I would like to first say that this topic is in no way to start any kind of war or the flamming of any game. As a fan of TES I love all the games extensively. I would also like to say that this is my own opinion and if you have your own thoughts, please share them below, as I would like to have a friendly discussion on all related gamelay and reasons why people love the games.
I started this topic because I saw too many people complaining or saying bad things about Skyrim, or wishing it was more like the previous two games. I thought I would share reasons why Skyrim is a great game and deserves more praise for the huge accomplishment Bethesda did.
I'm not going to compare Arena or Daggerfall, because I never played them. And I'm not including the other games because I never played them and to me, they aren't really part of TES series.
One last thing to note is I have played each game a huge amount of hours, so all of my comparrisons are (imo) reasonable.
Anyway, here's the list, as well as, some explanation on each one. I didn't want to just list things without giving any explanation as to why, something that Michael Bay needs to take a lesson or two on. (sorry couldn't resist)

1. The World
It's just as big, more colorful, and more detailed than the other games. I'm not going to compare graphics because at the time Morrowind came out, it had really good graphics, and when Oblivion came out it did too. Instead I will say that Skyrim is so much more colorful and beautiful in every way, compared to the rather average terrain of Oblivion and the rather brown and grey land of Morrowind.
2. The Music
This was a hard choice, but I believe the music, including SFX and ambient sounds is either equal to or better than the other games. The sounds of water, birds, howls, people, and city life make this a really immersive game.
3. Combat
This is really a no brainer. Skyrim has more actions, like finishers, bashing, attacking with a bow, which not great, it at least is a great addition. There are some negatives too though. How you can't equip a shield in your right hand, and you can't block with a one-handed weapon if you have something in your other hand makes no sense, I can only guess they did it for balancing issues. either way, the variety, animations, and overall fun is way better (imo) than the other games which were still rather simplified.
4. Mixing Magic and Melee
Another great idea, now you can easily mix magic and fight more easily with melee and magic, making for some fun fights. It seems more realistic and helps balance the game I think.
5. Favorites List
Though still not great because of the UI, this addtion is really good. It can get kind of botthersome when you have a bunch of things favorited, but since the other games didn't have this option at all, it is a better game for it.
6. Dragons!
Enough said lol.
7. NPC's
With the advancing technology, the AI in games should be getting better, so I'm not going to compare that because just like graphics, things change with time. However, the NPC's in this game are more interesting, gather around for dragons, talk amonst themselves better, and just have more interesting things to say. It now seems they have better stories and history that you can see just by observing them or the things they do. Along with the Companion addtion, the NPC's are just better.
8. Better Loot Buffs
I know they took out several buffs or spells from the previous games, like floating or feather. But they also added some nice addtions that I would never have thought of, like better alchemy, or mixes with several buffs. They also did many things with the perks and other things. Yes, it seems more simplified, but it also makes them less useless.
9. Quests
I can't remember a single quest from Morrowind that really blew me away, or created a unique experience. Oblivion did it much better. I can remember the painting quest and several others that weren't just fetch or escort quests. However, Skyrim really enchanced this when they added many hand-crafted dungeans and focused on developing single stories and interesting characters.
10. Perks
Why haven't these been in a previous game? This is what I think was really missing from the games, and gives further reasons for creating a new character or trying different paths. If a game increases replayability drastically from the other games, then there is no reason this could not be on the list.

You may notice that the UI isn't listed, amongst other things, that's because the UI is really bad, especially for PC users, which I am.
As for other things, I'm hoping you guys can add some of your own or add things that were better or worse as well.
I don't want this to start any kind of name-calling or console war either. Just a fan trying to express his fondness for all TES games.

Skyrim can't even touch Morrowind. Morrowind had everything. Complexity, freedom, atmosphere, graphics (for the time), everything. Skyrim only has some of this. And it even does a couple things (sound, combat without mods) better. But the facts are that Morrowind has 27 skills, Skyrim only has 18, and offensive magic is actually USEFUL in Morrowind. And how awesome was spellcrafting? These things alone just KO Skyrim out of contention for the title. There's plenty more I could go on about, like how there are no negative choices in Skyrim thus making it ridiculously easy even on Master difficulty, but I think you get the point.

Skyrim > Oblivion for sure though. Oblivion was just a dumbed down version of Morrowind with nothing added to make up for that. At least Skyrim gave us dual-wielding and perks.

If you can't use combat magic better than you did in Morrowind, you're not doing in right. I've mostly abhored combat magics in the ES games up until now. I never even used magic in Oblivion (at all). FWIW, I've been playing since Arena. Doing away with "useless" skills (or at least backgrounding them) like jumping and running is, IMO, a step up. Now, if I could just figure out how to get enchantments for my items.

