There is a fun example of using changing environmental effects in the sunny part of the EA main area south of the blighted village, but it’s a bit of a spoiler so I won’t say more if you’re trying to avoid too much info.
But wait, there isn't EVEN RAIN/STORM EFFECTS later in EA????
What, its just sunny 24/7 in Faerun now?
No, the area I’m talking about starts off sunny but … well, you’ll see if/when you play. True, in EA at least the indications are that environmental effects will be tied to areas with changes triggered by specific events rather than randomised weather, though the example I give I think might indicate Larian could implement weather if they want. But, while it’s hard to be sure how much time is intended to pass in the overland area in EA given we get to choose ourselves when the adventuring day ends, I’d guess that it’s about a week if you do everything. Which isn’t
quite long enough for it to become too noticeable to me, at any rate, how stable the climate is, particularly given the aforementioned exception. It would definitely be noticeable if all overland areas we visit in the full game had the same weather, or even if they were different but we stayed in any one area too long.
But for me the approach of having ambiance tied to area and plot can definitely work. And while I’ve certainly seen and appreciated use of changing weather effects in games I’ve played previously, I couldn’t tell you which specific ones, and for any particular cRPG I’ve played, even ones I’ve spent hundreds of hours on, I’m not 100% sure I’d be able to correctly say if it had changeable weather or not, so it’s obviously not something that figures highly in my appreciation of games.
