I can’t help myself; this game cannot fart online without me hearing about it or wanting to smell it. Eeew. Gross analogies aside, a Dutch magazine, called Power Unlimited, has a four page spread on The Elder Scrolls V. That article has a load of new information, which is a refreshing change from Game Informer’s apparent monopoly on Skyrim details.
The magazine has been translated and the best bits have been flung onto the internet for the world to ogle. The source of the translation seems to be from a Bethesda forums post, which outlines the best parts of the article but does not translate the entire thing. Naturally, the article included an extensive interview with Bethesda man Todd Howard.
There will be no level cap for characters in Skyrim, but you will not be able to get every perk available. Game Informer previously mentioned that you would be able to combine two different spells; one in each hand. This has since been denied by Bethesda, who said “it becomes much more complex. Maybe we will implement this thing, but for the time being, ‘No’â€.
The game world will be roughly the size of Oblivion’s and will feature 5 cities and 130 dungeons. All dungeons’ levels will be capped to correspond to the level of your character at the time of your first visit. For example: if you explore a cave at level 10, then the creatures in that cave will be locked at level 10 for the rest of the game. Fast traveling between discovered locations will make a return.
The dragon encounters will be somewhat equivalent to the Oblivion Gate encounters from The Elder Scrolls IV. However, Bethesda has emphasised that the dragon encounters are not a prominent narrative feature as the Oblivion Gates were; this was done so as to avoid players feeling as if they were wasting their time on “useless questsâ€. Your character will get stronger with each dragon killed as a part of the creature’s soul will join with yours. This, presumably, will add to the Dragon Shout vocabulary discussed in a previous post.
The inventory system has been overhauled and every item you pick up is now a 3D model that can be rotated and looked at from all angles in your inventory screen. The article revealed that some puzzle solving will require players to analyse inventory items for clues in order to progress. Furthermore, the history books, stories and documents that you encounter will be read as 3D books and not flat text windows that pop-up on screen.
Howard also revealed that the main quest should take upwards of twenty hours to complete, but the numerous side quests will add hundreds of hours onto the average game time. Other snippets of information include a confirmation that the Dark Brotherhood will be returning and that Kinect will not be supported. Thanks goodness for that.
Source: VG247
Last Updated: January 26, 2011
