Preview Oblivion E3 impressions at GameSpot

[Greatatlantic]

I never heard a Beth person claim they were doing dialogue trees, just what they were doing was a sort of cross between dialogue trees and wiki-talk of Morrowind. Its something new, so no one really knows if its good or not, but I'm sure we can heap tons of judgement on it when Oblivion comes out.

As for modding, well no game is going to be perfect for everyone, and 500,000 people experiencing a games generate a lot more ideas than 50 people making it. So, well done modding tools are a good thing, and even the best of games that ship with out mod tools will get people who figure out ways to "mod" them, not necessarily making them better just different for somebody who wants something different. However, no game should ever be dereft of quality before the mods, then its just a bad game.

 

[space captain]

i remember back in the day, i got really pissed off when Sierra took the text parser out of their adventure games and replaced them with the icon thing

oddly enough i still liked stuff like "Zak McKraken" and "Maniac Mansion" which was almost icon based - point and click, anyways

 

[Shagnak]

After overhearing this news, we had the attack itself added to our journal as a new dialogue topic, which we were then able to ask the bard about--resulting in a new quest to help at the town added to our journal.

To me, this does not exclude the use of dialogue trees and such.
It certainly does not necessarily mean the use of "wiki" dialogue - hasn't MSFD baldly/boldly proclaimed that there is no wiki-style dialog? Hmmmm.

It says that the topic appears in your journal. Not that you select it from your journal or anything like that.
The option to talk about it with an NPC could then just become available in the NPC dialog tree (assuming the implementation is dynamic anough to add the appropriate branch).
Just like in, say BG (and many others), where something does not become available to talk about if you don't know about it yet.

Oh, eternal optimist again...
:wink:

 

[Rat Keeng]

Plugins made Morrowind playable for me, as the regular unmodded game couldn't hold my interest for more than a few days. Once the OMG ITS HUEG!!1 notion wears off, there's not much left.

I think Morrowind's dialogue was of the most non-interactive and un-immersive kind, not a pleasant way to take a break from all the fighting, and i really needed that. I'd love to have a "Tell me about..." option, where you can type out your own topics, like i recall Daggerfall having, and Fallout to some extent, that was fun.

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

After overhearing this news, we had the attack itself added to our journal as a new dialogue topic, which we were then able to ask the bard about--resulting in a new quest to help at the town added to our journal.

To me, this does not exclude the use of dialogue trees and such.
It certainly does not necessarily mean the use of "wiki" dialogue - hasn't MSFD baldly/boldly proclaimed that there is no wiki-style dialog? Hmmmm.

We won't really know what exactly it is until they release a screenshot of it (not just an NPC replying, that doesn't indicate anything).

On the other stuff, sounds good. It would be pretty damn interesting if they had psychotic NPC's like that dog murderer, but I'm guessing they were just showing what they could do, and adding some comedic value for the audience.

 

[Fresh]

After overhearing this news, we had the attack itself added to our journal as a new dialogue topic, which we were then able to ask the bard about--resulting in a new quest to help at the town added to our journal.

To me, this does not exclude the use of dialogue trees and such.
It certainly does not necessarily mean the use of "wiki" dialogue - hasn't MSFD baldly/boldly proclaimed that there is no wiki-style dialog? Hmmmm.

We won't really know what exactly it is until they release a screenshot of it (not just an NPC replying, that doesn't indicate anything).

On the other stuff, sounds good. It would be pretty damn interesting if they had psychotic NPC's like that dog murderer, but I'm guessing they were just showing what they could do, and adding some comedic value for the audience.

The NPC who got pissed off and flamed the dogg was TEH FUNNI!

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

ok...

 

[Fresh]

ok...

No really it was. If the NPC:s are going to have that kind of AI in general it's gonna be great.

 

[voodoo1man]

We also had a chance to visit one of the game's towns, which featured medieval European architecture (stony buildings with thatched roofs) lined by cobblestone roads with patches of grass on the sides.

There you have it folks. Medieval European architecture = American suburb paved by cobblestones with buildings that have thatched roofs. When in Medieval Europe did they build 2-lane roads? In most cities, roads weren't even paved until the 18th century.

I absolutely hated just about every detail, large and small, of Morrowind's architecture, largely for this suburb mentality (ok, to give them credit they did have suburbs with Mexican adobe houses, but still). Bethesda's level designers can make a decent cave, but they have absolutely no clue when it comes to real architecture.

 

[Saran]

Its a fantasy world, not medieval Europe.

Remember, this is the capital of an empire that spans a good portion of the globe, it also has a lot more in common with Rome than medieval Europe, at least in regards to infrastructure and culture(though that wasnt really heavily paved either), add in magic to that mix and its not really crazy to have a decent infrastructure.

 

[Wysardry]

When in Medieval Europe did they build 2-lane roads? In most cities, roads weren't even paved until the 18th century.

