Why do people like Morrowind more than Oblivion?

I first tried Morrowind when it originally came out, and I couldn't get into it after only a few hours in game, the lack of voice acting bothered me as I felt like I was reading more than I was playing and everything felt quiet. I also felt lost, or lacking purpose quite often...

When I played Oblivion, I felt the exact opposite, all those "problems" were gone, but I began to notice a lack of diversity when it came to the environments/quests. Mods fixed the games flaws for the most part and I enjoyed it overall a great deal.

So my question is why do people like morrowind more, since I enjoyed Oblivion I am considering re-installing Morrowind since I've only played a few hours so maybe I didn't get to the meat of the game and I constantly see many people saying Morrowind was better than Oblivion.

Thanks in advance

Well for me the biggest reason was how unique the gaming world was in Morrowind. Each portion of the game world had unique architecture that was unique to that region only, whereas in Oblivion it felt like everything was copy paste, and the uniqueness of the world was gone.

Another reason was the scaled combat, it really diminished a feeling of real danger which was always present in Morrowind, because you could meet an enemy that could absolutely destroy you if your weren't careful.

As for the text based dialogue and not real voice acting, I kind of prefer it that way, because the dialogue was more intricate instead of very simple lines read by the same voice actors over and over.

Edit: I just realized that I used the word unique four times in my first two sentences. Good lord I suck at writing.

Another reason was the scaled combat, it really diminished a feeling of real danger which was always present in Morrowind, because you could meet an enemy that could absolutely destroy you if your weren't careful.

Fuzzy_Bear123

I hear most other people saying this about Oblivion, but my experience was the opposite. My most recent character's focus was on strength, agility, and melee skills, yet I often found myself in trouble. Even assigning the points at level-up as I did, it still took a billion slashes to fell even a goblin, and by the time that billionth slash was executed, my equipment (especially my weapon) was usually quite a bit worse for the wear (if I recall... it's probably been over a year since I last played), along with my health. In addition, this was just humiliating: that same character of mine got killed by just a few pounces by a mountain lion that he couldn't outrun or adequately fight/defend against.

I do fine in Morrowind. I detest Oblivion's level scaling. Will fix it with a mod whenever I get back to it, though I hear the few good mods that fix it usually make the game... harder?

Oblivion didn't have cliff racers which, as far as I'm concerned, was the biggest mistake Bethesda made with the game.

Therefore, Morrowind > Oblivion.

Oblivion didn't have cliff racers which, as far as I'm concerned, was the biggest mistake Bethesda made with the game.

Therefore, Morrowind > Oblivion.

blaaah

haha surely you jest.

Oblivion doesn't have Cliff Racers? Thats a step in the right direction.

[QUOTE="blaaah"]

Oblivion didn't have cliff racers which, as far as I'm concerned, was the biggest mistake Bethesda made with the game.

Therefore, Morrowind > Oblivion.

AFBrat77

haha surely you jest.

Oblivion doesn't have Cliff Racers? Thats a step in the right direction.

Instead replaced by mudcrabs. And every NPC in Tamriel talking to each other about the mudcrabs, such ugly beasts.

Morrowind landscapes and setting is just so much more appealing than Oblivion, everywhere you go was actually somewhat unique and exploring was a real payoff. I remember being so immersed coming straight out of Seyda Neen that i spent almost an hour just running around grabbing mushrooms and flora. I remember being amazed at the Telvanni architecture and overall customs of the natives. Finding a Daedric piece in this game or picking a lock was actually meaning something. Adventuring somewhere in the unknown just to see an overwhelming enemy, turn tails and get the hell out or find a way to bypass it really did give you this sense of danger. I used to love the mismatching of all the armor too in a lot of different parts, you really would feel like a scavenger sometime when you are half dressed in bonemold mixmatched with leather or whatever you happened to stumble upon.

Oblivion has a very crappy level and loot scaling system, which right away is a thumb down from me. Second to that, everything is so green, everything looks the same at the exception of a bit of snow towards the north. The world was not handmade by level designers and it shows that it was actually produced by an algorithm when you find for example grass clipping straight out of a rock, very few locations seems really unique and feels like a nice scenery. In morrowind i would frequently recognize where i was from the scenery and i would frequent some areas just because it looked awesome. I would find paths and shortcuts across the land while in oblivion there is a lot of repetition and its really hard to find your way by referring yourself to your surroundings. Oblivion has some good points, like horses, better melee combat but in overall it feels stripped off customization wise from morrowind. Magic should be feared and powerful, yet in Oblivion being a pure mage is a pile of doo doo unless you use mods to fix it up.

