History NightmareFuel / TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall

[-[[caption-width-right:332:[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim "Don't like those eyes you got. There's a bad hunger to them.]]"]]]]-]

[-[[caption-width-right:332:Don't like those eyes you got. There's a bad hunger to them.]]-]

* Dungeons in the first game were dark, dangerous, often large labyrinths populated with enemies that'd mopped the floor with ill-prepared adventurers. They're much the same in this game, only much larger and complex. You're completely lost. It's past the deadline for whatever quest you went there to do. You never did find that quest item you went there to find. All you want is to find something that looks familiar and hopefully get out this damn maze. Every single door you open creaks, and all you can hear are the screams of angry monsters echoing through the cavern. Somewhat sadistic on the developers part that, even if you clear the entire dungeon of monsters, you'll still hear them. If you step out into the void using bugs, you'll see why; even the smallest dungeons are actually part of bizarre non-euclidean horrors of twisted passages that go on forever in all directions. Smaller dungeons just aren't connected to the larger infinite superstructure.

* Dungeons in Daggerfall are worse than all the Sixth House Bases Morrowind could throw at you. You're completely lost. It's past the deadline for whatever quest you went there to do. You never did find that quest item you went there to find. All you want is to find something that looks familiar and hopefully get out this damn maze. Every single door you open creaks, and all you can hear are the screams of a very angry undead thing echoing through the cavern. Somewhat sadistic on the developers part that, even if you clear the entire dungeon of monsters, you'll still hear them. If you step out into the void using bugs, you'll see why; even the smallest dungeons are actually part of bizarre non-euclidean horrors of twisted passages that go on forever in all directions. Smaller dungeons just aren't connected to the larger infinite superstructure.

** The water segments, good GOD, the water segments. Dark, stygian mazes of subterranean caverns home to Dreughs and Slaughterfish. Worst part, swimming is a very class dependent feature, meaning only agile players could effectively work as good swimmers. Of course, it doesn't help that you'll find very difficult zombies which can kill low-level players easily.

* A lot of the non-dungeon game music, especially the night tracks (Night Track 7) can be pretty unnerving.

[-[[caption-width-right:332:I don't like those eyes you got, there's a bad hunger to them.]]-]

* A lot of the non-dungeon game music, especially the night tracks (Night Track 7) can be pretty unnerving.

** Some of the dungeon layouts can be... strange. Be it where you walk into a room and see a bunch of candles with coffins all lined up on the walls. Or an empty room with a floating candle that teleports you into a room full of enemies. And then you have the dungeons with random viscera, like hanging skeletons or rotting corpses of prisoners. It begs the question what's actually going on inside. The settings of the dungeons (i.e, the ruins of a farmstead that happens to have a massive labyrinth system beneath it)make it feel like you're exploring the base of a cult or something eldritch.
** Not only that, but the ambient tracks make things a whole lot worse, as you're walking randomly through the dark caves of a dungeon to randomly find a monster just pop out of nowhere with ominous strings in the background.
** The water segments, good GOD, the water segments. Dark, eldritch mazes of subterranean caverns home to mysterious beasts and slaughterfish. Worst part, swimming is a very class dependent feature, meaning only agile players could effectively work as good swimmers.
* What was worse was all the undead in the capital. They weren't scary looking, but their color made them almost impossible to see at night, when they came out. So you would begin taking damage and not know what it was.

* A lot of the monster noises are very scary. Especially the undead ones and the ones you will recognize as DemonicSpiders.
** The noise the skeletons make; it's a high pitched screech. You get used to it over time to the point where it's not creepy at all, but hearing it for the first time?
* A lot of the game music is also creepy in their own right. Many of the dungeon tracks as well as the night ones tend to evoke a sense of dread and loneliness.

** The noise the skeletons make; it's a high pitched screech. You get used to it over time to the point where it's not creepy at all, but hearing it for the first time? *Shudder*

* Alot of the game music is also creepy in their own right. Many of the dungeon tracks as well as the night ones tend to evoke a sense of dread and loneliness.

