Started with Morrowind, have completed Daggerfall, MW, and OB, played Arena but never really got into it for whatever reason. I also tried to play Redguard once but it doesn't play nice with XP so it was a no go.

Armor: This MAY be acceptable. I'm just unclear on something: Are shirt and pants different things and it's only armor that's affected? If it's both armor and clothes that's bad. If it's just armor I think I can live without wanting a mod to fix it first thing.

Romance: This is almost completely dependent on how it's handled. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic.

Fast Travel: There when I need it, out of mind when I don't. I don't really care if it's in or out.

Movement: I went with disappointed, but honestly this is also heavily dependent on how it's handled. If there are perks to fix it? That's fine. If there aren't? That's a little odd.

Played all the TES series going back to TES1 Arena which I played on an old IBM 386 40 mhz with 2 Meg of Ram. Never heard of Bethesda before Arena but I have been hooked ever since, played and loved each TES game in its own way. Happy with the direction Skyrim is heading and any question I had has been answered by the recent Fan Interview. Sometimes it is nice to hear from the Developers themselves WHY they have done certain things, I am sure some people think Bethesda remove and change things just to personally annoy them!

Kudo's from a long-time fan Bethesda, love the idea of romance and relationships, I think that is something that could have been added in previous TES titles to add that human emotional touch! Now just trying to figure out which race my Nord Ranger is going to marry

I don't have a problem with streamlining, in the sense of making it more efficient to do what you want to do. Great interfaces disappear while you get the task done, and often that is the result of cutting unnecessary features. Ironically, a lot of people reach perfection, and then move away from it IMO. Microsoft office, Photoshop, MacOS, etc. are good examples. They reached a point where the interface was intuitive, and you could just "work", without thinking about the interface - and now they are all screwed up...

However, I don't think TES games have gotten to that point yet. Morrowind had a solid interface, but it still required a lot of time IN the interface. Oblivion was actually worse, IMO, particularly when it came to organizing your inventory. Skyrim looks like it *might* be an improvement, in that it appears to be well organized - but we'll have to wait and see.

The rest of this is more a matter of personal preference. I hate to see the consequences of your starting choices being eroded. Choosing to be Mer, Man, or beast should have real consequences. Choosing to be male or female should have real consequences - both in terms of physical ability, as well as NPC interactions. Sure, I don't have a problem with your PC working their butt off to minimize the differences, or even overcome them, but initially, some races and genders should be stronger, faster, more magically intune, or smarter than others.

Instead, it looks like the only thing choosing a race and gender will change is your appearance in third-person view. I'm still holding out hope that I'm wrong, though.

The every1 will run at the same speed, jump at the same ht. bit is actually wrong, "They each start with some skills that are higher by default, but those aren’t hard to overcome with another race in a short time." (Todd howard) he said they all start out the same, "We kept all the racial movement speeds the same" (again Todd Howard),but some will have racial virtues that will make some faster then others or jump a little higher (because of endurance or encumbrance changes as you quest along), and we dont know that there wont be perks to make that difference quit drastically different,... I personally dont think he explained this part well at all and it is being read wrong,... but that is JMO

Nope.

They are doing it to get sales, it's obvious all developers that want to make the big bucks do it.

Crytek
bioware
infinity ward
what EA did to C&C (omfgz)
gas powered and the utter gimping of Supcom 2 (which has nothing supreme about it; it's a C&C scale RTS)
Relic and DOW2
lionhead and FABLE <------best example of what happens when you mainstream/dumbdown/streamline

the list goes on and on.

I actually like the user interface of Crysis and COD4:MW. They were simple, to the point, didn't get in your way while you were playing. They were properly streamlined, in that you didn't often have to think about the user interface - you just did what you needed to with them.

Dumbing down is a whole other ball game. Making quest objects glow in the dark (Like COD) is dumbing down. Having dialog reduced to one or two generic lines is dumbing down.

I want to see the UI in TES games become more transparent during game play - that is good. However, I want the vast world choices that we had in the past back, as their removal is (to me) dumbing down.

Started with Arena, been consistently and repeatedly disappointed since Daggerfall, and see no sign of the trend changing. :shrug:

To be honest, I think Morrowind was the perfect base game that Beth has created. They should have stuck with that game's formula, fixed what needed to be fixed properly (not with terrible level scaling or stupid fast travel), and then took it to new heights. They're taking Skyrim to new heights, but their lowering their base so much that the difference means nothing. Its like saying you jumped 10 feet, and then trying to say you jumped 20 when you move the ground 10 feet lower.

