The Fan Interviews (#1 - #3)

[Razorwing]

The first fan interview came out in November 2004. The questions were answered by Todd Howard, though it was Pete Hines that posted the interview. Waiting4Oblivion has more info on the matter (link). Don't forget that this interview is close to 1? years old! Some of the information may have become outdated since then. It's reposted for posterity's sake.

Note that the timestamp on this post (fan interview #1) has been edited. It wasn't posted in late 2004, it was posted much later. The reason for that is that posts in a thread are listed according to the timestamps and I wanted the first interview to be listed at the top.

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1. Will Oblivion retain Morrowind's linear quest concept for the main quest, or will it be possible to approach this from many different angles, changing the final outcome in the process?

Todd Howard: Overall, the main quest is more linear than it is wide-open, but it does have sections where the actual goals for you become more open. As much as possible, we try to allow you to finish each quest in as many ways as possible. The actual very end is the same no matter what you did to get there. There are little things we can do well with our kind of game, like get this item from this character especially now with our new AI system where even something that simple opens itself up for tons of different gameplay options.

2. Altering the level of difficulty in Morrowind and it's expansions was very simple. You slid one generic bar up and down and it increased or decreased the difficulty of some aspect of the game. In this next installment of the Elder Scrolls series will players have more control over specific aspects of the game?

Todd Howard: Unknown right now, we do plan on having a difficulty slider that affects how easy and hard the game is. But how it does that has not been finalized. I'd be interested to hear peoples opinions on that one. Would they like separate damage sliders vs skill use sliders? Good one for the fans to chime in about.

3. The TES series has always offered the player other options besides the main quest and side quests. Will Oblivion expand on that concept and offer other activities/professions?

Todd Howard: I'd like to think we're expanding that idea. There is tons to do other than the main quest, and we hope that we've got a better handle on what kinds of things the player may want to do and how to deliver that. I don't know if I would say expand as much as improve the concept of freeform gameplay.

4. The population in Cyrodiil, the assumed main setting for Oblivion, is said to be thousands upon thousands. With such a small NPC bank, how do you plan on emulating this massive crowd?

Todd Howard: With the number of NPCs we have (around 1000), it's dense. It's an insane number for us to pull off, so I can't say were at-all concerned with the number of characters in the game. If anything, it's too many, but we always do that. All of our lore is obviously written as ideal, to say X province or city has so many people, but you can't always actually pull that off on screen, or even store it, so you try to create a scale that feels good in game, that plays well and is fun. So the scale of the terrain and the number of NPCs is always geared to the gameplay more than the lore saying how big or small something is.

5. In regards to the new Radiant AI system, it has been stated that NPCs will be able to think and react independently of scripts. Does this mean that a player could order an NPC to do something (if in the position of a guild head, etc., or perhaps find a random unscripted quest due to independent NPC actions?

Todd Howard: Yes, we can do those things. I'm not saying they are in there, and were toying now with watching NPCs do things and how we can really get the player to affect that or have more fun with it, or even see it. So I won't give specific examples right now, but we'll be trying some similar things in places. I can tell you that our goal for the Radiant AI was the Fargoth quest in the beginning of Morrowind, which took some heavy scripting to get Fargoth to behave well, sneak around, steal the ring, put it in the stump, and such. Our early goal for the Radiant AI was that kind of thing just happening, without any scripting. And it works - which is great. But if we didn't tell you what Fargoth was up to, you would have never noticed, or it would have looked really odd. Anyway, thats the stage were at, we have the behaviors, and we're trying to maximize the players perception of what's happening.

6. The armorer skill in Morrowind was limited to repairing objects; the bus 'stopped there'. Do the developers plan on expanding the abilities of this skills in Oblivion, and if so, how?

Todd Howard: One of the things we're not ready to talk about.

7. In Morrowind beast races we're restricted by their physical attributes from utilizing closed faced helms as well as boots, and we're not given a boost in hand-to-hand attacks based on their claws. What, if any, special rewards are going to be awarded to beast races in Oblivion, to balance this lack?

Todd Howard: Well, Oblivion handles those races differently in many respects, so I can't really talk yet about specific perks and such. Suffice to say, each race will have it's own perks, and they should all balance well.

8. How do you expect the Oblivion Magic system to differ from Morrowind's?

Todd Howard: Another item, we're not ready to go into detail on. But I can tell you that we felt Morrowind magic was too weak, in terms of being able to use it as your sole way of playing the game. That was really a reaction to Daggerfall, which was too magic heavy. Anyway, our goal is that you could play the entire game just using magic, and have that balance the same way combat or stealth does. To really be successful playing Morrowind, you had to use weapons, and we want to avoid that.

9. In Morrowind it did not matter where you struck an enemy in melee combat; a hit was a hit, and the damage was determined independently of where your blow landed. In Oblivion will the point of a weapon's impact, on both armor and flesh, factor into a more or less devastating attack?

Todd Howard: It won't. We did have that in Morrowind for a while and found it just made it too action heavy. That if you were good at it you could easily go for the head and really kill people. And on the converse, if NPCs could do it to you and you would die faster. I think with this game, your characters appearance is almost as important as your stats, and some people simply like their characters look without a helmet. So we treat armor rating as one number for your whole body and the damage is based on that.

10. A developer recently stated, on the forums, that sneaking was going to get some 'tender-loving-care'. Is there anything you would be willing to share with us about these changes at this time?

