I saw this video on reddit today and thought I'd share it with you guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wujJnlsJh4

Do you agree with the points made here on both games? Note that his feelings aren't due to nostalgia as he didn't finish Morrowind until he finished Skyrim. What do you think about his viewpoints? Have you thought the same things? Or do you think he's completely wrong? Which main quest did you enjoy more, and why? Discuss!

He talks about Skyrim's "sense of urgency." But I think that term applies more to Oblivion's main quest. Even before we leave the sewer the developers shove us into saving the world and ridding Tamriel of the cataclysmic Oblivion crises. I thought Oblivion's hysterical "Do it! Do it now! You have to save Tamriel!" tone was abysmally poor writing.

I thought that Skyrim approached its main quest in a more sophisticated manner. In this it resembled Morrowind. Morrowind and Skyrim both built their stories up slowly. We begin as ordinary prisoners in both games. As far as we know in the beginning, no large events are happening in either game. Gradually we come to realize in both games the magnitude of what is facing us.

I disagree that skyrim was paced better. Every single questline was rushing me along saying I had to do this "now!". Obviously that wasn't true, but it messed with the pacing of the story. Oblivion's questline at least had moments that led you into the side quests, and purposefully spaced the quests out for some better pacing.

Just like Pshychotrip said. I also disagree that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's main quests are paced better. They are linear, short, and boring. The side quests same thing only for a select few that are good.

Indeed. In less than 10 minutes, a powerful dragon destroys the whole city of Helgen, leaving an handful of survivors, and you're immediately asked to warn Riverwood then Whiterun because it could happen again - and it happens again in Whiterun, after a trip into a dangerous Nord tomb. Things are really going slow in Skyrim, without large events.

Nice video, he pretty much laid out all the things I love about Morrowind's plot. In this comparison I definitely prefer Morrowind's main quest. But my favorite is probably still Oblivion's main quest just because those events seem to have the most impact on the overall lore of the whole series.

Skyrim was rushed just as much as Oblivion that's true, but it feels a bit more justified from a story point of view. In Oblivion you were just an average nobody for the majority of the game, an adventurer, but otherwise, nobody special or irreplaceable. I felt no obligation to continue the main quest after delivering the amulet to Jauffre.

I mean why would he tell this random stranger he knows nothing about where to find the emperors only living heir, I could have just as well been an assassin.

In skyrim, it was kind of justified that you go through with the main quest, since being the 'last dragonborn' meant that only you could 'eat souls'. But it still felt forced, especially whenever I had to interact with Delphine.

I agree with the video though, I still felt that there was room for a bit more criticism in morrowind's case, but the points made were all valid. Morrowind's main quest never felt tedious or forced, if you felt you needed a break, the game anticipated that for you and told you you could, and should have it, which made coming back to it a matter of choice when you felt ready, it made you want to come back it and play it in several sessions. Later games were more of a zerg rush, they just pushed it onto you making it feel as if you needed to do it all in one day, which made the main quests feel very tiresome... at least for me.

One big difference that's also been bothering me with Skyrim is how it's impossible to play without being dragonborn, at least without mods. Even if you abandon the main quest right from the start you'll still get really annoying reminders every time you finish a large dungeon with those horrible word walls. Not to mention how you miss out on a lot more content than previous games. In Morrowind all you had to do was ignore the initial prophetic dream and after that you could be anyone, and you wouldn't be missing out on anything but a bit of story by skipping the main quest.