I have to say Morrowind. I like Oblivion and all, the graphics are superb as are the weapons. There just seems to be more flexibility in Morrowind.

Oblivion, as a technical achievment is much less boring in a lot of aspects. But it didnt have the awfactor. Mistakes were made marketing it, they spoke too soon and revieled too much description of what the game featured. We got the game and already knew what to expect. Morrowind was like... whats this.... oh... looks interesting.... well... il be damned.... i can kill them.... kill them alll..... and im going to jail... wow. Thats the awe factor. It also had, the... go here... well where the heck is that?.. factor. Which makes for interesting exploring.

The best thing in OB is when it tells you that you reach the area edge and " you have to go back " , yea, back to MW

After playing Oblivion for a while I realized how it got so old so fast, everything you do is so repetitive, and there just isn't much to do anyway. With a rather short Main Quest and only 4 guilds to join, Oblivion was surprisingly dull. I remember when I first got Morrowind I wasn't nearly as excited as when I got Oblivion, personally I think Oblivion was mostly hype. Morrowind kept me entertained for months at a time. Needless to say it svcked the life out of me. Morrowind was this epic game with a vast majority of things to do, with this freedom no other game had ever done before, with quests and puzzles at every turn, filled with a wide variety of ecosystems, all beautifully designed. With over 13 guilds to join and massive quest chains that varied a great deal depending on the choices you made, a Main Quest that was so full of depth and uniqueness that it was like nothing I had ever seen before, Millions of dungeons to explore and Thousands of treasures to find.

Morrowind was definitely a ground-breaking accomplishment for the entire world of gaming. With epic encounters, legendary stories, and breath taking landscapes, all beautifully rendered in such a life like world. Oblivion cut out a lot of things that made Morrowind such an extraordinary gaming experience. Oblivion did many things that were great as well, such a large world with the graphics and physics it had was never seen before, and the revamped combat system really made the game come together, but with all that it cut out many unique aspects taking away the feeling of the "One-of-a-kind" Morrowind and making it more like a normal RPG, which Bethesda had never done before. Most guilds were lost which was a key point in Morrowinds diversity. As well as a lack luster, (I'm sorry but assassins killing a king and you are tasked with finding an illegitimate son has been done before) short, and generally unfulfilling Main Quest with little to no rewards for finishing it. There was a substantial decrease in the number of dungeons and unique items with in Oblivion as well.

Now for a very controversial topic, the level scaling system. In Morrowind, the only level scaling system they had was tougher enemies appeared as you leveled, but you could still find many types or armor from level 1, In Oblivion most items are leveled and you are cut off from the really good armor until you reach level 20, which is a giant let-down, and the same thing goes for weapons. Also in Morrowind there was such a wide selection of armor types and materials that you could always change the way you looked. With over 70 different sets of armor, with many smaller sets and single piece items, and from the unique pieces in the game. Verses Oblivions 12, most of which you are cut off with until you reach the required level.

Another fact would be the size of the land masses in each game, Bethesda claims that Oblivion is larger by a scale of almost 2:1, the exact measurements escape me at the moment, but it sure seemed the other way around, I found in Morrowind I always had land left to explore and things to see, in Oblivion I could explore the whole map in almost no time flat. The land was also significantly lacking diversity and, well dungeons, buildings, and towns, among many other things. Then there is the ability of Fast-Travel in Oblivion, now I can already hear people saying "It's optional idiot." that may be true but it is still there, and it is another thing that kills Oblivion, because even if it is optional, there is such a temptation to use it for its convenience, and in using Fast-Travel you skip what little of the game is offered outside of the towns. The compass is another thing that I felt ruined the exploring idea. If people really need something to point directly at the person and cant follow simple directions then they may need to re-think school. Also showing all near-by points of interest was a major kill, especially at the wide range it shows.

