SKYRIM

Engine: "Creation Engine"

DirectX 11 Support (PC)

Requires Steam (PC)

ESRB Rating: Mature (17+)

Creation Kit



Recommended System Requirements:

Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit), Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU, 4GB System RAM, 6GB free HDD space, DirectX 9 compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher), DirectX compatible sound card, Internet access for Steam activation.

Minimum System Requirements:

Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit), Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor, 2GB System RAM, 6GB free HDD Space, Direct X 9 compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM, DirectX compatible sound card, Internet access for Steam activation.



Skyrim Media (Trailer, screenshots, art)

The Races and Faces of Skyrim



(Bethsoft Thread)

(TESAlliance Thread)



This thread contains spoilers, so if you do not want to spoil the game, stop reading now!





Quests & Dialogue

Radiant Story: Many quests are still completely governed by Bethesda, but the Radiant Story system helps randomize and relate the side quests to players to make the experience as dynamic and reactive as possible. Rather than inundate you with a string of unrelated and mundane tasks, it tailors missions based on who your character is, where you're at, what you've done in the past, and what you're currently doing. Radiant Story is also smart enough to know which caves and dungeons you've already visited and thus conditionalize where, for instance, a kidnapped person is being held to direct you toward a specific place you haven't been to before, populated with a specific level of enemy. Skyrim also tracks your friendships and grudges to generate missions. Do a small favor for a farmer and it may eventually lead to a larger quest. Some NPCs will even agree to be your companion to help you out in specific situations.



The Main Questline is approximately 30 hours, and it is possible to play after completing it. While some quests are linear, there are some quests that can be completed in different ways. How much information people share with you is based on your relation with people.





Combat

The combat system of Skyrim has been drastically overhauled from previous Elder Scrolls games. You can now dual wield any one-handed weapon, even staves! When you are staggered, your camera will shake, giving you a more immense feeling of being staggered. During fights, you, and other characters, can (randomly) execute special kill animations that instantly kills the enemy with a stylistic flourish, you can decapitate enemies, but unfortunately, there is no locational damage system in the game. (According to Pete Hines)



There are a lot more armor and weapons in Skyrim compared to Oblivion, but the cuirass and greaves have been combined into one. Equipment has no durability, so they won't degrade and you won't have to repair them, though you can apply upgrades to them, making them better. You can also poison and enchant your weapons to deal extra damage.



Melee

There is some sort of magnetism to your (melee) attacks, which draws your attack more towards enemies than allies in tight battles. You can bash enemies with your shield, staggering them, and interrupting their attack. As in Oblivion, you can use Power Attacks, which will also stagger enemies, though this drains a lot of Stamina.



Archery

Ranged combat have seen an improvement in Skyrim, with increased damage for bows, but a longer draw-time. Arrows are also much more rare than in previous games.



Magic

There are more than 85 spells, spanning over five magic schools: Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration, Restoration and Illusion. To be able to cast a spell, you first have to equip it, and you can even dual wield spells! Some spells can be taught by reading spell tomes, while other can be bought from merchants. Spells also have more visual effects than before, and if you cast a spell, you will see an effect on the enemy's skin or the environment will catch fire. Certain robes will increase your magical capabilities, making robes a more viable equipment for mages.



Way of the Voice (Dragon Shouts)

"A long practiced spiritual form of Nordic magic, also known as the Tongues, that is based on their worship of the Wind as a personification of Kynareth. Through the use of the Voice the power of a Nord can be formed into a thu'um, or shout - which has a large variety of applications (anything from sharpening blades to a long range weapon). Master Voices (known simply as Tongues) have legendary, and often unbelievable powers, including talking to people of hundreds of miles away or teleportation. The most powerful masters must even be careful whenever they speak, as their voice can cause great destruction and they are commonly gagged. During the Conquest of Morrowind, the Nordic war chiefs were also Tongues (Derek the Tall, Jorg Helmborg, Hoag Merkiller). They needed no typical siege weapons when attacking a city as they merely used the Voice to break down the city gate and allow their armies to storm in. The future of the Tongues was forever changed by the most powerful Tongue, Jurgen Windcaller, also better known as the Calm. Jurgen converted to a pacifist and refused to use the Voice for any martial purposes. In a confrontation with 17 other tongues he reportedly swallowed the Shouts of the 17 for three days until they lay exhausted, later to become his followers. Today, all Tongues live secluded lives on the highest peaks of Skyrim in tough conditions and contemplation, and have only spoken to announce the destiny of the great Tiber Septim (who later created an Imperial College of the Voice in Markarth, returning the Voice to the art of warfare). Those known as Dovahkiin, Dragonborn, can use a type of magic known as "Dragon Shouts." Dragon shouts are spoken in the Dragon Language, and can manipulate dragons in a variety of unknown ways, as well as performing other kinds of magic, also undocumented."



