Should The Devs Correct Cyordiil's Topography in ESO?

Vanthras79 · December 2017

After playing TES IV many times through I feel like the version of Cyrodiil we get is a bit of a hot mess and a botched lore job by the development team. Here are some small examples I have found.
1. The Jerall Mountains in no way resemble the Jeralls I remember from Oblivion. They look like an alpine hills rather than mountain passes around the loftly Jerrals. Plus Bruma no longer sits on a steep cliff. I think the mountain topography could make for some rather strategic play (not all battles have fair and even topography.) and the players should adapt to the change in terrain.
2. The Great Forest is not all that great. The trees are a lot smaller, and less densely populated. Again this looks more like a pasture and less like a forest.
3. The Niben River is far too shallow and narrow. How are large ships ever supposed to get to the waterfront district when the river is unable to navigate by a large vessel.
4. The bridge crossing the Niben would not allow for large ships to pass through, and it is far too narrow. (see also point number 3.)
5. There should be only one bridge into the Imperial City, and that should be from western bank.
6. The imperial city is rotated to accommodate three bridges into the city, and then where lore wise the city somehow un-rotates to accommodate one bridge in the later stories?

These are fairly big issues with the design for Cyrodiil that ZOS has done, That I have a particular issue with. My question is should ZOS redesign Cyrodiil to make it more immersive via lore friendly changes? And if not, why?

SirAndy · December 2017

No

Most of these things could have easily changed in the time between TESO and Oblivion.

A lot of things can happen in 800 years ...

Vanthras79 · December 2017

Yes

SirAndy wrote: »

Most of these things could have easily changed in the time between TESO and Oblivion.

A lot of things can happen in 800 years ...

The entire city magically rotating?

Non-volcanic mountains emerging from the Jerrals?

MythicEmperor · December 2017

Yes

Vanthras79 wrote: »

SirAndy wrote: »

Most of these things could have easily changed in the time between TESO and Oblivion.

A lot of things can happen in 800 years ...

The entire city magically rotating?

Non-volcanic mountains emerging from the Jerrals?

Don't you every sit and think "man, my city would be so nice if we just rotated everything slightly."

Kierro · December 2017

No

Riften has been changed several times before it became the one in Skyrim. The three bridges could have been turned to one after the Banner War, because it left only one way for enemy access to the city instead of three. Even adding more secret passages. As for shallows, as in real life, lakes and streams change due to amount of rain and position of the moon(s). The area around Bravil in Oblivion isn't big enough for ships, there's even an area between Bravil and Layawyne that is too shallow and small for ships, it comes hip deep, enough for dingies only. As for bridge being small for ships, there's several small bridges in Oblivion.

Elsonso · December 2017

No

Vanthras79 wrote: »

After playing TES IV many times through I feel like the version of Cyrodiil we get is a bit of a hot mess and a botched lore job by the development team. Here are some small examples I have found.
1. The Jerall Mountains in no way resemble the Jeralls I remember from Oblivion. They look like an alpine hills rather than mountain passes around the loftly Jerrals. Plus Bruma no longer sits on a steep cliff. I think the mountain topography could make for some rather strategic play (not all battles have fair and even topography.) and the players should adapt to the change in terrain.
2. The Great Forest is not all that great. The trees are a lot smaller, and less densely populated. Again this looks more like a pasture and less like a forest.
3. The Niben River is far too shallow and narrow. How are large ships ever supposed to get to the waterfront district when the river is unable to navigate by a large vessel.
4. The bridge crossing the Niben would not allow for large ships to pass through, and it is far too narrow. (see also point number 3.)
5. There should be only one bridge into the Imperial City, and that should be from western bank.
6. The imperial city is rotated to accommodate three bridges into the city, and then where lore wise the city somehow un-rotates to accommodate one bridge in the later stories?

These are fairly big issues with the design for Cyrodiil that ZOS has done, That I have a particular issue with. My question is should ZOS redesign Cyrodiil to make it more immersive via lore friendly changes? And if not, why?

1. On the one hand, it would be nice if the geography of the area matched TES 4. On the other hand, this really isn't a wise idea. The southern half of Cyrodiil in TES 4 is very passable. That is not the case north of the Chorrol-Imperial City-Cheydinhal line, which things get very steep and mountainous. It would provide protection for the northern keeps from an east-west attack and drive the focus of the war towards the AD keeps. In the end, the playing field needs to be generally balanced across the three alliances, and that is more important than the lore.

