The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Interview
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5) Are loot and quest rewards level scaled, like in Oblivion? Will there be any powerful un-scaled items?
Bruce: We're handling leveling stuff similar to how we did in Fallout 3, but with a few new twists that we hope players won't even notice. The enemies and loot are based on the (encounter zone) you're in, so it could be higher or lower level than your current level. We do have a new concept of epic or (special) loot that you can randomly find in many cases, regardless of the zone, and you will still get better stuff in the better zones with your level higher. Same goes for quest rewards. We try to make them appropriate for what you did. Sometimes that is random, sometimes that is a set item. There's a lot of specific stuff that is very powerful, like the Daedric artifacts.
6) Will items present in Morrowind but not in Oblivion, such as spears, medium armor, and mark/recall spells, be making a return?
Todd: They are not in Skyrim for the same reasons we didn't include them in Oblivion. I'll address each one. First spears, the truth is we'd love to do them, but it becomes a priority and development time thing for us. We feel it's better to spend our time right now making sure the gameplay for the other play styles is really solid. That includes sword, sword and shield, two-handed weapons, and bows. You can also add magic to that list. Getting those all working well together, while feeling different, is our priority.
As far as medium armor, that's not a time or polish thing, it's a design choice to focus on two armor types and making sure those feel different and the player appreciates them. We try to make your character move and feel different between light and heavy and having a 3rd one in the middle just muddies it up in how it plays, as well as visually. And even now, we still have to tweak those two armor types so they feel different, while remaining fun. Every time we slow down heavy armor more, it feels bad, but it's the main way of balancing it. We've added other ways of balancing it that feel right like different stamina drain rates when sprinting and such.
Mark and recall is one where it's a lot of fun, but like levitation, was removed so we could design better gameplay spaces and scenarios. We were really limited in Morrowind because the player could recall or levitate out of many situations and break them. There was a lot of good gameplay and level design work that we just couldn't do and now we can. Back then it seemed like many good ideas we had were shot down when another designer would say (oh yeah, I just levitate or recall away.) So we got rid of them.
7) Will we be able to have relationships with the NPCs, romantic or otherwise?
Bruce: Absolutely! You make friends with people by doing things for them. Friends in the game will treat you differently. Some of them will even agree to go with you into dungeons and on adventures. You can even get married. If you own a house, your spouse will move in with you.
