I personally think fully dynamic seasons with full effects (falling leaves, leaves changing colour, people behaving differently for different seasons, changes in wildlife, changes in weather of course, etc etc etc) would be "a real milestone in the gaming history".

I wished and hoped Skyrim would have it, although we now know it's not in. I just thought they could go all the way through seeing how they already got dynamic snow and I think it would be something really cool and great. Something which they could brag about.

What game does this?

I think there are a few games that have seasons, but I don't know any game that have fully dynamic seasons with full effects, like I mentioned.

Are you thinking of a certain game? I know Daggerfall had seasons but I don't think it had all what I said above. If that's still the case, then maybe I should add "a modern game with pretty modern graphics"

I think if your looking for an innovation that hasn't been seen in other games the look no further than the engine's architecture. This particular innovation has been there since Morrowind and has yet to be copied. We may never see another engine from another developer sporting the modularity needed for modding on such a massive scale.

Beyond that though I think the Radiant Story quest engine has the potential to be something extraordinary, though we may not see that potential fully realized in Skyrim.

As i sayd or read in another thread, long are the times when bethesda was a revolutionary , evolutionary company.
Its been some time they just copy [censored] paste others games features and bingo, they concentrate on trying to do nice gfx and period.

the point of this thread is about if or how bethesda will inovate or add something that no other game has. the idea is to do something no one else has to do. Imo I think a development team should not focus on being the first to add a gameplay element for the sake of being remembered as being the first, but to be known for taking inovations and making them better. like taking a cliche and making it something new.

That's what I was implying.

okay, it just looked like you were shooting down some ones idea that was on topic.

Having 10 races to pick from does not count? What other games hacve so many races (male +female makes it 20).
But I think Bethesda should focus indeed on being innovative because they can. They are in the fortunate position to publish their own games. Oblivion and Fallout have sold big numbers. They are supposed to be one of the big players in the market, so one could expect them to push the gaming and set trends. Their games are big, complex, with more freedom and depth than most others. If they can invent something great they will probably do it on the next gen consoles, less likely Fallout 4 and more likely Tes 6, because this generation is now very old.

What I'd like to see in Skyrim is Beth basically taking the best features of a number of games and incorporating it with the depth of story of Morrowind. Can you imagine if you had Vampire:Bloodlines level voice acting and humour, full Thief gameplay, Amnesia/Fatal Frame ghosts and horror, Mount and Blade mounted combat etc etc all in the one huge game world? It would very nearly be the ultimate game. Modders would be in Seventh Heaven. Imagine what they could create with that as a base. I also really like the idea of changing seasons as mentioned earlier. It's all about creating as deep and as interactive a world as possible.

Many gamers would be unable to manage so much awesomeness and would die from happiness overload, me included.

I think improving all the important parts of the game together does more good to the series than focusing and pushing in one particular direction for the sake of world recognition. Having brilliant ideas that no one had before is not a goal in itself, it comes unannounced. It just comes.

(sorry, haven't time to read all the posts here right now, so please excuse me, if it's already brought up)
For me the greatest innovative feature (bsd radiant story, if it plays out well) is the interface - and especially the 3D-Inventory and the star-skill-trees. This has never be done in an RPG title before, as far as I know (and I loved the idea of it even before I saw anything of it - this is just great game-creativity, imo)!

AI is in use from cybernetics to medicine, astronautics to gaming. Its nature requires scripting as in programming. It is a simulation. We have some good examples but there is still so much work to be done. And games have NPCs with needs and goals as part of the AI design.

What you think is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_AI, maybe?

Although, that E3 video from Oblivion was pure scripting. I'm not saying it isn't achievable though.

Great discussion! Informative and to the point.

I prefer the realistic art direction that TES goes for. But I also like variety, Amalurs colorful world with Todd McFarland sytle monsters is much different than SR and I think that is a good thing. The 2 games already have so much in common in terms of basic gameplay, they need to do something different to get out of the shadow that is TES.

I think that's the wrong way to go. They should make it get out of the shadow of TES by making their own good story, great gameplay, fun experience all round. Don't rely on making unrealistic large weapons to stand out. Todd McFarland's all style no substance.

What you said there gave me an idea to coin a more apt phrase concerning the behavior of NPCs in games rather than AI- SI, Simulated Intelligence

Don't look into the gameplay instead look into the Storyarch if you want to see huge steps. Mass Effect is the only other RPG series which it's not just about the gameplay but also the story and the characters that have been built throughout the series. Games like the Elder Scrolls Series are revolutionary by In every new game you are seeing more of another world. Now before in Morrowind and Oblivion the world was drowned in dark magic and fantasy surroundings. A real romanticism. But Skyrim is about Civil War between a broken nation and in the mix the land is being terrorized by A higher threat than any war can create. and now they have called upon the chosen one to defend and solve the problem. So in a way. Skyrim is doing something no other TES game has done. Driving away from the romantic ideal with fantasy. And instead keeping the worlds roots but providing realistic aspects that even in this world we understand just from being human. So I think there taking a huge step!