My very first Elder Scrolls game was Morrowind, and oh how I fell in love, every crypt, every town, every house even, and every mine, every cave, every quest, sooo different from each other. The immersion, the music, the grandeur of the world itself along with its size, simply breath taking. I wasnt playing a game, so much as I was experiencing a new world. You can get lost in Morrowind like no other game has ever done. Morrowind was great, but what really made Morrowind all of the above, was its unbeatable exploration. The towns, caves, crypts, felt "lived" in. Finding hidden alters, a secret mining society, or a a secret bandit lair that you heard the guards talking about a few towns over just a few hours previously... walking into a womans house, open discussion and find her cheerfull, bashfull even, nice and orderly as you'd expect an old imperial woman to be, only to scour her room and find a dagger hidden under the pillow. (What secrets does this old mistress hide?). yes the exploration of Morrowind is unbeatable, and what really made the game great.

(Fast Forward to Oblivion)

Oblivion is hated yet loved by many. New graphics, dumbed down exploration, leveling creatures and world, with many weapons removed from the game. Copy/Paste seems to have been the favored weapon of the developers. Oblivion did bring many new things to Elder Scrolls however, better combat mechanics for one. However, fans who have played Elder Scrolls since at least Morrowind, or earlier, know that this is not what Elder Scrolls games truly are.. They are for exploration, immersion, role-playing, and getting lost. Oblivion was a huge disappointment to me personally, though I know many loved it. You walk into one Aylied ruin, you've walked into them all, caves did not feel lived up, the game itself felt like a set of a play, setup for the player, almost like a set at an amusemant park. Nothing felt "real"..

(Fast Forward to Skyrim)

Skyrim is yet another jewel. I call Skyrim the best of both worlds, as it brings the best of Morrowind, and best of Oblivion into one majestic game. I have to admit it was a coin toss; are the developers going to fail and cut corners like so many developers these days seem to be doing? or are we once again seeing a turning point in gaming, where developers are truly starting to put their heart and soul into the games they make once again? Bethesda couldnt put everything great from both games into Skyrim, I understand this, but what they did choose to bring from both is a beautiful mix without a doubt.

I am happy to see they did their best on Skyrim. And though the epic debate of Morrowind vs Oblivion can be put onto Skyrim as well of "did they add the right things or not?", I think I can happily look anyone in the eye and say Skyrim was worth every penny spent on it.

They, in my eyes, added the best of each game into one great game. Keeping with the story of Elder Scrolls through and through, while adding more twists and turns, many unexpected. Coupled and striving for Morrowinds unbeatable exploration which Skyrim is only a hair width away from, to Oblivions amazing graphics, and combat, this game is one I believe will beat the test of time, just as Morrowind has done before.

From walking into a random mine, and overhearing a heated argument of who is on guard next duty, and for them to get sleep and not fall asleep like last time, to returning to the cave at night, only to find, that yes.. the guard has fallen asleep once again, allowing you to sneak past and loot the mine at your leisure. To finding random shipwrecks, some marked and some not marked on your map. To the beautiful and abundant landscapes, unique towns, and colorfull variations of personalities, feel, and immersion that oblivion was missing. Even to go so far as mixing aspects of both games into one mechanic, Morrowinds static levels of monsters and NPCs, with Oblivions leveling system, allowing both to be in Skyrim, making who you come up against even more adventurous than usual.

Though Skyrim is a hair width away in exploration, it still lacks a few lustrous aspects that Morrowinds had, it still evens out in the end, and while the developers still cut corners by keeping Pauldrons, and many weapon types out of the game such as Spears, Halberds, Throwing weapons, and crossbows. Skyrim is without a doubt, a majestic game, and pure gem, that will not ever collect dust for me. From gamer to developer, curtsy and smile to Bethesda for making a great Elder Scrolls once again.

Nicely written and I agree.

Still yet to be convinced about Skyrim (only logged an hour or so so far) but I agree on the MW and Oblivion assessments. I found Oblivion, while occasionally entertaining, to be somewhat blanded down as far as gameplay goes. I dislike being told where to go via arrows, who to speak to via arrows, and what I think via textbox inserts, playing a game with a built-in walkthrough seemed to be no gameplay at all.

Once I'd got rid of the onscreen helpers and ignored the central plot, I found that observing the land around me revealed little paths & clues... that when I followed up revealed some kind of wonder. Stuff I would not have found had I been either following an arrow or fast-travelling.

