Nuove indiscrezioni su Oblivion

AlexDellAcqua · 21 Giugno 2005

Il Sito Game Chronicles Magazine è riuscita ad intervistare Todd Howard uno dei programmatori responsabili dello sviluppo del prossimo capitolo di Elder Scrolls , Oblivion che porta la saga alla sua quarta incarnazione!
Di seguito riporto l'intervista in inglese:

GCM: Thanks for taking time out to talk with us. If you would please start by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about the team that is behind Oblivion.
Todd Howard: Im Todd Howard, boy-in-charge. The team thats making Oblivion is comprised of the same folks who made Morrowind and a whole slew of new amazing talent.

GCM: Since Oblivions story will revolve around a character the player will design, could you tell us a little about the plot of the game, and perhaps a favorite sequence of yours?
Todd Howard: The game starts inside a prison cell, which happens to be a secret escape route the Emperor and his guards, the Blades, are using to evade an assassin. You make your escape and before the Emperor dies he hands you the Amulet of Kings, the token of the true emperor, and implores you to find the rightful heir to the throne and shut the jaws of Oblivion. Favorite sequence, hmmm, theres a part after you find the heir and reunite him with the Blades that I love.

GCM: One of the things highlighted during the E3 demo of Oblivion was a fairly advanced physics engine in the game world, did you use the Half-Life 2 engine for this or was it something of your own creation?
Todd Howard: We use Havok for all our physics. Its fantastic.

GCM: Could you detail for us how the forests in the game were constructed, and how this was integrated into the rest of the game?
Todd Howard: Its one of those things weve always wanted to do in a game full real-time forests for you to explore. Our tech for creating forests is something we spent a long time on. Were combining procedural generation of landscape (based on its soil type and years of erosion), trees (based on species and random growth clustering), and grass (base on regional patterns) to create some really amazing areas. Combine this with full canopy shadows from the trees and it really takes you to another place.
As far as gameplay a forest really is one of the richest environments you could explore. The dynamic compass helps you find things because the first thing we experience with the forest was Im lost. Being lost in the forest was not the kind of heroic experience we envisioned.

GCM: Wed like to know more about the radiant AI that was used for the NPCs, aside from saving time and space, what advantages does it have over scr ipting these characters?
Todd Howard: Using the Radiant AI system, we have the ability to do things on a larger scale. Where other games NPCs require individual scr ipting, we can simply provide our NPCs with goals and our system allows them to think on their own and complete the task. It allows us to have that same advanced behavior, but on a massive scale.
The other thing it does is give the game a more organic feel than scr ipting could. NPCs wont always be standing there doing the exact same thing at the same time. The fact that your experience and whats going on in the world around you in your game is a bit different than other people is pretty cool. The conversations youll overhear and subsequent quests youll be able to get as a result will vary. It makes the world feel much more realistic and alive.

GCM: Oblivion is scheduled to be released for the Xbox 360 and high end PCs. Will it be a launch title for the 360? What sort or system requirements will be needed in order to run Oblivion from a PC?
Todd Howard: Were shooting for the holidays, but cant give you an exact date yet. As far as system specs for the PC you know us! If you want the full-on graphics, expect to buy the best thing you can when the game comes out. We plan on having it run on as many systems as possible, but its too early to say how far we can drop the spec right now. We do have that as a goal having it run on a wider variety of systems than Morrowind did.

GCM: What was different about developing this title for the PC and for the 360?
Todd Howard: The content in the game is the same, but the interfaces differ and the rendering pipelines are different. We use the same source art on both, but how they get drawn in-game differs.

GCM: One of the things Microsoft is pushing with the 360 is the ability to connect with anyone anywhere in the world. Will Oblivion take advantage of the online capabilities of that system?
Todd Howard: Were planning some cool Xbox Live things, mostly involving lots of downloadable content and mods, but I cant really get specific yet.

GCM: Moving on to some game play specifics, how in depth will character creation be? Will all the original races (including Khajiit & Argonian) be playable? Will there be any new ones introduced, such as the various races of Akavir? What form of Khajiit will be prevalent in this game?
Todd Howard: You can expect all the classic Elder Scrolls races to be available. All the beast races will be there again. The appearance of your character can be customized much more than ever before.
Character generation is very different than our previous games. It takes the Morrowind paradigm that you play the character generation even further. We let you play the game for a while and watch what kinds of things you do before you get to the point where you pick your class. We offer up a class suggestion based on your style of play, but ultimately you can be whatever you want to be.

