The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Magazine Preview Tidbits

The French Official PlayStation Magazine is amongst the ranks of those who got an early look at The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Tidbits can be found online, as per usual.

– ‘Magnetism’ is used to prevent friendly fire in combat, by slightly ‘pulling’ your attacks towards enemies
– Some, apparently unique, enchanted weapons will have “concealed” effects. You won’t know what those are until you try the weapon.
– You cannot block if you have a sword in one hand, and a spell in another. Only players wielding two-handed blades or sword and shield can use block.
– The Spell Shield effect returns.
– Taverns will play a large role in the game. You will be able to overhear people’s conversations, start quests, acquire information, and much more.
– They mention breaking and entering to find out more about people, but I’m not sure as to what extent – “Because of the open world set up you can even progress by snooping around – following people, looking out for strange behaviour and even some light breaking and entering”.
– Quest givers can give you more or less information about their quest depending on their disposition towards you.
– One dungeon is called ‘Bleak Falls Barrow’, and it is inhabited by the Draugr (the undead Nord warriors we first met in Bloodmoon). As you proceed through the dungeon, you’ll eventually encounter a ‘ghostly dragon priest’, and eventually the dungeon boss, a giant ‘Frostbite Spider’. It is said the dungeon is ‘terryfing’.
– The quest to Bleak Falls Barrow is given to you by a shopkeeper called Lucan, whose priceless Draconic family heirloom (a golden claw) was stolen recently.
– Several new spell effects, including “Ice Trap” (only triggered when an enemy walks over it), “Circle of Protection” (push the enemies in your vicinity away), “Fury” (make enemies fight each other), and so on.
– One of the finishing moves involves “plunging your sword into your enemy’s chest”, coupled with gurgling death noises.
– The ‘free-form’ activities you can perform include cooking, woodcutting, mining and metalwork.
– A Dragon Shout that slows down time (a la Bullet Time) is mentioned.
– Some Dragon Shouts are found in dungeons.
– There’s a city called Riverwood. It is described as ‘A smattering of timber buildings, including a sawmill’.
– Radiant Story is in part inspired by the random encounters in Fallout 3.
– The game apparently looks amazing in motion, with great environment effects such as the wind making the water swirl and making waves.
– It is possible to raise all skills to 100 but not possible to get all perks.
– The death of the King of Skyrim has sparked a civil war in the country.
– Dragon encounters aren’t scripted. If one comes across a town in its travels, it might decide to attack it without warning. This may or may not involve setting it ablaze. 😉
– It talks about the improvement of NPC’s and Radiant AI.
– Every big settlement is unique. The city of Markarth Side, for example, is set into “dramatic stone cliffs, with buildings teetering on the end of sheer drops.”
– Haarfingar is said to be home to the largest trading port in Skyrim.
– The game apparently includes ‘meteorogical effects’: clouds gathering around mountaintops, etcetera.
– The glorious return of the Dwemer ruins is once again confirmed.
– One of the cities in Skyrim will apparently be heavily inspired by the Dunmer (Dark Elves), and may even be a full-fledged Dunmer settlement.
– They’re trying to go back to the “eccentricity” of Vvardenfell. Every Nord faction will have their own customs, colors, and so on.
– The economy of the game is better developed than in Oblivion. If you destroy a city’s means of income (for instance, their crops) they’ll need to buy crops from another nearby city, and prices in the city will go up.
– Archers can ‘hold their breath’ while aiming. This consumes stamina, but gives the archer a better chance of hitting the enemy.
– A wounded dragon has a chance of crashing into the ground.
– You can cut dialogue short by walking away from the NPC.
– Dragon Shouts are assigned to the R3-button on the PS3 gamepad.
– Not every NPC will have a complete set of dialogue like in Oblivion. It’ll be more like in Fallout 3, where only the ‘important’ NPC’s have anything substantial to say.

An interview with Todd Howard in the same magazine gives us some more info (some of this may be badly translated, so don’t immediately believe everything you see here).
– Quests can influence each other. Quest A may be changed for you because you completed Quest B beforehand.
– Quest givers now give more detailed instructions, in a style that’s apparently akin to Morrowind. They might even escort you to the road, to show you where to go.
– The game has 120 unique dungeons, worked on by 8 designers.