The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (pronounced [skj'rjm],sky-rim) is a role-playing video game being developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It is scheduled to be released on November 11, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Skyrim is set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion, in the eponymous land of Skyrim. The province has erupted into civil war after the assassination of its king. Concurrently, the god Alduin, who takes the form of a massive dragon, has arisen to destroy the world. The player character is the last living Dovahkiin (Dragonborn), and must fend off Alduin and save Skyrim from destruction.
Contents [hide]
1 Gameplay
1.1 Folklore
2 Synopsis
2.1 Plot
2.2 Setting
3 Development
4 References
5 External links
[edit]Gameplay

See also: Gameplay of The Elder Scrolls series
Skyrim retains the traditional open world gameplay found in the Elder Scrolls series.[2] The player is free to roam the land of Skyrim at will. Within Skyrim lie five major cities, and expanses of wilderness and mountainous ranges. When visiting cities, the player can complete activities such as cooking, farming, woodcutting and mining. The player levels up by raising skills, and doing so allows for better items to be bought or looted from dungeons; it also increases the strength and variety of wilderness monsters. Eighteen skills are present in Skyrim, and the class system from Oblivion has been removed.[3] Perks are skill-specific abilities, organized in a system of branching groups called "skill trees". Each rise in level allows for another perk to be picked. There are 280 perks, which are balanced between approximately fifty levels; although the theoretical maximum level depends on the character's skill choices.[4] The on-screen heads-up display only appears when the player's health, stamina, or magicka is being depleted. Items and equipment layouts can be saved to a quick-access menu, and the pause-screen inventory menu is presented in a compass-style overlay;[2] while in the inventory, the player can rotate and zoom in on acquired items.[5]
Weapons can be created by the player at a forge and are assigned to each hand individually, allowing for dual-wielding.[6] At the cost of stamina, the player can sprint and jump. Shields can be used with a bashing attack, and timing is required for blocking with a shield. Blunt, bladed, hacking and stabbing weapons each have specific advantages and roles; as an example, the player is granted the ability to perform finishing moves. There are over eighty spells, which can be used in ranged and close combat forms. Spell types have specific qualities; a frost spell slows and drains stamina, whilst a fire spell causes prolonged damage through burning, and may also ignite the environment.[7] When practicing archery, arrows take longer to draw back than in previous Elder Scrolls games, but do greater damage. Because of this, arrows are expensive and considered rarities. A player equipped with a bow can use it defensively in close combat, in a charging counterattack. The player can sneak, and non-player characters (NPCs) become alerted if the player's movements are detected. Daggers are specifically effective when used in a sneak attack, inflicting devastating damage.[7]
Predecessors to Skyrim made use of an artificial intelligence system known as Radiant AI. Skyrim makes use of an updated system known as Radiant Story.[8] It allows NPCs to "do what they want under extra parameters", as stated by lead designer Todd Howard.[9] Side-quests are dynamically altered based on the player's actions, and are tailored to the player's abilities and progress within the game. As an example, the player might be sent off to a dungeon that has not been previously explored, and face enemies that are defeated most effectively with the player's preferred combat style.[10] Aside from dynamically altering side-quests, Radiant Story allows NPCs to interact with their environment, such as by working at bars, mills and mines. NPCs also interact with the player character through conversation, and may request favors or training in a particular skill, or challenge the player character to a duel. These events are generated as random encounters, taking influence from Fallout 3, a game created by Bethesda in 2008.[8]
[edit]Folklore


Skyrim utilizes the Creation Engine, allowing for new weather effects.[11] Dragons are encountered in Skyrim's game world.
Folklore is commonplace within Skyrim's game world. Creatures such as mammoths and sabre-toothed cats are encountered throughout the game and can be slain.[2] The legendary dragons have a particular influence on gameplay and story,[10] and are a challenging opponent for the player. Different races of dragons are encountered throughout Skyrim, either alone or in small groups. They can speak directly to the player character in the world's native language of Draconic.[8] Dragons can attack cities and towns at random, "merrily [ravaging] towns without warning";[9] often, dragons nose-dive to the ground, march through city streets and breathe fire, which engulfs and causes significant damage to city structures.[10]
Through a course of events, the player character learns that he/she is "Dragonborn."[10] Because of this, the player is granted the ability to use dragon shouts. These are powerful skills gained by slaying dragons, examples of which include teleportation, slowing down time, and summoning a dragon to aid the player. Dragon shouts (Dovahzaan) are described as battle cries spoken in the native language of the dragons.[12] There are over twenty different dragon shouts to be gained throughout the game, and they become more effective as the player absorbs the souls of slain dragons. A minority of non-player characters also have the ability to use dragon shouts.[13]
[edit]Synopsis

