Oh yes, I remember that darn rat . On your way in the valley before you reach the fort, right?

I also liked the combat system since it makes sense to miss if you are not used to use a weapon. It could be annoying at times, but that is part of learning

Morrowind is just the Elder Scrolls version of Asia. The Ashlander culture strongly resembles Mongolia, the East Empire Trading Company needs no explanation, paper lanterns are everywhere, the secret societies are tongs, etc. Morrowind is awesome, but it takes as much from historical cultures as the other games. Maybe it does so even more. It also has the Roman-inspire Imperials and they reminded me more of Romans than the ones in Oblivion ever did.

I hated Morrowind when it first came out. People complain about certain bosses or creatures sometimes one-shoting you in Skyrim, in Morrowind that was a way of life for a new character (at least for me). There was nowhere I could go where I wasn't out classed by everything and everyone. In fact I uninstalled the game at least 8 times (and that's a low estimate). It wasnt until I had two weeks off of work, was tired of all my other games, and was nearly broke that I really gave Morrowind a shot. And I'm glad I did, it has turned out to be one of my top 3 games ever, and I've been playing one type of game or another for 30 years.

I felt more involved in the world of Morrowind than I have in any other game. I wanted to learn more, I wanted my character to be a part of the world, I was more aware of the politics in that game than in any other I've played. The way you could completely customize your character as they leveled was great (some would say you could do that in Oblivion and Skyrim, but if you used magic or did enchanting it was nowhere close to what you could do in Morrrowind).

In some ways Oblivion felt like a step backwards from Morrowind (and for the record I actually played Oblivion more than Morrowind, so not flaming Oblivion). Items that you could get in Morrowind are no longer around, the spell creation was nerfed, and there was no feeling of accomplishment since the more powerful you became the more powerful the world became.

My new Morrowind characters would have trouble stepping onto curbs because their atheletics skill was so low (my advanced Morrowind charcaters could jump up to roof tops and across the street to other roof tops), my new MW character would have to train on rats and slaughter fish(my advanced could one-shot golden saints), my new character would have to slowly creep through dungeons to stay alive (my advanced would hit stealth mode and clear them out in minutes). Basicaly my new characters were infant like, my advanced were god like even with the difficulty slider maxed. So there was a huge feeling of accomplishment, but that was also Morrowinds downfall for me (I had no clue about mods at the time). No matter where I went there was never a challenge so the game became boring, and once you could make permanent invisibility and levitation items you realized how small the world actually was since you no longer had to follow the mazes created by all the mountains.

Skyrim is great fun, and even though I still own Morrowind and Oblivion I dont see myself going back to them. I actually see myself playing Skyrim untill Fallout 4 comes out and even beyond that. There are things I like about Skyrim that Morrowind didnt have, but even at 100 hours into Skyrim I dont feel like the game has pulled me into it the way Morrowind did when I finally gave it a chance.

For me I couldn't tell you if I thought Morrowind was better than Oblivion or Skyrim, I can just say it was different.

The East Empire Trading Company was a miniscule part of Morrowind with no more Imperial presence than any other Elder Scrolls game, and Morrowind is more "asian-named" than "asian-themed." The Morag Tong was not very similar to Chinese criminal syndicates, and the Camorra Tong has nothing specifically asian about it other than the Tong name. The Ashlanders didn't have horses, drink kumis, wrestle, or do any other stereotypical Mongolian things other than simply being nomadic. (Which is no more Mongolian than it is Arab.) And tons of cultures use paper lanterns.

Oblivion was pretty much the opposite, with very obvious Roman and Greek references only slightly reworded. IE, the Imperial Arena instead of the Roman Coloseum, the Blades instead of the Praetorian Guard, Hell/Hades and Mehrunes Dagon's Deadlands (Oblivion), etc.

