Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Behind Behind The Scenes Of Skyrim

By John Walker on November 1st, 2011 at 5:12 pm.

It's just sad when dragons turn on each other.

“All of the little things are what we obsess over,” says a Bethesda developer in the new “behind-the-scenes” video. “Is that so?” I muse, wondering if that includes conversations this time out. Or menus. But take a look at some Bethsoft peeps chatting about why they’re just so gosh-darned excited about Skyrim, which unbelievably is out in only ten days.

Wait – that wasn’t the behind-the-scenes? That was a trailer for some extra in the collector’s edition no one is rich enough to buy? Ah well.

But gosh, the game does look bloody brilliant. Are you upping your PC to make sure you can play?

__________________

« | »

, , , .

116 Comments »

  1. 01/11/2011 at 17:15 Jumwa says:

    I just had to crank down Alice’s graphical settings to play that. I think Skyrim might be the title to push me to upgrade finally. Because not only do I need to play that, I need to play it with tons of mods. And mods demand more, more, MORE!

    • 03/11/2011 at 03:17 bill says:

      Note to PC gamers: You don’t HAVE TO play every game at maximum settings. That’s why there are settings. ;-)

    • 03/11/2011 at 03:32 MattM says:

      Indeed many games come with a few settings that offer a large performance hit for a minor increase in visual quality and are only suited for the latest cards. Examples are Ubersampling in Witcher 2, Dynamic DOF in Metro 2033, High sun-rays in Stalker:Clear Sky, and Ambient Occlusion in other gamers. Without these on, the games still look great and have much lower requirements. About 7-10 years ago “medium” settings usually were pretty ugly with low-poly models and no shadows. These days “medium” and “high” usually offer very a very good combination of performance and visual quality.

  2. 01/11/2011 at 17:16 Network Crayon says:

    Yeah looks pretty good, … what was all that stuff with people having lunch about?

  3. 01/11/2011 at 17:18 roethle says:

    I upgraded for the the witcher 2 so I should be good to go.

  4. 01/11/2011 at 17:20 Paul says:

    I really hope it has awesome atmosphere and good writing. I am not expecting Witcher 2 level of awesomeness here, but NV had good writing, if this could at least match that…

    • 01/11/2011 at 17:23 CaspianRoach says:

      NV was developed by Obsidian, TES series and Fallout3 were developed by Bethesda.

    • 01/11/2011 at 17:30 Paul says:

      I know that. Still, does not mean they could not match the quality.

    • 01/11/2011 at 19:57 anduin1 says:

      I just hope the story isn’t all hokey and lame like Oblivion’s was. The game had everything going for it except the story which was a bit of a bit of a letdown after the epic journey of Morrowind.

    • 02/11/2011 at 03:40 scatterbrainless says:

      Actually, less than the story it was the generico-fantasy art style and setting that really let Oblivion down. And also the terrible, terrible elder scrolls leveling mechanics, with endless incremental changes to skills, when all you really want is to be competent. Mushroom trees and giant fleas, please!

  5. 01/11/2011 at 17:20 MythArcana says:

    I hope this doesn’t turn out to be a linear boundary-wall-hugging console-fest like New Vegas or I’ll be terribly disappointed.

    • 01/11/2011 at 17:37 Gary W says:

      Hey, it’ll have unlimited dragons — we’re in good hands.

      Anyway, I suspect its flaws will be well-documented by reviewers a couple of years after next friday.

    • 01/11/2011 at 17:48 ResonanceCascade says:

      It’s Oblivion in the snow. Anyone who expects anything else is foolishly setting themselves up for disappointment.

      Oblivion in the snow sounds at least somewhat fun to me, so I’ll probably pick it up at some point though.

    • 01/11/2011 at 17:53 TillEulenspiegel says:

      I like to think of it as Oblivion Done Right (and also In The Snow), which isn’t a terrible thing.

      Especially if it’s heavily moddable.

    • 01/11/2011 at 18:57 Fiatil says:

      New Vegas is so damn linear I’ve had 6+ active side quests at all times and I keep finding so many that I can’t make time to beat the main quest!

    • 01/11/2011 at 19:36 Kent says:

      Some people seem to forget that the linearity were a strength in New Vegas. If you want nonlinear RPGs, go play Dungeons and Dragons.

    • 01/11/2011 at 20:07 anduin1 says:

      new vegas was linear? I mean maybe the start of the game kind of pushes you through a set path but once you hit new vegas, everything kind of explodes in any which direction

    • 01/11/2011 at 20:56 Zenicetus says:

      I don’t get the “NV was linear” comment either, unless the OP just didn’t bother noticing and following up on side quests.

