They Call Solitude a Capital?

[Batuzich]

I was recently walking through Solitude when i realized how pathetic it was as a capital. I took some pictures of all the blank spaces in the city that could be used for buildings, stall, or other stuctures to enhance the cities. And i dont mean just filling it with pretty greenery like several other mods. I mean adding real content. Why doesn't solitude have an Areana, theres room for one. i posted some pictures on my account if any heroic ambitious modder would like to see my thoughts on certain areas of the city.

[A-Mac]

My guess is it's where the high king lives, making it the capital.

[Sparhawk122]

Well it's the capital of all the other villages. So in comparison to the rest of the strongholds littered through Skyrim it's the size of a town. Pretty pathetic compared to the capital of Morrowind: Mournhold and Oblivion: Imperial City. Actually that's more then pathetic...

[LeBart]

This was always a problem in the Elder Scrolls games. They're supposed to take place in entire countries and yet you can travel from one end to the other in 15 minutes. Not that it's an issue gameplay wise, they don't need bigger maps, but I always felt it hurt the lore quite a bit. I mean Solitude is one thing but the Imperial City was even worse for me. It was supposed to be this great, Rome-like, cosmopolitan city, and then you get there and there's like 50 people living there.
Kind of a minor issue with these games, most people are fine with it I guess.

[BoPacker]

I, personally, am glad that they do it like that, because i don't have 10 grand (or more) to drop on a pc that can handle 1000 unique npcs in a city. I mean, we're talking 4 GeForce 690s here, at least...and 64gb of ram, not to mention the hdd space that I couldn't begin to guess. The cities have the look of being big and there are enough npcs out and about to make it look as a medieval city would. Maybe, one day, our computers will be able to handle more realistic cities, but could you imagine trying to find the 20 quest givers among the 1000 npcs? Or even worse, they could make it like grand theft auto where you have 20 ppl repeated over and over who all say the same thing. (arrow in the knee, I know)

[Westlandresider]

all capitals are like that...Have you ever visited Washington D.C., other than the tourist attraction, its a dump compared to New York, its possible because the federal govt has to spend all the money elsewere.

[LeBart]

I'm fine with the games as they are too, but I would prefer if they were set in smaller parts of the world. Like one small random island somewhere. It would be less grand and epic maybe, but also a bit more believable, and you would have the same size map and the same amount of content.

[Big Boom Boom]

Dude, Skyrim is Nordic, Nords don't have Arena or Gladiators, that's Roman (a.k.a the Empire).

[Batuzich]

Maybe no... However I am not saying that i want 1000 ncps in Solitude but seeing the actual game sapce used in Solitude more efficently to add buildings. Remember how many stores there where in the Imperial market district?. And how could we all forget the good ole Imperial City Sewers? Don't so quickly forget that 30 minute starter dungeon! But the point im trying to get across is why cant there be sewers in Solitude? Or buildings where there is nothing but a pile of rocks? What Im trying to get at is that these ideas and more could be implimented into the cities of Skyrim and end up adding not 1000s but 7 to 15 new locations with people to go with them.

[neilbert1]

Well, Skyrim isn't as densely populated as Cryodiil is, or as Morrowind used to be (Skyrim's hostile climate likely makes it hard for it to support a large population - Alaska, which has a very similar climate to Skyrim, really doesn't have any truely large cities, or very many people as compared to the lower 48 states). So it sort of makes sense that it's capital is smaller then Mournhold, or especially the Imperial city. Plus, I don't think that Solitude is even the biggest city in Skyrim - It seems like Whiterun is the biggest city there (just as Junuea is the capital of Alaska, while Anchorage is Alaska's largest city).

[Batuzich]

but why not add to the existing cities? will they become to cool?

[Sparhawk122]

Even having the ability to build add on stores and houses by investing in a city would be quite unique. Also seven or more extra NPCs in each city would have made a tangible difference and made the cities feel more lively. Most people have decent rigs and the new consoles are coming out this year. Next TES game there's no excuse not to liven up the city atmosphere and enlarge towns/cities. Just saying.

[Amycus]

Originally posted by Sparhawk122:

Even having the ability to build add on stores and houses by investing in a city would be quite unique. Also seven or more extra NPCs in each city would have made a tangible difference and made the cities feel more lively. Most people have decent rigs and the new consoles are coming out this year. Next TES game there's no excuse not to liven up the city atmosphere and enlarge towns/cities. Just saying.

How about trying the mod "interesting npcs"? http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/8429

[Oberon]

Originally posted by LeBart:

They're supposed to take place in entire countries

No they're not. Entire provinces. And in Morrowind's case, only part of one.