There are 20 dragon shouts, each with three levels. To be able to use one of these shouts, you first have to learn the word from an ancient rune, then slay a dragon and absorb it's soul. Dragon shouts has a cool down time, but whether or not it is universal is uncertain.



Confirmed Dragon Shouts



Fus Ro Dah (Force Balance Push):

Force wave that damages and pushes away enemies.

Liz Slen Nus (Ice Flesh Statue):

Level 2: Summons a wave of ice crystals.

Level 3: Freezes and traps enemies in a block of ice.

Strun Bah Ao (Storm Lightning Wrath):

Summons a lightning storm to damage nearby enemies with lightning.

Yol Toor Krein (Fire Inferno Sun):

Breath fire upon enemies.

Tild Klo Ui (Time Sand Eternity):

Slows down time around the player.

Lein ??? ??? (Whirlwind Sprint):

Grants the player the ability to spring at incredible speeds.

??? ??? Dovah (Summon Dragon):

Summons a dragon that aids the player.

??? ??? ??? (Teleport):

Teleports the player behind the enemy.

??? ??? ??? (Elemental Fury):

Shout at your weapon and you can deal damage faster.

Fin Zi Gron (Fade, Spirit, Bind):

Allows you to become immune to damage for a short period of time, however, you will be unable to fight.



AI, NPCs & Creatures

Creatures & Mounts

Dragons

Plot & Lore (UESP)

First Century

Third Century

Graphics, Sound & Interface

Graphics

Sound

Interface

Environment

Character, Generation, Races, Skills and Perks

Character Generation

Races

Racial Abilities

Skills

Perks

Spoiler Alchemy

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Potions are 20% stronger.

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Potions for restore Health, Magicka and Stamina are 25% stronger.

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Poisons are 25% more effective.

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Two Ingredients are gathered from plants.

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50% resistance to all poisons.

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All negative effects removed from potions and all positive effects removed from poisons.

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2 effects of an ingredient are revealed when testing instead of 1.

Sneak

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20% less chance of being detected.

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Sneak attacks do 6x damage with one-handed weapons.

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Sneak attack with bows do 3x damage.

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Sneak attack with daggers do 15x damage.

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Noise from armor reduced by 50%

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You no longer activate pressure plates.

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Sprinting while sneaking performs forward roll.

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Running does not affect detection chance.

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Crouching can make hostile enemies lost sight of you and search for a target.

Vanish

Attacker focuses on someone else when entering combat while sneaking.

Speech

???

Buying and selling price 10% better.

Allure

Receive 20% better price buying from opposite sex.

???

Invest in shops and increase available gold permanently in invested stores.

Master Trader

Every merchant in the world gains 10.000 gold for bartering.

???

Buy and sell anything from any merchant regardless of what they normally buy and sell.

???

Intimidation attempts are twice as likely to succeed.

???

Persuasion attempts more likely to succeed.

Fence

Barter your stolen goods with any merchant you have invested in.

Bribe

At a cost, guards forget your bounties.

Pickpocketing

Light Fingers

Pickpocketing bonus of 20% – Item weight and value reduce pickpocketing odds.

Night Thief

Pickpocketing sleeping people almost always works.

Poisoned

Place poisons in other people’s pockets silently to harm or kill.

Cutpurse

Pickpocketing gold is 50% easier.

Extra Pockets

Carrying capacity is increased by 100.

Keymaster

Pickpocketing keys always works.

Misdirections

You can pickpocket equipped weapons.

Perfect Touch

You can pickpocket equipped items.

Lockpicking

Sleight of Hand

Picking locks is now undetectable to everyone standing around watching.

Wax Key

Automatically gives you the key that fits the lock you just picked.

Smithing

Steel Smithing

Create steel armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

Arcane Blacksmith

Improve magical weapons and armor.

Dwarven Smithing

Create Dwarven armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

Elven Smithing

Create Elven armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

Orcish Smithing

Create Orcish armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

Advanced Armors

Create scale and plate armor at forge. Improve by double.

