it does not look like a place that naturally evolved, with homes and streets and whole districts being added over time. Instead it feels artificial, like it it was built that way according to some master plan, with no account at all given to the needs or wants of the people who were going to be living in it. Let alone no actual creation of it being by said individuals. It looks like a model of a city - cold, stark, and spiritless - not a real city. So perhaps in that way it is indeed an ideal reflection of the Tribunal: arrogant and separated from the people who live in Morrowind.

Yeah, in my mind every canton is covered with wooden scaffolding leading to newly excavated dwellings, there are banners everywhere, huts on bridges, etc. So that each canton in bristling with life and tacked-on structures. And the canols are absolutely clogged with water traffic.

Because that's really the sense I get from the concept art. It's just that the Morrowind engine wasn't really equipped to handle anything more lifelike.

If you read Vivec's description of his city in the sermons, "drab, utilitarian, urban-planning-esque" is absolute anathema.

The Tribunal may have withdrawn in recent years, but Almalexia and Vivec were definitely in the public eye. It's in their very nature to participate in the life of their subjects, and the Dunmerlove elaborate paegantry. Alma has to as the merciful mother. And at the very least Vivec wants to show off his spear. He's got a birthday celebration and everything.

This. There was nothing cosmopolitan about the most cosmopolitan part of Tamriel.

Almost every damn city in Skyrim.

I agree, though I'm going to regret agreeing. Actually Windhelm and Whiterun were alright.

The rest were either boring or weren't very respresentative of the Nords. Like, at all. And nope a roof spine can't save something from looking too Imperial.

At least oblivion had already estabilished at the beginning that imperials were boring [censored]s.
And yeah, Vivec was pretty crap. The games have decent towns too, but that's not really the point of this thread I guess.

I know what you mean about the cities not looking all that distinctly Nordic. They weren't that bad, really, maybe if they had more than 5 styles it would have been easier to establish an identity. But things like Riften did look a little standard European at times. Don't you think it would have looked a lot more Nordic if they'd followed the concept art? http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4lrm97dBqNo/TUFlf8E0PZI/AAAAAAAAAYM/zpU1C-tvpWw/s1600/artofskyrim_004_town.jpg

I think so, at least I can see my own country as it looked back in the days in them to some extent.

Yep, concept artists generally know what they're doing when it comes to, well, concepts. I'm guessing they cut a lot of that stuff to save time. I can only guess though.

the impirial city that grand collection of half a dozen buldings 50 people and at least the same amount in guards.

its just anoyying when you hear things like titus took the city with only 1000 men 10 times the population of the city....

Winterhold, Dawnstar, Leyawiin, Vivec and the worst of all Mournhold.

Winter Hold. Smaller than Riverwood, with the only redeeming feature being the magic school.

I've played Daggerfall, Morrowind and Olivion each when they first came out and thinking of my reaction to the cities in each game at the time I I first encountered them my biggest disappointment was Leyawin. Until i flooded it with Better Cities, Leyawin was just kinda meh.

Sorry to be pedantic, but the IC had almsot 100 buildings and about 200 people.

Winterhold is completely the worst. It was supposed to be a major city in Skyrim, yet almost nothing exists there. There aren't even ruins of a once great city, so I think the "fell into the sea" story is a cop-out for Bethesda not having the resources to actually follow through with it. Although most cities in Skyrim were quite disappointing with the exception of Whiterun. Markarth was okay too but it was too small. They could've included that entire flat plane area outside of the wall as part of the city and made it twice as large. Solitude was a more pathetic capital than the Imperial City.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Blankenmarch If it didn't exist, nobody in Cyrodiil would notice. It has three houses with NPCs that do nothing but walk around and stare at walls or talk about mudcrabs all day. There are no services or shops in it and absolutely no quests related to it. Blankenmarch is completely pointless, with no reason to ever visit it even once, except maybe to express pity for the unfortunate people living in it. It's in far eastern Cyrodiil not near any cities at all, closest to Leyawiin but far enough away that Leyawiin's services wouldn't be very useful for the average NPC, mountains away from Cheydinhal, and a forest and lake away from Bravil. They have no sources of food or water, other than wandering into the swamp to pick berries and drink out of rivers. One of its houses was identical to a house in Leyawiin (even with the listed owner in the CS), meaning even Bethesda only cared about it enough to copy and paste it into existence. How could Sheogorath think Border Watch was miserable when Blankenmarch existed?

Sutch was also disappointing. It was on Oblivion's trailer in-game maps, but not in the final product and was completely removed, along with all traces in the CS. Mir Corrup was also completely absent. These are (supposedly) cities and not towns, but I feel like they're still worth mentioning for disappearing from Cyrodiil.

TBH now that I think about it, just about every town has underwhelmed me.

hey, I was raised in Leyawiin! >:|

OT : I'd have to say Morthal or Dawnstar, they certainly are really dead to be a hold capital, can't buy a house there, barely any quests and just the atmosphere kind of bothers me o.o

Dawnstar in Skyrim.

Shor's Stone in Skyrim. Seems like a half-finished town, as the dungeon is supposed to be a mine, but man is it a tiny mine!

The Nibenean cities (Cheydinhal, Bravil ect.). I thought the Imperial City was large enough, it just should have been more colorful.

I think they went for the Roman style when creating the Imperial City, so more colors would not have been suitable.

If you follow Roman stereotypes. In reality, Roman and Greek buildings tended to be colorful. Often painted with colors that don't look good together.

Even so, they shouldn't have made them Roman. They should have followed the Pocket Guide's version of Nibenay, as best the technology allowed them to, rather than making them Medieval England with a touch of Rome.

As were the statues.

The Imperial Town was certainly the most disappointing, as in it didn't live up to the hype. Vivec, although somewhat annoying to walk around in (but not too annoying to fly around), was still pretty big and befit a capital city, I thought.

While I agree that the Imperial City is the most disappointing town, there aren't really any filler NPCs or filler buildings anywhere in the game. All the NPCs in Oblivion are related to some quest or offer some kind of function being a trainer, merchant or whatever and the houses are where they stay.

It should have been filled with lots of filler NPCs though, at least that would have made the place feel more alive.