haven't read the thread but I just want to say I think skyrims dungeons are about a million times better than either oblivion or morrowind. I have found each one to be an interesting variation as opposed to a shameless copy-and-paste. Also the lighting and general atmosphere, I feel like they are far improved from previous iterations.

They are much better than Oblivion's IMO.

Oblivion's dungeons were way too symmetrical, predictable and repetitive IMO.

Most of the grand tombs were built to be confusing, but not to the extent seen in so many films and games. My point was more that Egyptian tombs are not identical in structure or design. The burial traditions, art and architectural styles changed and evolved throughout the thousands of years the Ancient Egyptian civilisation had some form of prominence.

Actually, that is something I'd like to see reflected in Skyrim. Not all tombs need be underground. The art and design of the Great Pyramid is very different to Nefertiti's tomb which is very different to KV5 which is very different to Hatshepsut's burial complex. Variety is <3

The addition of interactive elements (the puzzles) helped, Skyrim blows Oblivion out of the water in terms of dungeons. And a pretty good chunk of dungeons have related quests or special rewards/items.

Savant Circlet in labyrithian, Bromjunaar sanruary, Dragon Priests, mini lore... The lost goes on and on. Just because many of them have similar layouts doesn't mean that they aren't unique.

@blade watcher-

In oblivion bandits did say stuff fyi. The talked about "rumors" which had to do with beginnings of quests, or they talked
About guilds. I actually think bandits had more dialogue in oblivion, and it changed depending on quest status. Skyrims bandits have totally static lines.

Many of the Skyrim bandits have unique dialogue specific to the dungeons. I quite enjoy sneaking through the bandit lairs and listening to what they have to say to each other before I kill them.
If you want an example, try White River Watch, just north of Whiterun across the bridge. Its quite amusing. After they talk about their pet in the cage, let it loose and they will comment on that as well!

I also enjoy the "Stories with skeletons" they have added.
One had a skeleton of someone the bandits had wrapped in a haybale with something to drink juuuust out of reach.svcked to be him
One with two miners and a one miner left a journal about his buddy abandoning him but if you go further on you find out his buddy got killed in a cave in.

little touches like this add to exploring.If you are into that kind of thing

Thats true, i do remember a couple of those instances (dungeon relative) generic banditspeak drives me up the wall.

I thought Skyrims were much better than Oblivions.

Yes but the annoying part of Skyrim is every single quest that isn't a simple delivery involves a dungeons crawl, so It's easy to get burned out on them. I started up OB again, I'm pretty deep into the TG line and haven't had a single dungeon crawl, makes them a bit more special.

And the Ayelid ruins . . .

*shrug*

I played two characters through to 40ish in like 2 weeks.... Go burned out a little. I've realized that t's much safer to NOT dominate my time with Skyrim. It feels better when you play a little less. Sweet spot seems to be 1-2 hours at a time. There might be a little too much quest-related dungeon crawling but I think that was because delivery quests aren't really fun and the only realistically non-dungeon questlines would be Thieves Guild (where you end up in dungeons anyway /sigh) and Dark Brotherhood.

GET OUT OF HERE!!! YOUR OPINION IS INVALID........scum...

I don't understand this criticism. They are not all laid out the same. I take it that people are sad that the dungeons aren't more confusing or require more backtracking. My answer to that is, I'm glad Beth is desiging the game and not the critics.

I love them. Nice variety and atmospheres.

I just feel every quest ending with a "go to dungeon X and get to end" is a serious lack of creative quest design. It also forces them to make 100+ dungeons which forces repetition and makes everything feel the same. Seems like Todd worked the world and level designers like dogs and gave everyone else time off lol.

I'm okay with it, frankly (dougly?). Dungeons are the place where differences in character builds come into play the strongest: a stealth character navigates a dungeon differently and observes the layout differently than a brawler, who works through differently than a squishy mage, who sees things differently still from a player spamming invisibility/muffle to ghost the whole way through. When games have the opportunity for differing playstyles, they do their best when they focus on the portions of gameplay that really put those differences on display.

I partly agree with this statement, because the dungeons are too linear, if you find a path that leads somewhere else it usually leads into another room, unlike morrowind and oblivion where it used to lead to a whole new place!

You are right that most dungeons can be divided into a few groups: Draugr, Falmer, Dwemer, Bandit Hideouts, Mage Hideouts and caves filled with wildlife. However, most of these dungeons have a story behind them. In almost every single one (besides the smallest one-room dungeons) hold some kind of story, whether that is told through a journal on a dead bandit, some talk you overhear by inhabitants of the dungeon, or from someone asking your help at the entrance. This all makes for some pretty interesting dungeons. Besides, there are some absolutely massive dungeons worth exploring, story or not (mostly Falmer caves and Dwemer ruins). Ruins like Blackreach, Irkngthand and Mzinchaleft are all dungeons worth going through. They are pretty big too: Blackreach's main room apparently is over 4 square miles in size. That's pretty huge.

Funny after 220 hours played every cave and dungeon I have been in has been different. Yes draugur and dwarven ones have the same feel and architecture but this is expected. So far my dungeon experience has been far better than Oblivion and Morrowind in terms of varitey and coolness factor. There has been at least a dozen of them in Skyrm that are awe inspiring.

I do agree that there could be some rare and unique items spread across them that are hard to find or take some exploration to discover.

I guess you haven't come upon any of the caves that lead to Dwemer ruins or hagraven lairs.

Sometimes I wonder if people are playing a different game than me.

what you are talking about is different dungeon types. yes, these different types are unique.

I think Skyrim have really superior dungeons compared to Morrowind and Oblivion. There are several nice dungeons with epic locations, while in Morrowind there are only a few and not really any of them in Oblivion.

I feel that Oblivion in general had better dungeons than Morrowind though, while Morrowind had a few excellent ones, most of them were very small and boring while the average Oblivion dungeons were quite a bit larger and populated with traps and so on.

Exactly =)

i'd love to see what would be said about morrowinds dungeons if they were to upgrade the detail and graphics with skyrim's.

nothing better in morrowind than finding unique loot hidden away in some maze of a dungeon.

edit- a single journal or repeated coversation doesn't make a story behind a dungeon.