Bounty Hunters!

Well, snap my neck and call me a dead chicken, preferably to be used as gourmet food in the future!
We've been over the crime system, but just to keep it short and clear: There are 9 holds (Counties) each with their own ruler, prisons and bounties, meaning that if you get a bounty in region A, nobody in Region B will know about it.

So you could just stay away from the big bad city of whatever region your bounty is in, and thus stay safe and sound, right? WRONG! Like a thief in the night, the news snuck up on me: There will come fricken BOUNTY HUNTERS after us. Whilst it appear quite logical that my actions, as in burning the entire population of a small peaceful settlement to a crisp, should not go unnoticed, I was still pleasantly surprised once I found this out.

I will not indulge you in grand words and eloquence, building up excitement and motivations, as I always do, this time around, due to a smacking headache. Therefore I will try another approach: BE EXCITED OR SUCK!
Let me know if it works.

Centurions!

Centurion

A recent poll on The Skyrim Blog clearly show that if the fans of TES would have to choose a race to enter the fray and show themselves in the games, it would have to be the Dwemer. Sure their ruins are back, but as you know, the Dwemer are not. Luckily, they left something behind... Bwahahahahahahaha!!!

Nah, seriously - I recommend that you pack a lot of crap before you enter the dwemer ruins. In fact, you should probably go all boyscout and say "Always be prepared" (Which is ironic, since they weren't prepared when i snuck up on them with a machete and... Nevermind.)

As you venture into the hollowed halls of Dwarven culture, which we so missed in Oblivion, you'll find that life may become difficult as you might meet the Dwemer legacy: The Centurions.

These be not the crafty centurions you meet in Asterix and Obelix, my friend, and they are not child-friendly AT ALL. In fact, they are to mostly function as high-level bosses so steer clear.

The Centurion of Skyrim

You know not what they are? The centurions are fierce, ancient machines build by, guess who, the Dwemer and they are fricken nuts. The type I know typically roll around in sort of a ball shape and then unfold like a transformer, or destroyer droid if you prefer. As far as I can tell, there'll be a bunch of different kinds in Skyrim and maybe each of them are unique, since they function as high-level "bossy" battles?

I'm gonna pick yo' pocket!

STOP! YOU VIOLATED THE LAW!

Pickpocketing is one of my favorite skills in The Elder Scrolls - I love the thieves guild and all its beautiful members, so pickpocketing is very important to me and I am sure it is for everyone else too, right? (Rhetorical - of course it is.)

It warms my heart greatly that they've made it so much more interesting - BGS has recently released the skill- or perk-tree if you prefer, for pickpocketing. First of all, it seems like weight and value of an object affects how difficult it is to steal <-- Awesome. But that aside, lets see them perks:

[Light Fingers 0/5] Reduces the influence weight and value of items has on your chance of successfully pickpocket an item

[Night Thief] Pickpocketing sleeping people works almost every time

[Poisoned] Silently place poison in other peoples pockets in order 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

Personally I've always enjoyed the idea of having perks in an Elder Scrolls game - In fact, the first thing I thought when I saw them in Fallout was: "Why the hell isn't this in Oblivion?"

Just looking at these perks for pickpocketing, confirms my opinion: Perks are awesome - And now, so will being a thief!

Dragon Shouts!

I think that forgetting to write about dragon shouts is kind of stupid, but I don't feel like I need to at this point. Most people already know all about them and it wouldn't be much different from telling you that the game will be released November 11th - you simply already know!

But just for the sake of doing it, I will shortly write about the dragon shouts, briefly, and then make a list over known dragon shouts.

To break it down, dragonshouts are a power you possess, being the fancy dragonborn and all. At the early stages of the game, after a daring rescue fro your execution, you are sent an invitation to join the greybeards, whom live on the top of the throat of the world, the tallest mountain in Skyrim and the second tallest peak in Tamriel. After you climb the 7000 steps and reach them, they will teach you of "The voice," which will enable you to make use of your gift and enabling you to learn the words of power.

