You never know what you′re gonna miss until it′s gone

Oh god so much.

-The guard's "Stop right there criminal scum!"
-Definitely the landscape. So much more color and life I thought
-The guilds. In Skyrim all the guilds move way too fast. You start out right in the main plot without doing some building up (at least Theive's Guild and the Brotherhood), and that bugged me.
-The weakness and patheticness of mudcrabs
-NPC conversations

So much more that I can't think of.
brb gonna go buy oblivion again

The landscape for sure. Well, the entire environment - the trees, the rolling hills, the sky (seems more vibrant than Skyrim's somehow), the reflections in the water, the moons. And that's just the visual stuff. Then you've got the soothing music, the sound of the wind... it all contributes to an extremely relaxing atmosphere, as others have said. In Oblivion, I loved to ignore the main quest and explore the wilderness and the beautiful views.

Making an explorer/adventurer seems easier in Oblivion too. Partly it comes down to the environment, as above. But partly it's also the lack of kill cams and throat-punching badassery. I love that stuff in Skyrim, but after awhile it gets to be too much; I'd prefer to play a simple, happy-go-lucky adventurer or roguish treasure-hunter.

The NPCs in Oblivion make that easier as well. By and large, they are a happy bunch, and doing quests for them isn't an anguished exercise in soul-searching or moral relativism. Umbacano's gonna pay me for Ayleid statues? Cool! That innkeeper wants some Shadowbanish Wine? I'm on it. Sure, the conversations are lame and the NPCs aren't pretty - but their (albeit cartoonish) niceness is another reason I find Oblivion more relaxing.

And Oblivion has heroism. Yes, in Skyrim you're fighting dragons, but who are your allies? A bunch of selfish jerks, for the most part! Oblivion's NPCs can be villainous or heroic, selfish or sacrificing.

Then there's the generic fantasy setting, which for some reason makes it easier for me to plug my characters into that world. In Oblivion, I have no problem roleplaying a ranger, a knight, a paladin, a wandering mystic, a fighter, a thief, a witchhunter, a cleric... you name it. Skyrim has a very specific feel - which makes perfect sense, but it precludes some RP options, for me anyway.

I don't think anyone else mentioned this, but one of my favorite things in Oblivion is the cozy atmosphere of the wilderness inns. Just stepping inside, hearing the fire, having the little candles glowing on the walls... it's great. Skyrim has nice interiors as well, but whether it's the music or the homey feel, Oblivion seems better in this regard.

I also miss the character customization - from race, to birthsigns, to favored attributes, to specializations, to major skills, you could fine-tune your character out of the gate, and then give your custom class a name. Skyrim's "create your class as you play" works out pretty well, but I miss making decisions about my character.

I miss the attributes, as many others have said. It's true that Skyrim's Health/Magicka/Stamina essentially cover a lot of those, but they were another way for you to tailor your character - and Speed and Luck are not replicated in Skyrim's system. Attributes also gave modders more options - Willpower had a lot of potential in particular, and certain mods checked your attributes to determine whether you could accomplish certain tasks or use certain weapons.

And the skills. I wish there were more weapon skills in Oblivion (like there are in Morrowind), but Oblivion's Blade/Blunt made more sense to me than Skyrim's One-handed/Two-handed, in a way. Not a big deal, but just a flavor thing.

Mysticism - I guess I understand Todd Howard's justification for gutting it (that it seems redundant - "The magical school of Mysticism"), but I suspect it had more to do with needing 6 skills in each specialization.

Athletics/Acrobatics - So nice to go back to Oblivion and see these skills again! The ability to become faster, to jump higher and farther, is really rewarding after you spend so much time working on it with a character.

Mercantile - I never liked the mechanic of this in Oblivion, but I'm glad this was a separate skill from Speechcraft.

Spells - more spell effects! Destruction in Oblivion isn't just about flinging fire, frost or lightning at your enemies; you've got weaknesses, drains, pure damage, and the ability to break weapons/armor. And there are touch spells, ranged, area... I *do* like Skyrim's runes and wall spells, though.

Outside the Destruction school, Oblivion boasts Charm and Command spells for Illusion, Open & Waterwalking spells for Alteration, Fortify spells for Restoration... there's a lot to play with.

Finally, Oblivion modders have had years to hone their craft and come up with some truly remarkable and creative mods - and astounding variety. It's a running joke in my house that if you can think of it, somebody has made a mod of it - and for Oblivion, that's pretty near the truth.

There's a lot of cool stuff in Skyrim, and I'm still playing it myself. But Oblivion doesn't look bad next to it - and some aspects of Oblivion that I thought I'd never miss (the look and feel that could be described as cartoonish or generic) surprise me when I look back at the game and find myself nostalgic for them. Fact is, there's plenty of life left in Oblivion - plenty to explore, plenty to enjoy.

I always enjoyed H2H characters. I blame Khelgar and Grimgnaw from the NWN franchise for that. Those two could absolutely destroy an area before you had a chance to catch up. My main in Morrowind has a skill around 300 (GCD) and my now main in Oblivion uses her fists as well. Maybe one day in Skyrim I will be able to make a proper monk character.

I never used H2H in Oblivion except when my character was disarmed, but I think if there was a skill tree in Skyrim I would have actually tried it.

I had one character who was hand-to-hand (Wanda Bone, my Redguard slave/theif). She wound up finding (and stealing) some Gauntlets which can be found just outside the Arena in some chest. Honestly, she often ran more than she fought, though.

Another character of mine who dabbled in H2H was Louis Zehr. He only uses hand-to-hand combat if he's indoors, though. Out on the road, he usually carried a club/sheild combo.

