i don't want all of this game to be scary, but some of it should put amnesia to shame.



1: scary music for scary dungeons

2: DARKNESS!!!! (and lighting, disturbing shadows always work)

3: monsters significantly more powefull than the player.

4: scary ambient noise, ramblings of distant characters (like how bioshock did splicers in early levels)

5: monsters getting to the player in interesting ways- for example

-skeletons starting of in piles, and assembling themselves when triggered.
- banshees jumping out and screaming very loudly very near the player
- ghosts and wraiths behaving like ghosts- not glowing things floating around
- monsters making a warning noise, and charging out of the darkness
- completely invisible enemies (seriously- try the amnesia demo on steam- you will never want to go near water again)
- enemies playing dead, or looking like something else (think splicers in bioshock 1)



6: enemies should TAUNT you, they should make extra loud footsteps as they approach your location, or perhaps they should laugh manically . there should be moments when a superior opponent sees you, strolls down to you- and you have to run away, close the door, block the door and hide before it breaks down the door and feasts upon you! they should give portal turret like responses like " are you still there?" where are you" "hello" and whatnot.

7: add random events-
when you sleep around the campfire you built you might be awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of wolves howling in the distance or even something else.
when you sleep in a cave or dungeon you might awake to your enemies face covering your screen as he has just started to inspect you!
when you swim- you better hope that you arent going to be attacked by something dangerous and sneaky (such as a slaughterfish swarm, dreugh, giant sea serpents, water dragons or other monsterous fish
when you cross a frozen lake- you better hope it doesnt belong to the vampires who can swim through the ice without breaking it and may decide to grab you by the ankles and pull you down!
player should be heavily encouraged to stay out of certain areas during a full moon.

Meh.

I actually think you bring up some good points, but I don't see how it's scary, other than the scary music and lighting. Also, I hope it's not too dark (or, if it is, we can get spells and items to illuminate or see in the dark). And no screaming monsters, because that can [censored] up a body's ears.

Someone from a magazine company (OXM?) said that during the quest in their demo they were in a cave and a giant spider jumped down from the ceiling right in front of the character! Things like that in a dark cave with only your torch guiding you would make for some very frightening scenes.

And possibly the most terrifying thing of all:

8: random NPC named jack stalking you incessantly asking irritating questions. "Don't you wish your cloak blew in the wind?" "Wouldn't you like to encounter more types of dragons?" "Have you seen a see monster?"

;)

I didn't realize Bethesda was making a survival horror game.

a see monster :thumbsup:

They already have awsome Dynamic lighting, this will make being 'scared' a million times easier already.

I would love some areas of the game to have that creepy feel to it, just not overdone.

I played Amnesia up to the water part. Then I didn't play it anymore. Call me a chicken. :bolt:

Dungeons

Well they didn't. But That don't mean they should make skeletons,wraiths.lich's and especially dragons welcome you in their dominion with a bouquet of flowers and candy. It just seems a bit more right to be scared [censored]less than running into them and hug them as if you've seen a long lost friend.

I'd just like to see ultra-abstract creatures, nothing else like attempts at making things more 'scary' by using unexpected attacks of creatures or 'stressful' music. Something abstract, more like this:

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/4545/still512.jpg

I'd rather not, Minecraft is enough scary for me.

Sure but if Bethesda wants to scare me, all they have to do is throw in a couple of proper scary looking zombies and I'll [censored] bricks.

This.

What, like a screamer (the Maze flash game)? No thanks.

Zombies and eerie dungeons is enough, and we know those will be in. This is an RPG, not a horror game, and we don't really need to crap our pants in every dungeon we explore.

YES!

:mellow:, um,

I'd like to see some original creatures, not as well as the standard Minotaurs Dragons and Goblins stuff that Oblivion had

Haha, me too just about. That part was f-ed up. I'll have to buy it one of these days.



Sure we do, when a player says he's a regular dungeon crawler we know he's bad ass or bat-[censored] crazy, but I see what you mean.

I always thought Oblivion's dungeons felt pretty darn scary the first time I played it.

Fallout 3 always freaked me out as well. Really scary I think.

I think Skyrim will be scary too, in appropriate places.

Inn with a bunch of drunken Nords is pretty scary...since I play a Wood Elf almost always. They are just so big and Conan-ish.


I agree with you though. Skyrim's graphics (and the info we know so far) makes me believe they're making it more adventureous and "real".

How do ghosts behave? I've never met one before...

Being that fantasy-style ghosts don't exist no matter what your beliefs, I don't think you should judge how they should act...
It's like saying how certain magic would break realism.

They should get rid of the ambient lighting in most dunegons altogether, the only light sources should come from lanterns (I miss those), torches or magic.

If you REALLY want Bethesda to scare you, then they should announce that Skyrim is going to borrow mechanics heavily from God of War and Prince of Persia

@OP - Excellent topic title :goodjob:

I totally agree, Bethesda really need to try and capture that feeling of tension and dread when exploring dungeons and with the first person viewpoint and dungeon layout they have the perfect opportunity to do so, I would love to see monsters that stalk the player and hide in the shadows instead of attacking on sight just to play on the player's paranoia, shapes moving in the shadows, mournful howls in the distance, the rattling of chains and footsteps in the dark.



Eh I suppose everyone has a different idea of how ghosts should act however I must admit their implementation in Oblivion was pretty lame. Personally I loved how the ghosts were handled in Metro 2033, while they diddnt really pose much of a threat and werent all that scary it was still a bit unsettling to shine your torch in the darkness and see the silhouttes and shadows of men trapped in their past.