Why do people think Morrowind is so superior to Oblivion?

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Another sort of annoying complaint about Oblivion is that it was a generic fantasy setting with too many forests. You were in Cyrodiil what do you expect really? You can't get much more vanilla fantasy than there at least they kept it relatively canon to what it should have been although they could have had its native were forms.

Agh, this is the thing I hate most about people accepting Oblivion's flaws.

Cyrodiil was not LotR originally. It was actually a jungle.

The only reason it looks like it does today is because of a retcon.

And let's be honest here - why was Morrowind going to be more alien? It looks obvious from today, but really Vvardenfell is just a place which had a volcano in the middle. That's not exactly pointing to weird mushroom houses, a startling variety of unique animals and steampunk dwarves.

Which is why I said relatively canon. It is the centre of the game and home of the Imperials what I really meant was did people really expect anything else from the land that is supposed to be the native land of the generic "white" humans. Although I never said LoTR I said generic fantasy and as far as mostly forest goes it is kinda generic too.

 

[PatrickXD]

I've played Morrowind a lot, and I don't feel as though I've done much in it.
I haven't played Oblivion for many hours, and I've completed all the guilds (apart from mages, urgh that was boring), and I get the feeling that I'm scraping the barrel for more content.
Morrowind just feels a bit more complex and thought out.

 

[OpticalJunction]

I played morrowind only after finishing oblivion and for a long time thought the same, why is this dated ugly un-user friendly game so highly rated? Then the answer became obvious. Morrowind is richer in almost every aspect to oblivion, the quests are deeper, the fights are harder, the rewards are rarer and more unique and therefore more exciting when discovered. and the map is huge. It actually feels like a complete world, unlike oblivion which, while very pretty, tended to lack substance. The imperial city for instance didn't much feel like a crowded, bustling city at all. Oblivion had massive improvements in its interface design though.

 

[Strife17O7]

(pardon to the rest, but I've got some nerd-rage to target at the OP.)Ahhmmmm.....because it just is? Because it -was- a challenge even at its basic difficulty setting. It felt like it was actually -worth- exploring every single cave/fortress/tower/dungeon on Vvardenfel, because nearly each one of them offered something new & unique to either see, obtain, or kill. You getting to each and every place also felt like an accomplishment in and of itself because you couldn't simply fast-travel to any location you'd seen already. When you went from one town to the other across the island, you had to put some thought into just exactly how you were going to get there and in some cases, what you would need to bring with you to make it there intact. In IV, the process was ridiculously simple, and fast-travel made all of Cyrodill seem so small that you could fit five of it inside just the island of Vvardenfel, to say nothing of the rest of Morrowind as represented in Daggerfall.
Then there's the part where the character's role felt more important to me personally, as they were plucked from obscurity only to find out that it was pre-ordained that he/she was destined for greatness, rather than to have your character's role seem comparatively contrived from the outset as in Oblivion. I mean...your character has no further initial background than one old leader's dream. In Morrowind, you're the legendary fulfillment of an age-old prophecy so profound that the political & religious leaders of an entire nation went to great length to cover it up as heretical myth in order to keep the truth behind it hidden for their own benefit.

If you're having trouble figuring out where to go on-mission, bleeding -DO- read the journal entry for it. It's there for a reason as it's always been. You can read, can't you? I mean...how would you have even found this forum otherwise. So Oblivion is better because it's so obvious and simple that it practically does everything for you? Because it's got higher-res textures/geometry? Tough tits.

And for your information, I -did- finally go back to TESIII after having played through IV and it felt like a breath of fresh air by comparison.

/nerd rage

 

[Aidinthel]

Anyway, your playtime estimate is way off, there is definitely more than 10 hours of gameplay in Oblivion. That's like saying Morrowind only has a playtime of seven minutes just because some guy found a way to glitch his way to the end.

That's not an estimate. That's how long I played before getting bored.

 

[auwdioslave]

For me it was the atmosphere, and the infinite freedom you had with you're character. The magic system had a lot more options.

 

[Jovip]

I got into the elderscrolls, ah, wait for this. Arena. Thats right, the first game. I completed that game (granted with little to no understanding of what the hell was going on when i was 6) Then i beat daggerfall few years later.

Then came morrowind, oh morrowwind. Now, it is understandable to those who picked up the series at this game to become truely in love with the whimsical settings and surreal area. But for me it just didn't do it. The terrible interface made me want to viciously punch myself in the head with a running belt sander and the open world was something of a Tolkien-esque acid trip. That is to say i didn't enjoy it. I was dreadfully bored the entire time and sure there was alot of stuff, and i mean alot i could be playing this from the second i picked it up back in 2002 and still be finishing off sidequests today. However, i wouldn't because it would be a waste of time.

Then oblivion came and i fell back in love with the series. But let me explain to you why this is, and it may just be my preference. I enjoy the role playing, and deep immersive gameplay as much as we all do. The ability to do things almost any way you can think of. it's great. i love it. But the weird thing i find about immersion is you cannot be immersed in something that is completely foreign. Which is why to me morrowind never works. however in oblivion there was a inkling of relatability. there were deer and wolves, things we could see. the world felt medievil not complety fantasy based which i loved, i enjoyed being a hunter running around the forests killing animals skinning them and hopefully bringing enough back to buy a room for the night. it was awesome.

