The Elder Scrolls series

General Elder Scrolls discussion.

So I just bought OG Xbox Morrowind in a knee-jerk reaction. I know its gonna be a pain in the ass to get working on the 360, I don't got an official 360 HDD. But eh I ain't a console peasant for nothing. I also ordered Oblivion on the PS3. The Ebay seller only lives 2 hours away from me, so I plan on receiving that one very soon.

Like a hefty amount of people, I started on Skyrim. It will probably always remain my favourite, I love the dark, badass Nordic theme. All 3 games will occupy the majority of my spring 2016 gaming.

Anyone else starting a new title soon?

http://stevemv.mightorindustries.net...morrowind3.jpg

http://torrents-game.net/torrents/98...reenshot-3.jpg

http://international.download.nvidia...Comparison.png

I started with Morowind on Xbox, but it was not a very rewarding experience. the game runs too slow on it.

Then a couple years later I got PS3 Oblivion, and LOVED IT!!!!!! A great beautiful fantasy experience.

And Skyrim while more advanced, did just not give me the same experience as Oblivion did.
I already live in a cold enough climate as it is, I don't need to experience that in a sim.

Hopefully this year I'll get around to a full TES1&2 install on my Dos machine.

I got Oblivion when it came out for 360. It was cool to play through a couple times and then once a year for a few years. I always wanted to play it with some of the amazing mods I'd seen online, but I don't like playing games on computers and never bothered getting a decent video card/gamong PC until recently.

I bought Skyrim maybe a year ago on Steam and played through a little ways, but it's hard to make time for >32-bit games now.

Anyway, I bought Oblivion and Morrowind on Steam a couple days ago, since they're like 75% off right now. I just hope that some of those great Oblivion mods are also on Steam.

Oblivion was the first one I played. I rented it for PS3 and loved it. I bought it almost immediately after the rental period ended. It was like no other game I had ever played before. The amount of freedom and exploreability was amazing. I remember how good the visuals seemed to me at the time. I got the PC version and turned all of the graphics to max just to look at it. It only ran at about 20FPS on my 9400GT, but it was really cool looking. Funny today that the game looks really dated to me.

Skyrim was okay. I don't like it as much as oblivion. I always thought it was kind of over-rated. Nobody would shut up about it for the first few years. A lot of the quests seemed simplified and less varied compared to oblivion.

I'll have to check out morrowind some time. I'll probably like it. I'm a little worried about the next elder scrolls game. Seeing as fallout 4 got dumbed down to get more appeal. I think that's how morrowind fans probably felt about oblivion and skyrim though.

I've been holding off on Morrowind since it came out; simply because I know how long it will take me to beat it. I also own Oblivion and Skyrim for the PS3, but haven't tapped into those gems for the same reason.

I do play to play at least on of the Elder Scrolls this year, but I have 100s of games I also want to finish. I am currently finishing Fallout 3, which is also a lengthy pursuit. So, once I'm done with that, I'll probably play a few other shorter games, then jump back to RPGs again.

Can't wait to play through Skyrim, though.

Couldn't get into the series pre-Oblivion but that's because I'm not much of an RPG gamer. When they upped the action it became more of my thing. A friend of mine was really into Morrowind but I always got bored and lost interest. I had played Daggerfall and Morrowind first but Oblivion was the first one where I completed the story.

Daggerfall is really interesting. It's not exactly aged well but having a huge fantasy world (even the sequels are tiny by comparison) like that in an old DOS game is really impressive. It's worth checking out as a curiosity.

I bought Daggerfall back in the day when it came out. That game is not for the faint of heart, especially compared to today's games. It's MASSIVE but is filled with randomly generated dungeons that will frustrate the hell out of you. It's not uncommon to spend hours lost in the biggest maze of a dungeon ever, only to discover that there's not actually anything in there of value. NPCs are almost totally lifeless. You really have to role-play the old school way (in your head) to give the game world any life.

That said, in 1996 it was pretty much the coolest game ever.

Morrowind remains the peak of the series. The setting is utterly unique, and the game's expansive ruleset along with its world and inhabitants are all intertwined in a consistent way that is very rare for a video game. There is no right or wrong way to play the game and overcome any of the obstacles in it, which is what makes it fun and engrossing.

Oblivion is the low point I think. The setting was much more cookie cutter (and to think they even retconned Cyrodiil specifically to make it more like a generic temperate countryside), hideous art direction the numerous dungeons were insanely uninspired and repetitive, and the previously expansive game mechanics had started being toned down along with some downright terrible implementation of level scaling which completely neuters any sense of character progression. But the game's biggest failing is just how nondescript everything feels. All the loot you get and all the dungeons you crawl through are just so generic and void of interesting, hand-made design. Unlike Morrowind which had plenty of interesting stories and secrets in the dungeons (like I loved that cave on the northern coast somewhere which seemed to just lead to a tomb filled with vampires, but there are some hints to make you look up to see that you can levitate to a hidden section with an additional bandit hideout, which used the vampire tomb as a kind of front) along with lots of cool hand-placed loot in the world. At least some of the game's quests were still pretty fun.

