I'm loving Skyrim, 50 hours in and I feel like I'm still just getting started. The visuals and sound are gorgeous. The gameplay is great. The vibe is fantastic. I just can't shake the feeling that the towns are just a bit disappointingly small .... Having spent a lot of time playing Oblivion maybe I was spoilt by the scale of The Imperial City, but even the secondary towns in Oblivion seemed bigger than those in Skyrim. On initial playing I thought maybe Whiterun was a smaller town and there were bigger to come. Having played a fair few hours I now realise this is fairly standard. There just seems like a lack of merchants per city compared to Oblivion and I'm missing the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild which were present in every major town in Oblivion. Anyone else have any thoughts or feelings on the matter?

To be fair, modeling a larger town or one with more inhabitants would probably cause your PC to implode.

Its quality that counts not size, you see a town in a game like Assassins Creed being super massive but theres barely anything to do in it besides the one house you can enter to get your missions, I would prefer to have smaller fully rendered towns inside and out then massive cities where every building is locked and doesn't do anything.

It's not the size of the towns for me, it's the lack of people compared to town size. Solitude is big, but you can run down the main street and encounter nobody

Probably you should realise that this is not the case, and the towns are dissappointingly small, theres 3-4 houses, a merchant or two and a jarl's hall. THATS IT, then theres the 8 NPC's and the 5 guards. Thats basically standard per city. I can find more interesting cities in.. Well any game that has cities/towns.

@Mightlylink you gonna tell me the cities in Assassins creed Doesnt feel more alive than in Skyrim? Because of so, I believe you havent played Assassins Creed. One thing is quests givers, another is a bunch of random NPC's that just give the feeling of LIFE to a city, Skyrim lacks that badly.

I'd like to see bigger towns with more people.
More people = more side quests.

How about massive fully rendered towns full of detail where every building can be entered?

They've done it since Daggerfall (pretty sure Arena, too).

Jus' Sayin'

Contextually its quite different.
In Oblivion, the Empire was in its Golden Age really. It owned everything and its only threat was the uprisings of the elves (something that wouldn't really affect them till about 200 years later) Because of this power, security and co-operation between the races the towns could afford to become bigger because the wealth was there and there would likely be a bigger population due to lack of conflict. The climate and geography is also more hospitable than that of the rugged mountains and freezing cold of Skyrim.
200 years later we saw a radically changed Empire. It's been crippled by the Aldmeri Dominion and can barely contain a rebellion like the Stormcloaks let alone defend all its other borders. This civil war in Skyrim will, inevitably lead to smaller population and less wealth as the people providing services are off living in caves, fighting. Less wealth means that fewer luxuries can be afforded. Skyrim's geography, as afore mentioned, is less hospitable and is a smaller province than Cyrodiil meaning a more sparsely populated environment.
Hope that helps with the possible reasoning perhaps.

They are very disappointing. Todd Howard said in some old interview that there would be fewer cities but they would be bigger than oblivions and more unique. Suppose they are sometimes more unique but they certainly arent bigger. Im not even gonna get to the smaller "cities" but even the supposedly big ones are boring and predictable. Theres a few merchants, a market, an inn, a keep, a few houses and maybe 50 npcs. Thats it.

Waiting for better cities Skyrim now.

So this is why we get the most dissappointing cities ever in a TES game? Notice that word btw, Game. You mention cities are small due to rugged terrain and say that theres not alot of people because of the rebellion, I mention its a Game, whats more important, sticking with what would be realisic, or making the game as good as it can be? You tell me.

Ok really devoted fan no need to get your knickers in a twist. I'd like bigger cities as well but I put forward a contextual point which follows the lore that Beth seem to stick to quite religiously.
So sorry for having my own opinion.

Glad it's not just me then. Just can't shake the feeling of disappointment every time I visit one of the 'major' towns. I prefer to spend my time in the wilds as a result.....

Some are quite small and underpopulated. I tend to stick to Riften and Whiterun as they feel the most lived in. I was surprised to find some of the smaller places considered Holds with a Jarl when there are other places that are only towns/villages that are the same size or bigger.