MW, although not as rich AI-wise, had the possibility of me getting lost. To me, that's not a gameplay problem, to me that IS gameplay. Figuring stuff out.

But, I am encouraged by what I read on these forums generally, and I hope to see some of the great gameplay come back (once I've disabled the quest hints & compass helpers etc).

You've pretty much said everything that I think about this game. I always thought "what if Morrowind had the graphics and improvements of Oblivion?". Wouldn't that be the perfect game? I liked both games, and I admire the modders attempts to realize this (with such things as Morroblivion), but Skyrim might truly be the game. I'm not 100% sure yet, but just maybe this is that "dream game" I personally always wanted. It feels like it is... I hope so.

Amen. May The Elder Scrolls franchise never die.

i had my doubts about skyrim but it's turned out great , really impressed . I'm enjoying it so far as much as i enjoyed daggerfall and i never thought i would say that.

ikr? they really did a great job on Skyrim for sure. I never thought i'd enjoy one as much as morrowind again.

Would love others inputs too <3

You know that feeling you got when you got off the ship in Seyda Neen and just stood there and looked at the world? The silt strider off in the distance with it's mournful cry, the sound of the waves, the beautiful sky... all of these details and more put a tingle down my spine when I first experienced it. Morrowind, even to this day, is my favorite game. The exploration, the non-leveling creatures and loot, the detailed quests, the guilds, etc. Such an awesome and tangible world.

That said, though, Skyrim is running a close second. I got that same feeling right from the start of Skyrim, right there in the prisoner cart. Looking around at this new world and listening to Ralof talking was an incredible experience and the feelings I got from it are still strong as I'm progressing through the game. The details that the developers put into Skyrim are a joy. I've said it before, and I'll say it here: When playing Skyrim, I attain a feeling as close to bliss as you can get. I don't want to stop playing it. For example, I had to go to work this morning (IT Manager for power company), yet I played Skyrim until 4 a.m. I've had, roughly, two and a half hours of sleep today. And when I go home, I'm going to drink some Mountain Dew and play more Skyrim 'til I pass out.

Skyrim > Morrowind > Oblivion

And Oblivion is one of the best games ever.

I had really high hopes for Skyrim, and it actually went all the way past that. Love it. Oblivion did not function that well, though i had a couple of hundred hours in it. Skyrim is an huge improvement, love everything so far. The world feel alive, something in my oppinion Oblivion did not.

Aye, well put M'lady.

Although i feel that TES is as much about collection and advancement as it is about role playing

The second I saw a pack of wolves gang bang a lonely fox I knew this was the game for me

Well, written, but I noticed that no mention of Fallout 3 was made. Actually, Skyrim is a culmination of all three prior games that the core team worked on (Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout 3), and particularly uses stuff from FO3 like the mixed leveling system.

Looting in skyrim is so predictable i can always tell what loot i end up with upon entering a dungeon.

First person horse riding is important for me, i dont want to be forced playing in third person when i find it more of a challenge playing in first person without the overview.

The interface in skyrim is the worst in the franchise by far.


Exploration and landscapes Skyrim > Morrowind > Oblivion

Interface: Morrowind > Oblivion: > Skyrim

Quest and storyline: Morrowind: > Oblivion > Skyrim

Crafting, repairs, spellmaking, enchanting: Oblivion > Morrowind > Skyrim

Skills and spells: Morrowind > Oblivion > Skyrim

Horses: Oblivion > Skyrim > Morrowind

looting: Morrowind > Oblivion > Skyrim

Character Creation: Skyrim > Morrowind > Oblivion

Combat: Skyrim > Oblivion > Morrowind

Graphics and visuals: Skyrim > Oblivion > Morrowind


overall: Morrowind > Skyrim > Oblivion


Oblivion and Morrowind still has many things i miss such as the famous spell making system, first person horse riding, random loot, repairs, arena, more subskills and spells, but being fair skyrim adds so many new things to the table and it is no doubt game of the many year material, i hope dlc or patches will add some of the things i want if not then mods.

While this may be true, I've never ever been able to get into Fallouts, and this isnt a fallout game, its an Elder Scrolls.

Skyrime!..what can I say, Its all, so much the game I wanted it to be and much more, sure there are things that I had hoped
would be brough over from Oblivion, some have been, some have not and some have but have been changed but thats all good
as things need to be changed in order to keep fresh.

