Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Skyrim Tests: Skeletal Horses, Giant Enemy Mudcrabs

By Craig Pearson on February 9th, 2012 at 9:57 am.

John said he couldn't look at the giant crab, so I'm putting it right on the front page of his site. Tee-hee. Fus Ro My! This is the second Skyrim video of the day that’s had me all wibbly. Bethesda‘s Todd Howard was on stage at the Dice Summit yesterday, and talked about an internal, company-wide gamejam Bethesda held: the Skyrim team took a week off from carving out individual fork tines and working out the perfect cloud wisp equation to make whatever they wanted for Skyrim. There’s no guarantee we’ll get to play with the results, but the buildable houses with skeletal butlers, Thief-style water arrows, combination spells, mahoosive Mudcrabs, and much more all look amazing. I’m considering starting a Kickstarter that’ll fund my trip to sit outside Bethesda for a month holding a sign that just reads: “Do It!”. Video is, you know, down there.

I can do without the music, though.

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133 Comments »

  1. 09/02/2012 at 10:00 Eich says:

    Y U no work in germany, damn video?

  2. 09/02/2012 at 10:03 Cirius says:

    Now the Steam Workshop is out, there’s really no reason for Bethesda to not make some, if not all of this available to people.

    Not everyone will like these little tweaks, but why on earth not release them as optional extras?

    • 09/02/2012 at 10:08 TheApologist says:

      +1

      I understand if something is held back specifically for DLC, but otherwise, why not? I would choose to have most of this stuff in the game.

    • 09/02/2012 at 10:09 Sheng-ji says:

      +2

      Pretty much all of that looks amazing, as long as they are all fully realised not just done enough for those clips why not put them up for us to play with too!

    • 09/02/2012 at 10:10 ericks says:

      Because they were made in a week and probably all a little buggy. Officially adding them would mean they need to support them as if they were part of the game.

      I’m sure all these will be community mods soon enough anyways.

    • 09/02/2012 at 10:19 Arbodnangle Scrulp says:

      I would happily pay for some of these tweaks, but I feel that they would change the game so much I would be obliged to start again, and 100+ hours in I’m not sure if my life could take that much damage.

      The Dark Dungeons mod would scare me shitless though, I have a bad enough time with some of the creepier normal ones. But then again, I’m playing using the nVidia 3D kit (VERY highly recommended for this game) in a pitch-black room for maximum immersion.

    • 09/02/2012 at 10:40 Prime says:

      “The Dark Dungeons mod would scare me shitless though,”

      There’s a realistic lighting mod on Skyrimexus that, among other things, makes some of the dungeons very dark indeed. It certainly made me appreciate my Magelight spell!

    • 09/02/2012 at 11:01 Avish says:

      @Prime.
      This is exactly what I thought after installing the realistic lighting mod .

      Anyway, this mod is also available in the steam workshop.

    • 09/02/2012 at 12:23 AlexV says:

      “probably all a little buggy.”

      That didn’t stop them from releasing the main game, or subsequent patches though, did it? :-)

  3. 09/02/2012 at 10:08 netizensmith says:

    That Giant Enemy Crab appeared to have no weak spot?

  4. 09/02/2012 at 10:09 Belsameth says:

    That’s some really cool stuff there!

  5. 09/02/2012 at 10:10 JohnArr says:

    Does John not like crabs? Do they make him cry?

  6. 09/02/2012 at 10:11 Richard Beer says:

    Holy mudcrab, batman! I mean, there’s a man who looks like a bat! With wings!

    This is such a wonderful mix of stuff that would totally enhance the existing game without changing anything major (follower training and favourite kits) and stuff that would be totally splooge-tastic on a WTF scale (giant mudcrabs, were-bears, dark dungeons).

    Love that they devs still care enough about this game that they can be this creative.

  7. 09/02/2012 at 10:11 Meat Circus says:

    If only we could talk to the giant enemy mudcrabs. Wouldn’t that be something?

  8. 09/02/2012 at 10:11 rustybroomhandle says:

    The giant mudcrabs are actually canon, if you remember Ald-rhun-under-Skar from Morrowind.

  9. 09/02/2012 at 10:12 UnravThreads says:

    Well, those waygate portals *totally* didn’t look like the ones in Two Worlds, or near enough anyway.

    That said, seems really good. Shows what happens if developers are let off the hook for a short period of time and left to create things. If those visual improvements (underwater, AO, seasonal stuff, etc) were added, the game would go from “pretty good” to “holy crap on a crap cracker”.

    Hopefully Bethesda will continue to do stuff like that, but then pick some projects and implement them in a patch alongside DLC or even an expansion.

  10. 09/02/2012 at 10:14 Jorum says:

    direction flow shader is really really nice.
    as is pretty much everything else shown.

    if they don’t push these out as DLC or mods I’ll cry.

