New Skyrim Details Released

The latest Elder Scrolls title is already causing excitement amongst fans of the series, despite not really knowing a great deal about what’s to come. But over on NeoGAF the first main details have been posted and give some significant detail about what we can expect from the Oblivion follow-up.

On levelling:

• Totally revamped – no more class selection at the start of the game, and every skill you upgrade contributes to your overall level.  Also, each time you level you get extra health plus the ability to get either additional health, magicka or stamina.
• Each level also brings you perks.
• You can advance past level 50, but it’ll be extremely slowly.

On skills:

• Mysticism is gone.
• 18 skills, down from 21 on Oblivion, and 27 on Morrowind.
• The game tries to accommodate players who want to specialize in a certain profession (like mage or thief), while at the same time giving room for players who like to do plenty of everything.

On the story and lore:

• Set 200 years after Oblivion in Skyrim, a region north of the imperial city, where the Nords live.
• The dragons are returning, as it was prophesized. You are going to be trying to stop the wicked dragon god.
• You are a dragonborn – a dragon hunter. Your mentor is one of the last blades.
• Also, there is a civil war, since the king is dead.
• Enemies include were-yeti’s, giant spider, and dragons.

On combat:

• They want to make it more dynamic and tactical. You have to assign each hand with a function; either magic, two weapons, a weapon and a shield, etc..
• You can also waste stamina by sprinting, allowing you to get access to tactical positions.
• Emphasis on really improving the combat this time around.
• They are also putting care into how each weapon feels in your hand.

Other:

• Third person view has been improved
• Five massive cities, more variation in caves and underground sections.

On quests:

• Quests are much more dynamic now.
• The quests are now more determined by how you build your character, individual actions and overall much more dynamic. Examples provided: If you are more of a magic user, some other mage may approach you who may not have if you were just a melee character. Or if you killed someone who owned a store that was going to give you a quest, his sister would inherit the store, but she may resent you before giving you the quest.
• Also, quests you are given will be modified by how you have played.

Source: NeoGAF