i actually like the idea of starting as a kid. it helps you develop that character a little more.
and with mods like [alternative start skyrim] we will choose where we grow up.
or maybe thats unlockable after the main quest XP re-roll in a tavern

Changing seasons would be a wonderful thing to have, but I doubt this will happen here... the more things to make the game world less like a game world has got to be a good thing, even if it would require a shortening of the seasonal cycle to see it happening over the course of play. Perhaps you could pick a season to start in, or change at will... I play a lot with FSX and that has a true 365 day seasonal cycle, but you can also change it at will from the menus.

I imagine Skyrim will have the same sort of mock seasonal variation with a change in altitude like you get with Oblivion, which works well to give a variety of foliage colour within the landscape.

While Oblivion's mock seasonal variation in altitute gives you some variety in landscapes, it still doesn't give you the same feeling real seasons would. With seasons all the unique and varied landscapes themselves would be given a whole new uniqueness and feeling

I don't see seasons unfortunately

The way Todd described the landmass and geography sounded like it was "stable". Like the North coast is a glacier, etc...

I love the idea. I think it would be even better with dynamic sunrise and sunset times depending on season.

I hope you're wrong and right :/
Don't get me wrong, seasons don't magically alter everything. The most nothern parts will, I guess, always be snowy and cold.

Feels kinda dumb to explain seasons, we all know how they are...
Altitute matters some, which month it is matters some.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say they are including seasons... if everyone looks at the magazine where there is a pic of the deer, take a look at the trees around (aspen or poplar trees from what i can see) the leaves are yellow which would mean the season is Autumn now i don't think they'd keep the leaves yellow all the time would they?

why?
of course the glacier shouldn't be that big of a difference in any season but i can easily see seasonal environment changes, lots of things were possible even in gamebryo so dont be so skeptical. it would probably be a shader effect or tied to an animated static that changes color from time to time [for trees at least.]
and for falling leaves..i would imagine that would be the same as the new snow effect.
its possible so rejoice :thumbsup:

i just though about the rivers.
in nature when the warmer season begins, the mountains begin to thaw, glacial melt creates runoff and streams that form rivers. wouldn't it be amazing for the water-level to rise depending on the season. creating flood and mud and raging rivers.
this may also tie in to stormy weather as well.
i dont see this as much as the other stuff but its fun to think about.

Yeah. And that might mean a few things in terms of the particle systems being used for snow. < having trouble locating some tech demos I had seen for some funky particles that do this sort of thing :S.
Psystems in Ob never actually collided properly with other objects, all forces that acted upon them were space warps in the art file itself. In other words, particles would be interacting with physics of the world space. maybe.. we'll have to see

they should incorporate seasons with some quests!

Well, Oblivion had aspen trees with yellow leaves all the time.. but no real seasons :/

I hope you're right though, and that they have thought about this and included it.

let me put this in perspective from not just a visual, but a ecology and economy point of view.
scripting the npc behavior and the wildlife would be awesome.

-in the summer the leaves would be green as usual, animals would be very active. clear blue or partially cloudy sky. it rarely rains in the lowlands but the mountains still get some snowfall.
all people are hard at work. farmers are busy tending crops and the cities are very active.

-in the fall, leaves fall, rain comes more often and it is more overcast. it begins to cool down and animals are less active as they prepare for the winter, predators are common but prefer the safety of the wilds, birds are flying south. people are stocking up on supplies and their are many harvest festival.

-in winter snow is common everywhere, only evergreen trees have leaves. the rest are bare. snowstorms happen more often and blizzards are a real threat in the higher climate. animals are rare in the wilderness, predators are more aggressive. some of the more "cold creatures" begin to wander into territory that is normally inaccessible. travelers are less common and people are staying to the cities and more protected travel routs.

-spring, leaves begin to bud and wildlife returns to the norm/calm, its much safer to wander now, the rivers are now rapids because of snow melt. for a month it rains a'lot
[skyrim equivalent of may]. when its sunny that is when the world is most alive. the people are enjoying feasts and the bars are full of cheery conversations and music. most work appears in the spring

i dont know if all of this is feasible, but damn wouldn't that make this game believable.

Absolutely. Great ideas. While I'd be overjoyed with visual seasons, this is even better. The easiest thing to do from your suggestions are wildlife behaviour I guess. But the AI have been claimed to be heavily improved so perhaps what you say concerning NPCs are possible as well. Harvest festivals would make things really come to life

Lets take it a step further. Seasons are not just a pretty visual to improve immersion. Imagine seasons in Radiant Story's hands.

