Morrowind had a lot of the same problems Skyrim did. However, the setting and story are what I think most people still think it's superior for. I sort of agree. It might be preference, Morrowind still had the most exotic setting and you really felt like a stranger in a foreign land on so on.
Skyrim is better graphically, has better combat and animations, has voice acting, etc. etc.
Gameplay is arguable, there are a lot of changes from Morrowind -> Skyrim(fast travel, level scaling, less spells, removal of spell making, etc. etc.), people will disagree on those changes were improvements or not.

It's not just nostalgia. I still play it today, and enjoy it far more than Oblivion or Skyrim. Quite frankly, it's the better game in my opinion.

Even as an advlt I still play Morrowind unmodded and I find it better than Skyrim. Not because the combat system or the graphics but because of the choice presented to you and the sheer amount of content the game had. Any single NPC would have hundreds of lines to them and even if sometimes two NPC's would say the same things a single NPC in a town like Balmora could easily hold more lines to read than all the NPC's combined have lines to speak in towns like Whiterun. The guards gave actual directions and didn't just discuss sweetrolls and arrows to the knee all day long and you could learn local lore and about the trade of the neighbouring settlements from NPC's in Morrowind as well as little bits about their own personal trade.

Also there was the freedom, you could go anywhere and you could play with nearly any playstyle with near limitless combinations not to mention you could kill anyone you wanted with no restrictions. When I started up Skyrim I was going to make a copy of my character from Morrowind and Oblivion but I found it to be impossible because http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1302338-a-small-observation-on-the-amount-of-spells-in-the-game/ and often quests would be linear in ways where my only options were "ignore an evil" or "participate in an evil" with no option of "stop the evil through righteous ways". In one quest in Skyrim I got asked to kill another man in return for the only way to get out of a specific place and I went to the man to warn him about the intentions of the one that wanted him dead and to see if I had any extra choices but my only dialogue option promised him death and prompted me to attack him. To escape I had to take the lesser of two evils and kill my quest giver which prompted other people who were stuck in the place I was stuck in to attack me and as I hacked and slashed down people who up until now had been innocent towards me and were probably only trying to come to the aid of another person I could only think "at least now I'm murdering them in self defense...", yet in Morrowind we had many quests where you'd be sent off to kill someone but if you took pity on them they would help you resolve the matter without having themselves killed by for example promising to go into hiding if you spared them and such.

I got 7 murders lined up on the statistics of my lawful good Khajiit... I have 0 on the same character in Morrowind and only 1 in Oblivion and that was because of a bug related to the Arena where an Arena fight would give you a "murder".

I'm currently playing Morrowind as well as Skyrim and I've found myself playing Morrowind most of the time while playing Skyrim when I'm feeling too tired to focus on Morrowind and just want to hack and slash some in a different game (Skyrim has replaced tekken for those purposes for me these days)

Doesn't make Skyrim a bad game on its own, but Morrowind most definitely is the better TES game for someone like me who likes depth, variety and freedom, and I'm not saying that through the rose tinted goggles of nostalgia but as I play both games side by side.

And I respect your opinion. Unlike a lot of people, I'm not going to flame anyone for liking an older game more. I played Morrowind, and it was my favorite game for a long time. But for my personal opinion, I just can't find Morrowind more enjoyable than Skyrim. Maybe it's just because I don't care if a game becomes a bit more streamlined, who knows? All I know is that Skyrim is the first game I've EVER gotten over 150 hours of gameplay in the first month of release and enjoyed every bit of it.

This really is pretty much the most legitimate and widespread experience-backed opinion as to why Morrowind is better, and I agree with you on a lot of those points. There is one thing that I feel really terrible and guilty admitting though. For the past four years, I've been playing games on the console (Xbox 360) and I think my views and standard of gaming has been compromised. Is it bad to admit that I like Skyrim more because I can't face going back to Morrowind's aged game engine?

I honestly need an outside opinion here. I've never admitted it before, but this is what's happened to me.

Morrowind will always remain epic. Bethesda was in a better position back then unlike now where they just push out half assed games to make millions.

Bethesda's games aren't half-assed. You may not share the same opinion as other people that love Fallout 3, Oblivion, and Skyrim, but those games are not half-assed.

Dude, It's nostalgia. Only If you say It's nostalgia people will say It's not, and they'll start spitting a lot of "facts" on why It's not nostalgia, blame console players and Beth, and whine on every little thing. The same has happened with nearly every game realeased in the last... EVER. Morrowind was great. Skyrim is great. Both have pros and cons, and they can be overlooked.

I'm 18 years old right now and i originally bought morrowind earlier this year (when i was still 18) and its a great game, but i had trouble getting into it. its had a LOT more rpg element to it but the combat svcked, if you don't think the combat svcked then your high, i liked other parts of the game though, like the HUGE LIST of things you could talk to people about (which really doesnt even COMPARE to daggerfalls list)

I don't see anything wrong with it. I personally prefer Morrowind, but will also admit that there's numerous 2d isometric RPGs I used to love that I just can't get into anymore. I still enjoy many 2d games such as Abe's Odyssee ( a 2d side scroller and my 2nd favorite game of all time) and the old arcade classics, but something about isometric games irritates me now.

