We are loosing what made the elder scrolls great lets compare. Morrowind has bad graphics and no dialogue but. You go into dungeons in morrowind not to just level skills, but to explore and try to get a piece of realy good armor or a really good weapon and dungeons were actually scary . In skyrim Dungeons are more appealing for people to go into, people go for the sake of exploring it. There is no use item hunting because the best gear yo have to make yourself( which is terrible for TES, but good for noobs), you go in for quests but it is not as scary in Morrowind it became to much for appealing to new people.

They say "Well I like the new system I don't feel like I am deterred away from dungeons" well guess what when you go into a dungeon it is sapose to be scary you are sapose to feel scared . Why? because it submerges you into the game, it makes you scared for your life, it makes you glade after completing the dungeon you are getting the hell out of there. Political factions in morrowind included the 3 great houses which in my opinion beats out Emp vs Storm. You feel like your apart of the house and are trying to gain superiority over the others, there is no such thing as morality in it,it was just a matter of choice. You could join the legion to help get a stable foothold in an hostile land to the Empire, you could go visit the ashlanders and explore. In Morrowind you could have fun exploring because you only get a general sketch of it. You did not have a 3d map you had exploration to find everything. there was no compass there was directions you had to follow. In Skyrim you choose between Stormcloaks and Empire yes it is a tough choice but those are the only two political factions you can help and they are in open warfare there is no agents there is no closed in warfare like between the great houses. In morrowind you can become a pilgrim for the temple but only if you walk the steps of vivec, you had to go where he went you had to do what he did, you felt something. You were a part of a dynamic interactive world.

Graphics wise Skyrim easily beats of Morrowind, but there is alot more to games than just how it looks, the looks take you in but the story keeps you there, you do not look for how much time it occupies you look for "What can I do next. Look at this book, I want to go hunting for these deadric items. Now everything is best if you build it yourself.In Morrowind you were a prisoner nothing else was known, you were a prisoner who was brought to Morrowind from the imperial prison, you could choose by yourself whether you did something horrific, were just stealing bread, or was wrongly blackmailed because you offended someone.In Skyrim you were crossing the border,What race were you? you could go as far as to say why you were crossing the border but it just isn't the same as being arrested.I liked both Morrowind's and Skyrim's main story but Morrowind immersed you in it more. Morrowind DLC you could go to the capital and help 2 main factions and dosens of people, or you can go to Solsteim and help build a Colony of your choosing and explore a yet unexplored island that is barbaric.I dont like the map now you know all the geography you know exactcly were to go , which shortens the quest, in Morrowind it was a matter of following directions . In Morrowind you could be anti or pro slavery. I see why fast travel was added, the map is quite large I dont see the big deal of fast travel being added, but at the least bring back Daggerfall's fast travel system, were you had to choose to travel recklessly or stable, inn or camping, boat,cart or walking. You don't get that whats that over there! I want to explore something that no one foun yet! in Skyrim.
There is much more to tell but I am not trying to trash skyrim they are both good games, but Morrowind was a TRUE Elder Scrolls game. Skyrim sacrificed too much in the name of simplicity, I do think it should be easy to appeal to new people but at least try and keep the old people.
People like Morrowind because of its depth.
Skyrim people like it because it is a great game with many great features but I say it lacks depth to a degree when you compare it to Morrowind.

Having played through Morrowind and Oblivion prior to Skyrim's release, my thoughts on Skyrim's predecessors are a bit fresher in mind then most.

Morrowind was and still remains a amazing game play experience and truly expansive tale. It was a joy to play then and it is a joy to play now. But the game itself is not without serious, serious drawbacks.

First off, let's start with the game world itself. It is freaking GIGANTIC. I applaud Bethesda for this because it feels like a actual world to explore and not a game to play. However, it's sheer size works against it in a lot of ways. When you get right down to it, there is a lot of empty space in the game world, and that's not entirely a good thing when your game's transit systems barely connect to a third of it. Simply put, Morrowind's sheer size became a hindrance to the player, and a crutch for Bethesda.

