I heard so much about Morrowing and i tried to play it years ago, i quit after 10 minutes.

After some point, the game's time is just past and can't get back to it no matter how awesome it was for it's time. The same with Fallout 2, i tried but i just couldn't even look at pixels the same way i did years ago, it's time has passed.

So i would accept all of you saying how much better it was for it's time, but i feel it's time to let go together with all the all time classics. People should just be happy they experienced it in its peak, something i'll never know, but yet i still know the feeling from other classics and i can understand.

Does that mean Skyrim is better? Likely not, for if Morrowind was with Skyrim's engine and combat it would come on top, but even so i CAN'T CAN'T CAN'T get passed the graphics and combat, the same way i can't go back to Quake, or Red Alert etc. I would definitely buy and play a remake though.

well put, you've said basically everything that i wanted to say regarding the positive aspects of Skyrim. I think it's just as good as, and in fact is the true spiritual successor to, Morrowind - where Oblivion, although visually enchanting, failed quite hard. Unfortunately, there are a few problems with Skyrim that are still bugging me, particularly the crappy UI (especially hotkeys) and the severe trimming of the magical schools (mysticism gone entirely, more spells taken out of illusion and alteration, alchemy "taste testing" effect discovery process, etc). If Skyrim had carried over most of the spells from Morrowind, while maintaining the easy to use magic casting system from Oblivion, it would be absolutely perfect.

Basically, this is a nearly perfect and instant classic game that has been sullied somewhat by a few misguided, but serious, design choices. I'm sure that cutting the magic down was seen as "streamlining" from the development/business lingo side, and that they wanted to distance themselves from Oblivion in many ways, but there are a few simple fixes that would raise this game into legendary status if Bethesda would just recognize where they went wrong.

Edit: someone earlier made a good point similar to mine, saying that the consolidation/ removal of spells/abilities and other flavor items (spears, crossbows, more armor parts, etc) in these games has become a trend that could be painfully evident in the next installment if the developers don't take our feedback into account.

There are things each one does better.

Morrowind-story and atmosphere and the alien nature of the world invoked awe when I explored it.

Skyrim-better combat, I like the addition to the perk tree but it could be better. I do like Skyrims world and tone too.

Verdict Morrowind is still slightly on top but I have not played Skyrim enough for it to surpass Morrowind right now you might as well say Skyrim and Morrowind in my book stand side by side as the best video games ever. With Oblivion right behind them. These are awesome games, with a lot of depth and I feel Skyrim has brought back a lot of uniqueness to the series that Oblivion lacked.

Morrowind was a great game, Oblivion failed to be as great in fact I only played it for a few months, whereas Morrowind I played it for over a year (only game during that time as I liked it that much).


I was hoping that Skyrim would be more like Morrowind than Oblivion and Skyrim does not disappoint, it actually reminds me more of Morrowind (not graphics of course) than Oblivion.

Both Morrowind and Skyrim are good games, each with their ups and downs. Neither game is "perfect"
One of my favourite things about Morrowind is that it dared to challenge the player, and not just the players character.

Morrowind just blew me away the first time I played it. Oblivion at release was a mess and not much fun, now that I repurchased the GOTY edition on steam it has grown on me.

IMHO comparing Morrowind to Skyrim is like comparing beer to bacon, both are awesome but one you drink, the other you eat.

I think you'll find most of the people who are saying Morrowind > Skyrim are of the opinion that Skyrim has Morrowind beat for everything except the story and that for most of them the story is the most important part of the game.

One thing I will say that Oblivion did better than Skyrim was the major guild quests, especially the thieves and assassins guilds. But those are minor annoyances, I'm very happy with Skyrim and foresee myself playing it for a long time to come.

Ah, Morrowind. I love Morrowind. I do. I'm not going to compare it to Skyrim, because I do love it.

I was in high school when I got Morrowind GOTY. I remember the first thing I did was run a search for a better body/head mod. I found PsychoDog Studio's Better Bodies mod and a Better Heads mod and then I played the living crap out of that game for three full years. I did every quest, all three houses, read every book, talked to every NPC (funny, I originally wrote "talked to every person" - Morrowind has that effect on people). I remember the first time I saw the Cantons of Vivec. I just stared at the screen, blown away.