Overall, the elder scrolls games rely a lot on atmosphere to be enjoyable, i'd compare it to Stalker for that. When i play those games, it's certainly not for neither the combat (which is ok but could be way better) or the rpg mechanics (level up system anyone? it's garbage) or the pathetic dialogues. sadly Oblivion fails in that department compared to Morrowind. I find it hard to get absorbed into Oblivion's world which has a lot of copy and paste while Morrowind instantly grabbed me since every location in the world were unique.

The ONLY thing Oblivion has on Morrowind is graphics. But there are mods for Morrowind that greatly improve them.

Oblivion was all flash and no substance. It felt tiny compared to Morrowind and I only played it for a month it got really boring. Morrowind held me over for years.

Morrowing was really deep and amazing. Oblivion felt way more like a console knock off or something. I liked it but damn, it just wasn't the same.

Also the auto travel took away a lot from the game, and also the compas did too.

Oblivion was all flash and no substance. morrowindnic

Morrowind rewarded exploration. Onlivion didn't. I think that was the main turn off with OB. There's no point in travelling from one side of the map to the other, because all the enemies are exactly the same. And the loot will be the same also.

I don't think there's much better things to say about Morrowind than Oblivion. I mean, Oblivion was more streamlined, more logical in terms of gameplay and levelling, partly by consolidating/removing a few of the skills. I reckon some hardcore roleplayers just like Morrowind better because it's more fiddly...

I first tried Morrowind when it originally came out, and I couldn't get into it after only a few hours in game, the lack of voice acting bothered me as I felt like I was reading more than I was playing and everything felt quiet. I also felt lost, or lacking purpose quite often...

When I played Oblivion, I felt the exact opposite, all those "problems" were gone, but I began to notice a lack of diversity when it came to the environments/quests. Mods fixed the games flaws for the most part and I enjoyed it overall a great deal.

So my question is why do people like morrowind more, since I enjoyed Oblivion I am considering re-installing Morrowind since I've only played a few hours so maybe I didn't get to the meat of the game and I constantly see many people saying Morrowind was better than Oblivion.

Thanks in advance

Erratic_Knight

[QUOTE="Erratic_Knight"]

I first tried Morrowind when it originally came out, and I couldn't get into it after only a few hours in game, the lack of voice acting bothered me as I felt like I was reading more than I was playing and everything felt quiet. I also felt lost, or lacking purpose quite often...

When I played Oblivion, I felt the exact opposite, all those "problems" were gone, but I began to notice a lack of diversity when it came to the environments/quests. Mods fixed the games flaws for the most part and I enjoyed it overall a great deal.

So my question is why do people like morrowind more, since I enjoyed Oblivion I am considering re-installing Morrowind since I've only played a few hours so maybe I didn't get to the meat of the game and I constantly see many people saying Morrowind was better than Oblivion.

Thanks in advance

KalDurenik

[QUOTE="blaaah"]

Oblivion didn't have cliff racers which, as far as I'm concerned, was the biggest mistake Bethesda made with the game.

Therefore, Morrowind > Oblivion.

AFBrat77

haha surely you jest.

Oblivion doesn't have Cliff Racers? Thats a step in the right direction.

Oh no, I'm quite serious.

I could put up with the copy and paste level design, the scaling system that took all the fun and challenge out of the game, the NPCs talking to each other in the same voice, the fast transit system that made exploring an after thought, the vast, empty countryside that was vast and empty because of the transit system, the generic story and the lack of any kind of believable culture or society.

All those things I could tolerate...but no cliff racers? Goddamnit!

The biggest thing that broke Oblivion for me is the fact that it has no internal logic. I don't want to use the word realistic because people interpret incorrectly, but it's the same idea. Why do tougher enemies appear only after I've gotten stronger and why do the weaker ones disappear? Why is there not an ounce of steel armor anywhere in the world when I just get out of jail, but after I'm level 10, it's everywhere? Why do bandits try to rob me for 100 gold coins when they're wearing extremely rare (according to lore) armor? Why am I the only one who can close Oblivion gates, even though every guard in the world is stronger than me? In Morrowind, you are a character in the world. You are just a single entity that exists on this island. In Oblivion, you are the world. Games can't be immersive if they revolve around you.LongZhiZi

But that's Oblivion's internal logic. Complaining about this is like complaining about dice rolls in D&D. At least all these systems make sense in their own little world if you think about it. Once you accept the rules, it's great.