[[quoteright:339:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daggerfall.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:339:TakeOurWordForIt, the cover art isn't even the scariest part.]]

* One of the Temple Quests you can get is exorcising a kid possessed by a demon. You're supposed to visit the kid in the house; he says very disturbing cryptic words about the demon. So you have to go back to the person who issued the quest and mention that. Then you get a lead about a man who knows about demons and will give you a ceremonial item that will draw the demon away from the kid and will appear somewhere in the house which you have to kill. If you get a wrong lead and don't get to the man fast enough, the kid's mother gets impatient and flees the town with her demonic hellchild. If you experienced that, it's a very heavy guilt that just 24 hours earlier you could have saved everyone.

** Alot of the game music is also creepy in their own right. Many of the dungeon tracks as well as the night ones tend to evoke a sense of dread and loneliness. Doesn't help when the ambiance is also unsettling too.

* Dungeons in Daggerfall are worse than all the Sixth House Bases Morrowind could throw at you. You're completely lost. It's past the deadline for whatever quest you went there to do. You never did find that quest item you went there to find. All you want is to find something that looks familiar and hopefully get out this damn maze. Every single door you open creaks, and all you can hear are the screams of a very angry undead thing echoing through the cavern. Somewhat sadist on the developers part, that even if you clear the entire dungeon of monsters, you'll still hear them. If you step out into the void using bugs, you'll see why; even the smallest dungeons area actually part of bizarre non-euclidean horrors of twisted passages that go on forever in all directions. Smaller dungeons just aren't connected to the larger infinite superstructure.

** Not just that, but chances are if you fast travel to Daggerfall and arrive at night. The ghosts will stalk you outside of the gates and you can't fast travel out of there, so your only chances are either running away out of range, or hoping the gates aren't closed so you can escape into an inn.

** The noise the skeletons make, it's a high pitched screech. You get used to it over time to the point where it's not creepy at all, but hearing it for the first time. *Shudder*

* One of the Temple Quests you can get is exorcising a kid possessed by a demon. You're supposed to visit the kid in the house, he says very disturbing cryptic words about the demon. So you have to go back to the person who issued the quest and mention that. Then you get a lead about a man who knows about demon and will give you a ceremonial item that will draw the demon away from the kid and will appear somewhere in the house which you have to kill. If you get a wrong lead and don't get to the man fast enough, the kid's mother gets impatient and flees the town with her demonic hellchild. If you experienced that, it's a very heavy guilt that just 24 hours earlier you could have saved everyone.

[[caption-width-right:339:TakeOurWordForIt, the cover art isn't even the scariest part.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:339:[[TakeOurWordForIt, the cover art isn't the scariest part.]]]]

* Dungeons in Daggerfall are worse than all the Sixth House Bases Morrowind could throw at you. You're completely lost. It's past the deadline for whatever quest you went there to do. You never did find that quest item you went there to find. All you want is to find something that looks familiar and hopefully get out this damn maze. Every single door you open creaks, and all you can hear are the screams of a very angry undead thing echoing through the cavern. Somewhat sadist on the developers part, that even if you clear the entire dungeon of monsters, you'll still hear them. (Proven with the crypts in the graveyards which are barely house sized and have no more than 4-5 enemies each time).

"Vengeance!!!!" (You know it's coming, and boy is it creepy).

* The dungeons, especially those containing undead, can be really creepy and scary when crawling around in a dimly lit dungeon with scary music and howls.
** You know the [[DemonicSpiders Ancient Vampire]] noise, right? It's actually a well-used [[http://www.pond5.com/sound-effect/8910388/animal-bobcat-growl.html bobcat stock growl]]. Good luck ever hearing that sound without feeling even remotely unsettled.

* The dungeons, especially those containing undead, can be really creepy and scary when crawling around in a dimly lit dungeon with scary music and howls.