Forum Overview :: The Elder Scrolls :: Fast first impressions

[quote name="Motherhead"]Morrowind-like amounts of content and attention to detail is again present. Fixed: everything else. The combat is robust and even strangely satisfying (!!!). Traps are logical and make smart use of the game's engine. Lockpicking doesn't suck (!!!). AI is stunning. There's a very real sense of the world existing without you. Example: I'm running down a road and see a lone horse standing to the side of a trail off the main road, I walk up the trail and see two wounded bandits standing over the corpse of a dead guard. I kill the bandits, loot the corpses, take the horse. Probably wouldn't be able to get a horse or kill those two bandits if they didn't scrap before I got there. I approve. The classes accomodate more playstyles than previous traditional RPGs. You want to be a paladin in heavy armor with a two handed sword that can heal, but also launch fireballs? Go. Want to be a thief with heals that can conjure imps? No problem. Want to be a mage/archer? Fine. Brilliant. Best money spent on a game since BF2. With everything turned on* the game is just fucking beautiful, from spell effects to some of the best weather/enviromental rendering I've yet seen. There are rare (but sometimes glaring) rendering glitches when viewing distances, forgivable. Nothing as ugly as the horrid screens people were getting on lower end cards. Other than that I have yet to hit a bug, amazing. *I just wish I didn't have to choose between HDR or AA. Gay. Like to see that patched. Some hardware shit: It looks better on my single XT1900XTX box with a n FX-55 than it does on a dual 7800GTX/FX-60. though it plays a bit smoother on the later. ATI did really good with the 1900s, I am hoping they will release a DX-10 part (2000XT/XTX?) around the same time as the Conroe intel boards/procs ship. I'm ready to eat my words regarding the stupidity of Crossfire. (though Crossfire support for Oblivion isn't in this driver rev.) Seriously, the new ATI cards render just beautifully. Recommended.[/quote]