Yeah, I WISH I needed to do some hyperbole to say that all the dungeons I've visited thus far are nothing more than a corridor.
Sadly, it's not the case. I'll see if there is other dungeons that are, actually, varied, but for now that's exactly what I've witnessed.

A lot of the communication about this game was about how such thing had been "vastly improved" compared to Oblivion.
One of the main point was about how the Skyrim's dungeons would be far superior, lovingly handcrafted to be much more varied and interesting. And well, this does leave me scratching my head.

So far, it seems that yes, there is more varied type of dungeons (more than the four elven ruins - natural caverns - fort ruins - mines from Oblivion). There is also some "boss fights" in the unique ones which are rather fun.
But WHERE the hell is the "lovingly handcrafted" part ? Because for now, all I've seen, regardless if it was random dungeons or unique ones, have been extremely repetitive corridors with one entry and one exit, where you just follow the one single ultra-linear path.
That's both boring and repetitive as hell, as well as being even inferior to Oblivion's layout, which, as bad as it was, at as least more than one single tunnel to follow, with branching paths and several ways to go to the same place.

Have I been VERY unlucky, was it another communication lie, or is this just another casualty of the "streamlining" of the game (because yay, a secundary path would be too complex !) ?

You are absolutely right. It's us, not you, that aren't looking at the dungeons correctly.

Never mind I've screenshotted just about every boss room in every dungeon I've come across so far, and not a single one of them even remotely looks like the ones before.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r11/Gerza71/TESV2011-12-0222-20-24-67.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r11/Gerza71/TESV2011-11-1222-41-54-59.jpg

I just reading from your first post before you complain about the dungeon looks a bit samy, look around. I cleared 50 so far and they are well made and they are don't look the same.

Sadly, it's not the case. I'll see if there is other dungeons that are, actually, varied, but for now that's exactly what I've witnessed.

Hello.
Next time, I'll advise you to READ the first post to know what the thread is ACTUALLY about, rather than just copy'n'pasting something that is completely off the point.


Well, give me the positions on the map about these non-linear dungeons then, so that I can at least get some variety.


Those are closer to what I've experienced.

I would love to have a few of these MASSIVE dungeons too, as they made for a terrifying and epci experience.
But having every (or even most) dungeons being SO big and labyrinthine would be quite excessive. Just like dragons, those massive dungeons would be best served in very sparse quantity, unless they become really overdone and lose their "special" appeal.

I'd like a more... middle-ground situation
But I'd like to see the death of all the linear dungeons (natural caves being a simple room or short tunnel doesn't count, because that's pretty logical).


That's what I hoped when posting the thread first, but doing six more "one tunnel only" dungeons thereafter seriously dented my motivation.

I DO take note of all suggestions made in the thread though (Markath, Blackreach, bandit cave near Solitude, etc.) and I'll be sure to have a look at them.
But several other answers are all about how "unique" the dungeons feel because they have some happenance of hand-made "set-up" (the bandits exploring the ruins of the first MQ dungeon for example, or the "special foes" in the quest of becoming a Companion), hence not talking about the linearity (and hence boredom) which is my main gripe.
There is probably a few that are non-linear (probably among the suggestions I was given), but when I see people saying that they did 50 or 100 dungeons and not two of them feels similar... it's pretty obvious they and I have vastly different criteria about what makes us feel like a dungeon is repetitive. Linearity is a huge killer for me, ESPECIALLY in a game that is ALL about free-roaming like TES are.

Yeah I remember the guy that was caught in a spiderweb. I also remember I had absolutely no other way than through him, so it's not like I had any more choice in the matter than when looking at a cinematic... So I can see that some people see them as "unique", but for me they just blend together into a boring paste of passively walking forward a railroaded path, just waking (a little bit) to kill some foes that appear very predictably.

*sighs*, I do wish people would quote relevant parts of a post instead of the whole text!

But WHERE the hell is the "lovingly handcrafted" part ? Because for now, all I've seen, regardless if it was random dungeons or unique ones, have been extremely repetitive corridors with one entry and one exit, where you just follow the one single ultra-linear path.

Nah, not when dealing with someone who blindly refuses to listen and instead keep saying the same thing over and over.

In that case, your are not only spamming up the thread, but also doing the same thing as the one you are arguing with, "he said/she said, I'm right, your wrong, no I'm right!, your wrong!"

Every time I enter a dungeon/mine/ruin/cave, I ask myself "why is this here?" what was its purpose?" If it is a ruin of a dwarf city, it should look like a ruined city and not a 5 mile long twisting hallway. I also am confused by the layout of some of the burial ruins.

If any of these are inhabited with monsters, I ask myself "why are they here?". Generally speaking Bethesda has done an amazing job here by making all of the placements believable and even providing a bit of back story you can overhear or read in journals.

I can say that Bethesda is doing MUCH better in these categories as they keep developing these games.



I am a bit disappointed that I find myself looking for the secret door to the quick exit that I have come to know is at the end of every one of these.

Oh sure, there are several dungeons like that. But even those have some unique features in them, like the unique items.

The biggest problem with Oblivion was that there just wasn't any point in exploring the dungeons thanks to the level-scaling.

This is so wrong it is beyond belief. You clearly haven't explored much. Check out some dwemer ruins with their giant rooms, long spanning bridges and tons of other areas to fall to your doom as well being dotted with puzzles. You have forts with multiple ways to tackle what they offer. You've clearly only been to nordic ruins. Check out the forts, caves, dwemer ruins, mines as well. Then check out Blackreach which may now be my favorite dungeon in any game ever. Other interesting spots: The Sightless Pit, Eldergleam Sanctuary, Fallowstone Cave, the Labyrinthian and Lost Valley Redoubt all offer neat things and show a lot of variety.

Spilled oil took me awhile to figure out because I wasp laying with that old Oblivion mindset, haha. I love interacting with the environment more. And I had no idea about those secret rooms. -.- I've found a few in things that looked like cabinets but were actually doors, but never even tried with the draugr.

A lot of the communication about this game was about how such thing had been "vastly improved" compared to Oblivion.
One of the main point was about how the Skyrim's dungeons would be far superior, lovingly handcrafted to be much more varied and interesting. And well, this does leave me scratching my head.

So far, it seems that yes, there is more varied type of dungeons (more than the four elven ruins - natural caverns - fort ruins - mines from Oblivion). There is also some "boss fights" in the unique ones which are rather fun.
But WHERE the hell is the "lovingly handcrafted" part ? Because for now, all I've seen, regardless if it was random dungeons or unique ones, have been extremely repetitive corridors with one entry and one exit, where you just follow the one single ultra-linear path.
That's both boring and repetitive as hell, as well as being even inferior to Oblivion's layout, which, as bad as it was, at as least more than one single tunnel to follow, with branching paths and several ways to go to the same place.

Have I been VERY unlucky, was it another communication lie, or is this just another casualty of the "streamlining" of the game (because yay, a secundary path would be too complex !) ?