Another thing that caught my ire in Oblivion was when I would find a silver chalice or ream of cloth three levels down in a dark dank cave. OR what the heck is a very hard locked chest doing in a cavern of bears and animals? I just thought that an immersion breaker were things that just seemed out of place, just because bethesda felt the room needed some sort of decor. For example: instead of having the locked chest in a bear cave, have a huge pile of bones and carcassed--the player can search those bones until his heart is content. Keep it logical.

You'll wonder what a chalice is doing in a chest hidden in a cave of animals when you start wondering what a chest is doing in a cave of animals. I think the only one with problems of logic is you.

The chest was put there by someone who lived in the cave before the bears arrived.

Theres a Logical explanation for you.

Chests are everywhere in just about every fantasy game. It's not just a TES thing, and there isn't meant to be a logical explanation. It's just an excuse to give you loot.

Agreed. And the absence of clutter associated with industry (farming, shipping, etc.). There's a book store, but where is the print shop? Where are the sheep to grow the wool? Where are the carding instruments and the looms? In other words, a lack of cottage industry. A lack of production facilities, just the merchants selling manufactured wares without evidence of the industry that collects the raw materials. Where are the mines and smelters for iron ore to be made into iron and steel weapons, tools, armor, and door hinges? Where's the lumberjack for the wooden houses, the carpenter for the furniture?

Dead bodies, bone piles, and random loot spawn spots (equipment spawning in a corner or near a corpse/skeleton). No, chests in the caves made no sense. Neither did spriggans and wolves in the lower levels of caves. Wolves don't live in caves! Bears only hibernate in them or other shelter. For the most part, none of those creature should have been in there, and certainly not within 30 feet of another creature of a different species!

Well see, that sort of thing happens in reality all the time. Someone uses a cave for a treasure stash, but ends up getting captured by the law, killed by rivals, dies in an accident. Nobody knows where they hid their loot, so guess what? Animals move in to the cave, now you've got a rugged, locked chest in a cave full of animals. How 'bout that, perfectly logical and since it actually happens the question of "realistic" isn't even an issue. How does a chal;ice get 3 levels deep? Large animal drags dead human with back of stuff down into their lair to eat at leisure, items from human's back spill out along the way...

These sorts of things aren't added into games on a lark, they're added because such things actually do happen- whether you find them "logical" or not.

Nice story and all but one issue. The caves have doors.

My biggest issue with figuring out how things came to be was the actual population itself. children out of the game was a real head scratcher. I'm glad that issue has been resolved.

Except... why does the chest thats locked "very hard" only contain a caliper and 1 piece of gold?

Less clutter, or more meaningful clutter imo.


I agree with Alaisiagae here.

Y'all are completely right. From now on, nothing should be anywhere except where an obsessive-compulsive neat-freak librarian would keep it, because nothing is ever out of place or someplace it wouldn't be expected. :facepalm:

You dont lock a chest to store away 1 piece of gold and a caliper, sometimes nothing, other times some other worthless crap. Locked chests are locked to keep people from taking valuables not random junk nobody wants or would even bother stealing. The fact that they are EVERYWHERE just blows the whole thing out of proportion.

FrozenAffairs, the problem with your post is that it has nothing to do with the real issue: getting clutter as loot. It deals with a pseudo-issue about you not being able to simply say "hey, somebody left a chest here, cuz Im sure as hell rats cant build chests".

its obvious, thieves stole the chalice locked it in a chest left died, and years later animals moved in

Maybe that gold piece had some sentimental value to that long-forgotten thief, ever considered that?

Well, I'd like clutter as loot still, cause it helps fill out the game world, but more meaningful clutter NOT in chests. When I see a chest I expect to find something worthwhile in it. If I see a bone pile I should expect to find a bunch of bones and nothing of real value (though it is possible so you are rewarded for checking).

edit - this isnt to say there shouldnt be chests, I like chests, lotsa people do, I'd just like them toned down with the worthlessness about them.