Jep
Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third
Posts: 10,237
Alright here is a little review after 8 hours of playtime (started 3 character for various tests)
Please note that there are no new screenshots yet from me because Print Screen doesn't seem to work and there are no fuctions in game. I'll figure something out.
Computer I am running on :
Amd 64bit 3700+
X1900XT (OC'd 665Mhz / 1470Mhz)
2GB Ram
Visual Quality :
Let me start this section by saying, "You will need a very high-end gpu to get decent visuals." I was maxed out, at 1600x1200, with 16x AF (forced in catalyst driver, no option in game?) on everything with my x1900xt and it ran silky smooth, except for a few stutters here and there. Make sure self shadowing is unchecked, it looks quite aweful (at least on ATI's.)
That being said, there are some ups and some downs about the graphics in this game. The parallax mapping on textures is trully amazing and used quite exquisitly, and the overall texturing in indoor areas (dungeons, caves, homes) is as great as you could expect from a recent game. Sharp textures, brilliant colors.
Now, about forests and outdoors. This is where the game gets a bit touchy. In your immediate area, the forests and everything is a true marvel. Simply breathtaking. You have butterflies swirling around bushes, grass and leaves swaying to the wind, soft shadows cast by the tree canopies, it all adds to the atmosphere. Where the outdoor's beauty fails is on distant land and mountain. Essentially, the textures loose all detail and become big blobs of green and brown. I'd say on the far away hills and mountains, its normal, you can't expect everything to run at full detail. Its when the LoD process seems to go awry and nearby hills remain huge undetailed blobs that it hurts. It doesn't happen so often, but it did as I neared some towns. That and the pop-ups when new areas load (ruins suddenly popping up ahead, trees shifting locatioins, etc) are the only environmental flaws that touched me.
Character animations are a tad stiff on occasion, and the transition between animations are most often inexistent, but that would be massive nit-picking on my part. The lip synch animations are a true marvel.
I played with HDR on, so i did not have Anti-aliasing or bloom on, and it did not bother me a bit to be AA-less. And normally, I'd be the first to complain. Speaking of HDR, its use is just perfect in this game. I heard a lot of people complain that there would be too much bloom in the game. Not quite so with the HDR option. Only reflective objects really bloom when the sun is shining down on them, or things that are close to light sources, but its nothing dramatic. Not anywhere near as bad as "bloom" options. :p
Combat :
All I can say is wow. This is a HUGE improvement from Morrowind, one that I praise greatly. The combat is much more involved now, where you are required to block, attack, power attack. As you gain skills in blade and blunt weapons you will gain new attacks, such as a spinning attack that will damage everyone around, and a disarm attack. For the nimble thief, once you get your acrobatics high enough, you can dodge attacks but using the jump button while holding down block. While some enemies seem simplistic, there are more tactics used than there ever were in Morrowind.
Its also worth mentioning that spell casting is also on a seperate key now. You don't have to seathe your weapon and "ready spell" like you did in Morrowind. You can simply tap the "cast" key and you will hurl that big fire ball, or heal yourself, or whatever spell you have selected, during your combat.
I think Rob, you'll enjoy the action in this game. At least I am.
Storyline and quests, spoiler less :
This game is extremely involving compared to its predecessors. I play 4 hours with the same character, following the main quest and it had me beating through a horde of twisted imp like creatures called scamps and dremora warriors, and working with some soldiers. Let me remind everyone that it took about 20 hours of gameplay in morrowind's main quest before it ever got that involving. Forget your little dungeon runs where you kill six Sixth House sleepers and a leader. You're going to have a whole lot more to do.
There seems to have been a lot of devotion into every little quest in this game. There doesn't seem to be as many "fed-ex" quests where you gotta deliver this and that to some such person. Most quests now have a more developped storyline behind it.
Radiant A.I. :
First of all, lets make something clear. Don't expect the A.I. to be like humans, and start giving you quests that were never scripted. I remember seeing a few people on the official forum saying things like, "Will some such start hating his neighbour and come ask you to kill him?". Thats not going to happen, if they give you a quest it was scripted.
What the R.A.I. was meant to do is allow NPCs to have goals and go about a typical life. They will meet one another and spark dynamic conversations, fishing for lines in a barrel of prerecored voice samples. Overall, it was also meant to simplify the programmers' task. Instead of having a whole string of scripts to get an npc to open a lock and move to a place, now they simply do "Open lock, go sit down" and the characters will do it.
Now. Does it do all that? Yep it sure does. Npcs will bump into one another and chat, you can get new quests from hearing them. Npcs will move about a daily life, going to the inn at noon for lunch, and closing down shop and going to bed at night. Some will train with others, some will steal stuff, etc. It succeeds at making the world feel much more alive.
--- I'm cutting things short for now, bed time for me, I shall continue once I find the time, if anyone else cares to pick up where I left off, you are free to --
Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless
GoY's Pessimistic Soy Boy Toy![[http://www.sorrowind.net/imagecorner/225/51142976329.gif]](http://www.sorrowind.net/imagecorner/225/51142976329.gif "http://www.sorrowind.net/imagecorner/225/51142976329.gif")
