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Looking for advice from the Eldarati Skyrim was my first Eldar Scrolls experience and I have enjoyed it greatly but I think I am approaching the end of my first play-through. Make no mistake, I intend to do a second with a character as different from my first as I can possibly make it. I intend to experience the other side of the Civil War and do all those quests I've currently put aside for role play reasons. However I think I should take a second run-through a lot slower and maybe intersperse it with a second game? So I've been thinking about buying Morrowind or Oblivion. What do you think? What would make the best complimentary game for someone new to Tamriel? Bear in mind I have no idea how these games differ. Perhaps I should be trying Fallout?

Cheers!

There will be far more educated posts to follow i'm sure, as i'm no TES expert. But for what it's worth:-

I loved Oblivion (PS3) because it offered me a console gaming experience that i had never before encountered. Warriors,Thieves,Mages and Archers all encompassed in this magical lore and history.
The game consumed me.
Would i go back to it having played Skyrim? Hmmm, i don't know. Probably not.
Does Oblivion offer a great gaming experience to someone who hasn't played it before? Yes, i think so, but it is similar, and maybe you would be disappointed having played so many hours on Skyrim.

I did this with Oblivion, I enjoyed it so much I went back and played Morrowind. I absolutely loathed Morrowind other people love it (I assume they must have played it first). Wouldn't recommend either after so much time on Skyrim.

Oblivion was a great game when it came out, but the graphics have dated really badly, the combat is poor and the leveling is a nightmare that being said the guild questlines were better than Skyrim, if your playing on PC there will be plenty of mods, if you can pick it up the GOTY edition for under £5 you should do so.

My abiding memory of Morrowind is being lost in brown, everything is brown. Avoid like the plague.

In my opinion It would be hard for me to go back to Oblivion after playing skyrim, probably because they are simmilar enough that skyrim just feels way better for me. Don't get me wrong I love Cyrodiil but I am waiting to return when they mod it into skyrim. I also love morrowind it was the first TES game I played. The combat takes some getting used to but it is a much deeper game than oblivion. Albeit not for everyone.

Ooh possible Morrowind vs Oblivion. This'll be fun to watch.

My advice, Play Arena. Totally ass kicking game, that is it'll kick your ass.

This is a really hard question

Morrowind has a better story, a great world to explore, many guilds(some are enemies), hidden treasures, completely no restrictions, relativley complex (many skills, attributes, very much spells), you feel more immersed in the world overall.
The downsides of morrowind are the gameplay is "harder" (no fast travel, quest markers, you can miss, spells can fail, almost no leveled areas, which mean you can meet high level enemies at level one....)

Compared to this Oblivion is "nearer" to Skyrim, with not so many gameplay flaws that Morrowind had. But it looses some detail of the gameworld over Morrowind, lesser guilds, more restrictive.


For morrowind there are some great mods available that upgrade the graphics, which bring the graphic standard atleast (near) to Oblivion Vanilla.
But there are also mods that can increase the Graphic of Oblivion atleast half way to Skyrim Vanilla^^.

I would go for Morrowind, but this is also because I played it as first TES Game.

You could also still go for Daggerfall, I liked that also.

You will find rater than which game has better graphics, or is better story wise.., is the problem that the games change drastically in Mechanics, Menus, and Controls.

It took me a while to go from MW to OB, just getting used to that. It took me even longer going from OB to Skyrim.

Rather than switch back and forth between two, or even three games, which will likely prevent you from enjoying the game due to the differences in the mechanics, menus, and controls... use the other games to give you a break, not as a filler (something else to do).

In saying that, you may find that starting from the beginning, and then playing through them each chronologically, will probably give you the best "Lore" experience, which may enhance your overall experience, and appreication for the games (knowing what happened before and how it shapped Skyrim). Now this may be difficult to do with Arena and Daggerfall, as they are so old, that it is hard to get them running properly... so your best bet may be to try them, and if you are having issues, then skip to Morrowind, then Oblivion, and finally back to Skyrim.

I will now put on my EOD Suit (to protect from flaming)... but you may also want to read the books, which explain a bit how things went from OB to SK.

