i personally cant see cyrodiil as a generic rain forest Brazilian jungle. it just doesnt work in my mind (maybe because i played oblivion first? meh). what i do see is closer to what we have in http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/304/65610694gs4.jpg: the trees are fairly european but they are positioned closely and covered with ivy and between them there is tons and tons of ground cover. it still has a very jungley feeling but its not the generic brazilian rain forest everyone is probably thinking off. generic rainforest can be further south along the niben and generic european forest farther north.

That is what botanists call "http://164.100.52.111/images/pictures/Mix%20deciduous%20forest.jpg"
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/11198/35614/f/182326-Jungle-Vines-0.jpg

No, because a jungle would be unfamiliar and even strange. And I doubt a jungle would actually be any better than what we already have.

On a side note, Nibenay is sort of a wetland, so I wouldn't say that its climate is completely un-tropical.

Edit: And of course, there's always a possibility that just as Atmora was once warmer, Cyrodiil was once more lush, and the change could be attributed to a shift in climate.

Why? There is more jungle on the Earth than land Maryland covers. So by your logic a jungle would have been much more familiar than a Maryland type landscape. If a jungle would be so bad then explain how Crysis and Farcry sold so terribly?

http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/11198/35614/f/182326-Jungle-Vines-0.jpg

besides, mah pick kinda looks like that

But to the consumers, who typically live in more temperate places, would find a temperate forest more familiar.

Nobody likes selling their soul just to buy the rig that can run Crysis or Farcry at 'normal' settings.

Hey, I did it and it was alright. I mean, hell, I can run Cyrsis on...

Oh, hold on a second, I have to sacrifice a black baby real quick...

Mix that with swamp, canopy trees and endless networks of rivers and rice patties, and that's my Nibenay as well. First Era, that is.

It's a symbol, and indicative of other, worse oversights and design choices.

Then take some Rome or Venice if you don't feel like digging out channels. Set all the slaves free, rename the gods, senators and ritiuals. Replace the nobility with an aristocracy of mages (be sure to account of the associated cultural changes caused by a perpetually educated elite) and add a giant phallic tower. Then place the whole thing in the Amazon river and you're done. Add a sprinkle of trade ships, paper skiffs and burial rafts for flavor.

Next week on 'Cyrodiils melting pot':

How to make the Colovian Sea Salad that even Old Mary couldn't resist.

I hope it doesnt contain slaughterfish. (or mudcrab or kollop.)

What I wouldnt give for something like Flounder....

If you like sea food you can always serve it with a side dish of river Dragons and glow-in-the-dark tattoos of religious and arcane symbols.

Do the river dragons have glow in the dark tattoos of magical significance?

Does it make them taste better?

There are (maybe were now) some marvellous, magnificent forests on the islands off the coast of Seattle - Truly Temperate and gigantic Rain Forests - sadly on the net all i can find is tourist brochures that show what the loggers and tourists left behind. But there may be more left on non-tourist islands.

For the guy that believes the absence of an entire forest is less than a detail? If you really lived the games that you play it would not be.

For those that think the way Ob turned out is mass appeal I would direct your attention to Singles and LPs - the LPs take longer to build up momentum, but generally they dwarf singles sales. Also consider the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings - they were created with loving care, and are therefore not a six month wonder - they have been selling massive numbers every year for nearly 2/3rds of a century ... reason is that people are impressed by the quality of thought and care and they save their copies or buy copies for their friends and children - who are 9/10 delighted.

I still feel that gamesas was forced by circumstances to backtrack on a lot of what they intended - most unfortunate, but modders to the rescue!

It should be pointed out that the PGE 1st Edition was written near the end of the Second Era; it couldn't be up to date anyway.

Edit: It is also possible that the climate change was brought along by the re-activation of White-Gold Tower.

Personally, when one only looks at the written lore (so not in-game armour, etc.) I have simply no idea where anyone gets the idea Imperials were based on the Roman Empire. There were plenty of other important Empires in human history, and if I had to pick one that the Empire from TES was based on, it's the Chinese Empire. Sure, there are some political matters similar to Rome (such as the mad Emperor, Pelagius), and some historical events similar to events that happened during the Roman period, but as far as culture goes...

Also, remember, from what I remember, Cyrodiil isn't covered with jungle, it's covered with rainforest. Two different things, because:

Jungle = A large, undeveloped, humid forest that is home to many wild plants and animals.

Rainforest = A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall and no dry season.

Of course, I may have recalled incorrectly.

PGE 1st Ed says both. These terms are not mutually exclusive.

As far as Rome goes, "inspired by" does not equal "based upon". The Cyrodiils are not based upon anything specific, but are heavily inspired by the Romans.

I'm not really seeing any definite Chinese inspiration that can't be explained by coincidence. Still, a Cyrodiil churning slowly under the weight of ritual conducted by an army of manipulative eunuch bureaucrats or self-involved philosophers would sound kind of nice.

they are saving the whole jungle theme for valenwood and black marsh, whenever they get around to it.

it the imperial providence was jungle, mounts wouldn't work as well, nor would infinite view distance.

it'd probably just come off as diablo 2 act 3.

Mounts don't work in a thick forest either, they don't work in a hilly landscape or a rocky one. They're also not very good in the desert so that leaves the country side of High Rock. In other words, dictating the setting by the horses is a bit silly unless you want to make every country look like High Rock. (owh right, familiarity sells.)

The view would work just fine, the few places were you can see out over the forest now are because you're standing on high ground with no trees in front of you.

There's ways to do everything. They could try injecting some fantasy too.

I was thinking this as well.

You should be replying to abyssmal terror.