OMGWTF
Todd Howard: Combat and AI, from the very beginning, were two key areas we wanted to do new things with. The majority of players wanted a more complex combat system, one that had a lot more depth and excitement to it than simply clicking and rolling dice. So that's an area we've completely redone. With NPCs, it was clear to us that we needed to do something new and big and try to take the idea of a virtual fantasy world further. Our new AI system, dubbed "Radiant AI," allows NPCs to have full 24/7 schedules and decide for themselves how to accomplish goals, even simple ones, like "go to the tavern and get food."
Todd Howard: It does retain that balance. It's part action, part stats. There's simply more things you can do. So your skills determine what combat moves you can do. As you level-up you unlock special moves that do more damage, can disarm your opponent, add more knockback to your strikes, and more. Whether you actually hit with this move is entirely action-based. You have to swing the sword and make contact. Your stats then determine how much damage is done. So your strength and weapon skill together do that, and then it gets modified by your opponent's armor skills and the actual armor you hit.
We want it to really feel like guys bashing swords into each other. So how they react when hit, stumbling backwards, with great sound effects for the weapons and armor and blood flying realistically in and onto the right surfaces. So even though we have this really deep RPG, we recognized that no matter how many parts the game has -- combat is the number one thing people do a lot of, so we need to make it great.
God I hope this game is great.
Todd Howard: Combat and AI, from the very beginning, were two key areas we wanted to do new things with. The majority of players wanted a more complex combat system, one that had a lot more depth and excitement to it than simply clicking and rolling dice. So that's an area we've completely redone. With NPCs, it was clear to us that we needed to do something new and big and try to take the idea of a virtual fantasy world further. Our new AI system, dubbed "Radiant AI," allows NPCs to have full 24/7 schedules and decide for themselves how to accomplish goals, even simple ones, like "go to the tavern and get food."
Todd Howard: It does retain that balance. It's part action, part stats. There's simply more things you can do. So your skills determine what combat moves you can do. As you level-up you unlock special moves that do more damage, can disarm your opponent, add more knockback to your strikes, and more. Whether you actually hit with this move is entirely action-based. You have to swing the sword and make contact. Your stats then determine how much damage is done. So your strength and weapon skill together do that, and then it gets modified by your opponent's armor skills and the actual armor you hit.
We want it to really feel like guys bashing swords into each other. So how they react when hit, stumbling backwards, with great sound effects for the weapons and armor and blood flying realistically in and onto the right surfaces. So even though we have this really deep RPG, we recognized that no matter how many parts the game has -- combat is the number one thing people do a lot of, so we need to make it great.
God I hope this game is great.