As it stands now Beth seems to just be in the state where they can't figure out what base game they want to create. Yeah every game in a series should be progressively different, but you don't do that by tearing apart what made the originals good.

EA also started the trend that you have to pay for certain extras if you buy the game pre-owned.

Only thing that disappoints me is the armour thing, and relationships(meh).

I've played SKYRIM and I approve of everything.
Being so my opinion is apparently the only one that counts so / thread

Question 1: I only Oblivion.

Question 2: Armor merged: I voted that I was happy with this, although a better word might have been supportive versus happy..

Question 3: Romance:Supportive of this too.

Question 4: Fast Travel: Don't really care.

Question 5: Same Speed and Jump Height: I can't decide on this one

this.

Question 1: I played Morrowind and Oblivion.

Question 2: Armor merged: I started playing the series with Morrowind and I am disappointed.

Question 3: Romance: I started playing the series with Morrowind and I'll have to play to judge first.

Question 4: Fast Travel: I started playing the series with Morrowind and I am Happy

Question 5: Same Speed and Jump Height: I started playing the series with Morrowind and I am disappointed.

I disagree to some extent due to the fact that I don't really know what's the true meaning behind what you've written (either you want a Morrowind 2 instead of Skyrim, or if you're reffering to keeping the elements that made Morrowind great).

However, I do agree.
To me, Morrowind was indeed the perfect base game, as you call it. It almost didn't take you out of the world. It presented you with choices that had real concequences. The fast travel system worked as part of the game, and not just so you'll have an easier time playing the game.
Don't get me wrong, it had its disadvantages, the game was TOO hard for some new-comers. But instead of removing some features that didn't necessarily had to go, I think reworking them and ACTUALLY making, almost, EVERY features a part of the world itself would be the wise decision, not the financial one, unfortunately, but if they're already creating a world, let them create a WORLD.

I remember the Angry Joe's critique on Two Worlds 2. He admited the game was bad, but he didn't focus on the bad (like he does usually), what he said was that instead of doing what most developers do: streamlining the game, dumbing down parts of it for the bigger audience. They actually just IMPROVED the game over it's predecessor, took different aspects that were bad, or not good enough, in the game, and improved them.

So I agree with the fact that Morrowind had the best base for the ES series. I think it should have progressed from there and improved, rather than... changed (and again, don't get me wrong, some changes are good, but some are bad, for me).

i am

Played all the previous games except for mobile ones, disappointed in almost everything I've heard/seen of the game so far. Pretty much have quit these forums already. Won't be buying the game before trying it.

I've played Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion and I'm indifferent towards everything since, dun dun duh, I haven't actually played Skyrim. Can you imagine that? I haven't made up my mind yet because of the simple fact that I haven't actually played the game. I feel that's the only real answer, otherwise you're just relying on prejudice.

Nope. I started with Oblivion, and i'm happy with everything.

Your a mind reader!
Everytime I mention that morrowind was the perfect "base" IMO and I wish they would just improve upon the concept, options exploration, instead of just going into different direction altogather, some speed reading member completely mis-reprosents what I am saying into "O' you just want morrowind 2.0"..... Thank you for summing it up in a way that makes sense.

Question 1: I played Morrowind and Oblivion.
I wish I had the time to get into the older ones, but life is picking up in speed... :/ Morrowind on the original xbox. Love

Question 2: I started the series with Morrowind, and I don't care/I can't decide/I'll have to play to judge first.
It may take away from extra customization, but it might work better. I can't say, because I'm not the one creating the game.

Question 3: I started the series with Morrowind, and I don't care/I can't decide/I'll have to play to judge first.
Could be nice, might be bland. We'll have to wait and see.

Question 4: I started the series with Morrowind, and I am happy about it.
The more options the better. I don't use it often, but it's nice to know it's there to use.

Question 5: I started the series with Morrowind, and I am disappointed.
This svcks. A Bosmer will jump higher and run more quickly than an effing orc. Having them all run and jump the same is BULLSHIZ......

It could be a Light Armor perk. Someone in some thread suggested that Heavy Armor might have perks related to encumbrance while Light Armor would have perks that cover waht Acrobatics and Athletics did in previous games.

I've started the series with Morrowind and have also palyed Daggerfall and Oblivion. I'm pretty much reserving my judgement on everything until I play the game.

This is pretty much exactly like me, only I haven't played arena.

Yep, thats me too