More Skyrim details have broken in the latest issue of Official Playstation Magazine , with more information on the game's dragons, dragon shouts, dialogue and travel options. Also revealed: horses, revamped city guard and more. Read on for the full scoop.
We already know that Skyrim will have UNLIMITED DRAGONS , and that their attacks will happen dynamically as you explore the world. OPM also reveal that wounded dragons will be unable to fly, meaning you can trap a dragon in a ground fight if you think you stand a chance of winning the fight.
Killing dragons in Skyrim earns your character dragon shouts, special abilities that make use of the language of the dragons to deal damage to your enemies. Newly confirmed dragon shouts include "Yol Toor"- Fire breath, "Iiz Slen" - Ice crystals, "Strun Bah Qo" - Lightning Storm and couple more that can slow down time and let you move speedily in one direction.
There's also been a much needed change to the guard system. The very moment you misbehaved in Oblivion, the guards would turn into immortal, all-knowing avatars of justice. No matter how far you travelled from the scene of the crime, the guards in every new town would instantly know what you'd done, and would practically teleport towards you to make an arrest. Skyrim will thankfully tone this down a bit. Guards will be separated into different regions. If you commit a crime in one area, guards in a nearby area won't necessarily know about it.
Now for some crafting news:
- There will be 13 types of ore!
So there's that.
Also confirmed: horses. There was some uncertainty about whether horses would make it into Skyrim, as Bethesda weren't entirely happy with the way they turned out in Oblivion. OPM say that horses will indeed be a part of The Elder Scrolls V, and will "actually handle like horses this time." If you don't fancy riding around on horseback the whole time, there will also be a Morrowind style fast travel system that will let you use carriages to reach any major settlement from the start of the game. You can also skip straight to locations you've already discovered without the need for a carriage.
Bethesda have told OPM that Skyrim will feature over 60,000 lines of voiced dialogue. There will be more voice actors this time round as well, to the enormous relief of anyone who spent 40 hours listening to Oblivion's Orcs.
Finally, alongside the previously mentioned Dark Brotherhood, there will also be a Thieves Guild, a Fighter's Guild (The Companions), and a Mages Guild (The College of Winter's Hold). In Oblivion these provided their own insular quest lines, but in Skyrim they will interact with one another and the main story.
Judging from the hundred foot tall Skyrim poster glued to the side of a nearby LA hotel, Skyrim should be getting a big showing at E3 next week. If you can't wait 'til then, you can always stick the Skyrim trailer on a loop until Tuesday arrives.