I first tried Morrowind when it originally came out, and I couldn't get into it after only a few hours in game, the lack of voice acting bothered me as I felt like I was reading more than I was playing and everything felt quiet. I also felt lost, or lacking purpose quite often...

Erratic_Knight

Sounds like the complaints of someone who wants an adventure game with a yellow-line (ala Fable 2) to guide them through the entire game.

I liked Morrowind more than Oblivion because it's a better game. It's bigger, has more quests, more guilds, more culture, more books, a better story, more mods, more towns, more secrets, more treasures, more skills, more classes, more weapons, more weapon types, more enemies, more difficulty, and more satisfaction. Morrowind really just has a lot more to offer than Oblivion. Oblivion is interesting for a few hours but it comes across as a shallow adventure game instead of an epic-sized RPG.

[QUOTE="LongZhiZi"] The biggest thing that broke Oblivion for me is the fact that it has no internal logic. I don't want to use the word realistic because people interpret incorrectly, but it's the same idea. Why do tougher enemies appear only after I've gotten stronger and why do the weaker ones disappear? Why is there not an ounce of steel armor anywhere in the world when I just get out of jail, but after I'm level 10, it's everywhere? Why do bandits try to rob me for 100 gold coins when they're wearing extremely rare (according to lore) armor? Why am I the only one who can close Oblivion gates, even though every guard in the world is stronger than me? In Morrowind, you are a character in the world. You are just a single entity that exists on this island. In Oblivion, you are the world. Games can't be immersive if they revolve around you.Baranga

But that's Oblivion's internal logic. Complaining about this is like complaining about dice rolls in D&D. At least all these systems make sense in their own little world if you think about it. Once you accept the rules, it's great.

Because people are not only dwelling in nostalgia, but also don't like major changes to a franchise they love, even though most of those changes are for the better. Oblivion is a better game than Morrowind imo, especially with the shivering isles and knights of the nine (imo the best DLC ever made).

Now Morrowind was truer to a tabletop RPG than Oblivion ever could be, but far too many things relied on chance. Morrowind also had varying atmosphere which was really good, but for the time. I guess that the graphics in Oblivion add to the immersion a lot. The main story was also much much deeper in Morrowind, and the dunmer didn't look like the blue aliens they do in Oblivion. My main gripes with Oblivion were the formulaic world design and the voice acting (although Morrowind doesn't even have voice-acting, so I don't understand why people tend to use it as a con when comparing Oblivion to Morrowind).

Now here are quite a few improvements that Oblivion made over Morrowind that are often overlooked. The game became far more reasonable. This may sound vague, but I am talking about game-play mechanics. People complain about fast travel in Oblivion, but if it didn't exist, they would surely bash the game to hell and back for it, because I do not want to ride a horse all the way across Tamriel just to have a conversation for a quest, then have to go all the way back. I also like the way that houses and property are managed in Oblivion,as opposed to being forced to build the houses. The interface, although much simpler than the Morrowind one, is far more user friendly and efficient. Oblivion also has some of the greatest side quests in any single player RPG ever made. Oblivion also made rather huge improvements over the Morrowind combat system, which relied far more on luck than actual skill.

Now there is one issue which can be argues both ways, and that is the leveling system in Oblivion. Personally I feel like it is a step in the right direction, and that leveling as a whole should be removed from the game so that only skills remain, which would make the game a lot more refined IMO. But, it still included leveling and the idea that the world only gets stronger as you get stronger is pretty stupid, and gimping yourself in order to make the game easier makes the whole thing feel like a broken gameplay element.

In conclusion, Morrowind has a deeper story, and is more of a traditional RPG in the view of the people who like it more than Oblivion. But far too many people ignore the many improvements that Oblivion made over Morrowind, as opposed to the "dumbed down" gameplay. Personally, I would take Oblivion over Morrowind almost anyday. But that isn't to say that Morrowind is a bad game in any respect, on the contrary it is actually one of the best and most influential RPG's ever made.

If everybody is stronger than you, why do you always defeat them? Bethesda's intention was to provide a constant level of challenge. It backfired because it was monotonous, but at least it was a good intention. How often the heroes are the strongest, mightiest characters in games, books or movies? The whole point is that you're the one the Emperor's premonition said will close the gates of Oblivion. Why do you look for deeper reasons in a fantasy game?

The world of Oblivion is a mechanism that revolves around the player's actions. If that's not a base system, then what is it? Everything is build around the idea that the world progresses at the same pace as you do. What exactly is so hard to accept? It's just different from other RPGs, not "wrong". A stat-based RPG is by definition the opposite of logic as you try to apply it, because juggling numbers is far from having anything to do with real life models. It has an interesting internal logic - which does have faults and stupid omissions like the all-knowing guards, but I don't see the point of complaining about standard fantasy tropes or mechanisms that are not gamebreaking at all.