      The pacing in NV was just about right for me. I didn’t do every possible side quest, but I did most of them. By the time I felt ready to end the game, the main plot had evolved to that point where the ending decision points were available, and final set pieces were triggered..

    • 01/11/2011 at 21:03 Was Neurotic says:

      “Oblivion in the snow!” :D

      I’m more hoping it’s going to be ‘Oblivion that actually runs stable and doesn’t crash every fifteen seconds because a butterfly in Swindon sneezed’, or even ‘Oblivion that doesn’t need 80mb+ fan patches and half a dozen utilities to make it run without constant crashing ffs’. THAT would be awesome.

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:01 DigitalSignalX says:

      Oblivion already had snow parts though. so it doesn’t hold up as well as “with guns” or “with vehicles.”

      - “with dragons” might work though.

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:19 stillwater says:

      I reckon TillEulenspiegel is on the money: “Oblivion done right” is probably a realistic thing to hope for.

      It won’t be mind-blowingly artistic, original, or innovative. But it will have the vastness and variety of Oblivion….with better combat, less repetitive dungeons, more voice actors, and bigger towns. That’s a good start.

      It most likely WILL have a truckload of bugs, a console-centric interface with huge fonts, and graphics that aren’t quite as good as your PC wishes they were. But hey, all things considered, it should be enough to make for a very engaging and fun, if occasionally frustrating, game.

    • 02/11/2011 at 01:59 MultiVaC says:

      Wait, people actually think New Vegas is linear? I thought the OP was being sarcastic.

  6. 01/11/2011 at 17:21 sneetch says:

    2:10 I love the chicken placement on the grey model.

  7. 01/11/2011 at 17:22 Aspongeinmauve says:

    I don’t think I’ll need to upgrade, the specs didn’t seem to steep. As long as the video options have lots of customisation I’ll be fine.

  8. 01/11/2011 at 17:26 frenz0rz says:

    If I can run Oblivion with super-high res texture mods and a bazillion other little mods, I can play Skyrim on full graphics. Right…?

    Honestly though, even with something as demanding as BF3 on a mid-spec machine, I’ve found you can work wonders by turning off things like ultra-quality shadows and motion blur (something that I’d turn off even if I could run it) and still have the game looking and running far better than the console equivalent.

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:26 food says:

      Motion blur: Like being drunk, minus all the fun.

    • 02/11/2011 at 00:23 Stephen Roberts says:

      Agweed. Motion still ain’t right and any chance to turn it off is taken by me. I think it’s because things don’t quite blur with motion, they streak. So the not-in-motion directions are still sharp but the in motion ones are stretched. Also there’s a slight bending thing going on. But in games it’s just RADIAL BLURR WHEEE!

      Ahem…

    • 02/11/2011 at 05:38 Ben Jokisch says:

      I want to enjoy motion blur.. I really do. It’s a great tech. But it always makes me feel like my movements are slightly delayed. Probably because the image is actually delayed. It works in movies, but in games I think individual object motion blur is as realistic as you need.

  9. 01/11/2011 at 17:27 povu says:

    The damn thing is what? 150 euros here in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe? I ordered the regular edition for 32 euros from amazon.co.uk, there’s no way I could justify paying almost 5 times as much for the game when all you get extra is a making of DVD, an artbook and a statue.

  10. 01/11/2011 at 17:32 hap says:

    My PC is still pretty solid even though it is a couple years old now with not much in the way of upgrades (other than an SSD). I’ll try it out before running out to buy a new video card but I’d really rather wait for Nvidia’s new lineup early next year.

  11. 01/11/2011 at 17:34 Dolphan says:

    Yeah, I bought a 6850 HD for this (BF3 is a plus, but primarily this).

    • 01/11/2011 at 17:50 TillEulenspiegel says:

      I’m seriously considering buying a 6850 or 6870 to replace my creaky old GeForce 9600GT.

      A little over €150 for an XFX Radeon HD 6870 is quite tempting. Or is it worth paying about €180 for 2GB of RAM?

    • 01/11/2011 at 18:02 wssw4000 says:

      I would rather wait for the new PCI-E 3 GPU’s to come out before upgrading. But that’s just me, and I upgraded my CPU/MBO recently so I’m ready in that regard.