Farming work would be served well by seasonal gathering, for example.

A harvest festival in the Heartfire with dancing in the streets or any number of holidays the lore is already rich with would add flavor to day to day life. Better yet, imagine that a leaders of Riverwood begging for your help, certain that Goblins will decend upon their village as they have every Frostfall, intent on stealing the year's havest. Stand along side the villagers and drive back the threat... Or maybe you take a pro-active approach, seeking out the Goblin cave and eradicating them before they ever begin their own twisted harvest.

Imagine rare and powerful alchemidic ingredients that only grow in certain seasons in certain places.

A Whimsical quest that involves pair two star crossed lovers would surely be more likely to occur in the spring, while a case of bitter revenge might take place on dark and stormy night.

This yearly cycle doesn't need to be shown a dozen times across a full game. Even one or two years would add an incredible amount of diversity to your game. Perhaps you never even traveled to Riverwood in Heartfire, perhaps you passed in Second Seed, bought some seasonal goods and moved on, having no idea how much help they would need in the coming months.

While it's fair to assume that Skyrim will continue to have Neverland seasons with the locations themselves showing off different seasonal effects, it's certainly a beautiful thought that doesn't end with just the beauty of the landscape.

They might have already, apparently snow might build up on the ground after snowing, which suggests something like seasons approaching. I can imagine that with a little vertex blending of grass and leaf textures, as in changing them from green to yellow/yellow-red to grey/gone and a simple script to change the probabilities that certain types of weather will pop up. Well then, there you go, seasons.

You do now that up North the days become shorter in winter? If you really want realistic seasons, you would have only 4 hours of daylight versus 20 hours of night. Seasons in Skyrim, no thanks. :tongue:

nice expansion, i would love to see something like this. i mean the visual is enough for most people but having seasonal quests/jobs and seasonal markets/goods its just brilliant.
i have hope that this is in game already.

radiant storytelling does something like the quests but that is random, this would be scheduled based on the season.
this is actually very very plausible.

its not that far north, atmora is the northernmost continent and it is the one that has days like this.

Voted yes obviously, being a big fan of seasons. And especially now given the snow system, which could easily be expanded to include icing up of streams etc. However, if I'm able to reach lvl 50'ish in 150'ish days in OB, what would be the point? Without any artificial systems in to speed up game time, and I have suggested plenty of methods in other threads, you most likely won't see more than one ekstra season per character. There is quite a bit of work, and not something they're likely to do just to satisfy us old timers.

About the time, yes. That is a problem. But I'm sure they can solve it. Senju suggested that they use their own calender... since it's north and have somewhat different hours than others.
What also could work is to shorten the number of days, which are otherwise completely meaningless in the game.
If you know more methods, feel free to post them. I mean it can't hurt, the more the merrier
We need to experience seasons more than once. 3-4 times per character is enough I think.

In any case, I think seasons will not only satisfy us old timers. I've never seen real seasons in a game before. Adding it would cause even more attention to be brought upon the Skyrim game, especially from people who haven't played any other TES game.

With the simplification of the Health/Stamina/Magic leveling and the ability to expend stamina sprinting, I think it's fair to say that stamnia itself has been given even more of a cause and effect relationship and that it and health will not likely be whisked away with an hour's rest. Which is to say that rest itself could be significantly more important to survival, therefore forcing you to sleep away more time then you might normally be inclined. And even if you do only make it from spring to winter of the same year, you will have enjoyed all four seasons at least once and that alone is a dynamic experience.

Daggerfall
it had seasons.

It would be a nice change from the continual winter, and would add some variance.

... Just wish there were seasons in FO3...

Hm, I didn't know that. But how "real" were they?

What I'm speaking about is "real" seasons. And by that I mean real snow as already exist, falling leaves, changing colours of leaves, more wildlife, melting/freezing water, etc.

It would be cool, but I'll be the guy to bring science into this...

Skyrim is not on Earth. On Earth, seasons are caused by the tilt of Earth on its axis, namely which side of Earth is closest to the sun because of its tilt. According to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Nirn, there is no physical sun in the plane of Mundus, therefor no reason for seasons at all. Sure seasons would be neat, but what exactly would be the reason for them?