Glass Smithing

Create Glass armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

Daedric Smithing

Create Daedric armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

Ebony Smithing

Create Ebony armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

Dragon Smithing

Create Dragon armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

One-Handed

One-Handed Prowess

One-Handed weapons do 40% more damage.

Hack and Slash

Attacks with war axes cause extra bleeding damage.

One-Handed Tactics

Charge!

Bone Breaker

Stand and Deliver

Savage Blow

Bladesman

Two-Handed

Two-Handed Prowess

Two-Handed weapons do 20% more damage.

Deep Wounds

Attacks with greatswords have a 10% chance of doing critical damage.

Skullcrusher

Attacks with warhammers ignore 25% of armor.

Two-Handed Tactics

Limbsplitter

Great Charge!

Devastating Blow

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Attacks with battle axes does extra bleeding damage.

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Power Attacks cost 25% less Stamina.

???

Standing Power Attacks does 25% bonus damage. Chance to decapitate.

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Sprinting Power Attacks does double damage.

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Sideways Power Attacks hits all nearby targets.

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backwards Power Attacks has 25% of paralysing target.

Archery

Overdraw

Bows do 25% more damage.

Focus

Able to zoom in on targets when bow is drawn.

Steady Hand

Time slows down while zooming in.

Critical Shot

10% critical hit chance.

Ranger

Move faster with bow drawn.

Bullseye

Chance of paralysing enemies for a few seconds.

Eagle Eye

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Recover twice as many arrows from dead bodies.

???

Draw bow 30% faster.

Heavy Armor

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Armor rating 20% increased.

???

Unarmed damage increased by gauntlet's armor rating while wearing heavy armor gauntlets.

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Half fall damage if wearing full heavy armor.

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Equipped Heavy armor weighs nothing and doesn't slow you down.

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Additional 25% armor if wearing a full Heavy armor set.

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25% more armor if wearing full heavy armor.

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50% less stagger if wearing full heavy armor.

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10% damage reflected back to enemy if wearing full heavy armor.

Block

Shield Wall (1 of 5)

Blocking is 25% more effective.

Deadly Bash

Bashing does more damage.

Power Bash

Able to do a power bash.

Bash Disarm

Shield Charge

Able to move faster with a shield raised.

Quick Reflexes

Time slows down if you are blocking during a power attack.

Deflect Arrows

Riposte

Elemental Protection

Alteration

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Novice/Apprentice/Adept/Expert/Master level Illusion spells costs 50% less Magicka.

???

Alteration spells has longer duration.

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Absorb 30% of magicka that hits you.

Conjuration

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Novice/Apprentice/Adept/Expert/Master level Illusion spells costs 50% less Magicka.

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Dual casting overcharges for greater effect.

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Bound weapons do more damage.

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Bound weapons cast soul trap on target.

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Bound weapons banish certain creatures.

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Reanimate undead with 100 more health points.

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Summon two atronarches or reanimated zombies.

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Summon atronarches at twice the distance.

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Summoned atronarches are twice as strong.

Destruction

???

Novice/Apprentice/Adept/Expert/Master level Illusion spells costs 50% less Magicka.

???

More damage for each school (Fire, Shock and Frost).

???

Shock damage has a chance to disintegrate target if their health is below 10%.

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Frost damage has a chance to paralyse target if health is low.

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Fire damage has a chance of making enemies with low health flee.

???

Place runes up to five times farther away.

Enchanting

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Enchants are 20% stronger.

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Enchanted armor is 25% stronger.

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Soul Gems provide magicka for recharge.

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Health, Magicka and Stamina enchants become stronger.

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Extra effect on already-enchanted weapons can be applied.

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Fire enchants 25% stronger.

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Frost enchants 25% stronger.

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Shock enchants 25% stronger.

Illusion

Hypnotic Gaze

Calm higher level people and creatures.

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Novice/Apprentice/Adept/Expert/Master level Illusion spells costs 50% less Magicka.

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Dual casting overcharges for more powerful spells.

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Spells works on higher level animals.

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Spells works on higher level people.

Silent Casting

All spellcasting (From any school) is done silently.

Master of the Mind

Illusion spells works on Undead, Daedra and Automatons.

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Fear spells work on higher level enemies.

