I want the series to progress to new stories and situations. Not keep going back to previous eras. At least for the main series. If they want to do another side game set in the past, that's fine.


Each number in the series is greater than the one before it. TES I, II, III, IV, V etc. So, I think the time should progress as well. I think they should keep it that way. Keep moving forward, not backward. It's just my opinion.

I like telling this story! It's...complicated?

I tried Morrowind a long time ago on my brother's computer but completely forgot about it. Some time later I then saw an article on a then upcoming game called The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and though it was some sort of "dumb WoW thing" back then. This was before my Sword and Sorcery RPG binge.

When I did hit my S/S RPG binge, I tried the Fable series and I kept hearing about the Elder Scrolls a lot. Since I was horribly disappointed by Fable III, I thought a new series would be fun.

So I asked my older brother about it, did some research, and found that TES kinda ticked everything that I felt was missing from Fable. So I found out that the most recent game at the time (Oblivion) could be played on the 360 and bought the Game of the Year edition on Amazon. I was so excited to try the game out, in the meantime I played Arena, which had since gone freeware. (I also tried figuring out how to say "Bethesda") Welp, it then turned out that the delivery was going to be delayed due to bad weather so it took 2 full weeks for it to actually arrive instead of the supposed 3-5 days. So I stuck to Arena for a while.

When I finally got it, I spent hours on character creation alone and then went back to start again. It was great. Every bit of free time I had was dedicated to Oblivion. Schools' over? Oblivion. But seriously do your homework already. Home from work? Oblivion. I just really liked that you can just roam around and do whatever the hell you want to a much greater extent than Fable. Almost everything was open to you regardless of how far you were in the main story. You could even ignore the main story altogether! You could completely loot corpses! You could play any character that you wanted and had a variety of races and (imaginary, I'll admit) backgrounds to choose from. (Though I mostly stuck to Bretons cause they had extra magic and looked better than Altmer). My first character was a weird mage/acrobat/martial artist hybrid. See, I did a bit of research and concluded that the less stuff you need the more you can carry. So no weapons or armor. Also jumping high is a good thing you could skip dungeons.

Anywho, to end this on a fun fact, I later rediscovered the (Game Informer I think?) article with Skyrim and realized that a sequel to this great game was coming in a few months. 2011 was the best TES year for me.

Oblivion was my first TES game. I initially got the game, wanting an RPG that was heavily action-oriented and had wonderful combat and very arcane spells but ended up falling in love with the atmosphere, the lore, the depth of the cities and NPCs in them, as well as the quests.

My first major memories of Oblivion were stumbling out of the sewers and looking around me, feeling totally lost in the vast world, having disbelief over the fact that I could go in any direction that I chose. I ended up stumbling around in the dark until I found Chorrol. I remember being incredibly wowed at the scope of the world, number of interactable NPCs, and the amount of dialogue, rumors, and quests going on all around me.

Skyrim was my second TES game, and hilariously, I went into the game expecting something along the lines of Oblivion in regards to dialogue options for NPCs, towns feeling alive/dynamic, and strong quests. I ended up basically getting what I started out wanting with Oblivion, but had come to not enjoy as much.

This being said, I did enjoy Skyrim for the things it did well, but it never felt like a wholesome, complete experience to me.

For me it was Daggerfall.

At the time in the mid-nineties my favorite single player games were Might & Magic V and Heretic.

The Doom style FPS games were not my style but Heretic even though it lacked character growth, involvement with the environment and the magic was basically just fancy guns shooting colorful lights, I liked because it was colorful and the fantasy setting.

The Might & Magic games I enjoyed for their traditional RPG party style. Having played pen and paper RPGs for many years with a group of friends I was comfortable with traditional party based RPGs Plus I like making several characters that worked together as one. Fact is that I'd still be playing party based games had it not been for a game called Thunderscape. That game was so bad I began searching for something new.

Finding Daggerfall while browsing the PC game section in a game store I gave the box a read. It sounded like a good blend of what I wanted in a game. I bought it and found it to be everything I was looking for. I've been in the world of TES ever since.

Well I am an old pen and paper and dice rpg type of person. I never could get into computer games, especially not crpgs, back in the 80′s and 90's. They were (to me) severely lacking in social interaction as well as graphical display. My gaming group was very good at supplying both =). As we grew older, got jobs and families the group split up. It was my kids that introduced me to console and pc-games. At first Lego Star wars, something to do with the kids for their amusemant. But I really had fun to. My son evenyually got himself a copy of Skyrim. So that got me interested in what the crpg scene was like in the modern era . My choice for testing the experience out fell on Dragon Age: Origins. And yeah, I was hooked. Needed more...Got my own copy of Skyrim and was piqued by Helgen but I think It was Bleak falls barrow that really put the hooks in me.

I have since got back and at least tried Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion. Probably will not put to many hrs into Arena and Daggerfall. I have modded Morrowind to a level where the stick toons don't continuosly hit me with disbelief. Skyrim on the other I can immerse in totally. Anxiously awaiting TESVI =)

Oblivion.