I totally agree with this. Morrowind had a much better atmosphere. The mods were great. The story i think is better. There was much more freedom and much more you could do. Skyrim is a bit limited in what you can do but the game looks better. As for the music there is a reason why Skyrim has morrowind music in it... its classic fantasy and its what got me hooked into morrowind. To be honest i think obilvion was the worst of them all. I was tlling my friend that i think morrowind was like reading a really good book. Oblivion was like watching a really crappy movie. and Skyrim was like watching a pretty good movie. Skyrim feels more like Morrowind but untill they bring back all the freedoms of morrowind along with the atmosphere no game is going to be as good as morrowind. Especially the expansion packs too. GO TRIBUNAL!!!!!

It's definitely not a step up. The more I play Skyrim, the more I start missing Athletics and Acrobatics. You can't jump over tiny stumps in this game, and the movement speed is a snail's pace, to say the least. If you're going to take away the ability to improve these things, then at least make the standard move speed/jump height set to acceptable values.

I agree with the OP. Skyrim is my favorite Elder Scrolls game to date. I love the setting, the atmosphere. They really nailed it. It's just as good as Morrowind's. And that is what I really look for in these games. The sense of being in another world. The presentation is better, obviously, than any previous Elder Scrolls game. the quests are exciting, well written and fun. They are really relying in the lore in this game, and expanding it. What gives Skyrim the edge over Morrowind, for me, is the playability. I just enjoy combat and magic much more in this one. Morrowind was my favorite game of the series before now, and Skyrim has topped it.

But it's a close race. I love all the Elder Scrolls games. It is my favorite series. Skyrim is just the jewel in the crown, now.

Morrowind was great.

Oblivion was an atrocity.

Skyrim brought back some of what made Morrowind great.



Morrowind > Skyrim >>>>>> Oblivion.

To me Skyrim takes Oblivion type game play (combat, magic, skills, etc) and puts it in a Morrowind type world (atmosphere, etc). Its a good mix but I still feel Morrowind beats Skyrim. Morrowind did just about everything right. Skyrim starts to come back to that but the stream lining really ruins it IMO. If Skyrim wasn't so streamlined it would be just as good as Morrowind IMO. Oblivion... still an amazing game, put more hours of enjoyment into it then any other game, but its still the weakest of the three.

I actualy agree with a lot of this, Morrowind was just plain better in a lot of ways. Oblivion and Skyrim seem to gradually be stripping away freedoms that were at their height in Morrowind. The combat system in Skyrim is one of the places I think they really nailed it in Skyrim, and I like the perks system for character development. Specifically in the area of the magic system I think the TES series keeps scaling it farther and farther back. It concerns me that they had such a good detailed system in Morrowind and now it's just a standard "out of the box" spell list with a couple unique spells....

Don't get me wrong I like Skyrim a lot and I' look forward to finishing it and then anxiously awaiting TES: VI but I wish they'd gather up all the things they did so well in the previous titles and drag them into the new games instead of seemingly starting over each time. Skyrim has a few awesome features I'd like to see in the next game and Morrowind has some awesome features I'd like to see in the next game....Honestly I can't think of anything specifically outstanding about Oblivion other than an interesting story

Skyrim finally got on par (in 2011) with Gothic 2 (2002) in terms of NPCs, storyline and atmosphere, crafting and people. Gothic had all of the way covered, scripted, handplaced, but it felt great, although not very open ended.

In terms of action and combat, magic and fights, Skyrim is nearing the classics Might and Magic 2008. Although M&M DM is still ahead, more detailed perks, powers, combat and terrain utilization, infinite class combinations. Which is no surprise since it is an action RPG, focused on combat and with a competitive multiplayer feature. M&M remain linear with quite few options, not quite open ended, clear your way to next level, level up and there is no way back.

Where Skyrim gets ahead of all is the open ended world, really well built and hand crafted, unique and spectacular. A whole continent to explore, a very well thought out wildlife and flora, feels like a place from one's dreams. The best part is where ever you go, you find something remarkable, worth sparing a 'wow' how special this place is. And nobody is dumbing down your adventure just to get more SQ miles of vast, but lacking content terrain. Sometimes you wish for a few more monster packs and traveling NPCs. This time around cities, mountains and 'caves' are perfect, nothing can be done better.

I could want more content and character diversity, but I am sure that 'smart devs' will add that in near future. By content I mean stuff that populates existing areas, not necessarily new and off map locations. Magic, difficulty and lockpicking could have more to it, there is plenty of room to add much more effects, customization, stacking and effort to put in.

