Content › Part 2: The world>Astarsis and ixidorsbane
>Special thanks to InLeatherArmor for reviewing the FAQ
2.1 World Particular
2.1.1 What size is the world of TES4 Oblivion ?
Cyrodil is 16 virtual square miles
That's about 140% of Morrowind landscape
The Oblivion Planes are randomly generated and really hugue in term of landscape. However the gates to the planes of Oblivion are closed at the end of the main quest
2.1.2 Can you give me some statistics on Cyrodiil ?
> 9 cities
> 12 villages
> many scattered camps
> 200 dungeons
> 1000 points of interest
> 150 quests
2.1.3 Is the world one continuous environment ?
No. The interior are separate cells.
Also, contrary to Morrowind, Oblivion will have many autonomous regions, such as the planes of Oblivion, each equivalent to the Morrowind map in functionalities.
2.1.4 Does the world have borders ?
Yes. Each autonomous regions has invisible frontiers around it. You eventually reach a point where it tells you you have reached the end of the world. Most borders will blend with natural frontiers such as mountains.
2.1.5 How much variety of landscape will we see ?
Cyrodiil alone has at least 8 different landscape types. You will see different types of forests, swamps, plains, hills and mountains. There is also a large lake around the imperial city.
This is without counting the strange landscape of Oblivion.
2.1.6 How much variety of weather will we see ?
Snow and blizzard in the north, rain and thunderstorm, and many special weather for the oblivion planes.
2.2 The Cities
2.2.1 Can you give us a list of the 9 cities ?
> Imperial city - 100 buildings - 2.5x the size of Vivec
> Choroll - north west - 25 buildings - God = Stendar
> Skingrad - south west -
> Kvatch - south west - destroyed
> Anvil - south west - a port
> Bruma - north
> Cheydinhal - home to the hauted manor - God = Arkay
> Bravil - south east
> Leyawiin - south east (near topal sea)
2.2.2 Can you tell us about the houses the player can buy ?
Each city will have at least one house the player can buy.
The cheapeast house is located in Cheydinhall and is haunted.
Each city will also feature a decoration store where you can purchase things to decorate your house
(no more details known at the moment)
2.3 The Dungeons
2.3.1 How many dungeons are there in the game ?
Cirodyl alone has 200 handcrafted Dungeons.
2.3.2 How large are those dungeons ?
A dungeon takes a developer about a week to create. This time is only for the layout & AI setup. It doesn't count the time to create the tileset, creatures, etc. So they are of a rather large size.
Each dungeon has about 3-5 havoc-physic enabled traps
2.3.3 What can you tell us about the creatures inhabiting the dungeons ?
> Dungeons can have factions fighting each other present, such as skeletons versus goblins
> Creatures inhabiting the dungeons can go outside to satify their needs (such as killing cows for food in a nearby farmer's field)
2.4 The Player character and the NPCs
2.4.1 What are the races availlable ?
The same 10 races availlable in Morrowind are returning in TES4 Oblivion
> Imperial (Humans from Cyrodil)
> Nord (Humans from Skyrim)
> Breton (Humans from High Rock)
> Redguard (Humans from Hammerfell)
> Dunmer (Dark Elves from Morrowind)
> Bosmer (Wood Elves from Valenwood)
> Altmer (High Elves from Summerset Island)
> Khajit (Cat peoples from Elsweyr)
> Argonians (Lizard peoples from Black Marsh)
> Orcs (Orcs from Orsinium)
>The women have definitively a womanly look !
2.4.2 How much can the npcs / player characters be customised ?
Each race is now very flexible
> For the overall body, the skin tone can be adjusted.
> For example a very light imperial might look close to a Nord while a
very dark Imperial could look like a Redguard.
> Body size is determined by race
> Faces and Hair are customized using Facegen
?Each npc have a unique look (face, hair)
?There are about 10 hairstyles
?Hair length and color can be adjusted
?Faces can be adjusted manually or randomly generated
The bodies are complely redone for a smoother nicer look
The clothing and armor fit and look better.
