Exactly.

Morrowind's never surprised me much or did much. It was nice and comforting, in a way (Morrowind theme music playing the background, an alien world surrounding me with the calls of siltstriders on a peaceful morning), but Oblivion's was the one that took my breath away (emerging to a beautiful sunny day and getting a wide view of the forest, the mountains, and Lake Rumare with that music was the best, in my opinion). Fallout 3 also had a nice one (overlooking a scenic view of the Capital Wasteland as the sun reached my eyes for the first time). Skyrim's I would agree was kind of meh. Not really entirely sure why, but it just was. I would have preferred exiting to some high points on a cliff overlooking a valley with mountains on the side, the fall forest in the distance, and a nice little settlement beckoning us inside the valley... maybe have a scripted dragon fly across.

It was pretty cool. Not something i've experienced before or after. Just needed moar Ralof.

I have to agree, the first time I left the sewers in Oblivion was something.

IMO Skyrim has the worst intro in the series and Morrowind has the best.

Including or excluding Arena and Daggerfall?

Excluding I haven't tried Arena and Daggerfall yet.

Daggerfalls intro scene made me lol

To me Skyrim feels bigger to me, has an actual believable world and the atmosphere is pretty spectacular. I think the world is a huge step up from Morrowind and Oblivion.

Then you can't truly choose the worst in the series, now, can you?

I'm just being weird.

Morrowind was extreamly epic. The opening line: "Each Event is procceded by Prophecy. But without the Hero there is no Event." and then the cinematic was intense.

I....I guess not.

Really? I thought that was pretty cheesy to be honest.

One of the reasons is that the game directs you to Riverwood right at the beginning. As soon as you get out of helgen there is only one road, and it leads you to Riverwood. As soon as you start you go "Where should I head? Well, ill just follow this road".

kinda hard to do a fantasy game without being a little bit cheesy sometimes.

In terms of "off the boat moment-atmosphere", I rank:
1) Morrowind extremely much
2) Fallout 3
3) Skyrim
4) Oblivion

I personally think quite a bit of it has to do with that, before I played Skyrim, I'd watched the official gameplay videos many times

Yeah Fallout 3 was really good.

That's how I felt too when I first played Oblivion. We start out in a jail cell. Three walls and steel bars. I had no idea what was outside. Skyrim begins outside and I don't feel a sense of wonder after the game starts.

If that whole thing about Bethesda is true, then they sure got it wrong. You could pace yourself in Oblivion, learning what each button does, etc. How is going to be exectued and then having a dragon attack a city supposed to be less intimidating to a new player?

They have to make it all action packed now, no one wants a slow boring opener right?

For me it was the first time I left my bedroom to travel through a moongate.

Too true. Oblivion was my first TES, and the first time I played it I was killed by a mudcrab within 5 mins of leaving the sewers. I've loved this series ever since.

Skyrim doesn't really deserve the title of Elder Scrolls game.

It's the same thing that happened with Fallout 3 -> New Vegas, the game lost it's touch.

Because a lot of people find the whole "you're on your own, do whatever" concept scary and intimidating. Bethesda games are basically the only ones who do this, and unless you've played them before, many find it pretty daunting. Having a set focus, a la the first bit of the main quest, gives people an objective to the town, where they meet people, get quests and to which they then get a sense of the world. Then they decide to continue with the MQ, explore, go off and do other quests etc. It's no different to Oblivion just that the first stages are guided instead of marked as a marker.

It's more of a distance thing really. Riverwood was just around the corner, with a quaint little road leading to it, with a guy following you telling you he's help you out. Weylon Priory was a fair bit away from the sewers, at least for those who weren't aware you could fast travel there. Plus there's a big ayleid ruin not 50 meters from your standing position guarded by bandits. It's a small difference, yeah, but an important one.

Morrowind had the least restrictive beginning. You're not started on an epic main quest right away which was nice, you really feel like you're just free to roam while Skyrim and Oblivion pushed you straight into the main quest with irritating urgency. There was no encouragement to explore or join a guild and gear up and gain experience before tackling difficult tasks. You also pretty much know who/what you're killing within the first five or ten minutes of playing, while Morrowind's MQ enemies had a certain mystery to them. Game play was still very shallow though, and while people complain about the lack of dialogue options, previous games weren't particularly impressive when it came to dialogue either.