    • 01/11/2011 at 18:26 TillEulenspiegel says:

      Yeah, I’m quite happy with my i7 920 / ASUS P6T and don’t plan on doing the big upgrade any time soon. Not sure that the PCI bus is a limiting factor until you get to crazy multi-monitor resolutions anyway.

      Southern Islands does sound like it could be quite a significant upgrade, though. Hm. Think I’ll hold off and see how Skyrim runs on my current GPU, then decide if I can wait a few months ’til the mid-range cards of the next generation are released.

    • 01/11/2011 at 18:58 Fiatil says:

      I just built a new PC with a 1 gig 6870 (170 americabucks) and it makes me extremely happy. Bring on Skyrim!

    • 02/11/2011 at 09:48 Dolphan says:

      I’m using a 19″ monitor so don’t need more than 1440×990 – the 6850 runs BF3 maxed out at that rez, smooth as you like, so I suspect anything more would have been overkill without a bigger monitor.

  12. 01/11/2011 at 17:38 Okami says:

    so, will it be turn based?

  13. 01/11/2011 at 17:41 Riotpoll says:

    I’m hoping my trusty Q6600 and HD4890 can cope, can’t really afford upgrades at the moment.

  14. 01/11/2011 at 17:51 Inigo says:

    “All of the little things are what we obsess over,”

    Like diagonal walking animations. OH WAIT

  15. 01/11/2011 at 17:53 Anders Wrist says:

    There’s also a leaked 30 minute-or-so, video of character creation and first gameplay out there. It’s from an Xbox though, so I’m not going to watch it.

  16. 01/11/2011 at 17:58 Stevostin says:

    This is XBox version right ? It really is ugly. Don’t think any systeme younger than 4 year old will have any trouble running at that level. Is there a top looking PC footage somewhere ? Because what’s in the trailer made me cry, 3D wise (I do like the art, thus).

    • 01/11/2011 at 18:01 povu says:

      Yep, all Xbox footage.

    • 01/11/2011 at 18:23 Stevostin says:

      Am I wrong or is there absolutely no PC footage available ? This doesn’t smell like a decent port :(

    • 01/11/2011 at 19:02 Fiatil says:

      I believe they’ve said they don’t want to mislead the consolites with the blinding light of Glorious PC version, so sadly all 360 footage so far.

    • 01/11/2011 at 19:13 2late2die says:

      @Stevostin I don’t they’re really making a port. From everything I’ve seen they’re making the game for consoles and PCs at the same time, not unlike Deus Ex:HR for example. In other words, it’s not like they first make xbox and then replace the UI with something for PC and be done with it. And what @Fiatil says make sense – look at BF3, they were showing PC footage all around, which was gorgeous, and when people saw it on xbox they were disappointed. Maybe Bethesda wanted to avoid that kinda thing. I for one am not worried about the PC version, I have every confidence it’s gonna be awesome.

      My PC should be able to handle this as I just recently upgraded my GPU, I just hope there won’t be some ATI drivers issues or some such crap. Come on AMD, it’s been years, why can’t you get your drivers right already.

    • 01/11/2011 at 19:52 AMonkey says:

      360 is the main platform then its ported/tweaked on PC/PS3. Don’t expect PC to be optimised or even UI appropriate based on the last 2 Bethesda games.

    • 01/11/2011 at 20:10 anduin1 says:

      with timed DLC and whatnot, its definitely geared toward the 360. I don’t imagine it will look way better until some skilled modders work on some texture packs and unit remodeling, basically doing Bethesda’s job for them for free.

    • 01/11/2011 at 21:05 Wubbles says:

      Doing Bethesda’s job for them? Bethesda isn’t obligated to suit you.

    • 01/11/2011 at 21:25 Stevostin says:

      Still, with the release day so close, no matter what’s the pipeline for PC dev or the communication plan… I find it very odd that no one has seen any PC footage at all.

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:32 stillwater says:

      I’m expecting the PC version to only be slightly better than the xbox version – extra AA, possibly some higher res textures, and not much else. If they had jaw-dropping PC graphics to show off, they would have shown them off by now.

      What I’ve seen so far looks pretty good – but certainly not cutting edge in any way.

    • 02/11/2011 at 00:19 Pointless Puppies says:

      It’s part of the reason why I went from “OMG BUY THIS DAY 1″ to “I’ll get around to it. Eventually” regarding Skyrim. Loved Oblivion, but frankly Bethesda’s complete negligence of the PC version of Skyrim, to the point where literally the only thing we know about it is the specs, doesn’t instill confidence in it being anything more than a lazy console port. And honestly, I don’t see ANY console port, not even the next iteration in a series as big as Elder Scrolls, deserving of a day-1buy for $60 (hello, mysterious $10 price hike for no reason).