Todd Howard: That part of the game is working great, really good stuff we've been spending more time on recently. Emil Pagliarulo, who worked on the Thief series, has been working on that, and its much more realistic, using light and shadow and how you are moving. Its always been tricky for us because you have physical things affecting sneaking, and then abstract things, like your characters skills, so I think we're getting a better balance of how that plays out and giving the player feedback on if they can be seen, and NPCs searching for you and you can hear them say things like I know you're here somewhere kind of stuff.

11. What options will there be for the player who wants a home? Will we be able to purchase or own one or more, and to what extent do you expect the player to be able to modify this home?

Todd Howard: We have some plans, but we're not ready to talk about that either.

12. Could you give the fans any information regarding the behavior of water--eg. flowing and making puddles--and if it will be able to be above or below "0" level?

Todd Howard: Sorry, can't talk about that yet. Yes, there will be water, and yes, it will look and behave great.

13. Will Oblivion return to the location based music concept apparent in earlier installments of the TES series, with dedicated music for dungeons and different aspects like timing and weather?

Todd Howard: More on that later, but it's bigger and better than we've ever done. Really excited about the music and I can't say a word yet.

14. What changes can we expect in the CS? Specifically, can you say anything about modeling and texturing, the dialogue editor, or the scripting language?

Todd Howard: Modeling and texturing will still be done in StudioMax, and not our editor. The dialogue and scripting system have been wrapped into a new quest system. Once you see it, you'll never want to go back to the old way. Quests are really collections of data in the editor you can manipulate as a whole, and turn big things on and off and track the state of a quest. It really has a workflow that's a lot closer to how you design a quest on paper. There are a lot of other new features, but the core world building in the Construction Set remains like Morrowind with cells and object references.

15. Will interior and exterior cells be separate in Oblivion as they were in Morrowind? If so, will creatures other than the player be able to enter and exit these interior cells?

Todd Howard: Yes, they are separate, and yes, any character or creature can walk between them. And it happens constantly with the Radiant AI.

16. Are there plans on utilizing the entire viewable map area this time, including the water areas as places of interest and underwater quests?

Todd Howard: I'm not sure what this question is asking. The entire map we create for the game is open to you, just as it was in the previous games. We do have a border to it, that you can't go out of, but thats obvious. In terms of water, we do limit it actually. We find that spending a long time underwater isn't really that fun. Plus combat underwater always has odd issues. So we do use underwater stuff, but we intentionally keep it to short exploration things, such as finding a new area or item, and keep the amount of underwater combat down.

17. Those of us who are explorers wish to know how you are planning on implementing a border for the map (province). Will this be similar to Morrowind's infinite ocean?

Todd Howard: There is a border you basically hit an invisible wall and the game says you've reached the edge go back. So no, there is not infinite water. Cyrodiil is surrounded by the other provinces, so we have to do a border. As much as possible, we try to make this a physical barrier, like a mountain, but that just looks odd sometimes, so we go with the game message. But because you can now see so far, we've had to build miles of landscape into these provinces, because even though you cannot go there, you can stand on a mountain and see there.

18. Can you give examples of the extent the Havok engine will allow players to interact with the environment?

Todd Howard: Havok is by far the most fun we've had working with middleware. The depth it can add is amazing, especially to a game like ours, where we have so many items around. So anything you can pick up gets havok. Also, our artists can create areas of the world that react to physics, such as doors or chains that hang from the ceiling. We've been having a blast lately shooting arrows into things and watching them react. So from a visual standpoint, such as bodies falling down stairs, or books and plates flying around, it is fantastic. From a gameplay standpoint, we're just starting to work those elements into things like our dungeons. One thing I can say is that the telekinesis magic is getting an all-new level of cool. More on that when we start talking about magic.

19. What audience is Oblivion going to be aimed towards; Specifically, what do you believe the final ESRB rating are you working towards?

Todd Howard: Our audience is game players who love fantasy and great games. As far as ESRB rating, I don't really know, and to be honest we don't shoot for one or another. We said this with Morrowind as well: We make the game we want. If it's M, so be it. There's a certain tone we want to the game and mature situations. There's also going to be a realistic amount of blood. Nothing crazy, but enough to make it really feel like you just hit a guy with a sword. That may get us an M, it may not, I don't care. You didn't ask, but I know nudity is an issue with fans because it was in Daggerfall and such. That's something I wouldn't do even if we were allowed to. I think it distracts from the tone of the game. Maybe I'm still too immature (note from Pete: I can vouch that this is, in fact, the case), but when I see breasts in a movie, I still yell boobies!.

20. And lastly, considering that every piece of new information is being scrutinized heavily by the TES fan base, how much weight does the online community have with the decision making process?

Todd Howard: The people who've bought and played our past games have a huge amount of weight, because ultimately, that's who were making the game for. But keep in mind, we've sold millions of Elder Scrolls games, and 99% of the people who've bought our games are not online talking about them. We get phone calls, we get letters, we do our own surveys to see what they like and don't like. So we're at no loss for fan feedback.

And believe it or not, we read it all. We read the forums all the time, we read all the letters, all the reviews and all the surveys. We also spend a great deal of time looking at other games, and other fan communities to see how those games are received. I can honestly say our fans are the best I've seen. I've come to realize that our games have become as much a part of our fans lives, as it is of our lives, and that does create a bond and a responsibility to do something we are all excited about.

There are obviously some issues that fans discuss where they simply don't have all the necessary info for us to really do exactly what they want. This goes for many things regarding Oblivion, because its still in development, and people are forced to discuss things they haven't seen. But with regard to our past games, where the experience is there for you to play and see and comment on, feedback on that really drives us to create the next game and make it even better more than anything else.

