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"It's a big fantasy sandbox. It's a big huge open-ended world where we create all of these stories and characters and plotlines going on and then let you create whatever kind of character you want to be in that world, and jump in and really figure out what your role is going to be. We really try and define as much as possible what's going on, but not define who you are in the world."
That's the world of The Elder Scrolls in a nutshell, from the mouth of Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines. "It's up to you to decide how much of the main quest you want to do," he continued. "Do you want to become a thief or an assassin, or both? Do you want to live this dual life of being an up and up mage but at the same time you're a member of the Dark Brotherhood and you're assassinating people for money? It's entirely up to you how you want to play in that world." I recently got a chance to play for several hours in that world, as well as chat it up with Pete to see how the highly anticipated The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (X360, PC) is shaping up.
The Collector's Edition comes with an outer slip pack that is specific to your platform. It's a variation on the regular edition with more of a leather book cover look to it. Plus it says "Collector's Edition" right there on the front, which is handy. The inside is a four-panel digi-pack that is actually non-platform specific (think "Lord of the Rings" movie collector's editions, we did). The right panel holds your manual, map, reg card, and inserts. The one next to that holds the disc for whichever version you purchased. The disc tray on the left side hold your bonus DVD, and the pocket on the far left holds your Pocket Guide and coin.
Various character attributes are available to coincide with the skills available: strength, intelligence, willpower, agility, speed, personality, luck, and endurance. Each attribute will govern three skills, though it's important to note that luck does not govern any, but has an affect on them all. The more a skill governed by a particular attribute is used, the larger the modifier will be when it comes time to level up. "If you're playing a thief-type character," Hines states as an example, "who uses stealth and picks locks a lot and you improve those skills a number of times, then when you level up, you can assign one point to your Agility and actually have it go up by four, or five, or whatever the modifier might be for that attribute." This is put into practice for any skill, so if you happen to be using skills that aren't a part of your regular repertoire, you'll still receive a substantial modifier for that attribute when it's time to level up. If you're partial to switching back and forth between multiple styles of play, you can alter which attributes will receive the largest bonus.
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