I just thought now that it would be really cool to actually see lightning bolts during thunderstorms, instead of the screen just flashing as it did in Oblivion.

What do you think about this? Do you think Bethesda can implement it?

I would love this

not Impossible, other games have done it, tho I would be surprised if they be anything then show, so don′t expect them to actually effect the world.

Red Dead Redemption had GREAT thunderstorms. Hopefully they can do something like that. The storms in that game wer eliterally quite horrifying haha.

edit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tyzh2KNGMI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcHKRGCeq9E

just a video of it

I Agree! they should add it. They could add it easily as most games already have it and there is a mod in oblivion that already dose it.

I'm sure we will. I mean, we have storms that actually affect the player now. Strong winds mess with your character, snow will mess with your character as it accumulates, maybe a tornado or two (jk on the tornadoes lol)

Red Dead Redemption did lightning well, the landscape would light up clear as day for a split second followed by booming thunder. This is a pretty good example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsYrpqaYdk0
Edit: Somebody above me posted some Red Dead clips.

They should! And a very small chance to be hit, based on your altitude (you are on a mountain peak duringa storm... :shocking: )

That's fantastic!

RDR's thunders were great (as well as anything else really )

yea, that game really was quite close to perfection

With a delayed thunderclap.

But, I don't ever want to be struck by lightning.

And I have to say, RDR's cloud/weather system looks incredible. If Skyrim has it as good as RDR, I will be speechless. Pete Hines said previously on Twitter that Skyrim's cloud system was very good, so I'm confident.

from what i've seen in screen shots Skyrim doesnt look as good as Red Dead, but is still very nice looking. Not like the graphics are that important, i'm just happy as long as they are mostly up to date.

It's difficult to judge by a few screenshots alone, and it doesn't nearly give us the full spectrum of the sky. So we'll have to wait and see.

Besides, Skyrim's fog system is really amazing.

if they implemented it i'd enjoy it thoroughly though, its not something i couldn't live without.

I'll spend hours trying to hunt down that tree that got struck by lightning in order to make a magic staff out of what is left of the wood.

Even if it were just visual, I'd like something close to RDR's storms. Blizzards on par with RDR thunderstorms would be very cool. Could we also get heat-lightning? Thundersnow as well?

$50 says lightning will be in skyrim /red dead will look like qbert compared to skyrim!!

Can't talk about video game thunderstorms without mentioning S.T.A.L.K.E.R. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYthBbXKvU&feature=related

It would be freaking awesome man! :celebration:

Nothing was cooler than when the rain moved in in Red Dead Redemption. Just riding around the desert in a rainstorm was incredible.

Honestly I think the first game I remember being 'scared' of a storm in was Morrowind. The lighting wasn't RDR good of course but the sounds were dead on. I would love to get that hair raising feel once again.

I'm hoping to see real environmental hazards for once. Making it look nice is one thing, making it scary is a whole other.

Right now, you can trek ahead in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm - who cares, right? Wrong - going out in a thunderstorm, while wielding a huge metal sword should practically guarantee you are a lightning rod. Bad weather should force all but the most fool harder into the nearest tavern or cave.

I want to see lightning strikes, hypothermia, fall damage, etc. I want to cringe in terror on a narrow trail curving up the side of a high cliff. I want to get that nervous feeling on the back of my neck when I see dark clouds rolling in. I want to panic when light snow turns into a freaking blizzard, and I not only can't see more than a few feet, but my health bar starts dropping because I'm freezing to death. Swimming in anything but a temperate forest should be suicide - look for rocks, trees, etc. to get over water.

However, I'm betting against any of this actually being in the vanilla game.

With the promise of a more rugged, untamed experience than prior Elder Scrolls games, brutal weather is a must. Bethesda knows they have to up the ante over "Red Dead Redemption"- and surely they will.

Give us real lightning bolts that can split a tree in half. Lightning that starts grass fires. Thunder that's timed to the distance of a strike. Occasions of ball lightning.

Amaze us, Bethesda!

I can't imagine they would even try to match RDR. But if they were going for realism, here are some pointers (I'm kinda "into" weather):

* Be sure to include concepts such as relatively steady rain from nimbostratus (sheet) clouds, as well as rain showers. Rain showers are often more heavy, particularly if the clouds develop fully into a thundercell.

* Most games does the mistake of having bad weather be the worst weather imaginable. Whatever happened to light rain?

* Let thunderstorms vary in intensity and duration. I've witnessed once a thunderstorm with 50 strikes per minute in the same town area, which was hefty. But only once, and I'm 40. The thunderstorms I see in my area are extremely weak, and extremely rare. Maybe 50 strikes total during the hour the event lasts, and maybe only three or four times a year. I'm not as frequent and intense as *all* games try to make it. Stay reasonable.

* Why does no games have hail during thunderstorms? Hail can *only* be formed in the thundercloud (although it doesn't have to produce thunder). Even summer thunderstorms bring hail. Let there be hailstones I've seen cars get really smashed up by them, although at this size we're usually talking systems that can produce tornadoes.

* Signs of weather would be nice. From looming clouds in the horizon coming in in relation to a front, to towering cumulus clouds forming above your head in relation to typical summer thunderstorms, before they go cumulunimbus (thunder cell) on you.

* The obvious thing that we can have that RDR (probably) didn't have, are blizzards. Make them cause full whiteouts, where cloud and ground becomes one not many meters in front of you.

* A trick that I've seen in Arma2: It's unlikely that softer shadows are easily done due to overcast, so just fade away the amount of shadow the character casts. At maximum overcast, there should be pretty much no shadows at all, as it is the whole "sky" that it casting light rather than the small size of the sun.

* Separate wind from rest of weather. There can be plenty of wind without a cloud on the sky, and there can be a thunderstorm without any wind at all (especially before the rain gust hits).

* If we have to manage cold (hypothermia, and I hope we do as part of "needs"), wind and rain should act as multipliers of cold due to temperatures. Furthermore, if we have seasons, model weather (incl temperatures) according to seasons. Thunderstorms are typically more frequent during summer months than winter months (disregarding special places like Tornado valley for now).

Again, I just *BEG* you, reduce the frequency and randomize the intensity of thunderstorms and precipitation if you want it to look real. As cool as they are, they also grow old fairly quickly, so there is no need to overdo it. Which is THE most common problem in most games featuring some kind of weather.