The Elder Scrolls

[Blackdrop]

I'm going to go off on a limb here and assumed some people here have played these games.

Personally, my favorite game is Morrowind. The game world is rich and vibrant and the near ability to do whatever the hell you want is awesome-sauce.

For those of you who don't what the Elder Scrolls games are I would recommend heading over the Elder Scrolls wiki or quite possibly picking up one of the games.

[Kane]

I'm afraid I've only played oblivion, which I quite like, but don't have at the moment as I've loaned it to a friend. (Need to get it back.)

Anyway, I quite like it, though voices are a bit silly. Very good game, and the fact that it's just so ludicrously huge, and there are no restrictions or anything on what you can do. Plus it's very mod-friendly.

I tried playing morrowind, but by the time I got a copy of it, I was so pampered with the superior graphics and first person game play of Oblivion that it just didn't really grab my interest. My loss, from most of my sources...

[mangosta71]

I have also only played Oblivion. I like the RPG elements. I like the levelled opponents. Really, I like everything about the game except the character development/optimization. If you don't do everything bass-ackwards, by the time you're level 10 you're too weak to take on anything. It gets worse as you progress through the levels - by the time you finish the game, your characters are all exactly the same regardless of what path you pick originally.

[factotum]

I really hope Bethesda releases Daggerfall for free like they did with Arena, because most people seem to think it was the best game in the series and I've never played it. Of the two I have played, Morrowind was a good game, Oblivion wasn't...that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter.

[RTGoodman]

I'm apparently the opposite of a lot of the above - I've played Morrowind quite a bit, but I've never played Oblivion (though that's because I didn't get an XBOX 360 until late last year and I don't have a computer that could even HOPE to run a game like Oblivion).

I haven't gotten any mods for MW (since I've just got the XBOX version), but I've played through it a LOT. Well, that's not quite true - I've never finished the main quest since I either just end up screwing around and exploring or making use of various cheats to become super-powerful and just destroy everything. :smalltongue:

[Swok]

I've played both Oblivion and Morrowind. Overall I vastly prefer Morrowind, on account of a much more epic story. Hail to the Nerevarine. Though Shivering Isles was a lot of fun.

[Jade Falcon]

I´v played only TES Arena and TES Daggerfall, I never played Morrowwind and this piece of garbage I call my computer cannot handle Oblivion.

I have still the eight 3.5" floppy disks of Arena .. fantastic game back at it´s time :smallsmile: Daggerfall is also good, very buggy but nevertheless I like it. My copy of the game has a special place in my games collection and from time to time I still play it.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Only played Oblivion, but, contridictory to what Mangosta said, I really disliked the scaled creatures. What made it absolutely unbearable was when you get really high, and find that you have to spend 2 minutes slashing and blocking a bandit before he dies. :smallannoyed:

Would love to get this game on the PC with mods, but I figure I have enough to play right now, and I would assume a sequal eventually (what was the time difference between Morrowind and Oblivion?), especially since oblivion has been out for like 2 1/2 years (right? January 2006 sticks out in my mind)

[Cespenar]

Despite the numerous mods I've installed, Oblivion could only approach the quality of Morrowind. And without the mods, it's just not worth playing. The only aspect of the game that I like is the 'roaming AI' kinda thing (or whatever it's called).

Again, I encourage everyone (if you don't know already) to install lots of mods for Oblivion. What I think is, that the performance of the modding community surpasses that of Bethesda itself.

[The Rose Dragon]

Actually, when modded all the way to oblivion, Oblivion becomes a quite good game.

Of course, you either need to stay the hell away from the main quest, or you need to finish it ASAP. Cause it is terrible.

I mean, OK, it is a nice idea that you're just a minor figure in the grand scheme of things, but why end the main quest with a deus ex machina?

[Morty]

I've played Morrowind, Oblivion and Daggerfall- the first one for very long, the other two shorter. Morrowind is a great game despite its flaws, and becomes even better when modded. Oblivion is quite fun but gets boring as heck very quickly. Daggerfall was probably a great game when it was released and is still quite good, but it didn't age very well. Sure, the area of the game is huge, but nearly everything is randomly generated, which hurts immersion. The dungeons are far too large, looking for one person, monster or item in them is very frustrating.

[loopy]

I tried playing morrowind, but by the time I got a copy of it, I was so pampered with the superior graphics and first person game play of Oblivion that it just didn't really grab my interest. My loss, from most of my sources...

Not your fault man. If I don't play a game when it originally comes out, I can't come back to it either. This means I can play Warcraft 2, but not the awesome Fallout Games.

Yes, I hate the fact that I can't bring myself to play them.

[DeathQuaker]

I've played some of Morrowind, but not finished it. I got a bit overwhelmed by the size of the place. I really like to explore, so it's a fairly huge game that actually makes me get sick of it. That said, I do want to get back to it, though I have no recollection what I'm supposed to be doing at the moment.

