Dungeons have to be interior I believe.I cannot imagine how an open air one would be like.I wouldn't object if someone came with an idea though.
In Morrowind,there were these kinds of dungeons:

Underground
-Bandit Caves
-Ancestral Tombs
-Mines
-Sewers
-Ice Caves

Surface&Underground
-Daedric Ruins
-Dwemer Ruins

Surface
-Propylon Castles
-Nordic Tombs

In Oblivion,there was these:

Underground:
-Caves
-Sewers
-Mines
-Ayleid Ruins (as you'd always go down)

Surface:
-Forts
-Oblivion Planes

Hmmmm...Certainly,why didn't we ever get "towers" for example? Nice point.

Well, it wouldn't technically be a "DUNGEON" because that would have to be underground, but you could have large old ruined forts built with a tileset like a dungeon that you can travel through that exist above ground and are full of monsters or marauders.

Well,depends on how you define dungeon.Dungeons in real life are places where prisoners were held as far as I know.In RPGs,it's "places to kill mobs and gain loot" At least that's how I use it =P

Generally I thought a dungeon was an underground prison or something. Usually underneath castles.

I have removed several posts that were flamebait and flaming and response to that bait.

In normal real-world parlance, it's really just a fancy word for prison, which at the time the word "dungeon" was used was normally under a castle of some manner. And by castle, I mean fortress and keep, not fairytale buttresses. I mean murder holes, a moat, arrow slits, and torture racks.

However in adventure gaming parlance, it does just tend to mean a separate area from the overworld map with hostiles. Although notably if those are outside they aren't usually called such, like the Brecilian Forest in DA:O. It is functionally a dungeon, with monsters and loot, but because it's under open sky it isn't called one. Meanwhile the Deep Roads, being an actual road system in the same series, is termed a dungeon because it's underground.

Interesting.

Perhaps "dungeon" was the wrong word...

Dungeons are always underground. The fancy name for an above-ground dungeon is "jail" or "prison".

But it would be nice to explore other places than just dungeons. Surely there would be ruined castles, or outposts and the like.

They were able to do it in Fallout with little to no problems. I see no reason why TES shouldn't get some nice ruined castles out there.

DWEMER DUNGEONS ARE THE SOLUTIONS FOR OUR PROBLEMSS!!1 (I dont know why im soooo hyped up for them!!!) HUGE BRONZE TOWERS WITH PIPES ALLL THE WAAYYY :tes:

I keep thinking back to Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple, where the progression would continuously place link out in open-aired courtyards. Something like that could work flawlessly with crypts or forts, where they have open-air areas, not just at the beginning of the dungeon, but interspersed through the middle of it. They don't even have to be actual parts of the outside worldmap, they can be their own interior cells that mimic outside landscapes. They played with this in a small number of ways in Oblivion, I want them to expand on it.

I'd like to see an above ground/partially above ground 'dungeon'.

Walk into a standard cave entrance, run around a bit, come across a path that takes you above ground. Perhaps fenced in with cliffs/water/etc (within its own cell), but still has the sun shining. (obviously not the sun at night).

I can't imagine that it would be especially difficult to make, but could be wrong.

As far as castles go, it would be nice to have more variety of 'dungeon' to explore and fight through.

That would be really awsome. A huge moss clad Citadel from some forgotten age half-claimed by nature, with old tree roots entwined around large piles of fallen masonary, pretty tricky to negotiate a path through. Within lies a couple of really high semi-derelict towers with crumbling stone and rotten wooden planks which crack and splinter if you tarry. Towers which require extremely careful climbing and precision jumping before you can successfully ascend to the upper most levels. A real sense of height and danger is essential, infact the higher and more dangerous the better I say, one slip and you're toast. Oh yeah, I'm all for ruined Cities in Skyrim. Makes a nice change from dungeoneering which becomes a tad claustrophobic after a while.

Bahaha!
I do like the idea of ruins to explore that are above ground, it'd be cool to fight your way to the top of a ruined castle and AC leap into a moat or something.

One of the things I HATED (aaargh) about Oblivion was that there wasn't a single dungeon in the game that had much exterior content. Imagine Castle ruins or a lost town or temple ground with massive potential for adventuring under the open sky, then transitioning to an internal dungeonscape. Some "dungeons" could even be completely topside. That wouldn't technically make them dungeons, but isn't that just a label. Wouldn't it be nice to have some more (or A LOT more) external, aboveground sites to adveture in?

please not something like megaton. yes, it was a very interesting idea, but i got sick of running confusedly around the catwalks.

I believe there's a mod for Morrowind which does just that. It would be a puzzling shame should they fail to do that in Skyrim

I was disappointed in Oblivion that there wasn't more of the forts... with forts... was just underground, I was also disappointed that the Imperial Legion just left them all alone to be occupied by goodness knows what, why didn't the legion use any of those forts... nope, all left to whatever wanted it!?

It's hard to come up with more then buildings tho, other then some cleaver landscapes or via magical manipulation there is not going to be much else...

