Please note that I'm only asking about non-scripted destruction. So for example, (Oblivion Spoiler)

What do you forumers think is an appropriate level of destructive power to give to the player?

If you have enough firepower/raw muscle, why not be able to destroy anything.

I just dont think its going to be added and its alright with me.

Well they have said that fire can burn trees and grass.

I would like it, but I don't think it will be in to any great extent e.g. destroying buildings at will.

Also, could you explain what you mean by "like Red Faction" for people who don't know what that is? thanks.

I doubt we see any, Beth is trying to make Skyrim quite a wast world, and spreading out physics calculations over a big, sandbox game is no small thing.

Cutting and burning plants and small stuffs would be nice. I always wanted to burn the thatched roofs lol how mean.

Sure.

In the original Red Faction, there were certain types of surfaces that could be sort of "cut" into using explosives. It was never anything critical to the layout of the map, or a key support structure. But there were certain times when to advance in the game, the player had to use C4 to blast a hole through a wall, for example.

BTW I voted for option 3, limited reshaping. IMO, destroying buildings probably goes too far. Just because it might mess up the lore.

Oh. So maybe you could use a flame spell to melt ice to get into a frozen cavern or something? Sounds like fun (although that would be considered scripted wouldn't it?).

Yeah, that's a great idea, and it fits the Skyrim theme too!

Well, in the Red Faction example, the exact placement of the hole in the wall was up to the player. If the player wanted, he could make a long, convoluted path through the rock instead of a straight line. And there would also be times when cutting holes was completely unnecessary but could still be done just for fun.

Can't say I'd really want to see destructable environments. If I destroy something, I'd like it to stay destroyed. Trees don't gro back in a matter of days, land doesn't reform on its own, etc. If I destroy stuff, I wouldn't want the game to "reset" the environments back to normal in a short period of time, otherwise it's trite.. just something to show off instead of having an actual purpose.

So if things become destructable and don't fix themselves, I'd feel like I'm playing in a glass house.. having to be extra-careful not to damage anything I don't intend to damage, otherwise the world will be forever scarred. And after a while of playing, a lot of things can become irreversably damaged.

i dont want that the fun in this game turns like the bad company 2

Huge destruction fan myself... but I fail to see a practical application in Skyrim. Sure, there are some small and novel possible uses for destruction, but developing a destruction system (even a system like the first Red Faction) is no small task and you had better have a good reason for it if your going to waste that much development time on one feature. Red Factions whole selling point WAS the destruction for example, so they could justify spending a lot of time/money/resource working on it. But to do it as a small side feature thats just there for some eye candy, or "Hey look what I can do" moments doesn't make sense at all.

And building destruction is almost certainly impossible anyway given the way buildings are handled in The Elder Scrolls series. If they are separate cells again, there is simply no way you could do any sort of complex building destruction.

I would like it to be Red Faction 2 Styled, also I would love if there was a Shovel and you could actually dig up treasures with it, would be good for explorers. :thumbsup:

Torching the countryside would result in MASSIVE save files. That is the reason you will never see it.

I wouldn't want Bethesda focusing too much on this, if there's destruction in the game it'll be very limited.

In Morrowind and Oblivion, you had access to these huge destruction spells, but if you cast them at an object that should easily be destroyed, like a sign post or something, nothing happens. This has always been a huge immersion breaker for me.

Ah but the question is will they be destroyed and burnt to a crisp or will the fires just die out?

This is one of those things where yeah it breaks immersion but that isn't a good enough reason to put it in. Coding something like that in would be something they had to think about right from the beginning and incorporate it at the start. It would be nice to have someday but don't count on it this time.

If the terrain is indeed destructible (plants and trees) then that would be interesting because there could be a threat to certain quests in that say a mage asked you to recover some special herbs and you got to the field, but just then a dragon came and blew fire on all of your rare herbs. Then your quest would be ruined and you'd have to look for those herbs further and further away.

Having a way to make quests not always go "according to plan" adds to the sense of immersion and randomness that happens, and tests what your player is made of. Will he quit, or will he press on despite the frustrations that such things create?
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That aside, I doubt they'll let you destroy buildings because that would ruin plotlines unless there was some way to get the NPC's to "rebuild" the places you destroyed or burned down. That would be interesting if they added a re-building dynamic to the NPC's, because then you could actually envision them having a scenario where they could build new towns in places that are now empty, aka Civilization. But all of that seems too complex and I really doubt they would do that.

So I think just non essential things like grass and trees are probably the only things that are destructable like this.

This. Fully destructible environments are more the realm of FPS games. Bethesda has a lot more important things to focus on for Skyrim. Also, obligatory M'aiq quote because I can:

I'd like to see some dynamic fires, but I don't think it's going to get any more than that. However, since woodcutting is in the game, I wonder if we can actually fell trees.

I'm just hoping there is some form of visual damage dealt from powerful attacks, like devastated homes in villages after dragon attacks, or destruction of your immediate surroundings following some of your more powerful magic spells or Dragon Shouts.

I'm pretty sure fires will spread, to what extent is the question. Perhaps on a scale similar to fires in Farcry 2? :flamethrower:

I think it would be interesting if things could play out like Skystorm77 mentioned, the dread of hearing the dragon roar and the knowledge that your life is in danger. Not to mention, if you do survive, that your vital quest objectives are possibly destroyed.

I would also like to see environmental regeneration, but perhaps incomplete at first. For example, a forest fire occurs and several trees are destroyed, and they grow back, but perhaps as saplings. Then, they could return to their original state after several weeks (or months....) in in-game time.

I wouldn't really miss it if they decide against it, I never wanted it in Morrowind or Oblivion so it would hurt me if it's absent from Skyrim as well. Not sure, but did they say anything about it during their GI Podcast? I keep thinking they did, I'm probably just imagining things lol.

They said you could light things on fire.

I don't think detroy everything is a good idea. While it would be totally awesome, it brings too much problems to handle, and will just make our machines explode. (yep, destroy everything indeed).