hey look, nothing original.

The complaint isn't "original". It's "not fantasy." And no matter how unoriginal they may be, zombies/dragons/trolls/giants are fantasy. (heck, if "unoriginal" is the basis of judgement, that throws out 90% of the "fantasy" creatures in Oblivion, too.)

Low fantasy is a thing. And even though TES is certainly high fantasy, there aren't enough good low fantasy games. You can play any JRPG and a lot of other games to get the goofy, comic-book thing.

Zombies--> No matter how they appear, they are still zombies, function like zombies, attack like zombies, behave like zombies, and are called zombies.
Ghosts--> So, do you really them expect to work any differently? They wouldn't be called "ghosts" otherwise. The point is that there are no ghost (or zombies) in this our real world. So they are fantasy.

In any case, Todd Howard insisted that Bethesda was trying to make Skyrim into more of a Low-Fantasy game. Anyone expecting Skyrim to be true High-Fantasy is being deluded, I'm sorry to say.

Ah, so in addition to brown or gray not being the dominant color, not having bears and wolves as the main enemy also makes a game cartoony?

Pretty much yes we are agreeing. We both agree it is fantasy world, and both agree it is a great fantasy world. It just doesn't feel like an epic fantasy game to me, but it does still feel like a fantasy game.

Oblivion > Skyrim

Hopefully we'll get another Shivering Isles, perhaps a smaller Province. Maybe Valenwood? Or perhaps another realm of Oblivion? Either way I can't wait. I will say however, I do not particularly like the land of Skyrim, very bland, but it is still a really beautiful place to explore.

You're really accusing Skyrim of not being beautiful enough. That's hilarious.

This is a ridiculous conversation. There are plenty of creatures in Skyrim, and I suppose we could have had the same exact stuff we got in Oblivion over again, and people would still be TT'ing.

Base Oblivion (no SI) was pretty darn generic-medieval-fantasy. Typical buildings & people, typical landscapes. "Standard" fantasy monsters (zombie, skeleton, goblin, minotaur). It's really interesting to see it being held up as "more fantasy" than Skyrim.


My opinion - Skyrim's plenty fantasy. Swords & sorcery, dragons wheeling in the sky, giants herding mammoths across the plains, holes in the ground full of skeletons/zombies/trolls, ghosts, elementals, and a technicolor underworld filled with giant glowing mushrooms. "Where is the fantasy"? Right in front of you.

(Next, someone's going to say Lord of the Rings isn't fantasy enough. Large portions of it's landscape, after all, are populated by various flavors of men, and wild animals. Actual wizards/dragons/undead/orcs are pretty thin on the ground, overall.)

See I don't think the case is that Skyrim feels "LESS" fantasy. It feels like a "different" type of fantasy. Like going to a 5 star restaurant vs burger king. Both serve food, both are places you dine, ideally they are exactly the same. Yet each establishment will feel different because while they are both places people go to dine, they have completely different atmospheres. There is nothing wrong with games feeling different, but I was a little shocked when I played Skyrim because it didn't feel like Oblivion nor Morrowind, it just felt different. It's still fantasy, and still a great game. Just a bit different.

In my humble opinion, Oblivion and Skyrim both have blatant influences, which to me is what shaped them in terms of the creatures within the world. Oblivion was out and out Tolkien, from the lush green middle-earthy Cyrodiil to the plane of Oblivion looking like Mordor. Tolkien's world was a fantastical one enough where Minotaurs, Imps and whatnot wouldn't necessarily be out of place. Skyrim however takes its cues from A Song of Ice and Fire. Whilst that does have its share of fantastical elements, its a world and stylistic vision that takes much greater pains than Tolkien to ground itself in reality.

To be quite honest, reading about the various regions of Tamriel, they all struck me as being very different, wildly so in fact. Bethesda, with some considerable foresight, have given themselves license to change their visual style for each game without breaking their lore. Not everyones cup of tea, but I think its a good way to allow them to keep things fresh.

I wish The College of Winterhold had been less castle-like low fantasy and more Luskan Host Tower, Silverymoon or Ivy Mansion in Longsaddle of the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms world high fantasy.

Sometimes a man does not want to walk around the wilderness and fight wolves and saber cats.

As stated low level so I probably have missed the fantastical creatures.

Just finished watching through the LOTR movies, and you know what? Most of TES, especially Skyrim, looks to have been ripped right out of those films! So, if Skyrim's not good fantasy then what does that make the granddaddy of all fantasy?

I fully agree with Skyrim having too much real animals to fantasy creature ratio, but I don't agree with those having to be typical tacky fantasy ones. Why not invent new ones that fit with the setting like Morrowind and SI?

This series has almost always been a http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LowFantasy series, not http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HighFantasy. It's much more about political things, such as the Civil War turmoil, than it is about swords an sorcery, pheonixes and dragons. There IS fantasy in this game... it's just not the subgenre you're looking for.

Land Dreughs...remember them? No? Well i do and i want the scary bastards back

I want to know what happened to the company that came up with these great creatures

Guar
Kagouti
Netch
Nix-hound
Dreugh
Durzogs
Verminous and Hulking Fabricants
Scrib
Kwama,warrior,queen,forger,worker
Grahl
The Udyrfrykte
Hunger
Ogrim
Winged Twilight
Bonelord

Daedroth
Daedra Seducer
Lamia
Clannfear
Spider Daedra
Xivilai
Baliwog
Elytra
Grummite


Edit added more and corrected mistake

you get the idea these were great original creatures

the underfrykte is in skyrim

hmm I guess your right thats the troll right?

Lol zombies aren't in skyrim. That's oblivion's wiki.

I personally don't like too much fantasy, and thus i really liked Oblivion's medieval setting because it was recogniseable. (It took me a while to get into SI's and Morrowind for that reason--they felt too alien, but I'm so glad i took the time). At the time i first picked up Oblivion, it was like a LOTR world where i could go anywhere, which is exactly what i wanted in a game. That being said, i do like ogre's, minotaurs etc and i think they fit well with Cyrodiil's mysterious forests and lush green woodland.

As for Skyrim, I think the creatures fit well with the 'feel' of the world and they don't feel random, though i wish there was a bit more variety at times. One thing I love about TES lore is that it's fantastical but quite advlt at the same time; its interesting, mysterious and everything feels right with a reason and an explanation. I think too much over the top WOW style fantasy would make it all feel a bit ... 'nerdy', dare I say?

ur kidding right!!!

I won't spoil anything but skyrim has fantasy APLENTY

and besides OB and skyrim were low fantasy when compared to MW for example

I was disappointed that the College of Winterhold was little more than a small time castle set on a large foundation.