Oblivion dungeons scarier than Skyrim's?

[Gimli]

Okay so first off, Oblivion was one of my major childhood gaming experiences. It comes in close second to Halo 3. After recently playing through the Beyond Skyrim: Bruma mod with my new alternate start huntress, I was hit with a mega wave of Nostalgia. Going beyond the borders of Skyrim and seeing just that small northern portion of Cyrodiil in Skyrim's engine was absolutely breathtaking. Seeing the Imperial City off in the distance was astounding if not a bit of a frustrating tease since I couldn't go there. Don't even get me started on Frostcrag Spire and Bruma itself... Hell even the two featured Ayleid ruins. There was even this bridge up in the mountains that I distinctly remember walking across in Oblivion all those years ago (or at least I think so, but I swear... It felt so familiar).

Long story short, I decided to play Oblivion again after all these years and all of this time exclusively spent in its successor, Skyrim. One thing I took into consideration was the dungeons. Does anyone else find the Oblivion dungeons way more eerie than the Skyrim ones? I went in again figuring that it was just stupid childish fear back then but no, I explored my first dungeon last night and the creepy suspenseful feeling is still there as if nothing has aged a day.

I honestly feel like a major factor is the music and lack of certain graphical clarity. Also I find zombies more disturbing than Draugr. Another thing that scared the crap out of me as a kid were the wraiths and the Ghost Ship of Anvil.

[Johnny Casey]

Good for you.

[Gimli]

Originally posted by Johnny Casey:

Good for you.

I think that Oblivion's dungeons are scarier but where they falter is tedium. They're all samey give or take, and while they are eerie, can be a bit repetitive. However the hostile encounters and loot tables make up for that.

As for Skyrim? Dungeons can be eerie sometimes but the music does a pretty poor job at conveying the suspense of something lurking around the corner like Oblivion. The lighting is also a bit too bright which gets rid of the fear factor of being in a poorly lit environment with stuff that wants to kill you on the prowl. On the contrary, they are structured better and offer lots of fresh exploration even after you've played the game hundreds of times because there's just so many.

My verdict is that while both games are good, they both succeed and falter in different areas.

Why thank you!

I'm honestly pretty curious of what you have to say about Morrowind's dungeons because you raised some pretty great points for Oblivion and Skyrim :O

In fact I'm also interested in any speculation you have about dungeons in TES6. I'm sure you have an extremely elaborate and interesting theory brewing in there.

[ҥӵриӧѕ]

Oblivion's dungeons are creepier, especially with the music. I've heard ungodly sounds in my play throughs possibly from clutter/npcs getting stuck and flapping about However, in Skyrim, having a giant spider casually land on your head from not observing the surroundings properly is certainly a trouser filler, along with very bad words.

[arottweiler]

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/8802/

with torch mods.

[Gimli]

Originally posted by ҥӵриӧѕ:

Oblivion's dungeons are creepier, especially with the music. I've heard ungodly sounds in my play throughs possibly from clutter/npcs getting stuck and flapping about However, in Skyrim, having a giant spider casually land on your head from not observing the surroundings properly is certainly a trouser filler, along with very bad words. :2016whoadude:

Of course wonky physics in a Bethesda game would somehow make the game scarier lmao XD

Speaking of ungodly noises though; monsters like wraiths, trolls, goblins, ogres and minotaurs sound super jarring and unsettling. Especially when my volume is up and I'm not expecting anything. Just the way their audio was recorded makes it sound ten times worse. Its just something about old games that makes things more eerie.

Originally posted by arottweiler:

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/8802/

with torch mods.

No way... I am so trying this hahaha

[RequiemsRose]

I never found either incredibly frightening, but I would agree that Oblivion dungeons have an overall more eerie tone. Skyrim has a couple of well placed (or occassionally accidental) jump scares, like the first time a giant spider drops on top of you or when you accidentally set off a trap because you forgot your new character doesn't have light foot yet. Oblivion does have some dungeon traps to but most are incredibly obvious, and once in a while it's downright hilarious; Fithragaer repeatedly smashing against the ceiling comes to mind. Then again, Skyrim didn't improve much in the case of hiding traps.