  11. 09/02/2012 at 10:19 Mattressi says:

    Wow, that’s pretty much every mod I’d hoped would be made, right there. I hope they end up releasing it (for free would be nice, too).

  12. 09/02/2012 at 10:21 Schadenfreude says:

    Spears.

    I would like them.

    Spell combos are cool too.

  13. 09/02/2012 at 10:21 MrCraigL says:

    Put all of these things into my Skyrim please.

  14. 09/02/2012 at 10:22 eatfrog says:

    i want.. ALL THE THINGS!!!

  15. 09/02/2012 at 10:24 Lobotomist says:

    Fucking Shit Balls Awesome !!!

    I want this all in Skyrim NOW!!!!

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (just in case there was not enough exclamation marks)

  16. 09/02/2012 at 10:29 Prime says:

    Todd Howard = Evil Corporate Richie Cunningham.

    Also: how evil is it to say to your employees “Okay, yeah, we’ve completed Skyrim after four years of hard development so we’re giving you a break from that by letting you make what you want…in Skyrim!”

    But yeah, I’d love most everything in this vid. Particularly the water flow shaders and the Stealth enhancements (somebody loves Thief, methinks!). But not Adoption. NEVER Adoption.

    • 09/02/2012 at 11:22 UnravThreads says:

      Evil? I bet it’s rare in the industry. They were basically paid to dick around for a week, but it also has the side effect of letting them work out what is or isn’t possible with their engine(s). They could basically create things that go into the next game.

    • 09/02/2012 at 11:38 DrGonzo says:

      It is interesting that everything in that video was far more interesting than Skyrim, which I felt was a little soulless and bland. Let your employees be creative from the beginning and maybe Bethesda will make a game that’s actually interesting for once.

    • 09/02/2012 at 12:21 Prime says:

      Unrav…you’ve missed the point. Being able to dick around for a week was a lovely gesture (although Todd seems to think this was an exercise designed to rustle up some possible DLC for the game) but after all those years of building Skyrim do you not think some of the programmers might have enjoyed a complete break from the thing they’ve been working on for all those years?

    • 09/02/2012 at 12:27 Unaco says:

      Probably Prime… And they probably got it when their Holidays came up, or when they’d finished/released the game and had nothing else to do. THIS was still WORK. Paid employment. Doing what the Boss says. I think you’ve missed the point… This wasn’t a Holiday, this wasn’t a break from their work on Skyrim. This was a chance for them to take a step back, and bring some fresh ideas into Skyrim.

    • 09/02/2012 at 13:43 Blackcompany says:

      “It is interesting that everything in that video was far more interesting than Skyrim, which I felt was a little soulless and bland. Let your employees be creative from the beginning and maybe Bethesda will make a game that’s actually interesting for once.”
      .
      .
      This. Exactly this. Skyrim is rather lifeless. And it is bland. Once you are forced to quit adventuring and actually interact with NPC’s you realize just how lifeless and self-centered the dialogue is, just how few options you have and just how much Bethesda does not care about the world and the characters in it.
      .
      Perhaps if they picked a few things, and focused on them, instead of trying to throw in a little of everything, their game would be better. For instance, Stealth sucks. Combat sucks. Magic largely sucks. Guild quests are too short (Thieves Guild is the sole possible exception but I still think its too brief).
      .
      Why not throw out some of this flotsam and focus on things. Dropping stealth, its associate guilds and quests means more focus on combat. Which is, you know, 90% of your game anyway. So why not take the time and get that right.
      .
      The Elder Scrolls needs to decide what it wants to be. An open world action game (which is all this fifth version is) or an RPG. If you want to continue on this track, fine – just quit passing it off as something it ain’t. If you want to go back to your roots and return to an RPG, I recommend you consult with Obsidian regarding the best means to do that.
      .
      But for crying out loud, just focus on your main themes next time, instead of trying to be Elder Creed 6: Magicka in Tamriel.

    • 09/02/2012 at 16:38 Shooop says:

      Are you being impossibly sarcastic or is something really wrong with your head?

      Do you have any idea how many developers/programers/artists would kill for a chance to add all the things they wanted to but couldn’t to games? Developer employees always talk about things they wanted to do in games they worked on but didn’t have the time to do.

    • 09/02/2012 at 17:48 Prime says:

      “THIS was still WORK. Paid employment. Doing what the Boss says. I think you’ve missed the point…”

      @Unaco. No. You’ve also missed my point. I understand it was “WORK”, I really do (No need to shout…). It wasn’t a holiday, a month off on a beach somewhere or time to relax at home and mow their lawns. I just felt that if you’ve spent years of your life on one mammoth project, being asked to then unleash your creative juices whilst on the same bloody project seemed a bit cruel. It’s human nature, innit, to get bored with something you’ve seen day-in, day-out for a very long time. How much nicer if they were let free on something completely fresh and new, is all I meant, instead of that same bloody Skyrimaaaaaaaaaaargh*sound of office-based machine gun-fire*

      Still, they worked wonders for a week’s work. So I’m glad they did it, and hope to see some or all of it it in the game soon.

