The one falmer dungeon in while heading up the way shrines in dawnguard was noticeably darker. It was the first time I pulled out mage light in a while.

Torches are useful. They give you nice light at night time, could be used for blocking and bashing (sets your enemy in fire when bashed) and could be used to set certain things in fire

. (Also if you use frosfall mod they would warm you when wielded and are used to ignite your camp fires.)

Also i remember there was a skill book out there that says if you hold a torch close to the lockpick when trying to pick a door open, then it makes it easier to open the door. any truth to that?

From Advances in Lockpicking:

I hold my torch close to the lock. This makes it hot. When it's hot, the springs are all the same. They don't bounce so differently any more. Be careful not to burn yourself.

I smell fabrication.

If we could only through a torch into an enemy's face!

Not entirely accurate, Torches have their uses. I know that in Darkfall cave you'll probably need a torch. Personally I think Candlelight is a better option, although you can always put a torch away which you can't do with Candlelight.

I always have great uses for Night-Eye (I can't stand to use torches). Most of the time you have natural light in a dungeon, its' somewhere you need it, such as a place with lots of small lootable things or a harsh fight where you can't afford to waste a hand on holding a torch. Light radius is important.

Sure, you can see pretty well in melee at night - but Night-Eye makes ambushes and long-ranged attacks at night MUCH easier... or would if it didn't blur everything not in the dead-center of the screen beyond recognition, which is a big issue with a controller. My non-khajiit characters absolutely need candlelight and magelight to explore dungeons reliably - and I wish they had larger radii.

I am on ps3 and when I turned off the upscaler it made the dungeons a lot darker.

Lol i know what ya mean. Just last night i was playing cat and mouse with a pit wolf who decides to scare the p!$$ out of me

Torches serve a vital purpose outside dungeons. The lighting inside the various houses the PC can buy is usually pretty bad. The Hearthfire houses are just awful. Dropping torches is a fantastic way for non-PC players to cheer up the rooms/houses. In fact this is pretty much the only reason I horde torches. It takes a little getting use to (how come the torch isn't setting the bed on fire?) but it's worth the effort. One nice trick is to drop the torches before you build the furniture in Hearthfire. That way, the torches are behind/under the furniture and give it an amazing back-lit glow.

Torches are completely useless. Even if you're in a dark place, Candlelight just makes the existence of torches worthless considering its larger radius. I believe dungeons should be as dark as the ones in Oblivion and not randomly lit by whatever Draugr has the intelligence of doing so. And with that make magic spells like Candlelight have a smaller radius, as I believe Light from Oblivion had quite a small radius. And then torches having a larger radius. That way it's quite balanced. Candlelight having a smaller radius of light but being a near infinite source. While torches having a larger radius, are quite limited base on the amount of torches you're carrying. And on top of that give the Khajiit an advantage with their Night Eye power to see entirely in the dark. I remember back in Oblivion where I was in an extremely dark dungeon did I always wish I was a Khajiit because of their power. Players shouldn't have to turn down the brightness to actually have an immersive feel in, what is suppose to be, a dark dungeon.

Something about this seems really, really backward and wrong.

Candlelight has the drawback of being a spell. Torches are overrated. Also - Oblivion's Light spells could have radii of hundreds of feet.

Granted - it's not ideal. It would have been better to work with the natural ways to light an interior (candlesticks, candelabras, chandeliers, wall sconces) but instead, this is a work around. The only part that gets me is that the light effect flickers and doesn't always consistently illuminate a space. The view can flicker from gray to cheery yellowish orange. Not a big deal, just a small shortfall.

I agree. but that's because my tv's got an nvidia so even if I turn my settings down I'd still be able to see. It's relative. My ex couldn't see [censored] when she played Skyrim. But yeah dungeons in general should be darker. Why are centuries-sealed Nordic crypts even lit?

I think they added several dark dungeons with DG to appease some of the whiners and made Skyrims dungeons brighter because many whined about Oblivion being too dark at the time...people just like to complain and it's impossible to please everyone

You've touched on something that bothers me with Hearthfire homes...why goat horns? Why wouldn't they have the torch holders like dungeons so we can add/remove torches for lighting as opposed to tracking down the damn goat horns that are never in stock when you need them the most. Bad design choice imo.

Because Draugr make excellent servants.

Obviously for the cache and ambiance that discerning Hearthfire homeowners demand. Just don't ask about the deer skulls, random piles of sacks and dirty barrels piled in the corners. Don' t know what those contribute to the decor.

Oblivion was griped at for having too bright dungeons as well as Skyrim. I think it's because the players are a bunch of nightowls.

For some reason it made sense that in all dungeons that no one has been in a million years have candles that burned halfway and then lasted forever and the bright spots that have light sources coming out of nowhere.

I was amazed the first time I entered Skyhaven Temple and found Delphine lighting up the fire pits. My first thought was that it was amazing I could do that and then was extremely disappointed when I equipped my torch and went into the block position and couldn't light up the rest. That's how it should have been. The player enters the dungeon, pitch black and lights up the fire pits and reset sometime after.

As torches have such a short lifespan, I prefer to play with the brightness slider up enough so I don't feel like I need them. There are only a few dungeons in Skyrim that get dark enough for torches to feel necessary, and they usually contain falmer.

Torches have an infinite lifespan if carried by a follower, which is why always give my followers a torch, whether nor not they feel necessary.

I remember the starter dungeon in Oblivion, and how dark that was, along with many other dungeons in the game. As soon as I was able, I enchanted a necklace/ring with night-eye.

As for torches setting the Hearthfire houses on fire...I'm more concerned about the smithing forge in the cellar. I'm just waiting to come home to Lakeview Manor and see the place up in flames.

I see what the OP is saying but playing on 360 with no light mods I still tend to carry and use the torches quite often. Yes you can go without but I find it much easier to see things with the aid of a torch. And as someone else said some of the caves in the dlc definitely need torches.

I remember walking into one and being like "wtf?"I can't see crap. It's a nice touch and it would be nice if BGS released a patch that fixed some of the lighting. Who knows perhaps one of the biggest complaints about Oblivion was that players couldn't see anything in the caves and dungeons. Idk, either way it's not that big of a issue to me and I still use torches for RP and because I simply like them. If there weren't any I would have been pissed.

a million years... its only been thousands of years.

I use torches and candlelight all the time just turn down the brightness a little and it looks good and makes things dark as hell

Actually, if managed properly, one can play the entire game with only one torch. Torches are on a timer of 300 seconds ( 5 min ). If you stow the torch before that time expires and take it back out, the timer resets.

Anyone remember the glowing fungus or lichen that conveniently coated the walls of the dungeons in the old AD&D dungeons? That's how we always avoided having to carry torches.

Sometimes, it's best to be practical and not let the mundane realities of physical limitations take the fun out of a game. I generally don't mess with any brightness settings and either stumble around in the dark or use a torch/spell to light the way.