I think this might be true. There'll obviously be exceptions who post in this thread, but for the most part, the one that you play first will almost always get you hooked. I'm one of those people who considers Oblivion the best, but that's because it was the first one I played and it has a great nostalgia value from when I played it when I was 9.

Thoughts?

The first Elder Scrolls game I played was Daggerfall, my favorite is Morrowind or Skyrim.

My first TES game was Morrowind but my favorite is Skyrim. But I think, in general, that the first TES game you play is most likely to be your favorite.

For me it is true, Morrowind was my first in 2002, and to this day is still my favorite. I do however, enjoy and love each TES in it's own way.

First: Morrowind. Favorite: Morrowind. I consider Morrowind far superior to the others I played (Oblivion and Skyrim) and I can't really say it's just nostalgia, I simply enjoyed more exploring that alien world with all its crazy people, religion, politics, racism and those guilds that actually felt like they belong to that world.

It's true for me, my first TES game was Morrowind and it's my favourite. However, I've seen others who have played Skyrim first, decided to try Oblivion, and actually enjoyed that better.

My first TES game was morrowind. I liked the wider selection of weapons. But skyrim is my favorite because of the graphics.

I think the games are different enough, certainly in terms of Daggerfall vs. Morrowind vs. Skyrim that a person's preference is easily determined by the content of the game itself.

My favorite game is Morrowind. This is because, out of the three TES games I've played (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim) it has the most unique, the most complex story, the most complex gameplay, the most factions to join among other things. To me, graphics and 'fast-paced' combat are on the back burner compared to the story and roleplay elements when I play a video game like TES. Thus, of course Morrowind is my favorite TES game. I promise you that if TES 6 strived to have a unique, alien world, text-based dialogue for flexibility and depth, as well as a dozen or more factions that are fleshed out and lengthy, it would probably become my new favorite.

Seems about right in my case at least.

If it isn't your favourite, it most likely colours your expectations and standards for the other games in the series.

Oblivion was my first ES title, as well as my first true open world western RPG. Needless to say I was blown away the day I played it and I've loved those kind of games since because of it.

I eventually bought Morrowind for my laptop and while I loved it, I wasn't quite so staggered by it as I was by Oblivion. While the game had more depth than Oblivion, it had less life, things felt very static, the lack of any schedules for NPCs like there were in Oblivion made it irritating for me to fully enjoy it. If I wanted to burgle a place, I'd find the store owner or dweller awake at at 3am stood exactly where they were during the day and the fact NPCs didn't really move all that much made everything feel, well dead. Morrowind was rich in depth, lore and content, every inch of it was oozing with atmosphere which I loved.

But the damn thing played like a sack of crap. Combat was an absolute joke, and the magic system was frustrating to use at the best of times. Morrowind may have been amazing for its time, but by modern standards it's awful gameplay-wise and its age definitely shows without any mods being used to improve it. I expected more of the game, despite its age because Oblivion amazed me as much as it did. Morrowind wins in terms of lore, atmosphere and story, without a shadow of a doubt. But creating a believable fantasy landscape with characters that don't feel like slabs of cardboard was one area it fell completely flat. Yes the characters were interesting and had depth, something the later ESs lack, but they didn't have the same life as the NPCs in Oblivion did.

This of course brings me on to Skyrim, I enjoy it for what it is but I have huge issues with the game. I won't go into detail, I'll be here all night.

My first TES game was Morrowind and it remains my favorite, but it has little to do with the fact that it was my first. I'm not one to let things like that affect my judgment. There are just certain things about Morrowind that I enjoy more, such as the Sixth House, Dagoth Ur, the involvement of the Dwemer in the main quest, the Tribunal--Vivec, especially--and the Heart of Lorkhan, and the setting in general. These things appeal to me personally more than things like the Mythic Dawn and Oblivion or Dragons and Sovngarde.

Sure, there's plenty of nostalgia there from 10 years ago, but it's not the driving force that determines whether or not it's my favorite.

I also have to agree with Akataras to an extent. Morrowind was my first TES game and I played it for months, then I stopped and kind of forgot about it for years until I saw official gameplay footage of Oblivion, and I was blown away. Oblivion was what made me become an Elder Scrolls fan instead of just a Morrowind fan.

