Skyrim isn't that bad. Like Renee said earlier, they're sisters. Both have their good and bad points.

Both stories have an identically anti-climactic ending (Bethesda has a history of this), but I consider Skyrim's story superior to Oblivion because:

A: You are the hero, not the errand-boy of the real hero.

B: The story arc was better executed, and didn't go overboard with the "http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ContinueYourMissionDammit"

C: Dragons are a lot less prevalent than Oblivion Gates. You aren't running into them every ten feet, and that's a big plus.

That being said, Skyrim's story is not without its own flaws, namely said anti-climactic ending, and a couple of plot threads got dropped and were left dangling, as well.

I liked not being the hero that is too overplayed in games. I think Skyrim's main quest is less tedious than Oblivion's, a lot less... I disagree I think Oblivion's wasn't anti-climatic, but Skyrim's really was I didn't know I even finished the main quest.

And that's why I wrote the "Open All the Gates" mod--I was tired of the same thing! It's nice to have the option to go down to only having 10 (the minimum required), or make it impossible for them to stay closed , or anywhere in between.

BFG99, this is slightly off-topic, but do you know if your mod is compatible with the Enhanced Daedric Invasion mod?

There are console commands that allow the player to set maximum gate numbers, or force random gates to open where you are. You can even make it possible for gates that were previously closed (including the Kvatch gate) to randomly reopen. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion_Gates.

The soothing music and beautiful landscape always draw me back. Like that weird dungeon thingy in some Zelda games. The sounds of the forests and the breeze can always make me happy. And of course I need my daily dose of the latest mudcrab rumors

I wish I could summon one...

I think Oblivion was actually brave enough to have a story that merely made you, the player, an enabler of a prophecy instead of being the prophecy. Morrowind and Skyrim instead followed a rather 'conventional' route, you being the Dragonborn/Nerevarine and being basically the only one who can save the world from a grave danger. I was disappointed at how the main quest in Oblivion just made you an observer to the event of the real hero (Martin Septim) defeating the ultimate evil (Mehrunes Dagon). For all the freedom Oblivion offered, you couldn't even harm the end game villain! But I still respect Bethesda for Oblivion because they attempted to tell a story from a different angle.

I agree 100%. I actually prefer this tact over the "you are the main hero" approach. And besides, keep in mind that final battle wouldn't have happened without your character's actions.

This reminds me of a mod idea I had once...which, like a lot of the ideas I've had over the years, is way too ambitious. It was to be an "alternate reality Cyrodiil" where your character never existed. In other words, where Mehrunes Dagon succeeded in taking over, and subsequently ruining, Cyrodiil. Something about a half-destroyed White Gold Tower against a blood-red sky kept that idea going for quite a while. Sadly, that idea probably will never see the light of day, since I don't have the time, energy or skill for it.

Yeah, but it wouldn't be too good for gameplay reasons. Because Mehrunes Dagon, if he succeeded, would basically turn Cyrodiil into a plane of Oblivion. We've all seen how dull and repetitive the 'hellscape' of Oblivion gates become after a while. But I know what you're saying. Freedom, if offered, should go both ways. The problem of Oblivion is that it sometimes takes away your freedom at key points. Like, what if you actually were able to stop the assassination of Uriel Septim? What if you killed Martin? What if you suspected Lucien Lachance was being set up and actually saved him?

One of the things I like about Skyrim more than Oblivion was that Bethesda at least tried to make a whole quest chain go both ways. You can either join the Dark Brotherhood, or start a quest to destroy all of them. That's a pretty good degree of freedom and I hope future Elder Scrolls games expand on this concept

I'm not a big fan of the repetiveness of the Oblivion gates but Oblivion's MQ is miles better then Skyrim's MQ. Only good thing about Skyrim's MQ is visiting Blackreach and even that can be done without doing the main quest. I enjoyed Oblivion's NPC's more like Martin, Jaufree, Mankar Cameron, Baurus, etc. Esbern was a huge disappointment and don't get me started with Delphine.

Oblivion is the worse Elder Scrolls. The world feels lonely .. it's bad .. and boring.

Off with his (her?) head!

Each game in the series has its strengths and weaknesses. It's a waste of time, in my opinion, to argue which is better.

Trolls resemble green apes with three eyes, and have a distinctive battle howl. They are extremely fast, deal considerable damage and regenerate health, making them extremely dangerous opponents to the unwary forum member. All trolls are vulnerable to fire attacks (or being ignored).

It does seem that fire attacks are often resorted to, doesn't it?

While other games tend to get me on edge, Oblivion has never done that and is easily the most soothing and enjoyable game in my gaming history

I gotta say with the exception of Skyrim's weight slider, Oblivion has the better character creation. Not really a fan of the Presets especially the Imperials, I created an Imperial in Oblivion today and she looks a hell of a lot better then the one I tried creating in Skyrim.

Are you kidding me? Oblivion creation was terrible. Faces wouldn't change no matter what how much you tweaked around with it. An old lady could look like if she was barely in her 20's in Oblivion. Textures on the face just svcked big time. Almost every one had identical faces. Really, really bad.

Heck. Morrowind still manages to be better even though it didn't even have that much options.

I think Oblivion and Skyrim are tied for me. I only played Oblivion on PS3, but I loved it, and thinking about playing it again. I have Skyrim on both PS3 and PC, but I prefer PC, and thinking of buying Oblivion because of Skyrim's great performance on PC.

But yeah, I don't give two s**ts if the graphics in Oblivion are "bad". IMO, they're great for what they are, and seeing as it came out 5-6 years ago, what're you gonna do? I like the world of Oblivion a little better, as it feels more lush with its green forests and bigger towns than Skyrim's, where it feels bleak and dark, which is the point of the world, I know. Skyrim is a snowy, cold place, but I just don't feel as excited wandering the world as I do in Oblivion.

Now Skyrim has Oblivion beat in combat and animations (though combat is basically the same "slash, slash, slash", it looks better than Oblivion's weird, clunky combar animations). But I prefer dragons or Oblivion gates, since gates were a pain in the ass, IMO, whereas dragon battles still give me a rush of fear and excitement.

So each has its pros and cons, but they are tied for me.

Before Crysis came along and dethroned it, Oblivion was the benchmark PC game, where only the very best PCs with the fastest GPUs could play it at max settings with minimal framerate loss.

Of course, those days are long gone now, but it does give testament to just how demanding this game was. And given everything it was accomplishing with those demands (dynamic weather, distant visuals, HDR, SpeedTree, animated grass, etc.) it was a pretty spectacular achievement... http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TechDemoGame At that point, most of the "stress" was due to a poorly optimized engine getting bogged down.

But you can't even make an old lady in Skyrim.

Well that is true. But still it's bad.

I don't see what you're talking about with "identical faces." Just hit the random button a few times in a row, and see if the faces you see are identical. (They're not. A lot of them are ugly, but they're not alike.)

There are tricks to getting a good face in Oblivion, and it can take a lot of work (and some practice), but it's possible.

I personally lean toward strange faces, rather than trying to get a good-looking one. I create a lot of characters, and they don't all look alike.

http://morrowind4kids.com/pseronwyrd/Screenshots/Severia001.jpg I made this character three days ago. Ironically, after hours of desperately trying and not succeeding to get any of my modded faces to age, I had to resort to vanilla faces to achieve an older look.