When Oblivion came out, I went nuclear to discover short blade had been removed as a skill. I could see medium armor and possibly spears (the animations were kind of silly) but short blade? It's an entirely different fighting style! God, I was furious.

After Obilvion had been out for a few years, I got used to it, forgave Bethesda, and learned to love Cyrodiil. When Bethesda announced Skyrim, I was thrilled. I had always wanted to play a TES game in Skyrim and Bethesda made it happen.

Right now, at this very moment, I have Morrowind, three versions of Oblivion, and Skyrim all installed on my computer at the same time. I love them all.

Give me Skyrim's combat system in Morrowind and I'd never play another game =D

But sadly that wont happen.
Skyrim is a great game.
As far as my personal favorites go, Morrowind is still higher on the list.

Short run, no I prefer skyrim since it is shiny and new. I can already tell I prefer morrowind overall though and will go back to it especially now that some fairly good graphics mods are out. I actually prefer pretty much everything about morrowind except the graphics, even the hated combat system. But i like RPG mechanic combat systems in my RPGs. I am willing to accept that computers have not advanced enough to depict the die roll and show the miss as a dodge or parry, so graphical apparent hits that are misses because your character svcks are fine with me.

Brilliant!!!!!

First, I enjoyed your post and appreciate your input on the topic.

Second, I never saw the "Cantons of Vivec". Could you explain to me what it is or possibly link me a photo or video?

I loved Morrowind. Put months of my life into it probably. It had atmosphere and a sense of freedom that was unparalleled. I also enjoyed building my character up to a high level and destroying anything in my path, being that i dont play rpgs like this for a big challenge, i play them for the exploration, growing, etc. The only thing that held Morrowind back, even after it was first released, was the atrocious combat. Im not talking about the fact of behind the scenes stats determining if your strikes connect or not, im talking about the horrible 'animations'. My stiff as a board character would stand there and either chop away, thrust, or sideswipe. This would be followed by a 'thwacking' sound, or explosive sound if item was enchanted. So, despite what Skyrim dumbed down, it still seems like a more flowing, realistic experience. And believe it or not, even though there was alot of features removed since the Morrowind days, the stuff that is present seems more detailed and fleshed out. Quality over quantity.

Well said. Gaming is a form of entertainment and we should play what we want.

I tend to stay away from shooters and play RPGs. I will say that The Elder Scrolls stands head and shoulders on a pedestal higher than anything on the market. :tes:

How about a wiki link?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Vivec_(city)

Each of the buildings was referred to as a canton. Surely, you saw those, right? (They were particularly beautiful at sunrise, shrouded in the mist from the water).

God, now I want to play Morrowind again . . . I'm sooo flunking out of grad school . . .

I do think that it was decided that Vvardenfell would be utterly destroyed just 'cause the developers were annoyed with people going on about how much better Morrowind was when compared to Oblivion.

The cantons are the big stone structures the city is comprised of.

Thank you. I play anything that is fun. I play everything from Pokemon to Mortal Kombat and everything in between. Sometimes I plug up the old SNES and pop in the originals. Gaming is just that, Gaming. I'm glad to see someone remembers that it isn't a contest.




Thank you. Checking it out now.

EDIT: Turns out I lied. I do remember visiting this place a few times. Perhaps I wasn't as wowed because I was on the XBOX version? I'm assuming graphics were worse?

Skyrim is so very close to Morrowind, yet so very far away. Morrowind just had this believable air about it. Skyrim comes close but doesn't quite reach it.

