Read all this weeks previews? This one is the best of the lot!

• Posted by Paul October 20, 2011 - 574 views

  We've had a slew of game previews this week, and quite a few we have already linked to or mentioned here on The Skyrim Blog. But out of all the ones I have read, and I think I've now read pretty well ALL of them there was one that contained the most interesting, intriguing and downright exciting information.

  The article is called '63 Things amazing things we did and saw in Skyrim' and came courtesy of Game Radar. Take a look at this list and if you are hyped into a state of high excitement for Skyrim  by the end of it, then there's really no hope for you. Prepare to drool...

  1. We witnessed a murder in a town square, where a lady called Margret was viciously stabbed to death before our very eyes.
  2. We killed the assailant, and then went into a shop where people were talking about the noise outside. It was a scripted event (and that start of a side-quest), but happened in a brilliantly organic way.
  3. We killed an Elk with massive antlers (obviously head of the small group he was with). When he was dead we were able to kept the antlers, which we would no doubt have displayed in our house as soon as we'd bought one in one of the cities.
  4. We were able to look at characters' facial expressions without cringing at the old engine. They’re much improved, and suspicious looks from a town leader's bodyguards work brilliantly with the dialogue to set a mood that we should mind our Ps and Qs.
  5. We dual-wielded magic. It's possible to have two of the same spell or even different spells mapped to the triggers.
  6. We went swimming in a river and almost fell down a big waterfall, and let out an audible gasp when we climbed to safety.
  7. We caught Riverbetty fish and Salmon while swimming with our bare hands.
  8. We waited in the middle of a field just to see the day/night transition unfold before your very eyes. It was much like Shenmue II.
  9. We went to the nearest city and took a carriage to a city that was further away. It could take us to any of the game’s cities – even the ones we hadn’t been to.
  10. We heard people shout for help in the wilderness in a fashion not dissimilar to Red Dead Redemption, except instead of needing to be defended from outlaws, they’re running from dire wolves or Orcs. Or dragons.
  11. We stared in awe at the mist around mountains. It looks phenomenal.
  12. We went into someone’s house and were asked politely to leave. Then firmly. Then they started calling for the guards. So long, old RPG tropes!
  13. We were happy to see that the “over-encumbered” message was gone, replaced with “You are carrying too much to be able to run,” which, crucially, still allows you to move, only very slowly. Very… very slowly.
  14. We explored the tops of mountains, and noticed that the snowfall increased as we got higher. It’s all rendered in 3D.
  15. We slowly climbed down a steep mountain, jumping from rock to rock to avoid taking damage.
  16. We tried to climb slowly down a steep mountain, but then fell to our death.
  17. We stole a horse and had people yell at us as we rode away.
  18. We saw a woolly mammoth lay dead, but just as we were about to get off our horse and have a look, we saw a bear that had been feeding off it. He'd seen us too. Run!
  19. We spent 20 minutes riding from one spot on the map to another. Skyrim is freakin' humongous, and much of it in wide-open areas populated by mammoths and giants.
  20. We learned the difference between riding on the road with a horse (they can gallop at full-speed) and riding in the hills on a horse (they can only trot, never building speed).
  21. We fell off a cliff with our horse several times. Most of the times it killed us, but once we saw our character slowly climb to his feet and continue after a particularly unfortunate fall.
  22. We were amazed as we rode through shallow water with a horse. Water ripples are brilliantly rendered in real time, and look straight out of a Pixar movie.
  23. We had the horse shot out from under us. Enemies will always attack your steed first before they start attacking you. Once your horse is down... you ain't goin' nowhere, son.
  24. We mistakenly hit the wrong button to jump, because it’s now mapped to A, which is where it always should have been.
  25. We collected glow worms called “torchbugs,” which fly around. But sadly, collecting them kills them (and butterflies too) and adds their thoraxes and wings respectively as ingredients for alchemy in your inventory. Shame. But they look lovely while they're alive.
  26. We cried about killing torchbugs.
  27. We spent several minutes looting a large laboratory of ingredients.
