More Skyrim details wriggle out

A Dutch magazine has provided another info dump on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, touching on graphical upgrades, the size of the game world, and the ever-fascinating dragons.

The Skyrim feature, which originally appeared in Dutch Power Unlimited and includes an interview with producer Todd Howard, was translated and compiled in a post on Neogaf.

Graphics

Howard told the magazine that Bethesda had specific goals in mind for updating the series' graphics in Skyrim.

"We primarily look at how we can improve facial expressions and animations, graphics-wise," he said.

"We are working at pop-up issues, and we want to make sure that the graphics of the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 are alike. All three will look just as good, aside from the higher resolution and the anti-aliasing of the PC of course."

But the inventory menu has also enjoyed a bit of a polish, with flash-based previews allowing you to rotate and examine every single item in the game from weapons and armour to accessories and ingredients. Occasionally, this feature will be the basis for puzzle-solving.

The series' famous collection of books and texts makes a return as readable 3D models, rather than the flat text walls of earlier games.

World, Story, and Mechanics

The "low fantasy" world of Skyrim is "approximately" the size of Oblivion's, is equipped with fast travel for previously visited locations, and contains five major cities and 130 dungeons, each featuring a greater variety of traps and puzzles.

Although there is no level cap, each of these dungeons will lock at the level of your first visit, putting an end to limitless easy grinding. In any case, as perks are restricted, no one character can obtain them all.

The main story jots up at around twenty hours of gameplay, while side quests can provide hundreds of hours. To reduce the feeling of guilt and distraction when side-questing, the game's overall plot will be less prominent than Oblivion.

Nevertheless, dragons are not rare - and every dragon you take out will make your character more powerful, adding a piece of its soul to your own and unlocking further dragonborn abilities.

Miscellaneous

Todd Howard has confirmed that the Xbox 360 version of the game will not support Kinect, and that the fan-favourite Dark Brotherhood makes a return.

Contrary to statements made in Game Informer, Howard denied the possibility of combined magical effects.

Bethesda's Pete Hines has commented that future Bethesda titles will take advantage of the advances of Skyrim's Creaton engine.

Thanks, TheDutchSlayer.