However, whenever i was forced to go into a cave or oblivion gate i instantly remembered i was playing a game. I didn't like that. granted i still had a shitload of fun killing daedra and skeletons, casting my magics everywhere. i was just aware i was playing a game.

My point is this, morrowwind is most likely nostalga. As when i compare morrowind to oblivion i see quality over quantity. This is just my oppinion, but i believe oblivion is the better game, and hopefully skyrim will surpass that. While morrowwind is just an acid trip on medievil realism in a dark alley.

 

[damselgaming]

Honestly I only got 30 minutes into Morrowind and it didn't really grab me. I remember swimming for a bit, getting attacked by a bird dinosaur thing, not being able to beat up a women with a sword and then my then boyfriend turning off the monitor and telling me it was, and I quote, "sexytime".

True story, never played the game again.
... Also Morrowind now just makes me think 'sexytime'.

 

[Braedan]

Another sort of annoying complaint about Oblivion is that it was a generic fantasy setting with too many forests. You were in Cyrodiil what do you expect really? You can't get much more vanilla fantasy than there at least they kept it relatively canon to what it should have been although they could have had its native were forms.

Cyrodill was actually supposed to be quite a lot of rainforest before they turned it into new Zealand. It was a quite varied province with a bit of every other province seeping in at all the edges.

OT: my biggest reason for liking Morrowind more was the leveling system. Oblivion felt pointless since you never get better and you have the chance of making the game unplayable if you do it wrong (and not in a logical way)

there are a number of other things, but nothing that stands out so much as autoleveling.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Another sort of annoying complaint about Oblivion is that it was a generic fantasy setting with too many forests. You were in Cyrodiil what do you expect really? You can't get much more vanilla fantasy than there at least they kept it relatively canon to what it should have been although they could have had its native were forms.

Cyrodill was actually supposed to be quite a lot of rainforest before they turned it into new Zealand. It was a quite varied province with a bit of every other province seeping in at all the edges.

OT: my biggest reason for liking Morrowind more was the leveling system. Oblivion felt pointless since you never get better and you have the chance of making the game unplayable if you do it wrong (and not in a logical way)

there are a number of other things, but nothing that stands out so much as autoleveling.

Which is why I said relatively canon and already explained why I said relatively canon to another poster a few posts up from this.

Another sort of annoying complaint about Oblivion is that it was a generic fantasy setting with too many forests. You were in Cyrodiil what do you expect really? You can't get much more vanilla fantasy than there at least they kept it relatively canon to what it should have been although they could have had its native were forms.

Agh, this is the thing I hate most about people accepting Oblivion's flaws.

Cyrodiil was not LotR originally. It was actually a jungle.

The only reason it looks like it does today is because of a retcon.

And let's be honest here - why was Morrowind going to be more alien? It looks obvious from today, but really Vvardenfell is just a place which had a volcano in the middle. That's not exactly pointing to weird mushroom houses, a startling variety of unique animals and steampunk dwarves.

Which is why I said relatively canon. It is the centre of the game and home of the Imperials what I really meant was did people really expect anything else from the land that is supposed to be the native land of the generic "white" humans. Although I never said LoTR I said generic fantasy and as far as mostly forest goes it is kinda generic too.

I threw in LotR because that's what Cyrodiil, according to Todd Howard, was based on - it was coming out around the time the films were coming out. It wasn't a cash in, it was more inspiration.

But LotR is the epitome of genericness, in the same way that Half-Life 1 is. It came first, but so many things have copied from it it seems bland from today's viewpoint.

Also, Cyrodiil isn't really the home of the Imperials - that only happened vaguely in Morrowind. Imperials weren't in A/DF, so it was going to be a mix of races. Which it was, so I can't really fault it for that.

I guess if you're going to fault the setting, I'd go for that aspect, because it meant that all races had to be friendly to each other. There was no racial tension, which was one of the most compelling things about Morrowind for a lot of people (including me).

But I've said my piece. Draw your own conclusions.

That's fair enough if you didn't like it for those reasons that was fine I never said Oblivion had a good setting just that there is not point in complaining about a generic setting after Morrowind. Yes I know originally it was different but we have to go with what is considered cannon and by the time Morrowind came around it was obvious(well I thought it was or at least that it was the direction they were going) that it was to be the generic home of the Imperials.

 

[brainslurper]

Just reading some of the responses on this thread deterred me from ever buying morowind.

 

[Terrara]

You'll laugh but I remember Morrowind had a lot more stuff. I remember the whole cool idea of going in to kill gods (or were those avatars? Can't remember) simply cause I could. But my most vivid memory is killing (accidentally) key NPC and the message "You killed a key figure and now you shall live in the world of misery and suffering and pointless running around 'cause you f&cked up" Those were the days. Taught me a valuable lesson that my action usually have consequences. As i was pretty small, I like to believe this game was one of the reasons I didn't become one of those douche teens(10-16) who think they are so great. But I still liked Oblivion better because a) a lot shorter and a lot less reading i.e. sucks out less life out of you, b) Where else I can become the Listener, Knight of the Nine AND a Mad Goddess at the same time?