      “Are you being impossibly sarcastic or is something really wrong with your head?”

      @Shooop. Definitely the latter. Fear me. Fear for me.

  17. 09/02/2012 at 10:29 Icarus says:

    Wow, yes. Just yes. I would like these, please. Especially the spears and archery killcams.

  18. 09/02/2012 at 10:30 faelnor says:

    SSAO, water flow and underwater shaders, seasonal foliage would make a nice visual enhancement pack for PC.
    Water and specialised arrows + true darkness would make a nice stealth pack (I wonder if Emil is behind the water arrow thingie).
    Giant mudcrab feels like a Witcher 2 boss, a mudcrab “faction” questline would be fun as hell. Same for a better fleshed out vampire questline.
    Dragon mounts… well I always thought they’d be in the original game anyway, was disappointed to see they were not. Add them!
    Spears, spell combos and mounted combat for a fighting-oriented DLC, why not.

    Didn’t care about killcams, anything that takes the camera beyond 1st person ruins immersion in my book.

    Adoption, uh…

    I didn’t mind the Dragonette remix btw.

  19. 09/02/2012 at 10:32 Jams O'Donnell says:

    I want to kill that giant mudcrab, gut it, and set up home inside it.

  20. 09/02/2012 at 10:37 Drayk says:

    All of this is amazing… What I would really like is.

    Seasonned weather
    Spears
    Magic combos

  21. 09/02/2012 at 10:38 Ertard says:

    Why is this not released yet? These are all great ideas/upgrades, that should just be able to be patched in or implemented in the workshop and updated that way. Great idea as well.

  22. 09/02/2012 at 10:38 bill says:

    I always wished the Elder scrolls games had better stealth (like water arrows). Though does light actually really affect visibility? It didn’t much in Morrowind…

    Actually, about 70% of that is stuff that you think “why didn’t they have that in the base game?!!” and the rest is just crazy fun stuff.

    Moving platforms and hanging bridges? Not already??

  23. 09/02/2012 at 10:41 Stevostin says:

    I don’t get it. Is there anything in there that isn’t just highly cool ? Of course we want it all.

    Now of course, if we had to play it once more, we’ll also need new content. I vampire or werewolf quest line, says.

  24. 09/02/2012 at 10:48 Khemm says:

    All unnecessary nonsense. The game is a great platform for mods, but it has no substance. Huge landscape with random things tossed in. Old RPGs are so infinitely better and more rewarding it’s not funny, not to mention replayable. Can anyone who played Skyrim tell me with a straight face he can go back to Oblivion and play it more for an hour without getting bored? The same will happen to Skyrim when another new, shiny TES comes out, none will go back to Skyrim to grind for an hour more in a boring world when there’s nothing to do but trek for eternity and slash random monstes.

    I just started playing Arcanum again and it blows everything in Skyrim out of the water. The dialogues, the story, the lore, the setting, the quests, the possibilities to impact the world – it’s all there.

    • 09/02/2012 at 11:25 fuggles says:

      You cannot say the graphics or first person view are better in Arcanum can you really? It was a dog rough looking game even when first released.

      The steampunk theme is awesome and underused, granted, but the plot was hardly memorable as in I can’t recall now what happened beyond I managed to get my small army to kill the last boss without me moving. The elder scrolls games are what they are – open world games with some quest that you can progress or just ignore. The formula has not changed in the last 3 games and probably 10 years now, so it’s not like you went in playing it blind.

      That you start your post by stating this potential additional content is unnecessary nonsense before adding that there is no content in the game suggests you have no idea what you want. Cling to the past all you want, heck, go buy those 2d RPG’s on steam, but there is a reason they are not exactly commercially viable any more. If you like RPG’s you have to support the modern wave, otherwise feel free to stay in your cave with your dosbox and leave us alone and not post in threads just to say that you hate the current topic.

    • 09/02/2012 at 11:56 Khemm says:

      @fuggles
      I love your “clinging to the past” argument. Ironic considering you play TES for TEH GRAPHICS, because there’s nothing else in them worth caring about. Additions aren’t bad, but Bethesda focus on things I would expect from UE3 or CryEngine creators, I’d rather they fixed their boring and simplistic gameplay formula. Bethesda’s games are the CoDs of RPGs, and that’s not a compliment.
      If you like tech demos so much, get a CryEngine editor, create a huge map and walk around there, drooling at how cool the leaves look. You’ll get more actual role-playing than in Skyrim.

    • 09/02/2012 at 12:09 fuggles says:

      You could create a great strawman in the farcry editor too I bet…oh and on that note I never said I play elder scrolls games for the graphics but thanks for playing.