Word Wall

Each of the at least 20 dragonshouts, will have three stages, one word for each one. In order to complete every set of dragonshouts and expand our vocabulary overall, you need two things: The first one being the easiest, but most time consuming, as you need to travel across Skyrim in search of old word walls, containing the necessary words of power - each wall has one word that you can learn, so it'll be some time before you're fluent in the luxurious language of the flying reptiles called dragons. The second thing you need is more problematic, but essentially less time consuming - You have to obtain dragon souls. How do you do that? You need to kill dragons!

So once you've slain one of those magnificent bastards and absorbed its respective soul, that soul will be converted into points, which you will then be able to spend on each of the words you've acquired, enabling you to shout that word very loudly and thus use its respective power.


Given that we're all such math whizzes, we've already figured out that that means we will at least have to find 60 word walls as well as slay 60 dragons, which of course is all in a days work.

Now that that is explained, lets see what Dragon shouts we've got so far:

• Fus Roh Dah: Fires a shock-wave of force energy, both stunning and pushing enemies aside. Similar to the "Force Push" of the Star Wars franchise.


• Liz Slen Nus: I don't know about level 1, but level 2  spews a torrent of ice crystals and level 3 encases enemies in ice.


• Strun Bah Qo: This one creates a thunder storm (or at least level 3 does), striking your enemies with lightning.


• Yol Toor Krein: Allows you to breath fire - each level extends how long it is active


• Tiid Klo Ul: Slows time around the player


• Lein - -: Whirlwind sprint - allows you to instantly move forward a great speed.


• - Dovah -: Summons a dragon to come to your aid (You cannot ride it)


• - - -: The words are not knows, but this shout is called "Animal Allegiance"

Ice Wraiths!

Known for months, Ice wraiths will be flying around terrorizing us once we reach the frozen tundra in the land of Skyrim. Unlike their Cyrodiilic brethren from Oblivion, the regular wraiths, these bad boys are reminiscent of teeny, tiny version of transparent Japanese dragons - or eels, but what the hell do I know? I'm just hoping they won't suddenly appear and start screaming "ONAGI!" - simply terrifying.

David Schwimmer aside, I think we should focus on what we know of these neat creatures, which I believe to be hostile. The only picture we have of them, shows of three of them, causing me to believe that they are creatures prone to attack in groups. Being described as creatures formed out of pure ice and air, moves them even further away from the Wraiths in Oblivion, with them not being undead, nor vengeful. Not that that makes me want to try and join in on a dance of peace with them.

Wisps!

One of the PAX attendees who braved the 2½ hour line to play Skyrim, has revealed to us, the inclusion of wisps in the game. The wisp, being the most hated enemy in Oblivion, should disappoint most people, as they'd rather see it gone, but fear not.

There is not talk of the ol' will-o-the-wisp from Oblivion. Rather than a glowing orb of light, the player described it as an aetherial-looking female. Realizing for the first time that I don't know what aetherial means exactly, I'm guessing that it means it was kind of elf-spirit looking - maybe like a nymph?

List of enemies, creatures and critters!

Here is the list of enemies, creatures and critters, listed alphabetically for your convenience: [Not done yet]

• Atronach
• Bandit
• Bounty Hunter
• Centurion
• Chicken
• Cow
• Deer
• Dragon
• Dragon Priest
• Draugr
• Elk
• Falmer
• Fox
• Giant
• Horker
• Ice Wraith
• Mammoth
• Mudcrab
• Necromancer
• Rabbit
• Spider
• Troll (Cave)
• Troll (Frost)
• Vampire
• Werewolf
• Wisp
• Wolf

Vampires and Lycanthropy - Broken down at the end of August

We've all been following the discussion on whether vampires and werewolves will be available in Skyrim intenly. More intently than a dog following a treat! We've been back and forth, but now the ride comes to an end.

