Ashley:
So where are you guys from?
Alexander:
Star is from Germany and I'm from the Netherlands.
Ashley:
So you guys flew here all the way from Europe?
Alexander:
Yup.
Ashley:
Wow, and at your own expense? Now that's dedication right there.
Alexander:
Yeah, well, you don't get invited to the E3 every day, now do you? So anyway, thanks for allowing us this interview.
Ashley:
It's no problem.
Alexander:
Ok, a few questions. In Morrowind there were lots of traps to be disarmed by the player, and one of the things players have been asking, can we set traps in Oblivion?
Ashley:
That's a good question. You can, but not quite. It's not something you physically do. You encounter traps, and you can lure creatures towards them and set them off. Like you saw on the video. So, that kind of thing you will be able to do, but it's not something you can actually build. You can use traps, you get to recognise them, and then you'll be able to work creatures into them.
Alexander:
And to be very specific, like traps that were set on doors where you touch the door and a fireball comes at you, will you be able to set those?
Ashley:
Well, that's not really what we decided to do, we decided we wanted traps to be physical, we use physics now so rather then a trap, like some magical thing that effects you, you know that's all statistics and numbers, if you were to be hurt by a trap, we wanted you to get smacked, you know to get knocked down. You know Indiana Jones traps, that you have to watch out for. Certainly the functionality is there if you're a modder, so you're going to find it in The Construction Set. Let you guys do whatever you want. You can create your own personal spell effects. Change how they look, change what they do, you can essentially create your own personalized effects in the game. So if you wanted fire to look purple with a red haze and green particles, then you can do all of that. But traps, you know we wanted traps to be real traps, things you would be able to physically avoid, we wanted pits and spikes.
Alexander:
Like rolling balls?
Ashley:
Yes, exactly. Balls, rolling balls, again it's all through our physics engine which we felt came out fine. And it visually looks very good.
Alexander:
And, of course, on disabling traps, we saw some traps in the demo, and there's more to it then wiggling a probe like in Morrowind?
Ashley:
That's true, we took a lot of the stuff from Morrowind that we thought wasn't fun and felt more like a chore and made it more interesting, like a lot of things like probes, probing a trap. We decided it would be very clear to you if you've avoiding the trap or not because you know, if you didn't avoid the trap you would be smacked against the wall.
Alexander:
Then, on mounts - of course, we know we'll have horses. First off, will there be anything else rideable in Oblivion?
Ashley:
Sorry, only horses.
Alexander:
And about horses, are there different kinds?
Ashley:
There are, there are different types of horses. Certain types of horses are better then others. They have different colors and there are different levels of horses that you can get.
Alexander:
And aside from different levels, will they also evolve? Using the horse for a long time gets the horse to go faster or with more strength?
Ashley:
Yes it will be faster and stronger, well, I guess you're asking if they will level. And no, they will not level.
Alexander:
So they're static?
Ashley:
Yes, you know we want you to buy them, we want you to save your money and buy them.
Alexander:
Give us something to do with our money?
Ashley:
Exactly, exactly.
Alexander:
Then about NPC's - of course, there will be around 1000 NPCs in the game - some people on the forums have suggested that npc's might be added as others die. So, say one NPC dies in a city, then another NPC might generate in another city under a different name.
Ashley:
No. There are some npc's that do respawn like guards and bandits. But if you kill an npc they're dead forever. So if you like to play around and kill everybody in the world...
Alexander:
You'll find yourself alone?
Ashley:
Yes, you will find yourself alone with a lot of tombstones.
Alexander:
So each time an NPC dies, a tombstone appears?
Ashley:
Possibly yes, it depends, you know there are going to be some NPCs that (killing them) will break the game and you won't be able to carry on then. There are certain characters that while you're in the middle of a quest, we won't let you kill them because that breaks the quest. But then when the quest is done, you can go ahead.
Alexander:
And you say you won't allow us to kill them. How are you going to stop us?
Ashley:
You can kill them, but we won't let you keep playing with a broken game. You'll have to restart.
Alexander:
As in restart from the beginning?
Ashley:
From your last save game.
Alexander:
That's quite a difference; never happened in Morrowind.
Ashley:
One of the issues in Morrowind: we would let you break the game and keep playing with a broken game and that's caused a lot of problems. We want you to - it's not fun to play with a broken game - so, you know...
Alexander:
And the next question - of course, we already saw blood - will we see more? Will we get to see gore or injuries? Will we see broken bones?
Ashley:
No.
Alexander:
Then the cities - we know we'll have nine major cities, and we know the names of seven of them so far - is there any way to learn the names of the other two?
Ashley:
What are the cities that you know of?
Alexander:
Kvatch, Skingrad, Chorrol of course, Cyrodiil, Sutch, Cleydinhal and Anvil.
Ashley:
We'll probably release more information throughout the summer so you'll find out the names soon, but you can probably tell by looking at the maps.
