I liked most of these. Reminds me of "Darknut's Greater Dwemer Ruins Volume 1" mod for Morrowind (probably because I was playing it yesterday.) That had really good traps and puzzles. But it also had amazing views with massive open areas, etc. Anything like that would be awesome!

I would cream in my pants if Skyrim got Zelda style dungeons.

edit: No elements that make a puzzle broken though, and I don't like riddles for some reason, we'll just load a save or google the answer anyway.

I'd love some puzzles

I'm glad to see many approve of these ideas! I welcome these puzzles whole heartedly.

However some have mentioned that they would only like the puzzles to be in if they are optional. Would it really be that large of a hindrance to how you play TES if a puzzle was forced upon you in a dungeon? Or how about the main quest, would it upset you to see a puzzle you must complete in the main quest?

I do not want puzzles in TES V. It just seems to not Elder Scrolls if that makes sense. I mean the pressure plates and hidden levers in rocks were Okay in TES IV, but ACTUAL puzzles would make me kind of mad. Just my opinion so nobody freak out! :tongue:

I'm not sure how much one would bother with puzzles if they were optional. Remember Oblivion did have a puzzle right in the main quest. Finding the Mythic Dawn hideout. You could solve it, or wait for the mage to give you hints. It didn't feel much like a puzzle. On the other side, it could have been quite annoying if there wasn't a way to continue the main quest until you figure it out. I think a good compromise is have such puzzles that have to be completed when searching for stuff like important weapons etc instead of the main quest. Puzzles in the main quest could be more simple than the others, or have ways around them.

Would be great if Arena's passwall spell mophed in the Portal gun.

Puzzles do suit the Elder Scrolls, not just all the time;
Mages should have lots of Zelda style puzzles in ancient ruins.
Thieves/Assassins should have detective/environmental puzzles like the Hitman Games
Warriors should have limited puzzles.

Sounds like Legend of Zelda, but I think its a great idea!

I think this is a good idea because I would like to do some puzzles instead of just opening a door, its just something that will change up the game

Time based puzzles are the worst. Trip the switch run as fast as you can oops! Fail die. Rinse and repeat. No to time based puzzles.

Agreed, I voted for everything except time-based.

I voted yes on everything but time based actions and puzzle breaking mechanics.

I think its important that a puzzle relies on my thinking brain skills or my in-game skills, but not my real life dexterity.
I play a game to relax and unwind and I dont want a frustating clickfest. Besides, my reactions arent that great and this is not something I can easily improve, whereas I can improve my mind and in-game skills.

Puzzle breaking mechanics just seems like a reload fest to me.

Of course, the nightmare scenario for me would be a time based action puzzle, that forever broke at a misclick.

I dislike time based puzzles but most others i enjoy like riddles like your given a clue or question like what's big and harry and are mean then you give answer by typing it in. I wouldn't mind ones were you find a clue that leads to a clue that also leads to a clue and about 1 between 7 clues latter (deppending on value of item) you find the thing your searching for like armor/weapon/postion i cant think of any thing else right now but you get what i mean (;

I would love it if the dungeons included a mix-and-match of various elements listed in the survey. I do not want all of them in every dungeon, but having a larger dungeon with everything in it would be awesome too.

I do not think that there is such a thing as a required dungeon in TES? You can have dungeons with progressively harder puzzles and if you want the big reward at the end you will just have to do them. If you provide ways around all of the puzzles it trivializes them ... which makes them boring, IMO.

I made a large update to the original post for discussion. But to be productive let me make a reply.





I must say I agree with everyone who has this sentiment. After watching several hours of Zelda (and playing it a bit emulated on my computer) I must say it definitely adds to the game play.


There are others who feel the same way, but time based puzzles if used properly can make the game more fun. Its about the challenge sometimes not just brain logic.


Yes of course. Many of the games I linked to and talked about (mostly Zelda) don't usually put every element in their dungeon. They have some core mechanics they work with almost every time like actuators and blocks, but each dungeon will have its own theme (like the Shadow Temple requiring the Eye Of Truth to see invisible blocks).

Usually what ends up happening is as you make progress the more mechanics are added in the game so the further you are the harder it gets. But they do strike a nice balance so the player isn't overwhelmed with 10 different puzzle mechanics on the same puzzle.

I′d just like to add that the brothers and sisters puzzle is broken, you can never, ever. Let me repeat it in caps, NEVER, EVER! Divide by zero. It′s wrong, wile and evil, and will surely bring upon the doom of humanity, kittens will rain and sugar will melt.

A boy who has 0 brothers and 2 sisters does not have twice as many sisters as brothers, he has a undefined amount of sisters, some would argue that it is "infinite" but most mathematicians agree on it just being "undefined".

2/0 = undefined.

The puzzle is broken.

Edit: I′ve blacked out my old comment due to the question being changed, feel free to satisfy your curiosity by highlighting it, it won′t be worth it though I promise.

A man says, "If you lie to me I will slay you with my sword. If you tell me the truth, I will slay you with a spell."

Yeah thanks for that insight. You know I was thinking the same thing, that the brothers part shouldn't be plural but it wasn't my riddle and I just figured that is part of the game. Them riddles!

Puzzles would be WICKED GREAT! I hope Bethesda is listening...

Me too I make these threads hoping Todd or another dev is perusing the forums in secret :ninja:

I also updated the logic puzzle to perhaps something more palpable. Again it isn't mine (as I do not have the brain for that right now).

The addition of puzzles is one of the few things that actually seems new and interesting to me about Skyrim, if more than a bit over due. Bring'em on I say! Breaks in the "kill everything in sight" type gameplay are always welcome.

The Zelda series is by far my most beloved game series. Its what I grew up on. With that said the puzzles from Zelda were one of the reasons why I always loved it. A mix between combat and using my mind always felt so right. I hope Skyrim uses puzzles and not cheap crappy ones. I have always hoped that they would make every dungeon and cave and ruin in a TES game simular to the temples in Zelda. It would add depth to them as well as adding hours of gameplay. If all were even 1/3 to 1/2 as in depth as deep as Zelda temples I would be estatic. That kind of detail would lead to deeper quests and more varied and interesting gameplay.

I'd quite like riddles. Nothing else, though.

just so long as they arnt legacy of kain worthy puzzles (some puzzles pretty much kill any and all fun in it) i say why the heck not