Skyrim’s Leveling More Dynamic, Does Not Feel Like “Spreadsheet”

Bethesda's Craig Lafferty, lead producer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, says that the upcoming game will get rid of the "spreadsheet feel" of the previous title, Oblivion. 

He says that Skyrim will be a much more approachable title with certain aspects streamlined from the previous experience. "We like to make big crazy huge open world games where you can do whatever you want, go wherever he want," he said. "But there's always stuff in the game you have to take out, we can't get everything we wanted. I don't think we've 'maxed out' the RPG, but we've definitely put a lot in." 

Bethesda has decidedly removed certain elements it believes added little to the experience, such as the game's leveling system, which is now a roster of celestial perks rather than a full fledged spreadsheet. The effect of this, Bethesda believes, will make the game's leveling process feel a lot more organic to the player and far less synthetic. 

"We want to make it so anyone can pick up and play. The detail's still there, we didn't dumb it down at all." 

Lafferty and his crew feel that doing so will allow the game to get away from the "spreadsheet feel" of Oblivion, where players spent a lot of time navigating the menus.

via oxm