: New Vegas? All I could find on their site were fixes for F3 (which, IIRC didn't require steam). So I wouldn't count too much on steamless updating...

[Avilan the Grey]

Speaking about the leveling system... I take it they have fixed it (meaning you don't have to do the exact opposite when picking minor and major skills to what they tell you in the in game hints and in the manual to do?)

[Divayth Fyr]

Speaking about the leveling system... I take it they have fixed it (meaning you don't have to do the exact opposite when picking minor and major skills to what they tell you in the in game hints and in the manual to do?)

It would be hard to do since you do not pick anything - when you level up a skill, it will count towards the char's total level ;)

But from what people said, the system should be fixed (also, some foes are basically "you're dead" for a low level dovahkiin (so you need to avoid them at all cost)

[Avilan the Grey]

It would be hard to do since you do not pick anything - when you level up a skill, it will count towards the char's total level ;)

But from what people said, the system should be fixed (also, some foes are basically "you're dead" for a low level dovahkiin (so you need to avoid them at all cost)

Yes, but that sounds like we are back to the same trouble as with Oblivion:

In Oblivion, you had to be smart, and put the skills you used the MOSt as MINOR skills (meaning they did not cause level ups), especially if your most used skills were non-combat skills.

For example: If you as a stealth character put Sneak as a Major skill, you leveled up quite fast (since you more often used Sneak than not) and that meant your enemies gained levels while your combat skills were still not improved (basically after gaining 10 levels or so, you could not win any fights).

This sounds like the same thing: If I sneak a lot, I will gain level without having a chance to improve my fighting skills?

[Eldan]

You will, yes. But with changed world scaling, gaining a level will not be a bad thing. Think of it like in Morrowind.

[Divayth Fyr]

Also, unlike Oblivion, there is no way to avoid it - no matter what skills you use, you will level up...

[warty goblin]

Starwulf, my previous experience with Bethesda is that they will make patches available as stand alone downloads. Admittedly, things could have changed between now and then, but...

For a Steam game I highly, highly doubt it. The one 'advantage' of Steam for singleplayer is that it autopatches, and since every single PC version of Skyrim will use Steam, why would any sensible person go through the work of rereleasing the wheel every time they did a bugfix?

And for at least a few games the advantage of Steam's auto-patch is quite dubious, because at least through recently (and quite possibly still) it can't do an incremental patch. Instead it has to redownload every single file that the patch updates. In some cases this isn't so bad, but I recall the first Witcher 2 patch being something like 7mb for all versions but the Steam release. For Steam the patch was basically the entire game, which is about 10 gigabytes. I think there's an update for Arma II that's never been released on Steam for this reason.

[Avilan the Grey]

I now have the money (birthday) and I am tossed back and forth several times an hour between "I can't wait!!" and "Who cares, not going to buy it!".

The reason for my ambivalence is my experience with Oblivion, mostly.

I was late to the party for Morrowind (my computer at the time could not play it, and by the time that I had a computer that did, I never got very far) so my experience with a good (according to reviews and players) Bethesda fantasy game is very limited.

Oblivion gave me the following:

• Really really stupid leveling system
• Shoddy 1st person melee combat (I never got a hang of it; I could only play archers or mages, since I always died in all fights using melee)
• Really really REALLY buggy
• Characters ugly as sin
• A world that didn't do anything for me but felt utterly "generic fantasy"

In contrast, I LOVE(d) both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, built on the same engine. The Fallout setting and world is just much more interesting, plus VATS makes the combat so much better.

I can't wait until they make a Fallout game with this game engine!!

On the other hand I really really love the look of the trailers etc!

Something tells me I will play this all weekend, but it might also be like Deus Ex: HR, which I liked, but not enough not to choose to play Dragon Age Origins or Mass Effect 2 instead (I played it halfway though Detroit and then found myself not wanting to save and quite DAO just to play DE:HR).

[jenshag]

I still don´t know if i´ll buy it on Pc or Xbox. If there where a Mac version is definitly buy these (i have a all new 27" iMac). I don´t have a big tv screen, and the xbox and the pc version will be played on a 19" Monitor. I have a good Pc (amd 6 core , 6 gb ddr3,etc) but only the graphic card isn´t that new (9800 gt 1gb), so still i don´t know....

[Somebloke]

I now have the money (birthday) and I am tossed back and forth several times an hour between "I can't wait!!" and "Who cares, not going to buy it!".

The reason for my ambivalence is my experience with Oblivion, mostly.

I was late to the party for Morrowind (my computer at the time could not play it, and by the time that I had a computer that did, I never got very far) so my experience with a good (according to reviews and players) Bethesda fantasy game is very limited.

Oblivion gave me the following:

• Really really stupid leveling system
• Shoddy 1st person melee combat (I never got a hang of it; I could only play archers or mages, since I always died in all fights using melee)
• Really really REALLY buggy
• Characters ugly as sin
• A world that didn't do anything for me but felt utterly "generic fantasy"

In contrast, I LOVE(d) both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, built on the same engine. The Fallout setting and world is just much more interesting, plus VATS makes the combat so much better.

I can't wait until they make a Fallout game with this game engine!!

On the other hand I really really love the look of the trailers etc!

Something tells me I will play this all weekend, but it might also be like Deus Ex: HR, which I liked, but not enough not to choose to play Dragon Age Origins or Mass Effect 2 instead (I played it halfway though Detroit and then found myself not wanting to save and quite DAO just to play DE:HR).

Well, the good news is that they appear to have taken all of the lessons they have learned in Fallout and applied them- as much as possible- to Skyrim. And it seems to have worked- the first review (leaked on the web) compares it to New Vegas, especially in terms of atmosphere and richness.

[Eldan]

Well, at least two of those concerns should be adressed, namely characters that aren't as ugly, and a levelling system that isn't as stupid. The story and setting will probably also be better, given that they put hte writers from Morrowind and Bloodmoon on this, both of which had a good story and interesting setting.

I mean, Bloodmoon took a setting that was "Ice, Vikings and Werewolves" and made it good.

[Avilan the Grey]

Well, the good news is that they appear to have taken all of the lessons they have learned in Fallout and applied them- as much as possible- to Skyrim. And it seems to have worked- the first review (leaked on the web) compares it to New Vegas, especially in terms of atmosphere and richness.

Ooooh Shiny!

[Gaius Marius]

What i really fear, it's that the game will end up being just "Fallout with swords". Man would the be a letdown. After all, it's Bethesda, right?


Oh, and I am 100% positive the blond woman in black leather is a Thieves Guild member. She literally stole my heart

[Tome]

What i really fear, it's that the game will end up being just "Fallout with swords". Man would the be a letdown. After all, it's Bethesda, right?

If "Fallout with Swords" is the worst thing that can happen, I think we're looking at a win-win situation here. Fallout is pretty good after all.

[Somebloke]

Four days.

Vegas and Fallout 3 both required entire days spent doing nothing but exploring and finding cool stories. I am really looking forward to this.

[Avilan the Grey]

But what to play, I wonder. What to play...

[Volthawk]

But what to play, I wonder. What to play...

Given how from what I've heard, you no longer choose a class, I'm not going to decide on playing any type of character in particular, and just go with how the game plays.

[Cespenar]

But what to play, I wonder. What to play...

Do the original and play the light armored swordsman with a knack for magic.

[Eldan]

And lock-picking skills.

Man. That's every one of my characters, ever.

[Gaius Marius]

If "Fallout with Swords" is the worst thing that can happen, I think we're looking at a win-win situation here. Fallout is pretty good after all.

I do hope you get the joke I was making..

"Oblivion with guns"?