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Morrowind (with Tribunal and Bloodmoon)

124 (58.8%)

Oblivion (with Shivering Isles)

16 (7.6%)

Skyrim

51 (24.2%)

Daggerfall

16 (7.6%)

Arena

4 (1.9%)

Total Members Voted: 209

[towerdude]

omigosh huge picture - Remember that some people that browse these forums have small screens or limited bandwidth. In the least put it in spoilers.

I'm not sure how Morrowind had better customization than either Oblivion or Skyrim. Both had a huge number of things you could change about your character's face before sticking a mask or helmet over it. If you're talking about skills and such, that falls more under game mechanics than customization. Skyrim also had a lot more quests involved with the lore of the world than Oblivion, and did a much better job of presenting the past as something that happened. Oblivion mostly had books and the Emperor, and that was about it. If the world had started existing the day before you started adventuring very little would have been different.

Sorry about that

About the lore, I can't help it, but the dialogue system of Morrowind is better, it brings you more into it. Voice acting is not everything. I have fine with the few grunts, and speeches what NPCs in Morrowind made. I liked the customization better in Morrowind, because despite you have an in built face maker in 4 and 5, you cannot make really unique faces with it, it jus changes the one template a little, I would rather go with preset, but entirely different faces, or much more refined face-maker (for example a one that allows me to load my photo into it, and can easily make my facial features).

[Kilroy the Grand]

omigosh huge picture - Remember that some people that browse these forums have small screens or limited bandwidth. In the least put it in spoilers.

I'm not sure how Morrowind had better customization than either Oblivion or Skyrim. Both had a huge number of things you could change about your character's face before sticking a mask or helmet over it. If you're talking about skills and such, that falls more under game mechanics than customization. Skyrim also had a lot more quests involved with the lore of the world than Oblivion, and did a much better job of presenting the past as something that happened. Oblivion mostly had books and the Emperor, and that was about it. If the world had started existing the day before you started adventuring very little would have been different.

In morrowind you could equip 16 items, you could also put any enchantment you wanted on those, any at all, no restrictions.

in skyrim you have 9 equipment slots, with severe restrictions of what you could enchant on those pieces. If you think Skyrim handled the TES lore well, I'm starting to wonder about you.

[Eagle_eye]

While I agree Skyrim's connection to the lore was... iffy (I can't move through ice freely as a vampire?!) , gameplay mechanics are not lore. The lore could be exactly the same in an elder scrolls RTS, or movie, or puzzle game.

[cameron]

(for example Asimov, Dune, Lord of the Rings, or fine literature)

the only thing I can think of these (except maybe whatever "fine literature" refers to) have in common is a well developed setting? Also I'm not sure how relevant your little rant on the state of modern society is, there was only 4 years between morrowind and oblivion.

Anyways, I voted dagger-fall as after daggerfall the series moved more and more towards a very meticulously designed world that a player was expected to move through in a set manner. I know a lot of morrowind fans will say it was in many respects gave the player more freedom, it was a shift from mostly randomly generated quests and terrain which gave the appearance of a large and living world, to a small and preplanned world which only seemed to move forwards with the player. It isn't even that I particularly enjoyed daggerfall more than any of the other games but that it seems to represent where the series could have continued, it could have instead gone in the direction of simulation and generation of large environments and communities for a player to explore with little regard to perceived fairness in play or adherence to a script.

[Knight of Fools]

I was comparing Oblivion lore to Skyrim lore in reference to the towerdude's ranking, not those two to any other game in the series. They were definitely the weak links in the series, but Skyrim was better than Oblivion in that it pretended that there was a world before the game started.

Sheesh, I'm not that stupid.

I did completely forget about the whole enchanting and spell work thing, though, but that's probably because I never got into the magic system in any of the TES games. I think I actually used more magic in Skyrim than any other in the series, ironically.

Still, customization implies aesthetics rather than mechanics when talking about games. Spells are more of a mechanical notion, and not all characters, or even players, use magic.

[Hawkfrost]

Call me heretical or whatever else, but I could never get into Morrowind in any respect.
I played it for about 10? hours and eventually just stopped.

My main problem was probably that either everything died in like two hits, or kill you in the same amount, so you actually couldn't explore anywhere (at least not at level 1-4) because the enemies simply walled you everywhere you went and the grind to get your stats up took forever.
So after faffing around the cities for a bit doing boring guild quests my attention wavered.