Morrowind is my favorite out of their games as well. But I think you're judging Bethesda a little harshly, especially compared to mainstream competition. They worked on Skyrim for three years, and there were at least five years between Oblivion and Skyrim. Compare that to MW or Assassins Creed which pump out a title every year.

I was in high school when Morrowind came out, and i loved the game. Oblivion was fun but was inferior to Morrowind. Skyrim is much better than oblivion and does alot of things right but still falls short. All in all Morrowind will always be my favorite but Skyrim is right behind it, i cannot wait for mods and DLC!

Morrowind was the first game of it's kind. Mainstream with an open world that was VAST, meaningful race differentiations, regional cultures, LOTS of books and lore... Plus something about the dialogue system requiring you to read gave it more of an RP feel.

There are still times I play Morrowind and go "wow." With a fully modded game today, MGE, all my mods, and Tamriel Rebuilt which is an epic expansion, I ran into a canton ala Vivec in one of the added zones with waterfalls and plants and flying creatures all over and it looked like some kind of faerie stronghold! Plus Telvani architecture was the bomb.

Still loving Skyrim. Can't say which is my favorite to be honest. Each was my favorite game at the time it came out, and I play Skyrim now more than Morrowind or Oblivion. I suppose each has it's merits.

You may find this strange but I first played Morrowind at my friends house on his xbox when I was 10. Been my favorite game since. I own the GOTY version on PC and xbox now.

I know 7 year olds play COD but how many 7 year olds would become lost in Morrowind? I have a 9 year old cousin now and he already plays FPS games...

Something I've been saying all along. Those old EA "Gold Box" AD&D games? I played them before they were "Gold Box". And, yeah, they were amazing considering that everything else CRPG was text based. I've been playing TES from the beginning. I was already an advlt when Morrowind came out. My take? Morrowind was... meh. Much of that, for me, could be chalked up to lack of direction. IOW, Morrowind was "too open", not enough direction, purpose, or sense of anything "important". Oblivion improved on that tremendously. BUT, a lot of Oblivion's questing was unbelievably tedious. So much so that I never wanted to go through another Oblivion gate again. Skyrim is streamlined, yes. But, IMO, streamlined is not a negative, it's "more aerodynamic" in every sense of the word. The blasting away of the tedious 6-9 "stats" was, IMO, very welcome, and will continue in CRPGing. Oh, heck yeah, there are a whole lot if numbers geeks out there that will tell you it's not an RPG without numbers. I'd point to the definition R-P-G. Roleplaying Game. Not battle stats simulator. Those stats are only a very small part of any RPG system, and ONLY important in "resolving conflicts" objectively. That's their only purpose. Dude, I'm a buff 18 100%. Uh, so? So, I can lift an ox... on paper. I can squash a goblin with my little toe. Uh, what, wait, did you just admit that the ONLY reason 18 100% is important to you was that you could heft a cow and through it at a goblin horde while kicking the leader in the teeth and beheading him? Wait, that's RP, that's story. That's NOT bland numbers. Streamlining will continue. In fact, I can envision a new gen RPG with NO stats, just descriptors of what you can or cannot do based on skills developed through play (sounds a lot like Skyrim, doesn't it?). Let's say you've been smithing up the wazoo, right? So you can make the best iron daggers in the world? But now you have to LEARN how to make the best steel based on "reading" and "practice". Skills would open, if you used them, you'd get better, and if you didn't, you wouldn't. Starting out, you'd answer some questions about your PCs background and you'd have a transparently rolled character with basic skills.

In short, I think people, by and large, really need to just shut up and stop playing if this or that was better. Then play this or that. Quit whining simply because you're incapable of getting the same amount of enjoyment out of Skyrim as the millions of others playing.

See? this is a worthy observation on the series. The thing is, though, that while Morrowind was really awesome (Oh, that feeling when I first got to Vivec!), Oblivion's mods were out from this world. I've never seen a community that talented and devoted to a game, really: from Elsweyr Anequina and Better Cities to OOO, MMM, Midas, Fran's... the size of my Oblivion folder is 32 Gb. If the community is able to pull something remotely similar for Skyrim, I've got a new God to praise.

No you didn't. You had to become an alchemist, and always keep a heavy stock of magicka potions. Which is the same thing I did in Oblivion. It's not as viable in Skyrim, because alchemy is much harder to level, thus, it's more difficult to make magicka potions that don't svck. Plus, every skill is a major skill, so if you do somehow go on a low-level alchemy-leveling spree, you're just boosting the difficulty of the fights because your Destruction/Conjuration/Alteration/Restoration will be lower than it should be for your level.

Am I the only one that liked Morrowind's combat system?

Sure you might swing twenty times at a rat and only connect once, but to me I just imagined that the rat was dodging my attacks.

When I first bought Skyrim, I thought it was an amazing game and playing it four+ hours a day. Now I'm level 40 and already burned out.

When I first bought Morrowind when I was young I remember being underwhelmed to say the least, but after sticking with it I really came to enjoy it.
Now, Morrowind is in my top 3 games of all time.

