The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion PC Requirements have been announced.

[caco_killer]

http://rpgfan.com/news/2006/1061.html

They're not as bad as I thought they'd be, but my computer still can't run it.

Recommended Specs:

* 3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 1 GB System RAM
* ATI X800 series, Nvidia GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card

Minimum Specs:

* Windows XP
* 512MB System RAM
* 2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 128MB Direct3D compatible video card and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver
* 8x DVD-ROM drive
* 4.6 GB free hard disk space

The following video cards or video card series will also be supported in Oblivion:

* ATI X1800 series
* ATI X1300 series
* ATI X850 series
* ATI x800 series
* ATI x700 series
* ATI x600 series
* ATI Radeon 9800 series
* ATI Radeon 9700 series
* ATI Radeon 9600 series
* ATI Radeon 9500 series
* ATI Radeon 9000 series
* NVIDIA Geforce 7800 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
* NVIDIA GeForce FX series

[wildweasel]

My system is going to friggin' explode if I try and play Oblivion on it. It hated Morrowind.

[Linguica]

Well I have the recommended specs so I expect an incredible multimedia experience!!!

[Bank]

Because my computer is a complete piece of shit, I'll wait for the Xbox 360 release, grab the collectors edition, and play it when I finally fork out some money for the 360. (Collectors edition is very cool, even has a real septim coin with it)

[Dutch Doomer]

I have an ASUS Extreme AX850XT, im not sure if this card is supported.
I hope it will, cause im really looking forward to this game.

[AndrewB]

Great but how big is the game world, how many NPCs are there, and how much literature and politics is there?

[Dutch Doomer]

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=186541

1500+ NPC's, 16 square miles of terrain to adventure through, about 400+ books.

[Job]

dutch devil said:

16 square miles of terrain to adventure through...

That's it?

[Dutch Doomer]

Yeah looks like it sounds pretty small doesn't it, inside areas not included I don't know how big those gonna be.
But its about 140% bigger than the map from part 3 of morrowind.

[sirjuddington]

I've already preordered this :P It's about the only game I'm actually interested in that's coming out this year. I'm sure a 6600gt/2500+ will run it just fine.

[Nautilus]

The requirements aren't too extreme.

[AndrewB]

dutch devil said:

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=186541

1500+ NPC's, 16 square miles of terrain to adventure through, about 400+ books.

WTH??? That's a freakin' downgrade.

When was Bethesda bought by EA?

[Bungleist]

Eh? Morrowind only had 10 square miles.

[Dutch Doomer]

Bungleist said:

Eh? Morrowind only had 10 square miles.

From what ive read behold im not the smartest person on the face of the planet :), part IV oblivion will have 16 square miles.
Maybe Morrowind had 10 square miles, but I still found that to be pretty big.

[darknation]

maybe they'll lower the character walk speed to make the game feel longer.

worked for morrowind.

[kristus]

Heh, I am JUST below the recommendated specs. :p

[Job]

I'm doing a lot better than the minimum specs but lower than the recommended specs.

[Sharessa]

16 square miles? I wonder how big WoW is. Considering it took me like a day to explore a tiny fraction of the map, it seems like it's hundreds of square miles.

[Planky]

mallis said:

maybe they'll lower the character walk speed to make the game feel longer.

worked for morrowind.

Until you found the magic boots.

[Zaldron]

A couple of points.

16 square miles is actually bigger than Morrowind's district of Vvanderfell. Seeing as how now they've got procedural systems to create both flora and terrain details (instead of manually pinching terrain mesh grids and placing plants by hand), that means not only we've got denser, more detailed wilderness "cells", but we actually get *more* of them, and much more manpower and finesse is spent instead in cave/dungeon creation and of course, the towns.

Also, while the wilderness cells have been procedurally generated, that does not mean they were made in the fly with a random seed and that's it. The procedural generation was used to populate the world with details, so that artists could concentrate on what really matters, like the general geographical look of Cyrodiil and all the little points of interest we tend to stumble upon while travelling (mugglers, cave entrances, ruins, daedric temples, journeymen, etc.). It's not like we're going back to the times of Daggerfall's procedural content completely.

1500 NPCs is indeed a downgrade, but anyone who has seen the Radiant AI's capabilities now know how much more interesting these 1500 NPCs will feel. It is doubtful characters will be as compelling as those found in RPGs with about only 300, 400 characters, but with real motivations and goal-seeking algorithms, they will be far more compelling than in any previous TES title.

There's also less dungeons to roam through, but anyone who has played Morrowind knows there are far too many mindless caves filled with petty soul gem crates. The time's spent instead making them more engaging. Just compare a superdull Daggerfall map to one of the few scripted dungeons in Morrowind and you'll see kind of where they're going with this. Also, there's less water dungeons, which Morrowind had in spades if you ever bothered to dive in every pool of the Bitter Coast.

[leileilol]

hahahah it supports GeForce FX. Because of that maybe the game won't be so explodey after all

[Linguica]

Zaldron said:

1500 NPCs is indeed a downgrade, but anyone who has seen the Radiant AI's capabilities now know how much more interesting these 1500 NPCs will feel.

Hey Zaldron Doom 3 is going to be *SO AWESOME* right?

[SyntherAugustus]

FX isn't that old of a series. Now give us a demo!

[Zaldron]

Linguica said:

Hey Zaldron Doom 3 is going to be *SO AWESOME* right?

hey I liked the game a lot actually.

Besides, Bethesda has never let me down, id's just average most of the time. If now I have to chase people down to their favourite tavern at dinner time during the evenings instead of always finding them bolted to the ground like Morrowind, then they'll be more compelling (sweet, sweet Ultima VII memories). If I have to wait till they leave for work to rob their houses, or wait till they go home to rob their shops, then they're more compelling. If I can poison their food or simply steal all of it and their money so that they can't pay a meal and need to go hunting outside the reach of guards so I can assassinate them, also more compelling. If I can lure hobos into dark corners they'll never return from by dropping coins, yay.

Shit man, I'd be happy with just 15 NPCs like that. The sandbox gameplay alone is gold.

[sirjuddington]

Zaldron said:

Shit man, I'd be happy with just 15 NPCs like that. The sandbox gameplay alone is gold.

Seconded :P I'm more looking forward to exploring and stumbling across interesting stuff than playing through the actual game quest.

[caco_killer]

SlayeR said:

Seconded :P I'm more looking forward to exploring and stumbling across interesting stuff than playing through the actual game quest.

Thirded. :P I didn't bother with the main quests in Daggerfall or Morrowind. I think the exploring will be much better thanks to the combat improvements.

[AndrewB]

The general exploration is more fulfilling than the main quest, simply because it extends the gameplay hours by about 20x. I actually had one savegame throughout my Morrowing "career" (rofofol) and didn't even START the main quest until 2 years after I started playing the game. That was great.

[sargebaldy]

Why would you want more NPCs? The last game had so many that they were all completely worthless.

I also find it funny that some of the stuff people are drooling about for the new game were in Gothic before Morrowind even came out. Guess that's what you get for sticking to the mainstream.

[Dutch Doomer]

The npc's in Gothic where much better than the ones in Morrowind, they where doing all day stuff.
They where doing quite alot of different things, like sitting, sleeping, reading books, playing guitar, etc
And at night they where in their houses and during day time they would be outside.

The npc's in Morrowind didn't do much else than walking arround or stand in an corner all game long, I found that to be pretty stupid.

[Zaldron]

Ultima VII did that way before Gothic. Perhaps even older installments of the Ultima series.