Despite what some people think about Skyrim, every now and then I still get those incredible "wow, this is just cool" moments. Tonight, it came just after finishing a certain... eh... gruesome quest for Hircine. The quest was cool and all, but it was the walk home that was so amazing.

It started to rain. And rain and rain. Thunder cracked and rolled, and a fog set in. Soon I couldn't really see much around me, but I knew which way I needed to go to get home so I kept trudging. In situations like this, RP tends to get the better of me, and I switch to third person mode and set my character to just walk.

After a few minutes of slogging through the rain and fog, I beheld this glorious sight:
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/542924990424123645/3EF72FF633585C553C0BCF678B4338440446A705/, rising up from the gloom over the hills. The soft glow of her towering windows served to remind me that I was headed in the right direction. But the rain continued to pound, and I to pound my way through it.

But fairly shortly, I came upon the city's http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/542924990424121286/7329600A66BEBD9A05788DCE47E95BF9DB919409/, and her signal fires fought their way through the rain to remind me that it wouldn't be long before I, too, would be warm and dry.

But alas, here I actually sit in my chair at home. It's not raining. It's not foggy. It's not even dark outside. Yet for those few brief moments I was really in Skyrim. Regardless of what people say, Skyrim is a world you can get lost in if you let yourself.

beautiful

Thanks for posting this. I have to say that for all of it's faults, Skyrim can be the most relaxing, enjoyable means of escape that I own. You truly can get lost in the world, and the at times the scenery is beautiful. Sure it's missing some things that made Morrowind or even Oblivion great, but I don't think any game has ever compared in it's representation of a believable, natural world.

I love to wander on beautiful sunny days, seeing mountains or structures in the distance then walking to them doesnt get old for me.

I love to stand upon a mountain and just gaze at the beauty of skyrim

I had an interesting quest that made me sit up. It was in Markarth (how I hate that town!). Anyway, I can't tell it without giving up information considered spoilers, but I had to go to a particular Forsworn Redoubt and kill the leader, it was a place where the Forsworn were not hostile to the Dragonborn for previous help. Walking into the cave - and seeing all the Forsworn and all - that made me say WHOA! I was shocked at the task, and completing it was a tense affair. I managed it without killing everyone, only the assigned target. Felt a little good about that.

Awesome post. A few weeks ago, I had the ceiling fan on and it cooled down the living room considerably. I happened to be wandering the northern shores of Skyrim at the time with my 3D glasses on. When I'd hear the wind blow and whistle over the hills and mountains, sending ribbons of ice and snow across my view, I actually had the sensation of being there because at the same time, the ceiling fan was blowing cold air down on me. It was an awesome 4-D experience. Next morning I had an unbearable kink in my neck though.

I've had a lot of these moments. Playing this game has been a real pleasure. Northern lights at dawn and sunsets over the mountains and chasing butterflies in the meadows...love it

And not only the good stuff. The first time I explored a wrecked ship that was tilted on its side with barrels bobbing in the water, I ended up getting literally seasick and had to go running for the toilet. Now that's virtual reality!

This may seem contrived, but I had a wow moment just a few minutes ago. People say "Oh kill-cams svck, I wish they didn't even exist" and what not, but I just had a glorious archery killcam. I was outside, during pitch-black night, and I fired an arrow at a distance from my bound bow at a lone flame atronach that had just finished murdering something or other. Killcam engages, and I watch this shining blue arrow shoot across a field of pure darkness and lodge itself in the right eye of this flame-forged daedra, and I just had to stop and go "Wow."

The colors, the contrast of everything, coupled with the dramatics of the killcam, was just awesome. I mean that in the truest sense of the word "awesome".

I logged in yesterday and found myself on top of a little hill North West of Whiterun (I normally make my last save of a session inside one of my houses, so it was a bit unusual for me to start freshly into the game like this).

As I gradually got my bearings by scanning the area, a gentle breeze came up, rustling through the grass over the hillside. Taking in the vista, and hearing the wind moving all around me - I was there and felt the breeze brush my face. Even now, remembering the moment, it's a memory of standing on a hill, not a memory of looking at a screen.

That moment alone was worth the box price.

I love hearing the stories of wow moments, immersive moments. In last night's adventure, Lydia and I were in a huge cave with water and ships inside. It had many levels and catwalks all around it. On our way back out after retrieving an item, two tough bandits came after us. They killed me once so after the reload, and another tough fight with them, in desperation I jumped from the catwalk about 70 feet down to the water below because my health was so low. I didn't know if I'd survive such a leap.

Luckily I did survive and quickly found a dry place to stand so I could use magic. Lydia was still up there fighting so I pulled out the Sanguine Rose and pointed it at the catwalk. The Dremora appeared there and helped her. Now, this was the wow part....after the fight, Lydia jumped off that catwalk into the water to get back to me. I couldn't believe it; I had never seen an NPC do that before...they usually disappear and eventually end up next to you again. It was a great wow...so fun.

Got my second magic killcam today. 'Twas beautiful! It was very satisfying to see a Falmer get blasted by a lightning bolt
Just waiting for shout killcams now!

I love to walk in the rain. The mist, the fog, and the sound of rain all around me is so pleasant. Even when it's stormy.

I also love to read positive threads here.

