So in Skyrim there is going to be http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Eye_of_Sauron
Awesome! :thumbsup:

It better shoot fiery beams of death.

Uh

*looks at Lord of the Rings*
*looks at Forgotten Realms*
*looks at almost every fantasy RPG made in the past 20 years*

Since when is it safe to assume that "fantasy" means anything other than "10 square miles of British countryside, populated entirely by elves, wolves and giant rats?"

In response to your question, though, I suppose any level of disappointment with Skyrim (despite the lack of any sort of evidence as to what it might look like) would be based on whether a person was disappointed with Cyrodiil. I personally found it beautiful, well-crafted, diverse, and filled with enough rich and original lore to satisfy me.

Are people spoiled? Because some of the crtiticsms for Cyrodiil's appearance are way too nit picky. How many lush verdant, expansive, trully sandbox game worlds have we explored? Because there's no other company making games of the size and quality of OB. I've been playing games like Risen, Gothic 4, Witcher, and Divinity 2 after OB and none of those games come close to delivering OB's immersion, not even close.

So it's hard for me to dismiss Cyrodiil as boring simply because it has familiar environments, that just tells me things in Tamriel can be familiar as well as fantastic.

Opinions are great but from what context are people making these criticisms, there doesn't seem to be anything around that's even close. If the context for this criticisms are our expectations, I ask again what other ES game had such colourful, lush, verdant environments? I can think of only one place besides Cyrodiil so far, and that was the Shivering Isles. Vvadenferll was full of browns and was barren.

Yes - I personally found O very beautiful and not dull at all (my criticism was always towards gameplay issues). There was a very satisfying level of environmental and structural variety imo. In this regard, Beth did an excellent job.

take away the map in oblivion and it truelly had forests you could simply get lost in, that would be one hell of an awesome hardcoe mod.. take away the map markers (including your own) and scrap fast travel other than horses. back on topic, not at all disappointed with the selection of skyrim

No, anyone who's disappointing in the location isn't a TES fan. You do not trust Bethesda in what they do best. They WILL make this game what it is meant to be...a TES game. All of you people that say The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the greatest game in the history of the universe. i have 3 words for you. GET OVER IT!!! It was an amazing game with TES adventures, and you have terrible taste in games.

You guys have to understand that Cyridol was not Morrowind. And Skyrim will be neither Morrowind or Cyridol.

Uh... what? I don't think anyone has EVER said on these forums that Oblivion is the greatest game in the universe, let alone in this thread. Quite the opposite, in fact.

cyridol? never heard of that province, i know a province in tamriel called cyrodiil, decent forests and the imperials culture is very medieval :thumbsup:

Apocalypto. Disney World.

Real Cyrodiil.

Jiub, I can't count how many Oblivion fans have said that it's the best game ever made (not just in their opinion, either, and anyone who disagreed had horrible taste).

Considering BGS had patents for merchandise with the Skyrim name for some time, I'm not surprised that Skyrim was chosen as the locale. I'm fine with the choice.

Only thing I can imagine Skyrim being like is Solsteim.

Other land masses I wouldn't mind seeing implemented are Akavir and Black Marsh.

I just want one huge dense forest .

Yeah but just think these can be used when technology improves and it's even more perdddy to play... (in a couple years time)

Im excited! In oblivion you had to create different areas throughout the game wich made it hard to get real. Now bethesda only have to focus on one specific area wich contains snow. I think this gonna be awesome.

I'm not worried about the environment. There have been countless threads to establish that it could easily be amazing.

What I AM worried about REALLY is the architecture. This is important to me, I love seeing amazing, complex, beautiful cities and towns with all sorts of different and unique and interesting designs. Skyrim is based off Northern Europe, particularly Scandinavia, which architecturally speaking I'm sorry to say is boring as [censored]! Wood, wood, more wood, log cabins, houses like Bruma, stone castles similar to those in Oblivion, at best it has buildings similar to medieval England and Tudor style, which we've already seen. I hope they make it more diverse, because I want to be amazed by something new everywhere I go, which going by the place and where it's based off, I struggle to see happening.

It's hard for me to gauge "disappointment" in something that I have not really seen, nor played yet. Do you also pre-suppose disappointment in books you see stacked on display in bookstores, even if it is an author you have enjoyed greatly in the past?

I find it interesting that there often seems to be a need to skew everything negative, with no real facts or even much information yet. :shrug:

The only thing that concerns me slightly about Skyrim as the choice of location is the inevitable difficulty we're going to have negotiating its terrain. Replaying Oblivion at the moment and I'd forgotten how bothersome 'climbing' hills could be or shinning-up boulders. As Skyrim is going to be even more mountainous, they need to introduce a 'y-axis' to character movement - i.e. a rock climbing ability!

Traveling to the lands of the Nords though brings with it great possibilities. These fearsome people forever battling against lycanthropes and the undead should have some awesome tales to tell. I really hope Bethesda ramp up the environmental effects too. Battling blizzards and exposure should be gameplay elements.

I think that it will be more interesting than OB, considering SI and FO3.

Don't know. I loved Oblivion very much. Marshes in the south, mountains and snow in the north, great forests north of Imperial City, hills around Skingrad and Kwatch. Oblivion was very diverse, what fast-travelers don't like to admit. I hope skyrim will be diverse, i like idea of Norse landscape, but that doesn't have to be similar to Scandinavia. It could be something like mix of Scandinavia + Montana or Canada.

This echoes my only fear. There better not be any such thing as a mountain I cannot climb, or a slope too steep to ascend (given the right skill). The borders of the world are one thing, but I absolutely hate having New Vegas-style invisible walls all over the place within those borders. Every inch of the map should be traversible.

How does everyone else feel about the location of choice in The Elder Scrolls V?

I′m with the threadstarter on this one. Morrowind had mages living in mushrooms. What can beat that? My biggest fear is that everything will look like Solstheim, with snow, snow, tree, snow, snow, BEAR!, dead bear, snow... You get my point.

What are your expectations for the game world? (in terms of design, appearance, layout, so forth)

Not snow everywhere!

If you could change the location to another province, which would you have preferred or wished to see?

Since I always play as an altmer mage, Summerset Isles would be fun. Wizards, elves, exotic flora and fauna, crystals dotting the landscape, (mages living in mushrooms), goblin servants, magic, and all that lore, locations, characters and so forth.

I was initially impressed by the idea of placing the last game in Cyrodiil. That offered all sorts of possibilities for involvement in politics, intrigue, maneuvering for power between members of the Elder Council, diverse schemes and plans of the various nobles, the headquarters of the largest military force on the continent, and all of the industry, trade, and agriculture inherent in the largest and most powerful province in Tamriel. It sounded perfect. Unfortunately, we got none of that, so my present misgivings about the next location may be totally unfounded.

I'm happy with the location in every way.

Skyrim is fine with me but I was hoping for Black Marsh, I think that would have been a cool place to explore with todays computers.