Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Interviews and Articles

Interviews with Bethesda Employees in Magazines

All the Interviews published on the Web to this date. Bethesda kicked off the PR parade with a big exclusive feature in the Game Informer mag, but that was only available in print, and we're not allowed to duplicate it here. Doesn't matter though. By now there's so much new information in various forms, there really isn't anything in that feature that you cannot find someplace else.

These Interviews are sorted latest first for easy lookup. Additions will be announced in the News.

Elite Bastards interview with Gavin Carter
A bit more technical interview with Gavin. Multi-threading, shader models and such are discussed among other things. Number of NPCs in the world seems to be 1500 as of now as well. Another thing definitely worth mentioning is the economy system and a a new skill perk related to it. If you have a high enough mercantile skill, you can invest in stores and increase the shopkeeper's maximum gold.

MyGamer interview with Pete Hines
Another interview with Pete. What would mayhap be the most interesting part in this little chat between the interviewer and Pete is the talk about stealth aspect of the game and the two factions connected to it. Emil Pagliarulo, known for working on some of the Thief-games, is the one creating the Dark Brotherhood quests while Bruce Nesmith is the guy working on the Thieves Guild.

Gamecloud interview with Pete Hines
Something old, something new. The RAI is brought up, Pete talks about Oblivion as a RPG and how character stats play a bigger role than the player's skills among other things. Also, Pete confirms that there will be no demo of the game. Further, he mentions there being downloadable content available for the game not too long after the release.

The Console Wars interview with Pete Hines
In this interview Pete basically confirms that there will be at least a German and a French localization of the game and only 2 "mini-games" (for persuasion and lockpicking). He also discusses the RAI a bit and how it is handled and says a word or two about horses as well. Apparently, they will be like any other creature when you are not riding them and can be killed.

Gamesplanet interview with Pete Hines
Some quite generic information. Pete mentions that the forests will be rich with life, confirms that there will be new weapons and materials and also that there will not be the ability to create items from scratch.

Console Gold interview with Gavin Carter
A lot is revealed in this interview. NPCs won't enter your house, most vendors will not buy stolen goods (good thing the Thieves' Guild exists), damage to equipment will not be visual, a few skill perks are revealed, all weapons have a stealth attack of their own, there will be a reanimate spell, no mini-games for enchanting nor alchemy and equipped jewelry will be seen on your character. Oh, and there will be hooded robes.

TotalVideoGames interview with Gavin Carter
Quite a few questions here with a lot of information being shared, new or not. 21 skills (7 for each category), skill perks, NPCs having different facial expressions, the factions, the plot and a lot more is brought up and discussed.

GameSpot interview with Todd Howard
Todd talks about the reactions after E3, the gameworld size, what will make the NPCs feel more unique from each other among other things. Also, he says there will be over 400 books for the player to read in Oblivion.

Games.net interview with Todd Howard
A little something about how Oblivion will take advantage of Havok, the physics-engine, the AI and what it means for quests, environmental sounds and then a few questions the devs aren't ready to answer yet (ie. other voice-actors and the looks of Oblivion the realm in the game).

TeleFragged interview with Todd Howard
Todd confirms that there will not be any commands you issue to control NPCs, that there will not be any location-specific damage and that the in-game character creation will use the same face-editor system as the Construction Set. He also talks a bit about transportation in Oblivion, the combat system and the game interface. And last but not least, Todd confirms that there won't be any load screens while moving outdoors, only when moving between an exterior and an interior cell or when using the fast travel system.

Game Chronicles interview with Todd Howard
Game Chronicles interviewing Todd. The content is quite general, with answers to questions like what races there will be, what the Radiant AI is like, character-customization, what factions will be included and such.

Gaming Nexus interview with Ashley Cheng
A lot of general info about the game can be read in this interview. Ashley discusses the Radiant AI, how much the game has offer when it comes to gamplay time and how the forests and the landscape are created.

Xbox Evolved interview with Gavin Carter
Gavin talks about his role and job over at Bethesda, the fact that there will be downloadable content for the X-Box 360 version of the game and about how many hours the mainquest will be among other things.