Vampirism! Those of you who's a fan of Skyrim Coverage on facebook, I've already told. Some of you may have found out elsewhere. For those of you who don't know: Vampires have been confirmed. One of the more intense Elder Scrolls fans was playing the demo at QuakeCon and shiver me timbers if his clearly restless mentality didn't send him right into the arms of two welcoming vampires, confirming their existence in the game!

Now there is just the issue people have been having: Will we, us, the players be able to become a vampire? Truthfully, Bethesda has made no such statement since the info leaked like... Two days ago from now. I can only say two things. The first one being "Cupcake-shaped earrings are neat" and the second one being a statement claiming that worrying will be for nought. Would Todd and his team really have been so naive as to include vampires and not the option to become one, knowing full well that they would have a series of disappointed fans on their hands, as well as a riot? The one kind with torches and angry mobs?!
No, of course not!
*EDIT
It has been confirmed that you can also become a vampire

That aside, lycanthropy will definitely be in the game, as I've mentioned a month ago (I think?) and I say so with great joy and excitement, as well as coffee burning my lap and scolding my thighs. If you by any chance won't find Lycanthropy to be an option once you get your greasy, yet sexy hands on the game, know that it'll definitely be included in a DLC package.

Character compilation

It finally happened! Bethesda has released compilations featuring every race and gender in the game. It is clear that each race has been designed to look unique and unlike the others, and we can barely recognize the elves when we compare them to those of Oblivion and each the Altmers, Bosmers and Dunmers have been designed with their own distinctive eye color. Yellow/Orange for Altmers (It feels like each and everyone of them are staring me down,) Brown for the Bosmers and Red/Black for the Dunmers.

I never noticed while playing Oblivion, but apart from the Orcs, Khajit and Argonians, every race were just humans with a few body alterations. Like taller and skinnier, as well as smaller and broader. Now I feel like each and every race is special and I have to do everything there is to do with each gender of every race -Starting with the Orc male.

But enough talk - Remember you can enlarge each picture by clicking it [And like "Skyrim Coverage" on facebook.]

Races and Character creation - Broken down in the end of August

So it's been a long while since I wrote my article "Races and Character creation." So long that I decided to make a new one, with more info - Quantity and Quality improvement and all that stuff.

So to break it down, here in the end of August:

There are 10 character races to choose from and that would be

• Imperial


• Redguard


• Breton


• Orsimer


• Dunmer


• Bosmer


• Altmer


• Khajit


• Argonian


• Nord

You can of course choose either sex; male or female. Your race and gender will have little impact on the game, other than a change in dialogue. Although you should keep in mind that your race may have some unconfirmed changes, due to racism - Bethesda have however mentioned that no content will be locked based on our choices.

Like superman can fly, Piccolo can regenerate himself, and Batman can... ... Well, what I am trying to say is that each race has its own different advantages and spells, known as racial abilities - Argonians, for example, are resistant to poison and can breath underwater.

On the note of Argonians; They nor Khajits have beastial, but rather humanoid feet, like in Oblivion.

So in the character creation, we can make dope characters, as opposed to Oblivion where we could make fish-faced, silly characters. It works as usual - After you pick your race, you can tweek the facial features as you want, but with a few more additions beyond just beard (which is awesome) --> You can now add scars and tattoos, and not JUST on your face, but also on your body.

On that note, your body's size can also be tweeked, with the options of a Light build and a Heavy build (The way I understand it, you can choose anywhere in between, probably with the use of a slider.)

I guess that is it, so have a merry season for now.

Imperial and Breton is wrong, but beyond that we're good.

Screenshots... (Female Dunmer)

I'll add the next couple of screenshots here:

New HD screenshot by Bethesda

Here is the new HD screenshot of an Argonian that Bethesda promised us. Click it to enlarge.

Take the time to compare

Here is a pic from reddit, showing off several races and gender comparisons through Morrowind, Oblivion and then Skyrim. Click the pic to enlarge.