      You want a traditional 3rd person rpg which are tile based then that’s fine, there were bad ones of them too (lion heart j’accuse). Elder scrolls are 1st person games for those who like to do anything and wander about looking at a nicely realised world. Are the graphics an achievement? Gosh yes. Would the game be so revered if it was just a tech demo with a nice world, then no. If you don’t like the elder scrolls model then it’s fine, that’s really alright I promise you, but other people are entitled to like them and as I’m special I can appreciate both for their merits.

      As for no role playing then that’s silly as it’s all in your mind anyway – Role playing as an NPC in skyrim:
      http://www.pcgamer.com/tag/the-elder-strolls/

    • 09/02/2012 at 12:11 NathanH says:

      Arcanum has kinda shit mechanics and dull gameplay though… You’re right, everything else about it is great though.

      I played Morrowind after playing Oblivion, and that wasn’t because I didn’t like Oblivion. I imagine I will play Oblivion again. The Elder Scrolls games are all sufficiently different to be worth playing again.

    • 09/02/2012 at 12:38 mondomau says:

      Khemm, for someone who has accused commenters on this site of ‘bullying’ you, you do seem intent on injecting nonconstructive, adversarial and (frequently) obnoxiously phrased opinions into every discussion you come across. Maybe you should think about that next time you feel put upon.

    • 09/02/2012 at 12:42 Unaco says:

      @Khemm…

      How much Skyrim have you played, it being on Steam and a Steamworks game and all? Also, what mondomau says above.

    • 09/02/2012 at 12:49 Teddy Leach says:

      If you don’t want people to be hostile, don’t antagonise them. Simple. Mondomau has it right.

    • 09/02/2012 at 16:28 Blackcompany says:

      I fail to understand either how, or at what point, negative criticism of Skyrim became antagonizing. I think many view it as such because they love the game deeply and take afront to anyone who criticizes it.
      .
      If you don’t criticize the bad, it never improves. Another way of looking at it: Shield Bash is in Skyrim because it was missing from Oblivion until someone took criticism to a new level by just adding it themselves. The community flocked to Skycaptain’s Deadly Reflex mod in droves and so Bethesda took the criticism on the chin and improved their combat system in Skyrim, albeit barely and with little enough effort.
      .
      Skyrim is a good game. The sheer size and scope make it worth playing as an exploration based adventure game. Its a worthy time killer with a huge world full of hidden goodies and secret locations and that does not lack its appeal.
      .
      But to call it a Role Playing Game is, after 100 hours in the game, a complete disgrace to the genre. In a role playing game my choices and decisions matter. The things I do and the people I keep company with are important and are noticed and taken into account by the world around me. I gain or lose repuation according to my deeds and people see me for the actions I undertake or for those I ignore. And before you claim all of this is impossible in a video game, which must by its very nature have limitations tabletop games need not concern themselves with, consider Fallout: New Vegas.
      .
      FONV featured all of these things and then some. It was a role playing game, true to the idea that who you are is determined by the actions you undertake and the company you keep. You were loved or shunned based on those actions and that company. Quests literally failed just because you hung out with the wrong people, a la a role playing game.
      .
      So lets give Khemm some room here. Frankly, Bethesda could use the criticism. Whether for their lack of imagination (their developers certainly have plenty) their drab writing, rehashed, tired fantasy tropes, typical fantasy plot, poor voice acting, nonsensical, narcissistic characters, lame skill-based comments, poor UI design, cosmetic-only races or their genuine lack of effort in regards to creating something new and original, constructive criticism might help them improve.
      .
      Because as their employees proved over the course of the last week, there is plenty of room for that improvement.

    • 09/02/2012 at 21:08 SkittleDiddler says:

      I hate to do it, but I have to agree 110% with Khemm here. Skyim is a shallow, meaningless blahfest, especially when compared to story-driven games like Arcanum or The Witcher series.

      And great post there, Blackcompany. Right on the money. I’ve encountered a handful of people over at the Steam forums that are deeply and honestly offended by my negative opinion of Skyrim. I’m baffled as to how anyone could be as dedicated to a video game as some of those doofs are. They just can’t take any criticism of their precious game.

      They’re almost as bad as Red Orchestra 2 fanboys.

    • 09/02/2012 at 22:01 NathanH says:

      Sorry to go on about this in yet another post, but this “RPGs are about Choice’n'Consequence” bullshit really has to stop. It has little basis in the history of computer RPGs, it has only moderate basis in modern computer RPGs, and quite frankly it doesn’t have much basis in pen-and-paper RPGs either (for all the choice’n'consequence groups there are probably a dozen dicking-around-with-swords’n'fireballs groups).