      Besides, 75% of the reason why I liked Oblivion so much was its mods. No use in buying the game day-1 and wait for months for the good, meaty mods to come out.

    • 02/11/2011 at 12:14 tetracycloide says:

      Mysterious price hike for no reason? It’s called inflation. Stuff costs more than it used to.

  17. 01/11/2011 at 18:38 deadly.by.design says:

    The guy in the light blue shirt looks (and sounds) like a younger, brown-haired Steve Carel.

  18. 01/11/2011 at 19:05 TheBigBookOfTerror says:

    Well hopefully an upgrade won’t needed if the specs they released are accurate. I’m expecting it to run fairly well on medium-high settings.

  19. 01/11/2011 at 19:34 bitbot says:

    It’s not really a demanding game. My 2 year old computer exceeds the recommended specs so I’m good to go.

  20. 01/11/2011 at 19:46 vincini28 says:

    Spoiler alert in video: You can decapitate someone in a finishing move!

  21. 01/11/2011 at 19:58 Wulf says:

    Oh boy, the Bethesda fan boys are going to hate on me for this one. But… haters gonna hate.

    Anyway, that was actually a great way of further dehyping me. Oh my gosh, the marketing buzzwords. “Control your own game experience,” is about as sterile as it gets. They don’t sound that excited to me, they sound scripted. Carefully scripted.

    By comparison? Colin Johanson in the Guild Wars 2 Manifesto: “I swung a sword, I swung a sword again… hey-hey! I swung it again!! 8D That’s great.” He caught so much flak over that, but at least he, and Ree Soesbee sounded like they had so much passion for their work. It didn’t sound scripted at all, and that’s one thing that kills my interest. I don’t believe that these guys are at all interested in what they’re making. I’m sorry. They sound bored. Give me smiley Johanson any day of the week.

    Another thing? Cubicles. Why am I not surprised? All of the best working environments that have ever been put in videos have been sans cubicles, in an open environment. ArenaNet, Valve, and Cryptic as far as I recall. It just makes a difference, it means that you have people wandering past your desk all the time, looking at what you’re doing. It’s known as an “interruption driven” environment. A lot of my favourite developers boast about it.

    I’ll bet you Obsidian don’t do the whole cubicles office structure, either.

    See, with an open office structure it allows people to gather around and see things, it allows a bunch of people to just come up to a desk in an impromptu way and discuss ideas. It’s a very social environment, and to me it says that they’re enjoying what they do rather than “Eh, it’s just a job.” Yes, I recognise it’s a job, it’s always a job, but is it a job they enjoy? With ArenaNet, I get that feeling. See, watch the behind the scenes video at ArenaNet and you’ll see what I’m talking about. In fact, I’ll link some stuff at the bottom of this post.

    Even Toys for Bob (of StarCraft II and Skylanders fame) prefer an interruption-driven, open environment.

    I don’t know. This seems corporate, bored, and bland. I suspect that the game, much like Oblivion, will be boring, flat, and bland. I get no exuberance from these people. I get no faith in their work. They’re almost as bad as the hollow “I’m weeping on the inside.” DC Universe Online guys. Sheesh.

    I don’t know, this is just one of the reasons I dislike Bethesda. They’re boring people and they make boring games. Great toolsets! But I think of them more like Adobe than Obsidian, you know? They make the awesome shit that creative people do great–or even grand–things with.

    Guild Wars 2 Manifesto
    An ArenaNet Retrospective

    This has a lot to do with why I still love and admire ArenaNet. I always have, and I always will. But see, this is why you can tell the creative developers from the not so creative ones. With Bethesda, I think they’d be better off just not talking or showing their environment at all, because they just come over as incredibly bureaucratic. I’m sorry, but they do. A well oiled machine, and all that, sure. But that’s just not what I’m looking for from my games.

    I’m sure it’ll be really well polished, I’m sure it’ll be visually perfect, I’m sure it’ll have all the latest graphical effects, shaders, and doodads, I’m sure it’ll have high-poly models, I’m sure it’ll have decent physics, and I’m sure (thank the pantheons) that it’ll have be a great design kit. But again, it’s just an example of how to make a game. Not a particularly inspiring or brilliant one, either.

    That… that will be down to the mods.