Now it's time to talk about all the spells, skills, and items that they omitted in Oblivion. Lets start with some spells, Mark and Recall, two of my most favorite spells, this is the reason fast travel is not needed, mark and recall were so very helpful to get to your little hide out, and you could use it just about anywhere. Two more spells would be Almsivi and Divine Intervention. Similar to mark and recall except instead of teleporting to a specific spot it was to the nearest fort or temple. Another very helpful spell that proves that Fast-Travel shouldn't be included in Oblivion. How about Blind and Sound, very helpful in combat and fun to use as well. Or maybe actual poison damage? Fortifying maximum magicka? Very nice and definitely helpful. Detecting magic items and keys was another thing I enjoyed doing. Swift swim anyone? I hate having to swim so slowly. Jump, got to love the jump spells, great fun with those, and can't have jump and leave out slowfall (unless you like feeling pain) which had saved me so many times. Levitating was a nice feature that helped you get to places faster and get out of harms way. Now, how about skills, like Medium armor? Personally I loved medium armor, most of it looked pretty sweet, and since there weren't too many unique pieces of Medium armor, it made it more challenging and fun. Spears? Please don't tell me I was the only who liked spears! Perhaps my most favorite weapon of all time the spear, it was extraordinarily fun to wield and not to mention they looked pretty awesome, as well as matched many Role-Playing styles. Enchanting A.K.A. not having to pay an arm for enchants. Unarmored, remember the true monks? Unarmored and ready to whoop on you with their fists? A little harder to pull it off In Oblivion. And there was the change to hand-to-hand to deal health damage, an extremely controversial topic, I for one liked it much better when it damaged fatigue first, then health. And as for all of the great artifacts that were lost in Morrowind. It was a shame, I was looking forward for most of them to make it in Oblivion, however, only about 1/12 of them made it, if that. And who else remembers Taunting people? How helpful was that? Even the crudest and most unsocial of barbarians could taunt someone enough to provoke an attack.


All in all I am not saying that Oblivion is a bad game, but I feel it lost what the rest of the series was known for, and I have lost some respect for the series because of it. Oblivion had some great potential but it just didn't deliver as much as it could have. There are many more topics I could cover such as the "Beast" races of Argonian and Kajiitt, the over all feel and depth of each race, you really felt the Argonians and Kajiitts pain in Morrowind with them being slaves and so mistreated, you got the feeling from the Dunmer that they were the outcast race and that they didn't need to rely on anyone but themselves for strength, you felt the power and pride the Nords had for their people and culture, even if there were a couple who were naked and tricked by witches. And for all of those there were things behind them that were sort of hidden that really made the world come to life, like the Twin Lamps, the entire expansion of Solsthiem, ect... But, the whole real reason I'm making this topic is because I want to see and hear from the more dedicated players of the Elder Scrolls series what your opinions are on the games.


As for Daggerfall, I didn't play it for nearly as long as Morrowind, I never really got pulled into it, that on top of how glitchy the game was, just never really enjoyed it, and I have yet to play Arena, may try that some time though.

1. Morrowind.

2. Last option - I haven't played Arena (and don't really intend to), and never got into DF enough to give a honest opinion. DosBox gives crappy performance, windows gives a crapload of glitches, both options are unappealing at best.

3. Haven't played any of these, alas.

The complaint about morrowind is better than oblivion has been argued for what feels like centuries. People used to say morrowind was a let down to Daggerfall and Daggerfall to Arena. I have played for thousands of hours on morrowind among several characters. I absolutely loved the game and only put it down for oblivion when it came out to try it. My opinion? I enjoy both games the same. Oblivion is more of a sand box and because of the physics, decorating, intriguing quest lines, buying house, and npcs moving about makes the world feel really alive. It's nice to see animals (deer) that don't even fight back.

The option of being able to purchase your own house. Go out hunting. Among other things allows for a trulely immersive game. Sure, you lose a lot of the story from morrowind but I think there's a reason for this. In morrowind you were the neraverine. They needed an elaborate quest plot to gather on this and make you feel why you really need to stop dagoth ur. They had to explain the false Gods, the land, and why there's slaves. Explain why the imperials are allowed to co-exist along side the dunmer and vice versa. How the "False" gods came into being. You're tempted with strange philosophies.

Cyrodill is much different. You're nothing as spectacular as the Nerevarine. Destined to gain the power of the same false Gods including immortality. You're a mere mortal destined by fate to help save the world of cyrodill. The rest? Is up to you. You have a bigger role in designing your character. Even the main quest does not determine who you are or what you're supposed to be. You're not a reincarnation of anyone or anything like that. You're a completely unique persona whose only backstory is the players. Much of the story is created by yourself.

I personally don't use fast travel and it might tempt me some? But I've never succumbed to the temptation. When I fully roleplay lives on oblivion? Then search for treasure to improve my money (using some restrictions, based off my char) I feel truly apart of the game. Just as I did with morrowind. Morrowind has the lore and cyrodill has the beautiful world with npcs that have schedules. The animals. And when my char needs to go off? The caves and dungeons repopulate. If you spend so much time in morrowind with one character? The dungeons and everything will eventually run out. This isn't the case on oblivion. The leveling system? A good idea on paper. Not the best implemented. I like it but I do agree it should be improved and there needs to be less leveled creatures.

