You underestimate how difficult and time-consuming game development is. Sure, in a week a person can add spears, for example... but integrating it into the game and releasing it on time is a hugely different thing. Spears, for example: beyond what was added in that one week, on top of that they'd have to design, model, implement, and distribute 8 types of spears (one for each material type) and then do the same for a few unique special spears. They also have to develop, code, etc. an entire perk tree that revolves around spears and spear-based abilities (the current 2-handed perk tree is designed around slashing and swinging motions, and could not be used for spears). New lines would have to be recorded that refer to spears, and NPC-specific spear-using code would have to be devised. Kill animations for spears would need to be added.

And every bit of that has to be debugged and balanced, which takes at least twice as long as the actual implementation. We're talking months of work to add a single weapon type.

So, no. You should not expect everything in the video to have been included in Skyrim on release.

Don't mean to pick on you specifically, as there are a lot of people voicing similar opinions in this forum. But it's something I had to get off my chest.

You underestimate how difficult and time-consuming game development is. Sure, in a week a person can add spears, for example... but integrating it into the game and releasing it on time is a hugely different thing. Spears, for example: beyond what was added in that one week, on top of that they'd have to design, model, implement, and distribute 8 types of spears (one for each material type) and then do the same for a few unique special spears. They also have to develop, code, etc. an entire perk tree that revolves around spears and spear-based abilities (the current 2-handed perk tree is designed around slashing and swinging motions, and could not be used for spears). New lines would have to be recorded that refer to spears, and NPC-specific spear-using code would have to be devised. Kill animations for spears would need to be added.

And every bit of that has to be debugged and balanced, which takes at least twice as long as the actual implementation. We're talking months of work to add a single weapon type.

So, no. You should not expect everything in the video to have been included in Skyrim on release.

Don't mean to pick on you specifically, as there are a lot of people voicing similar opinions in this forum. But it's something I had to get off my chest.

I really liked the dark dungeons. Exploring them would be much more terrifying.

I wonder, given how they added a lycanthropy perk tree in that week, what does that say about the possibility of adding new (and conditional) perk trees? The UI itself for perks doesn't seem very flexible... so was it just a hack-job to get it shown, or is there a way to extend the number of perk trees beyond the default set?

I'd imagine such a thing would require manual changes to the flash menu for skills, which would kinda stink. It'd be completely unmaintainable with more custom perk trees that would get added. I'd love to be wrong, though, with there being some kind of plugable interface.

http://cache.ohinternet.com/images/thumb/2/2d/Trollface_HD.png/618px-Trollface_HD.png

I'd certainly agree with most of your post. That said, there were some that just seem so... I don't know. Basic or obvious? Like footprints in the snow. That one strikes me as something that should have been included from the beginning. The snow is there. It just seems odd that you don't leave footprints behind you.

I wonder, given how they added a lycanthropy perk tree in that week, what does that say about the possibility of adding new (and conditional) perk trees? The UI itself for perks doesn't seem very flexible... so was it just a hack-job to get it shown, or is there a way to extend the number of perk trees beyond the default set?

Well, http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7654 does just that, so knock yourself out

For now Im on 360.

http://cache.ohinternet.com/images/thumb/2/2d/Trollface_HD.png/618px-Trollface_HD.png

Well, http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7654 does just that, so knock yourself out

Only downside is that it makes non-Khajiit thieves nearly impossible, as the only way to see anything without their Night-Eye racial is to put a light on yourself. Though now with the CK, I imagine there'll be mods to bring back night-eye potions and enchantments.

More proof, if needed, that when people work on their own idea rather on stuff they're told to do, they can be more creative, productive and the end result is better. Damn, I'm writing this from my office while I'm bored!

Well Bethesda has done something that I thought they would never do ... and that is make a DLC just for computers.

Hopefully some or all of this stuff can be included in DLC - like spear fighting, etc. I can now see them actually making an enhanced play DLC - with just game play improvements.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Aside from the seasonal foliage and possibly snow footprints all that other stuff can be done. Mounted combat might be a tad hard though, took years for it to be implemented in Oblivion.

Man, why didn't they put goblins in?

If you're talking about the hi-res pack, I'd consider that more of "Holding it back from computers", then releasing it later because the consoles couldn't handle those textures, and/or they wouldn't fit on a DVD