Poll: Oblivion Was Better

Dr.Awkward

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In the end, TES just has an identity crisis on its hands.

Want to have a good story and likeable characters, and broken yet deeply consequential gameplay? Morrowind is your choice.

Don't care about weaker story arcs (yet better-written guilds) with dumber and nonsensical characters, or a backwards leveling system? Are you for tougher AI that somewhat levels with you, more generic locales, and better combat? Are you both into LOTR and anime, and wonder how they would mix? Try Oblivion.

Want even better melee combat, good skill handling, and sensible levelling? Wish you could make physical objects of superior qualies then anything else made? Want sensible exploration that doesn't always feel the same? Unmoved by how shallow the ability/story/character pool is, as long as you can dive into it? Check out Skyrim.

Don't care about graphics, but want a story that in general took genius to explain how it all happens, and just want to downright explore? Did the other places run out too early, or felt too small? Do you wish you didn't have to mod in nudity? Daggerfall is right up your alley.

Wish all the people and companions weren't NPCs? You might like TESO then.

It just can't keep consistent. At this point, VI is going to be impossible to make with all the demands of the players from the last four - Five once TESO comes out - games. There are two options I can see that might solve all the problems:

1. Four separate, smaller, specialized games - One for melee, one for magic, one for the shady types, and finally one who wants to be a weak peasant who has to make his or her fame some other way.

2. Bring in multiple studios for VI to do specific parts of the game Bethesda seems to falter on. Some other professional studios would just love to work with Beth on making the game. (i.e. Obsidian wants to write the story for for a TES or Fallout game. GET THE HINT BETHESDA!)

In the end, the "required scope" for TES's next releases is astronomical and just can't be done in one game or by one studio anymore, and Beth just needs to admit that is where it's gone.
 

Mobax

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AC10 said:
I mean, let's be honest; Morrowind was the best one.
Exactly. Morrowind was the deepest game, of the 3 I have played, it's world was much more immersive. I don't just say that Morrowind was best out of some nostalgic love of the first Elder Scrolls game I played, because I played Morrowind in 2011 in the months leading up to Skyrim's release. I made a brand new character, and I played through most of the Thieves Guild, many random quests and the entire MQ. Granted it took me a couples hours to get re-acquainted with the combat hit or miss system. But the immersion was still there, I felt more connected to that game world then either Skyrim or Oblivion allowed.

That being said, I very much enjoyed both games, I feel Skyrim is better then Oblivion for a few reasons. The AI is much better, although it does have some bugs. I greatly prefer the magic system in Skyrim. The perks in Skyrim are something I really appreciated, they made becoming an assassin much more rewarding in terms of player experience. In both Morrowind and Oblivion I had created skilled assassins. But Skyrim's perks which allowed me to slash throats for a lethal finish and even stronger npc's was something I really felt rewarded my skill.

I feel that if you could take Skyrim's mechanics, perks, etc and add in the depth of world from Morrowind, that would be a game I would dream to play.
 

AngelOfBlueRoses

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Simple Bluff said:
The Elder Scrolls games seem to be turning into a new Final Fantasy or D&D insomuch that you'll always consider your first game (or edition, in D&D's case) the best, and everything else in the series will always fall short.

Anyway, I think Skyrim is better. Oblivion had much more imaginative side quests, but Skyrim beat it in nearly every other way. The fact that they don't recycle the same dungeon over and over again is what really appealed to me.
Maybe, but nostalgia doesn't hold up with me. I'm not a sentimental person. I used to hold KOTOR in the highest esteem as one of the best games you could play. KOTOR II, on the other hand, provoked nothing but utter rage from me. Now I find KOTOR merely decent, where as the second is vastly superior. My first Final Fantasies were 12, 10, and then 6. 12 had an alright setting, but it wasn't that great of a game and I eventually stopped playing it, convinced that FF was a series not worth looking into much. I got 10 cheaply for like two dollars, so why not play it? Urgh. It was even worse. And 6 was good, but also something I didn't like. Nine came after that, and is, to this day, the only game I like out of the series.

I don't like nostalgia. It colors your judgment. I'm a hedonist, not a sentimentalist. It's only ever the moment that matters to me and the -only- game I'll actually put on a pair of rose-tinted glasses for is World of Warcraft, but only because it had such a deep effect on me socially. No other game can say that, so no other game can get that freebie pass from me.
 

triggrhappy94

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I was wondering when people would start saying stuff like this.
Honestly. Oblivion had more depth in the missions, but a worse GUI.
Skyrim has way better graphics.
 

AzrealMaximillion

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With no mods on either, Skyrim is a better game. Even removing graphics and age differences, the levelling system in Oblivion was a damn mess. Its dungeons were also horribly repetitive. It was also extremely filled with fetch quests.

And the fact that conversations in Skyrim don't freeze the outside world and go into the NPC awkwardly staring at you kicking things into Skyrim's favour.
 

Strelok

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AC10 said:
I mean, let's be honest; Morrowind was the best one.
I don't believe that it is possible for me to agree more. Out of the choices though, I enjoy Skyrim much more than I did Oblivion.
 

