What I actually meant by that was the expansion packs, like.. Shivering Isles, Bloodmoon, Tribunal, and Knights of the Nine.

It was a mistake, I believe, to link Graphics and Gaming Mechanics as one question. I think they should properly be divided into two separate questions. A great many of us have different opinions about a particular game's graphics and gameplay.

Also, it's difficult to rate each game's community. I spend a lot of my time in mods forums, which are very different in attitude, maturity level, etc, etc, than the game's community discussion forums. And then we have the construction set forums and the tech forums for each game. Most of us, I'd guess, do not have enough experience with the total communities for each game to voice an informed opinion.

For me - TESIII vs TESIV:

1A. Morrowind is batter than Oblivion because not everything is clear at first sight, you have to go there and there, read this and speak with that person - searching-searching. There are also more "guilds" to join, quests are more immersive, because you spend more time on completing them (again: searching-searching), and with mods it can even be harder. If you finish the game, you will probably know a lot about Vvardenfell and Tamriel.

1B. Morrowind is worse because it requires from player to spend a lot of time on doing nothing: walking on actually empty spaces, walking speed is reduced and slow, everything is so slow... Sometimes you even have problems with finding a quest giver from your journal! (and the fight system is bad, very simplified)


2A. Oblivion is better, especially with all those mods made by good people. It's more customizable than Morrowind, you can play the way you like: jump in and quite easily go thought the game or stop for a while and learn about the surroundings, or do it the hard way with realism mods etc. You can do it your way - this is why I like TES games, especially Oblivion.

2B. Oblivion is worse because it's too short and too easy, especially the vanilla game. It doesn’t require you to be a hardcoe rpg player. There are not too many secrets to discover, if you already know TES Lore form DF and TES3, you'll hardly learn something new. If you finish the game, you will probably do not know a lot about Cyrodiil and Tamriel, because most probably you spent too little time on learning about it.

Result: contradictions I like both games (and DF too), but in different way. :foodndrink:


edit: and my voice in the poll:

For Graphics and Gaming Mechanics --- OB (but gamemech - it depends)
For Storyline and Role Play --- MR
For Community Quality --- both? (but I know nothing about MR on this field)
For Addon Quality --- OB (I thought you mean all mods, official mods are better in MR)
Overall --- both

Graphics and game mechanics-Equal - graphics Oblivion is more advanced but Morrowind's is more interesting. Game mechanics they are both deeply flawed though Oblivion is flawed worse.
Storyline/Roleplaying-Morrowind by a mile obviously
Community quality-Morrowind, I won't elaborate due to flame potential
Add-ons-Oblivion definitely. EDIT: Oh you meant expansions? In that case I don't know, I didn't get the xpacs to either..
Overall-Morrowind but it was hard to say. Oblivion with mods is better than Morrowind with mods (at least the ones I've downloaded), but for vanilla games Morrowind is WAY better and since some people can't use mods..

Oblivion: 55%
Morrowind: 45%

Why Oblivion?

It's the newer game. It has a better fighting system, and it has better graphics. It is just up to date. It is really close. If Morrowind was as modern as Oblivion, it would have won.

Morrowind was a better game in comparison to its time period, but Oblivion is the better game.

Oblivion is definitely the better game. I liked Morrowind, but I don't get all the fuss. I played it through once and had enough.

The things I would consider an equal for Oblvion to Morrowind is the Modding community. Other then that, in short, I usually side with Morrowind in many of the aspect of both games.

Graphics/game mechanics - Oblivion
Storyline - Morrowind
Roleplay - Morrowind
Community - Equal
Add-ons - Both
Overall - Oblivion

Oblivion wins. Solely because point 1B mentioned by TomBrightblade (except the fight system, which i think was ok).

Emptiness:
I never thought I was doing nothing, walking empty spaces in Morrowind. There is always something interesting right behind the fog. It is when I tried that, exploring, in Oblivion, I felt like doing nothing, walking empty spaces.

Slowness:
Oblivion is the slow one for me, it could be the physics. Also Morrowind has PC like controls, good-old-pc-free-mouse-look. Without it, you suffer from console slowness which unfortunately Oblivion suffers a lot.

Quest marker:
If I can't find a quest giver, it is my own stupidity. If game holds my hand and leads me to every place then I feel like being treated as stupid. I want to deal with my own stupidity, thank you.

Intrusive journal:
Even when I don't look at the marker, minding my own business, exploring,(it is not even my active quest), game pauses and a dialog box pop-ups,
"You've arrived at Weynon Priory. Now you must take the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre."
Now how immersion breaking is this? Journals are for reminding. It is my mistake off course, I should have used the fast travel. And what the hell am I doing there, if I didn't want to take the main quest, right? Can't I just want to be surprised, a little?

Fighting:
Both are horrendous. They are the same, hit-hit-hit-hit except in Oblivion they tend to fly upon death. Now if Oblivion had mounted combat then I would say, "Oh, something new." Morrowind has an excuse here, combat is heavily skill based as you expect from an RPG game. After some certain skill number, it is action packed as much as Oblivion. I'm coming from fast paced Quake 3 culture and I didn't expect much from Morrowind combat, still I was glad with its action packed FPS style. At least I'm not seeing the dices. What has Oblivion for combat? Please someone enlighten me. Did I miss something?: Dual wielding, throwable weapons, mounted combat, gore, combos...

graphics was a bit iffy to judge on. with texture replacers and mge and the lighting mod morrowind looks absolutely awesome. in other categories morrowind wins big time.