Honestly I'd say that wasn't done so much due to engine limitations, many of which were overcome in fallout 3 and new vegas. But realize, we don't know all the specs for the new engine they're using for Skyrim. It could very well be much more forgiving (and less system taxing..) to have an open air dungeon then it was with the Gamebryo engine.

I honestly expect the same underground dungeons(Though greatly improved as seen in the trailer)

The reason being is that Bethesda thinks of dungeons as separate from the world, although they do compliment each other.

It's not like in say...Dark Souls(From Software's new game successor to Demon's Souls) where the world and the dungeons are intertwined into one world.

Both ways have their pros and cons.

Well, Oblivion gates were pretty much exterior dungeons for all intents and purposes, and the towers in them were basically the inverse of what most dungeons do. Whereas typically with dungeons you enter at the ground floor and if the dungeon has mutiple levels, the direction you want to go is usually down, with Oblivion towers, you're climbing up until you reach the Sigil Stone. In Morrowind, the Dunmer strongholds were typically above ground for the most part, they might have tunnels under them like sewers and such, but a lot of the interior area of such places was located in the above ground structures. So certainly, in past games, dungeon exploration has generally been underground, though there were some exceptions, I wouldn't mind a few more above ground dungeons in Skyrim. I suppose tradition aside, the main reason why they're usually underground is because it's just easier to that way, as you can make an extensive underground complex without taking up much space above ground, but I'm sure there's somewhere on the map where you can put a large structure or series of structures just for the sake of providing players a place to loot and kill monsters. It would be good for variety, not to mention you really have to wonder why of all the ruins scattered around the game. Maybe I can buy that your ancient advanced culture that is now extinct preferred living underground, but that doesn't explain Imperial forts, surely, Imperials were never known for their fondness for building everything underground. Or are we meant to assume that all the exterior structures crumbled into whatever random bits of stonework we see on the outside and that all that's left is the underground tunnels apparently everyone liked to build under their structures in the past? If that's the case, one has to wonder why the entrance is still perfectly intact. One can't help but feel like ruins are actually underground tunnels built for some reason or another and what we see outside is just decorations for the entrance...



Sorry to dissappoint you, but if they're like in past games, Dwemer ruins will mostly be underground too.

My own Uberdungeon concept will be with a lore that explains in great detail the reason behind it's majestic underground size. It's mostly got to do with being a proving ground for a chosen hero (you), kinda like a vault or something (undecided as it requires the Creation Kit to really map out and crystallize). My plan is to have 3 major parts:

1) - Initial cave in which a Portal must be activated by the gathering of some key item or similar. (Idea is based on the portal system in the Eye of the Beholder series)
2) - The portal takes you to a second portion in which you need to defeat a vast subterranean labyrinth with many traps, puzzles and mindgames to acquire the key to the third and last portion.
3) - After returning from the depths, the way opens up to a version of the father of all dungeon crawls ("Chainmail"), ending in a dragon fight at a rooftop pinnacle or similar apex.

At least that's the idea. But we'll see what I'll be able to do with the kit. Oh, and you'll be able to exit and reenter the complex easily for selling off loot etc, due to the "round-about" design of the individual portions (you go through the place and end up at the start of the complex, like a circle).

http://mmimageslarge.moviemail-online.co.uk/ghibli-castle-sky.jpg http://photoshopcontest.com/images/fullsize/774870521179a75aa467bd12a5fc33eb3c6684ce292928.jpg http://rothbart.blogg.se/images/2010/laputa_castle_in_the_sky001-710x533-440x331_106660488.jpg

Its one of those "It'd be nice but I don't really care" things for me.

For me the big fail in Oblivion were the Forts

It seems inconceivable that ALL - not just a few - Imperial Forts would have been simultaneously allowed the crumble into ruins, whilst the underground was taken over by bandits and goblins. Even the Forts within a stones throw of the Imperial Cities have suffered that fate. Why weren't the Legion dispatched to clear out the interlopers and strengthen the defences? It makes no sense, given that this is, after all, the Capital city of Tamriel

I agree that most dungeons underground are for space reasons. And, yes, it would be nice to have a few above ground ones as well. But how about this. You stumble upon an old castle. It takes up about maybe as much space as a castle (with maybe a tower or two added) in one of the cities in Oblivion. The thing is, if you look at some OB castles from the outside, what is inside doesn't necessarily seem like it would fit. You can make the interior bigger (just not so big it's obvious). Have some windows you can look out (if possible, maybe not out to the "real" world, but maybe a small slice). And how about a door that takes you to the outside like a balcony or tower (kind of like one of the round 3 floor forts in OB) but with no outside access, you have to go thru the interior. In MW you could go to some forts, go inside, go up into a tower and back outside to walk along the top of the walls. Use this type of idea but with some alterations. They took up some space but not really huge. Increase some interior space beyond its outside physical limits, plus below ground areas if you really need more space. And again, not every one, but a few.

Since there are a lot of mountainous areas it would be nice to see a fort or something built into the mountain with tiered levels outside to explore where you could look down on the tier below. Plus you have the areas inside the mountain for all the space you need for a good dungeon.