Skyrim borders a sizable amount of ocean—the entire northern border is a coast. What I'm wondering is (and perhaps I'm wondering far too much) what sorts of oceanic elements will Bethesda implement, especially with so much of the game seemably inspired by Viking culture. I know there will be at least one harbor, but will the ships be mostly fixed as they have been in past or can they actually traverse the water. There is also something of a small gulf, leaving greater a body of water than we've generally seen presented in the past. I haven't heard anything regarding Skyrim's coasts, aside from that there will be at least one major harbor, and that there are fish in the rivers, so there will probably be fish in the ocean as well. I could see the ocean being additionally interesting if Bethesda implements a fishing system.

I was just wondering what others think and if there is some related information I'm not already aware of.

I think it will be a lot like the coast in Morrowind. There wasn't really much, other than some enemies underwater, a couple of sunken ships, and harbor for transport. I don't see that changing much.

I'm hoping for underwater wildlife in the seas north of Skyrim.
I'm also hoping for some nice glaciers to climb on/discover, and dungeons to be inside of a glacier. That'd be amazing to me. It would help me RP so much.

Skyrim Shore..."Your Cabbage"... Its a Skyrim thing.

To be honest, I see things running that way as well. But I can't help but feel, amidst the new engine and all the other improvements, that perhaps there is some room for Bethesda to expand their game's ocean life.

10 foot tall, man eating mudcrabs.

It would be cool seeing ships far in the distance traversing the ocean. Seems like they are implementing more non static elements like the windmill and water wheel in Riverwood, so this could add a lot to the living, breathing world dynamics.

Yes, they will FINALLY be horrible creatures! *evil laughter*

I have one word for you, just one word. "Weresharks".

You can take your shirt off and bro out. Surf if you want to impress the ladies.

Probably won't see many Khajiit though (felines are notorious for hating being submerged in water).

I just want there to be miles worth of ice packs that you have to cross over....that would be so cool and dangerous!

Well, Todd mentioned "coastal glaciers". We are talking about the northern most points of the Tamriel land mass after all.

Cthulhu should be included... Call of Cthulhu: Beyond the Mountains of Skyrim.

I hope to see many seafaring peoples in Skyrim, lots of boats, and ports at the 3 cities/towns on the coast. Maybe some forts to ward of seafaring High Rock and Morrowind invaders. Some areas should have sandy/marshy beaches, others glaciers, and others steep cliffside.

It would be bad-ass if you could see Atmora.

I doubt it. It's meant to be pretty far off and mysterious, nobody's lived there in years. I don't think it's just a "wander over whenever you feel like it" situation.

If we could see Atmora, it would be like standing on the shores of Portugal being able to see the Americas from across the Atlantic.

I really hope there will be moving boats. I don't think there will be, but I really can't see why not. Compared to other things Bethesda have done (animating all the creatures, vertibirds in FO3) boats really seem to me like a pretty easy thing to do... I mean, they practically just glide across the water, maybe bobbing up and down slightly and with some animations on the sails or oars. But compared to, say, a running wolf, there's very little movement. Would be fantastic to see boats going from port to port, even being able to work aboard them or use them for transport. But as I said, I don't think we will see it.

Also, waves. Just to see the water lapping up the beaches and receding again would create a much more alive ocean than the still seas we saw in Morrowind and Oblivion.

Well personally I hope Atmora is a primary location in an expansion, á la Bloodmoon.

I'd love to see some varied coastlines. Ideally, the coast of Skyrwim would be diverse: http://www.ecosystema.ru/08nature/world/fr/02.jpg http://www.bobware.com/ireland/jpg/Sea%20Cliffs.jpg of gravel and stone/pebbles along the border with Daggerfall, http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_shNfb4kWu0g/SGi9f3u4j0I/AAAAAAAABAc/Qemfc3q3bzI/s400/Sea-Cliffs-Portugal.pnghttp://indigo.ie/~donances/new_web/image_files/261_slieve9.jpg around the 'middle' parts of the coastline, http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9Pc_VrGhNX8/S-fnqVTRL0I/AAAAAAAABbc/0nTNqUriQKs/s1600/Black+Sand+Beach+new1.jpg along the Morrowind border... Epic

As for glaciers, I would say reckon that to be a bit extreme. Fjords maybe, but glaciers seem a bit much for what I see as a cold but not Arctic province. I'd say glaciers would be more appropriate to Atmora than Skyrim :shrug:

Apart from the landscapes, I hope the actual sea itself will be made to be more interesting than Oblivion's underwater wasteland. Seaweed, schools of fish, sunken ships, http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photos/italia/cave.jpg http://l.yimg.com/img.tv.yahoo.com/tv/us/img/site/81/17/0000038117_20070301141523.jpg http://pixdaus.com/pics/12432914367ulAbBk.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__mMx7lCefGY/SnLB3tCQQfI/AAAAAAAAAfc/vvI4JmZAaS4/s400/Sandstone+Cliffs+New+Zealand.png, etc could all be included with mild effort to make the world much more believable

Edit: added some examples :thumbsup:

Akavir and Atmora, which people always reccomend for expansions, are not just small islands you can go to. They are large and expansive continents, they would be at LEAST the size of Skyrim, probably more like the size of Tamriel.

They don't call it the Sea of Ghosts for nothin'




No seriously, I expect to see water wraiths...

Well I dunno how appropriate it'd be, but Todd has said there will be coastal glaciers. Also, you can see them on the map in the GI video.

Bethesda could add in just a certain part of Atmora and not the whole continent. Think of Point Lookout in Fallout 3 except larger. That way we could explore some of it but not the entire continent.

Pretty sure Todd said in last week's slew of info that "there are boats but you can't sail them".

I don't know if he means that we can't sail them in real time but we can use them as a form of fast travel or if they're just stoopid decorations that stay in the same place for hundreds of hours of gameplay.