I was watching this 2011 Game Informer tour of the Bethesda Game Studios, and when they
got to what they called the "concept art pit," I saw THIS book right here.
Clearly, they must have used this for reference when creating the game.
So, due to the nature of this show...
I HAD TO OWN IT.
It's now VERY clear to me how much of viking and nordic culture they took influence from.
Some things they just straight took form this book.
But, there's a lot more in here that I would have loved to have seen in the game.
It's obvious even at a quick glance that Skyrim is based off of the Nordic countries, and
the culture is based off of Viking culture.
You have the Nords which are just...
Nordic people.
The scenery, the primitive technology.
And if it wasn't obvious to you before, I'm sorry.
But is it obvious now?
The artists at Bethesda actually did a pretty good job of taking inspiration from real world
history and making something new out of it.
They made they're own culture, INSPIRED by the Vikings.
However, they DID straight up steal some aspects, while leaving others in favor of something
a little more... bland.
For example, the weapons are very reminiscent of traditional viking weaponry.
The Iron and Steel weapons are more along the lines of something an actual Viking would
use.
What's weird are the intricate markings on some of the weapons themselves.
This is something I've criticized Skyrim for in the past.
In this case real life is so much more interesting than the video game.
It just becomes, uninspired.
Granted, this game came out in 2011, so the resolution of the textures were fairly limited.
Little details like this didn't matter too much.
The remastered HD textures make the designs stand out more, but it doesn't make them any
more intricate.
If you want that, you're going to have to take a look at the MOD market, where the community
does some fantastic work.
You can find weapon skins with much more nordic inspired patterns pretty easily.
This particular axe was decorated using silver wires, and thought to have been too pretty
to have been used in battle.
But this shouldn't stop anybody from using it as inspiration for a video game thats about
dragons.
The Vikings loved these flow-y patterns with stylized human and animal faces thrown in.
You'll see these themes sprinkled about their designs.
Skyrim DOES have a lot of things with animal or human heads as part of the design, but
again, they're usually lacking those signature Nordic patterns.
Another staple of the time period were these colorful, rounded shields.
I've also criticized Skryim before for not being very colorful.
This could have been an easy way to alleviate that.
I'm not so sure this exact pattern would fit into the world of Skyrim.
I mean, when I see it, I think more Medieval than anything, but adding some colors to the
shields could have been a great way to brighten up the game.
Viking clothing again doesn't really fit the theme of Skyrim.
It kind of looks a little ridiculous if it's not stylized more.
Skyrim is more of a...
Norse fairy tail.
It's the stuff the Vikings dreamed about, as seen in these old illustrations.
So, everything should be exaggerated and cool looking.
I did, however, find this guy right here.
The red color and the yellow pattern on the trim reminded me very much of the Jarl Clothing
concepts.
If this book has taught me anything, it's that the Vikings were VERY into their intricate
knotwork, and those details are something I'd LOVE to see in the next Elder Scrolls,
when they have much more graphical fidelity to play with.
Give me details, damn it.
Really, the technology is the most Norse thing about the game.
So, the weapons and items should be the most similar to real life.
Looking through this book I found this long chest that should look very familiar.
In this case the Norse used nails as a decoration, hence the hundreds of nails that serve no
practical purpose.
This particular chest is a real thing that was found in the Oseberg Ship discovered in
Norway inside of a burial mound, along with the skeletal remains of two women, and a whole
bunch of other artifacts.
These are some of the most well preserved Viking artifacts to have ever been discovered,
and you can go visit them if you're ever in the west side of Oslo and feel like making
a trip to the Viking Ship Museum.
Another random item lifted straight from this book are the beds of Skyrim.
It's the exact same bed.
The difference being that they made the headboard carvings stand out a lot more, but it still
has the same animal head eating it's... ugh... eating itself.
This is a strange example, because in this case they actually JAZZED UP the real world
design.
That's kind of the way it should be.
Basically, what I learned from this experience is that there really aren't many artifacts
left over from the Vikings.
What IS left over is VERY unique.
An amalgamation of cultures.
What Skyrim DID take from the history books works so well, why not go the extra mile and
take some more design elements?
What little patterns we got are just kinda, random shapes.
For Honor does a great job of making the Vikings LOOK like they came straight out of a Norse
fairy tale.
It's not historically accurate AT ALL.
But, that's not the point.
The point is for it to look rad as hell.
There's some evidence that Vikings maybe had tattoos, so the concept artists at Ubisoft
ran with that idea and tatted them up.
They clearly draw inspiration from the colorful shields and make it their own by creating
a whole new set of patterns.
They use what looks more like a Celtic Knot pattern than a Norse one.
You can tell because the patterns all more symmetrical and have the same lineweight throughout,
but hey at least they're trying.
Vikings loved jewelry, particularly brooches.
There are some brooches in For Honor, but the real world designs are a little more intricate
still.
And why leather arm bands?
Why not silver like this guy?
Is that too girly?
Regardless of all this knit-picky nonsense, these designs end up being extraordinary.
Lots of little details make them interesting.
Sure we're taking 2 games that came out generations apart, so details are more technically feasible.
But certain things you can't blame on the graphics, like the colors.
Even thought this looks lame, it IS possible that with the RIGHT Norse influence, and taking
the RIGHT liberties, we can come up with something really interesting.
Hey I guess the game isn't too bad either.
You know what else does a pretty good job?
Elder Scrolls Online.
They splash the color in pretty good for the Nord class... in these promotional images.
In the game, not so much.
I wouldn't be surprised if For Honor drew a little bit of inspiration from this and
built off of it.
The patterns in the armor of ESO are more prominent.
They seem to cut a little deeper so they stand out more.
There's more contrast.
That gives us a pretty good idea of what this world is capable of given the right hardware,
but the patterns are still blocky and less intricate.
I guess there's no such thing as Nordic or Celtic knotwork in this world?
But for the most part, this is a significant improvement.
The saying is "life imitates art", but really, it's the other way around.
It's what gives us a connection to this world.
Seeing familiar things draws us in.
Showing us new creations, something out of this world is what keeps us interested.
Skyrim took a lot from this world to draw us in, but they had a lot more interesting
stuff they could have chosen from.
What they used they dulled down, took a lot of the details out, and with it a lot of the
Norse design philosophy.
That would have been really interesting to see.
But what do you guys think?
What Norse design or technology would you like to have seen represented better in Skyrim?
Or do you think they did a perfect job as is?
Leave it in the comments below and if you like this video show us by clicking that like
button.
You know, sometimes when I'm drawing or capturing game footage for something like this, I'm
also listening to an audiobook.
Audible content includes an unmatched selection of audiobooks, original audio shows, news,
comedy, and more from the leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine
and newspaper publishers, and business information providers.
If you're at all interested in what we talked about today, I'd recommend The Vikings Lecture
by The Great Courses and Narrated by Professor Kenneth W. Harl.
It's 18 HOURS LONG.
So any information you ever wanted to know about Vikings would be in there.
And it's FREE with a 30 day trial if you use our url audible.com/shoddy to get yourself
started.
If 18 hours is too daunting for you, there's also Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.
It reads like a Thor movie, but it's a piece of Viking history.
Again just go to audible.com/shoddy for a free audiobook of your choice with a 30 day
trial membership.
The link to that will be in the description below.
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Anyway, thanks for watching guys.
And I'll see you in another video.
Have a good week!