I would like the game a little better if conversations were actually.... conversations. Having everyone give the same info off of info trees gets a little old. That said, it's obviously got a well developed world and some neat skill options.

Given what I've heard about Oblivion, I haven't tried it yet as it sounds like they minimized some of the stuff I liked about Morrowind and increased some stuff I didn't like. If i get it for cheap I might try it though.

[factotum]

Would love to get this game on the PC with mods, but I figure I have enough to play right now, and I would assume a sequal eventually (what was the time difference between Morrowind and Oblivion?), especially since oblivion has been out for like 2 1/2 years (right? January 2006 sticks out in my mind)

Bethesda's next game is Fallout 3--no word on whether they're working on a new Elder Scrolls title as yet.

[Inhuman Bot]

Ha! here I was about to start a thread about TES and....

Anyways, a quick question. I've beaten most of the main quest, and have a Archmage, Speaker and Guildermaster Theif charcter. Can someone point me to some good mods, as I have no clue where to start?
Please and thanks.

[freerangetroll]

Ha! here I was about to start a thread about TES and....

Anyways, a quick question. I've beaten most of the main quest, and have a Archmage, Speaker and Guildermaster Theif charcter. Can someone point me to some good mods, as I have no clue where to start?
Please and thanks.

Obscuro's oblivion overhaul is really the only mod I use. The main purpose of OOO is to eliminate the enemy level scaling and returning oblivion to a more classic leveled monsters approach. IE bandits don't level past ten or so and never get glass armor unless they are important, dremora tend to be higher level . Makes the game much more playable and also you can't beat it at level one.

The OOO package also includes a ton of balancing to abilities, armor and weapons skins/additions. Really I can't play Oblivion anymore without OOO running.

As to the thread. Morrowind is my personal favorite followed by Daggerfall and then Oblivion. I never played arena.

[Fostire]

The thing i disliked most about oblivion was that the world was so tiny. Morrowind was supposedly a small island and the world in oblivion was supposed to be a continent, yet the world map in morrowind was ten times bigger than that of oblivion.
What i liked most of oblivion where the quests from the dark brotherhood and the quests from the thieves guild (the last one is the best).

The first time i played morrowind i totally forgot there was a main quest the second i stepped in balmora and joined the guilds.

[factotum]

As to the thread. Morrowind is my personal favorite followed by Daggerfall and then Oblivion. I never played arena.

Bethesda offer Arena for free download from their website if you're interested in going back to the beginning...it really looks pretty ropey in this day and age, of course!

LordRod, I think the world map in Oblivion was LARGER than Morrowind. However, because it all looked the ruddy same (Yahtzee was about right when he said it looked they'd just cut and pased the same 200 yard field in Yorkshire), you had fast travel to skip all that tedious travelling around, and there weren't as many points of interest as in Morrowind, it FELT smaller.

[Morty]

The thing i disliked most about oblivion was that the world was so tiny. Morrowind was supposedly a small island and the world in oblivion was supposed to be a continent, yet the world map in morrowind was ten times bigger than that of oblivion.


No, not really. Oblivion is set in a single province of Tamriel Empire, just like Morrowind.
The fact that Cyrodill was supposed to be a tropical forest is an entirely another matter, of course.:smallsigh:

[freerangetroll]

Lack of fast travel aside from the silt striders made morrowind seem much larger then it really is.

I just really loved the Morrowind lore, and plot line so much better then Oblivions. It was also much more ambiguous as well. I mean people are still arguing over at the official TES lore forums if you were actually the nerevarine or if you just happened to fit the prophecy by lucky accident. Such a deep game.

[Emperor Ing]

I liked Oblivion. I recently downloaded Shivering Isles, but my 360 is getting fixed. :smallfrown:. Can't wait to play that though.

I do agree, the story is very subpar, but the main story is only, like, what? 15% of the game?
The rest of my problems is, the female elf (no specific) voice makes me want to slit someone's throat, and the Fighters Guild storyline sucks.

Other than that, very good game. No question, the best quest in the game, is the final thieves guild quest. I know you agree with me.

[freerangetroll]

I liked Oblivion. I recently downloaded Shivering Isles, but my 360 is getting fixed. :smallfrown:. Can't wait to play that though.

I do agree, the story is very subpar, but the main story is only, like, what? 15% of the game?
The rest of my problems is, the female elf (no specific) voice makes me want to slit someone's throat, and the Fighters Guild storyline sucks.

Other than that, very good game. No question, the best quest in the game, is the final thieves guild quest. I know you agree with me.

For sheer "oh that is cool and twisted." I would have to say that the Dark Brotherhood House party quest is the best in the game.

Either that or when you unleash a rain of flaming dogs.

[DemonicAngel]

And then you mod the game like crazy and make it quiet good.
like what I did. hehe.

anyhow, the really fun quests were shivering islands, dark brotherhood and what I intended my thief Kahjit to do- the thief guild. that was so much fun.