I can't really get past a PC blocking a giant hammer or 2-handed sword with their bare hands.

Just try to imagine you are a Kwai Chang Caine. A Shaolin Priest can walk through walls. It is said that listened for he cannot be heard; looked for he cannot be seen; felt he cannot be touched. What is blocking a hammer compared to that?

I guess neither of my H2H characters so far were that advanced! Wanda was an illiterate former slave who's only talent was picking locks. Lou is a somewhat advanced (and intelligent) bandit-turned-TG member. Neither of these characters could be defined as Kwai Shang Caine! :guilty:

Hey, even Kwai started out as just an orphan kid. Even the humblest of beginnings can lead one to greatness.

I have a hard time getting past that when I'm fighting someone who is unarmed.

I miss water walking especially in those places where the water is filled with ice. They expect someone to swim through that to a shipwreck?

I miss fire and other elemental damage poisons.

I miss ghosts and zombies. They went cheap in this game, and just used a simple glowy and transparent effect on a regular actor and call it a ghost. Bleh. The first time I encountered an animated corpse I had no idea that is what she was. I thought she was just a mage with a duration spell like oakenflesh on her.

I used a horse. Horses can swim in Skyrim just like they did in Cyrodiil. When Claire got her companion Brelyna, I also RP'd it that they took one of the boats located just outside of Windhelm. What I did is had Claire & Brel walk to one of the boats (I think there's a captain sitting there, too, waiting for business) and then I fast-traveled to that shipwreck. I figure a carriage is fast-travel, why not a boat?

But I agree. Water-walking is something that's really cool about Oblivion.


That's my point, though. Neither Lou or Wanda are supposed to be that great

Guards easily top my list

Yes! I miss this so much. I'm actually surprised. I know it doesn't take me 45 minutes to create a character that looks nice in Skyrim, but I still want to see her. Dress her up, give her toys and see hoe nifty she looks. It was nice being able to rotate your avatar and see how spiffy she looks with her new stuff.


You put your finger on something that bothered me that I hadn't articulted in my mind. Giving everyone the same opening stats really starts everyone at exactly the same point... And as they say in The Incredibles, "When everyone is special, no one is."

I miss making a really strong, burly nord or orc. A wickedly smart Breton battle mage, or an Altmer who is glass cannon destruction mage.

Another thing I miss is a nice opening sequence. I'm not talking about the tutorial, I mean the cut-scene movie at the beginning. I know part of it has to do with being able to listen to Patrick Stuart, but it lent a sense of epicness to starting a new campaign.

I miss negative effects for alcohol and skooma.

And I agree with what so many have already said: It's so very pretty. So very relaxing to play. Like sitting down with old friends and playing cards. It's nice.

EDIT: Just wanted to add, this has been one of the coolest threads, not just in in content, but civility and interesting discussion that I've read in some time. It's refreshing to read a thread that talks about differences in a nice way, without ripping on something else. I think I may just need to stick around the OGDFs a little more. You are all so thoughtful and kind.

That's because for the most part, a lot of us are mature here. We can have a discussion, disagree with one another, but not put each other down in the process. on those rare occasions when somebody shows up who's vehemently flaming and being downright rude *coughDutchFlamer*cough*, we make sure that person eventually winds up getting the Banhammer if they don't play nice.

But nice to have you here, Jaberkaty. Make sure to stay as long as you like.

It's funny, because it reminds me of the Morrowind GD when I first signed up for the forums back in '04. Morrowind had been out for awhile, everyone was playing nice with each other. When Oblivion first hit the scene it was much like the Skyrim GD is now. Good people tend to stick around after the initial rush to help out people who come to the game later on. It's really neat to see the transition, and really fun to be able to come back to these forums after a break.

Good games deserve good people and even though I′ve started another game now, I will still play Oblivion and come to this forum to share my thoughts and help out if I can.

Or not help out even if I can

Good to know.

Others may disagree with this but I actually think the Skyrim General Discussion forum was slightly more mature this past November than this forum was back in April, 2006. Actually, the most ill-tempered, obnoxious TES forum I have ever been on was the Morrowind General forum in June, 2002. I have a pretty high tolerance for rude online behavior but I couldn't take that. I had to stop coming to that forum for a couple of months. I came back when Tribunal was announced and emotions, as jaberkaty says, had calmed down a bit by then.

After my experience in Morrowind General nothing I've read in these forums has really fazed me very much.

I think it's the same but the moderators have learned some tricks over the time to stomp out the foolishness. They are more on the ball nowadays.

I think I would make a very bad moderator

Think giving a drunk monkey a loaded minigun.

I'm sorry, but I get very passionate about the workings of the mages guild.

*cough*Jericho*cough*
I actually have a H2H character in Skyrim, the kill cam is just....awesome, you grab the person then *CRACK!* snap their neck >
But I seriously miss, "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!"

I miss those funny moments when you're strutting to a weapon store or whatever and overhear one of those dumb, epic NPC conversations.

The landscape. While Skyrim was more 'rugged', which, is pretty cool, I miss the vibrant colours.

Ayleid ruins. I prefered them to Dwemer ruins. The way they're stuctured - exterior, mainly- and whatnot. Or, maybe, I'm just a wuss and am scared of the Falmer.

Random NPC converesations. As everyone said -- despite it's stupidness, it was what made Oblivion Oblivion (haha, Oblivion Oblivion).

The soundtrack. The music was just so...peaceful.

The cities/buildings.

Certain questlines -- Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, Arena...