For Arena and Daggerfall, if you look around a bit there are "Full Installers" that bring the game + the needed dos emulator in one package and include a standard configuration. For most standard PC's this works to play them without problems.

It is hard to go back but not impossible. Play oblivion(which is for some reason my favorite game of all time.) Then play morrowind if you can. Morrowind is the last time they focused on lore and depth rather than gameplay.

Likewise oblivion had nice grafics for a long time, I played it from the day I got it two years ago, to the day skyrim came out on and off.

The main problems IMO will be the combats systems and the grafics, they don't have the two handed one weapon in each hand system. They can also use magic when they hold weapons so it is equal. But it will just take some getting used to.

I'm going to say Oblivion, as it's what I did

Skyrim is basically a better version of Oblivion, so you will most likely be dissappointed. I'd go with Morrowind, but it is also by far the most difficult of the primary three.

If you want something like Skyrim, you should try Oblivion. If you want something more hardcore (game RPG system) and fantasy (less from "our world"), you should go for Morrowind. I don't know older TES.

I would choose Morrowind. It may not have superb graphics, but I like the system there, I enjoy it probably the most. Skyrim and Oblivion are mainstream games, Morrowind is not.

But I will recommend you Oblivion.

Oh, and no to Fallout. It's just so 'dark' in feel, texture and immersion. Just my opinion, as i know it's popular... but not for me.

Hell yeah play Fallout. Anyway I would say work backwards play Oblivion next, then Morrowind, then Daggerfall and then Arena.

My vote is for fallout 3

He's not asking about the Fallout series guys.

Spiney wrote:He's not asking about the Fallout series guys.

Jagged wrote:Perhaps I should be trying Fallout?

I think he is, as well as the Elder Scrolls ...

Woops, missed that. >.>

If so, don't touch New Vegas.

Fallout: New Vegas is probably the best Fallout. Just stay the hell away from Brotherhood of Steel.

After spending countless hours on Skyrim, Oblivion and Morrowind, and absolutely adoring all three to the point that I couldn't honestly say which was my favourite, I'll try to base my answer on my own experience.

Hardware issues meant I couldn't play my beloved Oblivion while I was awaiting Skyrim, so I dug out my old copy of Morrowind. I didn't install any mods and still found the game extremely enjoyable, getting embroiled in the various interconnected dramas engulfing the guilds and factions of Vvardenfell. Every inch of the game world is so lovingly crafted and so immersive that I hardly noticed the (comparatively) poor graphics.

So yeah, don't worry about finding Morrowind less accessible because of it's age. Both games are awesome and if you can put up with the graphics, Morrowind -> Oblivion would seem to be the logical path, in terms of chronology!

If so, don't touch New Vegas.

Oh no you didn't!

I'm not going to make this a fallout thread, but NV was an amazing game that stayed a bit more true to fallout's lore. Fallout 3 was amazing also, but kind of destroyed some cannon (cough cough enclave coming back strong as ever. I was seriously confused when I played the game for the first time in 2008.). I do think fallout 3 is a more polished game and I prefer it, but saying New Vegas is bad is crazy talk.

As for the OP, like most already said, get oblivion. I love morrowind just as much as the next diehard TES fan, but it might be to big of a leap gameplay wise for you to enjoy. You can get a oblivion: goty for cheap and the regular for super cheap. Try it out, you'll love it. Plus the menu system is SO much better than Skyrim's "modern" setup. Neither as good as good old morrowind's on pc though. I find it funny that for me that Skyrim's only "big" flaw for me is its annoying menu/chest system.

You guys have totally failed! The vote is practically tied!


Seriously though, some helpful comments for me to think about. I will probably end up getting both

@Hackattack: For retro gaming I've also been playing a bit of Serious Sam 2 just recently

@Hackattack: For retro gaming I've also been playing a bit of Serious Sam 2 just recently

Nice!

Serious Sam is a great series that is seriously under appreciated. Duke Nukem took all of the glory unfortunately.

Little do most know (on this forum at least, never really expressed it) is how much I love the Fallout series and Timesplitters (2 and 3, 1 was "meh"). I've put more time in those two series of games (and TES) than all of the other games I have ever played.

Highly recommend the fallout 1 and 2 (more 2 than 1) for anyone that loves old rpg's.