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Deathbane27
Village Dweller
Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Posts: 14
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| Gaming Steve interviews Pete Hines |
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Podcast:
http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/2006/02/gaming_steve_ep_35.php
My hastily-typed summary:
Introductions... "Tell me about yourself"... Big sandbox game... Main Quest storyline summary... Pete stutters almost as bad as I do... Todd Howard is the big "graphics whore" of the company... Player choice... voice actors... No new info as of the 10 minute mark. Still listening.
Patrick Stewart has done videogame voiceacting before, Sean Bean and Terrance Stamp have not. That's something I didn't know...
A bit on the "ease of use" features and how annoying it was to find people and figure out Alchemy in Morrowind... yadda yadda... info is easier to digest but not "overly" helpful...
No new info as of 20:00...
Yet another rehash of Radiant AI...
This is looking like it's going to be entirely useless.
NEWS FLASH! Dear Gaming Steve and every other gaming site out there: NO ONE visits your site exclusively for ALL their gaming news! Stop asking the same questions as everybody else!
Guess you gotta do something to pay the bills...
No new info as of 25:00...
Long bit about setting the RAI so it wouldn't break the game... (Game first, world of AI second).
INFO AT 29:10.
Different towns sell different types of horses "I think there's 5 types..." They vary on speed and hitpoints (since horses can and do get attacked by wolves when you're in a dungeon, for example) (and they take falling damage).
That was more "recent" than "new", but anyway...
Long bit on the combat system... no horse combat because it didn't fit in with the melee combat system... Controls, item hotkeys... yada yada yada...
No more new info at 35:00...
A bit where Pete describes some bow vs. magical combat he observed one of the reporters playing... the enemy ran out of charge on her staff and mana and charged in to melee range... enemies will switch weapons based on range... yada yada...
37:00. Balance... stat/skill progression... super items were the main balance problem in Morrowind. Most of the items in the game are scaled more closely with your level to avoid getting overpowered and making the game boring just from picking up one new weapon...
Widescreen supported on PC version if your video card supports it.
Creatures and generic NPCs respawn after a certain number of game days (Pete doesn't remember exact number). Creatures move around a lot more so if you go back to the same place it feels more varied. Pete describes the combat situation changing a lot when the "boss" of a dungeon was found in different areas. Most dungeons will have some items that respawn with the monsters.
42:00. Level check for determining enemies and items when you enter a cell. Over 200 dungeons, so don't be going back to the same ones just because stuff respawns, mkay? (This ain't EQ. )
43:00. Guards will assist you if NPCs are attacking you...
43:40. Guards won't "detect" stolen items and arrest you for it, but if you're arrested for whatever reason, they will take all your stolen items. But they don't do random searches.
There are travelling NPCs, but most merchants have established shops.
46:00. Q: How long will guards take to respawn after you kill them? A: Not sure. (Named NPCs don't respawn, "generic" ones like guards and bandits do.)
Q: Mercantile skill raising? A: In MW, skill ups were on per-transaction basis. in Oblivion, skill ups are based on per gold basis.
Q: Armor wearing reducing Magic? A: Penalty to spell effectiveness. Amount not specified. Skill perk at high levels of armor skills that removes the penalty. Armor skill raises by getting hit while wearing it.
Q: Quest log? A: Much better organized this time. 3 sections in journal. 1 tab for completed quests, 1 tab for current quests, 1 tab for your "Active" quest (selected on Current Quests tab). Map/compass shows marker for Active quest (if it has one). Much more streamlined and helpful, no need for a notebook.
Q: Disarm and "neck strike" in hand to hand? A: Skill perks in power attacks for various weapon skills. Power attacks gain chance to disarm/paralyze etc. ("At like 100 skill", so not sure if there's one at 80...)
Q: Shadows? A: We showed a glimpse of the full-shadowing in the prison cell a the E3 demo... and that was the only place it worked, so it was never implemented in the rest of the game. All other places and screenshots are shown with the current shadow system anyway. Player/NPCs/Creatures and tree canopies cast shadows.
Q: Monsters getting stuck? A: Yes, our pathing system is much better.
Q: Character customization? A: Only face, hair, and skin tone customization. No fat/skinny characters.
Q: Content updates? How will that work? A: No current plans for downloadable Expansions. Looking at small but fun things for downloadable content. Plan is to have one available at launch (content peeps haven't been on the game for a while, it's all been bug testing) and to do regular basis updates for both platforms. Not going to talk too much about things until they're sure they're going to work.
Q: Hand to hand combat? Combos? Uppercuts? A: New animations, but not getting into Mortal Kombat or Dead or Alive. It's fisticuffs.
Q: Are there going to be mini-bosses in every dungeon? A: MOST dungeons have bosses and boss loot at the end.
Q: If you kill an NPC in front of a villager, will they react? A: Yes. Some NPCs will go to defend the one you're attacking. Some will run away. Some will watch. And they'll treat you differently afterward. Most respectable folks won't talk to you if you have a big bounty. You still keep infamy after paying off bounty.
