in oblivion, and morrowind for that matter, were rather underpopulated... they werent beleivable and unexciting to be in. I mean a place like the Empirial City should be bustling with people going about their business bumbing into people and all that (not just the 15 people in a district) In skyrim they should have people moving about with pick pocketing children trying to steal your money, local events that have people buzzing, and alleyways with skooma dealings going on. when theres an arena fight people should be moving towards that area, and if they have an arena again i think people should actually take notice and talk about you. Or, hopefully the radiant story feature will have this, if you are notorious the crowds should move away from you or some thickheaded hero should try to fight you. Like wise if you are famous they should congratulate you on your recent endeavours and ask for some autographs... just some thoughts, tell me what you think....

I think that was because of the limitation of the engine. Hopefully in with the new engine we'll be able to have more people on screen and in a town,. But I will gladly trade off having not that many people in the Main cities if they are not separated from the rest of the game world

I agree.. After becoming a champion in the arena I wasn't even recognized outside the arena. It was baron and quiet.

Yeah, we better get lots of NPCs walking on screen. Gives me more people to rob and kill in-game (yeah I'm evil). Anyways, new engine means better capabilities. I expect lots of NPCs on screen without lag.

I think we'll need to wait until the next generation of consoles before the cities are packed with NPCs. It'd be too hard to give them all individual personalities too.

Yeah so that when you piss off everyone in the immediate area there is enough of them to make your death a certainty. Can't wait for 64bit.