I went through Fort Empire in Oblivion today. I've been hearing a lot of objection to the idea that Oblivion's dungeons are more on the generic side (no clearly-defined rooms, not enough usage of extra architectural elements such as tapestries or rugs, miscellaneous clutter/static objects, etc, and elements that are present being somewhat copy-pasted), and I wanted to start thoroughly testing my opinion that the statement is largely true.
So. My impressions:
The entrance was a hallway that led into a high-ceiling square room, with stairs criss-crossing up to an alcove with an empty brazier. There was the occasional spot of rubble on the ground, and arches came out of the central column and connected to the walls, but other than those few things, the room was architecturally void of detail (other than the repeated detail in the interior-cell room building blocks, of course). I had very little to go on to try to parse out what that particular room would have been used for. A first-defense guard room, perhaps? But then why was there no evidence of a gate or other obstruction to entering? No weapon racks, or scattered weaponry? No banners or tattered rags of banners (heck, not even a few rails to suggest there might once have been some) to have formerly displayed the glory and honor of past Cyrodiil?
Another winding hallway led to another large room with two columns and a very high ledge with another brazier. Below the ledge was a statue of a hooded individual holding a sword, which was placed on a stone altar. On the other side of the ledge was another altar, this one containing two chests. No other architectural details, aside from arches sprouting from the central columns. A worship room, perhaps? Or a monument to past heroes? Who is the statue of? Is it of Al-Esh? Or of some other hero of the Reman Dynasty? No objects at all ring the statue, giving us absolutely no direct clues as to its significance or importance. Is the brazier above simply to provide light? Or is it part of some honoring ceremony, tied with the statue and the altar? Again, no real clues to build a hypothesis either way.
Beyond that, the corridor split down two paths, both leading to loading-doors that led to the same room: "Fort Empire Barracks." I now had a name to associate with the following series of rooms.
After entering the next interior cell of the Barracks, the corridor I was following got increasingly more rubble-filled. It emptied out into a tall room with a centrally-raised platform with rails on the left and right sides. A stairway led up to it, and an arched bridge led off the other side into a recessed hall carved high up in the wall on the other side. The left side of the room also had a small recessed area, across from the central platform. Thick ropy cobwebs hung from various places, and piles of stone and rock-dust were everywhere. And yet for the place being a barracks, I saw little evidence to suggest it beyond name only. The only non-architectural objects in the whole room was one lone broken and battered crate, with a worn-looking chest next to it; both under the bridge. I followed the hallway to a sharp corner (containing two more chests) and out into another room, very similar to the previous one. An archway-bridge, a centrally-raised platform with rails, some stairs leading down to the floor, numerous piles of rubble, one lone battered crate (two chests this time), and a ruined hallway leading back out to the entryway of Fort Empire.
I couldn't help but wonder where the frames were for the soldiers' beds, if they were made from metal. Or where the beds themselves would have gone, because the design of the two rooms in the barracks certainly didn't hold credence to serving as sleeping quarters. Further, I wondered where they stored their weaponry and equipment. Did the whole garrison communally use the 5 scattered chests I found in the barracks? Where were the shelves or tables? Where did these soldiers eat? Where were their meals prepared? Where was their armor and weaponry repaired? Where were their training rooms? Where was the semblance that someone had formerly inhabited these ruins at some point and time, with their own stories and lives? Logistically speaking, the whole thing felt like a winding dungeon crawl, and nothing more. And to be fair, it was a well-done dungeon crawl. The lighting and fog effects were great, the creature placement was decent, and in terms of excitement and adventure, the overall design worked well. But providing a decent dungeon crawl is only half the purpose of dungeons. When I tried to dig a bit deeper, began to question why things were the way they were within this dungeon, it gave me very little to work with at all to come up with an answer.
