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[Fayrik]

'Eh, I just prefer a game that challenges me more the more into it I get, rather than beat the crap out of me while I'm learning the controls and or still getting used to the new world and lore, and then once all the newness of the game wears off, so does the challenge. When that happens, I tend to leave games half finished.

[3]

The fundamental problem doesn't lie in the concept of level scaling, merely Oblivion's implementation of it. The major issues from my point of view were that 1. pretty much everything was scaled with little regard for min/max level capping, resulting in the classic situations (entire Daedric invasion is made up of scamps, random bandits with full glass armour, etc.) and 2. Oblivion's approach to combat/level systems was almost completely incompatible with level scaling. As Virtz just implied, higher-level fights just took longer with virtually no functional difference to lower-level ones.

It doesn't help that pretty much all the interesting effects available to enemies are evident as soon as you start the game, with a few exceptions (level 1 conjurer has summon scamp, fire/frost/shock attack spell; level 6 conjurer has summon fire atronach, fire/frost/shock spell; level 12 conjurer has summon frost atronach, fire/frost/shock attack spell...). There really needs to be more effort put into making things varied and interesting.

[Sergius]

Well yeah, but that's only because Morrowind can't really do invincibility, he just heals super fast. It's not that you can take him down with one strike, you have to take him down with one strike. If you don't reduce his hitpoints to zero in one hit he just heals up before you can take another swing. He's supposed to be invincible, it's just due to technical limitations that he's not.
Also, you do not need to kill him. You don't need to engage him at all, just run straight past him, jump down onto the bridge, and whack the heart.

What, you mean that the part where he looks at me and then jumps from the bridge into the magma below, leaving the way open for me to sunder the heart, was not a scripted event???

[Sordid]

Nope, that was just a lucky break you caught due to a glitch. He's supposed to be tearing up your back with his claws while you hammer the heart.

[Duke 2.0]

 I meant the room before the room with the endgame macguffin. With a locked door that only opens after he gives his speech and you take him down once.
 Unless that was only there in the X-Box version.

[Cheese]

Playing Morrowind on the Xbox? This must be some form of blasphemy.

It sounds like in Skyrim dragons, who may be the 'bosses', will be encountered when the player stumbles across wherever a particular dragon is at the time, and that you will be able to run, though I'm not sure if you're supposed to fight them till you gain some power to defeat one.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Playing Morrowind on the Xbox? This must be some form of blasphemy.

It sounds like in Skyrim dragons, who may be the 'bosses', will be encountered when the player stumbles across wherever a particular dragon is at the time, and that you will be able to run, though I'm not sure if you're supposed to fight them till you gain some power to defeat one.

So wait, they aren't going to lock you in a room with the enemy until you kill them at which point the door inexplicably unlocks again?  Huh... Maybe they might even bring back Mark/Recall then, since as far as I can tell the only reason they were removed from Oblivion was because Beth couldn't be assed to come up with a real solution to people using them to get out of the previously mentioned locked rooms with enemies.

[Cheese]

Presumably these Dragon encounters will be outside, so yes.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Presumably these Dragon encounters will be outside, so yes.

They could just make it an outdoor wall surrounded cell.  I mean, they saved so much effort by simply removing flight.  I don't see why they'd add it back in, well except for the dragons.

Because, yaknow, the dragons aren't as cool if you can fly too.

[Duke 2.0]

 What are you talking about? If you have dragons may as well be able to engage in dogfights with them.

[Sensei]

Would be lame if you couldn't, but there's no guarantee you'll be able to fly without mods- I hope you will, because then buildings will have proper roofs and so on.

[Sordid]

I meant the room before the room with the endgame macguffin. With a locked door that only opens after he gives his speech and you take him down once.
 Unless that was only there in the X-Box version.

But that's the same guy and you don't really kill him. Defeating him doesn't really accomplish anything, and he's a lot weaker than in the last chamber. Definitely wouldn't call that a final boss fight.

They could just make it an outdoor wall surrounded cell.  I mean, they saved so much effort by simply removing flight.  I don't see why they'd add it back in, well except for the dragons.

Because, yaknow, the dragons aren't as cool if you can fly too.

Yeah, I'm afraid that's going to be the case too. They don't even need to surround the cell with walls, a simple invisible wall and a pop-up message along the lines of "You can't hope to run away from a dragon, you have to stand your ground and fight" would do the trick. It would be totally lame, but I can see them doing it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm really really hoping they make the game awesome. But Bethsoft's recent history has made me worry a lot that they won't. But hope dies last, as they say. *fingers crossed*

[Singularity125]

One noticeable change is  that there isn’t a class selection at the start of the game, and “every skill you level contributes to your overall level”. Each time you level you get extra health and the option to choose more health, or between magicka or stamina, and each level will bring you perks. Player will not cap out at 50 either, as you will just start advancing at a much slower rate.

Surprised nobody else has commented on this yet... Daggerfall had Primary, Major, Minor, and Misc skills. Morrowind Cut it to Major, Minor and Misc. Oblivion trimmed it down to just Major and Misc. And now, we're at the natural conclusion... everything's a "Major" skill. I bet Elder Scrolls VI will go back to Arena style and not even have skills.

On the plus-side (or down-side?) nobody can min-max by putting their least favorite skills as major skills. Without attribute bonuses there's no reason to min-max anyway. ...will there even be attributes? I didn't see them mentioned. >.>

[Sensei]

Like I said earlier, the choice to increase health, stamina or mana at level-up seems to imply they're skipping past attributes. Meaning everyone with 40 points in their swordsmanship skill is just as good with swords, even if the rest of their skills are focuses on, say, magic.

[ECrownofFire]

Not sure if it's been posted, but here is a bit more information. Some highlights:

People will apparently now not look as rubbish as they do in every other Bethesda game. When in conversation with you, they'll move, look around, and generally act like real people rather than terrifying, human-skin-wrapped shop window dummies. Races will be more distinct and people will actually show emotion.

Sounds great, if they actually pull it off. (*cough* Radiant AI *cough*)

NPC relationships now extend to inheritence. If you kill a shopkeeper for instance, his daughter may take over the business, and give you a whole boatload of aggro next time you go in there.

You killed my father, prepare to die!

Fallout 3-style perks also come with level-ups.

Perks? Okay, that'll be interesting.

There are five full-sized cities.

Wonderful. Oblivion had nine (and that's including Kvatch). They just cut that in half.

Level-scaling is back, but is apparently closer to that used in Fallout 3 than the stuff we saw in Oblivion.

Dunno about FO3 scaling, but interesting. Hopefully it's better than that weird system they had in Oblivion.

Oh yes, and more famous actors doing voices, one of which is in the form of Max von Sydow as your "mentor". 100% chance of death in the first quarter of the game, calling it here. They already did it with Patrick Stewart. Maybe they'll learn and actually have him stick around a bit more than just the tutorial. But come on, "mentor" just screams that he won't make it through the tutorial.

My expectations remain low, however. The skill changes (simplifying) aren't looking good. Bethsoft in general just doesn't have that great of a track record these days.