[Razorwing]

From ESF

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1. What improvements have been made to the Enchantment/Enchanting system, visually and logistically, since Morrowind? What of the Magic system as a whole?

[blockquote]Well, visually it?s all new of course, and with shaders we can make the items look really nice when they are magical. But we haven?t gone over the top. We try to keep it subtler, so you don?t get bothered by the effects while you are wearing them. So the general effect we use is a light edge glow, like the lighting plays off the weapon or object different.

Logistically, we?ve changed how magic items work in two main ways ? one, you don?t ?cast? them like in Morrowind. They just ?do? it. Anything you wear is constant effect, and affects you while you wear it. Weapons affect whatever target you hit with them. So you would never have a weapon that does something to you, the user. The other big change is that these items do not recharge on their own, you must do it. So you use soulgems to recharge items, or can get them recharged in town. You use soulgems in the game mainly as a way of recharging you items, as opposed to making them. You do find lots of filled soulgems now as treasure, and can also fill your own through soultrapping.

Other things, hmmm. Enchanting is no longer a skill. We felt that was too unbalanced in Morrowind. It is now more like Daggerfall, where it is a perk of gaining rank in the Mages Guild. It is something you have to build up to, and then you can make your own magic items. There is another way to make your own magic items before that though, through Sigil Stones found in the planes of Oblivion. These are magical stones that come with an effect on them, actually two effects, and you can use them to place that effect on a weapon or armor piece of your choosing.

The magic system has so much more in it, that it would take me 100 pages to answer it all.[/blockquote]

2. Is the combat system best suited to individual, or "group" combat? Might NPCs work alongside each other and employ tactics which utilize each of them in a joint strategy? To what scale can we expect to see battles taken?

[blockquote]First we made it one-on-one, and made it perfect for that, and then we added layer after layer of group behavior. So it works well in both, though it plays very differently obviously when you have so many guys attacking you. And yes, there are several very large battles in the game, and those are the ones we?ve been tweaking, as things get really out of control during the big ones. The actors know how to flank, when not to use ranged attacks (they kept shooting their friends in the back), when to back off and cast buff spells, and more.[/blockquote]

3. Can you share more with us about the skills available in Oblivion; what may have been added, removed, or merged; skills perks; how *many* major/minor skills our character may choose?

[blockquote]I think the whole list will be announced soon, and we always change it with each game to get better game balance. So 21 was the magic number for us for skills, as it allows each of the 7 main attributes to govern 3 skills. Also, we try to make each skill have meaning, so less is more when it comes to that. We never hit perfection there, but it?s better this time. For instance ?Long Blade? and ?Short Blade? are just ?Blade?, so now you have one skill that allows you to use more weapons, and you get a better balance for the player when choosing between say, ?Destruction? and ?Blade?. We really trimmed back the weapon skills and combined them, so that it played better if you chose all of the weapon or combat ones. That was an area in Morrowind where you really lost out if you majored in all the weapons at once. In Oblivion, you choose 7 majors, and then you have 14 minors. The 7 majors are the ones that affect your leveling up. It plays out much better than our previous systems.[/blockquote]

4. In magic-based duels (mage-vs-mage), will the NPCs involved employ a more 'intelligent' strategy than what we saw in Morrowind?

[blockquote]Absolutely. Spell duels are common and very cool.[/blockquote]

5. We're aware that RAI gives schedules and desires to individual NPCs, but how will RAI work on a larger, social scale? For example, how might an NPC work in a guild environment, based on both its own goals, as well as those of the guild it is a part of?

[blockquote]It doesn?t work on a grand scale like that. We give the individuals of the guild goals that match with what we know they should be doing. But since they have ownership rights and are friendly automatically with others in the guild, we do get nice behavior from guild NPCs as a group.[/blockquote]

6. Concerning the Dynamic Quest Compass, how might it replace the previously text-based instructions Elder Scrolls fans have become accustomed to? Furthermore, will the compass be an option which can be turned on and/or off at the player's leisure?

[blockquote]It?s a lifesaver to us and everyone who has played it. We should have done it long ago. We use it to show you where a goal is when we want you to know about it. A good example is the first quest in Morrowind, to find the Spymaster in Balmora. Most people who played Morrowind never find him, because they don?t like to read directions, they get confused and lost. Now picture him roaming around town, going to the store, eating at the tavern, locking his house at night. And you have a quest to talk to this guy, all you want is a little info so you can keep playing. He?s impossible to find without this quest target. And we want you to find him, we don?t want it to be a puzzle, or frustrating. So no, you cannot turn it off. Trust me, you cannot play without it, it?s not distracting at all, and it?s 100% necessary to find things we tell you to find. Now, we don?t always give you a quest target. There are many quests where the person you?re talking to does not know where something is, and you will not get one, and you have to bribe people to find out where something is, or we just want you to find it on your own.[/blockquote]

7. Will Radiant AI be applied to creatures, and if so, in what ways? Will creatures be placed on a schedule similar to humanoid NPCs; might some work together while hunting, to form 'packs'? And to what extent can they be used by the PC to carry packages. And as compared to NPC's?

[blockquote]Yes, they use it in the same way, but most creatures in the game have the general goal of ?killing people?.[/blockquote]

8. Have there been any changes to the list of joinable factions? Specifically, any info in the Nine Divines and/or Imperial Legion? Are there 'minor factions' outside of those listed in prior interviews, and ifso what can you tell us about them?