    But yeah, haters are gonna hate over this, I’m sure. But to me, Bethesda’s stuff is always incredibly clinical, they take the humanity right out of it. Just think of any of the emotionless ‘conversations’ in Oblivion or Fallout and you’ll get what I mean. You have something like Portal 2, or New Vegas, and by comparison they are so alive (pun intended!). But eh.

    Maybe they’ll let Obsidian use this new engine? That’d be great.

    • 01/11/2011 at 20:04 Nalano says:

      Nice post, but like you said, you’re either preaching to the choir, or just playing a broken record.

    • 01/11/2011 at 20:08 Chris D says:

      Let me just check, you write an entire page of anti-Bethesda rant but you’re referring to other people as haters?

    • 01/11/2011 at 20:09 Prime says:

      And that was a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Anti-Bethesda Party.

    • 01/11/2011 at 21:13 Stupoider says:

      Well, if there’s anything I’ve learned following Oblivion and Fallout 3′s releases, it’s probably that I can’t trust Bethesda these days. Oblivion was shoddy, so was Fallout 3, everything about it feels weightless (probably something to do with the engine) and from the looks of things the engine’s still there. Textures have that annoying muddy sheen typical of Bethesda’s damp clay visuals.

      Can’t say the huge post here is a wise thing, Wulf, but you are pretty much right in what you’re saying. The video is full of buzzwords. It’s hype. Everyone’s hyped. The sceptics (I’d have thought Bethesda’s following would’ve been full of them at this point) aren’t easily noticeable over the excitement. And it feels like just before Oblivion’s release…

      I’m not being anti-Bethesda. I, and probably many others, are being anti-hype… and anti-bugs… and anti-naff physics… and anti-naff animation.

      And yes, Colin Johannson is great. WHAT A SMILE 8D

    • 01/11/2011 at 22:05 Raziel_Alex says:

      Wulf, as much as I appreciate you – from what you comment on RPS – you’re trying too hard, man. Cut it out a bit with the trw approach to video games and RPGs – which are also my favorite genre. For me, FNV was miles ahead of F3, that doesn’t mean Bethesda can’t do a decent game. It seems you’re just bent on criticizing Bethesda no matter what they do. I also want a Fallout 4.5 by Obsidian, but until then there are still great wonders in the world of video games to explore. Try to relax a little. Oh, and “haters gonna hate”? Well, what about you?

    • 01/11/2011 at 22:18 Fiatil says:

      Another fantasy RPG thread, another compendium composed “On The Merits of Guild Wars II”

    • 01/11/2011 at 22:25 Unaco says:

      If it was actually possible, I think Wulf has jumped the shark even f*cking more. Cubicles? Cubicles? Are you serious? They have cubicles so their game is sh*t. You sh*t all over them as game designers because of their office layout? They’re boring and bland and make boring and bland games because of the furniture they use.

      Your hatred and prejudice against Bethesda is disturbing Wulf… you seem to take EVERY Beth/SkyRim article as your cue to come and sh*t all over them and the people who play their games, and, at the same time, sing the praises for ArenaNet. You chose something petty and small (Cubicles) and use that as the basis of some elaborate attack on Bethesda. We get it… you prefer Guild Wars 2 to Skyrim. You don’t need to come and trumpet out the same hatred, and grasping at straws, every single Beth/Skyrim article.

      And don’t talk sh*t about “Bethesda fanbois are going to hate me for this”… you’ve just gone on a lengthy diatribe involving how terrible the game will be based on their Office layout. Who’s the ‘hater’ here?

    • 01/11/2011 at 22:35 Wubbles says:

      Maybe you should try playing the game. Even though “I saw a cubicle.” and ” Surprisingly, people who have said the same thing a million times a month are unenthusiastic when they say it again.” are unarguable proofs that Skyrim is bad, I think you might be making baseless judgements.

    • 01/11/2011 at 22:47 tetracycloide says:

      When every voice of dessent is labeled a ‘hater’ site unseen in both the introduction and conclusion discourse isn’t really on option now is it. Good thing for you that it isn’t since your two strongest poitns were ‘I don’t believe them’ and ‘cubicles.’ Weak stuff that and long winded to boot. What, you didn’t think anyone would rdad it long enough to notice you regurgitate the same point over and over stopping once briefly to laud ANet?

      For the record. I played several hundred hours of Guild Wars and Morrowind but found Oblivion to be uninteresting to the point that I put it down without finishing it and Skyrim has me worried and this is how your post sounded to me.