[color="#0000FF"] Restoration

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Novice/Apprentice/Adept/Expert/Master level Illusion spells costs 50% less Magicka.

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Healing spells also restore stamina.

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Healing spells heals 50% more.

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Magicka is partially recharged with each healing spell.

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Spells are more effective against Undead.

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Once a day chance to autocast 250HP restoration when health drops low.

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Magicka regenerates 25% faster.

Factions

Crafting

Misc Features

New, updated Radiant AI: You won't find townspeople loitering aimlessly in town squares anymore. Each NPC performs tasks that make sense in their environment. To impart the towns and cities with a greater sense of life, Bethesda has populated them with mills, farms, and mines that give the NPCs believable tasks to occupy their day. The improved Radiant AI technology is also more aware of how a citizen should react to your actions. As you perform tasks for them or terrorize them by ransacking their home, the NPCs develop feelings about you. If you're good friends with a particular NPC and barge into his house during the middle of the night, he may offer you lodging rather than demand you leave the premises. If you swing your weapon near an NPC, knock items off their dinner table, or try to steal something of value, they'll react with an appropriate level of hostility given their prior relationship to you. If you drop an item on the ground near NPCs they will react to that as well, such as a child might try to give you the sword back, two men will fight over it or someone might even try to kill you with it if they dislike you. When NPCs think they see or hear something, they go into an alert state, instead of instantly attacking you. Players with a higher sneak skill will have more time to duck back around the corner or find sanctuary in the shadows.When you approach an NPC they will engage in dialogue with you, but continue to do their task, making gestures or pacing around, depending on their personality. If you do quests for NPCs, they will like you more, and eventually become your friends. If you kill a shop owner, their family member will inherit the shop and will be angry about you, but still give you missions, which could then improve your relation with them. There are children in the game, but like Main-Quest givers, they are essential, which means they are invincible. You can hire companions, persuade a friend or get an animal (most likely a dog) to accompany you. Bards in taverns will play tunes for you if you pay them. Male and female characters have some different animations, while beast races (Khajiit and Argonian) have totally unique animations!M'aiq the Liar is back!Enemy scaling in Skyrim has been improved a lot since Oblivion, and you will barely notice it. While random spawns are scaled, weaker enemies aren't written out of the system, but will appear less common. A single spawn at lower levels can have enemies spawning in pairs at higher levels. Some enemies, like the Giants and Mammoths, won't attack you on sight, but will attack you if you disturb them. Giants and Mammoths also often travel in packs. Even some insects, like the bee, can be killed!Confirmed creatures: Bats, Bears, Bees, Boars, Dogs, Dragons, Draughr, Dwemer Centurion Spheres, Elks, Foxes, Frost Atronaches, Giants, Giant Spiders, Glow Worms, Horkers, Horses, Ice Golems, Ice Wraiths, Luna Moths, Mammoths, Mud Crabs, Rabbits, Saber-Toothed Cats, Salmon, Skeevers, Skeletons, Spiders, Spriggans, Torch Bugs, Trolls, Vampires, Wolves, Zombies.Most dragons respawn just like other creatures, and there are several types of dragons, one more fierce than the other! Some dragons are scripted, but most are not, and no, you can NOT fly a dragon. Dragons can pick people up from the ground, and toss them away. When a dragon is critically wounded, it will crash or land on the ground, leaving scars upon the land. It will also leave scars upon the land when breathing fire at you!For more detailed information on dragons, check out Cipher 8's "Dragons Info" TES V takes place 2 Centuries (200 years) after Oblivion. The King of Skyrim is dead, which has sparked a civil war. You are the last Dragonborn, a group characterized by their ability to hunt dragons. You are a prisoner. The Septim line was a prominent Dragonborn line protected by the Dragonguards which eventually became the blades. After the death of the Septim line, the Blades were hunted down and killed one by one and now are almost completely gone. The return of the dragons was foretold in the Elder Scrolls and was ushered in by the destruction of the Staff of Chaos, the creation of the Numidium, the events at Red Mountain and the Oblivion Crisis. There is a blade you come across, named Esbern (Voiced by Max Von Sydow.) that will train and guide you through