I've never played an Elder Scrolls game before Skyrim, and I wasn't even interested in Skyrim until after it came out because of the insane amount of hype it was getting, and I avoid things that are over-hyped because I feel it saves me needless disappointment in the long run (a perfect example would be the recent DLC announcement, Bethesda even said they were "managing expectations" by stating it was a tiny titbit of info, and still people went bats**t insane over it.).

Well, since getting the game on Steam (Thank you Jesse Cox for your LP of this game), I have had so much fun, and have nearly a thousand hours racked up so far. However, as grand as the scope of the game is I come across little things now and then that make me stop and think "Huh, that's cool." They're just minor details, not essential to the game, the story or the mechanics etc, but you know they should be there because it adds to the feel of wherever you are, and those things would be there in real life.

One example would be empty jail cells/rooms/etc that you can unlock/open and go inside. They don't need to be there, they serve no purpose, but they should be there because they would be in real life. I dunno about you, but I like fine details like that, it makes it more immersive, and that can only be a good thing.

So, what are some of your "Huh, that's cool" moments? It doesn't have to be a tiny thing like I mentioned, it can be anything, just something that isn't necessarily essential, but still makes it a better game for being there.

Watching Salmon jumping upstream.
Chasing butterflies as they flutter by.
Finding the "buckets" and Knowing what they are used for.
Finding Haming after Helgen.

Haha, yeah, the buckets are always amusing XD

In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, in one of the toilets you find a huge honking turd just there in the bowl, it's like "Eidos, I love ya, but really? O_o"

Every time I turn my game on for an hour a night, I will probably say or think that at least twice. The stuff I've already seen isnt getting old and I still find new stuff.

Specifically.....

when random events intersect and combine for a crazy fight. Whenever I see the auroras in the sky. Waterfalls, every damn one of them. When I go to an area thinking I'm ready, and retreating. The power of higher leveled spells. When enemies yell at me for being in 'heir lands. When I discover a story about a place by the subtle clues. Feeling like I could never get bored with the game.

Yeah, I know what you mean, Lund's Hut is a prime example, and rather depressing when you discover it.

Finding the remains of a couple and their house after a dragon attack, and actually finding it honestly tragic. I didn't have the heart to loot anything, and if it was possible to have buried them I would have.

Another thing, now that I think of it, is all the cutlery, crockery, food, drink and beds. Really makes the dungeons and houses etc feel like people live there, that people eat, drink and sleep there.

Yesterday my mage character Crystal Beth was traveling from Whiterun to Windhelm. She had picked up the disease Ataxia, which affects dexterity (I'm assuming) to pick pockets and locks. She doesn't pick pockets, but she does pick locks. Anyways, I forgot to get her healed up in Whiterun. No biggie; i"ll do it in Windhelm.

She's walking along and comes to an obviously good mage (he didn't attack her). Turns out he's a Vigillant of Stendarr. And turns out
After 6 months of gaming, I figured I had seen it all when traveling the roads. Apparently not.

Yeah, I hate it when NPCs die because I wasn't fast enough killing a dragon or bandit etc. One time though, a dragon landed in Riverwood and I ran at it, just as Hilde was running away across that bridge, it roared and breathed fire at her just as I attacked and drew its attention. After killing it, I searched everywhere for her body, and found that she had somehow survived. How she survived is beyond me, but I was so glad, despite hating her cos she's a blatant racist XD

Yeah, I only recently found that out about Vigilants as well, pretty awesome imo.

Had one today when I stepped out of Honeyside to witness the entire population of Riften lynch mobbing a thief.

Guess the towns people were sick of having their ornate crockery pinched.

I have had many, but few I can specificly remember at the moment.

the Aurora Borealis.

Watching a dead dragon come in for a crash landing and plough a furrow along the ground.

My first full on snow storm, couldn't see more than a foot ahead of me. Ended up walking off a cliff face, thought that was incredible realistic.

too many to list but they're usually followed by a wtf moment

When I think about it there are loads, actually - I mean there are the obvious: the jumping salmon, and the buckets being 2.
But there's the bears which actually fish in the rivers, the little details like how at the bandits' camps and such the watch towers have chairs and often there will be a container full of arrows as well.
The sheer level of detail is really just awesome, to be honest.

Only one,
Blackreach

I've had so many, but just last night while playing (on xbox) I was walking around whiterun and I eventually found a clear spot where I could walk through the ground (On accident). I was walking around under whiterun, and I eventually made it outside of the city walls. Outside was all bland and barely textured, and the landscape and buildings would disappear as I got to them. I decided I'd go see if I could make it through the invisible walls surrounding Skyrim. I could. It took me forever but I eventually made it to Vvardenfell. I could make out the general shape of the land, it brought back a lot of memories. I could make out where seeyda neen, khull, and gnar mok should be. It was pretty awesome. But as I swam over to it, the land there just went right through me. I swam out to the center of red mountain, but I didn't see any Dagoth Ur corpses or hearts of lorkhan so I decided to just fast travel back to whiterun and finish my quest. Not really the kind of "hey, that's cool" moment the thread was talking about, but It was sure interesting.

Finding a dead slaughterfish on a path last night, just south-west of Windhelm, just laying there in the middle of the road. Was certainly more a WTF moment than cool, but I think it's cool anyway. No idea how it got there, but I giggled. Silly fish, you should be in water.

Archery killcam proc'd, arrow flew past my enemy and off into the distance to kill a bunny. Was epic and failtastic all in one, at first I was like, [censored] killcam missing my target, then I was like, wth, lmfao! Poor bunny.

Dragon shouts, spells, and finishers usually.

Started a new character. Waited a bit to do the MQ. Finally had to go to the West Tower to fight the First Dragon. Thought I would do something different, so I went all the way to the top of the tower and tried to find the dragon to see where or how he shows up.

OMFG, it was so cool to see (south I believe, could be wrong) the draong so small coming towards us. It was gliding in with the wings spread out, and it looked so cool. It was an awsome moment for me since I haven't seen that before. It almost made me feel like I was playing a new game after restarting Skyrim so many times.

Similar to that but with no killcam. While doing the mission to free the Grey-Mane guy (forgot his name now). I killed the guard outside and ran inside the fortress outer walls not realising how many were in there. Big snowstorm suddenly erupted so I could barely see anyone until they were almost within arms reach. I fired an arrow just as the elven guard side-stepped and the arrow hit his buddy that I couldn't even see 15 feet behind him, decided to switch to swords right after that because visibility was too low for a bow. I didn't realise I'd killed anyone, I heard the "aaargh" but didn't think about it until I found the body a little later next to the door with my Orcish arrow in him. I think I can honestly say he didn't see that coming

I was battling an elder dragon on the cliffs above Dawnstar (I think....) shot an arrow and ducked behind a big boulder to avoid being flamed. My arrow flew through the boulder and killed the dragon - when the killcam popped up I was shocked!
I always stop and watch the Aurora Borealis.for a few minutes, or the starry skies with the moons. I've often just sat at the edge of a river and watched it flow by. The scenery never ceases to amaze me.

Similar thing happened to me but I fojnd a Spriggon next to a glacier.