There are some misunderstandings. As far as I've gathered, the one this pic claims to be a Imperial male, is a Redguard and the one they claim to be a Breton (which I also originally thought it was) has evidently been confirmed to be a Nord.

100 posts!

Without me noticing, I've passed the milestone of 100 posts, which is a wonderful thing for me, and hopefully for all of you as well.

I've had this site since... Mid June I think and I whored ( <--I just coined that) through the first 50 posts like fat kid through the chocolate lake at the factory.After that I've been taking it a little slower and been doing other stuff - Dancing, singing, going to the movies; you know... Living. Given that I am writing this in the middle of the night, I'd say that this project is still fairly important to me.

But I've also taken time off to do other Skyrim related stuff than on this site. Just an hour ago I finished translating a Swedish hands-on preview from QuakeCon and posted it on the official TES forum.

Doing this whole thing have actually taught me how to use blogger more efficiently, as well as a thing or two about coding, not that I make great use of it, mind you. If I had the skill to create my own website, I'd had done so in the first place. Still, I even added a forum, not that anybody is using it, which I perfectly understand, given that there are a million others.

That aside, I do realize that there are some things I have yet to write about; Some enemies, some PoI's, some general info and so on, but I'll get there in due time, which hopefully means that we'll reach 150 articles soon.

As always, I invite you to subscribe to this site via google and or your email, at the bottom of the site and if that is not your thing, you can always look up "Skyrim Coverage" on facebook, where I keep people updated and where you are also welcome to ask questions. If you've got any time after that, take a look at iOblivionIV's channels on Youtube, sporting some of the best info out there.

-
McBraas

Dual-Wielding

One of the more loved mods for Oblivion, was the one by Hentai, that enabled dual-wielding (combines with his saucy combat mods.) Sure, you still needed to download the necessary weapons in order for it to work, but I digress.

A Dunmer thief, dual-wielding knives

Given negative emotion spawned by the lack of ability to dual-wield in the un-modded version of the game, Bethesda made the truly exhilarating decision to include it in Skyrim. it actually seems to be a thing that will become quite common, given you equip your spells like weapons now, but that fact aside, it is actually the weapons we are interested in.

The Elder Scrolls is all about freedom of choice, making me think that they should have allowed me to equip two swords at the same time years ago, but even though everyone is aware that the developers came to their senses, some people still have questions that go unanswered, more specifically: "How do we block?" And to that I can only say: You just don't.

Some have expressed worry over this, thinking that sporting this fancy choice of fighting will only end in swift death, given the inability to block, but to that I must really say that your worries are unnecessary. Of course the team will have balanced it out, otherwise they wouldn't be showing it off at E3 demos, let alone include it, would they now?

Dual-wielding

That aside, I also want to clarify that any one-handed weapon can be used for dual-wielding, and it is far from required to acquire a set of weapons specifically made for dual-wielding, which probably doesn't even exist. You can even dual-wield a torch, which, after Oblivion, can be considered as nothing but bliss and a welcome series of orgasms. A torch doesn't really help much if you have to unequip it every time you want to bring your A-game in combat.

Random events

As you might now, a lot of people (like 10 or something) got to play an alpha build of Skyrim at QuakeCon, spanning an hour. Apart from the luxury of trying out this great game, they also received a screenshot of their characters, which are the ones I've been posting on the site. I am far from done, reading through what each and everyone of these people experienced, but there was something that did catch my eye as I was reading.

We all know that there can be a sort of random events in Skyrim, like if you have killed a man, radiant story can make his two sons come after you for vengeance. Believe you me, I love that fact, but that isn't all that I am talking about here.

In one the previews, a guy mentioned that he ran into a group of Stormcloaks (the rebel force of Skyrim,) escorting a poor captured person with them. Like in Fallout 3, the player had the option of releasing the S&M victim, although there was a colorful difference, mostly in the fact that the capturers wasn't a bunch of all-time hostil, mutated freaks that goes for a kill-on-sight cliché. No, the Stormcloaks are a somewhat peaceful faction, lest you piss them off, which he coincidentally did as he approached the prisoner, resulting in having them draw their blades and warning him off before things got... nasty.

