Here is my two cents. The elder scroll games are a wonderful place to explore and adventure in. I feel fewer combats would be a more immersive experience than what feels like the requisite fight every 5-10 minuets.
I don't need to have combat the focus of the experience, I'll play shooter if that is what I'm after. The elder scroll games always had a more organic feel that was (for me) marred by too much fighting

Have the critters who choose to fight have a reason to fight. In Morrowind it was ludicrous that random campers would attack someone dripping in magic gear and weapons only armed with a chitin dagger. Or a wolf in Oblivion would continue go after an adventurer after getting clobbered a couple of times. Especially when easier prey (deer) was to be had.

Have run-of-the-mill combatants who value their skins. Have them run away once they realize that they have lost. Or surrender. And have the fight end.
Or have them think "Can I win this fight" before they even attack.

Less is more.

Not a bad suggestion but not necessary either. Spells like invisibility and the like make it incredibly easy to avoid as many fights as you like, and they are very accesible to all characters.

Can't argue with that. Bandits should be NPCs with a grudge. There are plenty of mindless/ just plain stupid foes to deal with. Of course an animated skeleton will be relentless and uncaring of it's own safety, But if an ogre is clever enough to wear a loincloth, it should be clever enough to know when it's about to die.
Now a lich which is, or was, intelligent may attack regardless out of sheer arrogance. Each enemy should have it's own level of agression/sense of self preservation.

More passive and neutral beasts would be cool.

:D

I think you'll be getting that.

I think this is where having a real good AI system would make a difference. Instead of having just Hostile NPC`s/Creatures that will attack the PC on sight, it would be much better if they are actually capable of deciding whether you pose a threat, whether they should flee or fight, whether they should approach with caution to decide your threat to them etc.

Martigans Monster Mod for Oblivion was a great improvement just for the flee/ wound system alone that added more to the game. I really hope the NPC`s/Creatures in Skyrim will have better AI and responses, but yes, totally agree with your points.

Casting a invisible spell all the time is mana draining and it wont do for fighters. I offen role-play as a fighter then i cant simply cast invisible spells. I dont want to have a spell effect on me just in order to travel 500m along the road. I think it would be great to just stare down an enemy. We players allways (or offten) observe our foe before we engage in combat, the Npc's/creatures should do the same. (if not maybe defendig territory) Undead wont fear for there lives so they charge if they see.
Thats my oppinion anyway

i want less fighting in the wilderness for no random reason, but more in dungeons. there should be 3 main dungeon types


1: generic leveled fighting dungeon

2: non leveled fighting dungeon that may turn into a stealth dungeon because of high leveled npcs

3: scary dungeon- amnesia baby

4: agile dungeon - like a scaled down version of assasins creed 2 seal lairs/ brotherhoods lairs of Romulus

Precisely. Though a bandit (who does not have a personal grudge against YOU) should be thinking can I win a purse for get my but kicked.

There are critters who will mindlessly attack or are over arrogant. Most will be like you. "I'm gonna die! I'm so out of here!" or Hmm big flashy mega-weapon, I'll pass."

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the AI was so good that if you kill a wolf, it's dead, but if you beat it off, it's waiting for you outside the next dungeon, but this time it's brought it's mates to the fight.

Hehe i like that thought but id probably die if they did XD

Goblins yes

Why would a wolf care? It is hungry it only wants to fill it's tummy in the easiest least risky way. Think I'll eat a dozen mice much safer than that stinky orc.

hehe I`d love to see that...in fact with lots of the monsters/npc`s. It would sure stop us getting cocky. Imagine thumping a drunken thug NPC in a tavern and then you step outside later and see him and 5 of his mates waiting for you..
Perhaps the Dragon you defeated in the mountains was only a young one and now you have the Mother after you... (Deathclaws anyone?lol)
Would add a lot of fun and uncertainty to your actions, not knowing if retribution was gonna come knocking..

Fair point. I love this forum, you have to think before you type, unlike so many others.

