I prefer Skyrim to Oblivion by a country mile, but there are a few areas i feel Oblivion was better.

1,

mages guilds

There was a mage guild building in each city in Oblivion, they weren't copy/paste buildings, they were very different and full of interesting characters and quests, in each city as a mage they were a cosy port of call and made you feel like a real member of the guild, in Skyrim there is one very cold, very uncomfortable college with about 9 people in it, the one wizard's Jarl in each hold is practical but hardly invites any feeling of belonging when it comes to being a wizard, in Skyrim you're pretty much on your own as a mage.

2.

Shops

I feel the shops were more unique in Oblivion, it seems to me as if there were more of them, were more interesting and had better names, "the dividing line" weapon shop was a great name for example, and they didn't seem to be placed in such a generic fashion as Skyrim's shops, in every Skyrim hold you know what to expect for the most part, one general goods store, one blacksmith and an alchemy store.

3,

Cities

Skyrim's cities are very detailed but they are laid out in a rather linear fashion, take whiterun and solitude for example, two cities which are basically one main road with a few houses on either side, Oblivion's cities felt like larger, more complicated affairs with more scope for exploration.

4.

Population.

Skyrim either has less people walking around or makes me feel like there are less people around, i'm not sure which it is.

In finishing, there seems to be a somewhat generic feel to some parts of SKyrim that Oblivion did not suffer from, whether it be the copy/paste inns or the very similar layout for shops in each hold, or the same jarl's wizard and steward in each hold, Oblivion felt more hand-crafted in these areas only.

I'm not complaining for the sake of complaining but i genuinely feel Oblivion was better in the area's i've mentioned, in many other area's Skyrim is far better and would take a very long time for me to point out all the new features with which it trounces Oblivion, but i'm curious to know if anyone else agrees with me on any of my points.

I agree. While it was far from perfect, I felt that some parts of the non-combat, random AI was a bit better on the surface. People would go shopping, eat meals, visit their relatives in other cities, etc. Sure, they only had one or two lines, and sure, the combat AI was bad, these things that the citizens did daily or monthly made them feel more real than Skyrim's wandering Information Kiosks. Some people sleep and eat and shop, but in Oblivion they all did. I also think the horses were better; they weren't a hole that you throw money into, and Shadowmere was actually unique.

I agree with the cities, I thought the Imperial City was amazing as it was huge with so much to do and see. I didnt expect to see another city like it but I expected the cities to be a lot more like Bravil, Bruma, Leyawin, Chorrol, Cheydinhall and Anvil for the detail and complexity. I hoped to see the cities being bigger than the Oblivion cities (minus Imperial City) but alas the walled off cities seemed to be made much simpler.

I also agree with the population. I feel that Skyrim is much quieter than Cyrodill. I assumed this was because of the war with the Thalmor that took many lives and that the Civil War was also taking many lives but it did seem too quiet even if you consider those points.

As for the mages, I think its meant to be like that because magic is shunned in Skyrim. The Nords dont trust magic and I think thats why there is only one mages guild like building (the college) in Skyrim. I did hope for the college to be bigger and have more to do in it, as well as more mages. Unfortunatly that lacked a bit.

As for the shops I dont find anything wrong with them besides the annoying gold thing were the shopkeeper can run out of gold. Makes it really annoying to sell loads of valuable junk I picked up on my adventures.

Agree with all except no.3. Skyrims' cities are hugely improved over Oblivion. One of the complaints about Oblivion was how all the cities looked the same and you can see how they reacted to that, as Windhelm looks nothing like Whiterun, which looks nothing like Markarth etc.

I suppose though since magic isn't that interesting to Nords so there is only one dedicated Magic site. So that could be an explanation.

I agree with you too OP.

Good point, i had not thought of this, i agree the people felt a little more real, or at least seemed to do more things.

Ahhhhh, it does me good to see the Oblivion lovers complaining about Skyrim like I did about Morrowind. You'll soon learn.



