The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[pg]

[pg]

thought i'd bump this with a link to some really good scans. so good in fact you have no problem reading all the text too. these scans have all the pages from the article except one i think(which the 2nd). there's even a blurb about fallout 3 which i think has already been mentioned here. enjoy.

http://www.desertvalleyglass.com/dvgs/pic.htm

[Nostromo]

Nice

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
Though you may critize their forum, it's actually incredibly intellegent for a forum with a lot of console gamers.

hey! us console gamers are not all 10 years old



but yeah i used to visit(and partake in the 'old game' sections for daggerfall/arena etc) the elderscrolls forums, the 'morrowind' forum was just too scary after being used to this place

[pg]

why should it take so much processing power? if it's done well it should work. lots of games do stuff like they are talking about and do it fine. the only problem i can really think of is trying to do many NPCs at once which probably won't work. if they make the simulation too complex it won't work either. it needs to be fairly simple yet interesting like eu2 or hardwar.

[LDiCesare]

why should it take so much processing power? if it's done well it should work.

You wrote the answer. It may not be done well. It's quite hard to do performant software when you are not experienced. It's however something that you can work upon and improve at any time in the development phase, so there is hope.
The number of characters is quite irrelevant to performance. A few million can probably be handled at reasonable speed by any modern computer, and most of those thousands of characters can be 'cached' and not be doing anything in memory while the character is not nearby, thus not using computing power. What worries me is the graphics. If only they would give real dumbed-down graphics options! I had trouble running Morrowind, I'm pretty sure Oblivion wouldn't run on my current computer.

[EPW]

Bethesda has officially announce the game:

Rockville, MD) October 22, 2004 -- Bethesda Softworks LLC, a ZeniMax Media company, today announced that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion™ is currently in development for PC and future generation consoles. In development since 2002, Oblivion is another leap forward in role-playing with its combination of freeform gameplay and cutting-edge graphics. Oblivion is the sequel to the best-selling, award-winning role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind®, named 2002 RPG and Game of the Year for both PC and Xbox.

"Since starting this project two years ago, our goal has been to create the quintessential RPG of the next generation," said Todd Howard, executive producer of The Elder Scrolls® series. "We looked back at what we had done with the series, and then looked ahead to what the future of video games could be, and we think this is it."

In keeping with the Elder Scrolls tradition, players will have the option to experience the main quest at their own pace, and there will be plenty of opportunities to explore the vast world and make your own way. Numerous factions can be joined, such as the thieves or mages guilds, and each contains its own complete storyline and the chance to rise to the head of the faction and reap further rewards.

Howard commented, "Our games have always been about great depth and variety in creating any kind of character you want and going out and doing whatever you want." He added, "With Oblivion, we're taking the idea of a virtual fantasy world as far as it will go."

Oblivion features a groundbreaking new AI system, called Radiant AI, which gives non-player characters (NPCs) the ability to make their own choices based on the world around them. They'll decide where to eat or who to talk to and what they'll say. They'll sleep, go to church, and even steal items, all based on their individual characteristics. Full facial animations and lip-synching, combined with full speech for all dialog, allows NPCs to come to life like never before.

Oblivion is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel's capital province, Cyrodiil. You are given the task of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty, the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown assassin. With no true Emperor, the gates to Oblivion (the equivalent of hell in the world of Tamriel) open, and demons begin to invade Cyrodiil and attack its people and towns. It's up to you to find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_overview.htm

[EPW]

Another article:

Todd Howard, Executive Producer

Last month we revealed that our next game is indeed, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. And information is starting to flow on just what we've been up to. So, what have we been up to?

(Quick sidebar so you won't miss this below -- Oblivion is larger than Morrowind. Ok, read on now.)

Well, we started the project soon after Morrowind, and our team was split into two groups -- one working on technology for Oblivion, and one working on expansion packs. The Oblivion group was mostly comprised of programmers and the expansion team mostly artists and designers. But we were still one big Elder Scrolls team. We were also fortunate to add a lot of new talent during this time as our profile as a strong developer grew. After the expansions were done (Tribunal and Bloodmoon) the entire staff was full steam ahead on Oblivion.

The first thing we do when we start a game like this is say -- "What did the fans like about the last game? What do they want improved?" Over the years we've gotten thousands of letters from you all, and we can't thank you enough. Yes, we read them all. Our forums are an endless source of inspiration to us. From Arena to Daggerfall to Morrowind, we've had the best fans you could ask for over the last 10 years. They're smart, engaged, and full of wild excitement. Keep it up.

