Senin, 20 Juni 2011
The Fallout series has done very well for Bethesda, but The Elder Scrolls is the main event for the once tiny PC developer. After all, this isn't someone else's property they're working on; this is the RPG series that they've been nurturing since The Elder Scrolls: Arena debuted in 1994. It's their world.
The extraordinarily detailed environments show how much care and work Bethesda has put into their world. When the scene opened on their E3 demo, I was treated to a snowy trail winding through the rugged countryside. In the distance, a mountain called the "Thorn of the World" jutted into the sky.
"Since this is an Elder Scrolls game, you can go to the top of that mountain," said the Bethesda representative driving the demo.
That's the fun of The Elder Scrolls, honestly -- that moment when you step into the world for the first time and feel that rush of excitement for the infinite possibilities its seems to contain. Of course, the games themselves aren't always perfect (Bethesda titles are infamous for their bugs), but that feeling of excitement is still pretty powerful.
This giant means serious business with that massive club of his.
After that initial rush, the rest of the demo was pretty much an extended dungeon crawl. First, though, we stopped by the town of Riverwood to meet some of the townsfolk. Riverwood is a mill town, so people were loading massive logs at the massive mill and generally going about their business. Apparently, an actual economy is at play here, so if you do any damage to Riverwood, prices elsewhere will actually begin to rise.
As I continued, the Bethesda reps showed off some of the attacks that are possible using Skyrim's dual-wielding mechanic. At point, we stopped by a tower, where I saw a couple of hostile guards conversing. The Detect Life spell was set to one hand highlighted the guards, while the Frenzy spell in the other hand turned one guard against his buddy. With that distraction out of the way, we continued onward.
The dead now stalk the halls of the Bleak Falls Barrow.
Eventually, we found ourselves in the Bleak Falls Barrow. After dealing with a crazed bandit and taking an artifact off his corpse, we descended deeper into the system of caves. Along the way, we saw more powers, such as dual-wielding chain lightning. I'll admit, being able to go Dark Jedi on foes looks pretty fun.
The grand finale was a battle against not one but two dragons in the middle of an open field. They swooped in during a battle with a pair of giants and their mammoths, grabbing one of the giants up and promptly dropping him to his death.
The soul gained from defeating one dragon was used to power up a "Word of Power" called "Storm Call Shout," and the battle that followed was suitably epic. Using the Word of Power instantly called forth a massive thunderstorm, complete with roaring winds and lightning that struck the remaining frost dragon as it flew. Finally, the dragon's wings were clipped, and it was sent crashing to the earth, plowing through dirt as it went.
Wow. That's one helluva shield if it can withstand dragonfire.
During the brief struggle that followed, a shield was used to block the wyrm's fire as it was struck again and again with an axe. Finally, it relented and died, its body burning as it went.
That encounter, more than anything, left me with a favorable impression of Skyrim. It was the way that the sky suddenly burst wide open with rain and lightning, the way the dragon animated, and the suddeness with which they appeared. It made that massive world feel alive with danger.
I look forward to exploring that world when Skyrim arrives later this year.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - E3 Interview
We talk with the production director of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim about level design, character classes, and lots of dragons.
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