Well look at it this way. I am playing morrowind right now, after putting in over 300 hours into skyrim. I came back to play it again (even though i do probably twice a year for the last 6 years anyway) and i am still having super fun, just like the first time i played it almost 10 years ago. Theres still some questlines i havent done on morrowind yet and new things i havent found (and im talking without mods here).
Now i know i still have a bunch more to throw into skyrim, but i can already tell that its not going to stand the test of time as compared to morrowind. Ive already done all the questlines at least once in skyrim and every single questline is smaller then that of morrowind and morrowind has more then 4x the joinable guilds then skyrim. Hell even oblivion has longer questlines then skyrim. Though i still think skyrim is a much better game then oblivion, i just dont think its better then morrowind. That is of course my own opinion.

To put it simply, Morrowind has a lot more replay value then skyrim. I think thats the real big thing with skyrim that has people so dissapointed, is that the replay value is much less then that of morrowind. Now i know a few minor tweaks that can make Skyrim feel like just as massive of a game as morrowind and give it that replay value thats missing, (the world also has the atmosphere there that oblivion didnt) but Thats something i dont want to get into right now.
Anyway my point being, Skyrim feels like it is an incomplete game the way it was released - You can feel it in the air in a lot of places. And im not talking bugs and glitches,(i could give a two [censored]s about bugs and glitches, that definitally isnt what i find disappointing in skyrim) im talking sheer content and gameplay design.



And PS. that nostalgia thing i keep hearing about is such BS and pisses me off. If it was nostalgia, then why dont i love oblivion as much as morrowind or go back and play oblivion nearly as much? Because overall its not that fun to replay. Plus if that were the case, id think every game ive ever played that was decent is the greatest game ever years later. also, i think skyrim is a better game then oblivion, so there goes the nostalgia theory out the window.

Nostalgia for sure. I beat morrowind once on xbox and then got it for pc, been playing it with mods off and on for quite awhile now. I don't know how anyone could touch that game with no mods.

Skyrim isn't perfect obviously. But the best thing about elder scrolls is that you can mod them. Otherwise these games are pretty average but fill a niche.

You are not alone. I also like it. To me , "chance to hit' based on skill level makes sense. The first time you ever sit down at a Piano, you're not going to sound like Mozart. You have to practice, skill-up and earn it. If I gave someone a gun and they had never seen one before and then asked them to shoot at a target 300 feet away, they are NOT going to get very many bulls-eyes (if any), However, how many would they get if I let them practice 4 hours a day, every day for several months?

Some say those don't apply, because when you're swinging axes or swords or throwing fists you only miss if the other person dodges. I can only assume these folks have never watched World class boxers, as these Pros miss all the time. We're human. We make mistakes, We miscalculate and we get unlucky.


Sadly for you and me, the masses have spoken. No one wants to miss, everyone is a perfect shot, everyone plays like Mozart and no one wants to make any effort to earn it.

I just want to comment on the highschool topic:
The thing is, they know what comes after high school and compare that time with what's following. In my experience, everyone told my that I should enjoy time in school when I was there. I didn't beleive it. Then I left school and began to work and suddenly I was the one telling the same thing. Why? Because its true.

Back to topic: Regarding what I said above, it is true that everything was more fantastic back then when I was younger (15 at the time), but even in comparison to the games that followed, it is still one of the best. The reason for that is given in this thread before: it was the one out of the series (I can only talk about MW, Oblivion + Skyrim) that had a creative architecture and world without (or at least much less) relying on real world cultures. Additionally, for me it is much more worth to get a description on where to go and then look for it than following the quest marker. In some aspects, Skyrim is of course better (gameplay for the most part), but I just love Morrowind for what it is, even 10 years after release. And these are no googles, I am still playing it and can't wait for the Morrowind Overhaul 2.0!

That said, Skyrim is a great game and I really enjoy it. I am not disappointed and unhappy with it like many others in these forums are. I just value both games for what they are and can still enjoy both of them to their fullest....lucky me.

Not just you, as I said in a post somewhere the other day, having come from a background of pen & paper RPGs I understood that if you are rubbish at a skill you miss your enemy, your spell doesn't work, your potion ends up being tipped down the drain. Makes perfect sense in an RPG, and it's still one of the best ways to represent character skill + luck rather than player skill. Seriously people who want everything based on their skill as a player with less emphasis on what your character is good at should sod off back to Action games and stop moaning about RPGs being RPGs!

Oh and to the OP: You may think that 10 years is a long time, but when you're my age it really isn't, I wasn't some starry eyed youngster when I first played Morrowind.

Why do people still keep saying this? There were lots of huge, open world RPG's before Morrowind. Betrayal at Krondor (also a 3D game) in 1993, for example, if you don't accept Daggerfall in 1996 because it was so heavily randomized.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0HLoKTJOhA

I don't buy the nostalgia explanation in my own case. I've played open world games long before and after Morrowind, and Morrowind had a better story and more immersive world than its predecessors or successors.

Sweet, its always nice to hear from like-minded fellows, after years of reading about how much people despise the combat in Morrowind.

I vaguely remember my first combat experience in Morrowind, it was against that rat that always seems to be there during the way to Balmora.