[blockquote]There are 5 joinable factions: Fighters, Mages, Thieves, Dark Brotherhood, and the Arena. You also can join the Blades, but that?s ummm?secret. No to the Nine Divines and the Legion, as they have a much different role when the game takes place in Cyrodiil, then say, Morrowind. So just like you couldn?t become an Ordinator in Morrowind, you can?t become a Legion Soldier in Cyrodiil.[/blockquote]

9. In Morrowind, guild involvement was minimal. Other than people calling you master, there was little that changed as you gained rank. Can we expect that to change in Oblivion? How so?

[blockquote]Yes, it?s very different. First the guilds all have great storylines to play, but also access to powers and stuff as you rise up. That?s one of the reasons you can?t make magic items right away and have to raise in the Mages Guild. Membership has its privileges. Each faction also has a ?recurring? thing you can do as head of the guild.[/blockquote]

10. We know that vampires will be found in Oblivion; what details about them can you share with us? Also, will there be any types of 'werecreatures' in the game?

[blockquote]Yes there are vampires, no, we?re not talking about them. They?re one of the great things to discover and ?see what happens?. It?s great. There are not any werecreatures in the game.[/blockquote]

11. Besides being a faster means of travelling the world, what features can we expect to see with and from horses? How diverse might they be? Will your encumbrance or stats affect them in any way? And what will happen when a mounted character is attacked? And, aside from Horses, what other beasts may be in store for players as pets (such as the dog at E3)?

[blockquote]Horses are used to get around faster. I?ll be honest, we were so excited to do horses in the game, but have actually found that they are useful, but not to the level we expected. Yes, you can ride around faster, and get away from mobs in the wilderness, and such. So they don?t provide this overwhelming advantage to you, but they?re just cool. It?s something you just want to do in the game. On a pure game design level, they aren?t some killer feature, but they are fun. You see them for sale, and you just have to have one. Or you sneak into the horse pen at night and steal one. That?s fun regardless of the need to move faster. When people get attacked on them, they either ride away, or get off and fight. Dogs are the only other ?pet? creatures we have ? but you can?t ride those.[/blockquote]

12. In what ways will the player be able to physically customize their Oblivion counterpart at character creation?

[blockquote]It?s amazing, and mostly done through code that procedurally generates your face. You have sliders to change different parts of your character?s face, and it works for every race. So you can age them, change their eyes, nose, mouth, cheekbones, chin, etc. And it?s not just do you want this nose or this one, it?s a whole range of possibilities as the face dynamically changes based on your input. Or, you can let the game randomly generate faces for you until you find one you like. We do set limits on what you can do to keep you, or the game, from creating anything grotesque that would keep your face from looking right when you?re wearing, say, a helmet. You can also chose a hairstyle, its color, and how long your hair is.[/blockquote]

13. How are beast races being altered, based upon past appearances, traits, and possible perks--along the lines of claws giving the beast races a boost during hand-to-hand combat--for Oblivion?

[blockquote]They?re very cool, and also work through the same face system, aging Argonians makes their colors change for example. As far as body styles, they?re more like they were in ?Redguard?, where they walk like regular humans, even though they have tails and such. We did this to keep the same animation and clothing system for all characters, as it?s one of the most insanely complicated parts of the game. The argonians are my favorite looking race in the game. They lipsynch when you talk to them in cool ways and their eyes blink like lizards. It?s great. Persuasion minigame is fun with khajiits, as you have to watch their ears to see what they like as opposed to their mouths.[/blockquote]

14. how will NPC's travel between cells, will they apear or open outside (loading) doors and step in the void?

[blockquote]That?s something we struggled with, and we ended up fading them out as they open the door. You do not see the door open. This worked best in all our situations.[/blockquote]

15. Do NPCs have specific animations for actions such as shopping, praying etc?

[blockquote]Yes, they have different animations when they kneel to pray or are buying something from a merchant or sitting to eat. The work in the fields and animate using rakes and such too.[/blockquote]

16. What direction are you going in terms of NPC voices? As we already know there is over 50 hours of recoded dialogue in the game, but its been estimated that that only amounts to 3 minutes of dialouge per npc. Are NPC voices going to be as they were in morrowind, as in every race male/female will have a different voice, or will there be more of a variety in NPC voices?

[blockquote]We do them by race/sex. I assure you it?s more voice then you?ve ever heard in a game. Some characters get lots of specific dialogue, some only get a line or two that is specific. But each NPC can pull from the dialogue for their whole race, so they can react or talk about many situations and quests.[/blockquote]

17. How will subtitles be used with the all spoken dialogue system? And if the game has prerendered cut scenes, will they have optional subtitles? (MW didn't) What about subtitles for sound effects? What about overhearing conversations?

[blockquote]Every spoken word in the game is accompanied by subtitles. This includes conversations that you may overhear. You can toggle it on or off.[/blockquote]

18. We know that there will be additional autonomous regions besides Cyrodil, including the plane of Oblivion. Can you give us a rough number about how many such places there are and how many square miles it will add? And will this be limited after the main quest? or will we be able to go there even after the MQ?

[blockquote]The outside game space of Cryodiil is about 16 square miles. Regarding Oblivion, and the other locals. Hmmm. It?s huge. We honestly haven?t added it all up. Plus many of the Oblivion areas are random, so I guess the answer is ?infinite.? Once you solve the main quest, no, you cannot go into Oblivion any more, as the gates have been shut.[/blockquote]

19. What can you tell us about how water will 'work' in Oblivion? Will it use fluid physics, or be a static object set at level 0, as in Morrowind, or will there be mountain lakes and streams this time?

[blockquote]There are mountain lakes and we do some streams and waterfalls in areas that look amazing. We?ll have screens or movies of those later on. They look insane.[/blockquote]

20. How diverse will the music of Oblivion be? Will it change according to the environment around the Player character? Will x-box 360 users be able to use their own music?