Needless to say, he chickened out and left things alone, so we did not see the reaction of the freed prisoner, but the point that really should be brought to light here is that these kind of events happen in Skyrim. Never again will we scout the land for teeny tiny things that we might wanna add to our to-do list, before we declare the game 100% completed and move on.

The riddling skull

Riddle me this: What is the best dungeon adventure / RPG cliché?

If you answered a locked door, opening only if you answer the riddles three, presented by the skull hanging right above, you've answered correctly. It was both in Monkey Island and the LFG web-comic, so it is an obligation to love it. Naturally, they've also chosen to include this ol' concept in Skyrim, which is of great joy and obligational laughter to everyone who'd even been slightly interested in RPG's.

Multiple times have it been mentioned, in the grand tales of the 1-hour gameplay, told by the reporter attendees of QuakeCon, making our brains boil and our souls burn in excitement. As they tell it, they came upon it at some random place out in the merry fine mother nature. It asked them some riddles, which they unfortunately did not have the knowledge and quick wit to answer correctly in time, 'causing us still to wonder what might lie beyond.

It is fucking magic! More screens!

Just as I withdraw from writing my last post I run into a bunch more screenshots - INCLUDING AN ARGONIAN!

I am not gonna write a lot here, 'cause it is late, but here they are - And remember: Click the images to view their original sizes (bigger)

[Remember to join the facebook webpage to get informed on updates right away: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skyrim-Coverage/137705802978253 ]

*EDIT
One more picture

Even more screenshots - Khajit, Nord

So I am casullay minding my own business and I come across three new screen shots on Bethesdas blog - I went to their online album and downloaded these suckers, so here they are for you.

First up, we'e got another Khajit picture, this time showing off another possible fur color to pick from, as well as a "beard" I guess.

And then we have a Nord at night time - I spot a ruin in the background:

And finally a Nord in a cave:

Keep in mind that you can click this pictures to get their original sizes!
If I know iOblivionIV right, he'll probably smack 'em up on youtube with a thorough analysis of each one of them.

Happy to bring you the stuff.

Dunmer Screenshot

Eagerly we await the coming of Skyrim, as its release date slowly approaches. We all have habits to pass the time! Some of us play Minecraft, some of us keeps knocking ourselves out with chloroform and some of us eagerly scout the internet for yet more details on this magnificent game-to-come.

As you might have guessed, all these examples our drawn right out of my personal life, but if you feel like you can relate, then all the better. I am guessing that you have already seen the big picture posted below of a male Dunmer (Dark Elf) - A screenshot from Skyrim.

He appears to be some sort of Rogue or Assassin (he's a thief.) Maybe he is part of The Dark Brotherhood? No matter what, we can clearly conclude that the Dunmers have gotten themselves a makeover, and a pretty one at that - Their faces are no longer flat, like in Oblivion; And look at the detail! The knives, the ears, the teeth, the beard and even the moon in the background is crazy pretty!

(Click for an even bigger resolution)

This picture was released earlier today on Bethesdas Blog, after the conclusion of a poll, asking people which race they'd like to see the most - the result was a Dunmer thief, as you can see.


The runner up was Argonian and Bethesda promised that we would soon see one of those as well.

The Dark Brotherhood - The note

So I saw some footage from the QuakeCon presentation, which were about the same thing they showed at E3 behind closed doors, which they of course did again, only this time it was in Texas. Still, some shaky footage which has already been removed again, is better than none.

Fear not, the title of this post is not as misleading as it seems due to my first couple of statements. My point is that I in that video saw something that will satisfy the confused masses, still doubting the presence of The Dark Brotherhood in this game.