TheYellowCellPhone

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Oblivion's archery system felt like I was shooting lead arrows out of a tiny bow, and if I didn't want to shoot my block arrow I had to shoot the ground because there was no cancelling out. Skyrim's archery system sounded, functioned, and felt better than archery in any other game.

I like Skyrim pretty much for only that.
 

Bullfrog1983

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I liked Oblivion more than Skyrim because of the variety in quests, the crafting system in Oblivion compared to Skyrim's and the sense of fulfillment when finishing quests in Oblivion. In your original post you mentioned several good examples of the variety of quests available in Oblivion and I'd add "A Brush with Death" when you search for the painter who had gone missing (inside of his own painting) because a thief had followed him in and stolen his magic brush. The little differences during that quest like an altered color scheme to the normal graphics and a painted skyline made it feel unique. The "Paranoia" quest with Glarthir is another one that I enjoyed far more than almost any of the ones in Skyrim, because you can choose to feed his paranoia and work towards assassinating the people he thinks are spying on him or refuse entirely, causing him to attack you. There are some more that I don't really recall very well that I liked but the background story about the oblivion gates appearing everywhere and your character being a hero who can close them felt a lot more interesting than being the "Dragonborn" who can basically use magic by yelling at people. The layout of Oblivion gate worlds were also much more interesting than going through the tombs of the dragons. It felt generic and boring every time you went through a tomb whereas in Oblivion the worlds would usually be completely unique and surrounded by a sea of lava that could potentially play a role in your character's demise. There were also times where I would judge whether or not I would be able to sprint to the top of the tower and be able to close the gate before getting overwhelmed by the monsters following me and the sometimes hilarious realization that there was a locked door in front of me I couldn't open before the 8-9 monsters tagging along for the ride begin to nom on me from behind for going too slowly. Anyway the topic of Oblivion gates leads up to the next reason of why I enjoyed Oblivion more and that is the crafting system in Oblivion compared to Skyrim's.

In Oblivion you could find some amazing enchantments that your character could potentially never do themselves inside Oblivion gates which actually gave incentive for me to want to go adventuring inside of them to get the goodies at the top of the tower. In contrast the crafting system in Skyrim allows you to make incredible enchantments and even more incredible weapons that would be unmatched by anything you find existing in the world. By the end of the game I had created a two handed sword that could defeat the final dragon in about 12-18 hits and I'm not sure if that's impressive or pathetic but the final battle was incredibly easy compared to the final battle in Oblivion and if the final quest was made that easy, think about how easy smithing can make other quests when all your weapons hit for a ridiculous amount of damage.

The final reason for liking Oblivion more than Skyrim is that there was a sense of fulfillment when you finished quests in Oblivion is easy to understand. The example of Kvatch is a good one because it happens almost by accident since when you first go there you are trying to find the Emperor's son and all of a sudden you are in the middle of a war zone where you and a group of rag-tag soldiers are fighting against demons. When you close the gate at Kvatch and any other gate in the world the area becomes safer and the weather changes back to normal. Comparing this to the killing of a single dragon in Skyrim, other than the first one - nothing really happens that makes a lasting impression on the landscape of the game. Granted, the first time I got attacked by a single dragon or two dragons at once it was a pretty fun experience but after I killed about 5-6 of them it just became a grind that I did not enjoy anymore. Anyway, I don't mean to say that one game is better than the other - I just liked Oblivion better.
 

DRTJR

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Dragonbums said:
DRTJR said:
cyrodiil should have been a lush tropical jungle, BUT NOPE it's just another generically European setting.
That's because- If I'm not mistaking
Elsewyr and Black Marsh are supposed to be the tropical/diverse climate regions.
In the Pocket Guide to The Empire, Cyrodiil was described as a vast jungle. Arena's maps of the region with a boreal green, fading into brown in the west and a richer pine green in the southeast, towards Black Marsh. Oblivion, however, found Cyrodiil to be completely lacking in any form of tropical climate. The First Elder scrolls game promised a lush jungle, that I DID NOT GET! There are never any good RPGs that have vast tropical jungles, why is this?
 

Alcamonic

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I personally thought that the guild quests were better in Oblivion. The main quest didn't suck either (going into Oblivion gate #6 million did however).

General world of Skyrim is more pretty, but that soon goes away when another dragon decides to hinder whatever I'm doing.
 

Signa

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AngelOfBlueRoses said:
AC10 said:
I mean, let's be honest, Morrowind was the best one.
Sorry! I'd mention Morrowind if I'd have played it, but I'm planning on picking it up during the Steam Summer Sale if that helps.
I was going to say the same thing as AC10 too. What you just described is how I felt about Morrowind after playing Oblivion. After playing Oblivion for about 100 hours or so, I went back to Morrowind for a short romp because I was feeling nostalgic, and was blown away at how much of the game's features I had forgotten about. I felt like I was playing an ugly sequel to Oblivion with how much had be "added" from jumping between the two.