Actually, the Romans built roads wide enough for two lanes of traffic, and although many fell into disrepair during the Dark Ages, some survived until the 19th Century.

 

[Claw]

Its a fantasy world, not medieval Europe.

Tell Andrew Park.

 

[Fresh]

We also had a chance to visit one of the game's towns, which featured medieval European architecture (stony buildings with thatched roofs) lined by cobblestone roads with patches of grass on the sides.

There you have it folks. Medieval European architecture = American suburb paved by cobblestones with buildings that have thatched roofs. When in Medieval Europe did they build 2-lane roads? In most cities, roads weren't even paved until the 18th century.

I absolutely hated just about every detail, large and small, of Morrowind's architecture, largely for this suburb mentality (ok, to give them credit they did have suburbs with Mexican adobe houses, but still). Bethesda's level designers can make a decent cave, but they have absolutely no clue when it comes to real architecture.

Newsflash: This is NOT medieval Europe. This is TEH FANTASY.

 

[bryce777]

Romans didn't have superhighways throughout their whole cities, and the vast majority of city dwellers dwelled in large apartmentlike buildings with narrow roads in between them, and used communal baths and such.

 

[bryce777]

We also had a chance to visit one of the game's towns, which featured medieval European architecture (stony buildings with thatched roofs) lined by cobblestone roads with patches of grass on the sides.

There you have it folks. Medieval European architecture = American suburb paved by cobblestones with buildings that have thatched roofs. When in Medieval Europe did they build 2-lane roads? In most cities, roads weren't even paved until the 18th century.

I absolutely hated just about every detail, large and small, of Morrowind's architecture, largely for this suburb mentality (ok, to give them credit they did have suburbs with Mexican adobe houses, but still). Bethesda's level designers can make a decent cave, but they have absolutely no clue when it comes to real architecture.

Newsflash: This is NOT medieval Europe. This is TEH FANTASY.

yeah, those aren't HAMburgers, they're DRAGONburgers!

 

[Sol Invictus]

RP, you're stupid. He was clearly mocking me.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

RP, you're stupid.

Congratulations. In one minute you reached the conclusion that my teachers were unable to reach in what... 12 years?

He was clearly mocking me.

Mocking != insulting. Take some Ritalin next time.

 

[Killzig]

Mocking != insulting. Take some Ritalin next time.

Mock; To treat with ridicule or contempt; deride.
Insult; To treat with gross insensitivity, insolence, or contemptuous rudeness.

You're right, I'd much rather be mocked than insulted. :D

 

[voodoo1man]

Newsflash: This is NOT medieval Europe. This is TEH FANTASY.

Bethesda are free to make American suburb FANTASY world, and I am free to dislike it. My point still stays: their "FANTASY" looks like the crappy place where they live, but with thatched roofs! The level designers don't know shit about architecture either way.

 

[Wysardry]

Romans didn't have superhighways throughout their whole cities, and the vast majority of city dwellers dwelled in large apartmentlike buildings with narrow roads in between them, and used communal baths and such.

Perhaps that is true of Rome and other cities on their "home turf", but they also invaded other countries and built roads there, and over time towns and cities were built either side of them.

There are a number of large towns and small cities in the UK which have mediaeval buildings still standing with modern two lane roads between them. If the original roads were narrow, the new roads just wouldn't fit.

Yes, there are also some very narrow alleys where two pedestrians travelling in opposite directions would have trouble passing each other, but any town large enough to have a market had to provide two-way access for carts.

In any case, my point was that the technology to build wide roads was available long before mediaeval times, regardless of whether particular cultures did so.

 

[Fresh]

Enuf already.
---
I just read something interesting over at Gamespy:

It's also cool that NPCs' skills will be governed by the same mechanics as the player's own. Since they have their own schedules -- which often will include weapons practice -- they're going to get better and better at fighting as the game progresses. I can imagine a scenario where, early in my career, I'll bully some little punk squire, only to return to find him a fully-trained bad-ass with a sword. Let's hope the reality lives up to the scenarios I'm inventing in my head.

Seriously. Is this kind of stuff actually going to be in the game? It cant be right? I mean, it would be awesome.

 

[Sol Invictus]

If true, it'd kick the shit out of Peter Molyneux's CONCEPTS of Fable many, many times.

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

Don't get your hopes up for/trust anything gamespy said, a Dev at the elder scrolls forums said that they only got half of what they reported right.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Fair enough, and even if half of it is right, it still kicks the shit out of Fable's concepts.

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

NPCs don't do skill progression. The game uses stats to determine proficiency and success for NPCs just as it does for the player, but NPCs don't improve over time unless scripted to do so. In the demo, a woman NPC practices her archery and misses the target because her Marksman skill is set to zero. She then drinks a potion that fortifies her Marksman skill, and so she hits the target every time after that.