      Sure, you like choice’n'consequence RPGs, that’s fine, I don’t mind a bit of choice’n'consequence either; Witcher is one of my favourite modern games. Trying to pretend that that’s the essence of RPGs, though, is frankly even more ludicrous than Wizardry’s tired RPG definitions (which at least have some history on their side).

    • 09/02/2012 at 22:05 RandomGameR says:

      @Blackcompany: It’s one thing to make a valid criticism of a game (whether you like the game or not). It’s another to start any post with “All unecessary nonsense” and then go on from there to make other unfounded inflammatory comments about the game.

      I think the issue here is that Khemm isn’t making criticism, he’s trying to belittle anyone who has an opinion other than his.

      And to answer his inflammatory presumptive question: Yes, I do plan on going back and playing Oblivion again. I, in fact, bought a copy of it on Steam recently (as in after I had played Skyrim for over a hundred hours), along with Morrowind, for just that purpose.

    • 09/02/2012 at 22:16 mondomau says:

      @The two above me. First off, as an aside – my grievance wasn’t with Khemm specifically for his less than favourable opinion on Skyrim, it’s not for everyone and that’s just fine and dandy. My point was I’ve seem him on this site becoming increasingly nonconstructive and negative – “this is garbage, XYZ is clearly far superior”, refusing to answer honest rebuttals in a straight manner and generally being a miserable grumpy pants. Worse, he then rounds on people for pointing this out and accuses them of bullying. I was simply pointing out that this sort of behaviour is not entirely healthy.

      That said, let’s look at his original comment about this game shall we?

      “Huge landscape with random things tossed in” Clearly and demonstrably wrong. It’s not got the depth and complexity of Planescape or one of the Baldur’s gate series, but there are a multitude of interwoven storylines and quests, with hours of programming and script/dialogue writing invested in allowing you to stumble upon or trigger minor plotlines and quests. Don’t forget these are harder to do in a game that is far more visually driven and interactive.

      “Can anyone who played Skyrim tell me with a straight face he can go back to Oblivion and play it more for an hour without getting bored? The same will happen to Skyrim when another new, shiny TES comes out ”
      I’m not going to stick up for Oblivion here, as it’s the weakest of the series by far, but I wonder why Khemm skipped over Morrowind? You know, the 2003 TES game that’s still being played over and over again, with a huge fanatical fanbase of modders and players? Hmm.

      Look, I’m not saying Skyrim is the RPG to end all RPGs. I’m not saying it’s better than the other games mentioned here (it isn’t) and I’m certainly not saying it’s not got it’s fair share of problems – neither is anyone else here, that I can see (In fact, the only fanatical ones here seem to be those that get a bee in their bonnets about not liking something that is very popular).

      What I am saying is wading into a thread aimed squarely at people that already like and/or own the game to point out how pants it is in your (somewhat arrogantly phrased) opinion is not a constructive use of anyone’s time.

      So back on your white horses and away!

  25. 09/02/2012 at 10:51 Iskariot says:

    Those vampirism ideas are awesome. The fans have been complaining about the bland vampirism in the TES games for ever. I wonder why they did not implement this in Skyrim from the start. Cool vampire and Lycanthropy perk trees in this game would ad so much depth to that part of the game.
    I would love that.
    -
    I hate mini DLC that try to sell stuff that should have been in a game from the start, but I would buy a DLC that gave me those things without thinking twice about it. And I would not care about the price either.

  26. 09/02/2012 at 10:57 nimrod123 says:

    i would pay 5-10 bucks for some of that stuff

  27. 09/02/2012 at 10:58 BoZo says:

    This convinced me that they should develop TES games more like modders…

  28. 09/02/2012 at 10:59 Inigo says:

    I got up to “I used to be an adventu-” then I stopped the video, flagged it as inappropriate, went outside and started shovelling handfuls of frozen dirt into my mouth.

  29. 09/02/2012 at 11:03 RogB says:

    sigh. was the ‘..arrow to the knee’ meme EVER funny. Can it not go away now, please?

  30. 09/02/2012 at 11:03 Robin says:

    Spears and Giant Crab.

  31. 09/02/2012 at 11:06 Untruth says:

    OH goodness all this is so brilliant.

  32. 09/02/2012 at 11:14 Alexander Norris says:

    Why would you develop spears and then not put them in the game? Especially when you can use them properly (i.e. not just stab)? Why, Bethesda, why?!

    I hope they put all of these up.

  33. 09/02/2012 at 11:30 Colthor says:

    Please, Bethesda, release these things. All of them.

    • 09/02/2012 at 13:48 roryok says:

      Hear Hear.

      I was wondering why there weren’t fire / ice arrows like in Oblivion. Water arrows are even cooler. That coupled with the ranged kill animations would make it just paradise (while we wait for Thief 4)

      Also loving the dark dungeons, reminds me more of Daggerfall. And the guards relighting torches. And the flowing water. And the hadoken. And the Colossus Crab, and the were bears…

      And the platforms.