* Condescension aside now*

I agree, while Skyrim is on the whole an improvement over Oblivion, it still has a lot to be desired.

i miss conjuration for it has died....i also miss skeletons

Things I think Oblivion did better than Skyrim: Enchanting and Spellmaklng. Other than that, Skyrim is a much, much better game than Oblivion in every way.

mage's guild, lol. Too kitschy for my taste. The college of winterhold is actually cool. I don't need some army of mercenary mages across the land to make me feel more like a mage. The same reason I don't need the thieves guild when I get the higher speech perks.

Your not wrong but I think it matches the perception of a sparsely populated rugged area of the empire. As for the mage guild my understanding from reading the new lore is that it doesn't exist anymore, that given with the Nords general dislike of magic it makes sense there is no guild in each city. The fighters guild however is tailored made and I was suprised that it was found in one location and not even refered to as the fighters guild.

So far I like Oblivion's thieves guild better than Skyrims. Haven't done all of the missions yet though.

Mostly agree on the mages guild. But i think Darkfire has a point: Skyrim isn't a land of mages, their sparse presence makes sense.
Disagree strongly on the shops & citys. Oblivion citys were so repetive. And i'm not talking about the looks, i actually liked the nuanced differences. I'm talking about the strict formula: Every city got 1 castle, 1 (identical) cathedral, 1 blacksmith, 1 general store, 1 mages guild building, 1 fighters guild building, 12-18 houses... And i don't think that their layout was all that "complicated" and fit for exploration. Some were, some weren't, just like in Skyrim. Sure, Leyawiin is more "explorable" than Whiterun. But Markarth is more of a maze than Chorrol. And all little towns existested solely for exactly 1 sidequest (except one, iirc)
Not noticing any significant difference in population.

THIS!

I miss the ol' skooma dealers on the streets at night. What the hell is up with skooma in this game???

skyrims cities are better with the exception of chorrol which just rocked.

oblivions horses were better becauase they didnt force third person view

morrowind beat both of them on shops hands down. lots of morrowind towns had more than one type of clothing or pawn shop on top of the weapons and armor stores.

skyrims combat and magic are better although i wish we would tweak our spells to make the early ones still viable later on.

oblivion had weapon and armor degredation, skyrim has anvils an smithing stations located all around the world. i want to see a mod the allows degredation but requires you to use smithing stations instead of stupid hammers.

oblivion had better quests

both oblivion and skyrim have crappy UIs

skyrim has shadows (even if they do svck)

skyrim has dragons which are much better than oblivion gates

oblivion had better DB quests bug skyrim has better DB members. they arent over the top instable nutbags like oblivions were.

oblivion had better mages guild questline as opposed to the three quests and all of a sudden im the archmage that skyrim had.

skyrim has much better and more realistic thieves guild questline and guid membership than the tea totlers that oblivion had. bunch robin hood do gooder wusses.

every other freakin npc in skyrim is essential. oblivion had essential characters but not to the degree skryim was. morrowind had NONE. and the game played just fine without them.

skyrim and oblivion still use the magic compass to hand hold you the whole game but at least skyrim give me the option of easily turning it off and using the claravoyance spell instead.

skyrim as better alchemy

skyrims early armors look better than oblivion. their higher end weapons look horrible compared to oblivions....especially ebony.

skyrim has better archery and combat

skyrim has better faces

tons more but no one will read them all

more like all the guilds

I agree with most of this except magic I believe magic without spellmaking is horrible in oblivion if you didn't use spellmaking you would be alright but in skyrim even without spellmaking most spells become useless

I mainly agree with point one. The mages guild in Skyrim is really lack luster. I know Nords are supposed to be wary of magic, but that doesn't mean everything related to it should be dull.

Though, I disagree with point three. The cities in Skyrim feel more natural. The small towns like Winterhold are just that: towns. it's not a city, just a small town or even village. I think they're quaint.

