With the apparent large emphasis on different physical aspects in Skyrim (weight of objects, wind, magnetism etc.) I am wondering if we will see logical physical interactions when spells meets environment? For instance; will a fireball hitting a frozen lake melt a hole in the lake? Will a freeze-ray freeze an tree? And even better; can we combine spells to really affect the environment? Example: My fireball melts a hole in lake/frozen water. Then I cast some kind of shockwave spell causing the ice surrounding the hole to break. Or, I freeze a tree and use telekinese to make it break in two.
I read somewhere that breakable objects are implemented but to what extent? And how about the actual environment is that "breakable"?
Obviously an environment that the player will be able to heavily manipulate will be hard to integrate for several reasons. Below I state a few concerns/ideas.

One, how should it be determined how much impact a certain spell has (lvl of skill?).
Two, how does the world react in the long run (water freeze again, ice on tree melts, knocked over trees is replaced by new ones) - when does this occurs (once we leave the area or as an actual observable visual effect. The visual effect will of course add to the immersion, but it will probably be really expensive to do with other areas being more important).
Three, what effects will it have on balance. Being able to manipulate the environment in such ways could mean that a mage would have a massive advantage over the classic warrior. One way around this is making shouts the center of these physical manipulations. Afterall I read somewhere that some Dovahkiin was able to knock down walls using the innver voice. So cracking ice or knock over trees shouldn't be much of a problem. I know it is a single player game but knowing that another playstyle is significantly more effective might lead to some adapting a playstyle they do not not identify with.
Four, how will the AI handle it? This is really important! If the AI cannot handle such things I would rather have the developers leave such ideas/features out. The fewer exploits the better.
Five, can it be implemented in other parts of the game. Traps spring to my mind.
Six, how is situations where the player in some way manage to block his own path avoided?
Seven, (this is very theoretical) say I manage to provoke a rock fall which hits a city. If this actually damages the city there are a number of questions. Will it be a criminal act? Can the inhabitants repair the damages (in some extent they must be able to do so with rampaging dragons)? What if key-persons gets killed in the process (I know about the radiant AI, but my guess is that not all persons will be able to be succeeded by a relative for obvious reasons). Etc.
Eight, how much will it toll hardware?

Such a physics system will of course be very very difficult to implement but some of it should not be impossible. This could really add to the immersion of the game as the player actually will be able to manipulate the world in a realistic way and it opens for a lot tactical considerations. A lot of people, including myself, would also find it infinitely fun to play around with it. That being said I would prioritize good side quests an awesome main quest and better AI etc. before such a advanced physics system.

Yes this would be very very cool but im thinking it won't happen, it might have melting snow if were lucky but beyond that probably no... :sadvaultboy:

BUT MINECRAFT HAZ IT?!?!?!?! WHY CANT SKYRIM!?!?! :spotted owl: jk

Exactly. It should be possible to implement in some form. At least some basics as fire melting snow and being able to knock over objects realisticly.

Fantastic ideas. These types of options can and should be implemented in any future sandbox-type game imo. However, unless Bethesda starts taking cues from Ubisoft for Prince of Persia-esque environment reaction, this is unlikely to happen soon. I think the state of the hardware we all have to deal with at the moment is such that we won't be seeing the reality of an RPG using game elements(such as reactive/destructible environments) normally split between different genres(due to processing power and memory restrictions), until the advancement of console and PC tech reaches the "reality point".

The "reality point" being that time at which the hardware used to play a game matches the ability of the creative design of the game to mimic functions we see in reality, and still make the game playable. Perfect example being the leap in graphics tech used when OB came out on the then-new 360. The game could do things with realistic forests, environments, characters, and effects that couldn't have been done on the Xbox without breaking the system.

I doubt that, but it would be cool indeed. :flamethrower:

Bad idea. Why do that when devs can spend the time on much better things (AI, gameplay, polish, optimization, textures).

Read the last sentence of OP...

I expect the devs to put a lot of work into these areas in a game as anticipated as Skyrim. Bethseda has expressed desire to push the standards of RPG with Skyrim (as they did with oblivion and morrowind) and IMO an advanced physics system would be an area with so much potential. Traps and environmental riddles are likely to play a more prominent role in Skyrim. Just try to imagine how cool traps and riddles the devs could make with a advanced physics system. Immersion is a fundamental part of a open-world RPG, as Skyrim, and I believe such a system could really increase it (after all the game is about making your own choices, and manipulating the world in such ways as I propose would really give you a feeling of being in "power").
I agree with you that AI, gameplay etc. is far more important (as I said in the OP) but I expect more than that from a state-of-the-art game as Skyrim. I know that they already have radiant AI, a new engine, magnetism, destructable environments etc. Therefore I do not expect such a physics system to be implemented but I do want to stress how much potential such a system would have in terms of gameplay.

good idea....

I'm almost positive i read that something like this is in the game. and also spell based traps. The Havok Behavior technology gives the spells more visual flair than we've seen in past Elder Scrolls games as well. If you cast a frost spell, you'll see the effects on the enemy's skin. If you're wielding the flame spell like a flame thrower, the environment will catch fire for a short while and burn anything that comes into contact with it." http://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_elder_scrolls_v_skyrim/b/xbox360/archive/2011/01/24/skyrim-building-better-combat.aspx just found it(:

Thanks for the link - that is very very good news.
They do indeed talk about combining spell effects and I hope they carry it out. The flame-thrower sounds awesome and I truly hope that there will be a lot of spells that can interact with the environment in such ways.
Hopefully we will get more info about how the environment reacts to such manipulations in the long run soon. And how much we can actually manipulate it - because I do have a feeling based on the article that the burning environment is actually more of a spell effect rather than a actual physics system (only catches fire for a short while). So I am wondering will different environments have different thresholds for catching fire? How long will it burn? Can fire be transfered from one object to another? Please implement this Bethseda it would be so awesome!

That sort of thing could be really great if implemented with traps and puzzles (use a fire spell to thaw a frozen lever etc) but I doubt it'll be in the game.