Skyrim Dragonflies and salmon and birds, oh my!

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I was going to make a new thread dedicated to the attention to detail in Skyrim, but I'll just post my thoughts here. Here's a few cool things I've noticed:

Marcurio, my mage companion from Riften, talks alot during our adventures. Especially in Dwemer ruins. I was surprised at the handful of various things he had to say about the ruins. He said about 5 or 6 different things. As we walked into a cave-like area where it was obvious bandits had been living, he even commented that the warmth of the area must come from the steam vents in the ruin. Wow.

I like how my summoned Dremora talks and says things like, "I honor my lord by killing you!!!". It's just a nice little touch. I was however hoping that we'd be able to interact with the summoned creatures, especially the humanoid creatures, in some way. Especially after reading "A Tragedy in Black", which talks about how Dremoras can be sneaky and offer gifts to the person who summoned them (in this case a young boy who didn't know any better), and when you accept the gift, it breaks the pact of the summon and the Dremora is free to do what he wants, including killing you. I was half expecting my first summoned Dremora to attempt to pull this stunt with me, and was a little disappointed when he didn't.

I love how the NPCs are constantly coming up with new things to say to me, even 60+ hours into the game. Just recently a guard commented on the Orcish armor I was wearing. "Ah, Orcish armor. Had me a set of that once. Ugly and strong, like the ones who forged it.". I just thought that was cool. I like how they sometimes comment on my race "What are you up to Argonian?", and they also comment on things I've done in the game, like certain quests I've completed. They are always marking new places on my map too, and they give me a little hint about what to expect to find there. Awesome.

The attention to detail in this game is great. All these little things add to the atmosphere and believability of the world a whole lot.
 
I love how the NPCs are constantly coming up with new things to say to me, even 60+ hours into the game. Just recently a guard commented on the Orcish armor I was wearing. "Ah, Orcish armor. Had me a set of that once. Ugly and strong, like the ones who forged it.".

I had a guard say something like "Why are you using that elven blade? Nord steel not good enough for you?" The skill comments are lot less out of place than they were in Oblivion, too. "Lightly armored means light on your feet. That's smart."
 
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Anyone know what the guards are picking up on when they comment on, "Ahhhh. What happend? Someone steal your sweet roll?" or something like that. I'm trying to figure out which skill they're referring to, but I haven't a clue.

The comments are wide ranging though I have never heard any pickpocket, heavy armor or two-handed comments from them which is good because those skills are as low as they can get.
 
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It's a reference to the old sweet roll question from the optional "answer these questions to make your character" system of the early games. It was something to the effect of someone stole your sweetroll, what do you do? I think one of the options was to tell the guard, but I can't really remember.
 
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It's a reference to the old sweet roll question from the optional "answer these questions to make your character" system of the early games.

Ah I thought it was a cheeky reference to the sweet roll incident at the beginning of fallout3.
 
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Ah I thought it was a cheeky reference to the sweet roll incident at the beginning of fallout3.

Nope! Also a reference to the above. I think it was originally in Daggerfall's character creation, but it might only go back as far as Morrowind.
 
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The sweetroll question goes back to Arena.
 
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I'm only a few hours into my first play of Skyrim. It's definatley a good number of notchees better than Oblivion and prior TES games that's for sure.

I was trying to determine how the game makes me feel on an emotional level and bizzarely I can explain it this way:

For those of you who were kids in the 70s… remember the old shooting galleries? Where you'd shoot a light gun at targets and props would do different things. And you never knew if a prop would do something really cool or not till you hit the target… and it was hard to hit the targets, not cause your aim was all that bad, but because you're a scrawny 7 year old and can barely hold the gun let alone hold it straight. The excitement and thrill of hitting a target just to see what would happen… and then you'd run out of quarters and have to wait till another day to try at all the targets you never had a chance to try to hit. Then, one day, discovering a whole new shooting gallery you'd never been to before...

Skyrim gives me that feeling so far…
 
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Good old M'aiq. I think I ran into him on my second day of playing. Not seen him for a little while now, though.
 
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Thanks for clearing up the sweetroll comment. That was annoying me a little. It's like WTF dude? I just killed a dragon and you're taunting me about sweetrolls?

I never bothered with any of those questions for TES games. I just created my own character so had never seen the sweetroll question.

Also love the fact that eagles cast shadows. I'll never be able to hit one from the ground, I've tried, but it's great that they do. I'll see their shadow look up and see a few of them way up there. It's the little things like that that I like about this game.
 
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More attention to detail:

I love that Frostbite Spiders actually hunt, and that explains their presence when you meet them out in the wilderness, away from their usual caves. I've seen them hunt game a few times, and I usually try to jump in and kill them before they get the chance to kill the moose or whatever.

Skyrim did an awesome job of giving everything in the world context. Nothing feels out of place, it all fits together perfectly. I love how every dungeon tells a story, just with the environment alone. Bedrolls, lanterns, empty wine bottles, you know there's some humanoid creatures living there. Walk into a cave and spot a pile of bloody bones, and chances are you're in a troll den. If you see Chourus eggs on the wall, then you're going to be seeing Chouruses just around the corner. And of course if you just walked through a spider web, chances are you're going to be fighting one of the poisonous critters in the near future. I love it.
 
Yep, the immersive world design is without a doubt the game's strong point. I've barely touched on the more detailed questlines (thieves, companions, mage, and main quest) since I am enjoying exploring so much.
 
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I've messed with mages and companions, but I really love the individual city quests. Everyone is worried about the war, but most cities have other concerns that weigh just as heavily. I do wish that Whiterun had more money than the other cities. It's supposed to be the trading hub of the province, but they have no more cash on hand, than the villages. Aorlund should have thousands, since he's the premier blacksmith in the province and has an exclusive contract with the Companions.
 
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I've messed with mages and companions, but I really love the individual city quests.

So true. I've had more fun doing the little favor/thane quests and short misc quests in each town. Mainly because they are local. When a guild/main quest directs me to half way across the province to where I haven't been yet, guess what, that quest line gets paused, perhaps indefinitely. :)
 
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