the game. The last event to unfold before the dragons return was the people of Skyrim turning against each other which is happening at the beginning of the game. Dragons start to appear in greater and greater numbers as the game goes on and will eventually culminate with Alduin possibly coming into the world.The banishing of Mehrunes Dagon from Tamriel by the Champion of Cyrodiil, Martin Septim, and the avatar of Akatosh ends the Oblivion Crisis. The Septim bloodline ends and the Amulet of Kings is destroyed. The Third Era ends, marking the beginning of the Fourth.The Fourth Era begins with no Emperor on the throne of Tamriel. High Chancellor Ocato, the Elder Council, and the Blades try to maintain order. The provinces start to take advantage of the Empire's weakened state.In Vivec's absence, the Ministry of Truth becomes unstable. Vuhon creates an Ingenium that uses at first dozens of dying souls, then a small number of living ones to stabilize the rock. The soul of Sul's wife Ilzheven was among them. In a fight to free her, the Ingenium is destroyed and the rock crashes into Vivec with all the energy it originally had. The impact causes Red Mountain to erupt and destroys the entire island of Vvardenfell, as well as causing massive destruction to the rest of the province.Black Marsh secedes from the Empire; it is soon followed by Elsweyr.The Thalmor seize control of the old Aldmeri Dominion (Valenwood and the Summerset Isle).The Argonians invade and conquer Morrowind after the eruption of Red Mountain.Umbriel, a floating city, appears on the coast of Black Marsh, heading toward Morrowind. The city of Lilmoth, Black Marsh, the home of Annaïg, is destroyed in the process.Havok Behavior - Havok Behavior is a flexible animation tool that allows the developers to rapidly prototype and preview new animations and blend them together seamlessly with a few mouse clicks and minimal code support. Bethesda is using it to create more nuance in character and creature movement, govern special effects, and even to control how characters struggle to move when trapped in environmental hazards like spider webs. Characters now transition more realistically between walking, jogging and, running, and the increased nuance between animations has allowed Bethesda to better balance the combat in both first- and third-person perspective by adjusting the timing values for swings and blocks depending on your perspective. Perhaps the most impressive use of the Behavior technology is how Bethesda is using it to create the dragon animations. Bethesda has worked meticulously to make sure the beasts look powerful and menacing when banking, flapping their wings, gaining altitude before making another strafing run, and breathing fire on their hapless victims. None of the dragons' actions are scripted, and Behavior helps make the movements look non-mechanical, even when the dragons are speaking/shouting.Wind will whip up the surface of bodies of water, the water have believable physics, shadows are dynamic and snow falls dynamically, painting the ground texture with snow. Faces and models are greatly improved. Draw distance is greatly increased, which let's you see much further before noticing low resolution distant land or grid pattern. SpeedTree has not been used, but a platform has been written in-house, which let's the artists built whatever kind of tree they want, making it more varied.The music of Skyrim is composed by Jeremy Soule!There are approximately 70 voice actors and 60.000 lines of voiced dialogue, and the known voice actors are: Max Von Sydow (Esbern), Brandon Ellison (General), Anthony De Longis (Mercer Frey), Rob Locke (Commoner / Additional Voices), Lani Minella (Dark Elf / Night Mother / Nocturne), Wes Johnson, Lynda Carter, Craig Sechler, Jim Cummings, Gideon Emery, Michael Mack (Male Redguards), Jonathan Bryce (Male Khajiit/Argonian), Reese C. Hartwig (Young Male), Christopher Plummer (Arngeir), Joan Allen (Delphine), Lynda Carter (Gormlaith Golden-Hilt), Michael Hogan (Imperial General Tullius), Vladimir Kulich (Ulfric Stormcloak), Claudia Christian (Legate Rikke), Diane Louise Salinger, Renee Victor, George Coe.Your character will shout, laugh and make combat grunts.The HUD have been simplified, making it easier to access, use and navigate. When opening the menu, instead of returning you to the last page you visited as it did in Oblivion, you are now presented with a simple compass interface that offers four options (Right: Inventory | Left: Magical Items | Down: Map & Quests | Up: Skills). In the inventory, you can view your items as 3D objects, which can even be used to solve puzzles! Items or spells can also be mapped, making them easier to access, with one press of a button, without the need to pause the game.Third person have been greatly improved, and you will now have a cross-hair in third person as well as in first person! While in first person, the HUD comes and goes as needed. Quest markers can be turned off, and when full, the Health-, Stamina- and Magicka bars are hidden. HUD opacity can be increased or decreased as you see fit.The environment and dungeons