I love the rain also. It makes me feel like it's actually raining outside (especially with the surround sound on.) Something isn't as satisfying about the rain in Skyrim as it was in past games tho. The storms don't seem to get heavy as they used to. They only way to see a heavy storm is to use a storm call shout i guess?

I too expierenced a moment like this, for the first time ever. However it was when Uthgerd, a companion to my character for many MANY hours irl, died at the hands of three Sabres.

The BEST part of this game is the walking/wandering. When I get too wrapped up in quests, I just go for a walk and take in the sights. It makes me really enjoy the game more!

Yeah I love the nothern lights in Skyrim, the first time I seen them I think I sat and watched them for a half and hour. But still not as aweinspiring as some of the aurora shows we get here in northern Canada

Although not a singular moment, another wow is when I walk the shores by the sea north of Solitude looking for ingredients and listening to the sound of the waves coming to shore. It's a place I find relaxing after terrible strife where I can enjoy some relative peace - and it's very wow.

I agree and it was also the best part of OB too. I spend a good deal of time just wandering with no goal or objective in mind.

My Wow! moment came last night when my conjured Dremora Lord chopped off a guys head and he kept on fighting. Never seen it happen before and probably won't again but it was pretty awesome. The Dremora had turned to fight someone else when the guy's head popped off and the headless wonder didn't die until he was finally hit again. It was great seeing this guy with the bloody neck stump swinging away while his head was rolling around on the floor.

Another wow! moment was when I got in a fight with those bandits in Niftheim (sp?) by that huge waterfall. It was a pitched battle with the fight against the bandit leader happening on the edge of a crag. And in my thrust to finally kill him we both landed in the water. At that point I was swept up by the rushing current and went over the falls. I didn't die, and I proceeded to go forward down several additional falls like on a water flume ride till I finally landed the churning pool at the foot of Darkwater. And I'm going wow! and pinching myself to see if I'm really still alive. After that I spent ages searching the area trying to find the body of the bandit leader cause he looked like he was nicely equipped. Eventually he turned up floating in one of the tidal pools halfway down the falls.

good stuff

i remember one of my first cool moments was when i was showing my family the game early on. and, during the middle of explaining some stuff to them we suddenly were enveloped by a white-out, lol, up above helgen.

we, literally, couldn't see where we were going and they thought it was great stuff.

we've experienced actual white-outs before (not my daughter, lol) and it was a sweet experience in the game.

i just wish it rained and thunder and lightninged harder. morrowind's was epic with the volume up.

This is great! Thanks for posting. For me one of the most awesome things about Skyrim is how real the scenery appears. Many times I would show my wife the beautiful views from Dragonsreach porch, Markarth, etc. or even how incredible the moon appears as you're walking through the wilderness at night.

Walking through Windhelm on my way to my house (Hjerim) the wind will kick up, and I'll actually get chills.

Speaking of houses, even they give me that "Glad to finally be home" feeling, as you mentioned. My favorite is Proudspire Manor in Solitude, but even Breezehome in Whiterun with its firepit going as you open the door is great.

I also just love the music!

I don't remember getting many wow moments until I installed mods.

One example of a wow moment are the rain and lightning effects with the Storm Call shout. I was disappointed that there wasn't storms/rain like that normally happening in the game, so I had to install mods to fix it. It's a wow moment when suddenly heavy rain starts and it becomes so dark you can hardly see anything. http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/ActionDragon/Skyrim/Fish-Breath/Fish-Breath95.jpg. It's fun to take shelter in a cave for example and listen the rain happening outside the cave (possible with mods).

The fortress fights between Stormcloaks and Imperials weren't wow moments for me because the corpses disappear so fast when new enemies spawn. With mods however big random battles happening all around the map are very wow moments. An example of a wow moment: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/ActionDragon/Skyrim/Fish-Breath/Fish-Breath106.jpg. And then when you add very deadly dragons to the mix the wow factor becomes even bigger. One wow moment was a big battle between Stormcloaks, Imperials, Bandits, and a Dragon that breathed lightning near Whiterun. http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/ActionDragon/Skyrim/Fish-Breath/Fish-Breath93.jpg That was my biggest wow moment so far.

Me too, and I do the same thing when I don't feel like doing anything in my journal.....not being in the mood for a journal item doesn't mean I want to leave Skyrim.

Glad for these posts too, Raspy!

I've had too many wow/immersion moments to mention.....
And now with 1.5 it seems the ambience of the world has been kicked up a notch---sometimes there's just ambient nature sound without music; the early morning light is almost palpable; sitting on the back deck of Honeyside and watching the sunset behind the Throat of the World at 6:30 or so (was that planned??); and there was a sunshower in Whiterun that made me stop in my tracks, I could almost smell the rain on the cobbles, etc. etc.

p.s. I turn the volume up, even though I've adjusted the music down in Settings.... the mournful melody, with the female vocalist coming in later, it always plays at *just* the right moment out in the world, and it always gets me.

Lol today i found Eldergleam Sanctuary and WOW JUST WOW so beautiful!!! It isn't that big but it reminds me of avatar and I'm still wandering why there's a guy there seeing theres spriggans which could easily take him down, Ancient hippy???? anyway but Wow it was amazing and also RP got the better of me