The Elder Scrolls Feats and Discussion

[Stocking Anarchy]

The idea with the skill trees being constellations was to have weapons in one hand, magic in another and look up to the stars to see where you are.

[Part 02] Todd Howard Interview (Norwegian Magazine Gamer.no) - Skyrim General Discussion

Page 1 of 7 - [Part 02] Todd Howard Interview (Norwegian Magazine Gamer.no) - posted in Skyrim General Discussion: Second part of a two part interview with Todd Howard published in Norwegian magazine Gamer.noThanks to Armagedd0n who posted part one last week and did an excellent translation...

web.archive.org

- What was the idea behind designing a skill tree that resembles constellations?

- I worked with the interface and wanted to take a step away from Excel spreadsheets and the typical system we find in RPGs. So I tried a number of options, including one where you look over your right shoulder to look at your weapons, left shoulder to check out the magic and the stars to see who you are. It was the foundation. In the previous Elder Scrolls games, we have also had the asterisk, and we would gather all these into one system.

There are an unlimited number of dragons (although this may be a gameplay thing due to respawns).

- Is there a set number of dragons in the game?

- No, there is an unlimited number of dragons. One of our designers actually put in a random event I encountered, where I ended up being chased by three dragons and I thought "who the hell did this?" I felt like Frodo in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and was really frightened. So I asked him to remove it. But no, dragons are generated automatically (in addition to that there are a number of specific encounters, of course).

 

[Stocking Anarchy]

Yet another reference to how the Vestige (in base, obviously) is weaker than Dovahkiin, and will need help fighting a dragon. It's also mentioned that the dragons in Skyrim are 'bent on the end of the world' while the dragons in Elsweyr are after revenge.

Skyrim’s dragons were a cinch next to Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr’s scaly scourge

ESO director Matt Firor says that in Elsweyr "you're not Dovahkiin, which means dragons are really, really, really dangerous"

www.pcgamesn.com

Is Elsweyr’s narrative going to be recognisable for Skyrim fans, or are these two very separate stories?

They’re separate stories, because the story of Skyrim is not about dragons. It’s about Dovahkiin. And in this game, you’re not Dovahkiin. So you are not Dragon Born. There was a civil war going on in Skyrim when they showed up, much like there is in Elsweyr, but the dragons don’t care about that. In Skyrim, obviously, they were bent on the end of the world, and in Elsweyr they are bent on revenge. So different motives, but they both go to interesting places.

Very curiously, the dragons in Elsweyr are refered to as being finite in number, not the full-on invasion seen in Skyrim. Todd Howard has previously refered to there being an infinite number of dragons in Skyrim; however, he meant this from a gameplay perspective (they respawn). So the implication that there might actually be a literal infinity of dragons (or potentially an infinity of dragons) in Skyrim is very interesting.

How easy has it been to bring Dragons to this new location?

This isn’t a dragon place like Skyrim was, where there were temples and a whole culture built up. An unknown number of dragons were trapped in the Halls of Colossus – this giant dungeon which was in Arena – for an unknown amount of time. Unwittingly Abnur Tharn has unleashed them on Elsweyr, and needs your help to fix the situation. But it’s a finite number. It’s not like a full-on invasion, like Skyrim. And the Khajiiti aren’t really equipped to handle them, there’s no culture of dragons there. But once you start playing through the story, you’ll start to learn things about the Khajiit and dragon history, which go to very interesting places.

 

[Stocking Anarchy]

Dragons can pick up mammoths.