During the tutorial, I learned you could pick several different types of mushrooms and make potions with them. I thought that was a really nice touch.

Oblivion was my first (and favourite), mods keep it alive for me.


I was probably most wowed by all the forests and realising they were filled with dungeons and villages... Weird, I know. I guess it has something to do with me growing up near several large forests as a kid.

I already gave my intro answer, thought I'd try to describe what wow'd me the most.

There was something about Daggerfall dungeon crawling that set the blood pounding in my temples. Unlike any other game, Daggerfall dungeons terrified me. The sounds of doors creaking, rats squeaking and zombies moaning helped my imagination run wild. The real world close in on me. The air became heavy with a musty moldy smell. The red brick walled hallways became dark dank slimy stone corridors where death lurked around every corner. Combat was an intense fight for survival as my mouse became the weapon in hand.

Good lord, it's an imp! Heart racing, breathing labored, exhaustion set in as I chopped, thrust and slashed left then right in a frantic effort to vanquish my foe. Thank the gods for the ebony dagger!

But it went beyond that. Right at the start, with the dice rolling in the cup, Daggerfall's character creation entranced me for days on end. Probably the best char-gen ever, with all its options I created dozens of characters before stepping foot out the Privateer's Hold.


All in 1st person, I was the center of the action not someone watching from above. But, I could see myself if I wanted by looking in a mirror (inventory menu). I ran like the wind and fought like Conan the Barbarian. I was Merlin with a wand, rode a horse like a jockey in the Kentucky Derby, climbed walls like Spiderman and ran screaming like a baby when I heard a ghost yell, Vengeance.


I remember, was it Sentinel, a long pool in a courtyard that lead to a castle. All that blue water in the desert. I couldn't resist and dove in to swim laps for an hour. Once deep inside a dungeon I stumbled across submerged ruins. Standing high on a ledge overlooking a flooded room below, I conquered my fear of the high dive and dove. Like in a dream I saw myself executing a graceful swan dive into the pool. Solid 10s. Don't count the 3.5 from the Orc judge, what do Orcs know about grace and beauty anyways.


The towns had life. Banks for money changing, stores for selling your loot or buying a new shirt. You could find odd jobs for hire ranging for simple rat extermination to rescuing wives and daughters being held for ransom, just get it done in time. There were temples to easy your pain and save your soul after spending the night with a strumpet in one of the seedier inns. Busty women strolled about the towns and chicks in chainmail passed as battle mages and castle guards. Daggerfall was definitely an advlt game, and I reveled in it.

Why, by chance if you might stumble upon lovely little nymphs and all sorts of other exotic wildlife. Ah yes, the nymphs. Met one once and I've been searching for her ever since. The deep dark nights in Skyrim do get cold and lonely.

My introduction was Morrowind in about 2003, though I didn't complete it till years later. It had the freedom of the Ultima games, but with modern graphics, great music and more to do thanks to all the factions and quests.


What really wowed me though, was playing it more recently and seeing how much detail and character there are to the world and storylines. The really amazing thing for me was how everything I did in Morrowind seemed to add to the richness of the story. Everything tied in in some way to the back story and lore. I didn't feel that way about Oblivion, even though I love the game. Skyrim came closer to that feeling, but Morrowind is still unparalleled in my opinion.

Daggerfall's dungeons still terrify me. I'll never forget the screams from those skeletons...

Oblivion back in 2006, although I didn't really get around to playing it much until 2008.

Still the best in the series for me by a wide margin...

Morrowind. But I first heard about Elder Scrolls by a friend who was playing Oblivion in 2006. In any case, the first thing I noticed was the huge gameworld and the freedom.

Morrowind was my first adventure on Nirn. As for "wow" moments, I've had quite a few. I think two of the most distinct would be the initial character creation process in Morrowind, and the first time I picked up a fork.

Oblivion in 2007. My uncle had first recommended it to my cousin and I in the Summer, but it took a while for him to get it. Later, my cousin's younger brother (not my cousin) and best friend told me about how he was a fish man who could breathe underwater and how he had attacked a guy in a snowy city whose manservant chased him all the way to a bridge where he jumped to safety.


I was extremely excited after I begged my dad to get it. My dad was skeptical and thought the game looked a little weird from the cover, so we left the store. I was downcast and stayed that way for a while.


Later, however, he showed up to the house with the game in tow and set it down in front of me. I was delighted and had to wait to play it (as my family was watching TV in the main room where the 360 was.) I read the manual cover to cover and especially hovered over the "Illusion" skill and "Wood Elf" race.


My first little adventure was circling around the Imperial City, looking for a way in whereupon I met a certain Shady Sam who tried to sell me alcohol and poisons (drugs, in my young mind.) I personally began shooting him with arrows and it's been kind of a tradition in every one of my subsequent playthroughs.

Daggerfall. It was a glorious mess of a game. Incredible and frustrating in equal measure.