As the guy who were playing was going through his inventory to show off the cool, new 3D animations of every item, he suddenly stopped to open something called the "Mysterious note." As he pressed (A) on his glorious Xbox360 controller, he activated a smooth animation which gently showed the not being opened (as opposed to a new window just opening,) and what I saw made me nothing less than ebullient.
What was it, you ask? It was a message from our favorite faction: The Dark Brotherhood, with a message so cold and direct it could send shivers down your spine and make you stop eating for weeks.

I used my drawing skills (http://dark-hydra.deviantart.com/#/d32kifc) to sketch out the note in great detail (a doodle) which allows me to still gaze upon the brilliantly horrifying note.

Now I am sure you are all eager to know what was on that note, since I've been dragging this out for too long in an attempt to rise the tension. Unfortunately I can't scan the drawing I made, since I lack the tools for that, so I will just tell you!

As the note opened, what appeared was a drawing of their symbol, The Black Hand, and a message below reading: "We know" with big black letters!

So that is how we can finally put all doubt to bed. That and of course also the fact that Todd Howard said that they would definitely be in the game.

*EDIT
Thanks to Leon Dragonheart, as he calls himself, we now have a great picture of the mysterious note

Pause - Unpause

I would just take a moment to mention how great I think it is that the whole world no longer revolve around us. Not that I don't like the attention, but in Oblivion it ended up being a little too much.

In Skyrim we will have the pleasure of being able to talk to people without time stopping. When you want to talk to a person you just walk right up to them and press the required button and then start chatting - a menu of things you can ask pops up and if you're tired of having them talking to you, you can just walk away (rude)

As far as I've gathered, reading books (which has a page-turning animation BTW) doesn't stop time either and maybe not even popping through your inventory, although I am not sure about that. I definitely know that time stops as you go through your favorites doing combat, which makes sense. Of course there is always the [esc] menu.

Skyrim - The Collector's Edition

For months, people have been wondering whether there will be a collector's edition or not. We had heard nothing on the matter, until the end of the presentation at QuakeCon yesterday.

Now I can with pleasure inform you that there most definitely WILL be a collector's edition! Dance, little elves!
It will include:

• The game (Of course)
• The map (duh!)
• "The making of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" DVD
• "The Art of Skyrim" Official Artbook
• A statue of Alduin, sitting atop a word wall

Fan labor

Unfortunately I could in no way follow the events of the Skyrim Presentation at the QuakeCon yesterday, since real life called (Girlfriends birthday) but I hope whomever did had a good time.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but at the QuakeCon, whilst watching the Skyrim presentation, a woman went into labor! You think that is crazy? Then get this: She stuck around until the end! We send her Elder Scrolls Honors - she must seriously love Skyrim!

There is an article about it her: http://www.1up.com/news/skyrim-presentation-sends-woman-labor-stuck-around-over

But if anyone had the audacity to record the presentation, I ask you to either send it to me, or to iOblivionIV on youtube - Thank you

Partnership

As I've mentioned before, I did this to quench people thirst for information. This is the first time ever, that I work with game coverage or anything like it, or even managed a website, so needless to say: This has been a challenge for me.

So far I've pushed through and have been able to gather as much data as I could, not that I am done, mind you. Still, as I looked for information on the internet here the other day, I came across a certain youtube user whom seemed quite skilled. He turned out to be fricken brilliant.

 I wrote him, if he might be interested in helping out on the site and despite his busy schedule, he agreed to feed me information and even maybe co-write at some point. I have no doubt that he will be a valuable asset to the Skyrim Coverage project, so a very warm welcome to him.

Of course I shall reveal his screen name: iOblivionIV
he has his own youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/iOblivionIV
Once the youtube app here on blogger stops messing with me, as the poor little boy I am, I will tape it stuck to this site as well, so that people will be able to follow it from here.

On another notion, I would once again like to advertise for the Skyrim Coverage facebook page, which you can find here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skyrim-Coverage/137705802978253

-
McBraas