My order would go:

• Morrowind
  
• Skyrim
  
• Daggerfall (ok... HUGE nostalgia factor here)
  
• Oblivion
  
• Arena
  
• Redguard

What Morrowind had over any of the other games was an impression that I was really in another world. It was very different from the real world. Rats and beetles were the only creatures that looked like they came from our own world. Design wise, Morrowind took me into the Elderscrolls world in a way no other game in the series has. It did also have some RPG elements that almost none of the other games had. If you joined one of the houses, that was it, the others were excluded to you. Your choice impacted the game world in a way none of the other games have had.


Skyrim comes in a really, REALLY close second. Yes, it is a great game, but it looses points for reducing the RPG character aspects to streamine the game into something more of a action game than an RPG. I hestitate to say this, but I’d ‘blame’ Fallout for this. I love the fallout games. Adore them. But they have turned Bethesda into more of an action company. Without the gunfight and VATs action systems, Skyrim may have appeared slow, so they streamlined some of the RPG aspects to reduce that impact. In addition to this, I could, mer excepted, be walking about a fantasy version of Norway. It doesn’t feel other worldly. Even the fantasy draws very heavily on standard, generic real world fantasy – trolls and dragons and the like. Still, it is an astonishing game.

Daggerfall comes in third, not just because of a huge nostalgia factor, but also because of the depth and scope of the world space. Yes, randomised towns and dungeons weren’t the best design, but I had free roam of an entire continent. You could add together the world space of Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim and it would still just about fit in one corner of the Daggerfall world. Not only that, but it had dozens of endings.

Oblivion falls in forth as, for me, it’s only + over Morrowind was graphically, and the ability to manipulate objects ‘physically’. Gamewise, I was sad to be taken ‘back to the real world’ after the exceptional other-worldliness of Morrowind. Yes, I loved the game, but some of the highlights from Morrowind were either not improved upon, or just plain not included (dwemer ruins were very much missed).

The other two I won’t go into, really. They probably speak for themselves.

Dodgeball reference. +1

The problem with the non existent animations is it made the combat sequence quite jarring to watch and frustrating to take part in.

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Hello everyone. I'm from the New Vegas camp.

If I'm severely disappointed in Skyrim and prefer New Vegas so much to the point where it gives me nightmares about what FO4 and TES 6 will look like, is that just a nostalgia-drug too? The damn game is just a year old....

NV is the exception.
FO3 and Skyrim are pretty well on par for simplicity.

I dunno, I'd argue Fallout 3 has loads more depth too.
Decisions you make have consequences. Tenpenny Tower for example, Paradise Falls, Megaton...
The perks are also better, which is quite the claim, considering many of the perks did nothing but add +5 to a certain skill. Yknow, the ones BETHESDA made? The ones they copied from old Fallouts (like Better Criticals) were still good though. The perks in Skyrim suffer from the exact same problem the Bethesda ones of FO3 suffer from: they're redundant. Why bother with perks if practically every perk tree has 5 skills (minimum) that serve the exact same purpose the skill itself serves, AKA, increased damage, defense or effects? You're practically forced to take those if you want the skill to be effective at all for leveled enemies, so there's not much perk selection variety: it's an illusion that you have a choice on perks. You COULD take 2/5 of the damage perks, sure, but you'd svck. The result is that the only choice you have is what skills you'll utilize.....which is the exact same problem Morrowind and Oblivion had. I'd hardly say we've moved forward on that account.
The people in FO3 had more depth too. They all had backrounds and stories and details about them, the Skyrim NPCs just work for Belethor at the General Goods store and that's that.

I'm severely disappointed in Skyrim. It stepped two steps forward on graphics, world building and stability (for PC anyways), but then fell down a friggin' flight of stairs on depth, NPCs, storyline, character customization and quests. I would definitely be willing to argue Skyrim is simpler than all other Bethesda titles: Oblivion, Morrowind, Fallout 3, New Vegas (inb4 Obsidian made that, yes but Bethesda published and sponsored it); they ALL have more depth than Skyrim, and that's very worrysome.

First of all, I really love Skyrim and in many, many ways it is an improvement over Oblivion and Morrowind, but there are some things that previous games did better:

1) Questlines were longer. The Fighters guild in Oblivion had 20 quests, the Companions in Skyrim only have 7. The mages guild had also 20 quests. The College has only 8 main quests. As a result you get to know the people better and care about them more.

2) The quests were more interesting (in my opinion).

3) I miss some skills, especially acrobatics. one of my favorite passtimes in Oblivion was just parkouring on rooftops, you can't do that in Skyrim

4) I miss the attributes. While you could say that they didn't really affect the gameplay that much and that they were unnecessary, it helped with roleplaying. If my character had a high willpower for example, I would restrain the character from killing innocents, etc. Also, the speed attribute was awesome.