The schedules are part of what really immerses me. It's fun to wait in someone's home that you plan to kill in their upstairs bedroom. Then when they come home casually walk down the stairs. As they yell at you to get out for "Tresspassing" smashing their skull in. In morrowind? People didn't go out to do things. The people in their homes? Could always be found there but as I said before. The story aspect of morrowind is vastly superior to oblivions. The landscape more bizzarre and "alien". It's also much more diverse. The compass? The devs poorly implemented that as well. Same as the journal in oblivion. But my funnest adventures were outside of quests anyway. I guess it depends on the player. Some people can simply enjoy one game over another. Both games appeal to me greatly and it's hard to divide my time between them even though it seems as if I favor oblivion. I just wanted to give insight on the brighter side of oblivion. Cheers. Sorry for the long winded rant.

I think if there were more choices in quests/more factions people's opinions will be very different. Flails would be awesome in the game as well. Same with some of the other stuff that made daggerfall so great. Morrowind and Oblivion ARE equal in my eyes. This post was posted in another thread but it's how I feel.

BUMP

Morrowind/Morrowind/Haven't played.

If you manage to play Oblivion, then dosbox shouldn't be a pickle. Are you sure you're fully understood how to use the ctrl-f11 etc keys? It seems laggy 1st, but then you find the right spot. I've played it through with dosbox, XP. It crashes just as much as it would do on windows 95 and an old machine

I have problems with this "right spot" part. I can't find the point between game being all crappy due to too few cycles, and game being crappy due to oversaturated CPU.

And I can run Oblivion - 640x480 resolution, no grass, most of the other effects (including distant land) enabled, but only at short distance (except distant land, of course - it needs full draw distance).
It runs well in dungeons but still lags a bit outside.

Just wanted to say i fully support your cause, and thank you for doing it as i dont have the energy.

I've only played Morrowind and Oblivion, like Morrowind much, much more. Might try Daggerfall eventually.

Apparently Morrowind won! (until now)

We already discussed better poll options. 3 questions;

DF vs MW
MW vs OB
DF vs OB

with always the option 'havent played both'.

Redguard and Battlespire are kinda unfamiliar with the folks (heretics!) while Arena is very seldom the favorite of anyone.

Nothing wrong with the other polls, it's just the 'havent played both' option they forget.

Anyways, bump X)

Oblivion over Morrowind
The rest I never played but who gives a rat's ass about games that for the most part you can't find anywhere anyway,The past is the past,I choose to live in the present.

Oblivion over Morrowind.

Oblivion over the rest.

Never played either.

They're all great games though. But the Randomness of Daggerfall got to me.

Oblivion,Oblivion,havent played either of those

Yeah. That makes them svcky games allright. Well, you can only blame yourself not finding them. I've never had ANY trouble.

I found them! I found them!

They're just a few clicks away...
http://www.elderscrolls.com/tenth_anniv/tenth_anniv-arena.htm (Freeware - From elderscrolls.com)
http://files.filefront.com/DagDemo7exe/;6951065;/fileinfo.html (Betony Demo - From filefront.com)

Never again shall ignorance be an excuse! Intolerance, perhaps, but not ignorance!

If you exclude the increased possibilities of technology over time, like: AI, graphics, physics, etc..

Then imho it would be like this:

1) Morrowind > Oblivion

2) Daggerfall > the rest

3) Didn't play both.

Sure DF was buggy. But nobody can claim that MW and Obl didn't/don't have bugs, some very serious bugs mind you.

Oblivion has the benefit of technology, and has better written quests. However it completely lacks "options" and it's setting is a rather generic medieval/middle earth environment, with dumbed down stats, lore, storylines and intrigue.

[edit]
Off course, the above consideres the Vanilla versions of the games. The CS changes things a lot.

Right now, with mods: Morrowind > Daggerfall > Oblivion.
In due time as more and better Oblivion mods get released it'll probably be: Oblivion > Morrowind > Daggerfall. Simply because Oblivion, as a sandbox has a lot more possibilities to offer. Morrowind as a sandbox is hanycapped by it's age and thus it's complete inability to equal Oblivion's provisions for AI, graphics, physics, etc..

Try Battlespire. You propably don't mind svcky pathfinding and annoying combat, if in return you get fantastic atmosphere, dialogue, enemies, more lore and some brain using.

(I've heard dosbox isn't good with it, try to get yourself an old rig with Win98 or so ; )

I didn't have a computer or anything when the older games came out so I only got to start at Morrowind.

1) Morrowind

2) Morrowind

3) Never played any of them

Dagoth Ur, o the memories..

I guess if you had to vote those were good options, not as much talking and discoussing as with other topics and not as many people have played all games. Keeps people OPEN MINDED.

"one poll to rule them all....." Doesn't that sound a little bit Lord of The rings Onlinish?