of Skyrim are unique and beautiful (All in their own way of course…)There are five major cities, which is Solitude, Riften, Whiterun, Windhelm and Markarth, while there are 8 or more smaller towns. Every town has it's own Economic System. If you destroy a city's means of income, they'll need to buy from another nearby city, and prices in the city will go up or some products will not be available in that city at all. They also have it's own unique culture and architecture. There are more than 130 dungeons, ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours long, and outside, there are over 100 points of interest. There are 13 Guardian Stones in the game, which will temporarily boost your skills. In areal, the size of Skyrim is about the same as Cyrodiil in Oblivion, but content-wise, it's much bigger! To make dungeons more interesting, traps and puzzles have been used more frequently, and with more variation. There are also rivers inside dungeons You can also find Dwemer ruins around the province! In the watery depths of Skyrim, you can find treasures, hidden caves and ships. When picking flowers, they are visually removed from the plant.There is a soft level-cap at 50, but you can still level-up after this. You have 3 attributes; Health, Magicka and Stamina - One of which can be increased by 10 each level. Magicka & Health now regenerates quite fast out of combat, and slowly while in combat. There are 18 skills that you can develop through playing, and all affect your leveling. You level faster than in previous games, and you receive a Perk every level. There are approximately 280 perks, including ranks, and you decide to save perk points until you are ready to spend them. You can Sprint, which drains your Stamina, but backwards running speed has been reduced since Oblivion. Sprinting while wearing heavy armor drains Stamina faster. Your speed is governed by your stamina attribute and your equipment. Racial speed is the same, so a khajiit will initially run at the same speed as an Orc.You can become a Vampire!The Character customization is very in-depth, allowing you to change your character physique, give them a beard out of the 50 available, apply face-paint, and other more detailed changes to your characters body. There are no Classes, no major/minor skills and no birth signs!There are 10 playable races: Imperial, Nord, Redguard, Dark Elf (Dunmer), High Elf (Altmer), Wood Elf (Bosmer), Orc, Khajiit, Argonian and Breton.Hist: Significantly increases health regeneration speed.Histskin: 50% resistance to diseases.Breathe underwater.Dragonskin: Absorb Magicka of spells and resist shock.Ancestor's Wrath: Surrounds player character in fire and resist fire.Regenerate Magicka more quickly.Voice of the Emperor: Find more coin when looting.Night vision and claw attack (increased unarmed damage).Battlecry.Berserker.Adrenaline Rush.Animal Allies: Command an animal to fight for you.Resist poison and disease.The higher a skill is, the more it will contribute to leveling up when increased, making it smarter to focus on a smaller range of skills. The Enchanting Skill allows you to disenchant items with magical properties, destroying the item in the process. This will teach how to enchant another time with the magical properties of the item you disenchanted.Warrior-type Skills: Smithing, Heavy Armor, Block, Two-handed, One-Handed and Archery.Mage-type Skills: Enchanting, Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration, Restoration and Illusion.Thief-type Skills: Alchemy, Light Armor, Speech, Sneak, Lockpicking and Pickpocketing.Thieves Guild (Joinable)College of Winterhold (Joinable)Companions (Joinable)Dark Brotherhood (Joinable)Riverwood Tavern Warrior ClanStormcloaks (Joinable)The Shield-BrothersNecromancers (Not Joinable)The Imperial Army (Joinable)Battle BornEast Empire Trading CompanyFor more detailed information about factions, check out BootySweat's "Factions of Skyrim" There are six different stages to crafting items. The first two are: Refining crude ore and Assembling materials. There's 13 different types of ore, which are used for crafting. Alchemy labs are more realistic than in previous games. In addition to alchemy ingredients there are also reagents.There's two types of Fast-Travel: Morrowind-style & Oblivion-style.There is no Multiplayer.There is no Hardcore-mode.Soul Gems can be used like in previous TES games to trap souls.You can buy properties.Lock picking is still a mini-game, but has been improved.There's a separate bounty for each of the 9 holds.You can catch diseases.After killing an NPC, you can sleep in their bed.There will be less, but bigger (Expansion-like) DLCs compared to Fallout 3 & Oblivion.There is a "sort" of Karma system in the game, but it's not governed by numbers. Instead, people will react to what you do, and you will have to base how bad you are on that, and not numbers.Only possible to have relationships with certain NPCs - and "in some cases" marriage.Aurora Borealis.Same Sex Marriages.Aside from Side Quests, there are also Misc Objectives.There is at least 50 skill books.You can collect Daedric Artifacts.