Unique distinct cities : V

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:08 pm

You know how in oblivion and morrowind( I guess more so morrowind) all the cities had a distinct look to them. Such as bravil was swampy and skingrad had a medieval look to it I think. Each city also had unique architecture. So discuss on what you think skyrims distinct cities will look like and what their themes would be.

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:12 am

MUCH more so in Morrowind, frankly. Especially in the smaller towns and villages.
I certainly hope that we see a lot of distinct and interesting settlements.
In my mind, Solitude should be a sort of cold, gothic castle town with dark skies and clustered foreboding stone houses, and Whiterun should be a sprawling tundra city of thick wood buildings and long, fiery mead-halls, stretched out over the vast open frosted grounds and halcyon winter skies.

We've already seen bits of Riven and Markarth, and they look great. Extremely promising.

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:15 am

Every Oblivion city had a medieval look to it...

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:44 am

Every Oblivion city had a medieval look to it...

Skingrad was far too advanced in architecture and building technologies to be medieval.
There are cities in this day and age on earth in Europa that could pass for it.
More like renaissance.

I think cities will each have a unique feel to them. That city vista we saw in the trailer, the one built on top of Dwemer ruins, was just awesome and sure looks like a one-off to me.
Of all the things possible to worry about for Skyrim, I have none at all about how awesome it will look.

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:03 pm

That city built upon the natural rock arch in the trailer looks pretty unique. Looks like something the TR Modders for Morrowind would have thought of. (They build some pretty cool stuff.)

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:11 am

Skingrad was far too advanced in architecture and building technologies to be medieval.
There are cities in this day and age on earth in Europa that could pass for it.
More like renaissance.

I think cities will each have a unique feel to them. That city vista we saw in the trailer, the one built on top of Dwemer ruins, was just awesome and sure looks like a one-off to me.
Of all the things possible to worry about for Skyrim, I have none at all about how awesome it will look.

Contrast that one to the one with the windmill which looked totally different.

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:41 am

A quote that I thought may have some relevance here...

It is quite apparent that the cities and towns have been modeled around the natural scenery, instead of the other way around, like Oblivion. One notable village from the trailer rests on the peak of a small mountain overlooking a forest across the bay. A rock bridge arches over the river below and leads to a seperate, tall standing crag. Leave it to the crafty citizens of Skyrim to build a castle atop it. Riverwood looks to be wedged between two promontory type hills (if my eyes don't decieve me), and Markarth seems like it is located in a deep crevasse with stairs ascending all the way up from the bottom. Buildings may be stacked on top of eachother here or emerging from the cliffs, it being a vertical kind of place. Every city is entirely unique. A great improvement over Oblivion's flat plane, cookie-cutter towns.

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:06 pm

A quote that I thought may have some relevance here...

Definitely, and heartening observations to hear.

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 9:22 pm

In my mind, Solitude should be a sort of cold, gothic castle town with dark skies and clustered foreboding stone houses, and Whiterun should be a sprawling tundra city of thick wood buildings and long, fiery mead-halls, stretched out over the vast open frosted grounds and halcyon winter skies.

We've already seen bits of Riven and Markarth, and they look great. Extremely promising.

http://i55.tinypic.com/oqkkth.jpg is concept art of Whiterun. Looks like Rohan from LOTR but in a tundra setting.

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:55 am

People say how cities looked the same in Oblivion, but.. really they weren't the same.

Anvil was a coastal town, with bright colors everywhere, Bruma had wooden, Nordish buildings, Bravil was a slum, Leyawiin was a swamp town...

They've been missing in the bigger spectaculars though, like the castles were pretty small...

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:24 pm

Judging from the trailer and screens and concept art. Very much so.

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:45 am

http://i55.tinypic.com/oqkkth.jpg is concept art of Whiterun. Looks like Rohan from LOTR but in a tundra setting.

I love how theirs all this flat land all around it ad they decided to build a city on top of a giant rock :L

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:50 pm

I love how theirs all this flat land all around it ad they decided to build a city on top of a giant rock :L

Actually it looks like most of that flat land would be flood plain, so the city location choice was a good one.

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:33 am

In my mind, Solitude should be a sort of cold, gothic castle town with dark skies and clustered foreboding stone houses,

I agree, and certainly hope that's the case.

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 9:29 pm

I agree, and certainly hope that's the case.

Yet another quote of mine I'd like to share...

http://i51.tinypic.com/2mdghuh.jpg could be good, I guess.

1. The city in the background is most likely Solitude (located http://i56.tinypic.com/2vt2lpe.jpg on the map). If that is the case, the mountains in the far background are http://i52.tinypic.com/2gxi7md.jpg, and the slightly wooded area behind the rock arch is in fact the north-western reachs of The Pale, located http://i51.tinypic.com/34r9fts.jpg.

5. The settlement has various types of towers as well as a castle on the rock arch (most likely the count's quarters).

6. One of the main gates can be seen in the upper left, closed. This may mean open cities is a no. -_-

Some of my speculation concerning the city stems from a conversation I had with Dragonbone. Credit goes to him.

Credit also goes to Luke Skyrimmer for correcting my original, flawed speculations... :ermm:

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:50 pm

I love how theirs all this flat land all around it ad they decided to build a city on top of a giant rock :L

Easier to defend your city if its on high ground.

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:52 am

Solitude: http://i.imgur.com/p2YWe.jpg
Whiterun: http://i.imgur.com/YNuUg.jpg
Markarth: http://i.imgur.com/IPBIn.jpg
Windhelm/Riften?: http://i.imgur.com/U0PSt.jpg

Riverwood: http://i.imgur.com/V9sbY.jpg

» Mon Jan 03, 2011 11:06 am

Windhelm/Riften?: http://i.imgur.com/U0PSt.jpg

Nice matches. I'd expect this one to be Windhelm or even Dawnstar though because if it was Riften, wouldn't we see some evidence of it being in the fall forest?

» Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:08 pm

There were about 5 building styles in Morrowind (Hlaalu, Redoran, Telvanni, Imperial and Vivec) while Oblivion had one for each city. The settlements and small towns were pretty much copy-pasted from two templates in Oblivion while in Morrowind they used parts of the style in the larger towns.