    • 01/11/2011 at 22:51 Fiatil says:

      Remember when Wulf insisted that Quinns was trolling with his New Vegas review? Well I’m now insisting that Wulf has to be a massive troll. At first you seemed like a decently reasonable if fairly eccentric guy, but now it’s completely ridiculous. There’s absolutely no way you’re serious when you launch into such epic diatribes in every single damn fantasy news post that goes up.

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:01 iucounu says:

      Ladies and Gentlemen, ‘Cubicles’.

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:23 stillwater says:

      And yawners gonna yawn.

      *yawn*

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:30 food says:

      How does one masturbate at the office if there are no cubicles? I think you may be an enemy of fun.

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:42 Raziel_Alex says:

      @food
      You’re not being creative enough. What about collective masturbation? Fun for the whole office.
      Jokes aside, I wonder how much would this actually relieve stress at the workplace…

    • 02/11/2011 at 00:07 Kaira- says:

      Wulf, I am disappointed. You only managed two paragraphs before mentioning Guild Wars II.

    • 02/11/2011 at 04:23 Davie says:

      You see, I think what people are trying to say is that you can only make the same pessimistic predictions and hasty assumptions a certain number of times before people will stop respecting your opinion and tell you to just shut up and play the damn game before you open your mouth again.

    • 02/11/2011 at 04:47 Madlukelcm says:

      Cubicles? Are you taking the piss lol?

    • 02/11/2011 at 07:50 apocraphyn says:

      An awfully long diatribe saying awfully little. Try to be more concise, Wulf. Your posts are (unintentionally) humourous, but very lacking in actual content.

      I have no love for Bethesda. The video was quite clearly “HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE” – something that you have admitted the Guild Wars 2 team have been at fault for. However, there was no need for such an amateurish attack upon the company. They’re at fault for how their office is organised? That’s a weak argument. (This is coming from someone who works within an “interruption driven” vidyagame craftin’ environment).

      I give you a D-.
      C+ for effort!

    • 02/11/2011 at 08:06 Kleppy says:

      Haha oh man, never change Wulf. Never change. Your Dragon Age meltdown a couple years back was one of the most hilarious (and at the same time quite sad) things I’ve ever read on the internet, and you still use your own “I’m a special snowflake haters gonna hate” schtick from back then. Kudos good sir.

    • 02/11/2011 at 08:36 Hidden_7 says:

      “Haters gonna hate” is a thing that lazy and un-self-aware people say so that they may continue being lazy and un-self-aware. And I generally like you, Wulf, I just loath that phrase (because I’m a loather, so it’s what I’ll do), and find it to be the herald of the un-self-critical and banal.

      The next time you (this goes for everyone!) feel like saying that, instead don’t, and then think about why you felt you needed to say that.

      “Don’t hate the player, hate the game” is another one that should never be said either, but I don’t see anyone on RPS using that one, y’all are just too classy.

    • 02/11/2011 at 11:33 Tribunal says:

      Isn’t it interesting how many different opinions there are about the same thing? When it comes to games, it is no different: some people like the game, and some don’t. So the question is: who is correct then? Whose opinion reflects the truth? Who has come to the most objective conclusion about something? For some time now I tend not to answer to these questions anymore for one simple reason – the fact that many things are relative, and their values are dependent on always different interaction between a particular person and those things.

      For example: I played Morrowind and enjoyed it; I played Oblivion and enjoyed it. Actually, I first played Oblivion and thought how good that game is. Then I played Morrowind, and saw that Oblivion wasn’t “nearly” as good as it’s predecessor. And so my opinion regarding those two games would be that Morrowind is almost in every aspect better than Oblivion. However, note that this is my opinion, and not necessarily the opinion of millions of others who have played the game. So how can I be sure that I’m correct, that Morrowind is truly better than Oblivion? The answer is: I can’t be sure in such thing, and actually it doesn’t even matter. It doesn’t matter because I (and every other person on the world) am unique, so it is impossible to have the same opinion. And why would I even argue about the question is this game better than some other, when there will always be someone who won’t agree with me, and I actually can’t prove that someone is wrong? (Does anyone understand the “flow” of my thoughts?) Because, that someone had his/her experience regarding the particular game, and made (unconsciously) his altitude towards it as good or bad, and since it is his/her experience, and not mine, it is futile to use arguments to convince him otherwise. This is why so many people find it enjoyable to play some particular game, despite possible millions of others who don’t. And can I blame someone because he is having fun with a game I find uninteresting, boring, repetitive, emotionless, linear and what not? So if people at Bethesda are of a “boring class”, does that give me the right to frown at them? Or hate them (and I’m not saying you hate them)? Are they guilty for being “boring”, for being what they are? Should they change themselves just so I would have a good opinion about them, just so I would find them interesting? Is it necessary to be someone else other than yourself to achieve great and unexpected things?

