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Here's some wild speculation:

In the trailer the old man is praising the legend of Novakim, dragonborn. Sure, this could be the hero of the tale, some legendary half-dragon man you have to help save the country. In any other game, I'd assume that you would play this dude, but Elder Scrolls has a tradition of allowing you to create your own hero or heroine. So I think: maybe this Novakim isn't an already existing person, but rather a mythical role like the Nerevarine was in Morrowind? That through the course of your adventure you become this dragonborn guy to save Skyrim, through many trials and tribulations, eventually symbolically being 'born by dragons' through some rite of passage.

I'm probably very wrong!

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Actually Rodi, you're probably close. That's very much the basic sort of Elder Scrolls formula.

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Well, who knows, though! Maybe they'll shake it up?

My other prediction is that you'll be able to hold a sword in your hand, and defeat enemies.

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You won't be playing this game with a sword in your hand!

Elder Scrolls: Ride

guess again

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In the trailer the old man is praising the legend of Novakim,

Ahem, I believe it is Dovahkiin. That is all. Carry on.:getmecoat

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Wait, are we all just shooting from the hip here, or is there some source to confirm the goddamn name outside of the lisping old guy in the announcement movie?

We'll probably have to wait for the Game Informer magazine in January...

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Wait, are we all just shooting from the hip here, or is there some source to confirm the goddamn name outside of the lisping old guy in the announcement movie?

We'll probably have to wait for the Game Informer magazine in January...

Hip-shots, with a blindfold and an ear trumpet.

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Todd Howard (through senior PR manager Matt Grandstaff) confirmed that the spelling is "Dovahkiin".

See also: Subtitled youtube trailers.

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Stuff was leaked.

This link will take you to the source for the article in the other link. The source has far more information and is being updated occasionally.

This is supposedly an image of the game.

9994202_1294461351.jpg

Edited by Wubbles

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I'm extremely happy with the revamped level scaling system, though it's typical that there's a lot of hype being created about the dual wielding. Though I'm certain it'll be a rewarding, fine system of combat, it really doesn't mean that much to me than a lot of other aspects of the game.

However, in video games, how you get to kill the bad guys is the thing of import.

Call me insane, also, after the dragon overkill that is World of Warcraft, but Skyrim manages to enthuse me about these strange, arcane creatures of menace again. So, well done, Bethesda.

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Sounds like Bethesda are making good improvements, but that preview totally read like a glowing, hype-filled press piece.

I am surprised that the "Buy Now from GameStop" link isn't larger. Conflict of interest much?

I was going to say something snarky about how the article randomly ended, but I see now that their site doesn't even allow me to see that a second page even exists until I allow javascript on their site...

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game looks like it's so packed with fancy HDR and stuff that my video card is already cringing. i'm assuming (hoping) that since it's also on consoles that it's pretty scalable on the pc side, because i'd certainly prefer to play it that way.

let me put it this way: my computer plays Crysis on high at 45 fps. the HDR lighting in BF:BC2 made it run at 2fps until I shut it off. this is basically the one game i'm dying for this year (assuming diablo 3 doesn't come out), so i want it to work well...

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Looking good, but I always find myself wondering every time an RPG promises awesome social interactions and relations; you can make friends and enemies, maybe they'll come to avenge their brother at some later point, etc. It might be that I haven't played the right games, or that I'm doing it wrong, but I've never felt anything other than that NPC mechanics in RPGs (and all other genres) are really simple and clearly visible as a game variable, like when I befriend some clan or gang by doing quests for them or whatever. I'm not trying to be overly critical – I'm sure whatever they're doing is state of the art – but I'm wondering: has anyone ever experienced social relations or interactions in these kinds of games that seem properly deep or complex?

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I'm still very much conflicted about whether to buy this for PC as I did Oblivion, or for the Xbox 360. On the one hand the PC version offers flexibility and possibly better graphics. But since a few years I've taken a preference towards relaxing on the sofa when playing games, and Skyrim would be the kind of game I'd like to play for hours on end.

Historically I don't care too much for mods, so that's not a big problem. I guess it will depend in a light way also on the graphic fidelity of the console versions and how stable they are. If it's a buggy game, I'm better off on the PC where a quick patch fix is easier to arrange.

Let us be honest here: this game WILL have some bugs and crashes. The question is how severe the problem will be. For the record: I'm always optimistic and I fully believe that it won't be a big problem. I'm just saying.

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Well Rodi, I started reading your post and had to go take leave of the facilities. I was thinking "How could anyone buy a Bethesda game on anything but PC, the way the community mods them?!"

But apparently you're a crazy person, so I really can't help you there. :getmecoat

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It might be that I haven't played the right games, or that I'm doing it wrong, but I've never felt anything other than that NPC mechanics in RPGs (and all other genres) are really simple and clearly visible as a game variable...

Agreed. It's sounds like they have identified all the problem points with Oblivion, which is good, and they are attempting to address them, which is even better. But this AI stuff always sounds amazing and then turns out a little underwhelming.

Maybe it's because as seasoned gamers we have more familiarity with the scripting involved and can spot the predictable systems below the surface.

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Dan, I think it's more universal. We tend to get enthused when hearing about how NPCs can have daily routines and interactions, but in practice it's never quite as interesting, and hardly ever carries the emotional weight that a scripted event would have, where you know that something is being said, something progresses.

Perhaps the fundamental boringness of this sort of thing comes from the fact that it so clearly is 'meaningless'? In the lightest sense, we might crave direction, an authorial hand guiding the world?

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But this AI stuff always sounds amazing and then turns out a little underwhelming.

Maybe it's because as seasoned gamers we have more familiarity with the scripting involved and can spot the predictable systems below the surface.

Yeah, it's a bummer and I'm not going to believe Bethesda this time that their AI will be amazing (not sure if they said that). But I do believe it's going to be more believable, maybe almost like Gothic...

Anyway, as far as I understand, non-game AI research hasn't made much progress, so on one hand it's not surprising that game AI (although not technically AI) hasn't improved, but on the other hand I think developers just don't see it as a priority or don't want to spend CPU cycles on them. I would love to see games that have vastly better NPC AI than normal, but spend less polygons and stuff for graphics.

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