Aldmeri Dominion - Environment Appearance

F7sus4

In this topic I'd wanted to share (and ask about your) thoughts on Aldmeri Dominion's landscapes/environment.

I've currently finished the base game content (level 1-50) with 3 characters - each at different faction. While at heart I'm an Altmer utterly loyal to Aldmeri Dominion... I find our landscape a bit repetitive. Yes, marvellous, but repetitive.

In Daggerfall Covenant just single Glenumbra has: medieval city, meadows, woods, moors, valleys, uplands. And each of the other map-regions (Alik'r Desert, Ravenspire, Stormhaven) really differ from each other. They have "raw" mountain/upland regions, even a desert. The diversity is good and not overwhelming/exaggerated at the same time. Even single regions have a lot of diversity in its environment.

The same goes for Ebonheart Pact. While I didn't enjoy the eastern-like city architecture at first, the harsh-lava-mountain setting is just great. They also got snowy regions, pine forests, autumn-like birch forests (Rift), and dim swamps (Shadowfen). Even Stonefalls with its spiked mushrooms!

Now getting to the point. What do we got in Aldmeri Dominion? Well... Forests. Sure, the Altmer cities are enigmatically majestic. They are great and have undeniable splendor. But the areas outside ot them are all almost the same with each step. Woods, woods, woods. Sure ecstatics ones, but still with little to no recognizable and memorable places. Places that make you want to explore the wilderness more and more. Sure, there are few abandoned keeps and Ayleid ruins, but just like they are in other factions' areas. The only possible exception to this rule was Reaper's March with meadow/desert-setting, but that's all.

So... is it just me or perhaps some of you had similar impressions?

SlasherZet

I had the same feeling, it's all forest, forest forest...

AvalonRanger

>>forest, forest forest...

I remember RAMBO 2 or PREDATOR. It looks like typical rainforest.

F7sus4

Thanks for the feedback. Just was wondering...

Whisper292

I didn't think about it before, but you're absolutely right. So much of the questline is done in Valenwood, and that's what it is--woods. Probably why it's so hard to find one's way around...

Rosveen

What bothers me most is that NPCs keep saying Greenshade is the heart of Valenwood, its wildest part. It makes no sense. Grahtwood looks much darker and wilder, even Malabal Tor has this mysterious feeling in places - Greenshade is basically a meadow.

I still like AD though. There isn't much they could do in Valenwood, it's heavily forested and there's no way around it, but each zone had its own atmosphere. I wish we saw more of Elsweyr, it would add variety. I love the Khajiit settlements scattered around, they're clearly different from surrounding Bosmer villages.

Even so, it's true that AD is the least geographically varied alliance.

F7sus4 wrote: »

In Daggerfall Covenant just single Glenumbra has: medieval city, meadows, woods, moors, valleys, uplands.

Ha. Glenumbra is my least favorite zone. It's always gloomy and rainy, dark green and brown everywhere I go. A bit depressing, really. That medieval city feels too familiar to be exciting.

Pyatra

I've only done Pact an Dominion, Dominion is better imho.

jesterstear

The trouble with Dominion is that there's impassible ridge lines criss crossing the landscape as you run back and forth doing fetch quests, and as you try to scour every inch of ground to find any quest givers you have missed. Kind of exacerbated by all the trees which make it hard to see where you're going, and tree roots that you keep snagging and getting hung up on (autorun fail!)

Looking forward to questing in the "plains of South Dakota" zone. Align compass, set autorun, make a cup of tea. Come back and you're at your destination. Or dead, whatever's easier.

Moonscythe

Yes, I was sort of confused by the fishing cats at Khenarthi's Roost, though I loved the architecture. All the Khajit in Skyrim kept complaining about the cold and wishing for hot sand. Where's the hot sand? Maybe Elsweyr is slated for an expansion.