i agree with your point. the first few quests shouldnt start off that extreme like when you enter kvatch. it should be a build up to extreme parts of the quests.

There are the two story failures, one from each game that I hope are avoided this time.

For Morrowind lack of clear goals: On my first try, I didn't get the package for Caius until after I looked at a game walk-through and found that I had missed an important step. The in-game instructions were just that I needed to talk to that guard in the room by the exit door and I did, but I didn't ask about the one topic that gave me the package. I was very confused and I suspect that many of the other "I just didn't know what to do" complaints about Morrowind were related to that little glitch or something similar. The game gave you enough freedom to be able to accidentally lose track of the main quest.

For Oblivion railroading the player: In reaction to Morrowind's flaw, they added quest markers and exceedingly clear and urgent instructions for the entire main quest. But that meant you were directed to Kvatch far too soon and the whole Hero of Kvatch quest was absurd. My first character was level 2 and mostly fought scamps that any half-competent guard should have easily killed. Exactly how did they manage to overcome an entire city, especially one that supposedly had a Mage's Guild? And I was still called the Hero of Kvatch long after I had accomplished much greater feats.

My hope is that they find the happy middle ground for Skyrim. The main quest needs to be highly visible but not so urgent that we are rushed into situations that just don't make any sense for a low level character. Your character should have a compelling reason to explore the world at least a little bit before the dragon slaying begins. More importantly, there should be continuing reasons why you might want to continue to explore the world intermingled with the main quest. The best and most logical reason being that only someone with skill can defeat dragons. Being dragonborn is a prerequisite but not sufficient.

What I liked about Morrowind was that you weren't destined for greatness by the time you finished the tutorial. If you wanted your character to be a murderer or a bandit you could very well do that without having the "Then the stars were right... I've seen you in my dreams." bit as a backdrop. This wasn't the biggest issue as I have no problem trying to weasel out of things like this when RPing. The main issue is I think the slow progression of Morrowind provided a more realistic or at least gripping story.

For now, I'll wait and see which path Skyrim will take.

At least this time there will be no Emperor to help you escape from your impending prison sentence.


Shame on all you felons!


What kind of example are you setting for the young Bosmer in Tamriel?

lol


bliviongate:

Apperently one of the few...

Its not like having a fast paced exciting beginning means the rest of the game is going to be the same way. I'm not going to deffend Oblivion's main quest. It was rushed, and made itself feel extreeeeeeemly important and kinda forced any rpers hand. But Fallout 3 had an exciting beginning, and then the main quest backed off a little after you got out of the vault.

I'm not really worried for Skyrim. I can see them learning with each game they make. I think I'm going to get my kind of opening too. Can't wait to see the epic view Skyrim will give us. Its going to be amazing.

Oh, and its sir. :thumbsup:

The start of each game has it's purpose. Being dropped off at Seyda Neen reinforced the stranger in a strange land of Morrowind. In Oblivion how else were they going to make sure you were in the right place at the right time for Uriel's death?

I'd just like to start the game without a criminal record for once. I know it's "tradition" but imo they can and should figure out something better.

I liked the game opening where the witch queen conjured a storm to dash your ship into the rocks, and you fought your way out of a privateer's hold after you recovered.

Exactly what I'm talking about. 100% better for RP purposes.

The odd thing to me about comparing Morrowind and Oblivion is that the Morrowind opening is much more conducive to just wandering around and doing stuff while Oblivion tries to shove you directly into the main quest, but Oblivion is set up much better for the sort of character who's just going to wander around and do stuff, while Morrowind makes it much more important that you make a solid character and build his skills up well and relatively quickly. They're sort of backwards in that sense.

The thing I like about Oblivion is that it's much easier to build an off-the-wall sort of character and just play in the sandbox, but in order to do that, I have to ignore the game going "Omigod you have to go be the Hero of Kvatch RIGHT NOW!" Morrowind, on the other hand, doesn't much care if or when I go be the Nerevarine, but the much more dangerous land makes it less conducive to just playing in the sandbox with an oddball character.

So I find myself hoping that Skyrim combines, in my opinion, the best of both of those - Morrowind's lack of pressure to go do the main quest right now and Oblivion's relative freedom to play unusual characters rather than having to be overly concerned with being as powerful as possible as quickly as possible. That, to me, would be the perfect game.

Very well said and I completely agree. If BGS can mesh these two with the right balance it will be grand.

i think the same, i dident really like the superhero thing either it makes me think a few guards could handle a oblivion gate

lol i actually enjoyed that very much about morrowind....i did indeed lose track of my main quest for days and days because 1) i had no clue that talking to caius was for the main quest/storyline and 2) i really had a lot of fun and got svcked into just exploring and doing random side quests/random crap on the walk to balmora. i eventually spoke to him as i went through the huge mass of quests in my journal and was psyched to find out i had been playing so long and seen so much and just realized i hadnt touched the main quest line

edit

i like this idea a lot