Watch this video: http://vimeo.com/16414140

Ok, so the one thing that Oblivion lacked seriously in was a sense of history within the game. It was as if every single building was built on the same day in Oblivion. This was done a little better in Morrowind, but not way better. This has been confirmed by Todd during the podcast session with GI. If you truly want to give players the feeling that they are living another life in another world, then that world must have a history of its own. We need abandoned towns, chapels, churches, abbeys, shipwrecks. This was done to some extent in Oblivion - but they made one big mistake. They basically just copied and pasted a building, and left the inside empty. Maybe throw a few litter here and there. And there you have it, a chapel that has been abandoned for more than 200 years. NOT. We need different textures for this sort of thing, we need holes in the ceiling where godrays fall in, we need "special treatment" for these kinds of buildings and situations. They need more attention. Not just a simple copy and paste. If I walk through the thick snow during a blizzard and I come across a really old and abandoned looking abbey on my way, I might go inside. But there should be some clues that people were there once. Some sort of history. People used to go pray there. This is not a very easy thing to do. But I would certainly expect a studios like BGS to pull it off though. And only a few games have accomplished this so far. Half Life 2 certainly has in my opinion (playground scene? there are many others though). Amnesia: The Dark Descent certainly had it. Even Penumbra. Its the little things that add so much to the immersion, or am I just talking nonsense here?

Now that you mention it, everything does seem copy-and-paste. I liked the abandoned building in Skingrad (that had a little secret of it's own), but I wish they did a little more with every type of building. I also want more special treatment for buildings.
And different interiors for buildings, too. I don't want everybody to have the same house layout, with their beds in the same place as all of their neighbors.

Slightly off topic, but I want people to have useful stuff in their houses. In Oblivion, if I robbed a hunter's house, he didn't have anything hunting-related. He just had useless clutter. I think that they should have more stuffed trophy animals if they're a hunter.
And basemants in that game (mostly in Imperial City shops) were useless, they just had more useless clutter. I think they need more personalized stuff in there house. I did like how a Skooma addict lived in Lokmir's house, and you found a little secret in his basemant (it's for a certain guild quest... I don't want to spoil anything.

TLDR

use sentence spacing pls

morrowind did it way better broseph. did you notice how every town in oblivion (the shivering isles was good) was almost identical, and the guards were all the same, except for slightly different armor?

in morrowind each region had a feel of it's own, and guards of the houses looked completely different. not to mention the towns had 8 different varieties.

through the GI articles, gamesas seems to have gotten the history fixed, and I believe there will be more history and feel to skyrim than we will be able to take in, in 2 or 3 playthroughs.

also, oblivion had limited time for implementation and with the new engine in skyrim, and havok behavior, there should be enough time to add in more history than you should have time to take in.

:foodndrink:

If you have nothing to contribute to this topic, then please refrain from replying.

Now, here are some examples:
http://i-netgrafx.deviantart.com/art/Destroyed-Cathedral-Exterior-69516127?q=boost:popular%20cathedral&qo=6
http://navanna.deviantart.com/art/The-Cathedral-29402574?q=boost:popular%20cathedral&qo=9

I think that 50% of the game should consist of "new" architecture. These are the towns, villages, active chapels and cities.
25% should be ruins. Dungeons, etc. These are "old" places. But still, there is a lot to do in them! It adds to the game!
15% should be old and destroyed. See the video. These places are all handcrafted and they might suit a special purpose, or they might not. Even if they are not relevant to a certain quest or artifact or whatever, their presence alone adds to the realism of the game.
10% should be ANCIENT stuff. Like from the old elven times. Im talking "stonehenge" kind of old. A few of them scattered throughout the landscapes, adding more depth and history to the game. The feeling that "someone was here".

I know, im crazy.

from what iv gathered in all the info, about 40% of architecture will be towns/places build on dwemer ruins and old dwemer cities.

through in another 20-25% of uninhabitable destroyed dwemer ruins

add in 25-30% of "new" architecture

and the last 10% may be imperial styled, or a style similar to the neighboring provinces, or maybe really really ancient ayleid ruins.

im not counting dungeons bc i believe they should be considered interiors and should be 80% old to very old.

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_elder_scrolls_v_skyrim/b/xbox360/archive/2011/01/17/the-technology-behind-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.aspx?PostPageIndex=1

(the architecture on the page is based off of dwemer ruins)

i think the game history doesn't have to be all about the past. i wouldn't be happy if Skyrim had a lot of old and new architecture if the people didn't act historically correct, or if each area type was copy and pasted like oblivion, but with old, new, and ruins.

there should be enough historical background in the game lore for the nords to actually feel like a people, and from the maps and info iv read, they are hitting the nail on the head.

:poke:

That's too much IMO, I would like the sense of finding something rare, not a ruin that you can find behind every hills.

You may be pleased by what Todd Howard had to say about Skyrim in the recent podcast:

i wasn't talking about the landmass, i was talking about buildings/places.

i think there will be common ruins that have been looted over and over again, and some that haven't been touched since the dwemer disappeared.

i also expect to see quite a few abandoned castles if the lore of "ice and chitin" has any influence on skyrim.

Penumbra did it very well.

I was referring to the places as well, it's still too many IMO.