I was also an advlt when I played Morrowind, approaching my 23rd birthday when it was released for Xbox at the end of 2002, and then obviously also an advlt with Oblivion and Skyrim. I found Oblivion to be superior to Morrowind and Skyrim to be superior to Oblivion. I like 5% of what Morrowind did better than what the sequels did, and the other 95% was improved upon with Oblivion and then further with Skyrim, and I'm not even taking into consideration visuals.

I loved Morrowind, Oblivion on the other hand was painfully boring. What a horrible excuse for a game that was! The strange map without natural boarders in combination with the auto navigation system bored me nearly to death. Skyrim at least has some need of navigation thanks to all the mountains which keeps the brain enough occupied to prevent total boredom. Yet as long as the horrible auto navigation system is forced on me I can not rate a TES game higher than Morrowind even thought Skyrim improved in most gameplay related areas tremendously since Oblivion.

My favorite parts of Morrowind involved the dwemer locations and lore, something that I missed greatly while playing Oblivion. Nice to see it return in Skyrim.

I was probably 18 or 19 when I started Morrowind. I played the original game, unmodded, and liked it so much I got the GOTY edition with the expansions. I learned to do a couple minor mods, and to this day I play it that way, promising myself that someday I will mod the crap out of it just to see what there is to see. It was the world that drew me into Morrowind, and I played it more than I've ever played a game (this after 3 playthroughs of FFVII). So when I got Oblivion's GOTY, I have to admit I missed some things--I felt like things had been cut that would have only made the game better. It's not that Oblivion was a bad game; it was amazing. But it just didn't have *quite* the scope and awe as Morrowind. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I still haven't finished Oblivion's main quest. It just wasn't as compelling to me, personally. I enjoy playing it, don't get me wrong. But I don't like it as much, even if some aspects of it really were an improvement.

I sometimes talk about things I missed from Morrowind that I'd like to see in Skyrim, but I don't think that these things truly detract from my game, and they aren't deal-breakers for me. I've never been so excited for a release date in my life. I just think that, as epic as Skyrim is, there are a few things I wish would have been brought back to the drawing board to make it even better. I love this game, and I'm not on this forum to bash it or wax melodramatic about the decline of the gamer. I'm here because I hope to see Skyrim reach its potential.

If you asked me which was my favorite between the two, I couldn't tell you--because Skyrim's still new, and still improving. I could give you a better answer after the GOTY release, but right now, it's the best I've got. But it's not necessarily the nostalgia factor, in my case, though I certainly have fond memories to fall back on (and I still play Morrowind, so there's that). It's just that I'd like to see all the best elements in TES combined into one massive, shiny, amazing game. So, here's hoping. *crosses fingers*

I like them all. I can play any TES game and be in heaven.

I liked the story-depth of Morrowind. I did not like the character-sheet depth of Morrowind. Skyrim takes the character sheet, douses it in kerosene, and sets it on fire.

UnclePain warms his hands in front of the blaze.

Morrowind was a great game of its time, but the operative phrase here is, of its time.

So, how would all the Morrowind fans feel if Skyrim's 1st DLC took place on the Mainland of Morrowind, involving a deep plot(Argonian/Dunmer conspiracy?), less streamlined and more free-roamish.

P.S. I don't mind streamlining, I just think it's unnecessary.

Man, how can people actually think Morrowind is a better game than skyrim?

It didn't even have scheduled NPC's. Something which I remember games as far back as Ultima 6 having, yeah i'm that old. Conversely, Skyrim has NPC's that notice and react when you dump trash! Morrowind was NOT the first RPG to have a huge open world, and minus the beautiful art is lags behind some games that were almost ten years senior. The Ultima series (particularly 7) had an open world years before. Granted top-down, isometric and crappy graphics, but NPC's who do stuff, shops that lock and you can break into etc. etc.


I get that people love the art and story in MW, it is amazing..and in that regard honestly it's probably one of the best RPG's ever. In many other ways though, it svcked even for it's time. Compare the interaction with NPC's in Morrowind to Gothic, which was one of it's contemporaries..a much more alive, interactive world, albeit much smaller.