      And the…

  34. 09/02/2012 at 11:31 fuggles says:

    All these ideas look brilliant and I can’t believe that they won’t end up in game. Seasonal veg and flowing rivers especially look amazing, but then spears too? Good if you could throw them.

  35. 09/02/2012 at 12:07 PoulWrist says:

    Please release all those Bethesda :O Those all look awesome… And better than what I imagine 99% of mods that try to cover it will.

  36. 09/02/2012 at 12:21 fuggles says:

    If you have the time then there is a full 42 minute video of the speech – seems amusing:
    http://uk.gamespot.com/shows/gamespot-live/?event=skyrims_todd_howard_dice_keynote20120208

  37. 09/02/2012 at 12:38 Shortwave says:

    Amazing stuff!

    That is all.

  38. 09/02/2012 at 12:40 Teddy Leach says:

    I’m throwing my credit card at the screen. IT’S NOT WORKING.

  39. 09/02/2012 at 12:41 Rinox says:

    Lycantrophy skill tree? FUCK YES

  40. 09/02/2012 at 12:45 2late2die says:

    I want all of that stuff! In particular, combo spells, mounted combat, seasonal foliage, flexible objects, spears, giant mudcrabs, goblins, I can keep going. Point is – Bethesda, do it all.

  41. 09/02/2012 at 13:00 mondomau says:

    A lot of this stuff I can see as being very cool, but theoretically harder to implement fully in the game (at least during the initial development time limit), but the magic and ranged kill animations? Why-oh-why are those not included, when the melee ones are? Makes no sense Bethesda! No sense, just like the UI and the save game sys- oh, right.

    I kid, the Steam mod thing is already looking pretty healthy (probably due to a lot of existing Nexus mods being ported over) and I’m sure it won’t be long before we see these ideas realised over there.

  42. 09/02/2012 at 13:42 roryok says:

    That stuff is all incredible! Add it in, post haste! ALL OF IT!

  43. 09/02/2012 at 13:48 Fredrik Sellevold says:

    SPEARFIGHTING YEA!

    All the other stuff looks cool, but…

    SPEARFIGHTING YEA! GIVE IT TO ME!

  44. 09/02/2012 at 13:51 Blackcompany says:

    I hope Bethesda releases this stuff. If they wanted to gauge public interest…well, I think we can say people are interested. More than somewhat.
    .
    At least release the scripts used for some of these through the wiki. You have this nice, fancy wiki page that is really lacking in documentation. Adding some of these as examples of the new scripting language would be a nice gesture. As opposed to, you know, leaving modders to figure out what you already know on their own.

  45. 09/02/2012 at 14:05 S Jay says:

    Oh, I predict I will have to replay the whole thing again!

  46. 09/02/2012 at 14:28 Blackcompany says:

    I have to ask this. I hope to start an intelligent, mature conversation regarding what we paid for, versus what we could have gotten, in Skyrim. I want to get this out, because it is driving me nuts.
    .
    I feel ripped off. Plain and simple, I feel cheated after seeing this video.
    .
    One week of development saw water arrows, real stealth, guards relighting torches, mountable dragons, horse combat, spears and flails, flying vampires, werewolf skill trees, realistic water and currents, seasonal changes…the list goes on.
    .
    One. Week.
    .
    Now I understand some of this stuff probably needs streamlined and to have the bugs worked out. I get that. It may or may not be perfectly stable yet. That part of it might – or might not – take more than one week. But getting it working only took one.
    .
    So why was it left out?
    .
    The answer to that is both simple, and complex. Apparently, the streamlined Oblivion-clone development formula was more important than real creativity. Apparently, the stale, hollowed-out Guilds, with their lifeless members, lackluster quests and complete disregard for the player’s skills and other attachments, were more important. Apparently, their shoddy stealth system and under-developed magic was more important. Apparently, a million boring, endless, meaningless fetch quests were also more important.
    .
    In other words…quantity over quality. Typical Bethesda.
    .
    I find myself wondering how to get over this feeling of helplessness. I feel as if I have been mildly victimized by a marketing campaign that convinced me to purchase a beta release with missing features for $60.
    .
    I know this was not the intention of the video. I get that. But it still just…infuriates me that all of this ws one week of real creativity away from being in the game, and was put to the side or never came under consideration for the sake of this same old fantasy-tripe RPG formula. For the sake, another words, of quantity over quality.
    .
    I won’t be fooled into this again. I love Skyrim. BItter as I am, there is no better game for exploring, for sheer scope, on the market today. The sheer size of the world and the freedom we are given within it amazes me. Never did anything else.
    .
    But then I look at what could have been, and I look at what we actually received, and I am disappointed in some fundamental way. Deeply, profoundly disappointed.
    .
    Bethesda could remedy that disappointment. Take a page from the playbook of CDProjekt RED and release the spears, mounted combat and mountable dragons, guard/torch AI and water arrows in a patch. Not a paid-for DLC; not as part of an expansion we need to buy. But as a free content patch.
    .
    If you want to charge me for new world spaces with new stories and quests fine, I’m all in. I love that stuff. But for these things, that feel so much like something we should have had to begin? I would appreciate it – and it would be a PR wonder – if you would simply stabilize and then add them. Quietly, with no fanfare – just patch them in one day.
    .
    Otherwise, I think I might be ready to move on from Bethesda and their COD-like formulaic development process which obviously stifles creativity.

