TO PARTICIPATE, PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE FIRST POST BEFORE VOTING IN THE POLL.

Hello, all,

This is not your typical Morrowind versus Oblivion thread.
I am writing this as a survey for my Statistics class.
To participate, you have to have played BOTH Morrowind and Oblivion.
Please participate courteously, or else I'll have bad data, and I will be a sad Dragonborn.
If you vote, please create a post with your answers to the poll, with your poll answers FIRST, and then you can go on to explain if you want (though that won't be necessary for the survey).


POLL INSTRUCTIONS:
For each question, please select a single rating out of 1-5 in each of the three categories.
So, when you are answering the Morrowind question, you should select either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 (5 being best, 1 being worst) under COMBAT, QUESTS, and WORLD.
If you thought the combat was okay, then you would probably rate it at 3.
Quests were great? Rate it at 4 or 5.
Thought the world was really bad? Rate it at 1 or 2.
Do the same for both questions. For each question, you will have only selected 3 answers-- one for each category.
Don't select the choices that say COMBAT, QUESTS, or WORLD.
These are markers to show where the categories are, but due to limitations in the poll feature, this is the only way I could write the survey.

COMBAT: This includes all forms of combat. Magic, stealth, and the typical melee. In a sense, this is talking about the action aspect of the game.
QUESTS: This includes all faction quests, side quests, and the main quest. In a sense, this is talking about the focus of the game.
WORLD: This includes cities, wilderness, inside, and outside locations. In a sense, this is talking about how interesting and believable the game world is.

If any of this is confusing or unclear, please post your question so that I can clarify BEFORE you vote.
Keep in mind that this is for my Statistics class! So, please be courteous!

And thanks to all who participate!
I think this may be fairly interesting.
If anything, it's something neat to do while waiting for Skyrim...

Oh, and I know that some of you will want more categories/characteristics to vote for, but I'm limited in what I can do for statistical purposes. Sorry!

MORROWIND:
Combat: 2
Quests: 4
World: 5
OBLIVION:
Combat: 4
Quests: 4
World: 4


I really hated the combat of Morrowind. I can't play it anymore without modding it out because I do not have the patience to swing at a rat for 5 minutes without hitting it at all, and I don't have the patience to put in all the time and effort to get to the point where my swings hit consistently. I also dislike the possibility of failure in the spell system. I can't tell you how many times I've died because I tried to cast a healing spell and it failed multiple times in a row. Oblivion did the combat much, much better, but there's room for improvement. Overall I was satisfied with Oblivion though.

Quests were about equal for both Morrowind and Oblivion. They did it about the same way.

I really like Oblivion's world, but Morrowind did it just slightly better. It was more rewarding to explore Morrowind, as you'd find caves just by seeing them and not by large icons on the compass. There would be a lot of unique, powerful loot you could find in those dungeons, whereas random loot makes things a little less fun to explore.

MORROWIND OBLIVION
COMBAT 3 4
QUESTS 5 3
WORLD 3 3

I hated the combat system in Morrowind for the same reasons as Velorian, but I gave Oblivion a four because I miss Spears and Crosbows and the loss of the absorb Spells from Mysticism.
The Mages Guild questlines are my reason for giving Morrowind a five and Oblivion a three in QUESTS.
Morrowind's World score is low because of the fantasy element being almost too unique, a casual player could be turned off by it. Oblivion got a three because of the levelling system, and cookie cutter dungeons.
If both games were made today with equal user interfaces and graphics - Morrowind would have all fives.

Thanks Velorien and bradleyh!

Morrowind
Combat: 3
Quests: 5
World: 5

Oblivion
Combat: 5
Quests: 3
World: 2

I liked both of the combat systems, but I come out on the side of Oblivion for that one. Morrowind triumphs on everything else in your poll. World was boring in Oblivion (level scaling system was terrible), and quests were decent, but too few were non-linear. You couldn't even refuse quests most of the time.

There are other things I dislike about Morrowind, but none are included in the poll.