Alexander:
But the map won't be released untill later on?
Ashley:
I'm talking about the old maps. If you look at the old Elder Scrolls maps you can get a pretty good idea of the cities. We didn't make up any new cities. Or you can wait untill we've released the new map.
Alexander:
And about the cities, can you tell us anything about the differences in culture of the cities? Because we saw that a city in a screenshot and then we saw Chorrol - different architecture and such - can you tell us a bit more about that?
Ashley:
Cities do have their own unique architecture styles. Obviously they're very different. At this point, my favorite town is probably Anvil which is a seaside port. It's very beautifull, it's very unique. And the major difference is it's seaside, so you have this huge dock and you can board these ships, and you have lighthouses. That's the kind of thing you can expect.
Alexander:
In Morrowind we had different styles of architecture. Will we have that again?
Ashley:
Yes, different styles again.
Alexander:
And can you tell us anything about that? Or would that be asking for too much?
Ashley:
Again we have to save something so, but you'll definitely find out more as we move through the summer. Each of the cities is definitely very unique.
Alexander:
The next question, on keys - of course, we know we can use them for opening things - can we also this time use them to lock things?
Ashley:
No.
Alexander:
Still just for opening then?
Ashley:
Yeah.
Alexander:
And key chains - in Morrowind we'd have like fifty or more keys in the inventory - will that get solved with keychains?
Ashley:
You will have fifty keys still.
Alexander:
So no keychains?
Ashley:
No, sorry.
Alexander:
In fights - of course, Tribunal and Bloodmoon added health bars to the enemies - will we get to see them again?
Ashley:
Yes, you're going to see it. We're going to release more footage again over the summer and it looks a lot like a crosshair. It's a lot different, it changes color making it a little easier to see what's going on and it was even shown in the demo, you know it is there. if you'd look at the demo again you'd probably see it.
Alexander:
So. any chance we can see the demo again since we're on the subject?
Ashley:
You'd have to talk to pete about that. See if he can get you in again.
Alexander:
A question about money - of course, in Morrowind, we only had gold money - and there's been some discussion on the forums on silver and bronze coins. Will we have them?
Ashley:
No. Just gold.
Alexander:
On magic, you mentioned making effects for spells; so, will the visual effect of a spell increase as the spell is stronger?
Ashley:
Yes. Area effect spells will have a wider radius and it will have a big explosion and knock things over and knock creatures out. There will definitely be big differences in range.
Alexander:
And, say you have a very strong lightning spell - will you actually see thunder clouds coming into the sky and lightning bolts flashing down?
Ashley:
Not quite. (censored)
Alexander:
On staves - while you're not fighting, will they function as walking stick or will we have what we had in Morrowind - just holding the staff even as we're running and such?
Ashley:
That's more of an animation thing, they'd definitely look great but there would be some problems.
Alexander:
Could you tell us a bit more about the birthsigns? We heard they will be in, so any information you could give us now?
Ashley:
No. Sorry.
Alexander:
Unique items - of course, Morrowind had many unique items, many of them were blades - is there going to be a better mix of different kinds of unique items? Like more axes or more spears?
Ashley:
There's a good mix of weapons in the game, many different kinds, a large variety. You're not going to see the high level stuff until you're ready for it, so you won't be able to get a Daedric Longsword at level 1. So you'll definitely need more experience. And you'll see a lot more variety. You can kill for weapons or find them.
Alexander:
You mention we won't be able to get them until later on in the game - of course, there will be some fixed weapons in the game as well - say you went to some dungeon that had it, then you can get it, can't you?
Ashley:
Possibly yes, but it won't be easy to get them, it certainly won't be easy, but I assume you might be able to get something if the guards are pretty weak. But, again, it's one of those things, it's a lot of fun and it keeps the game balanced. Yeah, we probably won't make it very easy.
Alexander:
And speaking of which, you mention in the interviews that mages wouldn't be able to wear heavy armor and such. Will you actually give us limitations there, like heavy armor never being able to get?
Ashley:
Actually, actually mages can wear armor, mages can wear whatever they want. Their spells, the effectiveness of their spells, will be affected, so if they want to be a very good mage, they don't want to wear armor. Their spells will be weaker.
Alexander:
So that's your way of balancing it?
Ashley:
Exactly, so if you want your spells to have full effect, then you'll wear a robe of some kind. Not armor.
Alexander:
It's your own choice.
Ashley:
Exactly, and you know it's one of those things where there might be a high level perk that might help out, if possible.
Alexander:
The age slider in the character generation - as you increase or decrease your age, will that also effect your starting stats?
Ashley:
No, purely cosmetic.
Alexander:
And then, in the demo, we saw those elven power crystals. Could you tell us a bit more about them? Their use, their function?
Ashley:
Not really, no. I will say there's a lot of cool stuff in crystals.