What is your opinion? Honestly I personally cba 2 spend 5 hours "training" my person when I could be doing quests and having fun.

i think a mix works best. not everyone has the time to sink 4 hours a day into an rpg but at the same time they don't want it to be 'speed up' too much. therefore soem sort of mix would be best. i think that morrowind was very much a 'pure breed' rpg (if it help with definition i would also put dragon age origin into this catagory). oblivion on the other hand was a wonderfuly balanced mix of the two, as it could be played far more in an rpg style with less action if one wished or one could go for more action depending on play style. of course this is purely my opinion and some may disagree saying that oblivion is too far one way or the other. it is a difficult thing to balance well.

I disagree, Oblivion is not a hack&slash (Would have failed, if it had been one), it stills plays how you want to play it.That can be a slower pace too, it isn't Vanquish.

On the other hand, i don't want to play an action game called TES, so i'd prefer the first one.

I want a great fighting system. But I allso want time to relax, chat to NPCs and go fishing.

thats not what i meant. i meant that it was more 'actiony' than morrowind but not as much as, say, mass effect 2

Sloooooooooooooow. With bits of action, but only when you want to. TES style, so.

I remember I lent Morrowind to a few family members and friends. "Does ANYTHING EVER happens ?" :stare:

same here. those moments were actually my favorite parts of oblivion

I would like them to build off of what they have and just make it more defined and an overall smoother game play experience.

Haha! This is why my husband doesn't like TES. He just wants to go all hulk smashy in the games he plays whereas I love developing my character and relationships to a point where the MQ isn't even the reason I buy the game.

ETA: I picked a mix because I still like a bit of action!

i never even did the main quest in morrowind

I hated how fast pace the main quest was in OB. So I want a slow paced quest like in Morrowind or Daggerfall.

Yes. And it felt too weird to drop it for something else. "Oh, gates are popping everywhere spreading chaos and despondency ? Excuse me my good sir while I spend two weeks collecting alchemy ingredients".

A slower pace will make the inevitable combats less rote by mid game.

I was really disappointed by the lack of religion, politics and research quests in Oblivion. Sometimes I just wanna take it easy and soak up that atmosphere that the Elder Scrolls tends to be so rich on.

there were a few but mostly they were connected to one of the 4 faction quest lines. i think that it simply wasn't the enviroment for it unlike morrowind which was dealing with a cultural encroachment.

Perhaps so, but you would think the political seat of power of Tamriel would be full with political and religious intrigues.

fair point but perhaps they didn't want to overwhelm people with a multitude of side quests?

I just figured they wanted to make it really traditional and probably overdid it a bit.

If RPG style is "slow", then give me snail pace. TES games are NOT just about moving on through the next dungeon, hacking away at enemies and collecting loot. TES games are about character development, and that's something that has to be done in detail and over time to be really appreciable.

Morrowind/Daggerfall please.
Give us the good ol' real RPG.
Where your skills actually matters. Not YOUR skills but your CHARACTERS skills.

haha, I couldn't agree more, LostInSpace. You can choose to not go close the gates and go collect flowers and mushroom caps, but it feels so odd knowing that chaos is spreading while you're doing that. And that's how Oblivion was and that's one of the many reasons why I do not like Oblivion.

that was the downside of the MQ. as i understand it the MQ in morrowind was paced such that it didn't feel odd to take a break from it (i never did the MQ in morrowind). i rped out of the MQ in oblvion by pretending that i gave the amulet to Jauffre, which thus allowed me to rp and not get distracted by the MQ. hopefully the MQ in skyrim will not require this wierd rping 'get-out-of-jail-free' method

This is generally the problem with Elder Scrolls games and Oblivion in particular, the entire land is plunged into chaos but you can go about your business without a care in the world which rather kills the sense of urgency the emergence of the Oblivion gates was supposed to create.
As for the game being slow or fast paced, I say there should be a mix, you can do whatever you like, sit and stare at the sky while indulging in some well deserved rhinotillexomania, but as soon as you accept a quest you're committed, meaning there should be some kind of time limit to quests. Normally time limits are a gameplay device I hate but they had some in Mass Effect 2 that worked really well. They don't have to make the time limits impossible to get either, just implement them so that once you accept a quest you can't afford to sit on your rear for another two weeks before deciding to pick them up.
That being said, some quests don't need urgency but honestly, if you have to save someone from a cave full of trolls, it doesn't make any sense to hang around for a couple of days before heading off.

I feel like the pace of the game should be determined by both the urgency, or lack thereof, of your immediate situation, and your own, personal play style. A warrior will have a faster paced game than a stealthy pacifist. And a save-the-lady-before-the-dragon-eats-her mission will require a quicker pace than a find-the-mushrooms type mission.

Personally I'd love a slow pace, but since it is imperative my friends enjoy this game as well (:laugh:) I'll settle for a mix.