Morrowind

Combat: 2
Quests: 3
World: 4

Oblivion

Combat 4
Quests 5 - I really need to comment on this. I don't know how people voting in this poll are more satisfied with Morrowind's quests than Oblivion's. I think that statement should be self-explanatory to anyone who actually remembers the quests from both games. It just... explain, please. Morrowind's quests always felt like repetitive chores, to me. Oblivion's were actually a bit varied and meaty. There is just no way Morrowind's quest design could be considered better unless one is looking for more menial and repetitive tasks with most of the gameplay involved being just running around.
World 4

Some other major factors should be in the poll, I think, however.

MORROWIND:
Combat: 3
Quests: 4
World: 4

OBLIVION:
Combat: 3
Quests: 3
World: 3

Contrary to a lot of players, I got used to Morrowind's combat system pretty fast. But it still loses points due to the harsh difficulty curve at the beginning, the lack of animations making misses ackward and the many balance issues. Oblivion successfully made combat smoother (switching to casting mode was annoying in MW) and sneak attacks a lot easier. On the other hand, enchanting and marksman got horribly cut and limited. No more casting spells from enchanted items and say goodbye to Crossbows, throwing knifes, etc. The lost of spears and stabbing in general is worth mentioning too. I'm also not a fan of heat-seeking missile accuracy for all weapons, but that's more of a personal preference.

Coming from Oblivion, I was surprised by the number of factions in Morrowind. The conflicts between certain factions was also a nice touch. I liked the fact that many quests were optional, even in factions you didn't need to complete every single one of them to reach the top rank. They were a lot of Fed-Ex quests though. It's a good thing there was a ton of misc quests. My main complain is that most quests are too short. I wish they were more complex multi-parts quests and more dungeon quests (like the dwemer puzzle) in the game. The main quest is a bit slow to start, but once the pace picked up it really shines. In Oblivion, they seem to have put so much effort in making the quests fell more epic and complex, but there were so few of them. You also had to follow more closely the quest "scenario" and didn't have the ability to lie. Lying is not within our hero's capacity. I hated the fact that many quests were forced upon the player, like the main quest or Paranoia for example. I'll just mention that I'm not too fond of immortal essential NPCs.

The bizarre, almost alien world of Morrowind with the unwelcoming Dunmer people really stirred my curiosity. Every creature I saw, I was like "What is that?!". Cities like Ald-Ruhn and Vivec were quite a sight. Plus it really felt like a world of its own. They were farms, mines, legion forts and transport services like Silt Striders and boats. You could also fell the political and religious tensions. On the bad side, they were too few people in the world and cities felt too empty. The people also didn't do anything per say, most of them were just hanging around 24/7. Oblivion's generic world with its generic monsters and generic cities didn't impress me at all. The goal was to make it fell more welcoming, but for me it just felt uninteresting. It was all too much shine and greenery, although Bruma was a nice change of scenery. The haunted/abandoned/forsaken mines and forts were just too numerous. Ayleid ruins, on the other hand, were mysterious and quite fun to explore. Horses/stables were also a very nice addition.

Sorry about that, I kinda got carried away. But it tends to do that when I talk about games I like.
(Even if I may sound overly harsh, I still like them both a lot. Modding can do wonders too...)

Have you ever played Shivering Isles? The main quests fall under everything you just said about Morrowind's quests. "Go to this dungeon and fetch this. Ok, now go to this dungeon and help this person by going to these other dungeons. Done that? Ok, now go to this dungeon and kill this person."

Both games have their ups and downs with quests.

You're giving Morrowind a higher rating in the quest department, despite the game of Oblivion having better structured quests, because you believe the side quests of Oblivion's expansion are on par with those quests you gave a rating of 5 out of 5 FOR THE ENTIRE GAME OF MORROWIND? The Isles represents the entire game of Oblivion, now? If that's your reasoning, everyone should bump up their Oblivion world scores, as well. Nothing Elder Scrolls has ever been more artistically creative than the Isles. Both games have their strengths, but besides combat, nobody seems to acknowledge Oblivion's... such as the quests. It's ridiculous. People are giving Oblivion's a LOWER rating for having better quests? I'll leave what's wrong with that question up to interpretation. On the topic of the Isles, however, there is NOTHING generic about the Isles. Driving adventurers insane, forging a Gatekeeper, meeting Dyus locked up in his chamber, torturing people on behalf of a paranoid duchess, killing a man who asks you to, choosing which side of a split town with polar opposites of each person on the two sides to eliminate, fighting a shadow clone of yourself, or getting addicted to Felldew to then go on a journey to cure yourself of the addiction or feed it to continue being strong are most certainly not repetitive.

