I was disappointed in how much the writing had degraded from Morrowind right from the get go with Oblivion and the trend continues with Skyrim. I don't mind it that much that the writing is a little cheesier than Morrowind since these are some of the best games around anyway, but I just fired up Morrowind again after deciding against playing Skyrim for the thousandth time in a row.

I walk through Balmora on my way to the Silt Strider to get to Vivec, first thing Llandras Belaal (amazing name) strides up to me and says, "The wickwheat is winnowed, and under the harrow, the earth is prepared for planting. The n'wah must die and their flesh serve to sweeten the soil."

This is epic fantasy novel stuff. This is just one example of the standard quality of writing in Morrowind, that was the first thing anyone said to since firing the game up after months and it just kinda blew me away. ALL the writing in Morrowind is that good. It's serious and dark and quality, there's even quite a bit of humor in there but it's not forced at all like it is in the Elder Scrolls games that followed. Skyrim has made so many strides but I miss the incredible quality of the writing in Morrowind. I think I'm gonna play it all night until I can't keep my eyes open to read another fascinating line of dialogue anymore.

Things have leveled out to cater to a broader audience. I honestly don't mind the style, just the limited dialogue trees. In past games, you could say yes or no but say it in different ways. Skyrim's dialogue has restricted that, cutting down on the RP value.

Bethesda's writing has always been sub-par.

I guess it's a subjective thing anyway. Morrowind has the best writing in any videogame of all time in my opinion. Which games are you a fan of the writing in?

I do not recall Morrowind's writing to be that good. Just more of it.




Fallout New Vegas and the Mass Effect series have good writing IMO. Just like story, writing is more of a subjective thing.

I thought it improved from oblivion.

Cheers

True enough it is subjective, Morrowind does have the strongest writing out of all of the BGS games, but I still prefer old BioWare writing.

You will never have good writing in an open world game without forcing the player through some linear path. But IMO Skyrim improved greatly on Oblivion in it's story. The premise was just as good as Oblivion's but the presentation was much better.

Many games today are made almost entirely by presentation. Portal 2 had a very basic story but the characters were well written and masterfully voiced, after you listened to all these people you hardly even cared about the premise.

I actually sit there and read the "books" in Morrowind and enjoy them. I've tried to read them in Oblivion and Skyrim, but I just don't enjoy them and I skip over every single one now, only opening them to get a skill point.

I don't really believe the writing from Morrowind to Skyrim has changed in quality all that much in either direction, it's always been good enough to give you motivation to quest but has always left something to be desired.

I do however prefer how information about quests and topics was handled in Morrowind as opposed to how it is now handled in Skyrim with the dialogue and journal. But that's more-so preference than actual quality.

Umm.. Almost all the books in Skyrim were in Morrowind.

I definitely agree. As I played through the DB I was groaning at how terrible all of the dialog options were. Seriously, this stuff is garbage.

I have read that Ultima VII is the prime example of a successful marriage between decent writing and open world concept. One of Neverwinter Nights' mods is a TC for Ultima IV and I'm hoping some one takes Skyrim's engine and do one for Ultima VII as well.

Currently replaying Planescape: Torment. God talk about irony. The graphics of Torment hurt my eyes after Skyrim...while Skyrim's dialog makes me wish for Torment's prose.

I think the writing is fairly well done compared to a lot of other games out there atm. I mainly play a game for its story, if its badly done I tend to bore easily. Skyrim has managed to keep me entertained and tell some interesting stories along the way. And some of the character depth and backgrounds is quiet powerful emotively (eg Saphire).

Though of course it is a subjective thing, appreciating the story as its written/acted. I mean I really dont think much of LOTR at all, I have have better stories weaved in a game of AD&D with a good GM and some like minded players. But a lot of people will disagree with me, and thats fine and as it should be.

The best writing came from player made modules in NWN.

Bethesda's writing tries to start us off, and then tries to leave enough room to tell the rest of the story in our own minds. For me sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. One things for certain though, I really don't want to be spoon-fed dialogue all the time.

They may not draw out the whole picture, but at least is doesn't relegate us to mindless drones who do the NPC's bidding without reasoning or forethought.

Just my two Septims.

Agree with this. Their best writing is all in the books, rather than the dialogue, with only rare exceptions.

It makes sense for most NPCs to have simple dialogue though, that's one thing Skyrim has improved on. It was a bit off in Morrowind how every random NPC in any given city would stop and give a lecture on a huge variety of topics at any point. That said, they haven't found a good balance yet - the game is hurting for more genuinely interesting and believable characters, some of the more important NPCs and NPCs in factions you join have almost as limited dialogue as a random town NPC of no real consequence.

Yes, almost all the books in Skyrim were in Morrowind. NO, almost all the books in Morrowind are in Skyrim.

No, the writing hasn't suffered, the gaming community has become insufferable.

/thread

splinter cell.........ratchet and clank(any of the games).......sall i got

It's hard to find a balance between a set style of dialogue and diverse options for different races/classes. They sacrificed quality over quantity.

It's never been that great. They just fail at writing more than a handful of truly compelling characters per game, there is some kind of quota there that cannot be exceeded. Most NPCs, are doomed to being shallow or filler.

I don't mind the writing, but you have to notice that Morrowind has very few audio dialogues, so they had to hire good writers. I prefer written dialogue as opposed to audio, simply because it's cheaper and thus far more abountant. It also helps with mods, as good voice actors are rare, and many people just don't want to voice their characters at all. I made a male character for example, but because i'm a girl, i can't voice him without making him sound like a [censored]. And since my own voice acting abilities leave a LOT to be desired, i would much rather have a good non-verbal conversational dialogue system in place.

I'm not sure I agree that the writing has suffered, mostly because we all (those of us who started playing TES in the early days) see Morrowind through rose-colored glasses. I do agree, however, that the Morrowind "Feel" was so much more mature and dark. Skyrim offers a great deal of good writing, it's just not as easily noticeable because the writing is voiced-over. In Morrowind we didn't have that option, full immersion meant spending 2-5 minutes talking to an NPC about the finer details concerning such wonderful topics as the Sea of Ghosts, Imperial Legion politics, or the like. The writing had to be effective because it was all we had.

I totally agree. Not only in dialog. I first noticed the inferior writing in all of the new books. Compared to the ones from morrowind, they seem like theyre from another world.