ELDER SCROLLS V

[Cramulus]

Like I said on page 2, Morrowind definitely had the best setting / writing in the series. If they could give me a setting that detailed, nuanced, and unique -- but with Oblivion's gameplay -- they will have made the perfect RPG for me.

[Cain]

The strange thing is that they both had the same lead developers.  So I'm wondering if it was a time issue - writers never have enough time to go into the detail they like.

[Cramulus]

I suspect it's an issue of market size. They were aiming a lot higher with Oblivion than they were with Morrowind (in terms of sales), and that meant they needed to make it more accessible. This means writing a lot more generic Tolkeinesque content because it's something audiences will immediately recognize. It's the same reason that World of Warcraft is about as generic high-fantasy as you can get.

[Misery's Feed Trough]

I dusted off my XBOX a couple of weeks ago so the wife and I could play some Whacked.  (It's a fun game if you like cartoons, gameshows, and senseless cartoonish violence)  I almost, almost dug out my Morrowind game as well.  But then I remembered the bugginess, all of those times I killed someone I shouldn't have and was fucked,...and the pterodactyls.  THE PTERODACTYLS!!!!  I then, quietly, and carefully put it back, and just stuck to my Whacked.  

ETA:  I also discovered that Nintendo just added Chrono Trigger to WiiWare.  I just need to get one of those regular Nintendo controllers, download that puppy, and RPG old-school style.  

[Idem]

The strange thing is that they both had the same lead developers.  So I'm wondering if it was a time issue - writers never have enough time to go into the detail they like.

I thought they fired a bunch of their writers and canon people when they started Oblivion.

[Captain Swampass]

if you spend a thousand hours playing any game, you will hate the sequel.

I am amused at the image of these franchises repeatedly kicking you in the balls by not cloning their older games.

You're probably right about the first bit. Though I likely would've enjoyed Oblivion a hell of a lot more if they had made a world that felt vibrant and alive, along with a great atmosphere. Decent writing would've helped. The raw gameplay was much better then in Morrowind, so that was an improvement. They just fucked everything up.

[Eater of Clowns]

Emerging from the dungeon tutorial in Oblivion and seeing the bright, lush, breathtaking world that you're now free to explore is probably one of my favorite video game moments ever.  Then it went downhill from there.

It isn't as good of a game as Morrowind, and yes a lot of that has to do with accessibility.  Morrowind felt huge, foreign, dark, and dangerous.  You could walk into the wrong door and just be owned up by some pissed off dude with a big fucking hammer.  I remember all of my save files, that little photo next to the time stamp was always a door.  Oblivion's level scaling made it too easy.  I had no fear, I could take just about anything.

[Captain Swampass]

Emerging from the dungeon tutorial in Oblivion and seeing the bright, lush, breathtaking world that you're now free to explore is probably one of my favorite video game moments ever.  Then it went downhill from there.

It isn't as good of a game as Morrowind, and yes a lot of that has to do with accessibility.  Morrowind felt huge, foreign, dark, and dangerous.  You could walk into the wrong door and just be owned up by some pissed off dude with a big fucking hammer.  I remember all of my save files, that little photo next to the time stamp was always a door.  Oblivion's level scaling made it too easy.  I had no fear, I could take just about anything.

Pretty much. Then if you make the 'wrong' character, you spend 15 minutes wailing on one enemy at level 30. At level 30 you rape everything with your fist in Morrowind, and at level one? ... You cry.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I never played Morrowind so Oblivion was my first encounter with TES series. I was blown away! World was lush, alchemy was a total trip. Fair enough the dungeons were a bit repetitive but what the fuck, there were a million of them? I did eventually give up on it on PC cos of the "1 crash per 30 secs of gameplay" issue but I grabbed a copy for PS3 and it was a lot better. I just hope I don't feel like you guys when I get my hands on skyrim and it turns out to be dumbed down and shite

[Captain Swampass]

I never played Morrowind so Oblivion was my first encounter with TES series. I was blown away! World was lush, alchemy was a total trip. Fair enough the dungeons were a bit repetitive but what the fuck, there were a million of them? I did eventually give up on it on PC cos of the "1 crash per 30 secs of gameplay" issue but I grabbed a copy for PS3 and it was a lot better. I just hope I don't feel like you guys when I get my hands on skyrim and it turns out to be dumbed down and shite