The sound for the zombies is definetly creepy, that almost belching guttoral groan they do. If you can get past the aged graphics, the design is more unsettling than a draugr as well. That and, zombies seem to take more hits than draugr imo. I don't even want to begin to break down the mechanical differences but I can normally one shot ever draugr short of a death lord early on in skyrim, meanwhile I've had a few panicked moments of playing ring around the rosy with a zombie as I try to poke, slash, or shoot it to death. Hardy things, they feel like a threat while the draugr often feel like annoyances.

It's been a bit since I played Morrowind, but again if you can get over the older graphics, I think it may have been creepier in some ways as well. I do remember a few caves or dungeons i still fear entering through pure muscle memory basically. Hated any cave in the ash lands for example, and one somewhat near the start but further than you should probably actually wander at the start, that will likely kill you a lot until you are stronger. Though Morrowind also had some caves that could be creepy for entirely different reasons to, like finding stashes of slaves in caves, some of which share some horrible stories about their experiences.

[Johnny Casey]

I guess someone was mad at my post well enough to make up some words that I didn't even attempt to write them down.

[Gimli]

Originally posted by RequiemsRose:

I never found either incredibly frightening, but I would agree that Oblivion dungeons have an overall more eerie tone. Skyrim has a couple of well placed (or occassionally accidental) jump scares, like the first time a giant spider drops on top of you or when you accidentally set off a trap because you forgot your new character doesn't have light foot yet. Oblivion does have some dungeon traps to but most are incredibly obvious, and once in a while it's downright hilarious; Fithragaer repeatedly smashing against the ceiling comes to mind. Then again, Skyrim didn't improve much in the case of hiding traps.

The sound for the zombies is definetly creepy, that almost belching guttoral groan they do. If you can get past the aged graphics, the design is more unsettling than a draugr as well. That and, zombies seem to take more hits than draugr imo. I don't even want to begin to break down the mechanical differences but I can normally one shot ever draugr short of a death lord early on in skyrim, meanwhile I've had a few panicked moments of playing ring around the rosy with a zombie as I try to poke, slash, or shoot it to death. Hardy things, they feel like a threat while the draugr often feel like annoyances.

It's been a bit since I played Morrowind, but again if you can get over the older graphics, I think it may have been creepier in some ways as well. I do remember a few caves or dungeons i still fear entering through pure muscle memory basically. Hated any cave in the ash lands for example, and one somewhat near the start but further than you should probably actually wander at the start, that will likely kill you a lot until you are stronger. Though Morrowind also had some caves that could be creepy for entirely different reasons to, like finding stashes of slaves in caves, some of which share some horrible stories about their experiences.

Yeah lol zombies are one of the most disturbing monsters in the game. Aren't there headless ones too? I can't quite remember. Haven't encountered any yet. The wraiths are what get me though. I hate the noises they make and the fact that that they can drain your strength and you need to use silver, daedric, or enchanted weapons to kill them.

Haven't actually played Morrowind but I've been meaning to give it a try. Combat system looks like it'll take some getting used to.

[RequiemsRose]

There are headless ones, though it's basically the same model sans skull. The wraiths and ghosts only ever freaked me out in specific places. Benirus Manor is one, not a pleasant thing to wake up to especially if you are low enough level to lack the silver/daedric/enchanted weapon requirement. Although enchanted weapons still apparently hurt even when the actual enchantment runs out, which was good to learn (only weapon I had on me that would work the first time I got that ambush was Witsplinter). The other was the chapel undercroft that also just pops out ghosts when you desecrate a grave (don't judge, it's a thief quest lol).

