Of course there's snow, but you need to understand that there is a lot more than snow, and plenty of areas that aren't snow. You do need to read up on the lore, because if you didn't, you wouldn't be saying that Skyrim is just "snow and some trees."

I'm pretty sure there's also some rocks. And bears. Always the [censored] bears.

;)

It's snow, ice, trees, and mountains. I have read the lore. It is a freezing mountainous region covered in snow. Skyrim is snow. There may be some regions not covered in snow, but the majority of Skyrim is freezing and covered in snow. I'm not going to find any jungle/swamp/deciduous forest/desert in Skyrim. I'm going to find snow, and a few less frozen(but still cold forests). There will of course be mountains as well, but Skyrim sounds bland. It will mostly be covered in snow.

What do you have against snow anyway? That's not really a complaint. Snow is just a texture, it's the terrain and architecture that make Skyrim what it is, not the texture for the ground.

The terrain is snow, trees, mountains, and some valleys. It's not that impressive, and it's all covered in snow. I hate snow. Skyrim is a copy of northern Cyrodiil. It's going to be snowy with some trees and mountains.Cyrodiil has snow in the north(It's nice, but to have an entire game covered in snow sounds boring), forests in the east, swampland in the south, hills in the west, and mountains in the north and east. Skyrim has snow, mountains, and some trees. It's going to be a copy of northern Cyrodiil. What kind of terrain are you expecting? Just how varied can snow be? There are mountains, valleys, a few rivers, and some trees, all being of the same variety. Skyrim's architecture is the same as Bruma's. Skyrim really isn't varied.

Well, you're wrong, but I'm through trying to convince you, just keep believing what you want to believe.

Calm down man, this is Bethesda we're talking about, there's no need to worry. The lore calls for differences in terrain, so Bethesda will try their best to flesh out those differences and make the terrain as interesting to the player as possible. Believe me, they won't just leave a blank land of white for the entire game. Now, getting back to the topic.

My hope is that Bethesda makes a nice trip around Iceland. Ice, snow and rocks? Aplenty. Boring and the same everywhere? No, not really.

Also, if they add seasons, the landscape will really come to life.

Hahaha! Don't worry about it man, it's far more than that

Northern biomes are composed of boreal forest and tundra, two of the most interesting ecosystems in the entire world, particularly the boreal ecosystems. Also keep in mind that northern Cyrodiil was only covered in snow because of the elevation - the Jerall Mountains. Despite the border regions showing snow further north, i'm sure that's going to be changed for TES:V. As the player decends those mountains into Skyrim, the snow will dissipate, and you'll venture into some of the most fascinating cold-climate regions in all of Tamriel. Cold doesn't mean snow. Cold just means cold.

Expect Boreal forests like http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2009/nelson_lau4/boreal%20forest%20dr%20volk.jpg.

Tundra expanses like http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/pix/tundra.jpg.

And scenic lakes like http://www.great-adventures.com/images/canada/Emerald%20Lake.jpg.

And that's before reaching the beautiful snowscapes ^_^

Wow, thanks 'storne I am feeling quite hopeful about the next TES now.

The only question is....can Beth come through?

If they can turn a jungle into a forest, yes, just get numidium and stomp the whole thing

:slap: (To Myself) I completely forgot about tundra, and my months as a child studying up on the Tundra.

I love the Tundra!

And the Northern lights! Do you think they'll have northern lights?!

I can't believe I'm saying this after quite some time hating the very thought of it being Skyrim, but I want Skyrim!

And, it's a very likely place to be. And there would be ice caves, and crystal caverns, and hotsprings, and glaciers. Maybe even a horse sleigh or two. (If there aren't I'm definitely going to make one)

I'm still liking the idea of other places, but I used to have a special dislike for Skyrim, now I don't. They're all equal in my mind. Go Bethesda! Make the game anywhere in Nirn, I'll love it anyway.

Thank you so much Darkstorne!

P.S. How could you not love exploring a place like this? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Greenland_scoresby-sydkapp2_hg.jpg

I still hate snow and ice. A large part of Skyrim will be snow and ice. I also hate the cold in general. I could live with Skyrim, but I doubt those beautiful pictures are going to be common in the game. I have read about Skyrim, and it was described as having a freezing, harsh climate. That doesn't scream beautiful sunny areas to me, that screams blizzard. Also, if Skyrim has mountainous regions, than it is even more likely that the place will be covered in snow.

There's no convincing you that it isn't mostly just snow and ice, is there seti?

It will be mostly snow and ice. By mostly, I mean over half. That's more than enough for me. When a harsh climate is described, I don't think of beautiful landscapes. I'm expecting the place to be frozen.

Remember Seti, alot of TES is going to be revamped to the developers' will starting from TES V, the next game is speculated to be quite a long time after the oblivion so i wouldn't worry about it too much, i'm sure that Beth had all this in mind when choosing and designing the next location, i'm guessing that wherever we go it wont be more than 50% tundra, so chill B)

Look at Solsthiem in Bloodmoon (a Morrowind expansion) it's absolutely beautiful. But either way, I'm with UnknownK, I doubt more than 50% will be tundra.

Have faith in Bethesda, Fallout 3 looks a lot better than Oblivion, and in Fallout 3 it's much easier to picture Tundra than in the forests of Cyrodiil. :nod:

Ever been to Oasis? Beautiful.

I like Oblivion's forests more than the wasteland. Anyway, since Skyrim seems characterized by snow, ice, and harshness(Snow Elves, frost trolls, cold, mountainous environment, inhospitable), why expect beautful forests?

Sounds like you've only read one or two short descriptions, not even close to enough to really understand the arctic environment of Skyrim. Of course, it likely won't be picture-esque, but it will be similar and NOT all snow and ice.

I think a Skyrim environment will be lovely. Something that hasn't been mentioned is the villages and cities- something that will REALLY give the game life. Skyrim has a strong culture of architecture. I really hope Bethesda does a better job at creating a landscape than they did with Oblivion. Handmade environments prove to look a lot better than generated, for obvious reasons. I really hope their looking at this thread, because they might benefit from some of these suggestions; that is, if they really ARE basing this in Tamriel.


It's called juxtaposition. Harshness will no doubt be a portion of Skyrim, but right next to it will be a beautiful forest capped by a breathtaking expanse of tundra.

I've read the descriptions. I've read several ingame books about Skyrim as well as the article provided by the UESP. The place sounds harsh and full of snow to me. If Skyrim wasn't mostly snow and ice, then why give the Falmer the name "Snow Elves"? What about frost trolls? Skyrim could be beautiful, but will it be?

...Because you find them in the snowy parts of Skyrim? And its cold in Skyrim, whether there's snow or not? That is irrelevant. It's not like you find those things every square foot of Skyrim, thus making all of Skyrim snow and ice. That makes no sense.

I'll look some stuff up for you since you don't believe us.

Seti, have more faith in Bethesda. They know what they're doing. Skyrim is a beautiful place with lovely (not all now-ridden) environments.

Frost Trolls and Snow Elves probably come from a part of skyrim that is quite snowy, towards the tops of the mountains, this doesn't mean that all of Skyrim is snowy. I have faith that Bethesda will use experience gained in past projects to make TES's setting beautiful, after all the feedback about Cyrodiil looking generic and without variation they will not make the same mistake.