[edit]Plot
Skyrim is not a direct sequel to Oblivion; rather, it is a new chapter in the Elder Scrolls series, set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion.[13] In the premise to Skyrim, the Empire began ceding territory to the Elven nations it once ruled, because there was no heir to the Emperor's throne. The Blades had no one to defend, and gradually died, were murdered, or secluded themselves from the rest of the world.[13] After the king of Skyrim was assassinated, a civil war broke out amongst the native Nord race – the majority being those who wished for Skyrim to secede from the Empire, and the rest being those who wished for Skyrim to stay in the Empire.[14]
As with previous Elder Scrolls games, Skyrim begins with the player character as an unknown prisoner.[14] The player character eventually learns that Skyrim's civil war is last in a sequence of prophetic events foretold by the Elder Scrolls, who also foretell of the return of Alduin, the Nordic god of destruction. Taking the form of a gigantic dragon, Alduin is prophesied to consume the world with his servants, the Jills (a race of black dragons). The player character is the last Dovahkiin (Dragonborn), a dragon hunter anointed by the gods to help fend off the threat Alduin poses to Skyrim and Tamriel. Aiding the player is Esbern (voiced by Max von Sydow), one of the last Blades.[13]
[edit]Setting
Skyrim's game world is the eponymous province of Skyrim. It is a northern province of Tamriel, the continent on which all the games in the series have taken place. Skyrim is roughly the same size as Oblivion's game world Cyrodiil, which is 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in area.[15] Within Skyrim lie five cities, larger than Cyrodiil's cities, as well as smaller townships and expanses of wilderness. Much of Skyrim's topography is mountainous, and dragons are frequently encountered when exploring the wilderness. There are over 130 dungeons scattered across Skyrim, and when the player enters a dungeon for the first time, the monsters within lock to the player's level permanently, even if visited later at a higher level. Fast-travelling is a returning feature, allowing the player to instantly travel to any location that has been previously visited.[16]
[edit]Development

Skyrim was conceptualized shortly after the release of Oblivion in 2006,[17] and began production after the release of Fallout 3 in 2008.[18] It was officially announced at the Spike Video Game Awards in December 2010, when executive producer Todd Howard appeared on stage to present a trailer which also announced its "11-11-11" release date.[19] It appeared as the cover story for the February 2011 issue of the Game Informer magazine, wherein its story and game content were first revealed.[18]


Within Skyrim's universe is the usage of 'dragon language'. The alphabet was constructed to look aesthetically dragon-like, hence the use of claw-like markings.[12]
Jeremy Soule, who composed the soundtrack to Morrowind and Oblivion, returns to compose Skyrim's soundtrack. "Sons Of Skyrim" is Skyrim's theme, and was recorded with a choir of over thirty people, singing in the world’s language of Draconic.[20] The language was conceived by concept artist Adam Adamowicz, who developed a 34-character runic alphabet for the game.[12] As Game Informer journalist Matt Miller describes, the language plays an "integral role in [Skyrim's] story and gameplay".[21] The lexicon of Draconic was expanded as needed; as lead designer Bruce Nesmith explained in an interview with PlayStation Official Magazine UK, words were introduced to the lexicon "every time [the studio wanted] to say something".[9] Swedish film actor Max von Sydow voices Esbern, a Blade who aids the player character throughout the main quest.[20]
Skyrim utilizes the Creation Engine, a game engine developed internally by Bethesda.[11] The draw distance renders farther than in previous Elder Scrolls games; speaking with Official Xbox Magazine (OXM) in March 2011, Howard described an "all-the-way" draw distance. As an example, he described how the player can "stare at a fork, or an apple, and then look up and see a mountain, and [...] then run to the top of that mountain".[22] The game engine allows for dynamic lighting, affording shadows to be created by any structure or item.[8] SpeedTree was used to produce flora for previous games; instead of this, flora is produced using Bethesda's own technology. The developer states that this allows more detail in flora;[13] the technology allows designers to assign tree branches different weights, determining how wind affects the tree. Wind also affects the game world in other areas too, such as by determining the flow and direction of water in rivers and streams.[8] The engine allows snow to fall dynamically, scanning the game world and then determining where and how snow falls upon the terrain. Future titles developed by Bethesda Studios will also make use of the Creation Engine.[23] Character and creature animations in Skyrim are generated with Havok’s Behaviour toolset. It allows characters to fluidly cycle between walking, jogging and running, as well as increasing the efficiency of the third-person camera.[8] It also allows conversations between the player and non-player characters (NPCs) to be rendered in real-time. NPCs move around, perform tasks and make body gestures whilst conversing with the player. Children are present in the game,[13] and NPCs react with each other, such as by fighting over loot that the player has dropped.[24]
The art design of Skyrim is described as being "very different" from Oblivion, as stated by art director Matt Carofano.[25] He described Skyrim's predecessor Oblivion as being "standard European fantasy", and so a design objective for Skyrim was to make the game world feel realistic.[25] In a March 2011 interview with Official Xbox Magazine (OXM), Howard summarised Oblivion's game world as being akin to the more "refined and welcoming" atmosphere of previous Elder Scrolls games Arena and Daggerfall, and how in that the "wonder of discovery" of Morrowind's game world was lost.[22] He said that the world of Skyrim "walk[s] the line between Morrowind and Oblivion", having its own unique culture.[22] Another design objective was to make each location in Skyrim feel unique;[25] the game world is described as being hand-crafted. As lead designer Bruce Nesmith explained in an interview with OXM UK, "In Oblivion we did some generated landscapes, and there's none of that anymore."[26] While Oblivion's dungeons were created by one designer, Skyrim's dungeons are created by a team of eight designers.[26] With character design, efforts have been made to make each of the races unique from each-other.[25] In addition, character creation has been furthered from previous Elder Scrolls games, introducing new customisation options, such as pre-built beards and faces, and otherwise simplifying facial construction.[10][25]