    • 09/02/2012 at 14:43 BoZo says:

      It’s just politics.

    • 09/02/2012 at 14:51 akeso says:

      considering there is a serious chance all of this will be free I wouldn’t complain.

    • 09/02/2012 at 14:55 Blackcompany says:

      Akesko: If it were free I would not complain, either. Definitely not. I just wish developers and publishers would take a hint here: Look at what your team can do when you turn them loose, as opposed to constraining them with your formulaic development.

    • 09/02/2012 at 18:51 Sivart13 says:

      There’s a big difference between making something that gets a 5 second spotlight in a video and making something fit for release. These are experiments. They’re not QA’d, they likely don’t integrate well with each other (especially the renderer changes) and have yet to be balanced or playtested.

      If Bethesda had tried to cram much of this extra stuff into the game proper the game could’ve took another year. Heck, some of these probably required the “whoo, pressure’s off” of releasing the game to even get made.

      As far as your threat to not buy future games from them, go ahead.

    • 09/02/2012 at 19:21 Stupoider says:

      @akeso

      Haha, serious chance of it being free… These are the guys who charged for Horse Armour DLC.

    • 09/02/2012 at 20:04 kororas says:

      Blackcompany, have you ever considered the fact that this stuff they’ve shown is there own internal developed stuff and is probably not even suitable for release? There is only so much a developer can reasonably cram into a game before release.

      But lets just say they managed to develop that before release and assume they made the decision to put it all in there, i’m pretty certain it would have been buggier than a buggered bugs bunny. Whatever one of those is.

      You saw what one small patch did, dragons flying backwards…. i cant imagine wot would have happened if all that had made it in.

    • 09/02/2012 at 20:09 Sheng-ji says:

      @Blackcompany – Hope I’m not too late to the party here: I hear what you’re saying, I really do but have you considered the following?

      1) This week was given to the employees at the end of the production cycle. At the start, a feature as simple as a spear can be implemented in a day, towards the end it takes weeks of intense beta testing to properly integrate it. These features were left out of the game at one point or another because there has to be a line drawn in the development of any game otherwise it would never get released!

      2) From what I could tell, this week happened after the game went gold – i.e during the weeks that cd’s are being pressed and manuals being printed – once a game goes gold, nothing more can be added, production starts!

      3) This release has clearly been timed to coincide with the launch of the dev kit. They made it clear from early on in the development process that they intended to make the game moddable and that they would be releasing the dev kit. It stands to reason that they wanted to keep some material back to publicise what is possible with it, get as many people into the modding scene as possible!

      4) Number of Bethesda employees who participated in the week: 100′s!
      Number of mods highlighted: 10 ish – how much dirge didn’t make the cut! Creativity is a fine thing but unleashing your entire workforce as opposed to only the paid creatives may produce an additional 10 ish features in a week which are worthwhile, but the tens of thousands of man hours wasted on creating crap would make it a fine waste of cash.

      I can’t comment on your comparisons to COD as perception is a highly personal thing and subject to change on an individuals whim – I certainly believe I can see the passion and creativity that went into the game from almost every aspect of the dev team – not going to claim it’s perfect but I just don’t see it as a “churn em out” game, I think a lot of thought and love went into many aspects of it, however I completely respect that you can’t perceive that and that either one of us are just as likely to be correct! I respect you too much to try to convince you that how you perceive the game is wrong, I just hope you find a game that gives you the pleasure Skyrim gives me :)

    • 09/02/2012 at 23:11 RandomGameR says:

      First, I suggest you take a deep breath. Hold it. Then let it out slowly. I think your passion is getting the better of your reason.

      I think that some of your issue with this all is that these are impressive bits of content for the game made in only a week and I want to point out something that I don’t think has been said yet:

      This content was only possible to be made in a week because all of the systems and tools were in place and all of the pipeline was thoroughly tested/refined by the end of development.

      To put it another way: These bits of content did not take one week… They each took the entire development time of Skyrim + one week.

      Another thing to note is that the content you mentioned you’d be willing to pay for: Imagine how awesome that can be if this is what they can do with their engine fully functional, and their tools finished in just one week. I expect greatness from further releases as a result of this video.