Skyrim fixes the problem of generic repetitive dungeons from Oblivion and are clearly crafted with a lot more care and intent (although this time they are also more linear than ever) which is a big boon. The art direction is also significantly improved from Oblivion and orcs no longer look like Shrek. The problem of the nondescript world and items still persists. And the game systems/mechanics are even more toned down from Oblivion (the entire illusion tree is laughably sparse now with just a handful of spell types, as just one example), so the RPG aspect feels more shallow than ever. The level scaling is handled a bit better, but it is still something of a nusiance. The biggest failing of this game are the quests which are often incredibly half-baked. It's very evident that this game was rushed out to meet its original release date (this was the first one to not get delayed, so naturally there was going to be a price paid for that). More than half of the civil war quest content was cut out from the game, the College questline becomes utterly nonsensical with the macguffin where no one explains what it actually does or why it is so dangerous, and the Companions questline is just downright embarrasing as they couldn't put in an actual personalized antiagonist, and just used nameless bandits with a fancier prefix as the enemy faction. The Thieves Guild seemed to be the only faction to have an actually finished and fully fleshed out questline. The sound design in this game is also pitiful for a 2011 AAA title.

After how bad Fallout 4 turned out and Bethesda evidently learning nothing from their shortcomings that have been repeatedly pointed out over the years, I can't say I have much faith at all for their next TES title. I haven't even gone into the subject of mechanical game design and balancing of systems in this post, which is something Bethesda seems to have no grasp of whatsoever. Even Morrowind is pretty terrible in that regard, but it sort of gets away with it simply because the game's ruleset is so vast and gives the player so many options that it still manages to be fun and engaging to explore and master. Their subsequent games have incrementally scaled back on the scope but without actually making the design tighter and better balanced, so there's no actual payoff for that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NeoVamp

I started with Morowind on Xbox, but it was not a very rewarding experience. the game runs too slow on it.

---

It didn't look too butchered, but I know it won't be the definitive version.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ComradeOj

Oblivion was the first one I played. I rented it for PS3 and loved it. I bought it almost immediately after the rental period ended. It was like no other game I had ever played before. The amount of freedom and exploreability was amazing. I remember how good the visuals seemed to me at the time. I got the PC version and turned all of the graphics to max just to look at it. It only ran at about 20FPS on my 9400GT, but it was really cool looking. Funny today that the game looks really dated to me.

---

Theres no way Oblivion fans can deny that Skyrim was a quantum leap in graphics.

These are both PS3 versions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGyqDphofk8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOiANfRFKuc

Granted it is 5 years newer, and it really took a long time before developers understood the PS3.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ComradeOj

Skyrim was okay. I don't like it as much as oblivion. I always thought it was kind of over-rated. Nobody would shut up about it for the first few years. A lot of the quests seemed simplified and less varied compared to oblivion.

---

Also a lot of people prefer the grassy bright world of Oblivion. But yea, I gotta try Oblivion before I take sides.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ComradeOj

I'll have to check out morrowind some time. I'll probably like it. I'm a little worried about the next elder scrolls game. Seeing as fallout 4 got dumbed down to get more appeal. I think that's how morrowind fans probably felt about oblivion and skyrim though.

---

We could start it at the same time, share our experiences. I won't have it until late February, got ground shipping.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Crom

I bought Daggerfall back in the day when it came out. That game is not for the faint of heart, especially compared to today's games. It's MASSIVE but is filled with randomly generated dungeons that will frustrate the hell out of you. It's not uncommon to spend hours lost in the biggest maze of a dungeon ever, only to discover that there's not actually anything in there of value. NPCs are almost totally lifeless. You really have to role-play the old school way (in your head) to give the game world any life.

That said, in 1996 it was pretty much the coolest game ever.

---

The Elder Scrolls is another series where the first 2 games were obscure, niche-market. Like GTA.

Morrowind is by far my favorite Elder Scrolls game. I feel like it has the best and most diverse lore. The landscapes and towns feel more distinct and unique than the other games.

The other thing I feel like Morrowind has going for it is that it’s a pretty hardcore game. While this makes for an absolute bore-of-an-experience at the beginning (e.g. combat is very dull and difficult), it becomes a lot more enjoyable later on. The newer two games, particularly Skyrim, feel so watered down and geared towards the mainstream.