Xbox.com preview and interview with Gavin Carter
A nice little interview with Gavin. Some talk about the playable races, character creation options and what Cyrodiil will be like. Also, Gavin confirms that you can get a horse of your own, either by buying or stealing one.

GameSpot interview with Todd Howard
Todd talks a bit about combat, skills and the factions. Biggest highlight of this interview is perhaps the part about the quests, how they appear in the journal and how the quests take advantage of the compass.

Evilavatar interview with Gavin Carter and Emil Pagliarulo
An interview by Evilavatar.com With both the developer that used to work on the thief series; Emil Pagliarulo and Gavin Carter. Dealing of course with stealth among other things.

Gameplay monthly interview with Ashley Cheng
An interview by Gameplay Monthly. this time Ashley Cheng executive producer of Oblivion has been asked some questions, a nice read.

Gamesfirst interview with Gavin Carter
An interview by Gamesfirst. They were able to get Gavin Carter to answer some questions that had been playing on people's minds.

Warcry interview with Ashley Cheng
An interview by Warcry. they've interviewed the executive producer of the game, and it deals with such things as the new CS.

C&V Games interview with Todd Howard
Computer and Video Games has an interview up with Todd Howard. Not much new information in here, though. Sounds like Todd is getting a bit bored doing these =)

GameRankings interview with Todd Howard
GameRankings has an interview up with Todd Howard. Pretty basic stuff, nothing we didn't already know. Except for one small detail: Todd actually reveals to us the total number of quests!

FileFront interview with Gavin Carter
In this interview, Gavin gives details on in-game physics, the reason why Oblivion will be single-player and the AI (good laugh!). He also talks about world design, beatable cows (not kidding here!), the relevance of fan feedback and finally, quest design (very interesting). Still no new screenshots though! :(

HomeLAN Fed interview with Ashley Cheng -- OFFLINE
In this interview with Ashley Cheng (senior producer), we learn a bit about the future of TES (who ever said TES5 was the last game?), about the design process for Oblivion, technical possibilities, the direction Oblivion is going (quote: "think Lord of the Rings"), character generation, game size, the oft dreaded "quest compass", tactics that may be employed by enemies, implications of full voice-over to the modder, and the release date (no, there still is none). Well worth the read! No new screenshots, though.

OblivionSource interview with Pete Hines
This Oblivion fan site features an interview with Pete Hines, Bethsoft's PR guru about the size of the world, how borders of the game world are implemented, realism and the exciting world of... furniture!

GameBanshee interview with Gavin Carter
This interview with Gavin Carter, Associate Producer, goes into more details on the topics of what Oblivion is about, the multiplayer vs. single player issue, advancements in game mechanics, character generation, landscape design, adversaries, systems the game may run on, and finally, what kinds of armour will be available to the player. Includes screenshots.

HC Gamer interview with Pete Hines
This interview, although on a hungarian site, is in english (note that a hungarian version is also available; check the listbox in the bottom right corner of the page and select '1' instead of '2'). It has Pete Hines, Bethsoft's master of PR and marketing, talk about what kind of experience it will be to play Oblivion, NPCs, combat and the graphics engine.

IGN interview with Todd
This interview has Todd talking about the story, the name of the game, races and classes to make an appearance, open-endedness, influence of fan feedback, inspiration from other games, factions and reputation, combat, ingame graphics and a few other minor subjects. Includes screenshots.

Gamespot Interview with Todd
In this interview, Todd Howard gives us some insight into what Oblivion will be all about. Included are details about the story, the graphics used and the question of the inclusion of a Construction Set with the game. Finally, he reveals for how long Bethesda has been working on this in secret. Includes screenshots.

Articles and Previews

A few articles and previews for your reading pleasure. Sorted latest first for easy browsing. New additions will be announced in the News.

PC Action Article (in German)
This article in German does not contain much that wasn't in the previous articles/ interviews and is mainly included for those who prefer to read an article in German. Includes the famed Minotaur screenshot - scroll down and click on the "Zur Bildergalerie" link.

GameSpy Oblivion Article
This article on GameSpy details some of the plans for combat, exploration and the new AI system. Includes screenshots.