[blockquote]The music in Oblivion is, in a word, fantastic. Yes, it will change based on different conditions in the game, including your location, whether you?re in danger, etc. You can add music you want played in different settings and the game will include those tracks along with the music from the game.

Before too long we?ll have an announcement on who?s doing the music as well as a little sample for you to listen too.[/blockquote]

21. How exactly will the weather system work in terms of detail, immersion and interactivity. Will seasons and storms be included? To what extent will inanimate objects be affected by weather (i.e. combustible objects)? Will it affect Creatures/NPCs/PC?

[blockquote]There are a variety of different types of weather based on the regions in the game. The type of weather you see as you travel around will vary based on these parameters. So, some parts of the world you?ll be more likely to see rain or a thunderstorm, while in northern parts you?re more likely to see snow. There are transition effects so that if it?s a cloudy day that turns to rain it?ll feel very natural. All of the trees and grass react dynamically to the weather effects. NPCs in some areas will even take cover and go inside during storms.[/blockquote]

22. How will cells be handled this time... will you be able to create multiple exterior cells (like an improved "behave like exterior" command) and actually landscape in them?

[blockquote]Yes, you can do anything you want there in the editor. From saying ? I want my own sky, my own landscape, or share this landscape from another world, and more. We use that for our cities, as they are walled-off game-loads, and the city exists on the same landscape as the rest of Tamriel, but is in its own ?world space.? So the game has as many ?worlds? as we want. So the need for the fake interior/exterior thing from Morrowind is not as necessary, though we still use it in some areas to just show the actual sky poking through the top of something like a ruined interior.[/blockquote]

23. In a recent interview with gamespy you said modders could drop a block into the world and apply whatever material. Will this material alter the duration and volume of footsteps and will the natural environment - such as other nearby materials - contribute to that aspect as well? Will footprints be visible on some surfaces?

[blockquote]You can paint the landscape and set its texture, but that?s the only one you can mod. The other objects you place already have the correct material properties (like rocks or sidewalks). And yes, depending on how you make the landscape, the correct foot sounds will play for grass, dirt, rock, etc. Those sounds are already tied to the textures we have. No footprints, sorry.[/blockquote]

24. Are you now going to include comprehensive documentation (including the scripting language, game settings etc) rather than the totally inadequate documentation that was provided for Morrowind? Are there any other ways that Bethesda is going to help Oblivion modders in their work?

[blockquote]We have all new ways of being inadequate there - J. The modders will always expand upon and do a better job then what we provide in that area, but we will provide some.[/blockquote]

[Razorwing]

Posted January 24th on ESF

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Far and away the longest interview we've ever answered. These were answered by Gavin, Todd, and me. Hope you enjoy it.

Will dead bodies found by guards or other NPC's be reported or investigated. A heightened security alert of some sort? If yes, then is it possible to move the bodies, or will it remain the Morrowind "Remove Corpse" bit?
NPCs and guards will stop to examine dead bodies that they come across. They?ll kneel down and express their sorrow or wonder at the sight. The biggest worry you?ll have is that it will cause more NPCs to congregate around it, raising your chances of being detected if you?re trying to sneak through. You can drag bodies around using the ?Grab? button, but it?s a slow process as bodies are heavy.

If you are completely hidden in the shadows and shoot an arrow at an enemy, will the enemy come straight at you, or will they have to look around for you? What if you fire an arrow at a rock wall next to an enemy, will the enemy hear the arrow ricochet, and then investigate? Can you lure an enemy to you/into a trap in this manner? Also, will your sneak skill be affected when wearing bright/shiny armor/clothes, as opposed to dark/dull armor/clothes?
If you shoot an arrow and hit an NPC while you are undetected, you drastically raise your chance of being detected. However, it?s not guaranteed that the NPC will detect you immediately. If he doesn?t detect you, he?ll go into a combat ready state, waiting for you to show yourself. We don?t go the full-on Thief level of detail with distracting guards by making noises, but you can definitely lead NPCs and creatures into traps if they?re chasing you. The shininess of your clothing does not affect your detection chances, although the sound that comes from moving about in heavy armor will definitely make it harder to stay hidden.

Will creatures interact with each other? E.G. Will bears attack deer when they are hungry? Would this emulate an ecosystem? Also will there be more underwater creatures than there were in Morrowind, approximately how many?
We have a few situations in the game where animals will attack each other. But yes, it does happen. It depends largely on their AI settings. For water creatures we have slaughterfish again. There is far less water in Cyrodiil than in Morrowind. A few of the land creatures are capable of swimming, though.

We?ve read that it's possible for "friends" to join a faction along side you and you can watch them progress. Is this governed by RAI or is it a specific quest thing? Is it even possible to make friends like that?
Radiant AI is a global system that governs every action of NPCs. While we use it to do grand, overarching things like dictating how and where NPCs spend their days and nights, we also use it in much smaller sequences to do things as mundane as moving a character across a room to pick up an item. So, in a way, everything NPCs do is at some point governed by Radiant AI. In certain factions, you will meet what we term ?continuing characters.? These are characters who you will come into contact with at several different points throughout the questline. You can talk to them, watch them grow, influence them, and perhaps even go on quests with them and alter their paths through the game.

Will adventurous NPCs *claim* the loot from a dungeon before I get there to explore it?
No, we set them up so that they don?t process while you?re not in the cell to avoid just that situation. While it might be realistic that they?d clean out a dungeon before you?d have a chance, I don?t think that?s in any way fun. There are some ?adventurers? who you will see in dungeons that will work with you and do their own looting, but you have to be there.