2. Personally, I don't think this is a critical difference between the two game.

3 & 4. Have you seen the Niben River and the various bridges in Oblivion? The Imperial City is land locked. The river is not navigable by large ships. It's not even a river, despite the name. It is an inland lake with a very long tail. It does not connect to Topal Bay. The bridge is too low at Alessia for anything with tall masts. There is a wooden plank bridge across the river at Fort Redman, and the river is shallow enough to walk across there. There is a massive rock in the middle of the channel on the open side of island north of Leyawiin near White Stallion Lodge. Finally, let's not forget that there is a road across the "river" at Leyawiin and you can walk right across.

5. I agree that there should not be too many bridges leading to the city isle.

6. Yes, they should fix the rotation of the Imperial City, but they won't.

dodgehopper_ESO · December 2017

I reckon some of the adjustments of Cyrodiil/Niben are to create a 3 way alliance war and not so much to stick perfectly to lore. Its just to make it more fair... my suspicion.

notimetocare · December 2017

No

Vanthras79 wrote: »

SirAndy wrote: »

Most of these things could have easily changed in the time between TESO and Oblivion.

A lot of things can happen in 800 years ...

The entire city magically rotating?

Non-volcanic mountains emerging from the Jerrals?

A city moving? Yea. Happens alot when a city is reduced to pure rubble in its infancy

TelvanniWizard · December 2017

Yes

About n.2, there isn´t a single forest in the whole ESO game wich can actually resemble an actual forest. All we have are little grooves, or jungles with disperse trees, without any tree density in neither of them. No dark forests in Tamriel during this time...

Turelus · December 2017

No

I think some concessions had to be made for PvP balance. Although there are still many locations where that's not the case.

mb10 · December 2017

No

Maybe Talos is a fraud and a dictating tyrant who killed anyone who didnt follow him?

Maybe some of the stories are actually false and propaganda?

Leave it as it is

VaranisArano · December 2017

No

I remember climbing the mountains near Bruma and Cheydinhal in TES Oblivion. If you picked the wrong path, you'd be walking forever trying to find a path with a shallow enough slope to let you go up the mountain. Cyrodiil in ESO has plenty of impassable areas and lethal cliffs (my raid lead likes to lead our raid off most of them) but with it being a horse riding simulator already, Cyrodiil doesn't need more impassable areas. Its got plenty of bottenecks in strategic locations that provide an arena for fights (the milegates especially)

(But if ZOS wants to protect the EP and DC home keeps by sticking them in the impassable mountains, I'm sure AD won't mind at all. Not.)

As for forests, well, where do you think all that wood for our siege engines came from? We PVPers are a conservationist's nightmare with a lumbermill at every keep.

ArchMikem · December 2017

Yes

If ESO cyrodiil was changed to look more like Oblivion cyrodiil, i would queue into a campaign so fast just to explore.

MythicEmperor · December 2017

Yes

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

About n.2, there isn´t a single forest in the whole ESO game wich can actually resemble an actual forest. All we have are little grooves, or jungles with disperse trees, without any tree density in neither of them. No dark forests in Tamriel during this time...

Yeah, I was really disappointed by Valenwood. I imagined dense forests with lush foliage. We were given a few trees and discount Telvanni pods.

Vanthras79 · December 2017

Yes

MythicEmperor wrote: »

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

About n.2, there isn´t a single forest in the whole ESO game wich can actually resemble an actual forest. All we have are little grooves, or jungles with disperse trees, without any tree density in neither of them. No dark forests in Tamriel during this time...

Yeah, I was really disappointed by Valenwood. I imagined dense forests with lush foliage. We were given a few trees and discount Telvanni pods.

Grahtwood is okay, but the Wilderking Court of Greenshade is sadly missing trees. Greenshade as a whole is light on the foliage.

Vuldovahkriid · December 2017

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

About n.2, there isn´t a single forest in the whole ESO game wich can actually resemble an actual forest. All we have are little grooves, or jungles with disperse trees, without any tree density in neither of them. No dark forests in Tamriel during this time...

I will say ESO definitely needs a Duskwood type of wooded area.

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Should The Devs Correct Cyordiil's Topography in ESO?

Should The Devs Correct Cyordiil's Topography in ESO? 46 votes