Upon some further reflection I will say that playing the earlier games first probably makes you more open to enjoying them. In the sense that if you played them in order you could appreciate each one for what it was, and Morrowind's 'static' NPCs wouldn't bother you unless you'd experienced Skyrim's 'mobile NPC's' first.

Particularly there are a lot of people who played Skyrim or Oblivion are their first RPG EVER and then go back to Morrowind and don't 'get' how NPCs stand around in one place, and the charm of a text based dialogue system. They don't have the context of knowing that in the year 2002 and earlier that's just how RPGs were, and Morrowind was no different. I never gave it a second thought because it was just sort of the industry standard, but I'm sure that to a newer generation of gamers it appears odd and old fashioned which I could see would be a hard impression to overcome.

My first was Arena but I'd definitely not consider it my favourite.

Yes, for me the first is the best but it's not because of nostalgia, it's because I love that kind of game, and the series has changed in the opposite direction.

First is morrowind and it is my favourite,but skyrim is also my favourite

First is Daggerfall, favorite is Morrowind (unmodded) or Oblivion (modded)

However: only Daggerfall gives me nightmares. Even now, and I last played it like 8 years ago.

I seriously doubt that anyone who started with Arena would call that his/her favorite, so I don't think it's as simple as that.

People who are comfortable with older tech will have no problem with Daggerfall or Morrowind, so there's no being put off by the more "primitive" graphics and animation. If one can look past those "problems" to the actual content, one finds that they are profoundly complex and rewarding games.

Having said that, I started with those older games, but I now regard modded Oblivion as my favorite. That's because, as primarily a role player, I find Oblivion's open world and wide character creation to be best suited for playing out my own stories (as opposed to Bethesda's quest lines.)

If I were looking only at game content, I'd have to point to Daggerfall as the richest, with Morrowind a close second, and I'd put Morrowind on top of the heap as a coherent and vibrant world/society/environment. (Its static NPCs may not be individually believable, but their relationships to one another, and their factional interplay, is second to none.)

My point here is that it's not which game came "first," so much as which game satisfies whatever it is that you're looking for in a game. ...Which, it seems to me, should be obvious...

Like most categorical statements, this is true only for some people. Categorical statements are like stopped clocks: they are only right part of the time.

It is a stereotype that does not apply to me. My first Elder Scrolls game was Morrowind. My favorite game is modded Oblivion. My second favorite, at the moment, is unmodded Skyrim. My third favorite is modded Morrowind. My fourth favorite is modded Skyrim. My fifth favorite is unmodded Morrowind.

It is an unfortunate tendency in human nature to want to reduce things to simple answers. But simple answers rarely describe life. Life is complex. Understanding that complexity often requires much thought. But many people do not want to put much thought into understanding life. And the result is a simplistic either/or, categorical view of life that explains nothing very well.

Oblivion was my first, and I must say it occupies a special place in my heart. But I rather think this is because of the setting. It's comfortable. Cyrodiil is a place you wouldn't mind calling home. Rolling hills, beautiful forests, minimal racism, pleasant weather, charming cities. I wouldn't necessarily call it my favorite, I'd be hard-pressed to choose one, but it certainly is the game I go back to when I want to just chill.

I played Daggerfall first and then Redguard. Morrowind was the third game I played and it became my favorite. There are games that somehow nails your personality and gameplay style. Look at Minecraft or Portal 2. You have to have an acquired taste to love those games.

No. Many people will agree. Many won't. I have no doubt there is some level of predisposition towards enjoying your first TES game more than the others, but it's by no means a rule. Why do people try to put these things into absolutes when they never are?

Pretty much the same for me. I don't really have one particular favorite; I don't really like one better than the others. They all have things I like about them, and things I don't like about them, and I still play all five of them depending on what mood I'm in (Yes, even Arena).

However, Oblivion will always hold a special place in my heart simply because it was my first TES game. I have some wonderful memories of diving into my first real, open-world RPG and discovering some of the cool stuff the genre had to offer. The graphics (at the time, and even now to some extent) blew me away; the feeling of freedom just felt "right" to me. I wouldn't pick it out as being my favorite per se, but it is special to me. Yeah, I know...it's just a game. Maybe I'm just nostalgic like that.

My first was Oblivion, but I think it's one of the worst in the main series.

uh

lol

you're doing it wrong

No. First was Oblivion, favorite is Morrowind.

uh

lol

Sorry, but I'm not.