Bethesda actually incorporated this system (to some extent) in Fallout 3. Some dungeons vaults were fairly infested and just for action, others were more focused on scare tactics alone. I don't see why they wouldn't bring this diversity to Skyrim.

I like the idea of monsters/animals hunting other monsters/animals. I believe everyone and everything in the world should be fair game for an attack. Fleeing gets really annoying, though I could understand some lower level monsters like maybe rats or scamps deciding to run for their lives after a massive damage attack. But monsters like Ogres? Minotaurs? No matter how strong you are, they should totally remain KOS. If you're not looking for a fight, stick to the roads pilgrim.

I like big fights, but it has to be a living world where the attention is not all focused on the player, like FCOM. and fights need to be gruesome and fast, so weapons should be heavily damaging. not slashslashslashslash heal slashslash etc. more like blockpowerattackdodgebashdecapitaaaaation.

Why would an ogre or Minotaur value it's life any less that you value your own. What is it's motivation for attacking you?
Why would a ogre spoiling for a fight NOT be at a road side waiting to cause trouble.?

Yes a fleeing NPC that you need to defeat is annoying but it is very realistic. I'm sure that in this case we can have a compromise. Again death should not be the only way to win/lose a conflict. Yes from a programing point of view that is much easier.

In FO enemys would tend to bail if you crit them on the shot or disarm them but yeah I think more ppl should just stand there ground and smaller animals to I preferred how cyotes in FOnv did not attack unless you pressed them for it. Undead, dragon other big monster and groups should always be hostile but some tactile behaviour would be nice, more ways of engaging with bandits like the toll random encounter in OB just with more choise than pay or fight, when I'm bad ass a wanna fillia there armour, punch them clean out or blast a massive spell over head, then c if they like to party,

I agree, the ecosystem in these games is something they should improve. If you want to level up and kill monsters, find their hunting grounds or go into a dungeon or something.

From my thread: Something I missed in past games are realistic eco systems that include prey. It seems the only prey in Vvardenfell and Cyrodiil are kwama, guars, mudcrabs, deer, horses and a few more. And the predators only hunt down humans for some reason... There should be so many more, like squirrels, birds, a few fish species that DON'T kill you and maybe even insects if Beth are willing to go that far. But that's not important, the main thing is that there can't possibly exist 10 different predators every hundred meter. It makes the game feel somewhat cheap. Make the encounters a little less common and more exciting, while you can still see prey animals roaming around. Imagine you're wandering in the snowy pine forest. You see a squirrel running up a tree as you walk the trail. Later on (maybe 100 meters down the road) you can see a group of elks walk around among the trees. All of a sudden, one of those elks gets attacked by a troll, and another fight unveils. There can be dense monster zones as well, but they shouldn't be evenly scattered. Hunting grounds for different predators would be great. If you want to level up, go into a cave or to a place where the trolls (if ou want to hunt trolls, that is) usually hunt.

About hunting - you shouldn't be able to chase after a deer, wolf (all wolves shouldn't attack you, perhaps only when they're in packs) or a squirrel as they are way too fast. Instead you could perhaps set up traps or use your bow and arrow. Also, fishing would be great.

It's not necessarily the fact that they don't value their life. I'm sure we can agree that Ogres aren't exactly the sharpest tools -- that and the fact that they are used to humans running away in fear of them. Same goes for minotaurs. They're prideful and dumb. They feel they can defeat anything or anyone. I realize it would be more "realistic" for enemies to flee when they're low on health. Sure, I'd do it myself.
But when they die, they don't have to worry about when they last saved, or where they're going to respawn, etc. etc.

That's true, they're like hippos and rhinos. Aren't Ogres daedra? In that case it'd make sense since they don't die, they just return to their plane of Oblivion. But wolves and those kinds of animals should be more careful unless they're in packs, and might try to run if they're badly hurt.

Penumbra series is awesome too.Except the last episode is not scary at all(Requiem).

I dont understand why people think Dead space is the scariest game ever.Obviosly never played Amnesia or Penumbra.

Are you thinking of Ogrims?