SKYRIM HYPE THREAD: UNDEAD CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE DRAGON'S SOUL

If you don't know what The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is, know this: it is game where you fight dragons and can raise an army of undead chickens. Or undead elk. Or undead elves. Or undead anything-but-dragons. You don't need a dragon to be risen, because you have the power of the dragons - shouting FUS! in the dragon tongue will blast foes away; shouting FUS RO DAH! will make fanboys cream their Stormcloak Tunic.

This is not a thread about Skyrim info, although if it gets you hot and bothered, feel free to share it (hiding spoilers as necessary). If you have any questions, ask me - I'm somewhat obsessed and know a lot.

If you hated Oblivion, you'll probably still like Skyrim. Just watch this video on the voice acting and music:


If you don't think that I'm excited, please view the below decoration I made for my door a few weeks ago:



GET PUMPED.
11/11/11

= Max McGee
I've got questions:

* Crossbows
* Throwing Knives
* Spears

Tell me, please, that these things from Morrowind are returning!

Additionally, are the classic 12 actors really not returning?

Any tragic deletions from Oblivion, like races, other character options, etcetera? I'm seeing an awful lot of Nords in these videos.

Weapon types are not returning, although spears have been mentioned as DLC.
(Minor spoiler in terms of "story," but major in terms of "holy fuck this is awesome:" Returning from Morrowind are...)


As for the voice actors, there are now over seventy.

Deletions (not necessarily tragic) from Oblivion:
-Weapon/Armor degradation (now you upgrade your armor and weapons via smithing ores and types of leather together; basically, equipment always has a base value, but now if you are skilled, you can improve it further. Bonus-based design, instead of punishment-based design)
-Spellcrafting. BUT: now, every spell is extremely purposeful and useful; I think you'll be excited by the various perks for magic. Also, enchanting is still in and even more involved/accessible (as in, it is now its own skill)
-Mysticism as a skill - all of the spells are still available, except possibly Telekinesis (but we've seen plenty of other really cool spells, don't worry - necromancy, metal transmutation, etc.). Mysticism spells have simply been moved to other schools of magicka
-Mercantile (now a Speechcraft perk)
-Stats in general. I love the new Health/Magicka/Stamina system; Stamina lets you sprint and increases carry weight, so all classes can still respect it. Also, seriously now: the game has 18 skills that are effectively stats

The reason you see so many Nords is a very conscious decision on the dev team's part. Skyrim is the home of the fucking Nords, so the dev team did two things: one, made each race much more identifiable (Imperials are now more latino-looking, fitting their back-to-Roman stylings, for example), and two, focused heavily on Nord mythology. All ten of the main races exist in Skyrim, but it is Nord country. My time on streams has shown some interesting racial dynamics, such as people questioning a Dunmer as a Housecarl (bodyguard/knight-commander) to the Jarl (governor) of Whiterun. This is not Cyrodiil, the heart of the Tamriel; it is not a racial mixer any more. Still, no races were removed.


More hype-o-rama: the full Skyrim theme. It's like Call of Magic (probably very purposeful, the dev team is basically saying a lot of "please ignore Oblivion's existence kthnx"), but with thirty men chanting and layered to sound like a ninety-man barbarian chorus. Also, the "heartbeat" is at the end instead of the start, but hey, it's still there.

DFalcon
Please tell me that the Speechcraft minigame is dead (or at least somehow now decent).

It's now percentage-success checks a la Fallout 3. You build Speechcraft by talking to people and buying/selling; it's merged with Mercantile.

Skyrim OT was put up on NeoGAF, at 11:11am EST (also known as Bethesda Coast Time).

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=450948

kentona
I hated Morrowind and so never tried Oblivion. What does that make Skyrim to me?

What did you hate about Morrowind?

That's about all the time I gave Morrowind, too.

Skyrim gives you direction, an established conflict (that you can choose to ignore, but is immediately presented), and battles are about 10% less awkward.

As for first-person perspective, they greatly improved third-person for Skyrim, but I'm drawn to the series due to the first-person, so... I'm biased. Other people have been playing pirated editions entirely in third-person and enjoying it, so there you go.