2.4.4 How many NPCs are there in TES4 Oblivion ?
There are over 1500 npcs
Not counting random bandits in dungeons and wilderness
2.4.5 How do you treat essential npcs ?
> To help solve this occurrence, a subtle icon will appear on screen when looking at an essential NPC
> If essential npcs are attacked, instead of dying, they become uncouncious for a certain amount of time
> This approach avoid the npcs becoming invincible jugggernauth
> Eventually they will get back up, and go about their daily business (most probably with a lowered disposition towards you for killing them).
> Fortunately, it has been said that when an essential NPC has served their purpose, the flag on them will be turned off and you can kill to your hearts content.
2.4.6 How do you handle npcs dialogues this time ?
> Npcs are fully voiced
> There is over 50 hours of recorded dialogue
> The juiciest dialogues is reserved for the quests
> It still represent on average nearly 2.5 hours per race/gender
combination
> Dialogues are generated using the rumor engine
> Npcs spontaneously start conversations between each other as well as
with the pc
NPC?s and creatures will all have 24/7 schedules, such as closing their shop at night, or locking their door when they go to bed. They also have full facial expressions and will react accordingly to what race they are talking to (High Elves would have a lower disposition to a Wood Elf, than say another High Elf).
They will also have the ability to go through load doors into other areas. This means if you?re in a fight with a NPC, and run away to a building, he can follow you inside and continue the fight.
It has been said that NPC?s will have many more parameters that go into decisions that they choose. Just a couple of them are confidence and responsibility.
In fact the schedule they use is not fixed but rather a list of goal to acheive. They will move arround according to their schedules and needs, and use the tools at their disposal (skills, equipment) to acheive their goals. They can pick up weapons, potions, any sort of gear and use them. They can talk to peoples. They can steal, get arrested and break out of jail the same way you do.
Some restrictions have been mentioned
> They will not steal from your house
> They will not steal from you (at least not important items)
> They will not try to aquire weapons or armor if they already have some
A few examples
> Ittinerant merchant will travel through towns buying & selling goods
> A thief might steal food when hungry
> Goblins might leave their caves and kill cows in a nearby farmer's field
> A guard, because of his high responsibility (a variable) will purchase
food in shops
2.5.1 How many creatures types are present in TES4 Oblivion ?
> There are 40-50 creatures types
> Each creature type can have subtypes, such as standard goblins and goblins witches
2.5.2 Can you tell us the general categories of
creatures ?
> Animals
> Daedra
> Undeads
> Monsters (extrapolated, those who are not the other 3)
> Animals : Deer, Sheep, Cow, Chicken, Butterfly, Giant Rat, Birds. Dogs, Horses, Wild horses, wolves
> Daedra : Clanfear, Daedroth, Spider Daedra, Dremora
> Undeads : Lich, skeleton, ghost, zombie, Ghoul > Monsters : Goblins, Trolls, Ogres, Minotaurs, Unicorn, Spriggans
2.6 Treasures
2.6.1 Is there anything to buy, steal, collect, find, loot ?
> At least one house per city
> Decorations for houses
> At least 5 types of horses of various levels
> A variety of dogs
> clutter, some of it unique to each city
> Guard armors unique to each city
> the usual armor, weapons, clothing, some unique to cities/villages
> 120 types of plants
> at least 400 books > Elven Power Crystals
> legendary artifacts
> 9000 Havoc-physic-enabled objects
> other type of ingredients, tools, miscellenaeous objects
2.6.2 Can you tell us about the clothing ?
Clothing has more variety than Morrowind and a distinct historical/classical medieval feel to it. Women can wear really pretty robes, some that have enticing cleavage sufficient to send radiant AI amok
Hooded robes (monk types robes) are availlable as well as some hooded armor. The gard armor have surcoat with the blazon of their city embroided.
2.6.3 Can you tell us about the armors ?
Over 700 armor pieces are available in the game
Over 100 of those armor pieces are custom armor
In TES4, one armor piece can cover more than one location
From the screenshots, it would seem that armor covering feet, knee and legs are now independant from right and left side (so you can mix them)
This would represent about 70 full sets in Morrowind system
(Morrowind armor set = 9 pieces )
(helm+2pauldrons+breastplate+2gauntlets+greaves+boots+shield )
there are 2 armor skills (heavy and light)
but each cover 6 subtypes, for 18 subtypes total
Most of the armor from Morrowind should make a comeback
Each city has a unique gard armor which usually consist of a padded gambesson/surcoat worn on top of either plate armor or chain armor. The gambesson has a color specific to the city, and sometime has the emblem of the city embroided on it. There also seem to be guard shields bearing the symbol of the city.