Just a quick list of items I noticed immediately as absent from Oblivion
[*]separate right and left gloves/gauntlets

[*]Pauldrons of both left and right varieties for each armor set you could collect

[*]Cross bows, spears, throwing stars, and throwing knives

[*]Mark/Recall spells, fast travel NPCs

[*]Levitate and Slowfall spells

And none of that is mentioning the more unique world, monsters, and locales. Also, as a hard-core RPG fan, the dice roll system was far more likeable than always having an "I win!" button. Swinging and connecting blows always feels better in Oblivion, but it eventually becomes a boring chore to fight anything. I'm quite certain that there's some Skinner Box psychology going on behind that. No one would have fun with slot machines if they always paid out[footnote]A slot machine being one of the best examples of a working Skinner Box. Of course a machine that always paid out would get people to use it constantly, but if it didn't exceed minimum wage for the time spent, I bet you people would get bored of it quite fast and actually go do a real job[/footnote].
 

Sleepy Sol

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It might be my tinted glasses, but I think I got a bit more fun out of Oblivion than I did out of Skyrim, even without mods.

Of course Skyrim is technically better and more refined, but I found the quest lines in Oblivion to be much more memorable and enjoyable (particularly the Dark Brotherhood).

And then Morrowind, which I also had tons of fun with. The world is so varied and awesome that I don't really want to pick a "better" game out of all 3. They're all tons of fun and precious to me as experiences, but for different reasons.
 

Daveman

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Skyrim was a good game with good mechanics but I think Oblivion was a great game with poor mechanics. I mean the quests in Oblivion were just more interesting overall I thought. There was more varied architecture and environments. Everything was more colourful in general. Way less fucking Draugr. The dark brotherhood was better. The thieves guild was better. All the side quests were more interesting, I can think of dozens of them from Oblivion like the one with the lady robbers, the one with the town full of crazies, the one with the island where you're hunted, the one with the goblins attacking that village. I remember the one in Markarth with the getting locked in prison, which was admittedly very fun, but that's about it.

I can talk about a lot things, but I know the main thing is just the colours and the stories. Same reason I prefer New Vegas to Fallout 3
 

Lil_Rimmy

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AC10 said:
AngelOfBlueRoses said:
AC10 said:
I mean, let's be honest, Morrowind was the best one.
Sorry! I'd mention Morrowind if I'd have played it, but I'm planning on picking it up during the Steam Summer Sale if that helps.
lol you don't have to apologize! But for a lot of players, the transition from Oblivion to Skyrim that you experience was kind of how Morrowind to Oblivion felt.

IMO the more that Bethesda tries to balance the games, the more boring they become. The more they try to polish the rough edges, the less... I dunno, quirky/personal the game feels. In Morrowind you can make the most unbelievably broken characters, and it's a lot of fun to do so.

The only problem with Morrowind is it's old now. It doesn't look very good, and most importantly, there are no quest markers which many modern gamers (or old gamers now accustomed to modern times) struggle with, myself included. Also, the journal system is horrible to the point it becomes almost worthless. Still, it's my favorite game in the series.

If you pick it up... good luck!
Heh, that's the funny thing. I would love to play Morrowind, as I can easily do without the markers, but dear god is the Journal useless. The idea is that you are meant to follow the directions, but they are often just "Go to the west and past a swamp!". The amount of times I would search for an hour and then just look up the answer on the wiki, to see just how far away I was.

I do remember playing lots of Morrowind when I was younger, but it was never the main quest. It was just exploring and fighting. I could never figure out where to actually find the goddamn quests XD. Ah well, I might go back some day, with some mods and a wiki at the ready.
 

Tallim

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I thought Oblivion was not just an awful Elder Scrolls game but a really bad game in general :/ Loved Morrowind and Daggerfall but Oblivion just felt hollow and dull. I only put about 8 hours into it before I just couldn't play any more. Skyrim at least managed to recapture *some* of the magic of the older ones but lacked any real depth.
 

BloodSquirrel

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Skyrim wins by virtue of having a leveling system and enemy scaling that *doesn't* completely break the game. My Oblivion run ended when I was hacking away at a friggin' goblin and my weapon was dying faster than he was because he had scaled past the damage/level caps on my melee skill (which was maxed out).

It was also nice to not have to schedule my skill upgrades to make sure that I leveled four skills with one stat, four skills with another stat, and two skills with a third stat in order to actually be able to meaningfully raise my stats.
 

SuperfastJellyfish

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I played Oblivion first and really enjoyed it, but I get most out of Skyrim. Also, my friends and I have all agreed that the Elder Scrolls games aren't objectively better than eachother, they just do different things and some of those are bad, and some are good and they all end up being just as good.
 

CaptainThom

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I found the storylines (main and guilds) to be more interesting and longer in Oblivion especially the Dark Brotherhood and thieves guild,however Skyrims gameplay is leaps and bounds better than Oblivions. The combat system is much improved in skyrim and feels far less hack and slash than oblivion did at times. I personally prefer the ease of modding skyrim with the steam workshop too :)

Oblivion Gates > Dragons
Skyrim > Oblivion