EMPTY Dungeons?

Post » Fri May 13, 2011 4:56 pm

I'd like to find a few quick dungeons that are scarcely populated, or empty, and easily cleared... but perhaps there is a mystery to find (or miss completely); some (non-MQ) adventure to solve that shows it to be a 'tip of the iceberg" affair with hidden areas, or long lost (abandoned) levels with a few deadly traps still in wait for a careless trespasser. I can see an empty dungeon with a hidden half that could lead down deep to a few closed off mine shafts. Tunnels that could lead into a populated dungeon somewhere nearby ~like a back door.

Even if they include none of it, I'd like it if the game supported hidden doors and expanded traps as an extended freedom for modders to invent.
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Rudi Carter
 
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Post » Sat May 14, 2011 2:43 am

Yeah, it can't really be truly "empty" because then you could walk in and get items easily. Maybe a dungeon full of extremely dangerous traps or the stalking creature mentioned above.

This!

That would be good to add an extr dimension to dungeon diving, it would be extremely easy to get items if there was nothing in there or no consequences reguarding the certain dungeon.
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Eric Hayes
 
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Post » Fri May 13, 2011 8:43 pm

An Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade type dungeon would be cool, with a dead adventurer at the beginning with a journal that has riddles to what the traps are, but not a straight up map. Maybe the dungeon could be a secret passage around a dangerous area, so that you had to choose between solving riddles or outright battle. It would give stealth characters a richer experience.
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Andrea P
 
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Post » Fri May 13, 2011 9:20 pm

Frankly, you just can't have empty dungeons willy nilly. There is plenty of opportunities that are realistic that allow for dungeons to have residents and items that are still salvageable. It would be better to have every dungeon in Skyrim to be filled to the top with gold and listen to some of the people that think it's unrealistic than listen to those same people raging about how they hate how when you walk into a a dungeons it is empty and they could've done things with that empty dungeon. Trust me, people would say that.
See the neat thing about empty caves and dungeons being common, is that when they are not [empty] its a pleasant surprise (unless you are getting stabbed in the back); but with the opposite, (having nearly all areas infested)... its a let down to find one that's empty (almost like it was a cosmic waste of your time to crawl into that abandoned looking hole).

The simple fix (appears to me anyway), is to ask a few questions of the player, and present them with a few choices... Internally brand their PC with an "extra action" trait, as though it were "Wild Wasteland", and have that add to the population of empty areas as they enter them.
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Benji
 
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Post » Sat May 14, 2011 1:56 am

I can see an empty dungeon with a hidden half that could lead down deep to a few closed off mine shafts. Tunnels that could lead into a populated dungeon somewhere nearby ~like a back door.

I like this idea. Empty (or mostly empty) dungeons serving not as "there and back again" challenges but as new ways to reach other locations would be a refreshing reward for exploring.
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Kelsey Hall
 
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Post » Fri May 13, 2011 11:37 pm

I like this idea.
Having an abandoned area with a few items, furniture, etc, left in place, but there is a creepy feeling about, like something bad or even horrifying happened here.
There could be clues that need to pieced together.
Maybe there are some creepy, supernatural sounds also.
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Kayla Keizer
 
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Post » Fri May 13, 2011 11:46 am

Empty Dungeons may sound nice and realistic, but it takes effort to make them and effort means money. And making something that would please only hard-core fans and be useless for casual gamers is a bad investment.
Few almost empty dungeons could work, but having more then that wouldn't be worth it from developing perspective. After all, concept of dungeons exists so that players could fight and loot.

The idea of a creature stalking you and attacking you at some point is a good one, but it shouldn't be used more then once or twice or it will get repetitive.
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Alycia Leann grace
 
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Post » Fri May 13, 2011 12:46 pm

I like this idea.
Having an abandoned area with a few items, furniture, etc, left in place, but there is a creepy feeling about, like something bad or even horrifying happened here.
There could be clues that need to pieced together.
Maybe there are some creepy, supernatural sounds also.

I'm reading a novel this week, and in it there is a cult/bandit hideout that is empty ~and safe... the group only meets there once a year. :shrug:
Imagine a location in Skyrim that seems like a meeting ground, but no one is there ~for months... In Other games, this is usually a 'tell' that there is a scripted encounter here that hasn't been triggered, but with care, that sort of thing might be obscured, and the player fooled. Might even see them move in and use the containers. :chaos:
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Skivs
 
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Post » Sat May 14, 2011 12:01 am

Really? That sounds rather borring but i guess it's just a matter of taste.

A Dungeon dosn't need to be crowded with enemies or anything but i would like atleast a few.
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Zosia Cetnar
 
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Post » Fri May 13, 2011 5:55 pm

I'm reading a novel this week, and in it there is a cult/bandit hideout that is empty ~and safe... the group only meets there once a year. :shrug:
Imagine a location in Skyrim that seems like a meeting ground, but no one is there ~for months... In Other games, this is usually a 'tell' that there is a scripted encounter here that hasn't been triggered, but with care, that sort of thing might be obscured, and the player fooled. Might even see them move in and use the containers. :chaos:


I like this. Like the Necromancer's Moon in Oblivion that only happened every 8 days. Maybe some kind of secret society that you have no idea exists normally unless you are there at the right time. Maybe even people you see normally in local cities who seem perfectly normal otherwise.
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Amber Ably
 
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Post » Sat May 14, 2011 1:12 am

When most of you read empty you visualise it being empty. Not so. What I believe the fellow means is an appearance of being empty. You get to the end and theres nothing but eerie music and the wind howling you start back and the music increases and you look behind only to see a MOTHER [censored] ALPHA DEATHCLAW AND YOU HIGH TAIL IT TO THE END, BUT NO! ANOTHER DEATHCLAW AT THE ENTRANCE! THEN YOU STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL AND WISH LEVEL SCALING HAD BEEN IMPLEMENTED AS YOUR CORPSE BLEEDS OUT NEVER TO BE FOUND BY ANYONE EVER AGAIN!

P.S
Replace Deathclaw with an equally strong and terrifying ES monster.
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Kira! :)))
 
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Post » Fri May 13, 2011 6:15 pm

Really? That sounds rather borring but i guess it's just a matter of taste.
Perhaps it is... In Fallout 3, I loved everything about the exploration aspect of the game, except NPC's :laugh:. I'd play the game wandering the wasteland, climbing the overpasses, investigating old shacks... defending against lunatics and wild animals occasionally, but I would avoid places like Megaton, Tenpenny, and Rivet city ~avoid talking NPC's in general. The best, and most Fallout-like scenes in Fallout 3 [IMO] were just the PC out exploring the wastes ~and never in 'first person'.
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Emily Jeffs
 
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Post » Fri May 13, 2011 11:09 am

I like the idea, there don't have to be many empty dungeons though.

I remember that I once visited an empty cave in Cyrodiil, don't remember which one it was though, and I thought it was really refreshing to also have an empty one.
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quinnnn
 
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Post » Sat May 14, 2011 2:16 am

What bugged me in OB is that every dungeon had to have some kind of critter or bandit.

A completely empty dungeon every now and again would add excellent atmosphere... it would feel 'not right' like something is watching you.

The fear of the unknown..

theres not much to fear with a bunch of bandits in a cave.

but an empty cave would keep the player on their toes as they step curiously though it..

As long as empty dungeons have puzzles to solve or are quest-related then it's a good idea. Would be kinda like Myst.
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Dan Stevens
 
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