Hi everyone,

This is my first post so a big hello to all!

My main reason for posting is because I like the look of the games on the websites. However, there are so many games that I am seriously confused. The website does not really provide very much information for new commers to recognise what might be a main game and what might be an expansion to a game.

Could somebody please explain to me how this all works, and possibly this topic could be stickied for people like me in the future who are confused.

What is oblivion, and Morrowwind city? There are about 10 entries in the games dropdown list on the website - can someone explain what they all are and how this system works?

Cheers,
Adam

Hello new comer, Did you ever play any Bethesda's game?

The core Elder Scrolls series is:

The Elder Scrolls: Arena
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Morrowind has had two expansions, Tribunal and Bloodmoon, and Oblivion had one expansion, Shivering Isles. Oblivion also had several smaller downloads (DLC).

There have been a number of other Elder Scrolls games, in particular:

The Elder Scrolls Legends: Battlespire
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
The Elder Scrolls Travels (a series of TES games for phones)

With what Hungry Donner said, there are free official DLC for Morrowind.

Wait, what website in particular? Do you mean this forum and the list of game series on the front?

Most of those are games Bethesda is publishing, but didn't develop (Brink, CoC, Hunted, Rage, Rogue Warrior, and Wet). The Fallout section also has New Vegas, which is being developed by Obsidian. Each one has its own official website, you can get to them from here: http://www.gamesas.com/

It might be a very good idea have this link on the Forums home page. I have clicked on the Bethesda Softworks and Elder Scrolls logos on these forum pages only to arrive at an unexpected destination -- the Forums home.

Off topic, but as others seem to have this more than handled, allow me to ask if your name is Spencer or Alex, and why your sign-on name is Spencer while you sign your posts as Alex.

Hi there everyone,

Thank you for the replies. It has cleared things up for me so I can now choose which one to buy.

What differences do the various games have? I was looking at Oblivion, the graphics and screens look fantastic.


Regards,
Adam

if you're a graphics first kind of guy then Arena and Daggerfall are out for you. They were made in the 90's and are comparable to the original doom game. Morrowind (TES3) was last generation (PS2, xbox) while Oblivion (TES4) is current generation (PS3, Xbox 360). Despite the age difference many people around here prefer TES3 to 4 because it has a deeper story and in all seems more original. Oblivion has (IMO) better combat and spell casting, although fewer options for both in terms of weapons and spells.
Of the four games I think Daggerfall has the largest (yet most generic) game map.
If I were you, I would get Morrowind (the goty version with the two expansions), get the free dlc from the gamesas website, and in a year or three when you finish that, get the oblivion goty with its dlc and expansion. By the time you finish that, TES5 should be out. See you in 3-6 years.

Adam not Alex.

Well, first I'd like to learn a bit more about yourself. Are you an avid player of roleplaying games or are you just starting?

Also, http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/downloads_games.htm are free to download, but do require a bit of work to get them to play because of their age (you need to run them through an emulator. There are full, detailed, and helpful instructions on that page, however and http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/479044-how-to-get-the-past-games-to-run/).

If you haven't played many roleplaying games, I would suggest Oblivion. If you have played a lot, especially classics like Ultima, I'd suggest Morrowind. However, they are both very good games, but the differences between them often divide this community. The general consensus is that Morrowind has a very believable and interesting world that draws you in and keeps you playing while Oblivion has very good action elements with a world that seems alive because of the AI of the characters. I don't want to scare you off, so I won't write an essay on their differences, however, I'll just say this: Morrowind is very skill dependent (if you have a low long blade skill, when you attack, your weapon will literally appear to pass through an enemy because the skill determines the chance to hit. With higher skill level you will hit most of the time, however. Also, you don't control functions like blocking, which happen when the skill decides you character has blocked. Magic can fail based upon the power of the spell and the associated skill). Oblivion less so (You block with a control and are always successful. Your attacks always hit, but their damage is determined by your weapon skill. Magic spells never fail). While Oblivion may seem like the clear choice, other players enjoy Morrowind more for the same reason I just listed: It makes your skills seem more important. Oblivion also has 21 skills to Morrowind's 27.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. They are both rather cheap by now, and I'm sure you could pick up both games for under 20 a piece, then download Arena and Daggerfall and have the entire TES series at your fingertips!