Q: Looting towns and housing? Junk in barrels and crates strewn around? A: There's more clutter like paintbrushes lying around in the world, but we're more careful about not leaving large piles of gold in crates, but you'll still find a few stray gold pieces.
Q: Dungeons? Are they are harmful or are there "friendly" ones with merchants? A: They're all evil!
Q: Is skill training going to be more developed/interactive? Can you spar in the guild houses? A: Um.... uh... thinking... You can improve skills just by watching people train with eachother! Sweet! But no, no sparring partners. Go to the Arena.
Q: Will weapons actually "break"? A: No, it just becomes unusable?
Q: Weapons clash in mid-swing? Recoil? A: Staggering, yes. No weapons colliding in mid-air, though. You have to block.
Q: Inhabited area sizes? A: We've got big cities and smaller towns and settlements. Encampments... standalone inns... little of everything.
Q: Monsters? How many types? I saw 3 types of goblins... A: 40 or 50 something base monsters ("goblin") with lots of different types of each ("goblin shaman, goblin fighter...").
Q: Plane of Oblivion? Hush hush? A: Not a "you're not worthy, it's too awesome" thing, but more of needing to have some secrets. In Morrowind, it had all been seen before the game came out. We want some "first time" thing for people to see when they play for the first time.
Q: Achievements for 360? A: Had 100 at first, but they cap you at 50 per game. They had 6 at VERY first, but when they started playing the 360s and seen how other games used it, they added a bunch more micro achievements so it would scale better on the gamercard score.
Q: 16 square miles? What does that actually mean? DQ8 reference. A: We just told them so they'd stop asking how big the game was. What matters is the scale, how it feels once you're playing, how much stuff to do between points A and B, not whether the distance is X or Y miles. Pete likes how some people play the game for a bit, then pan around the world map and are amazed about how little they've explored. They've definately made it big enough.
Q: If you just do the main quest, about what % of world map will you have seen? A: We send you out a bit to explore as part of the MQ, use it as a point to send you out.
(No actual answer to that question. I somehow doubt anyone's decided to just burn through it and check yet. )
Q: Release date? A: Very Soon (TM). A couple of weeks away, probably, from announcing exact date. We have a date in mind, but it's not done until it's done. We've seen enough games that thought they were finished and had a few delays. We don't want to slip, we want to ship on that day.
Q: Regions? A: Simultaneous, but Europe will be a few days behind of course.
71:30. Side tracking. Goes into Fallout. No Fallout 3 at E3 this year... Bethesda is publishing 2 Star Trek games but it's an outside developer making them. Star Trek games will be shown at E3...
Ah, more Oblivion.
Q: What is your favorite feature in Oblivion? A: I don't know if I have one. I'm so close to it, done however many demos, years, seen other playing it... I do love the graphics, people will be playing and see something amazing like a waterfall in a cave and be awed. It adds a lot to the experience. If there's one thing I think I like the most it's how much we've improved on every part of the game from previous games. He likens the game to a pregnancy and they're at the stage where they just want to get it OUT.
Q: What's the longest you've heard of people playing Elder Scrolls games? I've heard 1500. A: Yeah, I've heard the 1500. I get all the email to Bethesda... Loves how much people love the game... That's more important than the 1500/1600 hours.
Q: Finally... Morrowind for the Xbox, Oblivion for the 360... Elderscrolls 5 for the Xbox720? A: No, we're hoping to do more than one Elder Scrolls game this console cycle. God help us.
Steve: I'm going to play some more now, mkay?
END INTERVIEW |
Tue Feb 21, 2006 7:19 pm |
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Allanon
Village Leader
Joined: 21 Jul 2003
Posts: 80
Location: U.S. |
A few weeks before release date(hopefully), gettin close, thanks for the info! EDIT: just checked official site and its down, hmmm. |
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Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:42 pm |
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cfmdobbie
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 1859
Location: London, England |
| Re: Gaming Steve interviews Pete Hines |
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quote:
Originally posted by Deathbane27
Q: Shadows? A: We showed a glimpse of the full-shadowing in the prison cell a the E3 demo... and that was the only place it worked, so it was never implemented in the rest of the game. All other places and screenshots are shown with the current shadow system anyway. Player/NPCs/Creatures and tree canopies cast shadows.
Well, sounds like they've messed up the lighting engine then 
quote:
Originally posted by Deathbane27
Q: Regions? A: Simultaneous, but Europe will be a few days behind of course.
So that would be... not simultaneous then...
quote:
Originally posted by Deathbane27
Q: Finally... Morrowind for the Xbox, Oblivion for the 360... Elderscrolls 5 for the Xbox720? A: No, we're hoping to do more than one Elder Scrolls game this console cycle. God help us.
Ooh, an Elder Scrolls Adventure maybe?
Thanks for the summary, Deathbane27!
_________________
Charlie Dobbie
=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Moderator of the Morrowind/Oblivion Forums= |
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Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:20 am |
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