When playing Oblivion it was immediately apparent upon exploring the outer world that there were many(hundreds?) of caves, mines, ruins, etc., which were explorable. At first I thought this was awesome, because after playing Morrowind years before, I knew that Bethesda would makes these areas unique. They always seemed to have some story behind each little place or a nice treasure that you couldn't find elsewhere. I never knew what I was going to discover once I went inside one of the places I had found off the beaten path.

When I started to explore these areas however. I rarely found any story, any notes or anything really that would make each area any different from the other ones I had discovered. The same textures and hallways, just pieced together in different ways. Also, the treasure and enemies were leveled. So I was just looking for treasure chests that would have the same random treasure of any other place. After this happened many times and I realized what was happening, I pretty much stopped going into these extra areas just because I didn't feel there was anything special to find or any mystery to discover.

This is just my hope that these areas will be better fleshed out, even if that means not having hundreds of them. Having unique stories and/or special treasures inside these places I believe makes players actually want to explore them more and want to seek out and find others.

Yeah I'd like to see the same thing. Also, not having the unique weapons/items be levelled. If you find a unique sword at level 1 it'll have crappy stats to match your level, and won't improve over time. This discourages me from even looking for such things at low levels because I know they won't be as powerful as they should be and there's no going back.

Don't make them leveled in the first place seems like a better idea. That way you won't get it at level one and it will be good when you get it at level ???. Anyway yes do away with the horrid oblivion copy-paste dungeon syndrome.

Aye,

One of the neatest things I found in a mod (TIE) was a lone sword and a note. The note stated that there was a treasure in the direction the sword pointed. Take a compass bearing (good use of the compass) and head off...sure enough a chest in the middle of nowhere.

Then again, all of those realism folks will have hissy about too much stuff being in the wilderness...

Couldn't agree more. I realize it would be difficult to make a backstory for every dungeon, but at least I'd like more variation in the design. The ayleid ruins epsecially, but the caves as well, all looked to similar to me. I'd like to see some more creativity. And I agree that finding the same loot everywhere wasn't very rewarding either, I'd like to see some changes in regards to that as well.

I found that this was one of the biggest improvements that Fallout 3 had over Oblivion, and I hope they continue the trend.

I never dungeon-dived in Oblivion (not before OOO anyway), because they were so samey and uninteresting. It was a pity, because obviously a lot of work had gone into the dozens of dungeons. but not enough (nothing?) had been done to make them individually interesting. I only used one dungeon - Sinkhole Cave - because it had bandits and generally they gave better loot than the chests themselves.

Yeah, exploring does need to be more rewarding. I remember when I found the blade of white woe. I was so happy.

Agreed. Oblivion had 4 dungeon types while Morrowind had 9! Even then, even if some Oblivion dungeons may be better made, the game still lacks variety quite a bit. Plus, Morrowind had far more unique dungeons. Anyone remember the Nord tomb with the boat in the middle? Or a dwemer ruin only accessible via a grotto? There was plenty of uniquely designed and very cool dungeons in Morrowind, I was disappointed to see Oblivion lack this.

Dude, that's vanilla.

"The greatest treasures come for the those that walk the beaten path"
or something.

I also couldn't agree more. The ruins,caves,forts,etc. in Oblivion were just all so similar to one another, and didn't have many rewards or unique side stories and items like Morrowind did. It made the exploration seem pretty drab in comparison, and is definitely one of the big things I'm hoping will change in Skyrim.

Agreed.

This was something that struck me about TES IV as well - and to be honest a large chunk of the TES III dungeons tended towards the unremarkable as well. Bethesda did far better in this regard with FO3 and almost every location had some individuality - I expect TES V will follow this trend.

It is a bit easier with a post-apocalyptic setting since almost any location has a history by default: you're visiting a ruined X that has been reinhabited by Y. More traditional fantasy fare like caves and mines don't have this boost so designers have to work much hard to build atmosphere, but after seeing the popularity of FO3 locations like the Dunwich Building, Old Olney, and Mama Dolce's I bet they'll keep this in mind.

yes i agree with this topic.

i would like to see more hand crafted and uniquely individual indoor/underground systems.
whilst a cave is always largely going to look the same in terms of textures. its the little details and furnishings that make the difference.

oblivion got it wrong i think. it had loads of caves and temples......... but they all looked the same after youd been in 3 of them.
less is more i think. i dont want to dread exploring the landscape thinking im going to encounter 300 cookie cutter cave systems between me and my ultimate destination.

+1

that sounds weird. a great unique item should be well-guarded. and if you actually manage to obtain it at level 1, why cant it be uber great?

I think that they will have learned and I don't think we even need as many threads as are here I have a high faith in them after oblivion's criticism.

Yes, I feel exactly the same was Fenrir. I say if there is a cave a dragon in it guarding a sword, I should be able to get that sword if I can get past the dragon and the sword should just be the sword it is. Not a leveled version. Also, no matter what level I enter the cave in, that dragon should be there, not level-scaled enemies.

Ah but level-scaling is a different topic.