I can agree about the "no spiders" thing, though not because of the fear factor. In fact, it's because usually, I find spider enemies distinctly unfrightening, they are, however, often very annoying and incredibly cliche.

That being said, though, the Elder Scrolls is not a horror game, so Bethesda shouldn't make scaring people the main focus. But sometimes, a good bit of horror is just appropriate, and I hope Bethesda will be able to convey a full range of emotions when it is appropriate. It's not really all that different from how something bad happening to a major character will be made a tragic scene even if the work in question isn't necessarily a tragedy.

I'll vote for "very", though, because average is compared to what most games offer, and most games strike me as about as scary as a brick, then again, a brick could actually be pretty scary, if it's rapidly being hurdled towards your face, but I think the bizarre anology gets the point across.

I'd like it to be as scary as Daggerfall. I found the gore in Oblivion to be quite freaky... at first. But is was so overdone that after a while I just got used to it. This was never really the case in Daggerfall. I still get chills when I hear the ghost in Daggerfall moan, "Vengeance", even though I kind of expect it. As a matter of fact, I get quite tense when night falls because I know the ghost is lurking around somewhere and it is only a matter of time before it finds me. My point being is that ambient sounds often do more to scare me than seeing rotting corpses lying everywhere.

I agree, something oblivion was lacking in fear factor was awesome sound, lets face it the zombies aren't that scary sounding. I mean, they sound like cows... and the wraiths, they sound like girls giggling.

Sounds make a ton of difference on fear.

When I see a ghost, or hear one, I want to hear like a woman wailing kind of sound. A banshee sound, not some lame supposedly underworld sounding giggle.

I wouldn't say that the wraiths sounded like girls giggling, but they were definitely annoying to fight. It would be nice if ghosts/wraiths/beasts/etc. didn't make the exact same sound every single time you hit them, but rather, had more variations in their vocalizations.

I do agree that the zombies sounded like cows, though.

I hate creepiness! :cryvaultboy:
Give me a halloween dungeon and im good.

I think the scariest moments should be very scary, but these should be few and far between. As other people have said, it's not a horror game.

Monsters that can actually kill you + Idle sounds for those monsters = The "Holy crap there's a Vampire Ancient nearby, I'm outta here FFS!" experience works fine.

More darkness is also good, it's always a nice surprise to have something jump on you from a dark corner. (well, not always, remembering how predictable and scripted it was in Doom 3. Zombies in every closet? Right)'
In TES4 darkness and deadly traps were a nice couple to have. More of those... But... why would anyone build a underground system whose only purpose was to kill the habitants or visitors with some bizarre traps? Traps which have an infinite source of energy somewhere...

Better music. No battle music. No more Soule.

I don't want it to be scary when I look at the price tag.........

In Morrowind, venturing through the Ghostgate for the first time and seeing a distant figure through the driving dust, writhing in agony and holding his/its head in apparent torment, I felt a cold chill down my spine. The 6th House bases and their residents always felt "creepy", even long after my character had gotten to the point where they weren't a serious threat anymore.

In Oblivion, the first few minutes in the plane of Oblivion were intimidating, but after the initial shock, it was just more of the same overdone gore, with the denizens just replaced every so many levels with slightly tougher versions. A lot of the monsters in the game were just silly looking, or too familiar to be frightening.

I voted average. For those deep dungeon diving quests and dark brotherhood-type guild quests, it would be better if they were slightly more scary than Oblivion's.

NONONONONO!
I HATE UN-DEAD!

I want it just as scary as thief. I got so scared just walking around the city I was so jittery. "shivers" I remember how they would say "what was that" and then they would say "sounds like it came from the corner over there" then they would edge closer looking around for you and I'd be edging into the corner pressed against the wall just about wetting myself
I haven't even got up to the cradle "Shivers" "paranoid eyes dart from side to side"


By the way I'm not desensatised as all to violence or to scary stuff however I didn't even know half the stuff in the planes of oblivion were even meant to be scary or were rotting flesh etc... Actually I just though they were red walls

I don't know what the connection Gallowglass is making here. Can anyone elaborate if they know what he/she means?

I voted very, but i regretted it after i gave it some thought. I think that if the devs focus on making things scary that might take away from the storytelling and the freedom.

Edit: It should be the other way round. Inspired writing and extra effort to characters and story should dictate what would be needed atmosphere wise, rather than saying that the game needs to be scary and writing to fill that requirement.

Bethesda can occasionally scare the pants off of me. However, the only times they did, they merely caught me off guard (except for Daggerfall City at Night... that was seriously eerie), they usually do a good job at it when they don't mean for it to be fearful. For example, I was playing Fallout 3 and was about level 11 and travelling through the wastes with Charon. We're just running along and my sneak skill is at the point where I can see most things before they see me. Suddenly, I get a message that Charon has died. Confused, I turn around and see a Yao Guai's face inches from mine and a claw coming at me, drenched in Charon's blood. If Bethesda can make the dungeons have a feeling of utter dread, or animal attacks be more surprising, quick, and violent, the fear factor will come on its own. Not to sound like a broken record, but look at the mood in Daggerfall. Nighttime was one of the scariest parts of it, and they barely had to try.

I want atmosphere, tension etc
If Bethesda think psychological horror rather than gorefest they'll be on the right track to my mind
The scariest places in the whole TES series were the 6th House bases in MW IMO

I don't want to pee my pants i want to go "HOLY F***ING SH*T, dam now i hav to change my pants."

I liked what was said above about style Have some reasons for the dungeons to be there - have people doing things in the dungeons. If you have a cave full of lions, maybe have them go out and hunt. Have bones scattered about inside. Goblins should have more of a stronghold than a pen. And fewer but richer dungeons. Yes the oblivion gates were neat the first few times, but after 30 of them.... hello console commands.

The scariest parts of TES3, 4, and FO3 were the dungeons inhabited by creatures who were capable of beating you. The ghouls of FO3 were much spookier and terrifying than the zombies etc. Who ever designed the balrogs (MMM? OOO?) did a good job - you hear their idle sounds and see the flashes of their idle animation long before they spot you, and you usually have to run away from them.

Scary? Just don't see it. It's hard to make a game like this 'scary' since most situations will be unscary and the buildup to main events or boss mobs will be just that - buildup. Kinda defeats the scary part unless you meant some adrenaline / anticipation which those boss fights or dungeon crawls can generate (but only if sufficiently 'dangerous')

For scary - only game that ever really came close (for me) was Doom3 at night with the lights out and nothing but the computer screen to view. That'll make you jump at times .

I was thinking camels.

1 way to make TES V scary? DAGGERFALL. RAT. SFX.

Average, a good balance between scary moments and non scary moments.

Or better yet, bring back something akin to this:


You're walking around the streets of Daggerfall at midnight, everything's pitch-black, there's not a soul to be seen, and there is complete dead silence...
And then out of nowhere...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFeN5-M8GR8

there was something frightening about walking into a Sixth House base in Morrowind; red candles, zombies, a sense of entrapment, I feel like I didn't get that vibe from Oblivion.

I got that vibe from fallout 3, so I know Bethesda is capable of doing such.

Haha, first time I play Daggerfall, that and the sound the slaughterfish scare the living hell out of me. Sound can be a decent factor of fright.

Average, so the rating is down and people don't see TES series as just mindless killing/horrific slaughter games

Mostly agreed, but in Doom 3 the ones that scare the piss out of you are the ones you can hear and see evidence of, but they never come out.