GCM: Are you planning on including features that were found in Daggerfall but left out of Morrowind, like banks, mounts, wagons, or the ability to climb or buy/own a ship or a house?
Todd Howard: Weve added a lot of new features, including some you mention. Weve brought back the fast travel map to allow you to instantly travel to any location you already know about, and there are mounts you can buy and use for traveling on foot more quickly. Yes, there will be houses you can buy in each major town where you can keep all of your stuff. At the same time, we spent a lot of time and energy on features that people do and experience all the time in our games: talking to people, killing stuff, NPC AI, etc. We wanted to do some new things in these areas to make the overall experience more enjoyable. More time having fun and less down time.

GCM: Will characters be encouraged to wear different types of clothing based on situation (i.e. more favorable reaction from NPCs if character is wearing formal clothing for a formal occasion)?
Todd Howard: The clothing you wear does affect certain NPC's, but not in a big way, its subtle.

GCM: Many old fans of the TES series were disappointed that the clothing customization options in Morrowind did not match up to that in Daggerfall. Will Oblivion remedy that?
Todd Howard: Hard to say, its different in Oblivion. We have much better looking clothing, and it mixes and matches better, but you dont have the huge range of options you could in a 2D system like Daggerfalls.

GCM: How much of Tamriel outside of Cyrodiil will the player be able to explore?
Todd Howard: The game takes place entirely in Cyrodiil and in Oblivion itself. Its huge.

GCM: What familiar guilds/factions will be available for player membership?
Todd Howard: The four main guilds are the mages, fighters, thieves, and Dark Brotherhood (assassins guild). Each of these is a main quest unto itself and you can join all four if you like. Theres also the Arena, which is a lot like a guild in that you can spend a lot of time fighting in the Arena circuit and improving your status. We feel all of the guilds are a lot more rewarding and polished than ever before and each will be a lot of fun if its the only thing you do in the game.

GCM: Will reskinning existing game objects be made easier in the TES Construction Set?
Todd Howard: That still works pretty much the same. The TES Construction Set was not designed to modify existing objects we have other programs that do that much better. Rather, its designed to help create and edit the game world itself and the objects in that game world. To that end, its enjoyed the benefit of a number of enhancements and improvements that made creating the game easier for us, and will making modding the game much easier for fans. The whole system of creating a quest is exponentially better than it was in Morrowind.

GCM: The title name Oblivion sounds pretty final. Where do you see the series going from here?
Todd Howard: I cant imagine a scenario where this is the last game, but I do love the title. The series after Oblivion? We always have crazy ideas, so well see.

GCM: Thank you again for answering our questions. Are there any final thoughts, comments, jokes, anecdotes youd like to leave us with?
Todd Howard: Theres a certain theme to your questions, and its natural, which is to ask for or compare features from one game in the series to the next. And in a nutshell, everyone should expect Oblivion to be its own unique game, just like Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind were. Each game is pretty different from the last, and has evolved the series into new directions, and thats what keeps it going. We certainly look at things we think worked in each game, but well always try new things, some will work great, some wont, but well keep trying them. Thanks for listening, and we hope you enjoy the game.
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Da come si evince dall'intervista, le novità ci sono e sono ben più che marginali!
Si potranno acquistare e scaricare dal Live delle Mod e degli Add-on per allungare la longevità del gioco, non è stato specificato se i suddetti saranno solamente ufficiali o se verrà dato spazio anche ai fans della serie.
Verrà supportato il magnifico motore Havok 2 e verrà utilizzato per tutti gli oggetti presenti su schermo.
Il mappa di gioco sarà immensa e presenterà tutte le locazioni viste nei precedenti capitoli, ci si potrà spostare a piedi a cavallo, e con una specie di teletrasporto per velocizzare gli spostamenti in scenari già visitati.
Alcune immagini di gioco:

-=]}Â»ASiiÂ«{[=- · 21 Giugno 2005

questo è uno di quei giochi che mi spingeranno a comprare la x360 il prima possibile!!!

john_frusciante · 21 Giugno 2005

io morrowind l'ho giocato fino allo stremo!
l'ho comprato anche per pc per vedere se cambiava qualcosa!!
quindi penso che oblivion sarà il primo titolo che prenderò (se uscirà prima del niovo halo )

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