Overall I think the game is great and, again, overall its takes most aspects to a new level in an RPG.

Sounds... most people love the sounds, I do too but one thing really irks me. Waterfalls and running water, especially in caverns etc.

The water should ROAR.
Has nobody been next to a large waterfall or inside a cavern in real life like those present in the game? Eg in the caverns you shouldn't even have to sneak because you should have to SHOUT to be heard. The quality of the sound here is fine but I really wish I had a slider/control to turn the volume up on this effect.

yeah i think skyrim is better than the previous 2 games by a long shot. if morrowind have better combat then yeah morrowind would prob be better but i just cant play the game due to the boring combat.

Well, the few things in which I won't agree with OP is magic - you could easily use magic together with melee weapons in oblivion, and both TES3 and TES4 had more magical effects and, most importantly, SPELLCRAFTING.
Second minus, for me, is lack of athletics/acrobatics. I really enjoyed those skills in previous version. +, as already mentioned, morrowind had 50% more skills. (well, I understand that with perk system it's ok to reduce the number of skills, but still)

But Skyrim is still great, and most flaws will be fixed when CS comes out. I bet modders will find a way to add spellcrafting into game, and new spells. Maybe we'll even see athletics/acrobatics one day, or sort of a "physical training/sportsmanship" (lol) skill, that holds both of those and have own perks.

Rose colored glasses my friends.

Morrowind was good, especially for it's time, but Skyrim is simply the better game now.

Streamlining is not necessarily bad. While the UI doesn't work for a lot of people (it does for me, to be honest, i love it), the rest does. It has proper crafting for the first time aswell, if you don't count alchemy. It does away with the tedious and adds the fun. It has a much more coherent art design, especially as far as NPC's are concerned (the diaper walk was severely outdated even in Morrowind's time, the armors were schizophrenic at best), it has a lot less "brown" aswell. The gameworld itself feels far more alive than it did in any other TES game, much much more dense.

Morrowind had BY FAR the worst combat of the 3 modern TES games. It royally svcked. Melee and ranged combat should never have been RNG based like they were in Morrowind. The stats were somewhat obtuse and some skills were pointless to level at all - Many people say that Skyrim "svcks" because it has less skills, but what exactly is the point of athletics and acrobatics? Are they really necessary to immerse yourself into the game? What about speechcraft or medium armor? One was useless, the other completely outshadowed by the other two armor skills.

The story in Morrowind was awesome. But frankly, so is the one in Skyrim. People are looking through several sets of rose colored glasses when comparing the games. Morrowind also had a lot more overhead in it's story, some quests were downright inane. I'll ignore the heavily text based conversations in Morrowind because it wasn't really possible technically to voice everything, but they did go overboard by writing too much text - There was no conversation, you didnt pick replies, it felt a lot like wikipedia rather than a proper dialogue system and people should not be giving you 15 pages of exposition if you so much as utter the word "rats".

I can go on for a few years like this.

People seem to really like to gloss over that Skyrim fixes pretty much everything that was wrong with Morrowind and kept all the good stuff. I get the strong suspicion that people gate it simply because it doesn't have Morrowind's "alien" setting, but is this really fair? Skyrim is still a part of the same world and it shows. A question people have to ask themselves aswell is whether they really want the entire world to be as "alien" as Morrowind was - Do you really want Tamriel to feel as schizophrenic as, say, Azeroth, which has a completely different ecology, climate, color palette, geography and whatever else every few steps?

Not to mention that Solstheim was pretty close to Skyrim in a lot of ways...But that's conveniently ignored. No one was complaining about how "unalien" that was at the time >_>



Don't get me wrong - Morrowind was a great game, one of the all time great RPG's. But, it would be strange, if not stupid, to ignore how much Skyrim has improved on it while keeping all the good parts.

i think they should remake morrowind with the skyrim engine to be honest, i never got to experience it, people say its better but every time i put it in the original xbox i see the terrible brown colors of everything, the 20pages of reading per conversation and worst of all characters seem to do nothing but stand around all day. i'm sure it was more in depth but it just wasnt fun

and no im not a graphic [censored], i can play star wars battlefront 1 all day and recently went back and started playing KOTOR

Theres things each game in the series does better and worse than the other:-


Daggerfall easily has the best dungeons.

Morrowind has the best atmosphere

Oblivion has the best combat (yup.. skyrims is far too clunky and unresponsive)

Skyrim has an incredible sense of scale. Travelling to another town actually feels like travelling across a country.