Why spiders?

[n13e86]

The game clearly aims to invoke athmosphere of fantasy Northern Europe.
Of all possible hostile creatures they could use, giant spiders don't come to mind in this context.
And yet, they are everywhere - more than anyone else (two hours in, I killed more of them than of people and wolves combined).

[mikaeliby]

It is FANTASY. That is why :)

[n13e86]

Fantasy is supposed to be fun, or imaginative.
Spiders are neither.

[Citizen_1245]

People but big = alright

Spiders but big = not alright

[steventirey]

Originally posted by n13e86:

Fantasy is supposed to be fun, or imaginative.
Spiders are neither.

You have apparently never heard of the term "generic fantasy setting". They aren't really imaginative at all. The Elder Scrolls isn't really imaginative either. We have elves, dwarves, and orcs. Cat people. Warriors and wizards and thieves. Mindless skeletons as low level fodder commanded by ancient spellcasting liches and vampires. Sure, there are some minor differences (like dwarves and orcs actually being elves), but in the end the Elder Scrolls games are just another example of a generic fantasy setting.

I can't think of anything that makes the Elder Scrolls series special or that really sets it apart from other settings.

[n13e86]

Originally posted by steventirey:

Originally posted by n13e86:

Fantasy is supposed to be fun, or imaginative.
Spiders are neither.

You have apparently never heard of the term "generic fantasy setting". They aren't really imaginative at all. The Elder Scrolls isn't really imaginative either. We have elves, dwarves, and orcs. Cat people. Warriors and wizards and thieves. Mindless skeletons as low level fodder commanded by ancient spellcasting liches and vampires. Sure, there are some minor differences (like dwarves and orcs actually being elves), but in the end the Elder Scrolls games are just another example of a generic fantasy setting.

I can't think of anything that makes the Elder Scrolls series special or that really sets it apart from other settings.

I did, and I am disappointed in the fact that spiders are somehow almost always a part of it.
I am also not familiar with the Elder Scrolls series, so I didn't know what exactly to expect from this.
What is this series about, then? If not setting, then what?

[Citizen_1245]

This universe exists because Bethesda wanted to make a fantasy rpg but didn't have the rights to dnd or Tolkien's universe so they made their own
Hell, the elder scrolls as a title was only chosen because they thought it sounded cool. The scrolls didn't appear in the games until Oblivion (the 4th in the series).

So yeah it's supposed to be generic, it's on purpose

That being said, starting with Morrowind, they rewrote the lore almost entirely and it is wild. You should read some of the books in the game. The mythology is way more esoteric than other similar universes on the surface, and it is open to many interpretation. Some events are told from different perspective and it is tough to understand what was really going on, a bit like trying to decipher actual world religion

[R4ndomG4mer]

Why do people only cry about the spiders? I've never seen anyone complain: "It's supposed to be fantasy, so why are there dogs, wolves, foxes, bears, and rabbits?"

[dopugsnotdrugs]

if you look at morrowind uesp they have a list of baddies from skeletons and rats and mudcrabs to big daedroth and golden saints or even sleeper gawds and all the urs like dagoth ur and malgoth ur etc..

like the well hung chad said earlier.. we use all the bads in the skyrim :) its not such a horrid thing fren, you can always mod them into being hentai girls who want to pull the white out of your wizard staff

[n13e86]

Originally posted by R4ndomG4mer:

Why do people only cry about the spiders? I've never seen anyone complain: "It's supposed to be fantasy, so why are there dogs, wolves, foxes, bears, and rabbits?"

Perhaps, because none of the others on the list trigger common phobias?

[peppermint hollows]

Skyrim and Cyrodiil were both significantly more interesting and unique in their lore before the respective games came out that featured them as the setting, to be honest. Part of it can be chalked up to technical limitations and part of it is just lazy/bad writing.

Hell, even in Oblivion, Skyrim was way more interesting. Take the Volkihar vampires for example, who feature in the Dawnguard DLC. They are actually mentioned in an in-game book that first appeared in Oblivion (which ironically, also appears in Skyrim).

Here's how the book (Immortal Blood) describes the Volkihar clan:

"The next day, he did return with more questions, these ones very specific. He wanted to know about the vampires of eastern Skyrim. I told him about the most powerful tribe, the Volkihar, paranoid and cruel, whose very breath could freeze their victims' blood in the veins. I explained to him how they lived beneath the ice of remote and haunted lakes, never venturing into the world of men except to feed."

"Your advice helped me very much," he said. "But you should know that the Volkihar have an additional ability you didn't mention. They can reach through the ice of their lakes without breaking it. It was quite a nasty surprise, being grabbed from below without any warning."

I dunno about you, but this sounds pretty cool and unique for vampires, while being fitting to the heavy Scandinavian/Nordic inspiration.

But then Skyrim released and eventually we got the Dawnguard DLC, and they decided to actually add the Volkihar clan into the game, and they just became painfully boring and generic vampires living in a big gothic castle. Not powerful, ice magic-wielding vampires who live under the ice and pull their victims through it without breaking the surface.

[Valden21]

OP, giant spiders have been considered an enemy in high-fantasy settings for a LONG time. D&D has them as enemies of the elves due to their links to the drow, and LoTR has them as servants of Shelob, the Great Spider. If you want someone to blame for this, then that would be J.R.R Tolkein, as LoTR introduced and codified many of the common high-fantasy tropes we see today, including giant spiders always being an enemy. Before them, most cultural depictions of them had them as being cunning and manipulative, but sometimes friendly.

[matt]

Originally posted by n13e86:

Perhaps, because none of the others on the list trigger common phobias?

If that is your problem, why didn't you just say so? Why cloak your complaint in the form of "there isn't enough monster diversity"? Try this mod[www.nexusmods.com] to remove all the spiders and webs from the game.

[FauxFurry]

They needed to save the more distinctive creature types for the expansions.

[alexander_dougherty]

The answer is lazy writing I'm afraid.

They had previously stated in the lore that the province of Skyrim while cold at least didn't have poisonous snakes or spiders.... that was state outright in previous games. Then they couldn't think of any animals to put into the game, and decided that since giant Spiders were on trend (when they were making the game) they would do..... Boars, aggressive Stags (as opposed to ones that just run away) and other similar creatures apparently didn't occur to them

[FauxFurry]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

The answer is lazy writing I'm afraid.

They had previously stated in the lore that the province of Skyrim while cold at least didn't have poisonous snakes or spiders.... that was state outright in previous games. Then they couldn't think of any animals to put into the game, and decided that since giant Spiders were on trend (when they were making the game) they would do..... Boars, aggressive Stags (as opposed to ones that just run away) and other similar creatures apparently didn't occur to them

It is also part of the 'variety for variety's sake' trend that some game designers get caught up in (see Elden Ring for one of the worst examples of this, with re-used assets from previous From Software games being haphazardly thrown wherever more enemy types were desired).
They could have had more ursine derived enemies, maybe a daedric bear type, to replace the non-Chaurus invertebrates or just have gone all in on Fire Spiders or Spider Daedra so justify their presence in a cold climate.