      What if 15 million people out there find that TESV: Skyrim is the best game they have ever played, and I find it boring and unimaginative, how will I prove them wrong, when we are different (this sounds to me like I’m writing a philosophical essay here…), and so our experiences about the same thing are different too, and in the end our conclusion and altitude will differ?

    • 02/11/2011 at 14:11 Urthman says:

      “open office structure”

      Spoken like a non-programmer. Open office structure *might* be a good idea for artists and designers, but to put a programmer in an environment like that is just asking for bugs and basically tacking an extra year or two onto your development time.

    • 02/11/2011 at 14:23 Apples says:

      @Urthman: In what way does an open office structure contribute to bugs!? I’m baffled by that statement, and don’t give me the “You’re not a programmer” line, because I am one.

    • 02/11/2011 at 19:30 Code_wizard says:

      I’m a programmer, and I love my cubical. That is all.

    • 03/11/2011 at 00:25 Dark_Oppressor says:

      Apples: Well, Wulf refers to it as an “interruption driven” environment. When you are coding (at least, this is how it works for me and I believe many others), you are holding lots of little things in your short-term memory about what you are working on. Whenever you get interrupted, you lose some of those things, as other random junk from the interruption gets logged in your short-term memory. It breaks your flow of concentration, and you basically have to start over after the interruption, logging details about what you are currently working on in short-term memory and kind of “getting up to speed” again. An “interruption driven” environment sounds like you would spend most of your time trying to remember what you were doing, and you would never get a chance to get in the zone. Sounds hellish!

  22. 01/11/2011 at 20:08 Prime says:

    Ok. Ok. Enough.

    The video did nothing much for me – just another soulless exercise in clinical hype building – but my desire for the game has grown so great I am now off to break my iron-clad “Never Pre-order” rule. Bugs or no – I want to be playing Skyrim on the 11th!

  23. 01/11/2011 at 20:11 Bluebreaker says:

    Short version of ALL Behind The Scenes:
    “It was hard work but worth it. “

  24. 01/11/2011 at 20:13 Jams O'Donnell says:

    My PC was recently embiggened out of a general need for embiggening so I should be good to go. At least, provided that I can save up enough goodwill with my wife for her to leave me in peace while I play it, that is.

  25. 01/11/2011 at 20:31 Surgeon says:

    I’m really looking forward to Scrolls, it looks amazing!

  26. 01/11/2011 at 21:50 Sardukar says:

    Hmm. I’m still looking forward to Skyrim, but this, ugh. It -does- feel like just before Oblivion. I look forward to watching two giant NPCs battle it out for the resolvement of my story! Again!

    Also, the same core team for ten years? All is clearer. No -wonder- these games feel like shinier versions of Morrowind, writing and depth traded away for slickness and song. It’s the same people!
    Kinda tough to evolve a game, I’d think.

    At least New Vegas – Skyrimstyle- will be good.

    • 02/11/2011 at 22:06 Fiatil says:

      (if they had changed their team radically) No wonder the writing and atmosphere have fallen off so much! They have an entirely new team!

      (they keep the same team since Morrowind) No wonder the writing and atmosphere have fallen off so much! They’re getting complacent and stale!

  27. 01/11/2011 at 22:03 MrTrent says:

    I just built a nice new computer to play this game on.

    Intel core i5-2500k, 8gb ram and geforce gtx 570. Bring on teh pretties!

  28. 01/11/2011 at 23:12 denizsi says:

    It’s sad when you need to upgrade to be able to run a game that already looks like sheet five years old at the time of its release to get the best experience.

    • 01/11/2011 at 23:55 food says:

      There’s no ‘need to upgrade’, it’s an excuse to buy a 560 and a convenient story to tell the wife. It’s how you successfuly retain man-child hobbies and a healthy marriage.

    • 02/11/2011 at 01:43 TillEulenspiegel says:

      I really don’t understand what could be going wrong in your brain that would make you think Skyrim’s graphics are in any way comparable to those of games from 2006. I’ll let you go as far as 2007, with stuff like STALKER, The Witcher, CoD4, and Mass Effect.

      You maybe want to look at some screenshots or videos, is what I’m saying. And name an old-ish game that looks anything like Skyrim, so I can make fun of you for not seeing the huge differences.