I know I'm about to commit an act tantamount to blasphemy here, but ultimately what comprised a good majority of Morrowind's quests? Go from X to Y. And as the game progressed, the distance between X and Y grew proportionately. I still remember the quest for the Temple that started in Vivec and forced me to go all the way to the northern edge of the map without talking to any NPC. Yeah, there are sly tricks to circumvent the distance, but the harsh truth of the matter is a good chunk of Morrowind is spent walking.

To further complicate this, Morrowind - as the OP pointed out - lacked a compass or waypoint system. Often, Quest Givers would gladly mark the location you needed to go on your map so you had a end destination. As the game went on and the map filled up with markers, it became more and more difficult to figure out which marker was the new one. Similarly, the in game directions refer to North, South, East, and West. Without a compass, or a handy landmark, most players would get hopelessly lost for hours. Trying to return a Silver Bowl should not be like searching for the Ark of the Covenant.


But what about the remaining quests? The Main Quest, Guild Quests, and House Quests? They were good, but again the big part of them was go from your present location to some destination that happens to be far away from any sort of fast travel system. Looking for the Shrine of Azura was a headache, and let's not forget the game literally guides you to Balmora to the first quest giver, who promptly tells you to go away and come back later.

As for whether or not the politics of the Great Houses exceeded the Imperial/Stormcloak choice in Skyrim...you're mileage may vary there. The Houses never had the kind of personal feeling that the Imperial/Stormcloak questline has, but that might be because I've always played as a Nord.


Graphics I'm not going to bother commenting on - mainly because unless you play it on Xbox http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r6hilB6Dlc,

Gameplay wise...Morrowind has problems. Major problems. Without modding, the magic system of Morrowind is a absolute mess. Plus, Combat isn't evolved from Daggerfall. It was run up to a monster, hit attack, wait for monster to die. There is no "combat" or dynamic blocking available. Quests, as I've said, basically involve you either running hither and yonder across Vvardenfell, and those that don't generally want you to do the best "Needle in a Haystack" approach to locating a single NPC in a vague, general area.

Morrowind is still a epic experience, don't get me wrong, and ultimately I like its more alien locations and monsters then the rather generic regions of Oblivion (Not to mention the lack of Roman-esque style Imperials), that carried over to Skyrim (Nix Hounds. Those were fun. Unique. I'm tired of Wolves and Trolls).

Bethesda's experience with Morrowind lead to Oblivion, which in turn taught them what they needed to know for Skyrim.

Now, in regards to the changes between Morrowind-Oblivion-Skyrim, all I can say is this: Skyrim's fundamental design is different from other Elder Scrolls Games. Perks, lack of attributes...it's different. There's no doubt about that. At the same time, it's shaking up the formula in what I feel is a beneficial way. I don't agree with all the changes they've made but let's be honest, leveling up skills actually come with rewards now thanks to the Perk system. The new Magic system in Skyrim is, ultimately I feel weaker then the one in Oblivion (Which just felt like a much better designed Morrowind version), but I still like the addition of "Channelable" spells and generally the overall package is polished and on par with Morrowind. Oblivion was the weak step, but ultimately if Oblivion is the game Bethesda had to make to bridge the gap between Morrowind and Skyrim, then I'm grateful for its presence.

So in closing, making me chose between Morrowind and Skyrim is like making me chose between two of my children. It's a impossible choice to make, as I love both equally while also acknowledging both have flaws. I'd rather have those flaws, actually. It means Bethesda is still learning and tweaking things. It's much better then the stagnation and devolution you see out of Japanese RPGs now-a-days.


As for Old vs New Dungeons - I find both of them sufficiently pleasing. If anything, I prefer modern Dungeons because most of them have a reason for being there, rather then "Generic Bandit Hideout #37" in Morrowind. Each Dungeon comes with its own little mini-story, and it makes it all the more interesting and engaging rather then "Raid the Cave/Take the Loot".