Really, little bonus features like this can add a lot to the overall experience without a big development time investment.

Who would play a TES game and choose not to fight but be a farmer?? I can see sneaking past monsters, using cunning and what not but ...... a farmer? I can go out in my backyard and grow some crops in real life. Plus, since TES is an ACTION rpg, I doubt very seriously farming will be top of the list for new implementations.

You'd be surprised.

Even if a player doesn't want to roleplay a farmer, there's something to be said for being able to plant your own alchemical garden somewhere.

True, I could see the alchemical garden idea. Thats not a bad idea.

The most I can see by 'growing crops' is planting different plants, waiting, then picking them.
If there is any plant tending involved I think it would be a tedious, wasted mechanic for the game.


Plenty of people want a more realistic economy and the ability to be a halfway legitimate merchant.
And I feel that TES should be an RPG with action (even heavy) elements. There are too many flat out action-rpg's.

Besides, if the mechanic is being able to plant a plant, and it is simple enough, I think it would be good.

Yeah, I don't think we're going to get a deep farming system at any point, but just being able to plant things would go a long way.

Now I am a person who has a great interest in plants, but I don't want farming in Skyrim.
I liked being able to gather ingredients (which randomly respawned) for potions in previous TES games, but I don't want to farm.
If I have the urge to muck about in the dirt, it will be out in the garden, or in the greenhouse.
Pixellated earth and digital crops just can't compare to a handfull of warm, moist earth I have just nestled seeds in.
Virtual farming, IMO, would waste precious game resources,

It could work like this..

put a bucket in your inventory...

find a water source (river/lake) and fill your bucket..

walk back to your house and 'use' the bucket 10 times or so before having to refill, each mini-cell of land could show how much more water is needed for a good yield.

Then you would have to refill the bucket, meaning walking back to the river.

tedious? not at all. awesome infact, how rewarding would it be to grow food after a hard days work tending to your garden, several trips to and fro the river and some plough work, which could be little more than using the attack button on your garden while holding a garden tool.

It would be a really great quiet pasttime compared to the constant demon fighting end of the world stuff.

What would also be cool is that if you were attacked by bandits walking back with your bucket of water, you would lose the water since you had to drop the bucket.

It would add to the overall connection you'd have to the work you put into growing food.

with a 'hardcoe' mode, the importance of food would give crop growing value.

We could say hat about everything though. Why have trees, we can see them in real life.

That line of discussion won't get anywhere. The alchemist example is the best, for having the rarest ingredients somewhat readily available, and planting a farm as an additional effect.



that is what I meant by tedious

tedious to you perhaps, but I enjoy balancing out all out action with humble, day to day activities in TES 3+4.

noted

Maybe something like growing alchemy ingredients in a garden, like the wizards tower from oblivion except you decided what to grow. But I rather not have those options because I would barely use them, if you really want to build a log cabin and grow crops go play minecraft.

There's something to be said for that sort of thing occasionally, but it definitely can be tedious. If you want to add more onto the idea other than "plant seed, plant grows later," I'd say that all you should have to do to get a plant is to plant a seed in roughly suitable terrain (i.e., soil and not in the middle of the arctic, for most plants) and come back later, but doing some basic "gardening" or "farming" tasks (watering it, for example) could give you a better yield.

It sounds like a cool feature, but not very realistic to expect. That's probably not something they're worried about.

itd be cool to grow alchemy ingredints and food outside of a cabin. Itd work well for my normal bosmer ranger/ assassin character

I'm an immersionist by heart. I just don't play TES, I live in the moment of it. I hate all the powergamers who think these little role-playing ideas are useless and stupid. Im not trying to start a war here but if people who are playing an RPG and just want to focus on beating it as quick as possible should really stick to FPS games...

All in all, farming would be an intense addition. I always wondered how the Nords grew their crops in such harsh environments? Maybe they developed a unique way for growing crops?

Considering that alchemy is an integral part of the game, I think it reasonable that we should be allowed to farm. I mean it would provide a source of ingredients and allow more freedom to the player.

Well sure, not if you dismiss it out of hand.


Yeah, I enjoyed playing the farmer in TES IV.

Well, the conclusion to that is not a point for or against including the feature, its a sideways discussion.

I suppose it could be made in a way that isn't awful, but I don't know how. This isn't farmville.

Who is saying it has to be like Farmville??????

My god are we this close-minded to new advances these days...

Yes please! I loved the farming mod for Morrowind

While I would really enjoy this kind of feature, I think it's probably better suited as a mod than a game feature. I think the devs should stick to the major game features and developing a good and working world for us to play in, that way these other minor features can be modded in effectively. I'm not sure Skyrim is really the place for farming also.

This would be an excellent addition. Adds to roleplaying and immersion.