Not to mention that it always feels good to bring a species to extinction:P

If everybody is stronger than you, why do you always defeat them? Bethesda's intention was to provide a constant level of challenge. It backfired because it was monotonous, but at least it was a good intention. How often the heroes are the strongest, mightiest characters in games, books or movies? The whole point is that you're the one the Emperor's premonition said will close the gates of Oblivion. Why do you look for deeper reasons in a fantasy game?

The world of Oblivion is a mechanism that revolves around the player's actions. If that's not a base system, then what is it? Everything is build around the idea that the world progresses at the same pace as you do. What exactly is so hard to accept? It's just different from other RPGs, not "wrong". A stat-based RPG is by definition the opposite of logic as you try to apply it, because juggling numbers is far from having anything to do with real life models. It has an interesting internal logic - which does have faults and stupid omissions like the all-knowing guards, but I don't see the point of complaining about standard fantasy tropes or mechanisms that are not gamebreaking at all.

Not to mention that it always feels good to bring a species to extinction:P

Baranga

That's an interesting take on it :P

I've played Oblivion, Morrowind, but to me the real game that bests both of these is Daggerfall. Both games were dumbed down after Daggerfall. Daggerfall had a far more involved leveling system unique to specific abilities and weapons. The other two were simplified badly in morrowind and worse in oblivion. Daggerfall had several combinations of weapons and armor to equip, as well as clothes. The other two don't. Daggerfall had atmospheric effects to terrify you, i.e. a screaming lich far down a dark hall, or the sounds of scorpions when you don't have the ability to kill quickly or resist paralysis. Daggerfall you could scale walls and talk to people with limitless questions, the other two limited what you could ask horribly in morrowind and disgustingly in oblivion. I could keep going. If graphics is your fetish, then enjoy games like oblivion. if you want to be enveloped in one of the greatest, truest rpg games... reload Daggerfall.

That Todd Howard douchebag is an action junkie. He's Bethesda's CliffyB, but Cliffy does what he likes in his favourite genre while Todd ruins RPGs.

I really enjoyed oblivion but when I tried to play morrowind it made me bored and frustrated so I stopped playing and might sell it

I've played Oblivion, Morrowind, but to me the real game that bests both of these is Daggerfall. Both games were dumbed down after Daggerfall. Daggerfall had a far more involved leveling system unique to specific abilities and weapons. The other two were simplified badly in morrowind and worse in oblivion. Daggerfall had several combinations of weapons and armor to equip, as well as clothes. The other two don't. Daggerfall had atmospheric effects to terrify you, i.e. a screaming lich far down a dark hall, or the sounds of scorpions when you don't have the ability to kill quickly or resist paralysis. Daggerfall you could scale walls and talk to people with limitless questions, the other two limited what you could ask horribly in morrowind and disgustingly in oblivion. I could keep going. If graphics is your fetish, then enjoy games like oblivion. if you want to be enveloped in one of the greatest, truest rpg games... reload Daggerfall.

WildZeppelin

Oblivion also made rather huge improvements over the Morrowind combat system, which relied far more on luck than actual skill.

shakmaster13

I wanted to like Morrowind, I really did, but combat was the one thing that killed it for me. To take a swing at a big critter that is point-blank dead center in your crosshairs and somehow missthe thing (repeatedly, too!) took me right out of the game.

[QUOTE="shakmaster13"]

Oblivion also made rather huge improvements over the Morrowind combat system, which relied far more on luck than actual skill.

chefkw

I wanted to like Morrowind, I really did, but combat was the one thing that killed it for me. To take a swing at a big critter that is point-blank dead center in your crosshairs and somehow missthe thing (repeatedly, too!) took me right out of the game.

Personally I prefer Oblivion, in fact I never finished Morrowind. But If you analyze the mechanics Morrowind had way more to offer than Oblivion. The only thing that turned me off was mostly the combat and the journal. Oblivion has also some thing that are annoying like the enemies level up and loot systems, the damn annoying compass system, the menu, among other things. Probably the noob friendly essence of Oblivion is the only thing that made me like it.

Makes me wonder if they put in KOTOR's combat system (the only difference is that one is turn-based and the other is real time), all these complainers would magically think the game is amazing.

KHAndAnime

Better gaem world, better cahracters, leveling system is better, story is better, MUCH better missions and more.

Morrowind and Daggerfall >> Oblivion