Will NPCs perception be affected by the low visibility/camouflage in forests?
If you mean ability to see you and detect you, yes.

Will NPCs take note of specific things you've done and comment on them?
Yes. Often.

A key limitation in Morrowind?s scripting implementation was the difficulty to assign functions to random objects in the game world. E.g. there was no way to obtain an object reference for something in the players crosshairs or of an opponent in combat with the player and then manipulate that object from e.g. a global script. Has this been changed, and will more functions take objects as arguments?

Yes, objects (references) can now be used as variables and much more.

How does the game handle, different race and sex selections in regards to the body meshes, is there one or more meshes that are morphed according to your choice. Or are there separate meshes for male and female and for beast races respectively. If the bodies do undergo morphing, is the 3dmax morpher modifier supported. And if not what software is supported in regards to implementing into the game user made morphs for the body meshes.
All the NPCs share the same basic body meshes, with different textures and normal maps distinguishing the races. Males and females have different meshes, and some body parts, such as hands, heads, and tails, are different for beast races. Sharing the meshes helps with a host of technical nightmares ranging from our uber-complex clothing system to our animation system. Bodies can be scaled uniformly and non-uniformly in the game, but we do not do any body morphing and don?t support that functionality.

I'm interested in knowing if the developers are considering releasing along with the new game some model templates and rigged biped source files (or animation blanks).
We haven?t locked down our specific plans for post-release support. Right now our main concern is finishing up the game.

The scripting language was one of the most powerful tools given to Morrowind modders. Can you outline some of the most important additions to scripting? For example, is scripting set up to fully interact with the new features, like radiant AI, physics, and facial animations; are there new variable types?
Scripting is even better this time ? and yes, it interacts with the whole game.

To the developers: How are YOU going to handle the voice dialog when you make new mods for Oblivion? Will you make new voice recordings with the original voice actors? Or will the mod have no unique quest voice dialog? The purpose of this question is to sort out all the questions and fears we modders have about the voice dialog.
If we had specific needs for voice in a plug-in, we would probably find professional actors for the role. You can make characters that don?t share dialog with others, so putting in a new character with a unique voice shouldn?t be a problem.

Will there be a 3dmax Importer/Exporter which will enable the modding community to continue to input their own mesh creations, and if not, will it be possible to input modder mesh work by any means or will there be some kind of support for this?
We are looking into releasing an exporter similar to the Morrowind tool. Specific plans will be announced when the details are ready.

Has the scripting editor been improved for better editing and debugging capabilities?
A little, but it?s basically like Morrowind for debugging.

Are you planning a team diary on Radiant AI and Scripting System?
Not at this time.

In Morrowind you can NOT add animations to the PLAYER. If you use "playgroup" on the Player Morrowind crashes. Will modders now be able to ADD new animations to the Player via the construction set?
Yes, though probably only idle animations. That is now an editor section and does not need heavy scripting.

Will it be possible to ADD new weapon types via the CS, defining new fight animations etc?
No

Will it be possible to ADD new skills via the CS?
No

A follow up to the skill question above. Will it be possible to define new actions controlled by skills such as activation of a specific device?[/b][/i]
I?m not sure I understand this question. You can check the level of a skill through script if you wish. You can also change the skill.

Are alpha maps or transparancies supported again and what file types are being used for meshes and textures this time around? Example. Nifs and dds.
Yes, and NIFs and DDS.

Is the 3DMax flex modifier supported ?
No.

Is the clothing movement handled by the Havoc physic engine ? Can it be taken advantage of by modders ?
No, we do not use cloth physics for clothing. I don?t believe it would be possible to mod in.

What would you say is the most significant upgrade to the magic system? What types of skill perks come with the six different schools of magic? Are spell?s effectiveness modified at higher skill levels?
How has magic been balanced so that mages are as powerful as thieves & fighters? Can custom spells (or enchantments) be created w/ negative effects to reduce their cost? Will spells still drain a mages magicka as fast as they did in Morrowind?
The most significant upgrade is the addition of physics to breathe new life into everything from telekinesis to plain old fireballs. Also significant is the inclusion of the Script Effect, which allows you to link the effects of a spell to any given script. Magic skill perks mostly relate to being able to cast more and more powerful spells. We?ve made a great deal of effort to balance all the character classes. The whole system of spell points has been completely rebalanced and the numbers from Morrowind bear little to no bearing on the numbers for Oblivion.

How exactly will Necromancy work? Will the Reanimate spell simply ressurect the NPC, or will it produce a zombie? Could a player play a Necromancer class from the beginning to the end? Can I ressurect skeletal corpses I find in dungeons? And will the reanimated NPC's be low level NPC's or will they become creatures and how long will they stay "alive"?
The Reanimate spell returns the NPC to life, but they become a shell of their former selves. The NPC is lifted off the ground, hangs in the air a moment, then returns to their feet to become your servant and assault your enemies. Only the recently dead can be reanimated. The reanimated NPC is returned to their full pre-death health.

Persuasion as portrayed by the E3 demo was shown to be exceptionally easy, is it like this with all npcs? Are some npcs reactions harder to read than others? Are there any hidden extras to persuation? E.G. PC talks with a warrior orc, and in order to become better friends, PC chooses to intimidate the orc instead of choosing admire or joke. Could the orc eventually come to respect PC? Could this respect come to lead to a greater friendship than admire and/or joke could have led to? Also can you please explain a bit more about the recent changes that have been done to the interface of the Speechcraft minigame? What about the demand button?
The persuasion minigame is very different from what was shown at E3. It plays much more like a game now. Similar to the one we showed, the game still uses a circular interface divided into four quadrants for the different persuasion types. The art is completely different and fully animated now. Each of the four quadrants will fill with wedges of different sizes. The size of the wedge reflects the scale of the potential effect of your choosing an action. Choosing a large wedge has a great effect; choosing a small wedge has a small effect.