Now, Morrowind IS probably the best of the Elder Scrolls series hands down but it has some serious newcomer blocks.

[Kilroy the Grand]

Still, customization implies aesthetics rather than mechanics when talking about games. Spells are more of a mechanical notion, and not all characters, or even players, use magic.

The plastic wrap look that enchanted items had? Different spells had different colours, I remember being a level 70 god of death, with all my equipment either increasing my strength or giving me a ludicrous health regeneration. Good times.

Call me heretical or whatever else, but I could never get into Morrowind in any respect.
I played it for about 10? hours and eventually just stopped.

My main problem was probably that either everything died in like two hits, or kill you in the same amount, so you actually couldn't explore anywhere (at least not at level 1-4) because the enemies simply walled you everywhere you went and the grind to get your stats up took forever.
So after faffing around the cities for a bit doing boring guild quests my attention wavered.

Now, Morrowind IS probably the best of the Elder Scrolls series hands down but it has some serious newcomer blocks.

The game is actually incredibly easy if you don't level at all, but know where all the good gear is. And I loved the quests, I could still do the theives guild quest-line even in my sleep.

[Hawkfrost]

The game is actually incredibly easy if you don't level at all, but know where all the good gear is.

Then that's honestly a huge problem, because a game shouldn't punish you for getting stronger.
It was an issue with Oblivion until I modded it out, and I really want to know which devs actually think rubberbanding difficulty is a good idea.

[sluissa]

I did love morrowind at some point. I have fond memories of it. I try to go back to it now though and I walk sooooo slooooow.... even when I cheated to give myself insane move speed I only felt like I was doing a brisk walk or maybe a jog.

Oblivion was the first TES game that I actually completed the main storyline in... and that should tell you something right there. The fact that the world was small enough and empty enough that I didn't get distracted from the main plot just shows how things kept getting smaller and more confined. Granted, Oblivion put just a tad more emphasis on the direness of the situation. I mean, hell gates popping up everywhere and an evil demi-god about to invade? That's a lot more drastic than Daggerfall's ghostly hauntings, and Morrowind's "report to this drug addict and be his errand boy for a while."

Skyrim I barely got into. It was just like. Oh, dragons... they're kinda hard to kill... oh, apparently I'm special somehow. And... yeah... let's go loot some bandit forts for a bit and decorate my house... and then I got bored. I also felt really out of character playing anything but a Conan the Barbarian(Ahnuld, not Jason Momoa.) type Nord character. Yeah, they gave you the option to be anything, but it just felt odd to be anything but a Nord... and as a Nord, it felt odd to be anything but a nearly naked fighter.

If I had to play one now, I'd probably go back to Oblivion, or maybe try to get into Skyrim again. Daggerfall's biggest problem is the horribly dated and awkward GUI and I have a hard time getting past it, not to mention the difficulty of getting it running, but that's not a problem with the game itself. Morrowind, as I said, just feels too slow to me. I know that I missed some stuff in Oblivion, which is why I'd be willing to go back and give it a slightly closer look. Skyrim, I perhaps unfairly judge, and I"m sure there's more to see there, it's just that nothing in the first 5 or so hours I played grabbed me.

Daggerfall still has more playtime for me than any others and I know I've not even come anywhere near to exploring all the possibilities. I never even got a ship or explored much beyond the northern part of the map. Morrowind gave me enough playtime that I feel like it was a worthwhile experience. Oblivion and Skyrim. At first I felt like there wasn't enough there. But once I actually dug into Oblivion, it wasn't a bad game, just not up to what I was hoping. Skyrim I feel is similar. Probably not bad, I've just had enough of it lately with Oblivion, two Fallouts and all the other similar sandboxy games out there.

[Rex_Nex]

Hah, I was one of the two that picked Oblivion.

Can I explain it? Probably not. I've tried every game on the list, even the expansions, except for one: I never got shivering isles for oblivion, nor did I get the other expansion, nor did I ever patch it, nor did I ever use a single mod since I was on the 360.

But you know what? Oblivion made me happy. I loved that game to pieces, I remember the nights I used to stay up, the first time playing through the dark brotherhood, the fun I'd have switching between humorous glitch-the-game-out fun and serious roleplay on a whim. I remember climbing white-gold tower with paintbrushes. I remember having fun blowing the adoring fan off every known elevation of terrain. I remember looking for daedric shrines to get the cool shiny weapons.

Nostalgia tinting my vision? Maybe. But the save game screen doesn't lie, and the save game screen says I have hundreds of hours invested in playing just a single character.