  29. 01/11/2011 at 23:28 Dath says:

    Skyrim will be decent at first, then become awesome over time with mods. The way it always is with Bethesda games.

  30. 02/11/2011 at 01:04 Arglebargle says:

    Interesting PR move: The live action Skyrim trailer was shown on Sunday night NFL football. High dollar ad placement.

  31. 02/11/2011 at 03:44 lobsta21 says:

    The team looked tired. There might be other work places that are open style for them to use. I have been waiting for this game and it’s mods. 3 more months till the game is ready to play on a pc.I’m tired of diving into .cfg files to make a game’s fov and lod work but overall am happy to have the PC game to mod. My friends are looking at their games on little 4 inch screens while the big rigs rust at home. An omen, perhaps.

  32. 02/11/2011 at 03:56 liquid07 says:

    Ok lets get In the mood,

    I love this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOL-0KmCXOg&feature=related
    Theres a ton more in the related videos on the right.

    Everyone knows this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3kV1QqQIDM&feature=related

    Soooo relexing : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrSwdwpr7PI&feature=related

    Personaly I cant wait for Skyrim to chill out too, Im a little tired of the endless murder In BF3, not bored just a little brunt out as all I have done is play from it came out.

  33. 02/11/2011 at 04:32 Davie says:

    Well, I broke my new card in on The Witcher 2, which was just about its limit, so Skyrim should be a breeze.

    I wish they’d just release the documentary for free though. It’s so very…corporate to sell a video of the developers pretending to be enthusiastic for an hour. Regardless, the game looks boss, and I shall continue to count the days until I can make good on my preorder.

  34. 02/11/2011 at 07:03 Bweahns says:

    Game doesn’t look anywhere near as good as The Witcher 2 and the draw distances are really terrible to look at. I’m hoping that was console footage. My crossfired 5850′s maxed the Wticher 2 out at 60fps so this won’t make them break a sweat. Looking forward to playing it!

  35. 02/11/2011 at 08:44 Xaromir says:

    Sounds like someone is mad for not being able to afford the CE. Why is it such a big deal to some?

  36. 02/11/2011 at 08:50 Gandhi says:

    2:01 – Dragon on Dragon action!!!

  37. 02/11/2011 at 09:07 Hmm-Hmm. says:

    I can’t comprehend why people are saying it’s bad. Were you around ten years ago? Even if the game doesn’t have excellent graphics by today’s standards, it still looks good in my eyes. But to everyone their opinion, I suppose.

    Also, gameplay-wise, if Bethesda even fall short of what one might have expected/wanted, it’s still laudable that they make these kinds of games. And the more they make these the more they might just get better at it.

  38. 02/11/2011 at 11:19 Davee says:

    I’ll be upping myself a new GPU soon, both for better BF3 performance and Skyrim of course.

  39. 02/11/2011 at 11:58 Saiko Kila says:

    “Are you upping your PC to make sure you can play?”
    Are you kidding? Upgrading my PC for a port destined to over 6 years old technology? I know the footage is from xbox, but don’t suppose the PC version will be looking better. So there’s absolutely no need for upgrade. Apart…

    Apart from possible case of total un-optimization.

    Bethesda should learn from makers of Two World 2 about optimization, because all Bethesda games have issues with this. And they always use ugly, low resolution textures on top of that – this can’t be judged based on youtube videos of course, but it hurts when experienced directly, on proper monitor. Also, they have one game in their portfolio (actually developed by Obsidian, but based on Bethesdas engine) which looks worse than its predecessor.

  40. 04/11/2011 at 08:20 spongthe1st says:

    There are only two things which concern me about Skyrim.

    1) Will the melee combat be rubbish? Oblivion’s melee was dull and boring. I’m after dynamic and rewarding combat. Finishers might not be enough here, we know they’ve upped the lethality of bow shots in-line with that awesome Oblivion mod – I’d like to see the same in close quarters – quick, brutal and lethal – but ultimately satisfying. It needs to be visceral and connect you with what you’re doing – not to feel like you’re smacking an unresponsive mannequin until they collapse.

    2) With some of the more recent videos I’m starting to worry the skills and level system will essentially mold every player into the same swordsman/bowman/mage hybrid unless you really make efforts to kick against it and play a specific way. Not a major concern perhaps, but there it is.

Comment on this story

XHTML: Allowed code: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Respond to our gibber

Read our finest words

The Flare Path: Elegant Elefanticide

Search for clues

Play indie, mods, demos

Browse the archive