Skyrim - The Official Thread!

Gameplay:

New gameplay features introduced include dual-wielding (assigning a weapon or spell to each hand, putting a spell in both hands makes an enhanced version of the spell), and new weapons that can be smithed at a forge from heated metal. Unique finishing attacks are used for each weapon. Players can challenge (and be challenged by) any NPC to a western-style duel in the streets. The third-person perspective has been improved, and the heads-up-display is optional. Stamina can be expended quickly by choosing to "sprint", and backward movement is slower than forward movement.

Character development has been changed as well; "class" selection and "attributes" selection are no longer used, and instead of the twenty-one skills in Oblivion (twenty-seven in Morrowind), Skyrim will feature eighteen skills. Removed skills with no singularly defined skill replacement include Blade (shifted to other combat skills), Blunt (also shifted to other combat skills), Hand to Hand, Mysticism (spells shifted to other magic skills), Athletics, Acrobatics, and Mercantile (merged with another skill). The confirmed eighteen skills are Illusion, Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration, Alteration, Enchanting, Smithing, Heavy Armor, Block, Two-handed, One-handed, Archery, Light Armor, Sneak, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Speech, and Alchemy. Faster player level increases can be achieved by increasing developed skills.

Activating a Guardian Stone will speed the increase of its governed skills or give you a special power . Gaining a level also grants the player level-specific skill abilities and an increase in health along with an option for a greater increase in health, or an increase in magicka or stamina. Each skill has a perk tree, and a player must choose a perk when leveling up. The confirmed perks for Block are: Shield Wall, Deadly Bash, Power Bash, Bash Disarm, Shield Charge, Deflect Arrows, Elemental Protection, Quick Reflexes.

Leveling above level 50 will happen at a much decreased rate. Level-scaling will be used, but will be more comparable to the system in Fallout 3 than the one in Oblivion. Regarding the player's personal physical appearance; there will be ten playable races, the player character will still be very customizable, and beards and customizable body features will be among the new options available.The Sneak icon is a combination of the one in Fallout 3 and Oblivion; the eye icon from Oblivion will have the stages from Fallout. That is, a slightly open eye means the enemy knows something is out there, a medium eye means the enemy is searching, and an open eye means the enemy has found the player. Alchemy is now a Stealth skill, since it is the respective crafting skill (Smithing → Combat, Alchemy → Stealth, Enchanting → Magic).

In common with Morrowind and Cyrodiil, Vampirism is present in Skyrim and it is possible for the player to become infected and become a vampire too.The main quest will take approximately 30 hours to complete in addition to the hundreds of hours of side quests to be completed.Players may choose to disable the HUD display including quest markers and the compass.

For more detials about the gameplay here is a good explanation by gameinformer:

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/01/24/skyrim-building-better-combat.aspx?PostPageIndex=1

Dragon Shouts, And Dragons:

Skyrim introduces something new into the gameplay mix: dragon shouts. This special new set of powers stand apart from the existing magic system, offering a broad range of powerful effects. The ability to attain these abilities is unique to your hero in the world, and the path to attaining them is a quest in itself within the larger tale that unfolds over the course of the game. Dragon shouts give the player the same overwhelming might that drives the resurgent dragon population, and the same source of power that launched the last line of emperors.

“It’s in the lore,” declares game director Todd Howard. “It was like the classic barbarian battle cry. I’m not sure if it showed up in a book in Daggerfall, but it’s definitely mentioned in this pocket guide to the empire that we did for Redguard. It was the idea that the Nords had these battle cries, and they would shout at their enemies.” As the team at Bethesda began to design The Elder Scrolls V, they latched onto this little piece of mythology, and the way it could tie back to the dragons – powerful creatures that had been absent from the world for thousands of years.

In the game, players will guide their hero to learn ever more powerful dragon shouts, and then use these arcane powers to supplement other combat and magic skills. Upon defeating a dragon, Skyrim’s hero absorbs the soul of the fallen creature, which fuels his ability to learn a new shout. Later, players can search out long lost walls covered in dragon script. Upon these walls, individual runes stand out to the hero because he or she is dragonborn. “There are these words of power, and if you learn how to say them right, they have a powerful effect,” Howard says.

Over time, players will build a vast arsenal of shouts: over 20 complete shouts in all, each with multiple words that must be gathered from different places around the world. “There are three words for each shout, and there are three levels to them. The amount of time you hold down the shout button is how many words come out,” Howard continues. “It becomes a bit of a collection mechanic – to collect all the words.”

Dragons play a significant part in the Skyrim. Todd Howard has confirmed that they will be randomly appearing, but there is also the potential for the player to have the option of fighting multiple dragons at once . There is also a potentially infinite number of dragons that can be fought. Although dragons primarily speak the Dragon Language (in fact, they are speaking it when they breath fire) , it has been all-but-confirmed on multiple occasions that at least one dragon is capable of speaking the "Common Language." They are unscripted and will attack NPCs. In E3, Todd Howard was asked, "Are all dragons out to hunt you down?", Todd replied that, "most are but, there are a few that aren't." What he means by that is something we will not know until release, but it can be assumed that not every dragon will be hostile, and some will be able to communicate with the Player. In addition there are many types of dragons, each with their special abilities, such as the Frost Dragon that was shown in the E3 Demo.

Races:

The following races will be playble in the game(their are a total of 10)

Breton