I see the smaller cities not having large populace like Dawnstar and Whiterun (which is much more developed then Dawnstar). I think at least Windhelm/Solitude would have a lot more people. Markath has a decent amount for its size but then again it kind of doesn't (only compaired to the other cities).

I understand Skyrim is harsh and difficult to live in with the landscape and creatures but the fact that there are magically so many Stormcloaks during the war scenes makes little sense to me. They must have been living 5 Stormcloak warriors to each house in Skyrim. They either need to show the fact that some cities have a booming populace or have a lot smaller towns. For all the people in Skyrim IMO there are hardly enough homes overall. Look at the main cities even, there are not that many houses. Even larger ones do not house many people in-game.

I don't care personally but when I look at lack of detail on the small scale stuff (or big if you see it as a real issue) but I do see areas that do not make sense or could do with some polish or more attention. Doesn't mean I do not love the game.

Edit:

@Scar:

I agree with the Jarl thing. Even if the city is small, if they are not poor or beaten down like Winterhold (with all the people leaving) they would tend to have a much bigger place or at least a fancier one. Even if everyone else is living in normal/wooden homes a Jarl would not spare their gold to not make an actual home/palace (mini-palace not a castle). I find it odd that its so small and the fact that the defense on cities like all of those really do not have crap to defend their Jarl/Lord's home or the city for that matter. You would think they would at least have put up shoddy spiked logs for a wall like at the Orc fortresses. Especially since Skyrim is known for having very dangerous animals.

I have kept Whiterun as my base of operations simply because it has the most town like feel to it. Places like Falkreath and Morthal are no more than a small village or outpost even in terms of feeling or size. I didn't expect the imperial city from Oblivion to be in Skyrim, but there are only 3 towns that rival Bruma and that is a bit disappointing. Each hold should have a town at least the scale of Whiterun for goodness sake. A Jarl wouldn't live in a fishing village.

That said, the quests are plentiful enough that you can spend some time based in each local and have plenty to do for a time and heck, each is quite pretty in its own way.

well said

Ditto. Though strangely fitting in the case of a place named Solitude.

Actually, Bethesda just didn't feel like making bigger towns. Bethesda are always going against their own lore. Oblivion was notorious for it.

Thanks very much friendo!
BTW has anyone noticed Whiterun is one hell of a lot like Edoras from The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers?

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b226/d4saken1/whiterunandedoras.jpg

NO IDEA WHAT YOU MEAN!

FYI this picture link is totally so I can hack peoples computers, for all you paranoid people. Its gonna get you.

As much as I'd like bigger cities, I really don't mind the smaller village (if that) style used in this "viking" setting. This is like pre 1000 AD in a rather hostile environment, I wouldn't expect towns and cities like found in classical era. I don't know, to me it just "feels right". I'm also in love with some of the details I find.

Um, you clearly haven't been to all of the places. Plenty of the towns are fine.

Look at GTA 4, a billion random NPCs, and 50 places you can go in. Boring. Towns have a lot more in Skyrim. It sounds like you've only been to Riverwood or something. Whiterun alone has more than what you just said, there's 2 Taverns, probably 10-12 houses, a bunch of shops and stalls, Jorrvaskr, Dragonreach. Not to mention the farms and houses right outside the city.

So what are you talking about?

I somewhat agree that capital sizes could be a lot larger, but I just love how they are designed and distributed, and for me is enough right now as the game is. If the game world was smaller and the city offered a lot of quests, required more gameplay time inside, etc.. then they would surely need to be bigger.

Also, try to walk (not run, neither sprint) from the inn to Blue palace (Solitude), or from the companions base on Whiterun to your home, once and again, then again for another quest, etc... and tell me if you still think they are so small It's what I always do, as I only "run" when riding a horse... makes the world feel much bigger, and also increases playing time, as long as you have the patience, real-life time, and imagination to enjoy it.

The size of the cities doesn't really bother me. I'd love it if they were bigger and more populated but at least you can go into any building and see where each NPC sleeps and what possessions they have. Even the guards have there own space in the barracks. It would annoy me more if there were loads of nameless random people on the streets during the day who just disappeared at night or there were loads of buildings you couldn't enter...