Skyrim GI transcript

[h3Xh3X]

Some of the GI scans are quite hard to read. This thread aims to fix that, and to collaboratively produce a complete transcript of the article. I'll start here with the radiant story, which isn't too hard to read in my stitched-together version, but might be a challenge otherwise.

 

 

THE RADIANT STORY

The Elder Scrolls V has a remarkable new approach to storytell-

ing in a role-playing game. In Oblivion, Bethesda's Radiant

AI technology empowered NPCs to enact their own daily

schedules and needs. Radiant story applies the same principle

to the much wider experience of moment-to-moment character

interactions with the world.

Put simply, the Radiant story system is about reacting to

player actions in everything from the tiniest detail to the broad-

est plot point. "We're still telling very specific storylines in our

main quest and our factions, and all that stuff is done by hand,"

Howard reaffirms. "But Radiant story allows us to have quests

that are flavored dynamically for who you are and where you

are." The game itself watches everything you do. What skills

have you improved? What places have you visited? Who have

you killed? What weapons do you own? Which figures in the

world are your friends, and who are your enemies?

The answers to these questions create the backbone of your

story. If you murder the shopkeeper in Riverwood that might

give you a quest, his sister will automatically inherit the shop,

and might even offer you the same quest. However, knowing

that you killed her brother, she might do so only in anger

and frustration.

Out on the street, your magically empowered hero may be

approached by another magic-user who wishes to duel. If you

had only improved your weapon skills, that character might

never appear.

Wandering through town, you could enter your inventory and

decide to drop a heavy two-handed weapon rather than sell

it at a nearby shop. In some instances, the weapon might lie

forgotten in the mud. At another time, a young boy might grab

it up and rush after you, asking if you had dropped it and might

like it back. In a third instance, two burly men might reach the

weapon at the same time, and begin to fight over who will take it home.

The game eventually logs a huge storehouse of knowledge

about how you've played, and subsequently tailors content

to your capabilities and experiences. Entering a city, a young

woman might approach you and beg you to save her daughter

from kidnappers. The game will look at the nearby dungeons

you've explored, automatically set the mission in a place you've

never visited, and designate opponents that are appropriately

matched to your strengths and weaknesses.

"To the players, they'll get a quest that we feel is appropriate

for who they are and what they're doing at the time," Howard

says. In essence, your version of Skyrim will be built to your

specific playing style.

For more exhaustive details on Radiant story and all the

technical features of Skyrim, visit gameinformer.com/skyrim.

 

Please add your own transcripts and guesses to blurred lines/words below.

[h3Xh3X]

Here's another, page 48:

 

A NEW LAND

Only a few moments into

observing The Elder Scrolls V

in action, the game takes our

breath away. Whether you're

looking at the world from the

HUD-free first person view or the improved

third-person perspective, the world of Skyrim

is meticulously detailed. The new rendering

engine offers unparalleled fidelity for an open-

world role-playing game. Every object in the

world casts a perfectly formed shadow. Trees

and branches move independently, and water

flows in swill currents, imparting a sense of

energy and life to the world even when no

other creatures stand nearby. Increadible draw

distances allow players to look out from a

mountain peak across vast distances, and

everything you can see - from the lowest

valley to the highest distant snowcapped

rocks - is traversable. Snow falls naturally onto

the stones and branches, appearing not as a

preset texture, but falling exactly as it would

onto that object given its shape and size.

The titular setting of Skyrim is a harsh

wilderness that lies to the north of Cyrodiil,

the sprawling central nation through which

players journeyed in Oblivion. Where Oblivion

focused on idyllic sylvan glades and imperial

cities, Skyrim delivers precipitous mountains,

majestic tundras, and crumbling ruins. "It's

a really rugged environment," game director

Todd Howard explains as he walks us through

the world. "For a fantasy world, it's lower tech.

We want magic to stand out as something

special. It's a bit more brutal. It's the original

home of men in Tamriel. You see these cities

that seem like they've really been lived in for

a thousand years. It feels less Renaissance

Faire. I'm a big Conan fan, so there's some

of that."

The homeland of humanity, Skyrim is a mas-

sive nation with many elevations for players

to explore. "It's kind of nice for us, especially

coming off of Fallout, to do something really

beautiful, with vistas and plants," Howard

says. "The northern coast is very icy, and you

get these glaciers and snow. And then there's

an area called the Reach, which is rocky and

craggy, in the western end of Skyrim. There's

a tundra, this big wide open area in the

middle, where you see the mountains at the

far edge. Within this one place, there's maybe

six or seven really different environment looks."

Saber-toothed cats, wooly mammoths, and

elk wander freely through the same wilderness

populated by towering giants, lumbering frost

trolls, and terrifying snake-like ice wraiths that

float along the frigid air currents. Five massive

cities dot the landscape, offering refuge from

the harsh landscape. Even underground areas

are rich in variation, from icy caves to forgot-

ten crypts. "There's a uniqueness to the terrain

that makes it really good for the kind of games

we like to do," Howard tells us.

[h3Xh3X]

Thanks to this post we won't be needing transcripts anyway! Hooray!