Oblivion did have some better graphics, but game mechanics? Morrowind and Oblivion were both on equal levels of imperfection. Equal.

Morrowind allowed for more roleplaying situations and had a more interesting plots to be unfolded, and also had more choices. In the Oblivion main quest, you're just a sidekick to a more generic plot. Morrowind.

Community? I guess that the quality of the community reflects the focus of the game in some ways. Oblivion was about presentation and action, while Morrowind was more of an RPG and had some more depth to it. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the Oblivion community, but I like Morrowind's a little better.

For add-ons. Both had some great expansions, like the Shivering Isles and Bloodmoon, and both had some average expansions, like Knights of the Nine and Tribunal. Oblivion did seem to have some more money-grubbing downloadable content, but that's alright. I'm just starting to get into mods, so I'll leave it at that. Equal.

Overall I like Morrowind much more.

That's not really bias, but ultimately yes, this will turn into a flamewar no doubt.

i think both MW and OB have their ups and downs, MW doest have very good graphics genericly(that can be changed with certain mods) so it doesnt look as nice as OB, but on the other hand MW has a feel that OB doesnt, MW just feels more deep when you play it. in OB its like bethesda is holding your hand and telling you what to do instead of letting you use your brain because it isnt just there for looks, i mean the hardest decisions i made in OB was during char gen. but OB had the advantage to better technology. so my final statement is that OB has better tech but is veryy narrow and shallow, while MW lacks the tech but is much broader and deep.

what is community quality?

Who voted add-on for morrowind?
Solstheim doesn't compare to the shivering isles.
Edit-wow,this thread is making me hate morrowind for some reason.

:shakehead: Shivering Isles svcked.

I liked Shivering Isles. I think Bloodmoon wins, because any add-on that lets you become a werewolf wins.

But why didn't you like Shivering Isles? Pretty damn immersive compared to the main game, imo. Kind of a cheesy ending, but I bought it, why not? Fun that you can go on "protecting" the Shivering Isles after the main quest. Some evidence of the devs listening to us, I think.

cannot sleep in an owned bed :brokencomputer:

... but still

Then wouldn't that mean the game that allowed you to become a werewolf gets bonus points for including it from the start?


The name Shivering Isles also didn't work. What would have made it work extremely well is if after the room erupted into butterflies to get into the isles, it was a desert landscape with a naked nord standing on the side who shouts out "This place is hot as balls!". Then the name Shivering Isles would be perfect.

Don't forget the wereboar.

It's because those bias-makers use quotes and give really insane responses. They will do almost everything, they will even say ridiculous things only to prove (??) Morrowind is better than Oblivion. That is why I do not care about those texts... Oh well, only one quote (I apologize but the reasoning was really insane here):

In RL, if I put an application form, I want to know the name and address of a "quest-giver" (employer), so I write it down in my "journal". If I hadn't do it, I would feel stupid indeed. I would feel stupid because I forgot to write a quest-giver's address in my journal, not because I forgot what quest-giver's address is after I first heard it (lol).


edit at down:
that's OK, Vtastek, I understand your point. Thanks for clarification.

I am not biased. I refuse to be labeled as that. I don't have a final place in my mind for Oblivion, anyways. I haven't even finished it. But I am behind the points I made there.

Now I have to open that sentence there a bit.

If I can't find a quest giver,
despite the facts,
it is in my journal,
multiple NPC comments on whereabouts in my journal,
and I can ask anytime to anyone if I can remember at least the town of quest giver,
and still if I can't find the quest giver,
it is my own stupidity.

There are many games out there with quest markers. Have you played Dead Space? They have a nice immersive pointer system and they hardly need it. Game is pretty straightforward. But why did they develop something like that? Because anyone would know a quest compass marker is a bad thing for immersion.(Unless you're playing Ghost Recon) For a TES game, we have the right to ask for more immersion.

Now what is unique about Morrowind? No markers. You have to ask your way like the old times. You know, before the GPS navs. In Oblivion, you have the markers, plus fast travel. I can choose not to use fast travel(but then I feel like doing nothing walking empty spaces) but not markers.

And it is fun to get lost in Vvardenfell.

Watching a newbie getting lost in Vivec, priceless(really, the sado-maso joy can't be compared...)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt5YKmP7ecY

Honestly, morrowind and oblivion are both the [censored] [censored] no way around it andboth deserve praise for the countless hours i spent playing them. These games are the pinnacle of opnen world first person rpgs and nothings touches either of them. They both have strengths and weakn4essses

Graphics/game mechanics-Oblivion
Storyline-Morrowind
Roleplay-Morrowind
Community-Oblivion
Add-on's-Oblivion
Overall-Morrowind


As above. I would like to point out that I don't think I've ever seen a better and more positive community than Oblivion. The modding community in particular is especially pleasant and helpful. TES games tend to be the only ones where I feel like I can relax and browse the forums, and I won't develop an eye twitch from all the e-peen wagging and unjustified hostility.

Dagggerfall is great, of course, but can't really be lined up side by side with Morrowind like Oblivion can.

Here's the way I see it, and you can disagree if you like.

Arena was a totally new and unique idea. Daggerfall was Arena with a lot more personality and detail added to it.

Morrowind was a totally new and unique idea. Oblivion was Morrowind with most of the personality and detail removed.

I'd ammend that last line to say "Oblivion was Morrowind with most of the personality and detail replaced by action elements. It WAS a trade-off. Not one I cared for, but still a trade-off.