Rose colored glasses, or you guys just haven't played that many other RPG's.

Yea Skyrim > Morrowind


Now I open the map and... POOF! I have the location marked on it! BRILLIANT!!!!! Best game design ever!


Seriously now. I played Morrowind 10 years ago, right after it came out. I was 13, a simple kid with avarage IQ for that age. I loved the Journal (yes it was messed up and it really lacked any sorting options but... IT SHOWED ME MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS) and I also liked exploring. Because there were no quest markers I had to read it, listen to the NPC's and then start looking. I often ended up lost a bit but... IT WAS FUN! It felt so IMMERSIVE.
A simple guy - once a prisoner, lost in a huge world, evolving through his actions, climbing the ladder of society through long and hard work. It felt amazing.


In Skyrim I'm Dovahkiin almost from the start. Guided by the hand of God (quest markers) everywhere I go, in everything I do. The questlines for all the factions are fun... but short. Mainly because there is no research anymore. I'm just being given a location on the map and follow it to the end, sometimes straight to the item I was suppose to FIND.

Where is the challange?

To sum up. I was just a brat when I played MW. Playing Skyrim ( l still like the game ) now it feels like the devs made the game simpler because they think I became dumber.

It hurts.

Haha, look at all red glasses in here.

Morrowind had more content, and was generally a better game. With each iteration of TES, they trim a little more content, a few more features, and most of the community just eats it up.

It isn't nostalgia. To this day, I occasionally play through Morrowind. I don't do that with Oblivion, and I may not do that with Skyrim. There just isn't enough meat to them.

Of course that would happen. As time goes on games get more and more detailed and higher standards are set. Morrowind had so many dialogue options because it wasn't fully voice acted. In a game with Voice actors, having as many options for dialogue as morrowind did is impossible. Was Morrowinds world bigger and had more interesting things to explore? Maybe so, but that's because Morrowind graphics, along with all games at the time, had far less detailed graphics and environments, this left developers with more room to expand on other areas.

As time goes on the quality of games presentations continue to be raised, and as such developers must spend more time creating stunning vivid environments to keep current with the rapidly improving technology of our era, this leaves less and less room to add more quantity to TES games because so much development time is spent elsewhere.

Going back and playing Morrowind now, it still amazes me and I still consider it to be the best game in the series.

I also know of quite a few people who played Oblivion first, then tried Morrowind and came to the conclusion it was the better game.

Trying to shrug off the game's praise as adolescent nostalgia just doesn't work.

All TES games are 3D...

Yes it does. If a child spent his young life playing catch with his family it's safe to assume that when he is an advlt and is playing catch he will enjoy it only because of the old memories it brings.

Let me put it this way.

Morrowind is a better GAME to play.

Oblivion is a better game to PLAY.

Skyrim is a better game to PLAY.

Morrowind was deeper and had more going for it lore-wise, quest-wise, choice-wise, story-wise, and orignality-wise.

Oblivion had good graphics, a mediocre; yet somewhat inspiring story that made you feel like you wanted to save the world, better combat than Morrowind, shallower but more varied quests, and more worldspace. It also introduced the quest marker while keeping a decent amount of information in the journal that you did not necessarily require them to solve the quests.

Skyrim has a more realized world, better combat, better graphics, better controls, somewhat cooler things to explore-because of graphics. Its biggest weakness imo is that it gives no feel to its quests. All you do is get minimal directions and reasoning for the quest and blam, follow the questmarker. Skyrim IS not just streamlined. It IS dumbed down. Almost insultingly so.

This isn't a bad thing, do people really want to spend hours shifting through stat menus and doing math?

You're post is insulting. Not only to me but to all ppl who can THINK.


And nobody is talking about math. I could give a damn about it when I was 13 and same goes for today.

Yes, because people who actually want to play a GAME are stupid.