Oblivion Interview With Emil Pagliarulo

[gleeful]

Evil Avatar has an interview up with Emil Pagliarulo (amongst others), designer for Thief Gold, Thief II and T:DS and now the Elder Scrolls:Oblivion.

 

here's the most interesting part for stealth-fans:

 

"Jashin: Stealth, tell me about stealth in general.

kathode: I'll let Emil handle this one, he's the Thief guy after all

Emil: Well, the most important thing to remember about stealth in Oblivion is that, unlike in Thief or Splinter Cell, your ability is based as much on your skills (or more so) than it is the darkness level, or the sound you generate...

Jashin: But darkness and noise level is still a factor, is it not?

kathode: Absolutely, they are still factored in. But like combat, your character's skill plays a big role as well.

Emil: If you approach a guy in total darkness, wearing soft leather boots, and your "Sneak" skill is 5 out of 100, he's going to see you, and he's going to kick your butt....

We've also given the player much better audio feedback for stealth. NPCs will react as they do in Thief or Splinter Cell, with unique spoken dialogue for spotting the player, THINKING they spotted the player, losing the player…that sort of thing.

 

It's tough, you know. I'm playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory right now and it so, SO much like the classic Thief gameplay. Shadows and darkness are all important. But both Thief and Splinter Cell are games with one core gameplay mechanic -- stealth. Yeah, there's combat, but the game's primary development was in the area of stealth. In Oblivion, we need to deal with magic, dialogue, skills, etc. etc. In an RPG where you can play as ANY type of character, it's tough.

 

bapenguin: It also becomes a balancing issue. If you focus too much on stealth, stealth may become too powerful, right?

Jashin: Stealth is a game by itself.

kathode: It can get that way, you're right. It doesn't mean we intentionally hobble it though. It just means that if stealth is really cool, we've got that much more pressure to make combat and magic really cool as well

Emil: Yes, exactly. If we had a stealth model as good as that in Thief, where shadow was all powerful, an Orc in platemail could sneak up on a master assassin. One of the things I've been doing is utilizing the other core Oblivion systems to compliment the actual sneaking...let me explain.

 

In Thief, Garrett doesn't talk to anyone in the world. Ever. He picks their pockets, knocks them out. But in Oblivion, the player can join the Dark Brotherhood and play as a character who CAN engage in dialogue. So what would you say to someone you need to kill? How could you use dialogue as a weapon, to intimidate, to trick, etc. I've been having a lot of fun doing stuff like that, and I'm really hoping the player will enjoy that type of flexibility in

Jashin: Can I bluff and use my poker face? Bluff and get the best of a higher level character for instance?

Emil: Possibly. All of that dialogue is unique, so it depends on the quest, the NPCs you're dealing with, etc. But you'll always have a few dialogue options.

Jashin: Wow, the next Deus Ex, perhaps?

bapenguin: As long as it's not Deus Ex II.

Jashin: I can't imagine what you're suggesting.

Emil: hehe"

 

you can read the whole interview right here: http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1356

 

kind regards

gleeful

[oDDity]

SO it sounds to be like steath in oblivion is going to work like the classic RPG stealth in games such as Baldur's Gate. The player has an increasing ability for moving silently, picking pockets, hiding in shadows etc. In BG, you have more chance of hiding if you're in a shadow or at night as well.

The problem with that, is that when you get really high in the skill, it becomes really easy to do, you basically can't fail, and there's a minimum of player skill involved in it.

[New Horizon]

SO it sounds to be like steath in oblivion is going to work like the classic RPG stealth in games such as Baldur's Gate. The player has an increasing ability for moving silently, picking pockets, hiding in shadows etc. In BG, you have more chance of hiding if you're in a shadow or at night as well.

The problem with that, is that when you get really high in the skill, it becomes really easy to do, you basically can't fail, and there's a minimum of player skill involved in it.

Yeah, not really hot for skill levels myself. I like my abilities to be as much my own as possible.

[Subjective Effect]

That's not the idea of an RPG though. You could mix it though. I think Stalker is doing this.

[Ishtvan]

I thought it was cool in Morrowind how you had to take your shoes off to be really stealthy, and it wasn't documented in the official manual or anything, a friend of mine just told me. I tried it, and it worked, and I said "Oh."

Edited April 11, 2005 by Ishtvan

[oDDity]

Another problem is that it gets silly at high level., becasue you don't even need shadows, you can just hide in the middle of the street in broad daylight at really high levels.

I'm not complaning, I love RPGs, but I always wish the thief class was stronger and more fun to play in them.

[Ishtvan]

Yeah, I had that experience when I pumped up my stealth too much in VtM Bloodlines also. I was wishing for a hex editor so I could lower the stealth skill back down and actually have some fun using skills to be stealthy instead of just using the power of statistics to be invisible everywhere.

[Subjective Effect]

Think of it as a line on a graph of evironment against visibility/noise making (let's call it "ability").

 

At first the angle is shallow and even in total dark/soft carpet ability doesn't reach 100%.

As you get better you can achieve that ability.

From then on the only thing that changes is the steepness of the line. You can never go in the light and still be invisible.

 

That's how it should work.