IGN has some sexy new screenshots and information for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. WARNING: These shots are awesome and may result in drooling. First up though is a bit from Todd Howard, the game's director.
11/11/11 is when the game is slated for release.
It's been shown off that weapons and spells can be active simultaneously. Can you go into some of the reasons behind shifting to this kind of system and the types of combat opportunities it opens up?
Todd Howard: We felt that at a base level, your character is always defined best by what he's actually doing, not a list of skills he has, or menu choices he made in the beginning of the game, and that's been an Elder Scrolls goal for a long time. And it's an elegant solution to use the controller triggers, or mouse buttons, to act as your hands. It felt really natural once we did it. It started with wanting to give magic users a better feel, closer to how melee worked by using both your hands to do something, or make a more interesting choice. We actually added dual wielding weapons pretty late, once we saw how nice it was to just put what you wanted in each hand. It also makes you choose. You can't be all things. Figuring out what combinations work for your play-style is a lot of fun. When I play, I find I switch between styles frequently.
Todd Howard: We felt that at a base level, your character is always defined best by what he's actually doing, not a list of skills he has, or menu choices he made in the beginning of the game, and that's been an Elder Scrolls goal for a long time. And it's an elegant solution to use the controller triggers, or mouse buttons, to act as your hands. It felt really natural once we did it. It started with wanting to give magic users a better feel, closer to how melee worked by using both your hands to do something, or make a more interesting choice. We actually added dual wielding weapons pretty late, once we saw how nice it was to just put what you wanted in each hand. It also makes you choose. You can't be all things. Figuring out what combinations work for your play-style is a lot of fun. When I play, I find I switch between styles frequently.
11/11/11 is when the game is slated for release.