So after coming from my 4 month absence at vgchartz i was expecting to find an official thread for this game. Since no one bothered to make one, i'm going to try and make a thread worthy of Skyrim.

First of all it is mandatory that you listen to this song while reading the thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plKhvbljmwY

Lore: 

Skyrim is a region set in the northern part of Tamriel. It is the home of the Nords, large and hardy men and women who have a strong resistance to frost, both natural and magical. It is bordered by Morrowind to the east, Cyrodiil to the south, Hammerfell to the southwest, and High Rock to the west; the island of Solstheimlies to the northeast.Many Nords from Skyrim immigrated to Brumaduring the Imperial Invasion, to become citizens of Cyrodiil, in fear of getting killed. Another place where some of them have escaped to would be Solstheim, which, being separated by water and its geographical remoteness, made it safe and perfect to flee to.

History:

Skyrim, the home of the Nords and the setting for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is also known as the Old Kingdom or the Fatherland. It was the first region of Tamriel to be settled by humans, who migrated there from the land of Atmora in the far north and across the Sea of Ghosts. The date of this migration is unknown, although it was before the full flourishing of Elvish civilization. According to legend, Ysgramor landed first at Hsaarik Head, at the extreme northern tip of Skyrim's Broken Cape. It is said that he and his companions were fleeing the civil war in Atmora, which at that time had a sizable population. They named the land Mereth, after the many elves that roamed the virgin forests of Tamriel.

The Nords have always been known to have a hatred toward other races, and usually see other races as unworthy. For a long while, relations between the Falmer Elves and men were relatively peaceful. However, the Falmer Elves saw that the Nords, with their vastly shorter lifespans, fast rates of physical maturation and expedient (by Elvish standards) reproductive cycle, would eventually overtake them if left unchecked. At the time, men were viewed by Falmer as being primitive and animal-like, and it was seen as no great moral remission to stop the spread of a potentially disastrous invasive species, who would destabilize the Tamrielic ecosystem. Thus, Elvish pogroms razed the city of Saarthal on what became known as the Night of Tears. Only Ysgramor and his two sons escaped back to Atmora, and, seeing the tenuous peace which had developed between the various factions, recognized the opportunity for their plight to become a great uniter for humanity as a whole. Within a few years, Ysgramor returned to Skyrim with an army known as the "Five Hundred Companions", composed of the heroes of the Atmoran Civil War who, without much resistance, drove the Falmer out and were knighted in the foundations for the First Empire.

Falmer Elves persisted within the borders of Skyrim until the reign of the Thirteenth of the Ysgramor Dynasty, King Harald, at the beginning of the First Era. King Harald was the first to relinquish all holdings in Atmora (Until that time, the Nords of Atmora and Skyrim had been considered the same group), proclaiming that the people of Skyrim were an independent people. All humans on Tamriel are descended from these Nords, although some bloodlines run thin.

Vrage the Gifted started the expansion that would eventually lead to the First Empire of Men. Within fifty years of his reign, the Nords ruled all of Skyrim, as well as parts of High Rock , Cyrodiil , and the Dunmer lands of Morrowind . The acquisition of Morrowind was particularly bloody, still remembered in Morrowind today (the purpose of the formation of the Chimer-Dwemer kingdom of Resdayn was to expel the Nords).

The system which chose the successors to the empire eventually proved to be the Empire's undoing. For a great while the Moot, a gathering of the lords of the many different Holds, chose the successor to the Empire. This lasted well until the death of King Borgas, when the Moot failed to nominate the popular successor. From this came the disastrous Skyrim War of Succession, during which time High Rock, Cyrodiil, and Morrowind provinces seceded with little resistance from the Nords. The war did not end until the Pact of Chieftans, when the Moot was established to convene only when there was no clear successor.

Cities:

Scattered across a rugged landscape are five massive cities, as well as minor villages and settlements that are sure to be littered across the land. The presence of more numerous and (comparatively) smaller cities will give Skyrim a more natural, rural feel than the somewhat urbanized Oblivion.

Dawnstar:

A garrison town on the northern coast of Skyrim. It was after the destruction of a fortress in Dawnstar during 2E 283 that Potentate Versidue-Shaie declared martial law, leading to one of the most brutal and bloody periods in the history of Tamriel.

Falkreath:

A town in south-western Skyrim, close to the border with both Cyrodiil and Hammerfell. Just across the border in Hammerfell lies the town of Elinhir. At one point the town seems to have been counted as a part of Cyrodiil.

Markarth side:

A city in west-central Skyrim, notable for possessing the Imperial College of the Voice, which was founded by Tiber Septim to restore the Voice to the art of warfare.

Rifton:

Also know as Riften, the town is located in south-eastern Skyrim, close to province's borders with both Cyrodiil and Morrowind. It was in Rifton that Barenziah joined the Thieves Guild during her return to Morrowind from exile in Skyrim.