    • 10/02/2012 at 09:02 MadMatty says:

      hmm entitlement issues again

  47. 09/02/2012 at 14:35 akeso says:

    There wasn’t a thing in there I didn’t want….

    Shit, I would buy and mod a kinetic for my PC just to have shout support….

    I would actually pay a small fee every month just to support these guying having the ability to have EVERY week be game jam week… and then release it.

  48. 09/02/2012 at 15:00 Brun says:

    The seasonal weather/foliage is interesting, but even after 60+ hours of play most Skyrim games don’t cover more than two or three months of in-game time, which is likely why they did not include that feature in the original game. Most players would never see it and it would consume a lot of additional art resources.

  49. 09/02/2012 at 15:00 Roshin says:

    I’d like to see most of that released, actually. The Kinect stuff can die in a fire, though.

  50. 09/02/2012 at 15:38 ResonanceCascade says:

    Yes, I want all of these things. Especially water arrows. I think with a little tweaking and some more stealth equipment, you could make a legitimately great stealth campaign for the game.

    • 09/02/2012 at 16:30 Blackcompany says:

      This would be especially welcome since the stealth-oriented guilds are the only ones with interesting quest lines long enough to be worthy of attention.

  51. 09/02/2012 at 16:46 Shooop says:

    Now why can’t more developers do things like this? The game’s released, it’s a big hit, why not let your team go crazy with all the ideas they wanted to put in it before but couldn’t? If nothing else it’s great practice for future games.

    But hopefully it’s something we will all be able to play in the near future, free of cost. Nudge, wink.

  52. 09/02/2012 at 17:01 deadly.by.design says:

    SPEARS

    If anything else from this gets added, it’s just a bonus. Dark dungeons, enhanced stealth, mounted combat and magic combos would be great, too.

  53. 09/02/2012 at 17:27 Beelzebud says:

    They really need to release the graphics enhancements for everyone. Some of that stuff really looks so much better. Things like the new water shader, the seasonal foilage, and the ambient occlusion looked great.

  54. 09/02/2012 at 17:38 Felixader says:

    I want those goddamn Water Arrows!

  55. 09/02/2012 at 20:55 buzzmong says:

    Water arrows, extinguishable torches (being relit by NPC’s)…..Thief anyone?

  56. 09/02/2012 at 21:12 Jahnz says:

    Can…can I finally get a crossbow?

  57. 09/02/2012 at 22:34 MajorManiac says:

    What a brilliant idea, and so well handled by the staff.

    My response to the comment at the very end of the video would be – “Yes, do that more please.”

  58. 10/02/2012 at 08:53 MadMatty says:

    Why even faff about, EVERYTHING MUST B RELEASED!

    Looks like a straight out upgrade, no sillyness at all (xcept for the skeleton butler).

    - personally i wouldve made a 200 metre tall Hentai Hooker with a Plasma Repeater but then, thats just me.

  59. 10/02/2012 at 10:50 Giardia says:

    At the very least, for the love of PC gaming put all of those environmental tewaks in Skyrim! Would you good folks at Bethesda/Zenimax finally let Skyrim be pretty (and iimmersively awesome) like it SHOULD be on a PC and make console gamers weep. Make those happen in a DLC, and I have $20 burning a hole in my pocket for it.

    Even better…. to the individuals who made all those mods in that video, shut up and take my money……..
    I am staring at you who made dragons a flying mount. That should have been OEM when Skyrim was released!

    If just any 4 of those were on Steamworks, they would be the most downloaded and epic mods of all time.

    To the author of the dragon mount, put that out in a stable mod file and you can have $40 out of my pocket now… NOW!

    Giant crabs the size of towns…… insanely improved stealth…… dragon mounts,,,,, eye bleedingly stunning graphics…..

    I love you Bethesda, but you are starting to be a one – horse pony. I wanted Skyrim on the PC to be EVERYTHING that was on this video…. not what was delivered. I wanted to hear the wailing and gnashing of xbox owners over how their graphics looked like dirt, content was marginal, etc.

    Skyrim is NOT Fallout2 or 3. This version of TES should be shoving it’s graphical awesomeness in your face from the start when it runs of of a PC.

    Could I just download those examples in the video individually or as a DLC pack? OH oh oh oh! I know i know i know….. release it as raw code. Code is good. I can learn.

    Geeze… that video is sick. just make it happen.

  60. 12/02/2012 at 07:04 vecuccio says:

    ALL of this stuff should have been in Skyrim in the first place !!!!!
    WHY DID NONE OF THEM DEMO A PROPER INVENTORY SYSTEM FOR THE PC ??

  61. 13/02/2012 at 10:05 Uninteresting Curse File Implement says:

    I am such an impatient idiot for buying Skyrim close to launch. I hope people who hadn’t already put 120 hours into the game will enjoy all these cool-sounding innovations and improvements((((

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