User blog:The 666º Lin Kuei/New update from de December issue of PC Gamers US:

New update from the December issue of PC Gamer US, thanks too Daegor from the official forums for the update. (j)

PC UI F is default key bound to "favorite" an item There is apparently a sub-menu called favorites that opens when he does this (PC only?) Send potions, spells, armor to favorites menu, then keybind those to the number keys Autosave game intervals from 5-15 minutes

Sound With 5.1 the sound was amazing Dynamic music system. It doesn't just play all the time like Oblivion. It'll sleep for a bit, and then you do something important and it'll ramp-up

Graphical Trees and wildlife look near photorealistic Rocks and vegetation poke up through crystalized earth with little aliasing Entering caves/dungeons takes seconds on a 7,200RPM drive Performance is impressive on an old build

Gameplay Female Nord with broken nose and jagged scars and war paint Attempted to ignore the main path Saw courier coming up the path, decides to kill him Wanted to use dual-Flame, but since it's the first perk he couldn't use it Without the perk there are two separate streams of fire that drains his mana completely Draining all mana with a dual-Flame attack did not kill the courier (must be higher level) Switched to longsword and iron axe, held both mouse buttons down to execute the fleeing courier with scissor-like finishing move "You can also do a quick attack with both hands if you hold both buttons down and have enough stamina to do what we call a 'blender move'" - Todd Howard "Looks really cool in 3rd person too." Heavy armor and sprinting resulted in a really fast empty stamina bar. Todd told him light armor or robes would help with that. Stumbles on a pack of wolves attacking a dog He equips longsword plus a shield he found from the dead courier above Shield bashes and sword swings feel wonderful combined While he's attacking the wolves one or two of them begin to flank him By saving the dog from this attack he is able to have him as a companion! The dog had been following him, so he was curious and attempted to talk to him and the companion menu popped up. He could not use the dog to carry items though. Possible Companion options: Go attack guard Go open this door Go look in that Go steal this thing

They won't always do what you ask due to their AI (e.g. asking a Priest to steal items) Finds a crafting station in an abandoned camp. It's an animal hide stretched out between wooden rods. This one could be used to make leather strips. Creatures generally get harder as you get higher into the mountains He kills more wolves. Once dead his dog sniffs around their corpses Enters a cave and can tell someone is there. Goes into sneak mode and his dog also sneaks! (or attempts to anyway) Your companion can be detected through stealth, but you can succeed, and only they will be attacked Cave is inhabited by vampires Stealth bow shot at 10x damage does not take the first vampire down. He shouts panicked to his vampire buddy, but PC was still in stealth. Second arrow takes him down. But now 2nd vampire spots him. Vampire casts drain life and PC is afflicted with vampire disease. Needs to find a cure or turn into vampire. "This is not where I expected you to be." - Todd He attempts to jump down the mountain which results in two deaths. Runs into a traveling pack of Monks, the Vigilants of Stendarr, and they heal him of the vampirism. Travels to Falkreath and "harasses a local bard, operates a saw mill, stabs an insulting gate guard, attempts to steal a cache of magical staves (has to reload after getting clubbed to death for that one), attends a graveside service, sells loot, pisses off the town Arl and then heads to a pub."