The gameworld being preferred in Morrowind is perfectly reasonable, the lore is, the story is, the customization is, and nearly everything else is... regardless of which I agree and disagree with. Quests, however... Oblivion has the best of the series, hands-down. I've thoroughly played all the game of the main series and it just has the best, thus far. I don't see how anyone could possibly disagree... and that's also a bit of a challenge to someone to please try. I really don't see how anyone could possibly disagree or at the very least not believe Oblivion's are on par with Morrowind's. I genuinely need an explanation about this, not vague nitpicking at specific examples.

Like I said in my first post, Morrowind quests are less linear. Yes, there are linear quests in Morrowind, yes, there are non-linear quests in Oblivion. But on the whole, MW's quests were just filled with more options.

Morrowind
Combat: 3
Quests: 5 (because of the great main quest)
world: 5

Oblivion
Combat: 4
Quests: 4 (because quest markers ruind the quests a bit)
World: 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EQc5zpqEeo

It's a survey, not a competition.

Wow. You guys are getting into it! Good.

Thanks for the posts, everyone!

MW

Combat

2

Quests

5

World

4

OB

Combat

3

Quests

4

World

3

I'm not in the mood to go on and on, so i'll keep this quick. MW was graphically worse, but way more immersive, open ended, and generally fun. The quests were also a lot more unique and cool. OB, had awesome graphics, but it got repetitive, wasn't neerly as immersive, its world also wasn't quite as open (partially due to un-pickable locks and no fly spell). Don't get me wrong, I'm still addicted to OB, MW was just waaaay better for its time, and still quite good now.

Morrowind:

combat--2
quests--4
world--4

Oblivion:
combat--4
quests--5
world--5

Thanks Eldron and Lady Syl!

Morrowind:

combat--3
quests--1 hated quest journal just hated it
world--4

Oblivion:
combat--4
quests--4 much better system but this not perfect
world--3

Morrowind:
Combat - 4
Quests - 5
World - 5

Oblivion:
Combat - 4
Quests - 2
World - 4


You may ask why I liked Morrowinds combat so much. Put simple, I play Mages mostly, and the magic system in Morrowind was very good in my opinion. Plus, I liked the "dice-roll" style of combat. Felt more character skill based than Oblivions player skill based gameplay.

Thanks Emer Dareloth and Count Lauriel!

Morrowind.

Combat 2
Quests 3
World 3

Oblivion.

Combat 4
Quests 4
World 4

MORROWIND:
Combat: 3
Quests: 5
World: 5
OBLIVION:
Combat: 4
Quests: 4
World: 2

Morrowind's combat works. It's not the most exiting thing about it, but it isn't the most important either.
Oblivion's combat is ok, it's a hella lot more exiting. But the quests, and especially the world really lacks in the game.

Thanks Daydark and Gorgle!

Well i suppose in the end i was satisfied with both. Both have big flaws that probably could put people off but if you look past them them these are amazing games.

Don't know why people pit them against each other, they're brothers not rivals.....

I guess you didn't read the whole post...
Would you mind posting your scores like everyone else, please?
Thanks for participating.

Morrowind.

Combat 2
Quests 4
World 5

Oblivion.

Combat 3?
Quests 3
World 4

Overall, I think Morrowind is my fav. One of the great benefits of no voice acting is that it enables the developers to put much much more lore and info into the dialogues without being limited by the voice actors ability to actually have time to capture all of it. Sure, combat was not the greatest, but Oblivion also had a tad too much hack n' slash with too little dynamics to the combat itself. Both worlds are great, but Vvardenfell felt more alive, despite there being "less" of daily routines etc than Oblivion. So. Above are my ratings.