A few years ago I decked out Morrowind with dozens and dozens of mods that modernized the graphics, added tons of features, and a wealth of new areas to explore, and I was utterly immersed in it for months! One of my favorite gaming experiences ever. I put hundreds of hours into it. I got about 4 hours into Skyrim before giving up. Presentation-wise it's incredibly, but it just felt so dumbed down.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GeckoYamori

Oblivion is the low point I think. The setting was much more cookie cutter (and to think they even retconned Cyrodiil specifically to make it more like a generic temperate countryside), hideous art direction the numerous dungeons were insanely uninspired and repetitive, and the previously expansive game mechanics had started being toned down along with some downright terrible implementation of level scaling which completely neuters any sense of character progression. But the game's biggest failing is just how nondescript everything feels. All the loot you get and all the dungeons you crawl through are just so generic and void of interesting, hand-made design.

---

This is perfectly said.

The biggest thing about the newer Elder Scrolls games is that the entire experience just feels so god damn contrived. The level scaling is a huge immersion-breaker. It's way too adaptive, and panders way too much to the we-need-instant-gratification mainstream masses.

For example, there are many dungeons in Morrowind that are a complete and utter waste of time. Visit it at level 1 or level 50, and you're not going to find anything good. The reverse was also true, though. There was so much hand-placed loot that it meant any arbitrary dungeon you plundered could potentially have a dramatic payoff waiting at the end. It strongly encouraged spontaneous exploration, because you never knew what you were going to find. It was fun, and more than anything, it felt real.

Even worse, they did this shops, too! So now, magically, every vendor starts getting better-and-better items along the way. In an open world RPG like Elder Scrolls, this just destroys immersion. Again, with Morrowind, there were towns that would sell extremely rare and extremely expensive equipment, even at level 1; for example, Glass equipment was available in both Suran and Ghostgate. I remember saving up thousands and thousands of gold early in the game to be able to buy some of it. Whether you were a peasant or a juggernaut, the shops were still selling the same thing.

Morrowind captivated me like very few games ever have. Although Oblivion and Skyrim are beautiful games graphically, their gameplay never managed to replicate the charm of their predecessor. In Morrowind, it truly felt you were a part of a world, in Oblivion and Skyrim it felt like you were the world.

I agree with several others here that Morrowind was the high point for me.

Yes, it's not as pretty as the later games, and some of the gameplay absolutely got better... it also feels like Oblivion and Skyrim took a HUGE step back in many more important areas.

As far as being memorable. Morrowind was so utterly alien looking. Nothing in it looked stereotypical. It was, and is, beautiful for it's absolutely engaging sense of being somewhere completely apart from the norm.

I also HATE level scaling. I despise it in every single game. It's a lazy way to present a challenge. It's also completely unrealistic. I can only stand it in small doses with some key encounters.

I love how you have to sneak around and be careful at first. And how later you can become basically a game breaking god of destruction if you so choose to be... it's all part of the fun of the game with the freedom it gives you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JungleStrike

Morrowind captivated me like very few games ever have. Although Oblivion and Skyrim are beautiful games graphically, their gameplay never managed to replicate the charm of their predecessor. In Morrowind, it truly felt you were a part of a world, in Oblivion and Skyrim it felt like you were the world.

---

I appreciate your useful input. Its good to have some Morrowind veterans in here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by EclecticGroove

As far as being memorable. Morrowind was so utterly alien looking. Nothing in it looked stereotypical. It was, and is, beautiful for it's absolutely engaging sense of being somewhere completely apart from the norm.

---

I was reading on Wikipedia, I heard most of the world was modeled after Middle-Eastern terrain and buildings. Thats not something you see very often, its amazing how far these guys could think-out-of-the-box for a 2002 game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZKEqIQEwq8


Although it kinda seems like these previous games don't have much badassery compared to Skyrim. Like in Skyrim, I love how you can tell if a bandit chief has a frost-enchanted weapon, just by the sound of him picking it up.

I should give Morrowind a try on PC again, I had it installed in 2014 and used one of those bigass graphical update packs.
but I did something wrong and the game got unstable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NeoVamp

I should give Morrowind a try on PC again, I had it installed in 2014 and used one of those bigass graphical update packs.
but I did something wrong and the game got unstable.

---

The graphics pack is great. One of the premiere mods for Morrowind is Tamriel Rebuilt:
http://www.theandroidscloset.com/wp-...-World-Map.jpg
The landmass with yellow squares is the original Morrowind map; the huge chunk to the right is a new landmass that modders added in. It features new towns, quests, factions, etc... extremely detailed and really well put together:

Here's some sample screenshots of the towns they came up with:

http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/sites...0malur%203.jpg
http://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/...1338969413.jpg
http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/sites...nheart%202.jpg

Some of it is incomplete, but it's very much playable. I was just blown away by the quality though. It's been in the works for years and years and years, and development is still ongoing.