Now, it's true that this is just one of Oblivion's 190-or-so dungeons, and that it's far too early in my anolysis to say that Oblivion overall has a problem with generic dungeons. But forgive me if I now label Fort Empire as a generic dungeon. And also forgive me that I haven't provided a decent Morrowind example to compare or contrast with; I haven't been playing it recently to comfortably pick a dungeon and put it side-by-side. But if memory of Morrowind serves me correctly, I rarely had to guess to the purpose of rooms in dungeons. Perhaps that was because they were smaller and fewer in overall number, (and there are exceptions to that purpose statement, of course), but if I couldn't discern the purpose immediately, there was usually a plethora of static objects, themed containers, items, and what-not to at least give me a basic foundation for educated guesswork.
On the same token, I thought I'd bring back my anolysis of Ayleid ruins compared to Dwemer ruins, which was largely passed over in the previous threads:
On the subject of Ayleid ruins in particular, one of the biggest pet peeves I had about Oblivion dealt with their ruins of an ancient culture and society not cohesively feeling like the ruins of an ancient culture and society.
In Morrowind, the Dwemer ruins felt lived in, they felt as though a cluster of individuals had been going about their lives, only to suddenly vanish, leaving their possessions to gather dust with time. Ayleid ruins, on the other hand, felt nothing like the actual remnants of an old foregone culture and everything like fantasy dungeons devoid of believable purpose.
When raiding a Dwemer ruin, one often found things that most people would naturally use if they had once lived in said ruins. Dwemer cups, goblets, tableware, and what-not were commonplace. There were ovens, presumably used for either cooking or for metallurgy. There were beds, though the mattresses had rotted away. Their containers were not just chests full of valuables, but writing desks, cupboards, furniture that also happened to serve as storage, which also happened to serve as a place for loot to go. And the loot found inside Dwemer ruins never stretched the immersion of being in a Dwemer ruin. You often found scraps of metal, precious gems and materials of different varieties, Dwemer weapons and armor, Dwemer clutter (cutlery, goblets, and machinery pieces such as coherers, cogs, tubes, and the like) Dwemer money, and so forth. If you did find something that seemed odd within a Dwemer ruin, there was usually a ready explanation for it, such as that particular Dwemer ruin being taken over by a Dagoth, or bandits or excavations currently being in the ruins at the time. They felt as though something had lived there at one time, and what the player could find within those ruins is what built up that feeling.
Ayleid ruins have few semblances of being lived in. There are mortuary slabs in the walls where the dead are interred. There are benches scattered here and there, along with perhaps the rare stone sleeping-slab. But there is no tableware. There are no Ayleid goblets or plates, no cups or ovens or firepits by which to cook food. There aren't even Ayleid tables on which food might have been consumed. Ayleid containers are either circular or cylindrical reliquaries, which are little more than loot-chests. There are no Aylied cupboards or closets. No writing desks or drawers. And loot in Ayleid ruins oftentimes makes little sense for Ayleid ruins. Aside from the welkynd and varla stones (and the Ancestor Statues), loot is drawn from generic leveled lists like everything else. Open up a chest and find some magic trinkets, or steel armor, or repair hammers. All those are well and good, but what do they have to do with the Ayleids? Where is the loot that reinforces the idea that such ruins were once lived in? And my biggest pet peeve of all regarding Ayleid ruins: Why, oh why, do I find septims all over these ruins, in their loot chests, when the Ayleids were contemporary to Alessia? Why don't they have their own unique form of money? Why do they inexplicably possess money from a dynasty that is eras older than them? And why is there no commonplace yet brutally well-defended elven weaponry and armor to be found within Ayleid ruins, instead of that elven weaponry and armor being tied to generic leveled lists? Surely, if your instinct was to be called upon to answer the question, "where would you go to find old elven weapons and the like in Cyrodiil," you would naturally respond, "In Ayleid ruins, of course!" But by and large, such things are not to be found as a result of the ruins themselves, unless you count a few quest-related helms in 2 or 3 ruins.
» Fri May 27, 2011 10:23 am 
), but I've really missed Morrowind's public transit/magical transport, and I think that it's largely because I didn't have the sense of "loose ends" I have with fast travel. 