Well Oblivion was dumbed down in some pointless idiotic ways. In Morrowind you had long swords, short swords, maces, axes and spears for combat. In Oblivion? Axes and swords, spears were cut out of the game completely. Now, the funny thing was that the fusion of maces and axes was justified in game, as they both require a similar technique. But by fusing sword swords and swords, that implies that a thief skilled with a slender dagger will somehow know how to effectively use a claymore. Then the sense of exploration was totally eradicated by quick travel... Which Morrowind had, you just couldn't use it all the time and it wouldn't take you anywhere. With Oblivion? Any fuckass can teleport anywhere for no reasons, and there isn't even an interesting place to explore should you choose to totally ignore quick travel.
 
So, the only way they can dumb Skywim down anymore is if they were to fuse every weapon and armour skill together into some thing called Combat, and let you teleport onto any spot of the map. Oh and have a compass that was akin to Fable 2's idiotic glowing trails. But there is some hope.. although, Skyrim is cutting down combat skills to one handed and two handed, but really? The RPG experience isn't about numbers and the manipulation of them, its about the experience, the world and the immersion. That is why Oblivion utterly failed as an RPG, to me at least. But who knows, if everything they've hinted at about Skyrim is true then it could be fantastic.

[Cain]

P3nt, you should totally buy Morrowind.  It's like £5 on Amazon, fully patched GOTY edition and with the two expansion packs.

The graphics are a little crappy, as you would expect (though the distance art, in particular the night sky, was breathtaking), but you can use mods to upgrade it to Oblivion level looks in no time.

Also alchemy is much better in Morrowind, because the effects stack.  You make an intelligence fortifying potion, use it, the benefits from that stack when you make your next potion and so on and so forth.  Somewhere down the line you end up having potions that raise your intelligence by several thousand and last months in real time as effects.

No poisoning people with bad potions though  

[Captain Swampass]

P3nt, you should totally buy Morrowind.  It's like £5 on Amazon, fully patched GOTY edition and with the two expansion packs.

The graphics are a little crappy, as you would expect (though the distance art, in particular the night sky, was breathtaking), but you can use mods to upgrade it to Oblivion level looks in no time.

Also alchemy is much better in Morrowind, because the effects stack.  You make an intelligence fortifying potion, use it, the benefits from that stack when you make your next potion and so on and so forth.  Somewhere down the line you end up having potions that raise your intelligence by several thousand and last months in real time as effects.

No poisoning people with bad potions though  

Oh yes, becoming a god with potions is such fun. And, with an hour and a half of working and one hell of a computer, Morrowind can look like this:

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9184/mgescreenshot44.jpg
http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/9264/1800e.jpg
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/5830/mgescreenshot52.jpg
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/8729/mgescreenshot60.jpg
Or you could just disable the shadows, most shaders and some lighting and get a very similar experience. Same textures, anyhow.

[Thurnez Isa]

P3nt, you should totally buy Morrowind.  It's like £5 on Amazon, fully patched GOTY edition and with the two expansion packs.

The graphics are a little crappy, as you would expect (though the distance art, in particular the night sky, was breathtaking), but you can use mods to upgrade it to Oblivion level looks in no time.

Also alchemy is much better in Morrowind, because the effects stack.  You make an intelligence fortifying potion, use it, the benefits from that stack when you make your next potion and so on and so forth.  Somewhere down the line you end up having potions that raise your intelligence by several thousand and last months in real time as effects.

No poisoning people with bad potions though  

Morrowind was awesome.
I find it didn't age as well as Oblivion, probably due to the combat is a little lackluster, but I remember having way more fun at the time with Morrowind then with Oblivion.
The music is better too - and even with the lesser graphics the game had more of a serene somber feel then Oblivion.

[Jasper]

Morrowind was great because it felt like a place.  Not being able to travel conveniently, the complete and total lack of automatically generated landscapes, and the absurd level of back story, depth, and random cultural stuff (BOOKSBOOKSBOOKS) forced you to appreciate it as a place.  In Oblivion, the land is just stuff that happens in between quests, and if you've seen one wilderness, you've seen them all. 

If I one day hiked across Washington, doing odd jobs, fighting off PTERODACTYLS, and reading every book I could find, I'd feel like I was having a proper There And Back Again adventure, Morrowind style.

[Disco Pickle]

Levitate + 100% resist magica + Boots of Blinding Speed: greatests spell/equip combo ever.