Oblivion had about 32 different types of creatures ( not counting variants, like ancient ghosts and gloom wraiths) and Morrowind had 42. Mods like Martigen's Monster Mod, Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul and " Piratelord's Creatures" for Morrowind increased the number of creatures exponentially, though many of the new monsters were variants of the existing ones.

So far, Skyrim has about 20 confirmed creatures (Draughr, Skeletons, Trolls, Giants, Ice Wraiths, Giant Spiders, Dragons, Wolves, Horses, Elk, Mammoths, Saber-Toothed Tigers, Centurion Spheres, Dogs, Skeevers, Bears, Rabbits, Horkers, Dragon Priests and Ice Atronachs).

How many more do you think we'll get? I'm sure we'll see the other 2 main atronachs, and some of the series staples (mudcrabs, scamps, etc) wouldn't surprise me, but Bethesda seems to be taking a quality-over-quantity approach in this game. They've emphasized that they want creatures to look and behave like they're truly a part of the world, which might mean more realistic creatures, but fewer overall than OB or MW.

So what do you guys think? I personally feel like I'd get bored quickly if creatures were less varied than in Oblivion, especially after hitting the 100 hour mark. Will Bethesda go above and beyond and give us a large variety of well-crafted beasts?

They said yetis in the Gameinformer article.
I'm praying for both varieties of Dreugh and Weresharks.

Also more species of mudcrabs increases the chances of someone saying: "I saw a mudcrab the other day."
And then someone responding: "I try and avoid those whenever possible."

And then my response in murdering everyone while wearing the Cowl of Nocturnal.

I expect roughly the same amount of creatures.

I am hoping for alot more, 3x what was in Oblivion.

I hope the wildlife in the game is massively increased. I want to see penguins, polar bears, walrus, seals, various forms of birds (eagles etc), wild horses (that you can break in), moose, deer etc

As well as alot of new enemies to kill

I'd be surprised if Rieklings and Spriggans weren't in Skyrim.

Don't forget the Daedra. Hope they don't expect us just to deal with Dremora again. None confirmed, but it almost wouldn't be TES without them.

I'd hope for more than Oblivion.
Even if its just variants, more is good. Variants are much easier to make than completely new creatures, but it can multiply how many we get, adding a lot of variation with minimal expense.

But I do expect less than Oblivion, maybe a few more at most. They've added a lot of "new" creatures to Skyrim, there are a lot we can assume will be there, such as most daedra.

This isn't Red Dead Redemption.

Again? When did we ever have to deal with just dremora?

I am aware of that it's why I am on the Skyrim foum. This isn't D&D but there is magic, there are swords. To dismiss a possibility of game play is ignorant simply because it was in another game.

Next you'll be saying there shouldn't be dragons because they are in Dragon Age..... ridiculous!

I don't really expect more mobs than in Oblivion. I do however expect modders to fix that, as they did in Morrowind and Oblivion quite nicely. Looking forward to see what they can cook up.

I don't think they will be able to fit too many more than they had in oblivion while also making the creatures seem to fit in the world, unless they have very dynamic spawn locations with certain creatures being rare and others being what you expect to see. If they have fewer they can also more easily create dynamic relationships between animals (ie. wolves attack mammoths in packs). That being said, Oblivion did have a lot of empty space that mods filled up well, so I'm guessing around 40-44 would be good to hope for.

Edit: Also, the total number really isn't going to tell you as much as it would if you broke it down to what type of creature you are looking at. For example, if they add 4 more types of undead that impacts only one specific environment that may or may not be a place you visit often. If they add 4 more wildlife creatures it probably would pay off more, but also be more difficult to balance due to the relationships these creatures have.

If your going to sink in dozens, even hundreds of hours into this game, then yes, you most defnitely will be diving tons of dungeons and see plenty of undead. Also with fast travel in oblivion, you often skipped the wilderness and went strait to dungeons that way.

They were the only intelligent Daedra in vanilla Oblivion, had to wait for SI for Aureals and Mazkhen.
Sorry, when I said deal with I meant speak with, not deal with permanently.

Cliff Racers.....lots and lots of Cliff Racers

Chill bro. I was just messin with you. But personally, breaking horses just doesn't feel like skyrim in my opinion.
Horses arn't that big of a thing in Skyrim. Heck. For awhile they weren't even sure if they'd put horses in.
I wasn't dismissing the possibility of game play for the game because of that at all. I understand that nothing is original anymore. I just don't feel that breaking horses in is a thing that fits into TES.

there is nothing better in a game than, once you think you are into the game world and start seeing the patterns, for a new creature to pop up. I didn't see a yao guai untill like 40 hours into Fallout 3 and it immersed me a lot: life doesn't have patterns.

At least there'll be more than in The Witcher 2. Being a monster hunter must get pretty boring when there's only half a dozen things to kill.

Fair enough, your opinion is welcome obviously. I just feel that it would be a viable option as they have to get their horses from somewhere, right. Still we are all entitled to our own opinions, it's why we are all here.

Didn't Oblivion have groups of wild horses anyway? Not that Skyrim will be the same.

Honestly, I'd like to see more "TES original" creatures than real-world beasts, but the wolves in Skyrim do look pretty awesome.

I have a hard time picturing breaking horses in Skyrim, even the new engine might not be able to handle that (making that kind of feature in Skyrim is not as easy as making it in RDR).

As for Daedra, you cannot just assume they will make an appearance. The Oblivion gates were shut 'forever' and while they appeared in Morrowind, Daedric shrines are less common in other parts of Tamriel. Im sure there will be a few Daedras(such as the attronaches already confirmed) but I wouldn't expect the same amount and frequency of them.

You are fascinated by weresharks, aren't you?

I remember seeing a fox chasing a rabbit in the gameplay video for Skyrim.

I'd like to see something in the water, something fearful. In Oblivion is was SlaughterFish and Morrowind was Dreugh. Nothing respectable.

Yep.

I expect it to start maxing out at 25. Which is a shed load compared to most games. We already know at least 10 of those creature by now.

Have seen much of the daedra yet, only that frost atronach so far

by that logic skyrim shouldnt have text or movement because cubert had it