Its funny, in the advent that this game is nearing its final stages I was thinking about something. Sure Oblivion played better (Improved combat, visuals, and quests) But why didnt it feel as deep as Morrowind. I guess it comes from the way that game started. When you started Oblivion, the whole epic assassination and task given to you from the start put the player in an epic storyline. Even though you could ignore the main story quest it was in the back of your mind for... well... the entire time.

Morrowind starts you off on a ship, your a prisoner. And then your let go....... thats it. They tell you what you can do and give you papers to meet with someone. And you were off. Do whatever you feel. The quest arc there was much more engaging to me. You had to go find it.

Granted I have a taste for the "Understated" plotlines. It leaves for so much more.

Anyone agree with this? Or am I just weird? (Yea probably)

The only reason I posted it in the Skyrim tab was so we can predict how the next installment will begin?

We start by escaping our execution.

We k ow how it starts though,you're sentenced to death and get freed....

pretty much OP, the only other thing was Morrowind has a very detailed world where as oblivion is very bland. im hoping skyrim is the mix of the 2 (having the unique world and fun gamplay).

as far as we know of skyrim is going to start the player as a prisoner again escaping death somehow

I actually totally agree with this.

My thoughts, or at least hopes for how Skyrim will begin is basically this: You're being lead to your execution when suddenly a dragon attacks, you're fast enough to dive into the bushes, but the guards aren't so lucky and get roasted. You're in the middle of nowhere, Riverwood just on the horizon. You get there, and immediately get to know about the civil war. I hope the main quest starts you off doing stuff in the civil war, then slowly leading into the dragon plot-line. This introduces you to Dragons in a really cool way, leaving you wanting more, but still has the slow Morrowind start. I believe it's the middle ground between Oblivion and Morrowind, and the best of both worlds.

This would be perfect.

I still maintain my hope that dragons don't really come into the spotlight until half-way through the Main Quest, and up until then its just trying to reunite Skyrim and end the civil war. That way its easier to ignore the main quest, because your character doesn't neccessarily know about the impending end of the world. That way you don't feel rushed into doing the main quest until you've already played it for a while.

Mhmmm yeah I always felt obligated to doing the main quest in OB, it seemed like it was constantly IN YOUR FACE. bliviongate:

I never feel like that. Weird. Or is it?

I thought that Oblivion did a good job of keeping interest up in the main quest, however, I (as many other people have stated) felt obligated to rush head long into the MQ right from the start, with all the talk of urgency and that. I love how Morrowind let you start the MQ whenever you felt was right instead of making it seem like urgent business.

I think the reason Morrowind felt deeper was because it was deeper. The world itself had more substance. In Morrowind there was a multitude of strange personalities that you could meet along the road, many of whom would assign you a quest of some sort or another. There were distinct geographic and cultural regions. In contrast, Cyrodiil is one giant forest, and truly there isn't much to see between cities -- certainly not as much as Morrowind at any rate.

Double post

All of the games stand on their own with unique sets of ups and downs.

Yes, it would be great.

I hope to see something like that, so that you were on your own, stumbling to the initiative quests of the main quests on your own, when you are drawn into the civil war, and tribal conflicts, or you manage to find and climb those steps up to the throat of the world.

But if you manage to avoid all that intrigue, then after a few levels or after some events, you could be approached mysteriously and would be talked by a person that would initiate your pilgrimage to the thousands steps ramp up the throat of the world.

Or you could kill or avoid that messenger and be on your own indefinitely and when you feel like it, you can find and climb to the sacred place yourself and start the main quest.

Edit: By the way we now have random events, so some of those seemingly random might be that ones that have the potential to trigger the start of main quest-line, and initiate your pilgrimage to the throat of the world.

That would be a great idea. But its been said how the game already begins. Its along the lines of "I cant say much, but your being led to your execution and you escape and find out your dragon born."

It seems almost unavoidable at this point.


Anyhow it looks like the game will be amazing despite this minor detail. Cant wait to play around... just have to get bootcamp by the time its available.

I personally would like to start the game with nothing more than a suggestion that the main quest exists. The other reason that Morrowind felt good was that at the beginning of the main quest, Caius Cosades essentially tells you to do your own thing and get a feel for how the game works, THEN come back to him. Whereas after delivering the amulet to Jauffre, he sent you off to Kvatch, where you rescued Martin, were told to take him to Cloud Ruler temple and so on... There was a lot more momentum in Oblivion, a lot more "Do this, now", and seeing as the game was supposed to be open world, that was a bad thing for me, personally. Others may and i expect will disagree with this opinion, but that is how I personally found the game, to the point that I said "Sod you Martin, sort out your own problems" and never actually completed the Main Quest in my first 3 characters.

I think the reason a lot of people felt that Morrowind "felt" better is that it didn't feel urgent like Oblivion's MQ.

Probably. Probably because Oblivon's MQ wasn't really urgent... There wasn't that huge a change if you abandoned the MQ at any stage. No other cities got invaded, or anything.

Morrowind was meant to be a strange and exotic land, Oblivion is in Cyrodill which is the archetypal fantasy land, hopefully Skyrim will add it's own twist on the nordic genre.

There's a lot of good points on this thread, and I fully agree that it would be better for the main quest in Skyrim to have much less of a 'do this...NOW' kinda vibe.

In general, there was an attention to detail in Morrowind that didn't seem to be there is Oblivion. People in towns with their own agendas, localised political disputes, arguments over religion. It simply felt that there was more of a living, breathing world going on around you. The world actually doesn't revolve around you - at least it managed to create that illusion. By comparison, the towns and villages of Cyrodiil felt somewhat lifeless, with too many characters simply hanging around waiting for you to save the world.

I realise it seems odd to say that, since the NPCs in Morrowind actually were hanging around....literally rooted to the spot, whereas in Oblivion they had schedules and went from place to place. I guess it shows that it takes more than Radiant AI to create a believable world! The characters need to have something realistic to do in their 'world'.

Oh please.. Morrowind is not what TES is about. And it was a terrible game anyways.

Well, yeah, it wasn't great gameplay wise. But the lore and story were so original and interesting.

Well, visuals and quests in Oblivion have been better, yes. But I dont think the combat of Oblivion was improved. I prefered the one of Morrowind. At least in Morrowind I knew what the hell was going on.

In Oblivion, the most efficient way I found to fight was to hit buttons wildly at random. But even that way, of two mobs of the same kind, the first went down without a scratch on me, while the second almost killed me before I killed him. And I have no clue why. I find that highly frustrating.

I kind of hope I will manage to understand in Skyrim what the heck is going on.

I certainly hope the rulesystem of Skyrim will have improved. Morrowind and Oblivion are a total pain. What I heard so far of Skyrim sounds very hopeful.

Agreed - I never even started the main quest. Don't even know what it's about lol.

Remeber everyone going on about Kvatch? its tod do with that