[Om]

I've played some of Morrowind, but not finished it. I got a bit overwhelmed by the size of the place. I really like to explore, so it's a fairly huge game that actually makes me get sick of it. That said, I do want to get back to it, though I have no recollection what I'm supposed to be doing at the momentIt wasn't the size that got to me but the sheer mind numbing nature of the grindfest gameplay. I tried three times to complete it but always got bored by the time I came to the end game

[Cespenar]

Wha.. grindfest? Now, jRPG's have grindfest gameplay. Morrowind doesn't. It has a whole continent mapped out so that you may even forget about the main quest and just go sightseeing.

[Om]

Wha.. grindfest? Now, jRPG's have grindfest gameplay. Morrowind doesn't. It has a whole continent mapped out so that you may even forget about the main quest and just go sightseeing.And how do you level up a stat? Let me answer that - by repeatedly hitting something with a sharp stick. Its a good thing that there's so much countryside to explore because you spend 90% of your time wandering around it looking for cliff racers to hit repeatedly. Which you'll have plenty of opportunity to do because 90% of the quests (plot critical or sidequests) are simply excuses to send you traipsing across the continent like some medieval FedEx

[Cespenar]

And how do you level up a stat? Let me answer that - by repeatedly hitting something with a sharp stick. Its a good thing that there's so much countryside to explore because you spend 90% of your time wandering around it looking for cliff racers to hit repeatedly. Which you'll have plenty of opportunity to do because 90% of the quests (plot critical or sidequests) are simply excuses to send you traipsing across the continent like some medieval FedEx

Come on, in every game you get stronger by "hitting people with a sharp stick". Morrowind makes it more realistic, in which you upgrade your skills by using that skill. And though I agree with the annoying feel you get from the FedEx kinda quests, the continent at least has an active transport system that you can use to get to places quickly (while not destroying immersion like the "quick travel" thing in Oblivion).

[Om]

Morrowind makes it more realistic, in which you upgrade your skills by using that skillYou'd think that but in practice its just an incentive to hit random monsters to gain a few points in Long Blade. In Morrowind you don't level up by completing quests or even killing creatures... hitting them is enough. Eventually you realise that these random encounters are the entire point of the game... its certainly not the plot

[Swok]

And how do you level up a stat? Let me answer that - by repeatedly hitting something with a sharp stick.

Wait...you talking the different skills? I mean, I know I leveled up security all the time cutting bandits.

Oh...wait. That's not how it works at all.

[Cespenar]

You'd think that but in practice its just an incentive to hit random monsters to gain a few points in Long Blade. In Morrowind you don't level up by completing quests or even killing creatures... hitting them is enough. Eventually you realise that these random encounters are the entire point of the game... its certainly not the plot

I'm sorry that you feel the random encounters being the entire point of the game, I wouldn't like the game too if I felt like that, but I focus my attention more towards the side-quests (I agree that the main quest is not that much of a fun), the atmosphere, and the nicely fleshed out setting. The majority of the quests (in general) requires minimal or no fighting. With some mods, this increases even more. Trust me, the premise of the game lies not in combat.

[Om]

Wait...you talking the different skills? I mean, I know I leveled up security all the time cutting bandits.

Oh...wait. That's not how it works at all.Now that is some quality pedantry

Although I did level up much faster as a mage when I realised that I could simply cast the same spell over and over. Not to mention practising sneaking by sitting crouched behind a mudcrab... and don't get me started on alchemy


I'm sorry that you feel the random encounters being the entire point of the game, I wouldn't like the game too if I felt like that, but I focus my attention more towards the side-quests (I agree that the main quest is not that much of a fun), the atmosphere, and the nicely fleshed out settingThe problem with sidequests is that they were just mechanisms to send you across the continent (killing things along the way naturally) for a small material reward. There's no real incentive there and the main quest is the same

The best part of the game, by some distance, the books scattered around the world that, as you put it, nicely flesh out the setting. That proved that Bethesda can write but this talent was completely lacking from the rest of the game. There was virtually no dialogue of note, conversations were non-existent, and while the story was actually interesting this didn't become apparent until the very end game. So in the end you are left wandering the wilderness without any real purpose other than killing monsters

All this being my interpretation of the game of course. I can't tell people what to like and what not :smallsmile:

[Turcano]

It wasn't the size that got to me but the sheer mind numbing nature of the grindfest gameplay. I tried three times to complete it but always got bored by the time I came to the end game

If you have more money than patience, you can also pay NPCs to train you in a given skill.

[Oeep Snaec]

In Morrowind, how do you complete the thieves guild quest where you have to steal the key to the mansion in Balmora? I have been unable to pickpocket the owner, and killing the other guy with the key is friggin terrible because of all his buddies. Any tips?

[Swok]

Mercilessly...Bribe him. He'll give the key after you bribe him enough.