As you highlight in turn the Admire, Boast, Joke, and Coerce quadrants, the person 's face shows his reaction to each of the actions. For each of the four actions, he will Love one, Like one, Dislike one, and Hate one. Don't take too long, because the person 's disposition is steadily falling. The person 's disposition goes up when you select a Loved or Liked action and goes down when you select a Disliked or Hated action.

The potential gain or loss for each action is based on your Speechcraft and how full the wedge is. Try to select fuller wedges when they are aligned with actions the person likes. Try to select less full wedges when they are aligned with actions he doesn't like.

Is there ANY kind of crafting in Oblivion?
No

Can we influence animals through speechcraft?
No

Is levitate in as a spell ?
No

How many of the 400+ books are new titles, what is the general ratio of fiction to non-fiction, and are any written by new authors, or is everything still written by the old hands (Ted Peterson, Michael Kirkbride, etc.)? What updates can we expect for the 'Pocket Guide to the Empire', especially considering recent history? Are there any specific subject areas that have gotten some more love, such as this 'Argonian Compendium' we have heard about? In what other ways will the the lore be communicated apart from through books?
We commissioned around 50 books from Ted and Michael this time around. In addition, our designers here have cranked out all manner of texts, including notes, letters, books, newspapers, and more. With full voice for all characters, we?re trying to rely on NPCs for exposition, and keep books for more background and world atmosphere. The Pocket Guide is part of the Collector?s Edition.

How will the books and texts released after Morrowind (e.g. Vehk's Teachings) and the teasers and reports before Oblivion (e.g. Nu-Mantia Intercept, Love Letter from the Fifth Era, etc.) be folded into the official lore and will this lore appear in-game? Was the 'Trial of Vivec' RP (which culminated in the banishing of Azura from Mundus) a semi-official conclusion of the Morrowind storyline, or can we expect to learn more of its connection to recent events, along with the true fate of Vivec/Vehk?
Remember that only things that have been published in Elder Scrolls games should be considered official lore.

Daedra & Oblivion: Will we be granted any further insights into the Daedra's motivations and attitudes compared with those of the Aedra, as we were in Battlespire? What more are we likely to discover about the less well-known Daedra Princes (e.g. Peryite, Meridia). Will we see any new varieties of lesser daedra? What more can we expect from the 'Imperial Census of Daedra'?
Certainly, with any new game, we learn more and more about the motivations of the Daedric Princes. Oblivion is no exception. The other Daedric Princes are present in this game, so there's always more to be learned, but only one plays a major role in the story. As for the lesser daedra, we'll see the return of some old favorites that haven't been seen in years, as well as some varieties of other, more familiar ones.

Are there answers to mysteries about the dwemer?
No.

Will dragons come help the Empire in its time of need?
No.

The Pocket Guide to the Empire (and its environs) mentions that Cyrodil has some colonies of "true Akaviri", and people with Akiviri facial traits and last names. Will this lore be present in any form in the game?
The vagaries of Akaviri culture have been all but completely absorbed into the cosmopolitan social structure of Cyrodiil. Holding out hope for some kind of remote pool of ?true Akaviris? was perhaps simply wishful thinking on the part of the author of the initial Pocket Guide. A new version is being composed to correct his mistakes and exaggerations.

Will seasons change, and if so will it have a more direct effect on the game like leaves change color and fall, will ponds freezing over, or even people putting on warmer clothes?
Seasons don?t change during the game. Different areas of the world have different climates (the north is more prone to snow, for instance). But the chances for a particular weather type in a particular area will stay constant throughout the year.

Can you elaborate on the properties of water? For example, flowing rivers that affect PC movement or waves that vary depending on circumstances (i.e. ocean vs. lake waves; calm vs. stormy day)? Would these features be adjustable via script?
There are different water types, though we do not have them move or affect you ? it?s really just a visual. The editor has a whole section for creating your own water effects. The game does have some great looking waterfalls too.

Do lightning flashes brighten windows and do we hear rolls of thunder while we are indoors?
No

Are there flowing rivers?
No, but you can see the water flow heavily near waterfalls.

Does water reflect the environment trees and grass?
No

On Vampires, is feeding still done with the absorb spell or is there now a sucking animation? What about the disease itself, is it still curable? How widespread is it among the NPC population? Can the PC spread the disease? Also will there be different clans, powers, and Stat boosts? Will we see any outside Elder Scrolls myths about them come into play? Any other goodies you?d like to tell us?
You can feed off sleeping NPCs, and there is a feeding animation. The disease has a cure. While it would be incorrect to describe vampirism as ?widespread? in Cyrodiil, you may come across some in very unexpected places. Be very careful if you have to face one in combat. Not only are vampires supernaturally powerful, many possess an invisibility ability that they will engage at will in combat to pop out of sight, only to emerge behind you in full attack.

Can you see your legs in first person?
No

It has been said that the game will feature physics based telekinesis (like Psi-Ops and Half-Life 2) but there has also been discussion suggesting that objects in the world cannot be thrown to do damage.
Can the Developers please clarify this? Can Telekinesis be used combatively, either by throwing opponents or by throwing things at them (and if so, should telekinesis be moved to the school of destruction magic)? What about long drops? What about ricocheting arrows?
Enemies will not be harmed by thrown objects. There?s a lot of potential for frustration for players if we put that in, as it?s pretty easy to unintentionally send something flying off a table.

