Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion interview

If you see a poll about "most anticipated game" either for Xbox 360 or the PC, you can be sure of one thing: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is probably the game most people have voted for. That's not so strange as Oblivion is set to top pretty much everything we've seen in roleplaying games. It's often been said that the predecessor, Morrowind, was the closest you could get to a MMORPG in a single-player game and with new features such as Radiant AI Oblivion is going to get even closer. No other game will offer the same amount of freedom and the same amount of depth.

Of course that's how it looks on paper. To be sure that we're in for a real treat, we've interviewed Gavin Carter, producer on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, about the game. Below he tells us more about the AI, loading times, downloadable content over Xbox Live and much more.

Boomtown: How focused will the game be on the main plot? Can players plough their own furrow as they could in Morrowind and ignore the big picture?

Gavin Carter: The story is structured very similar to Morrowind in that there is the core plotline and then the guild plotlines play more of a supporting role. At any point, you’re free to wander off from one of the guilds or the main quest and join up with another. The main issue at hand in Oblivion – the invasion of hordes from the demonic realms – is more immediate than the main narrative was in Morrowind. So even as you’re off doing quests for guilds or exploring at random, you’ll run into facets of the game’s primary plot while exploring.

The system for enchantments is going to be less complex as far as we know. Was the system in Morrowind just too complex, and what does this mean in terms of gameplay?

We’ve removed enchanting as a player skill, but I wouldn’t say it’s less complex. Enchanting is now a perk for those who have maintained a certain rank in the Mages Guild. Once you gain access to the Arcane University in the Imperial City, you can use their enchanting station to transfer souls that you’ve captured into your weapons and armour. You pick the spell effect you want, the magnitude, area, and duration, and the item confers those benefits to you when it’s used, either when worn or when a weapon strikes an enemy. We’ve tweaked the system to address exploits, as well as put more control on what enchantments one can create. No more boots that cast fireballs or anything completely non-sensical like that.

How will the new radiant AI affect the experience for players compared to rival games or even Morrowind?

The goal of the Radiant AI system is to provide the feeling of a much more alive and natural world has been realized in past RPGs, including Morrowind. The system itself ties into everything in the game – we use it to set someone’s daily schedule, and we use it to augment or outright replace scripting in quests. The overall experience is more realistic – instead of people standing around as in Morrowind, you’ve got people coming and going, gathering in pubs, praying at churches, practicing skills, and tons of other stuff.

We've seen some incredible scenes with the AI reacting to you and reacting to each other. Is this all down to the dynamic AI, or is most of the elaborate interaction scripted?

The characters in the game will react to the world around them dynamically. If they pass by another NPC, there’s a chance they’ll stop and engage in a dynamically-generated conversation. If they’re in a store, they’ll wander towards objects that interest them. The system allows us to give them simple instructions without worrying about the particulars. For instance, we can say “at 5PM, go to the Grey Mare Inn and eat” and he’ll do exactly that. We don’t have to specify exact coordinates. We don’t have to tell him what chair to sit in. We don’t have to tell him where to find food or what food to eat. He’ll take care of it. This functionality is all accesible through drop-down menus in the editor. We use scripting more for functionality for inanimate objects – a lever that opens a gate or a crystal that fires damaging spells at you, for instance.

The PC version of Morrowind saw a huge number of user mods being created. Any chance that some mods will be released for the Xbox 360 version of Oblivion via live?

We plan on dedicating a few people here full-time to producing additional content for the game, available on Live and to PC users as well. The ideas we’re exploring are all over the map, so expect some good variety.

Do you have plans for any Xbox Live content in general?

Aside from in-game content, we’ll also be putting out some themes and gamer pictures as well.

In regards to the loading times, are you able to give us a comparison between the Xbox 360 core, the Xbox 360 with hard drive and the PC?

Load times depend on a wide variety of factors such as the area you’re loading, how much data is cached, and how many assets can be reused from the area you’re leaving. Overall they should be on par with most other 360 titles. That said, an Xbox 360 with a hard drive will in general be about 50% faster loading than the core system. The PC depends a lot on the quality of your hard drive and motherboard interface, but on average, the PC should be at least as fast as a 360 with a hard drive, and probably slightly faster in many situations.

With the game very close to going gold, are you able to tell us what specific differences there will be between the PC and the Xbox 360 versions? And will the 360 still be the ultimate version in terms of graphics?

The systems are identical in terms of content. They use the same art assets, all of the dialog and quests are the same, and the mechanics of the game are the same aside from the obvious control differences. Visually, the differences between the 360 version and a souped-up shader model 3.0 compliant PC should be minor at best, and have more to do with the quality of your display than with anything the game is doing.