Sure there are some things that I dont like, ex.UI - not the best but it does not make me want to rage, so it cant be that bad!
and any way the good points in this game are so so many that to say they outway the bad is a major understatment.

If there was one thing I would have really liked to see added to Skyrime is a Mounted Hourse Combat system, like in the
Mount and Blade games, because as things stand horse in Oblivion and now Skyrime have no function, I mean they dont
get you any were faster (unless you Quicktravel!) and if you have an encounter, needing to get off to defend your self makes
no sence. So, if one thing were to added, then being (if not all weapons) then being able to use a bow would make sence.

That being said, 10/10 Bethesda, Aswsome Game

Having played through the entire Elder Scrolls series (Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion) was beginning to get a bit jaded about the whole thing after Oblivion and was almost going to pass on Skyrim - so glad I didn't!

The first two in the series obviously can't be compared to the last 3 since the technology has moved on so much, but at the time the 'open world' gameplay felt groundbreaking. My preferences re the last 3 would be Skyrim>Morrowind>Oblivion.

Really pleased to see all the things that annoyed me with Oblivion (major and minor) get overhauled/improved in Skyrim eg floaty, boring combat (feels much more weighty, dynamic and deadly in Skyrim), ridiculous enemy-scaling system (much less jarring now), rather boring stat-focused leveling (Skyrim's perk system makes levelling much more interesting imo), strange 'unreal' feel to the world (I love how 'real' the world of Skyrim feels - I think this has more to do with attention to detail than graphical power), nice choice of character presets (so you don't have to spend hours tweaking every damn feature), no more repairs (probably controversial, but there's enough micro-management in the game as it is, imo), apparently more variety in weapons and gear (got really bored with seeing the same stuff over and over in Oblivion) - the list goes on.

This is exactly why i still play Morrowind to this day despite the lesser graphics, is the pure unbeatable attention to detail in EVERYTHING. Though Skyrim comes very close, it still doesnt quite match what Morrowind has when it comes to detail in absolutely everything about the world. There are still some rare cases where I think "they could of really added more, or made this a little more lavish" in skyrim, but those times are rare, and I honestly cannot ever say that at all in Morrowind. But my point over all is, Morrowind is such a high standing bar that they probably will never beat it, they just did to good of a job, but the fact they got so close in Skyrim, I give them full credit for.

Skyrim is *very* close to "just right" IMO. Sure the interface has some puzzling aspects, but the gameplay is superb. Anything that I don't like in the current game, or wish could be a little different, will easily be modded away soon enough.

I started with Daggerfall. I still remember leaving the starter dungeon and setting out on foot. Thirty minutes later I found a town. If that game had had a good dungeon map system, I might still be playing it.

Morrowind was a great leap forward, but I didn't like the art design. I like a traditional look and feel to my RPGs.

Oblivion had great quests. Whatever issues there were elsewhere, that made up for it to me. Best quests of the series.

I'm about 15 levels into Skyrim, and my initial nerdlust has faded enough for me to really begin to assess it. It feels like a refined Oblivion in all the best ways. I'll be playing it for some time, but there are some issues.

- I'm not a fan of the UI. On the PC the menus pop up to the extreme left and right of the screen and extend under the health bars. The skill tree screen is just a pain. The journal doesn't retain much information so you either have to just turn on the waypoint or go old school with a pencil and paper. Just as in Oblivion, you can't zoom out very far on the world map.

- I'm torn on the combat changes. It seems like no matter what style I like, I have to spend a lot of time paused to switch spells or gear. The shouts are a nice addition. They do a lot to make-up for these shortcomings.

Still, these aren't huge issues. Way too early to get more in-depth.

morrowind wasnt perfect.

The only thing that worrys me about Skyrim.... Is...... How will TESVI beat it?



Also Morrowind, though it was a great game, wasnt perfect, the magic combat system was aweful, especially physical combat. Though it felt alien and unique, it also felt empty, the UI was ok, but not great, the story was awsome though ^^ the only thing that Skyrim forgot to take from Morrowind, was the beast legs.... Why they didn't add them in when they added Werewolves, i dont know, i guess they had little time left, and adding beast race legs ment revamping every single piece of armor/shoes in the game~

¨
Disagree with most of what you just wrote!

and the fans stay true.