Whiterun:

A city in central Skyrim, in which the young Barenziah escaped to for a week with a young lover during her return to Mournhold. This area is containing Whiterun and High Hrothgar used to be referred to as the "Imperial City of Skyrim", before it underwent several acts of chaos, including a dynastic feud, attacks by Hörme bandits and frost trolls, and a series of annihilating winters of alternating floods, droughts, and fires. A self-proclaimed priestess of Lorkhan, Jsashe the Witch-Queen, controls the county and the local witches' coven. It is interesting to note that the local giant population seems to use the tundra outside Whiterun as a pasture of sorts for thier mammoth herds.

Winterhold:

A wealthy and influential city and county in Skyrim. It is heavily affected by Dunmer ways and ideas, being close to the border. It contains the Ysmir Collective, and the well known College of Winterhold. It is located in Northeastern Skyrim.

Solitude:

The home of the famous Bards' College, Haafingar is also one of Skyrim's chief ports, and ships from up and down the coast can be found at her crowded quays, loading timber and salted cod for the markets of Wayrest, West Anvil, and Senchal. Founded during Skyrim's long Alessian flirtation, the Bards' College continues to flaunt a heretical streak, and its students are famous carousers, fittingly enough for their chosen trade. Students yearly invade the marketplace for a week of revelry, the climax of which is the burning of "King Olaf" in effigy, possibly a now-forgotten contender in the War of Succession. Graduates have no trouble finding employment in noble households across Tamriel, including the restored Imperial Court in Cyrodiil, but many still choose to follow in the wandering footsteps of illustrious alumni such as Callisos and Morachellis.

Windhelm:

Once the capital of the First Empire, the palace of the Ysgramor dynasty still dominates the center of the Old City. Windhelm was sacked during the War of Succession,and again by the Akaviri army of Ada'Soon Dir-Kamal the Palace of the Kings is one of the few First Empire buildings that remains. Today, Windhelm remains the only sizable city in the otherwise determinedly rural Hold of Eastmarch, and serves as a base for Imperial troops guarding the Dunmeth Pass into Morrowind.

Introduction:

Skyrim, the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series, takes place in Skyrim 200 years after the Oblivion Crisis. A newly revealed language, the "tongue of the dragons", plays an "integral role" in the story.The High King of Skyrim has been murdered, triggering a civil war among the province's people, the Nords. Many Nords wish to secede from the empire, which has been declining in power since the fall of theSeptim Dynasty 200 years earlier, while others believe the empire is still worth preserving. A prophecy foretold by the Elder Scrolls is fully realized by this last event; dragons have returned to the land, and the Nordic god Alduin rises to consume the world. The player character is the last of the "Dovahkiin" (or "dragonborn"), mortals who are born with the soul of a dragon and can speak their language. Esbernserves as advisor, himself one of the last of the Blades, who swore to preserve the Empire. This prophecy is also spelled out on Alduin's Wall, a stone wall at Sky Haven Temple, the secret hidden refuge of the last of the Blades.

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

Argonian

Dark Elf

Imperial

Khajiit

Orc

Red Guard

Wood Elf

High Elf

Nord

Some interesting previews:

http://kotaku.com/5835394/five-more-things-ive-learned-about-skyrim-about-murder-encumberance-and-other-stuff

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/27/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-preview-dovahkiind-of-wonderful/

NPC Interaction: 

Player/NPC interactions have been improved. Conversations between the player and NPCs will not freeze the rest of the game world, and the NPCs will continue their activities while occasionally glancing at the player. NPCs react to the player's actions in new ways, such as fighting over possession of an item dropped by the player or attempting to return it to the player. The shop of a killed NPC may be inherited by another NPC, who may then offer the items/quests of the first but may not have the same disposition toward the player. The player may also marry an NPC (of either gender), and if they own a house, their spouse will live in it with them. The player's actions also directly affect side quest creation, as well as altering parts of quests. One's playing style also affects which quests are available, with some quests only being offered to those specializing in certain skills. Dialogue options are also available with hostile NPCs. NPCs will now be visibly performing the tasks suited to their roles (i.e. a cook will be cooking) unlike previous games where they sort of just stood there. 

Radiant Story:

Radiant Storytelling appears to be a feature that Bethesda is using in their engine for Skyrim that acts as a narrator for your character in the world.  It records your actions and changes things in the world according to what you have done - for example, if you murder someone, their family will find out, as well as the community. It also adjusts game difficulty depending on your skills and changes different things in quests such as different reactions or outcomes depending on how you play, like deciding to not enchant armor you're supposed to as a favor for someone out of your own money; he would then pay you back. If you sell the armor instead, Radiant Story would adjust the quest to your preference.

"The game eventually logs a huge storehouse of knowledge about how you've played, and subsequently tailors content to your capabilities and experiences. Entering a city, a young woman might approach you and beg you to save her daughter from kidnappers. The game will look at the nearby dungeons you've explored, automatically set the mission in a place you've never visited, and designate opponents that are appropriately matched to your strengths and weaknesses

There's a similar balancing act at stake when it comes to the beefed-up Radiant AI, which gives NPC townsfolk a degree of independent-mindedness, and the all-new Radiant Storytelling system, which tracks your every itty-bitty decision and alters the play of options appropriately, including where and by whom you're offered quests.