Although the dark brotherhood has a similar event to those ghost moments, when you are trying to help someone not die (surprising, for an assassin). Apparently removing the person from their place causes the family zombies to spawn, that was also a bit jarring when that first happened.

Morrowind can take some getting used to. It was my first elder scrolls game (well I played Arena before that but only vaguely remember it) but I still struggle to remember exactly how it works when i go back to it. You'll also find that elder scrolls has steadily been removing features and dumbing down the game series over the years, so enjoy all the cool new things you can do in Morrowind, like fly (sort of)!

[Keldab_Phoenix_Incarnate]

Honestly Oblivion is just a much better game than Skyrim imo. The feel of the game in general and the erie dark vibe of it makes it much more entertaining. i'm gonna replay it soon and it'll be my first time playing it on PC so I'm trying to find mods that'll make it look better and add more items, quests and such while not taking away the base feeling.

[ҥӵриӧѕ]

Originally posted by Keldab_Kandosii:

Honestly Oblivion is just a much better game than Skyrim imo. The feel of the game in general and the erie dark vibe of it makes it much more entertaining. i'm gonna replay it soon and it'll be my first time playing it on PC so I'm trying to find mods that'll make it look better and add more items, quests and such while not taking away the base feeling.

It is eerie, I've always thought that, while travelling around listening to the soundtrack. You feel something is just out of place. Anyway one new mod I now use is the smoking mod https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/11892 Idk I find it relaxing to smoke a bowl of toby after a hard days murdering.

[Gimli]

Originally posted by Keldab_Kandosii:

Honestly Oblivion is just a much better game than Skyrim imo. The feel of the game in general and the erie dark vibe of it makes it much more entertaining. i'm gonna replay it soon and it'll be my first time playing it on PC so I'm trying to find mods that'll make it look better and add more items, quests and such while not taking away the base feeling.

I love both, but its nice revisiting full Cyrodiil after playing Beyond Skyrim: Bruma. Its a warm welcome compared to the majority of Skyrim's region being cold or completely icy. Also when I was a kid I literally never noticed that Skyrim was scribbled on the map beyond the borders of Oblivion's Cyrodiil. I never really paid much attention until recently of how close to eachother chain of events within the lore actually take place. Its kinda cool

Originally posted by ҥӵриӧѕ:

Originally posted by Keldab_Kandosii:

Honestly Oblivion is just a much better game than Skyrim imo. The feel of the game in general and the erie dark vibe of it makes it much more entertaining. i'm gonna replay it soon and it'll be my first time playing it on PC so I'm trying to find mods that'll make it look better and add more items, quests and such while not taking away the base feeling.

...It is eerie, I've always thought that, while travelling around listening to the soundtrack. You feel something is just out of place...

When you said that, it instantly made me think of this one in particular, and yes I totally agree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nShd13-4lRY

[Keldab_Phoenix_Incarnate]

Originally posted by Equinox:

Originally posted by Keldab_Kandosii:

Honestly Oblivion is just a much better game than Skyrim imo. The feel of the game in general and the erie dark vibe of it makes it much more entertaining. i'm gonna replay it soon and it'll be my first time playing it on PC so I'm trying to find mods that'll make it look better and add more items, quests and such while not taking away the base feeling.

I love both, but its nice revisiting full Cyrodiil after playing Beyond Skyrim: Bruma. Its a warm welcome compared to the majority of Skyrim's region being cold or completely icy. Also when I was a kid I literally never noticed that Skyrim was scribbled on the map beyond the borders of Oblivion's Cyrodiil. I never really paid much attention until recently of how close to eachother chain of events within the lore actually take place. Its kinda cool

Originally posted by ҥӵриӧѕ:

...It is eerie, I've always thought that, while travelling around listening to the soundtrack. You feel something is just out of place...

When you said that, it instantly made me think of this one in particular, and yes I totally agree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nShd13-4lRY

there's like a 200 year difference but yeah they're all in Tamriel which is mostly just one big continent.