But there is a key part of this plan that has guided The Elder Scrolls every time we do a new one, and that is "Reinvention." You see, even though each game has been a sequel to the last game, our goal is to always make a new game that stands on its own, that has its own identity. Even down to the naming of them, our games are generally known by their single name, and not their numbered sequence. How do we create the definitive "RPG for the Next Generation?" Not just in terms of technology -- but how it plays?

We go back to the main theme of the series -- "Live another life, in another world" -- and think about how we can make that come alive for the next game. To simply add onto Arena would never have yielded Daggerfall, and to add onto Daggerfall would never have yielded Morrowind. To present the best game we can each time, we must reinvent it for the next generation of hardware and gameplay.

So we reach all the way back to Arena, see what worked then. Replay Daggerfall -- what worked well there, and of course Morrowind. We then look at what games of the future could do. Not just RPGs, but what could any game do? What are the key elements that make a great RPG and how can they be done in the future?

There is not a single system that has not gone through a change. Combat, dialogue, exploration, magic…you name it. That change could be a small tweak, major addition, or major deletion. Tweaks include things like rebalancing the skills to get better class progression. Major additions include all new AI, forests, combat, mounts, and more. One major deletion is thrown items and crossbows.

What!!?? No thrown items and crossbows? Hear me out here, because it will let you into our thought process. When we look at characters that like to do ranged combat, they mostly want to use bows and arrows. So instead of doing many types of ranged combat, we decided to stick with bows and arrows -- but -- it's a grand implementation of bows and arrows. You feel the string draw, arrows arc properly, bounce realistically, and stick deep into the right materials. You can see the quiver on your back and type of arrows you have and there are tons of different bows and arrow types. So we trade having several types of ranged combat done in an average way, and get bows done in a grand way.

One major assumption everyone makes when we do a new Elder Scrolls game is that it will be small. Everyone thought this about Daggerfall and Morrowind as well when we talked about them "being more focused." No Elder Scrolls game will ever be small. Ever. We make 'em big folks. We super-size them. Why? This is a question everyone asks us, "Why make them so damn big? You could make it small and most people still wouldn't finish it."

My answer is this -- For the time you did play it, it wouldn't be as fun. The Elder Scrolls is about choice -- player choice to do what you want in any way you want. You need a certain amount of size and choices so that experience is actually meaningful.

Now, we do change scale in each game, because certain things you do cause the game to flow differently. Even though Morrowind is about 0.0001% the landmass of Daggerfall, the way you play it makes it feel even richer. Oblivion's landmass is larger than Morrowind's, but you can fast travel around much easier. It still has Morrowind's feel of open exploration, but Arena's feel of ease of travel and, well, it's more fun.

So what do we actually mean when we say Oblivion is more focused? The quests and NPCs are more focused. Are there less NPCs and quests than Morrowind? Yes, but still too many to count. If we hadn't told you, you'd probably never notice. This is still a game measured in the hundreds of play hours. We're trying to stay away from mindless filler (something, Ok, we've been guilty of in the past) and create quests and NPCs that are dynamic, alive, and more engaging than anyone's seen.

I could go on and on for 100 pages here, because the depth of Oblivion and our excitement to bring it to all of you is huge. You'll start seeing more and more info about the game in the press everywhere and on elderscrolls.com. We'll do our best to create the best game we can for you.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/codex/team_rpgnextgen.htm

[BustaMike]

"NPCs can make choices on their own such as stealing..."



I can only imagine how that is going to end up breaking the game. Undoubtedly, some NPC is going to try and jack something that it's not supposed to and either #1 the NPC will be a vital character and will get itself killed, or #2 the NPC will steal a quest item and you'll never find it, or #3 any other game breaking possibility.

I'll probably pick this game up, but I fully expect to totally break the game at least 5 times while I'm playing.

[pg]

BustaMike: might be true but for some reason I'm thinking I'll have more fun with mechanics like that then Morrowind's lifeless world. I can see it now - griefing main quest characters by getting them robbed or insert other indirect NPC action you can influence here. Sounds fun.

another link - http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-elder-s.../558955p1.html

Their hype machine is in overdrive! They are saying just what I want to hear though which is more than most hype.

[Barinthus]

BustaMike - a valid point there. Who knows, developers are smart enough to flag vital NPC to not steal so they will not become a target for the upset player. Or perhaps there will be a way to steal it back or negiotate it back. We can only wait and see.