  28. We crafted the crap out of potions. Once we found an Alchemy bench we filled out inventory with alchemical potions.
  29. We found Nirnroot. Hey! Nirnroot is back!
  30. We learned which ingredients do what. Snowberries and Silverside Perch resist frost; Dragon's Tongue and Strawberries both resist fire; Deathbell and Bleeding Crown both contain weakness to poison. When we mixed Snowberries, Silverside Perch, and Dragon's Tongue we created a Potion of Resist Frost.
  31. We also tried to improve our weapons using Grindstones, but we didn’t have any of the ingredients.
  32. We swung our axe at the Grindstone in frustration – it bounced off.
  33. We tried to talk to a Ghostly Headless Horsemen, but he wouldn’t have a conversation with us despite having a “talk' prompt.” Presumably, because he doesn’t have a mouth. That, or he’s a rude bastard.
  34. We mistakenly alerted guards as we tried to sneak up on them by bumping into bones dangling from ropes on the ceiling. They made a clattery noise and we jumped.
  35. We passed a stone column with a sword, shield, and flowers laid at its base. We left them well alone.
  36. We enjoyed talking to NPCs without time freezing around us. Talking to people is a much more organic process, happening in real-time.
  37. We reloaded a previous save because an NPC wouldn’t progress the quest. He just stood in the room looking like he wanted to attack a wall like it had wronged him. Or there was an enemy stuck in it.
  38. We hit a guard in the head with a mace and got thrown in jail.
  39. We tried to pick the lock in our jail cell but failed, breaking the one lockpick we snuck in.
  40. We broke out of our cell by smashing through a crumbing wall, and then took back our stuff and fought our way out .
  41. We saw some giants standing around and went to talk to them. They didn’t want to talk to us. Way to perpetuate the stereotypes, guys.
  42. We drank a potion and entered into an NPC’s memories.
  43. We talked to a salty sea captain who lost his sea salt in a sea cave.
  44. We overheard a conversation about women in a town having horrid nightmares, and were given a side-quest to help end them.
  45. We randomly attacked a ship’s captain, hoping the crew would join in our coup.
  46. We weren’t all that surprise when the crew didn’t join in our coup.
  47. We jumped off the boat into the water, and swam away from out failed coup.
  48. We walked in snow so thick we could barely see where we were going.
  49. We read the letters in our inventory, which are 3D and unfold as you select them, revealing their written contents realistically written on the paper, not just as screen text.
  50. We had some epic battles thanks to the new combat. Holding down the attack button does a charge attack in both senses of the word. Not only will the blow be more forceful, our Argonian also ran forward several steps before delivering the attack.
  51. We missed several powerful swings of our weapon. The lunge is easy to miss, though if it was too easy, the move would likely be overpowered. If you do hit, however, it knocks the hell out of them.
  52. We saw a fox while we were running through the forest. Quickly, we turned to it and used our magical ability to light it on fire. We actually laughed out loud and said “Heh, Firefox.”
  53. We leveled up and spent our skill to improve our magical abilities. It turned our small flame attack into a full-blown flamethrower.
  54. We swung a mace at a wolf and hit it so hard it rolled down the side of a hill for nearly a minute. It was a big hill.
  55. We were randomly attacked by a woman while passing a village, but the only reason we noticed it was because we heard a “twang” and saw an arrow fall to the ground after striking a rock.
  56. We overheard people talking about a recent attack, though they didn’t go into details.
  57. We found a cave in the middle of nowhere filled with traps.
  58. We tried to explore the cave, but were killed by the traps.
  59. We tried to explore the cave again, but were killed by zombies after being weakened by the traps.
  60. We decided that the cave sucked and was for losers and didn’t go back.
  61. We went to the cave again and cleared it, earning awesome new items and gaining a ton of experience.
  62. We walked into a city we saw an executioner preparing to bring an axe down on a man’s neck. For no reason at all, we took out a bow and shot the executioner in the head – causing every guard in the town to attack us.
  63. We ran from the guards, turning on Assassin’s Creed mode. We led them on a chase across bridges, up narrow paths, and down rooftops before dodging them down an alley and escaping.

  Wow. Just Wow :D

  It's hard to pick out one - but what is there in this list that gets you most excited for Skyrim?