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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 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.
Information
Skyrim retains the traditional open-world gameplay found in the Elder Scrolls series. The player is free to roam the land of Skyrim at will. Within Skyrim lie five major cities, 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. Eighteen skills are present in Skyrim, and the class system from Oblivion has been removed. 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. The on-screen heads-up display only appears when the player's health, stamina, or magicka are 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; while in the inventory, the player can rotate and zoom in on acquired items.
Weapons can be created by the player at a forge, and are assigned to each hand individually, allowing for dual-wielding. 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-five spell types, which can be used in ranged and close combat forms. Spell types have specific qualities; a frost spell slows and drains stamina, while a fire spell causes prolonged damage through burning, and may also ignite the environment. 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.
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. It allows NPCs to "do what they want under extra parameters", as stated by lead designer Todd Howard. 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. 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.
Setting and 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. 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. 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.
As with previous Elder Scrolls games, Skyrim begins with the player character as an unknown prisoner, on the way to their own execution. 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.
Skyrim's game world is the 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 around 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in area. 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 marked location that has been previously visited.
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