List of basic enemies I frequently encounter:
Draugr
Skeevers
Wolves
Sabre-cats
Bears
Falmer
Chaurus
Trolls
Skeletons
Dwemer Spiders/Centurions
Spriggans

This is off the top of my head. Really, there weren't a whole lot more enemy types in Oblivion, but the enemies were scaled so it seemed like there were more later on. Just my opinion...and I deeply miss goblins

yeah goblins were a whole lot of fun. ruthless and they just kept BASHING and BASHING over and over and over and over until you fell over. freakin arseholes

You forgot about billies (dreughs), and will'o'the'wisps (although I have encountered a wisp-like enemy, it was nothing like Oblivion's, with a completely different appearance. Off topic, but man was those wisps a pain!).

Yeah, it's suprising isn't it? People always complain about Oblivion being the cliched European fantasy, with a boring common setting, but then we got more interesting creatures - minotaurs were terrifying, dreughs were biologically fascinating, wisps were mysterious and difficult, ogres were brutes but lovely enemies, daedric creatures were varied, challenging and interesting, zombies were horrifying but incredibly satisfying as an enemy, and ghosts were quite nasty as well.

In comparison, most of Skyrim's enemies are quite meh to me - wolves, bears and bandits everywhere are a bore, and falmer are retextured goblins (I prefer goblins); Draugr were interesting at first but they're in essence undead bandits - I much prefer Oblivion's decayed zombie, to be honest. Spyggans are back and as much a pain as ever. The Atronauchs on their own seem boring and aren't anything new. The haagraven, I guess they're new, but they're not all too appealing - nothing outstandingly new or different about them, other than the fact that they're all hunchback clones.

The few notable exceptions (new creatures I love) are giants - love having them around - and Dwemer enemies - complex, well built, amazing sounds, overall an excellent enemy. And, needless to say, dragons, although their flight paths and physics are cartoony.

I'm actually suprised by all this, since I hadn't even thought of it until I began this post, but yeah, I think I preferred the creature diversity in Oblivion.

yeah atronachs were usually group enemies - you fought them alongside something else that was daedric.

in skyrim, its just them. all alone. no daedric buddies

That is exactly the answer. Whenever an open-world console game appears, it will have same enemy repeated over and over because of memory constraints.

Remember Borderlands?

remember oblivion, which is the game we're comparing skyrim to?

reading comprehension is really important when responding to someone. I try to respond to threads after reading the first few posts, but thats just me.

Also, skyrim takes up less space than a dvd can store.

finally, meshes and enemy textures take up a pitifully small amount of space compared to the actual meat of the game. if anything, development money is what is saved. and even then, these are enemies who are already conceptualized. modders will have them in the game a week or two after the CS is released, and they wont take up more than a dozen MB of storage

You're making me respond this way due to you bringing up undeveloped points. I'd rather not talk about this side of development (unless the person is knowledgeable about development), but rather the lore differences.

harsh

You forgot walrus!

Wolf, bear, sabertooth, dragon, skeever, mudcrab, spiders, walrus, deer.
Humanoid, skeleton, dragur
Spider mech, sphere mech, centurian
Reaper, Falmer (sic)

That's pretty much 99% of everything you ever see. There's barely any variation in this game.

I don't think biome is an excuse.
There are still many polar animals can be added in the game.
For example... penguins?
:bolt:

You do know on Earth, penguins live in the southern hemisphere?

I'd say that Skyrim does have many unique enemies as others have mentioned and listed.

However unlike Oblivion they don't appear to just be randomly scattered around the province, where in OB you might suddenly find a random Imps or Skeletons in the woods in Skyrim you find Woodand creatures (Bears, sabre cats, wolves) you find the undead in tombs and burial mounds, instead of wandering randomly.

The creatures appear in places that fit thematically.

Hmmm...
I thought pole could indicate both south pole and north pole.
:rofl:
Well, you know this is not the point don't you?

But Scandinavia/Syrim isnorthern.

I miss some of the classic monsters too, but I'm sure it won't take long for creative modders to put some interesting things in the game. So far though I am liking some of the new things:

Dragons (obvious)
Zombies, particularly when I take an NPC's clothes and then someone else raises that NPC as a zombie
Giants are pretty scary, especially when 2+ are on me
Draur popping out of coffins catches me by surprise at times

I do expect someone to come out with a creature pack once the CK is released bringing back some old favorites. For some reason I really miss the golden saints, best souls in the game. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if some people get carried away with it and add a Dwemer version of ED-209. I think some things would still make sense:

Ghosts - ghosts should be able to pop up anywhere I would think, but aside from the wraiths and magic balls (whisps?) I haven't seen one
Ogrim/ogres - I miss the fat guys
More atronoch varieties
goblins - they should be as tenacious as any humanoid race really, but i guess we get falmer instead.

I can see adding more types of wildlife but really there isn't as much diversity in cold regions as you could find in warmer climes. I think if people did add that stuff then it may have to be area specific to make sense.

I have to admit, I miss some of the Oblivion enemies. Ogres would be right at home in Skyrim. Goblins were fun and the only real comparison to Lichs would be Draugr Deathlords. And there could have been more variety at least in the skins & textures of creatures.

Time.



I am sure they would have put more of everything in the game if they had unlimited time and resources.

I think they did quite a great job actually.

Falmer kind of take the place of Goblins, if you think about it. Primitive humanoids, some sort of tribal structure. Except they are blind so are not going to be wandering around the wilderness, just in caves and old ruins.

Dragons pretty much make up for that haha
But srsly, there may be fewer enemy types but the enemies this time around actually have context. I mean, you understand why they are where they are and you understand this based on how they dress, move around, there surroundings and so forth.
For example, in Oblivion you walk down a corridor and see a goblin.
How did the goblin get here?
What is he doing here?
What's his history?
How did he get those clothes?
Where does he live?
In Oblivion, there are no answers to any of these questions making the enemies much more flimsy and just generally not interesting. But in Skyrim it's much different.
Take the Goblin counterpart, the Falmer.
How did they get here? They were forced underground by the nords.
What are they doin in a dwemer ruin? They used to be slaves for the Dwemer.
How did he get that armor? He made it from the Charrus. (btw I love that armor, it really gives off that hand-crafted feel ya know?)
Where does he live? In little tents made from unused dwemer parts and stretched charrus membrane.
These questions have answers and to me, thats a lot better than just having an empty enemy with no background at all.

i still wonder why boars got left out... Skyrim should be teeming with them, its the perfect environment

It's just a guess, but I think the OP was referring to the relative lack of non-human enemy types. Personally, I'd rather have great looking dragons than plentiful daedra, but the lack of non-humanoid daedra enemies is anomalous given their prominence in the previous two games. What Skyrim has, though, feels right for what Skyrim is. I do hope to see new enemies in DLC, though I know full well the amount of work that goes into properly making new creatures.