5) The music in Morrowind... whenever I hear the main theme, I get shivers. Also, I liked the cheerful, trouble free music in Oblivion. Skyrim has a great main theme, but I can't even remember any other tracks besides that.

Those were just some reasons, I'm sure I could find more. But again, I really like Skyrim... but in some ways it was a disappointment.

Probably the series has declined over time, because when Morrowind came out, they had to prove that their company was still worth something.

I agree with your sentiments.

At first I wasn't bothered about Athletics and Acrobatics being removed. But after trying to play an assassin. I want acrobatics back. An Assassin that can't get up on awnings roof tops is merely a murder.

Athletics can still go jump....

Which is why Skyrim is so much better a rpg can only go so far.

Hrmm, you make a good point.

I guess locations, and character did have more depth to them in FO3. I could never seem to get into that game though. There's just something not right about it. I just don't *care* about any of it. The quests seem to be a chore for me, for some reason.

Well, in Skyrim my char is able to kill the allmighty Alduin, not because im a good player or my chars skills are noteworthy, i can kill him because the mainquest allows me to do so........
My char isn't allowed to kill an old women in cloth, wielding an iron dagger and i would fight her till the end of my RL days, but im not in the mood to do so......shes tied to the thiefs guild quests, so shes the real allmighty, not Aldiun!
Such things are totaly gamebraking showstoppers for me.

I would always prefere the way it is done in Morrowind, where i could experience real reactions on the things i have done (or not done), atleast i have have been able to do what i want, not what any quest allows me to do, or not......

I think morrowind is better,But i think skyrim is so much better then oblivion.

I definitely prefer Skyrim over Oblivion. My order of preference would be something: like Morrowind - Skyrim - Daggerfall - Oblivion - Arena.

As to why I still prefer Morrowind over Skyrim: it (still) has a more interesting world, a more fleshed out culture, more items, weapons and customization options and a broader set of skills and attributes that aren't nearly as poorly designed as Skyrim's (though still flawed, don't get me wrong). Morrowind is just a game that connects with me better, stronger in the areas that matter to me and it's weaknesses are mostly in areas I don't care much about.

I could see a new TES overtaking Morrowind for me if they keep enhancing the game world and add back in a levelling system I actually like

Yep, Fallout 3 had tons more depth though did seem a chore, probably because of the look of the depressing world. The lack of depth in the Skyrim quests is disappointing and some are just damn right stupid. Clear out a lion in a house in Solitude? The kid is in the other room and how the hell did a lion get in a walled city like Solitude? it's nowhere near as good as the similar quest in Oblivion, where you have to find out how the mountain lions are getting into the woman's cellar.

Half, the world was intended to be depressive...

Skyrim has it's strengths and weaknesses, but Morrowind and Oblivion have more depth in some categories, such as magic is much better, number of skills, how long certain quests were etc.

I know it was but sometimes you enjoy the game but not the depressing world they put you in. It took be a while to get used to it.

Beth should remake Morrowind with the graphics and combat of skyrim and leave the rest as they were in morrowind and then take all my money!!!

They'd probably brand it Morrowind HD for the console crowd, even though the PC has had "HD" graphics for over 10 years.

I agrew with Savlian. That's about the exact way I see it.

I could list reasons why I prefer Oblivion over Skyrim, but many of them boil down to my opinion of why those reasons are important. Someone else might look at my reasons and draw the opposite conclusion.

All I know is after 6 years I can (and do) still play Oblivion. I went back to it last week; played an old character for a week to get back up to speed, and then, last night, found myself starting a new adventure with a new character. I'm enthralled all over again!

Skyrim I played for a bit over a month and then I was done with it. Looks great, some very interesting visuals and story elements, but something about it feels shallow and empty to me. But like I said, the things I don't like (or see as missing) you might see as things you do like (and things you say "good riddance!" to). It's all relative.

I agree with your overall message, but to pick at a detail: you preferred Ultima IV to Ultima III? All those reagents, you liked that, really? Just kidding, but I definitely prefered Exodus (III) over IV. Please, carry on.

Mitar-B-North!

MGE is nice for landscape but everything else still looks bad.
Dont get me wrong, i still like my Morrowind even with non "HD" graphics.
But i i could choose between Skyrim graphic or Morrowind graphic i would choose Skyrim. But Gameplay wise Morrowind is light years ahead.
so combine both and it would be a win win situation.

I prefer Gothic 3 for a number of reasons and if Skyrim had the RPG elements of it, Skyrim would be epic. it's just a shame Gothic 3 was let down technically.

In a way Morrowind was better because it immersed you into the world better. It is an old game now and you probably cannot get into it, but everything from the environment to the lore was great.

Or it could be because it was the first such game that people played, and so it will hold a special place in people's hearts.