Yeah, the music is awesome. I watched it a couple of times for the art, and a few more just for the music.

 

Literally nothing is going to stop me from getting this game, and playing the shit out of it.

 

This. So much this.

 

I have three tests and four group projects due within the month.
I expect I will regret this later but as of now I expect about 50 hours within the first week at least.

/baddecisionbutIdon'tgiveafuck

 

The weird thing is, I'm probably going to spend at least as much time tinkering in the CS as I do actually playing the game. :|

 

Jeremy Soule is teh best.

Elder Scrolls music, and Guild Wars music

 

So I decided to pre-purchase over Steam, as it being a Steamworks game, I'd still have to go through some hoops to mod anyway. Price wise, with the current dollar-yen conversion rate, I'd be saving considerable cash than if I'd import it.

So I open Steam.

And then I see a little subscript that says: will release on December 16th.

Apparently it'll release then in Japan, there's no workaround. I can buy it beforehand, but I won't be able to install until mid-december. Since it's a Steamworks game, I probably can't play even with a retail copy.

Bull-fucking shit.

 

Man, that sucks. Hopefully, I'll be getting my Collector's Edition sooner than that.

 

First 23 minutes gameplay leaked, I somehow managed to stop myself watching it though. Probably should use spoiler tags if you decide to watch it and discuss.

 

The way it works for other games on Steam is that you get someone from another region to gift you the game. You'll have that region's version and not the Japanese one attached to your account. I won't guarantee it for Skyrim, but that's how every other internationalised versions of Steam games have worked for me.

eg 1. When I wanted to play a game that was banned in Australia, I had an American gift it to me. It worked; no problem.

eg 2. I bought another game that was banned in Australia but was accidentally made available on the Aussie Steam store for a few days. Steam removed it from the Aussie store, but all of the Australians who'd bought it were able to keep playing. It wasn't disabled or removed from our accounts.

eg 3. When Germans want to play Steam games without their nationally restrictive low-violence versions they get the game gifted by friends from out of country. Those gifted games are the full-violence, Nazi flag waving versions. But they also are usually not in German because they were gifted an English/French/whatever language game.

So, you can get an American to gift you the game and it will probably unlock on 11/11/11 and won't ever have any Japanese localisation [if that's important to you]. I'm not 100% sure that gifted games will avoid the staggered release dates, but it seems likely. The American version unlocks on the 11th, so get an American to gift you the American game.

[Standard disclaimer here.]

 

Looks pretty awesome, and not THAT spoilerish if that's what's holding you back, since the guy playing rushed, and it's implied that it's just one of a couple different paths you can take. It's more of a better gameplay trailer then anything, but it's still the opening, so...

Spoiler

Holy shit, did that dragon use Meteor? Looks like the inevitable FFVII mods are even more inevitable. The new lockpicking game looks interesting, and I'm defiantly a fan of the new movement speed. It's a shame we didn't see any of the magic, but there's only a few more weeks to wait. I don't know if I'm a fan of the new spell system yet or not. I am, however, surprised that that bear didn't even come close to owning his ass.

 

Yeah, watching it now. Pretty cool so far.

 

Don't get me wrong, I will buy, play and mod this game at some point...

But it doesn't come close in any way to The Witcher 2. Graphics, story, UI... nothing. If there's ever a single-player RPG that can seriously beat it I'll be astonished, but I still feel somewhat disappointed. Skyrim held some hope for a while.

I'm also a little fucked off at what is apparently blatant theft homage in the dragon/staircase-wall bit, just within the first video.

So yeah, for all I loved Oblivion and will play this game, I'm going to shit all over it. If you plan on getting this but haven't played The Witcher 2, do yourself a favour and buy the latter.

 

Don't listen to GL. Being off your face on coke tends to skew your reality.

 

They're completely different games though, really there is no comparison.

 

While I loved The Witcher 2, and played the shit out of it, its not in the same class as Skyrim. The graphics are better, as is the combat system which was far more intriguing than Skyrim looks. But the huge open world of Skyrim and the many, many sidequests and different content is the real hook.

The Witcher had a few sidequests, but in general the main quest was what you played and the sidequests where just for the gold or items. I loved the main quest, but I felt the game didn't offer enough freedom for an RPG, and though the hub-style world allowed for more depth in design for each section, it really was lacking in an open world and exploration, again something Skyrim promises to do.

They're two different games, really. The Witcher is more about the engaging story and strategic combat, as well as boning witches. Skyrim is about finding new things, examining the world and all the intricacies of it. That said, Skyrim is easier to get into, simpler and more fun to just run around. It basically depends on what kind of gamer you are as to what game you'll like better.

 

What kind of characters do people think they'll make first? Obviously I could change my mind after the game releases, but I reckon I'll go for a Breton mage, with grey hair and beard and blue warpaint. One of the presets looked like that, and I thought of Maze from the original (and best) Fable, and I thought it was awesome. The Breton racial skill sounds great too, absorbing magicka, I believe.

 

As a homage to my first playthrough of Oblivion, I'll probably create a Tank!Dark Elf in Impreial Legion armour.

He'll probably get killed at the first sign of real trouble. Then I'll go with an assasin Kahjiit.

 

Altmer Battlemage, of course. My first choice for every rpg game is the High Elf Mage suited for gigantic fireballs of doom. Cliché? Yes. Awesome? Of course.

 

Not sure about the reliability of this, it could easily have been faked, but... werewolf.