 

[Mordekaien]

The whole world is alien and not 1/2 normal animals like TES IV.

There were rats, don't you forget them rats!

OT: It was better in terms of options it gave me to shape my character... that and noone held my hands during quests...

 

[imnot]

True story, never played the game again.
... Also Morrowind now just makes me think 'sexytime'.

I think you just ruined the game for me aswell ;_; Especially sice I was thinking about Fargoth when I read that DX

 

[DYin01]

I enjoyed Morrowind as much as Oblivion and I put about equal amounts of time in both games. Morrowind had more content, but who honestly enjoyed the combat system? I grew used to it, but I never actually enjoyed it. The whole diceroll thing was stupid to see in real time. The combat skills you were using had to be 80 at the very least to be reliable.

 

[Eggbert]

As someone who enjoys Oblivion more than Morrowind, I do understand where people are coming from. From what I've seen there was just a lot more content in Morrowind.

That said Oblivion was a lot more enjoyable to me because it felt a lot less obtuse. The first five-ten hours of Morrowind are hell, getting used to the combat and travel systems. It's worse if your coming in from Oblivion because you're used to a fast travel system and a very detailed map.

I've been looking into the Morroblivion mod though, simply because I really want to experience all that stuff.

Bah! X:Beyond the Frontier took me 5 hours to get used to the controls, 5-10 for the game itself isn't obtuse!

Dwarf Fortress takes months to get used to, and that's with the wiki (assuming you want to do everything). And you need to spend a few solid hours of playing before you can even really tell what you're looking at.

 

[Hagi]

Morrowind was exciting.

You entered a dungeon you never knew what you'd find. The first enemy you encounter could be so much stronger then you were so you had to slowly inch your way into the dungeon, always being on the lookout for what enemies you'd be facing.

The environments were varied so if you went exploring there'd always be something new to find and there were simply so many hidden secrets in the world that it'd take literally hundreds of hours before you came even close to finding a majority of them.

Your choices meant something. Allying with the Thieves guild could get you into serious trouble with other guilds. Choosing a great house meant you couldn't choose any other great house. Becoming a vampire meant you had to adapt a totally different play-style.

Oblivion on the other hand was a bit dull. If you entered a dungeon you'll basically always find level-appropriate enemies carrying level-appropriate loot in one out of five or so possible environments. If you'd join a guild it wouldn't carry any consequences for future actions in the game, you'd still be able to do everything else. And the entire world just felt nearly copy-pasted, there were just so few truly unique and interesting spots.

 

[ElectroJosh]

From my perspective TES games were getting better (in terms of graphics, story, in game atmosphere, ease of play) with each installment. Oblivion looked like it was going to be even better and it was an improvement in a couple of areas: The graphics were lovely and it was easier to play. However the world itself wasn't as spectacular, the npc/monster leveling was a real pain and there wasn't as much to do and see.

The thing is, after playing Fallout 3 I realised that Bethesda had put too much emphasis on the graphics for Oblivion and not the game itself. I love Fallout 3 (the ending aside).

There is nostalgia attached, yes, but I think that a lot of Morrowind's fans would have rather replayed Morrowind with Oblivion's engine and some of the gameplay tweaks than the game they got.

 

[Blind Sight]

Everyone up here has given some very great (and true) reasons about why Morrowind is better then Oblivion but I think people are missing out on three key reasons.

1. Mora Tong
2. Motherfucking Silt Striders
3. A naked mage falls out of the sky after you leave the first town.

I remember him being in a dress, actually.


At the 32:50 mark if anybody's interested.

Why do people enjoy Morrowind better then Oblivion? I don't think it's just nostalgia. I think it mainly has to do with how Oblivion was somewhat generic in its setting, with its Medieval-based architecture and English countryside environments (the swamps and mountains, as a result, were my favourite places in the game). Morrowind is just bizarre in contrast, and uses its environments and architecture to actually convey a story. Going into a town and seeing a small amount of traditional Dunmer architecture surrounded by Telvanni structures with an Imperial fort in the background really shows what's going on culturally in the world. The 'old ways' are dying out and being swept away by more 'modern' societal values. The environment itself is a great contrast. The 'foreigners' huddle mostly in the grassy plains and valleys that line the island, while the more traditional Dunmer live in communities in the Ashlands or in rocky peninsulas. As a result you see far more about how these cultures act then anything in Oblivion. Not to mention the story itself has themes of colonization, globalization, multiculturalism, 'Future Shock', etc. while Oblivion goes for a much more standard generic fantasy plot. I mean, I personally think that Bethesda can't write themselves out of a paper bag, but Morrowind is their best plot because of these themes (it's also well structured, which helps).

 

[Vhite]

I agree with most of the things mentioned above. Also I am bloody hypocrite for thinking that Morrowind is better than Oblivion that I also happen to hate and play right now not mentioning days I spent playing Oblivion in past. But yeah, I dislike Oblivion much more than Morrowind that I could never get into (believe me, I tried).
Dont try to find reason behind this.