Carelessly drop an axe in a forest during an afternoon's bear-slaying, for instance, and a merchant chum might retrieve it for you later. Behead him as punishment for running his filthy, lucre-loving fingers all over your prized weapon, and he won't be able to enlist you as a caravan escort - but his unsuspecting widow might. You get the idea.

World And Items(Additions):

Weapons and armor will no longer degrade with use. Instead, the game concentrates on creating new armor and improving existing items. Items are selected from a menu that allows them to be viewed in detail, and rotated to see the full item. This isn't just a gimmick - some items must be examined in detail to reveal clues as to how quests are completed.

New factions include the Companions (mercenary guild), the College of Winterhold (magic guild) and the Stormcloaks (rebels), as well as the return of the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. The 150+ dungeons in the game were created by a team of eight, whereas Oblivion's dungeons were all created by one designer

Mounts have been confirmed as something the team is looking into, and horses are confirmed. Hostile creatures include: giant spiders, elk, trolls, ice wraiths, zombies, sabre-toothed cats, wolves, ice golems, skeletons, draughrs and dragons. Some creatures such as mammoths and giants are non-hostile."Dynamic shadows" will be used and snow will fall and accumulate dynamically. Plants will move more believably with the wind, and the water in the game will actually flow along a course.

The Companions:

The Companions are a guild of fighters, similar to the Fighters Guild, albeit with a less generic name. They may have some relation to the Five Hundred Companions led by Ysgramor, due to the similiarity of their names. Little is known about the group at this time. However, they are confirmed as being a faction that will appear in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Though it was confirmed in the audio leak that this faction is centered around Whiterun. It was confirmed in one of the hands-on articles that there is a sub-faction called the Shield-Brothers.

User Interface:

Like in Oblivion, pressing the B or circle button opens up the menu system. Instead of returning you to the last page you visited as it did in Oblivion, Bethesda now presents you with a simple compass interface that offers four options.

Pressing right takes you to the inventory. The interface is a clean cascading menu system that separates items by type. Here players can browse through weapons, armor, and other items they gather during their travel. Instead of relegating players to looking at an item’s name and stat attributes, each possession is a tangible three dimensional item with its own unique qualities. Thousands of items are fully rendered, and players can zoom in on or rotate each one. You can even get an up close view of the flowers and roots you pick for alchemy. “It becomes an interesting time sink,” Howard says. “You can look at and explore every single thing you pick up.”

Pressing left from the compass gives players access to the full list of magical items, complete with breakdowns of how the spells operate. The world of Skyrim features over 85 spells, many of which can be used in a variety of ways.

In Oblivion, players could map eight items from their inventory onto the D-pad for easy access. Given the new two-handed approach to combat in Skyrim, Bethesda didn’t want to limit players to eight items. Instead, pressing up on the D-pad pauses the action and pulls up a favorites menu. Anything from your spell library or item inventory can be “bookmarked” to the favorites menu with the press of a button. How many items appear on that menu is up to each player. Bethesda isn’t placing a cap on the number of favorite items, so theoretically you could muck it up with every single item you own. Though you can choose how many items appear, you can’t determine the order; items and spells are listed alphabetically.

Pressing down in the compass menu pulls the camera perspective backward to reveal a huge topographical map of Skyrim. Here players can zoom around to explore the mountain peaks, valley streams, and snowy tundras that populate the northern lands. Pulling the camera as far away as possible gives you a great respect for the size of the game world. From the map view players can manage quest icons, plan their travel route, or access fast travel.

Finally, pressing up in the compass menu turns your gaze up toward the heavens. In previous games, astrology played a large role in character creation. Though Skyrim abandons the class structure in favor of a "you are what you play" philosophy, Bethesda is preserving the player’s ties to star signs

And finally a comparision between the races of oblivion and of skyrim:

AND PLEASE IF YOU WANTED ANYTHING ADDED OR IF I MISSED SOMETHING POST IT!

For some reason i haven't seen the embed video button when trieng to edit all of my posts, so i'm going to post all necassary videos here:

GAMEPLAY:

Interviews:

why so many threads?

i have bad internet and i tend to click the button al lot when it doesnt respond. a mod will just delete them.

my bad :(

its' ok :) nice thread by the way!

thanks, i still have a lot more to do.

got into RPG's with Fallout New Vegas, and i haven't looked back really, I have pumped hours into fallow 3 and NV but to a surprize i haven't finished them because on both times on the ending mission they have both bugged out to unplayable levels and cannot finish.

Hopefully Skyrim wont repeat. But i will be playing as a Nord who roams the land, looking for booze and starting fights in bars.

i wonder if their will be a drunk mode in skyrim.

il be playing as an orc/redguard, who will go and save young maidens, to kill them when no one is looking.