Sinking in Water (Of objects and/or yourself when overweight)?
Yes

The announcement of the availability of regularly produced downloadable available content which will be charged for generated much controversy. Can you describe the overall strategy / philosophy behind the new approach? Is it purely a lucrative endeavor?
We are taking a different approach than we did with Morrowind. We want to be able to have content on a more regular basis and be able to dedicate the necessary resources to doing them at a certain level. Charging a small amount for this extra content allowed us to do this. Doing them for free this time around wasn?t really something we contemplated. We didn?t like the way it worked before and wanted to change it and do it better. Much like the game, if people think a plugin is worth it, they?ll get it. If not, they won?t.

Will the downloadable content facilitate or hamper the developement of regular expansion packs (on CD / DVD) for TES4 Oblivion?
It has no effect on our ability to do expansions.

Is there any plans to make the downloadable content available on CD or to integrate it as part of future expansion pack, so that it's easier to install?
At this time we have no plans to bundle them or distribute them in any other way.

How will you handle security ? Isn't this going to cause us problems when we upgrade our computer ? If a CD version become available, is it going to be free of those hassles ?
It?ll be a very simple security solution using an established company that handles DRM. You can freely distribute it, but you must have paid for it to be able to use it, or you?ll be prompted to pay.

What will be the impact on modding ? It was already hard for mod sites to identify Mods dependences on x-packs for Morrowind. Isn't this dependency on let's say horse armor and 10 other various plugins make it hard to identify user made plugins requirements ?
Our simple requirement is that if you use something of ours, the end user must own the original source to be able to use the plugin. If you mod Oblivion, they must own Oblivion to run it. If you use part of an expansion, they must own the expansion. If it uses our plugin, they must own the plugin. Very straightforward.

We know that Enchanting Items is one perk for the mage's guild, what is one of the perks for the Fighters guild or Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood?
Each guild has its own ?headquarters? of sorts that contains various services relevant to the guild. Players can buy equipment and receive training there. The Thieves Guild maintains a network of fences that allow the player to sell their stolen goods. Getting to the top of the guild can unlock certain recurring benefits such as monthly stipends of gold or equipment, or the use of special plot-centric equipment.

We know the highest guild perk is recruiting other members and promoting lower rank ones, are we also able to demote/kick people out of a guild/faction?
No, and not all guilds allow control over membership like that.

Will there be traffic on the roads outside / between the cities? Armed noble escorts in carriages, merchant caravans, weary travelers, etc? It is the Imperial capitol, after all.
Yes, you will see NPCs traveling along the roads. Guards will regularly patrol the roads as well, making committing crimes outside of towns a bit more tricky.

Are any containers movable ? (sacks?)
No

When you release the requirements, do you plan to give us an idea on the quality compromises we will be making by choosing various hardware components such as CPU, Graphic cards, hard disk, RAM ? In other words, tell us what the impact of each component will be. Or will we still be in the blind like with Morrowind ? (RAM and hard disk speed had a huge impact on Morrowind performance, much bigger than having the latest graphic card and a bad hard disk, especially in the Bloodmoon area)
It?s very difficult to provide a level of performance barometer for each variable in the system requirements, as they are often interrelated. As with all games, the lower towards the min spec you are, the more you should plan on scaling back options and settings to achieve a satisfactory game experience.

Do you plan to release technical details on what specific technical details TES4 will be able to take advantage of. Will it support all shader models that allow for HDR? Will it benefit from running in Windows x64 edition, or work in Windows ME? Will it take advantage of multiprocessor?
We?ll let folks know what OS?s it works with or takes advantage of. We?ve previously said we?re using pretty much every shader effect out there as well as HDR lighting.

Will you take advantage of fast hard disk and large amount of RAM?
Yes

Will having a hard disk for the XBox 360 have a noticeable positive impact?
Yes, load times are faster across the board.

Did you do different optimizations for the various architectures, especially for multiprocessors versus single processors to avoid the overhead cost?
Some of the optimizations for the multicore Xbox 360 processor made it over to the PC side. It should perform faster on a multiprocessor system than a single processor system. At the moment I can?t provide data on how dramatic the difference is.

Is FaceFX from OC3 entertainment used for the facial animation?
No

Will our actions and decisions in the course of the game have true consequences in the game world? Can you give an example?
This question hinges on how you define ?true? in the context of that sentence. Certainly resolving the main quest is a major world-changing event that produces obvious differences as you walk around the world. There are several quests where you?re offered a moral choice. For instance, whether to trust a guard?s version of a story vs. a citizen calling the guard corrupt. Past actions may also come back to haunt you. There?s a point in the main quest where you?re tasked with marshalling armies from each of the counts of Cyrodiil to help in a particular battle. If you?ve made them angry through other quests, they may disagree to provide aid.

Can we "roleplay through dialogue" this time? Meaning, are there different dialogue options that may fit different character types? Some sort of "dialogue tree"?
There are many more places with dialog choices than there were in Morrowind. For standard dialog with characters we still like the topic lists, though we make sure they don?t get anywhere near as long as they did in Morrowind.

[dwemer lizard]

UNK!!! :pop:

It took me half an hour to read it. But it gives me more info on ob. Thx

[batman]

sweeeeet :goodjob:

[syko]

Very enlightening, glad to finally see it.

[noremorse]

w00t