I didnt like Gothic 2, never played the others. 

I'm liking more, and more, and more games coming out of Euro dev houses. My list of "damn those were good games" and games I'm looking forward to are quickly all being made up of European devs. They seem to be able to step back from the dry-humping of genres for the sake of sales, and do something fresh and original with the genre because they have the time, the backing and inclination.

Plus they aren't trying to ram $60 titles down our throats every 6 months. The games may not ultimately compete with the mega-funded titles from American publishers...but at the end of the day I'm finding myself happier with the results of Euro games than I am American ones.

(I think Magicka kind of encapsulates the attitude Euro devs seem to have.)

(Bah, stupid internal server error: url=http://arrowheadgamestudios.com/?page=games&subpage=magicka)

Not a blockbuster game by any means, but something fun, fresh, playable and with a price point that doesn't leave you going "that's it?"

Instead of Obsures, I would suggest Fcom, it's basically mashes 3 of the biggest and best game overhauls by the community and mashes them together into one awesome patch. (includes Obscures) It's not an easy installation though, and takes work, here is the you tube trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd6G9zK4D5A

I don't know about you, but putting the fact that a game is moddable quite easely, could that count for the game's shortcoming, with the ' The community will arrange things' won't make it a better game

Seconded.

Console's a bigger market for one; of course, gone are the glory dyas when you can have a Pc ported game on Pc, and the console equivalent on console.  Now they take the common denominator and then rig it up for PC (or PC to console, but that is quite rare nowadays)

And graph never makes the game, but sure seems to count for 80% of the reviewer's note for some reason.  Generally it's compared to 2-3 title of the same branch.

Want another horrible old game make anew and basterdized?  X-Com!...now in FPS in a typical 1950s background!

Huzzah!  nothing is sacred short of the mighty dollar!

Honestly, I don't understand why so many of you are against modding or why that should count against it. Oblivion is not a new game, it's pretty old but the fact that they implemented an ingame editor and allow modding REALLY extends the lifetime of the game. Sure, they did have some design flaws and problems but the game itself, when released, was incredible. The mere fact that the community can add to the experience and the gameplay is just a huge bonus.

Anyways, if so many of you hated Oblivion and Morrowind I'd be curious to see how you'd design TES IV You could also always try modding it to see if you can make it better.

Lastly, I'm in agreement that they SHOULD NOT SIMPLIFY AND DUMB DOWN what they had from the previous games. I HATE that and it'll be the one thing that makes me stop being a gamer. I like choice, freedom, and complexity in my games.

Yup, this is what I meant...or using the 'try with mods', argument; not everyone buys something, hoping the bells and whisltes will mkae it grand; I want it grand when it's STAND-ALONE

First leaked image can be seen here.  It's scanned, but it's damn impressive.  Faces have come a long way from Oblivion!

First, offical details can be seen here, are below:

• Third person view has been improved
• 5 massive cities, more variation in caves and underground stuff.
• there is an option for no HUD.
• On Conversations: Conversations aren’t done in a zoomed in static shot anymore.Start a conversation with some and they will act like someone would in real life, looking at you occasionally and walking around a bit and also continue doing a task if they were doing one while talking.
• On Weapon smithing: Go to a forge and carve a new weapon out of red hot metal.
• Dual-wielding: you have two hands now in combat and you can wield anything to both hands. You may assign a dagger on left hand and use a mace with right hand. The choice as they say is yours.
• Duel: You may duel any NPC on the streets western style.
• Inheritence: When you kill a shopkeeper, his/her family member will inherit the shop and will be angry about you, but stil give you missions.
• Level-scaling: It is coming back
• 18 skills: supposedly even less skills to play with?
• No mysticism
• Perks: Rumored to be in Skyrim. I may have understood it wrong.
• Boosts: Pick stamina, health, magic boosts on level up.
• Enchanting: This skill makes a return.
• “Radiant storytelling” or Level Scaling 2.0: “The game eventually logs a huge storehouse of knowledge about how you’ve played, and subsequently tailors content to your capabilities and experiences. Entering a city, a young woman might approach you and beg you to save her daughter from kidnappers. The game will look at the nearby dungeons you’ve explored, automatically set the mission in a place you’ve never visited, and designate opponents that are appropriately matched to your strengths and weaknesses.”
• Fast-Travel: As you probably expect, you can instantly travel to previous locations with a tap of the button
• Sprinting: You can now sprint about!
• Town visiting: You may do more in towns, like tailor weapons, cooking, farming or mining. Not much details about this or how detailed they are as jobs.
• Dynamic Shadows
• Improved Faces/Improved Models Example: Faces have been dramatically overhauled. Characters now exhibit more emotion show of distinctions between different races and just plain looks better.
• Radiant AI
• Updated Engine Snow falls dynamically (not as a basic texture on the ground)
• Trees and branches move independently with the wind
• Water flows
• Randomly generated quests
• Beards
• You can’t run backwards as fast as you do forward.
• 10 races to choose from (Holy crap thats a lot of races)
• confirmed creatures: zombies, skeletons, trolls, giants, ice wraiths, giant spiders, dragons, wolves, horses Elk, mammoth, saber-toothed cats
• presumably open cities (as dragons can attack)
• Hud-free first-person view and improved third-person perspective
• very unique landscapes! Also unique dungeons! In other words, lots of uniqueness!
• Character creation improved, body features customizable
• 2-handed weapons and duel wielding confirmed.
• Finishing moves, unique to each weapon and enemy you fight.
• Kids
• Dialog will pop up when you approach an enemy
• cooking/farming/mining/woodcutting/blacksmithing
• Perk picking at every level-up
• 5 Magic Schools Destruction Alteration Conjuration Restoration Illusion.

Sounds interesting, thought the Skill and Perk system sounds a little too similiar to Fallout 3.

 

Good list. 18 skills... Now I hope that this means that they might be combining some skills together. Only time will tell.

Good to see that enchanting is back.

So far, I like everything we've heard about it. I just hope all that actually makes it in and is implemented well.

Things that are unconfirmed, but I hope are in:

Spears. I am not alone in this, just about everyone I've talked to really wants spears and other polearms back in Elder Scrolls.

Levitation. Not as big a deal as spears, but moving in a 3d plane is something people would like to see back in the game. It was out of Oblivion due to the cities ont being open, so hopefully it's back in now.

Climb. This was taken out back in Morrowind, but considering the mountainous nature of Skyrim, it would make sense to do it now. Since they're having less skills, it would not be illogical to combine climb, athletics, and acrobatics, and thus have a general locomotion skill.

Snow Whales. These were never in Elder Scrolls o my knowledge, but they're in some of the old books, and they're a very interesting creature that I'd like to interact with. Of course, they were designed by Kirkbride, and the current higher-ups at Bethesda seem to rather dislike his stuff, despite (or possibly because of) its popularity amongst fans.