On top of Fallout 3 influences and crime-reporting chickens , The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim introduces a new concept: infidelity. Game director Todd Howard spilled all the dark secrets from his bedroom when he spoke to us about the intentional but unexpected events that Skyrim's procedural Radiant quest system can turn up.
“I had decided to marry this one woman who was my friend,” Howard begins. “I forgot that I had done this Radiant quest for this other guy, who turns out he had liked her...”
Despite a bright start, Howard's new virtual marriage wasn't an entirely happy one. “When you get married, you can decide where you live - if you own a house, your spouse can move in with you, or you can move in with them,” says Howard. “So I had owned a house in the city of Whiterun, and asked her, 'OK we should live there.' I went there, and she hadn't arrived yet, so I decided to wait - I slept.”
Despite being sound asleep in his own home, an interloper arrived. “Then she showed up, and I turned around and she was standing there, I saw another door open to another bedroom and the other guy walked out!” says Howard. “If you make him like her, he then visits her every day, and doesn't care if she's married.”
"It's my wedding night, guy walks out of the bedroom!"
The “Radiant” feature Howard refers to is Skyrim's unique storytelling engine, which changes NPC's roles in the world depending on your choices during quests. And also provides enough storylines for another three years of Eastenders.