Many of the new armor seen are based on historicaly accurate medieval models.
Besides the Morrowind armors, some of the new armors include > Mythic Dawn > Mithril > Hooded archer armor > Blade armor
2.6.4 Can you tell us about the weapons ?
The new weapons have a weapon/sheat feature
> The swords now showed as weapon & scabbard when equiped, and when you draw your sword, the scabbard is still visible at your side. When you put it on the ground, the sword is seen sheated in its scabbard.
> The axes & maces likewise are shown attached on your back > The arrows will be shown as the content of a quiver on your back
> The bow can be strapped on your back There are no thrown projectile weapons, crossbows or spears, and all staves are treated as magical ranged weapons.
Blood will show on sword during combat (but will fade after a few moments) and with the new lightning model, metal weapons can really shine in the light.
2.7 General
2.7.1 What is the Compass ?
The compass is a subtle indicator that will highlight features already visible on the screen. For exemple if a ruin is visible behind a tree, the compass will show an icon to make you aware of it, helping you to slow down and pay attention to the surroundings.
It can also help you find transient npcs relevant to a quest, but it's not a magical locater. For the compass to activate a symbol you must already be near the npc.
2.7.2 What Guilds/Factions are availlable
There are 6 factions in the game
> Blades (main quest)
> Mage Guild > Fighter Guild
> Thieves Guild
> Dark Brotherhood (evil)
> Arena (Gladiator combat)
There are also 5 Counts fighting for power in the turmoil caused by the death of the Emperor, who can give you local quests, but will be unable to join and help out a particular one.
2.7.3 What is fast travel
Fast travel is a way to travel to any point of interest on the map automatically. It is not teleportation and time will pass. It will not helped if you are poisoned.
When using fast travel, a map is brought up, and you can select any destination availlable, be it a city, village, camp, farm or any other permited travel destination.
The main use of fast travel is saving real-life time by avoiding repetitive action (such as when carrying loot back to town)
Only locations you already visited will be shown. You must still explore new area of the the land the hard way.
2.7.4 What are horses used for ?
Horses help you travel faster. When using fast travel and horses together, the fast travel will cost less in term of game time. So if you're trying to reach a battle before it end, or if you are working on a time critical quest, it is an excellent idea to use the two in combination.
Horses quick facts
> There are at least 5 tipes of horse in the game, They also have variety in their level (strenght).
> They cannot enter dungeons.
> They cannot enter walled city. Each city have a stable where you can leave them.
> Horses are very expensive but they can be stolen (from npcs or from you)
> Horses can be injured. Horse armor will be available.
> Horse are mostly a status thing
2.7.5 Is magic travel availlable
Some of the old spells have been removed due to exploits problem, such as mark and recall.
Little details are available on the magic system at the moment, but it was confirmed that some form of magic travel is available. Especially to help you when you must escape foes, or heal poison.
It is not known if there will be anything similar to mark/recall, teleport or town portal
2.7.6 Can I have pets ?
Pets quick facts
> Bessides the horses, you can also have dogs.
> Npcs can have dogs too.
> Your personality attribute is a major factor in influencing/attracting dogs.
> It is not known if dogs will help you in any way.
2.7.7 Was the User Interface improved ?
The user interface have been completely revamped with a parchment look and colourful icons.
On the xbox 360 the interface was tailored xbox style with large text and buttons and configurable controller buttons
2.7.8 Is there vampires or lycanthrope in the world
Lycantropy is not included in the initial game. It is not known if it will make a comeback in a future xpack.
Vampirism is included and work better than ever. As long as you feed you can be a day walker and look like an ordinary person. There will be peoples sleeping according to their schedule and available for you to feed on. If you haven't fed, the sun will burn your skin and you will look like a monster. If you should become a Vampire you'll still be able to continue the main quest.
2.7.9 How is sleep handled this time around ?
Radiant AI npcs and creatures eat and sleep according to their schedule.
For the player character, sleep is not mandatory. If you want to sleep you must find a bed, either in a house, a camp or some bandit lair. You can no longer sleep in the ground.
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