I miss that game. I wish I could bring it back now, but it's not as fun going through it all a second time.

[Kilroy the Grand]

The game is actually incredibly easy if you don't level at all, but know where all the good gear is.

Then that's honestly a huge problem, because a game shouldn't punish you for getting stronger.
It was an issue with Oblivion until I modded it out, and I really want to know which devs actually think rubberbanding difficulty is a good idea.

It only becomes a problem if you know where everything is. The difficulty does jump when you gain enough levels for harder enemies to spawn, but it's still better than skyrim.

[towerdude]

The game is actually incredibly easy if you don't level at all, but know where all the good gear is.

Then that's honestly a huge problem, because a game shouldn't punish you for getting stronger.
It was an issue with Oblivion until I modded it out, and I really want to know which devs actually think rubberbanding difficulty is a good idea.

No the game don't punish you for getting stronger. It is just another tactic developed by the players, it fits some, others like leveling. The problem with your starting character is that, you maybe don't spent your attributes well enough, it depends on what kind of player you are, fighter, mage, marksman, thief or in between. I suggest not to use the predefined classes, but design your adventuresr in such a way that it's starting attributes, skill, race and sign strenghten and not weaken each other. For example the The Lord sign paired with a High Elf is pretty suicidal. An Orc with Warrior sign, with Heavy Armor, Axe, Block, and Armorer is a more easier fighter.

[Hawkfrost]

Well I designed my characters basically the way you stated, with complimentary skills.
Maybe I'll give it another try sometime and see how it goes.

[towerdude]

Read this:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Differences_Between_Morrowind,_Oblivion,_and_Skyrim

Morrowind
As a high-level member of a Great House, you can build a stronghold. You can also acquire two player homes in Bloodmoon. (added by me: you can also build a city through quests in Bloodmoon)

Oblivion
You can buy houses of your own in Oblivion.

Skyrim
You can buy houses of your own in Skyrim. NPCs who have a high disposition for you will often allow you to take some of their less valuable items and even sleep in their beds. Upon marrying someone, you will share ownership on all of your spouse's property.

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Morrowind
There is no map marker for quests. It is important to get full directions from a quest-giver before you leave. Make sure to ask about every topic that seems relevant to your mission to make sure you are getting all the information you need.

Oblivion, Skyrim
You can select a quest in your journal to be your "active quest". In most situations, a quest marker will direct you to the next location for your active quest.

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Morrowind
The Acrobatics skill is quite powerful compared to later TES games.

Oblivion
The Acrobatics skill has been significantly toned down.

Skyrim
Acrobatics is no longer a learnable skill.

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Morrowind
Your character has 5 major Skills and 5 minor skills. Your level is dependent on these. Everything else is considered a miscellaneous skill and has no effect on your level, though they do contribute to your attributes on level up.

Oblivion
Your character has 7 major skills. Your level is dependent on these. Everything else is considered a minor skill and has no effect on your level, though they do contribute to your attributes on level up.

Skyrim
There are no major or minor skills; in fact, skills aren't even chosen pre-game. All skills affect your level as they increase, as well as your attributes.

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Morrowind
The journal is organized chronologically. You can also look up conversation topics in your journal to see all the dialog related to that topic. As of the Tribunal expansion, you can look up all entries relating to specific quests as well.

Oblivion
The journal is organized by quest title. You can view all of the entries for your active quest in reverse chronological order. You can also view a shortened list of all of your current or completed quests. You cannot look up conversation topics.

Skyrim
The journal is organized chronologically, with more recent quests at the top. Completed quests are listed, in order of completion, on the bottom half of the journal. A single "Miscellaneous" tab contains all info on any miscellaneous quests. You cannot look up conversation topics.

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Morrowind
You can drop and sell quest-related items, so it is possible to lose them. It is a good idea to save items that have a unique name, or look them up on the wiki before getting rid of them, because they might be related to a quest later on.

Oblivion, Skyrim
Quest-related items cannot be dropped or sold until they are no longer needed. They will have no weight for as long as they are considered essential. The Elder Scroll in Skyrim is an exception where it weighs 20 and cannot be dropped.

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Morrowind
Custom spells are created by paying a Spellmaker.

Oblivion
Custom spells are created for gold at an Altar of Spellmaking.

Skyrim
Custom spells are not available in Skyrim.