See, for an open world game though where there's no loading between the large area of the main world, multiple discs wouldn't really work. For the PC, I am sure it could since you install it to the hard drive, but for the consoles, you would need disc swapping; and that would get annoying. It's also not JUST about the size (though I am sure it's part of it) but the production costs. Reading a script might seem easy, but we have no idea how many takes they did to get everything perfect. The big name actors would also cost quite a bit to get them on the project. I am sure that the largest chunk of the budget went to the voice talent more than it went for the programmers, artists, level designers and testers. Not to mention all the employees they have that really don't do anything with the games themselves (human resources, management, etc). The larger the staff, the more the production cost. Of course, with more staff, you can get more content in a shorter amount of time, too. So again, it all comes down to trade offs.

I don't see most developers as greedy; they just need to expand their profit margins to continue going. Just look at 3D Realms. They made BILLIONS off of Duke Nukem 3D. However, they squandered all that going back and starting DNF from scratch because of poor leadership within the company, as well as fronting other developers sums of cash for their projects which either ultimately were cancelled or failed miserably once it reached the market. However, you do also get anomalies like Mojang with Minecraft that are very simple in nature, made only by a couple of people, and for whatever reason, explodes with popularity netting the developers millions of dollars with almost no overhead costs. They then take that profit and invest it back into their company; expanding, hiring more staff, opening new projects, etc.

A lot of arguments on the web, especially about games and development, come from people who are more interested in PLAYING the games, and want something that, realistically isn't possible and they are ignorant to many facts; either willfully or not. You have to understand, too, that many of these people who spout things about greedy developers and developers who do not care about the fans are also younger people who don't think things through completely. I used to be the same way when I was younger. I can't fault them for it, and I'm always around trying to point these truths out so that they can make better, more legitimate complaints about the games that actually HELP the developers make choices that more people will enjoy. It doesn't always work; some people are too bullheaded to listen to reason and that, in turn, sometimes upsets me and, since I am only human, I get angry and verbal about it. I've been keeping a level head more and more these days though.

Erm... I think I am heading off in a completely different direction with this tangent now, so I am just gonna end this post now XD

I can see myself playing Skyrim for a long time to come, but I doubt I'll replay it as much as I have/will Morrowind and Oblivion. There's just something missing in Skyrim.

As far as Morrowind goes: Yes, it's still my favorite Elder Scrolls game. The atmosphere, lore, and attention to detail blow Skyrim out of the water, not to mention the Dunmer and their culture. Yes, the combat has it's issues, but it's stat-based. It's a fundamentally different system from Redguard/Oblivion/Skyrim. I love Morrowind, and look forward to playing it in the future.

The community should just volunteer to do all the voice acting free of charge. Then if we complained about it we would have no one to blame but ourselves.

I always laugh when people try to tout the graphics of Skyrim (or Oblivion for that matter) as why it's superior to Morrowind. Clearly a game released 10 years ago is going to have inferior graphics compared to a modern game. Even with its inferior graphics, Morrowind looks far more interesting compared to the boring and drab landscapes of Skyrim.

Fortunately, we don't have an either/or situation. You can love both games. Morrowind had a sense of whimsy, weirdness, and originality. It turned off a lot of people (OMG, it's so BROWN!), but it lit up my imagnation like fireworks, and I feel like I lived in Vvardenfell for a couple years. It was just deep enough for players to imbue it with even more depth. I enjoyed Oblivion, but in aiming for a standard high fantasy setting, it sacrificed some of the weirdness of Morrowind. Skyrim seems to have struck a good balance, in my opinion. There's a true depth and distinctiveness to the setting, but it's still accessible to those who would be weirded out by riding giant fleas by daedric ruins designed by M. C. Escher. Morrowind will always have a special place in my heart, but Skyrim is a true worthy successor.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Morrowind had something more than Skyrim. Skyrim doesn't lack it, in fact it has some of it. I'm talking about this tediousness you mentioned.

For some it is unnecessarily limiting to not have a marker for the goal. Other's interpret this as challenge: Finding the correct npc or location with directions on a note and a fogged out map area, wandering into an area that you are too weak for and deciding that you can just make it through the difficulty because thank Redoran you have some Sujamma, getting to know a character based on how they look and their location in the game.

Some people love these restrictions. That is why we have mods for Oblivion and Fallout 3 to make them more 'choreful' and involved.