So I'm clearing out this tower full of bandits. Nevermind why they may be hanging Garlic in their little barracks/break room, There was a Wood cutters axe planted in the table, and two halves of bread on either side. That is awsome! Some joker was dikeing around, and cut a loaf of bread with an axe, and left it there. The little details man... And of course I grab the axe and eat the bread. But think about it? There's so much more than this of course, but this made me stop playing, move to my laptop, and post this thread. How moving.... It's not just another game... It's another Elder Scrolls Game!! Skyrim!

Yes, I love how each Dungeon is unique and the mobs blend well with the place.

Good stuff. They did mention in one of the Making Of videos that they wanted to create these tableaus that told a story without words.

Exactly. I couldn't agree more.

I found a place where there was a dead necromancer resting on a table that was smashed in half. Next to him he had summoning scrolls. I'm guessing he was practising spells, he summoned something and it killed him.

I also stopped for a second and thought... woah. Its like the world had come to life.

It's always the little things.

I remember how I started playing Oblivion after I saw a friend play it. I'd never heard of Elder Scrolls and I was impressed by what I saw, but what made me WANT TO PLAY IT was the butterfly that flitted across the screen.

I was looking for similar things in Skyrim - and not only are there butterflies... There are FIREFLIES. When I first encountered them I could barely contain my satisfaction.

I especially love the touches of ants crawling around random tree stumps, and how flocks of birds would nest in a tree (You can even hear them chirping away!) and explode in panicked flight whenever you disturb their tree, not to mention scorch marks that remain forever as well! The Art director/Artists for Bethesda are gods among wo/men!

It's something they did really well in Morrowind, completely forgot about in Oblivion, and have remastered in Skyrim. I'm really pleased.

I need to start taking screenshots of stuff like that and make a folder full... Loving it! Despite one crash (pretty good for a newly released game) and a few glitches with the UI I'm very impressed with EVERYTHING ELSE. So much that I don't even notice that mouse and keyboard could have used a little more touch up...

I had explored the area around my starting town and cleared out many places. So when it was time for me to move on to the bigger city, I figured it would be a cake walk and nothing unusual along the way. So on my journey I went, over the same travelled path that I'd taken up the mountain quite a few times before.

This time however I found a dead bandit with his horse standing guard over the body. I looked around trying to figure out how this bandit came to his demise, but have yet to see what could have caused it.

I'm now on a journey to find out what killed this bandit and have put off travelling to the big city for the moment.

It's the little things like this dead bandit and his horse that I love in this game, it just breathes life into the game and makes it feel so much more like a living breathing world to me.

the world is alive....i was traveling along a road in western skyrim and saw 3 bosmer leading a nord prisoner to the west. they wouldn't talk to me, and they don't appear to be imperials. i'm following them to wherever they are going to find out what they're up to.

Found an already dead Draugr in one dungeon that was reaching out to something right before it died. A few inches from his hand stood a bottle of rare mead .

THIS is why Bethesda rules!

Even though its a bit cheesy I really love when you enter some foreboding dungeon or cave and your companion says "ive got a bad Feeling about this" or when you see an impressive temple or vista and they say "ive never seen anything like this before"

Really makes them feel like they are more than just a brainless sword swinging tagalong

Yup I noticed this to. At one point when we (my lady companion) ran by a cave she was like "this looks interesting, I wonder whats inside", which was almost exactly what I was thinking at that moment. I literly for a second lost my senses and replied to her, "I don't know but I bet its not a place for ladies".. My wife was sitting behind me and was all "What was that honey"?. It was slightly emberassing and mostly confusing, because moments earlier I was noting the substantial clevage of my companion.

These games are starting to get in my head.