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Morrowind
You can have multiple summoned creatures fighting by your side at one time. You can summon a wide variety of creatures, including animals and automatons.

Oblivion
Only one creature can be summoned at your disposal at one time. Summoning a second one dispels the first. Only undead and daedra (including Dremora) can be summoned.

Skyrim
Only one creature can be summoned at your disposal at one time. Summoning a second one dispels the first. However, if you have the Twin Souls perk, you can have two summoned creatures at a time. Only familiars, atronachs, and Dremora can be summoned directly. NPC corpses can be reanimated into zombies.

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Morrowind
A faction's quests may require you to kill an NPC essential to another faction's quest.

Oblivion, Skyrim
You can never kill an NPC essential to another faction's quest until after he or she is no longer essential.

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Morrowind
Advancement is dependent upon completing a certain number of quests (in no particular order) and having sufficiently high skill levels within the faction's favored skill set.

Oblivion, Skyrim
Advancement is dependent only upon completing the required quests, usually in a linear fashion. There are no skill level requirements.

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Morrowind
There is no icon to warn you that you are about to commit a crime, so be careful when you pick something up or open something that might be owned.

Oblivion, Skyrim
The take icon will turn red over owned items to warn you that interacting with it will be considered a crime.

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Morrowind
If you gain a bounty equal to five-thousand gold, a death warrant will be issued for you. Guards will not attempt to arrest you. The only way to get rid of your bounty is through the Thieves Guild.

Oblivion
Guards will always attempt to arrest you, and you can always be forgiven for your crimes through the proper channels.

Skyrim
Guards will almost always attempt to arrest you. If they witness you commit a minor crime such as petty thievery, and their disposition towards you is high enough, you can talk your way out of it. If you are Thane of the hold, you can eliminate the charges, but you can only use this option one time per hold. If you are in the Thieves Guild, an option is present where you can bribe the guard to drop the charges.

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Morrowind
Any number of items may be sold or bought in one transaction.

Oblivion, Skyrim
Each item or stack of items you sell or buy constitutes a separate transaction.

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Morrowind
Available weapons include short swords, long swords, broad swords, claymores, wakizashis, katanas, daggers, tantos, sabers, clubs, battle axes, maces, warhammers, war axes, halberds, spears, shortbows, longbows, crossbows, throwing knives, darts, and throwing stars.

Oblivion
Only short swords, long swords, claymores, daggers, clubs, battle axes, maces, warhammers, war axes, and bows are typically available, although a few katanas and cutlasses also exist.

Skyrim
The Skyrim player has the options of daggers, swords, katanas, maces, war axes, battle axes, greatswords, staffs, warhammers, bows, and crossbows(DG).

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Morrowind
Each weapon has varying damage levels for each type of attack.

Oblivion, Skyrim
Every weapon does the same base damage, no matter what attack is used.

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Morrowind, Oblivion
Armor and weapon condition will degrade as the items are used. When the condition reaches 0 (out of 100), the item is broken and cannot be used. The player can repair them or pay a weapon merchant to have them repaired.

Skyrim
Armor and weapons do not degrade or break.

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Morrowind, Oblivion
When the player is underwater, a meter shows how much air they have left before they begin to take health damage. Weapons and spells can be used while swimming.

Skyrim
No air meter when underwater. Weapons, spells, and shouts cannot be used when swimming.

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Morrowind
Essential NPCs can be killed, but doing so relays a message that "the thread of prophecy has been broken" and says to reload or "continue in this doomed world".

Oblivion, Skyrim
Essential NPCs cannot be killed.

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Morrowind, Oblivion
Your race, and to a lesser extent, your class, determine your starting attributes like Strength and Speed. These can be increased on level up.

Skyrim
Strength, Speed, and the other six primary attributes from previous games no longer exist—there are only three attributes now: Health, Magicka, and Stamina. All races start with 100 in each attribute, with the exception of Altmer, who start with 150 magicka.

[towerdude]

Well I designed my characters basically the way you stated, with complimentary skills.
Maybe I'll give it another try sometime and see how it goes.

Also you actually have to be cautious with whom you fight, you will learn thing by trial and error. I for example started to steal things, with the Tower sign, and sold out stuff, bough what high level items I could. And if it wasn't necessary to fight an enemy, and he just summoned a skeleton army, I skipped the fight, or used levitation, or jumped on rock, or lured them into lava or off a cliff. It is also a viable tactic to not fight anyone, but use stealth and fast movement, and only backstab or pick pocket the bosses.