Oh I agree with OP completely.


Considering Solitude is suppose to be the capital of Skyrim, it certainly does not look it. I think what hurts Skyrim cities is the lack of other races roaming around. This causes the cities to feel lifeless and uneventful. The Kajait are not allowed in the cities because the Nords don't trust them. Well they don't trust the Dark Elves but there allowed in the cities (with tolerance). When it comes to the cities (I feel) the Devs took the lack of trusting other races too far. There have been plently of other races within Cyrodil that did not trust this race or that race, but were still allowed within the walls. The Civil War is a good idea on paper but putting it in the game seems to do more harm then good.

In Oblivion my favorite city was Leyawiin. While the house there was not exactly great, the city was. It felt like you were some where else. The cities in Skyrim are just bland and boring. It took me months to find my way around "The Imperial City." It only took me a few hours to find my way around Solitude.

The College of Winterhold is total crap in this game. While I gather some Nord and non-Nord races would feel a bit uneasy about magic, (due to the Thalmor) they could have added in a small guild for the mages in other cities. Let that play out and see the effect it has on people. There just is no "climbing the ladder" feel to the guilds in this game period. In Winterhold the people tell you the city was once a bustling place, especially for the dark elves. I think that would have been nice to see instead of a husk of what was once a city. That type of foundation works in a book but not in a game.


I'm also disappointed in the Dark Brotherhood. It seems as though the secretiveness of this guild has vanished and anyone can stumble upon the black door and try to get in.

I have to disagree with all your points.

Skyrim's dungeon/cave are very unique with their own puzzle.its scary and feels like an actual dungeon and cave.

Every guild in skyrim are very great with their own fantastic storyline to it. It has main quests and side quests.

The environment feels like in the mid ages. Very detailed.

Oblivion races look plain. The argonian don't like lizards. In skyrim they look very reptile-like. The nords look tough in skyrim but in oblivion they don't look too tough.

The leveling system of oblivion really svcks in my opinion..... Having enemies level up with you?

I love how the inns in skyrim are very helpful to new players and it feels like an Inn. An bard playing music. People Drinking. Every inn as a certain quest and interesting bard to learn about.



Very buggy.

The guilds look exactly the same to me but in a different area.

Skyrim's quests are very epic and dramatic. There are soo many scenes and parts of the game that would feel like you are watching at top rated movie.


You truely have not played skyrim much and took time to look at it.

I have played oblivion many times. Beaten the main quests almost 20 times. Made over 20 characters. I know my game.

Every guild are in unique areas in skyrim.

I also find skyrim having myself to spend alot of money. In oblivion I would usually never ever use my gold unless i want to buy an house because in the stores never have anything better than the loots you gain from looting.

Every quest in skyrim are unique and have their own twist in there story. This is what i enjoy most.

I feel that skyrim is much more realistic.

Skyrim's finishing move and perks are very enjoyable for me because I actually enjoy leveling up in skyrim. I am always excited leveling up. In oblivion I wouldn't be so excited.

Guilds were OK

Shops I think are a lot better in Skyrim

Cities are WAY better IMO

Population...I guess they're the same. Oblivion I think did a good job of making the cities physically large, but failed to fill them with enough people. Houses usually only housed 2 people, and there were tons. Undecided on this one.

So, you could say I mainly disagree...but that's my opinion.

i was mostly referring to the "feel" of magic. i absolutely love using flames and setting the rune traps or the walls of flame. the problem is that there is no mechanism to make them stronger so after while they become useless. i would love even a limited version of spellmaking that at least let you change the parameters of exisitng spells to make them useful the entire game. i dont see any reason to not have a flames spell that is more powerful but drains magicka faster to keep it balanced. i dont miss oblivons actual magic casting system because all it was was the same spells with different shaders. i do agree that i now miss spellmaking.

I disagree with all of your points to be honest.

I respect your opinion if you enjoy oblivion much more but I have to completely disagree with all your points.