[child of Thor]

It might just be restricted to non-essential items(like your gold for example), hmmm that might actualy help with what to me was one of Morrowinds big balance problems; the ammount of money you could amass very easily. The whole way money worked in the game just seemed pretty unbalanced, from how much you could get to how you couldn't find ways to sell some things as they were worth too much - it all just felt abit unimportant, you never worried about money and that had the effect for me of never making me care much about things like getting the next best weapon/armour etc - which spoilt the sense of achievment in some ways

So having thieves steal your money might be a way to start to make money more valuable?

[LDiCesare]

Stealing key items works fine in other games. For instance in NetHack, the Wizard of Yendor often steals the amulet from the High Priest of Moloch, and later on, after some resurrections, from you if you don't kill him fast. I can't see this being a problem. It would, in fact, be a very good thing if you came to a place and the bad guy told you "You're too late, XXX already stole it".

[pg]

I'm seeing mostly positives in all the new gameplay features. The more fleshed out the world is the better I think I will enjoy the game.

one of Morrowinds big balance problems; the ammount of money you could amass very easily. The whole way money worked in the game just seemed pretty unbalanced, from how much you could get to how you couldn't find ways to sell some things as they were worth too much - it all just felt abit unimportant, you never worried about money and that had the effect for me of never making me care much about things like getting the next best weapon/armour etc - which spoilt the sense of achievment in some ways

Daggerfall handled money much better but it still wasn't that great. In Daggerfall you had carts(to hold tons of loot), ships(cost 50k+ iirc), houses(cost 100k-1million+ iirc), banks(to do what banks do), and stores that sold pretty much anything and bought anything. I had fun just making enough money to buy up real estate which was very possible in Daggerfall.

Money and items in Daggerfall and Morrowind were worth about the same amount but since Daggerfall had unlimited random content you could always find more. So in the long run you made much more money in Daggerfall. Which meant you ended up with the same problem of having nothing to spend it on though in the short term you had more expensive items you could buy.

There is lots of ways they could fix this - taxes, guilds needing money for stuff(buildings, weapons, etc), or the most obvious adding destruction into the game so you'd have to use money to rebuild/remake certain stuff. The game is automatically unbalanced in regards to money if there are no permanent and reoccuring money sinks. EU2 is a good example, it's simple but is fun. You just spend money on your army, diplomacy, manufactories and colonies but since those can be taken away from you or destroyed you always need to buy something.

If say in Oblivion once you become head of a guild you'd have to finanace guild operations that'd be a big money sink if guilds actually do anything more than hand out quests this time around. If guilds just fought over a few resources(say owership of shops or influence at court) you'd be continually spending money to outfit assassins, soldiers, thieves, etc. Doubt we will see this but with their "living world" hype it could be possible.

So having thieves steal your money might be a way to start to make money more valuable?

I don't think so. It's just more a neat feature. Unless it's very well done, meaning you won't catch the thief most of the time, it'll probably end up being easy money for the player when he kills the thief and takes their stuff.

[child of Thor]

Good points pg

Its one of those hard choices - i think we players wanted to be able to find stuff on vanquished enemies. In the old days of rpgs, most games would randomise what you would find. And it could be frustrating after a really tough encounter, where your opponant had great armour and was using a great weapon, when you killed them you just got a few copper peices or maybe nothing at all!!
Still it was a thrill in Daggerfall to find the defeated characters equipement(it wasn't 100% accurate all the time if i remember). And having such expensive things like property/ships did go some way to trying to solve the problem brought up by this - but not in the long run, you always had pleanty of spare cash.

For me the game i found made it most challangeing, and nearly got it about perfect, was the 'Alternate Reality' series of games by phillip price that came out in the mid 80's on the Atari 8bits.

It did use the old school way of randomising what was found after an encounter, but it did seem to work out quite well, how good a 'prize' you found depended on your defeated enemy. For example if you defeated a noble - you usualy found alot of gold/silver/jewels. If it was a pauper - you'd be lucky to find anything, maybe a bit of food etc.

And money was always an issue - you needed it for food/drink and shelter each night(or stay outside and face the denizines of the night!!).
The off shoot of this was that when i eventualy managed to get my first bits of armour and a decent sword etc, it felt like a great achievment and connected me with my character much more

This is something that, for example, IMO the Elderscrolls games could do with borrowing an example from as for me not haveing a real challange to obtaining money did spoil it for me to some extent, although its not stopped them becoming some of my favourite games

I'm just sad that this new version is only next-gen consoles and (probably) a more powerfull pc than i'll have in a while