At the end of the trailer when the dragon crashes, it tears the ground up as it slides. Now considering that the fight was unscripted as we were told, it would make sense that this could happen anywhere in the world. So is the world space actually destructible? And does that mean buildings could potentially be destructible from dragons or fire? Discuss.

Probably, not, the ground most likely is deforming based on a pre-created animation, so it would deform in similar, or the same, ways every time a dragon falls to the ground in such a way. Its like Thrall's earthquake in Warcraft 3. It moves and changes the ground, but it doesn't destroy it.

No, ground and dirt may be slightly dynamic in that way, but not buildings.

I really dont believe the Dragon fight was unscripted, I think what they mean when they say that the trailer was unscripted is that all of the other gameplay footage shown was unscripted not the dragon fight itself.

I saw dirt get thrown up, but not an actual land changing crator take place. They would have no need for ground destruction in a game like this. It's really only needed in games with grenades and bombs and things to make hole's. Not a fantasy-RPG game. :/

There was a twitter post (can't remember exactly) where they said that's how dragon fights really happen. And aw, I thought it'd be awesome for buildings to break and need to be rebuilt. After all, they say dragons can set cities on fire.

I love destruction in games that should have it as much as the next guy... but what the hell is the obsession with destruction in Skyrim? This issue seems to come up all the time, and it makes no sense. Many games that really should have destruction, like the COD's, don't have it due to the time and money such systems take to develop. So why would Bethesda spend so much effort on a system that would see so little use in Skyrim as to be almost pointless?

Destruction only works in games in which you have destructive forces. Bombs, rockets, grenades, C4, remote charges.... things like that. Dragons falling to the ground or spells hitting a building once in a while would be a HORRIBLE reason to build a destruction system into a game since it would only be used once in a great while. When you have a modern game with constant explosions it makes sense. It does NOT make sense to have destruction in a game in which everyone runs around with swords.

I didn't say it was practical, I just said it'd be cool to shoot a dragon down and have it destroy/kill that pesky shopkeep you dont like

Its more then likely just like Fallouts. When you shoot a wall it makes a hole. But that hole will be magically patched up in less then 24 hours.

So more then likely the "Dragon Creator" (Ill call it that) will disappear.

If you watch it frame by frame, you will see that a mound of dirt forms in front of the dragon as it slides. We don't get to actually see the ground it slid over.

There is a good chance that the mound of dirt will disappear when you leave the cell for a long enough period. I'm guessing the mound will disappear when the dragon's corpse disappears.

It would be nice to be able carve something in a tree

I already started a thread on this a while back,

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1151673-destructible-environment/page__p__16852206__fromsearch__1#entry16852206

lol. some people are seemingly taking this trailer way too literally.

I should also clarify that the video did not show destructible terrain. It just showed a dust cloud and rocks flying at the camera effect. It also showed a piling up of dirt on top of already existing terrain. There was no evidence that the underlying terrain was actually changed.

Edit: Spelling

Says the one who claims that the only way to possibly kill a dragon is by using a dragon shout...

I am taking anything literally, I was just speculating

nice flame bait. this is off topic so I'll make it short. I never said "I mirglof proclaim the only way to kill dragons is with a dragon shout" the actual context of saying that was I had a sinking feeling (I think the actual word I used was a looming feeling.

on topic: what came to mind and why I said too many people are taking the trailer too literally is based on this topic and others like the will we get to play as a dragon race character because we saw a flying camera angle. thats all. it was not a jab at any one.

I just believe I had sound evidence to support my theory that we may have terrain that can be destroyed, considering the trailer does show modified terrain. I never said it would stay that way, but what would happen if a dragon crashed into a tree? Would the game just glitch out like crazy?

Yeah, if a mound formed in front, its part of the dragon's corpse, and will dissapear with it for sure.

thats a good question. made came to my mind is the wood cutting skill (idk if that has been confirmed but there has been a few topics about it) so maybe trees are destructable in some way. wood cutting would be lame if you just hit a tree and got wood but nothing visually changed, as well if a dragon falls out of the sky and hits a tree and suddenly stops as if the tree was indestructable (laughs, I just wrote my self in a circle and don't care to delete it.)

Yes, I wonder how the fight will be handled if you are using ranged attack on a dragon from a place it would be hard for the dragon to land like a dense forest or a ruin.

effect of dragon landing will be collor change on ground, probably also adding a displacement map and mound and perhaps some stones as objects is added,

Well the ground tearing up was just a particle effect. However, it has been said that you can destroy a building an damage a towns economy or completely destroy the economy.

I don't think they've said anything about being able to destroy buildings yet.