If that is the case (that they are all huge elaborate dungeons) then I will be happy!

at least I'm sure there will be plenty of resources so modders will be able to mix 'em up and create any kind of dungeon

Anyone think we might have some smaller cave like areas that lead you through/over some of the mountain regions that don't actually count towards the 130?

I really doubt Todd would BS us like that. He said 130 unique dungeons, until I see otherwise on 11-11-11, Skyrim will have 130 unique dungeons.

Exactly 130? Maybe like 129 or 131 but I doubt exactly 130?

Maybe that means 130 unique ones and some copies? (non-unique)

and the handmade dungoens are probably bigger and more complex. 1 daggerfall dungeon is much more awesome than 10 Oblivion dungeons., although that's cuz Daggerfall's weren't hand made at all

The tiny glimpses we've seen of the dungeons so far already seem to blow Oblivion's cut and paste ones out of the water. I explored maybe 80-100 dungeons, including the quest ones before I got bored with them and realized there was nothing worthwhile in them to go after. One of the many reason I put in over 1000+hrs into Morrowind where Oblivion gave me about 250 tops, there was no real reason to explore those 200 or so places, but Skyrim look to fix that, with not only having good reason to explore them, but also makes them unique, so even if they did only have bad leveled loot and enemies, they would be worth checking out just see something new. It's one of the things I'm most excited about, exploration will be fun again. Which even with less dungeons, will give you more worthwhile things to do.

Why are you just pulling at hairs? Maybe not exactly 130? Ok? Who cares? That's not the point of my post whatsoever.


I have no reason to believe any dungeon will be the same since we've been told otherwise. We were told by the man himself that we will have around 130 unique dungeons, and that no dungeon will be the same because of how they are tackling the whole ordeal this time. They're doing it very differently from Oblivion.

DLC's guys. It's a money maker. You see, they package just enough content in to get you hooked, then dangle another 20 hours of gameplay for 10 bucks in front of you.

It's not a bad model, as it keeps people playing and has been very successful from a franchise like TES. But that is how it's done these days.

130 unique, hand-laid dungeons? I'll take that any day. That 130 will give me enough play time until they release the first DLC, which I will get, along with each subsequent DLC and community made mods. No guys, Skyrim will be fun. You all will see. It'll blend bits of what we like from MW and OB. Just wait. Seriously. I think they'll have a happy medium with this one.

Just enough? I think Bethesda is very generous when it comes to game content compared to most other games. I wouldn't consider 100+ hours of content "just enough".

I totally agree. It became utterly pointless to enter dungeons in OB as they all were exactly the same, and rarely had worthy loot. Don't even get me started on OB gates. Increasing level designers was one of the best things gamesas could have done. From everything Todd Howard has mentioned it sounds like Bethesda is really trying to make the world in general(including dungeons, towns, regions) feel much more interesting and unique. Anyway, 130 hand crafted dungeons, 5 major cities, 20 smaller towns with over ten buildings each, and who knows what else I think will be more than enough to keep us all occupied for a long time. I just hope it is as varied and interesting as gamesas claims.

Sorry not trying to be difficult just saying it would be silly to count every dungeon in Skyrim and feel like we were lied to if there isn't exactly 130 dungeons.

I loved Daggerfall, but its randomly generated dungeons were the worst part of the game IMO. They took too long, the map system was horrible, it was way too easy to get lost in them, and quest-related ones glitched out way too often.

The key is in packaging enough *good* content to get people hooked. I dumped a fair number of hours into OB, but by the time SI came along I was bored of it.

Agree. We don't really need 200 dungeons anyway. I gladly have a smaller amount of dungeons if that means they are more unique.
And the second point is valid as well. Just walk though a forest in a straight line in Oblivion, and you "discover" a dungeon every minute. The map is crammed with them, they're not hidden at all, so the amounts of dungeons is just annoying. With Skyrim being around the same size as Oblivion and with almost half the amount of dungeons, I'm sure the world will feel much more realistic without a dungeon in the open every 100 meters.
Seriously, I would have been satisfied with 50 dungeons if they're all unique and filled with various traps, enemies and loot.

Add the fact that they've said they have more traps and puzzles, and the fewer dungeons of Skyrim is going to kick Oblivion's dungeons butts.

Don't forget all the nooks and crannies and the massive mountains. Quite a few dungeons are probably located on mountains which frees up even more space on the flat land. That should really bode well for a less cramped world.

I would assume that dungeons include caves, ruins, and any other such places that are typically underground and adventurers like to explore, the number does not apply to camps, towns, inns and the like. And I'm fine with that number myself, I've never complained that Oblivion didn't have enough dungeons, and to this day, I've never explored many of the dungeons in the game, on the other hand, I HAVE found that they get somewhat repetitive after a while. So if the smaller amount of dungeons and larger amount of people working on them means the dungeons can have more unique designs, then I'll be pleased.

Oblivion was totally overcrowded in terms of dungeons, and a lot (or even most) of them were not particularly interesting in design, challenge or reward. Less dungeons is actually a good thing so you don't walk into a cave or ruin every few feet and on top of that - combined with the fact that there's 8 times the manpower on them this time around - it will lead to more interesting and unique dungeons.

Without comparing it to Oblivion just let the number sink in for a moment. 130 dungeons. Assuming they're all unique in some way, 130 is a lot and is a greater number than you'll find in any other game.

They did say that about Oblviouns too though.

I want traps/cave ins to respawn I remember that black bow vs marauder cave (good hunting ground) where the stones would fall from ceiling once but after that first visit they wouldn't anymore kind of annoying that and remember the ayleid trap that was the spike wall but only like 2 maybe 3 places had it sadly.
I just want more stuff cool stuff.

The number is just perfect. In oblivion I would explore a few caves and fill my pockets with daedra and glass armor. And worse yet these caves were within 30 seconds of each other.

Dungeons in Oblivion were all hand made.
By one person who just copied everything he had into every other dungeon. He had like..10 templates and used those for all 200 or so dungeons.
Having 8 different people level designing, it will be vastly different.

130 is plenty.

Does anyone know how many dungeons FO3 had?

Hopefully, whatever Skyrim lacks in quantity of 'dungeons', it will make up for in quality. In addition, the cities and villages will be larger, potentially having much more to do than in Cyrodiil's cities.

Also, there may be many more above-ground encounters and locations similar to FONV.