I played Morrowind for about 200 hours in total, and sadly never came close to finishing the main quest. Not because I was intentionally trying to avoid it, but because I just never got around to it. The length of an Elder Scrolls game is not just about finishing the main quest, but all the stuff there is to do on the way. Morrowind had a lot.

I think Skyrim and Morrowind are better than Oblivion, but it is still a great game, and worth picking up. I am not sure most people who have not played Morrowind before now could even play it, the combat system is just horrible compared to Skyrim, and even Oblivion.

Morrowind or Oblivion? I'd say neither. Get Fallout.
I played both Oblivion and Fallout3 waiting for Skyrim to come out and although Oblivion got me more into a TES mood, Fallout made the transition easier.
I find it's similar enough to Skyrim not to get lost from one game to the other while offering a completely different world and experience.
Ps. Haven't played New Vegas but if I had to chose I'd probably get that one.

i don't think that if skyrim is your first game you will really find morrowind or oblivion better. people that played morrowind or oblivion first have that soft spot for those games that (unless you have a liking towards older games) you will probably not have if you were to go back and play them, simply because skyrim is pretty much the same thing only better. thats not to say you shouldn't play them though. they are like the best games ever and now is just as good a time as any to buy oblivion and morrowind.

people like morrowind so much because it gave you more freedom than the other ones. that is to say, not that much more freedom, but enough to make it feel different. that is why i like morrowind, but i still think skyrim is the best so far.

Heavily modded Oblivion > Vanilla Skyrim

Vanilla Skyrim > Vanilla Oblivion

Years from now once Skyrim gets the CK and the talented modding community gets to work it will blow away all previous titles.

Personally I could not get into morrowind at all. It has terrible AI, terrible combat, no voice-acting and terrible graphics. The only thing that is left behind is an alien world with cliffracers that keep attacking you all the times. If you like Skyrim, you are most likely going to like oblivion much more than morrowind.

Oblivion is very good. If you love Skyrim you may want to get Oblivion once you've milked Skyrim for all the enjoyment you can.

Unless you're really big on mods just try the plain vanilla Oblivion first. It has a lot of the same elements as Skyrim, it's just not developed quite as far since it's an older game.

As for the older games, well each one is rougher then the one before. I personally didn't like Morrowind much although some people did. Daggerfall was a good game for its time but it's so old it will look REALLY dated by modern standards. For that reason alone I wouldn't recommend Daggerfall unless you're prepared to overlook antiquated graphics written for a 486.

Indeed people like it for nostalgia cause at that time no other game compared to what Morrowind was trying to do.

New Vegas is far better than Fallout 3 in terms of RPG elements like choices and the effects of player choices. Not to mention it has hardcoe mode, and it had a better combat system, oh and a better companion system, my god I forgot, multiple ammo types... The list goes on. I want to play New Vegas now. Damn.... Sorry Skyrim, see you in two weeks!

Yes you are because each one was significantly different from the other. Having played since Morrowind the combat is different from each one, the skills are different, more skills less perks, etc. Each one felt different from each other,

I loved the hardcoe mode but I hated the story of New Vegas due to the country music atmosphere. I hate anything and all country, lol

I have yet to finish New Vegas and I bought this 2 weeks into release.

Play them all! Bethesda released all of the pre Morrowind games for free some time ago. Most def play Morrowind and Oblivion though, they're amazing.

Ob only amazing if it is heavily modded. Vanilla ob is utter garbage

I prefer Oblivion best, but Morrowind is still something you absolutly should play too. Get both of them and decide for yourself

Though you must remember that is your peronal opinion.

Well from another 1st time Elder Scrolls player ( Skyrim is my first game) I don't feel left out.
I love the heck out of it. I'm interested in the lore tho, so I'm reading the "Books of Skyrim" (in pdf) because you can read them in order & get the history & lore from them.
I also go to the History / Lore section of the forums too.
As for the gameplay, like some person said play Skyrim to death then look at one of the other maybe. I'm hoping that by that time they will be releasing a new game Lol : )
I've never modded before & have just started with that. It's pretty awesome too. you can really change the flavor of the game. Only doing scenery now, no cheats or anything like that. But I've seen Lydia nvde : ) wow very nice ; )

So no don't feel left out or that you're missing something.
Enjoy Skyrim as much as you can & for as long as you can.

Your not missing much except nostelga, horrible level scaling, a really broken game (Morrowind) and longer guild lines although the guilds are much better in Skyrim well the mages guild can be debated on.

Oblivion and Morrowind are both worth It, although the former is probably worse than both Skyrim and Morrowind. If you play on PC, though, you can improve It to, well, Oblivion with the use of soem of the most awesome mods ever created for a game.

My recommendation? Play Skyrim until you feel you really like TES games, then It's time to play former installements, you'll find a similar experience. Morrowind is really good, as good as Skyrim with Its technical limitations, and Oblivion is a fun and entertaining game.

And I also hate anything and all country, but then I played Fallout: New Vegas.

It's pretty easy to get Oblivion, so there's no reason not to play that one. There are also a few "Easter eggs" in Skyrim that come from the Oblivion game.

These games are cheap nowadays, I say try them both. If you enjoy Skyrim a lot you will enjoy things in both Morrowind and Oblivion and they will forever be legends in the open-world RPG category.

So many opinions flying around here, none of them are right. Just go make your own opinion about these games and try them, they are both epic RPGs with tons of mod options for PC (and both run on cheap PCs these days) so what do you have to lose, give them a shot!!

not really.. you dont NEED to play the previous games to understand the next... but there are little easter eggs for long term fans as well as minor ongoing story's. example when they talk about the oblivion crisis in skyrim, it is referring to what happened in oblivion the game.

Because I was really interested in the roots of the Elder Scrolls i had to play them all. I tried to get into dagger fall, but I couldn't. Morrowind However I fell in love with. Yes the melee combat is a laugh (miss miss miss hit miss miss miss) and theres very little voice acting (no biggy) compared to oblivion and skyrim but it was a great game for its time. For the amount of quests and the land mass I found that game to be pretty big (felt more immersive as well), it felt bigger then oblivion IMO.

The one thing I truly, truly miss from morrowind was the ability to drop your coin and make big mountainous piles of it in your home. I loved going into my telvanni stronghold vault and looking at my piles of gold, or tables stacked with gemstones.
Oh the memories lol

Yeah, I've got so many good memories from all TES games, although I must admit Morrowind's UI was the worst thing since the Holocaoust.

Oblivion is my fav TES experience. Still play it. The mods available for it turn a good game into an amzing game. The OOO quests were a joy.

Personally i would recommend the game to anyone who likes Skyrim but it's not essential. TES lore is well covered online.

It is rare that you can go back an play a game that has run it's course in a series and has been replaced. You tend to get spoiled by the new game. Oblivion was a great game and I have put over 1000 hours into it, but going back to Morrowind would not have been possible.
If you like RPGs and want to try a Bethesda game with a different flavor, try Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas. It will get you out of the swords and sorcery genre and into more of an RPG/shooter/alternate future game. Different enough from Skyrim but with similarities to TES games.
Just a suggestion.