From the latest GI update:

"Artists can alter the weight of the branches to adjust how much they move in the wind, which is an effective way of, for instance, actualizing the danger of traversing steep mountain passes with howling winds violently shaking branches. "

At the risk of reading too much into this... anyone else think this sounds as though the weather and environment will pose a threat to the player? How will they implement this? It sounds great, anyway!

Even if the weather dosn't pose a threat it sounds like it will dramatically effect the mood more

Definitely sounds like it. It's the same as with dynamic snow. We interpreted it as it would accumulate from the mag article and everyone said "Oh no it couldn't happen" yet the naysayers were wrong about that. So for all we know, it is quite possible. I just can't believe that snow actually accumulates, Skyrim is once again leading the pack for games of it's time.

I hope that the wind and weather does poes problems. it would mave the adventuring feel real if you are a week caracter and had to go find a mountain camp for a day until the wind died down.

Certainly, it sounds great what they're doing, with the snow in particular. While I'd be happy with weather being purely aesthetic, if it also served as a physical obstacle from time to time, that would be one step beyond. Imagine a mountain pass blocked by heavy snowfall, forcing you to wait it out before you proceed or take an alternate route to bypass the weather. Or trekking across a narrow pathway as the snow gets heavier, forcing you to take refuge in a cave until morning. So many possibilities.

Hopefully weather WILL be a threat. It would be stupid to be running around naked in the middle of winter and nothing happens.

aparently the wind (or the branches) can displace you making you fall down a mountain.

what if the deep snow affected your players speed and you are fatigued more quickly without proper warm clothing.after a certain amount of time your health starts to dwindle down

avalaches and snow falling off the trees buries you. also terrian could look diffrent than before with snow covering it giving the illusion of being lost

Frankly, if they make weather to be truly a threat, this game will be the most realistic game of all time, hands down.

That's exactly the sort of thing I'd like to see. When venturing into the icier regions, you should dress accordingly, and even this shouldn't totally protect you from the weather. Warm clothing would delay the worst for a good deal of time, but if you remain outside you will eventually start to feel the effects, and will need to return to a town or village. Failing that, take refuge in a cave, or build a fire to restore some lost fatigue.

Sounds great to me, but it's probably too close to a 'hardcoe' mode which some would find off-putting. Skyrim just seems to me like the perfect place for this kind of thing to be implemented - it would be a shame if it wasn't.

I hope so, this is one of my main things I wanted to see in Skyrim, so reading that made my day.

I think it's possible, http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1157087-immersion-and-you-hardcoe-survival-travel-fast-travel-seasons-etc/page__st__120__p__17001119__hl__immersion__fromsearch__1#entry17001119 is a thread that list the possibilities. I do hope it's an hardcoe mode option for some of these things, but weather and environment I believe are fine to have in general.

Some excellent ideas in that thread, I particularly like the though of predators becoming more aggressive as areas get colder and food is more scarce, and that the weather would affect the migrations of some animals. I can imagine a pack of wolves taking refuge in the more mild valleys when the mountains get too hostile, unfortunately posing a problem for the local villages and their livestock...

It's confirmed that there's "environmental hazards like spider webs" so I'm usre they would have though about adding slowing wind or falling down crevasses.

That's the other thing about the environment that made me drool other than accumulating snow being confirmed. Getting stuck in spider webs!!!!

I reckon environmental threats such as extreme cold at high altitude will be in a hardcoe/survival mode (yeah, I've just decided that hardcoe/survival mode will be in - no evidence to back that up but I feel it in mah bones, I tells ya! ).

I don't want to be a naysayer but I don't want people to get overhyped either. They said 'actualising' the danger. ie. making it more real.

I think it'll just be a mood thing. Like in Oblivion they had to use red clouds and storms to create a moody atmosphere. Now they can have raging storms with trees on the verge of being uprooted as well.

Imagine traversing a slippery crag and a gust of wind takes you off your feet and sends you tumbling down.

Right now, I'm imaging mage characters blowing / melting a path through the pass with fireballs, as a sort of pathsetter. Man... That would be amazing. You and your companion travellers (and the GI article says that NPCs may choose to follow you based on their relationship with you, implying that anyone could, and you could attain a following) get stuck in a valley... The snow is coming down hard. You have the option of setting up camp and facing the risk of some of your companions freezing to death, but the majority surviving, or blazing a trail for them and gambling everything.

Wishful thinking, I am sure, but it does me well to pass the time.

And Worm', that's where slowfall would come in handy, ey?

I hope there's good sound effects - nothing like a howling wind to add to the atmosphere...

We need that old slowfall spell dusted off.

I would love environmental dangers like hypothermia or eventual freezing to death. With the direction it looks like Bethesda's headed with this game, though, it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

Yes, sound effects need to be a massive part of the environment. I would rather they gave us realistic sounds than constant ambient music.