UESP Forums

I remember Oblivion being my first TES game and the one which gave me the most hours of entertainment. Tough at the time I played it, I wasnt aware of the hate train going against it and blaming it for the downfall of the TES series. I know there's a huge bandwagon going on right now that praises Morrowind and blames Oblivion/Skyrim. After playing DF I thought it was actually the best and truest TES game by a long shot, even better than Oblivion which was my childhood game.

After DF I tried Morrowind and simply couldnt get into it, the clunky combat, slow speed, smaller scale, weaker MQ, weaker overall.... I replayed Oblivion after and while it surely wasnt half as interesting as it was years ago, I still could rush my way into any guild and immediately start doing some of the best side quests the series has to offer, so I would rank it 2nd.

Im wondering, for all those who rank DF 1st, what do you think of Oblivion? Is it the 2nd best? 3rd best? Or it doesnt exist because it dumbed the game down even more? Im well aware of the dumbing down but find it to still be a great TES game compared to MW and Skyrim.

Wow, I had no idea there was any hate for Oblivion and Skyrim! Most of the times that I've seen anyone post some critical rant against one of the Elder Scrolls games, it's been about Morrowind and how people must like it just because of nostalgic memories of old-style RPGs.

Oblivion was my first Elder Scrolls game as well, and I like it a lot. The only Elder Scrolls game I haven't played yet is Daggerfall, and I like all of them equally well-- but not necessarily equally, because to me they're all different and really shouldn't be judged one against the other.

Well, I haven't played Redguard or Battlespire yet, either, or any of the mobile games-- or the card game-- but I don't really consider them to be Elder Scrolls games since they aren't part of the main series; they're more spin-offs.

So I can't really help you with your question, since I'm not among the group of people you're addressing.

Daggerfall was my first TES game, and I've been a mostly-fan ever since. From my perspective, the disappointment fans from my era have in Oblivion are due to what we perceive as a massive departure from the series as we had experienced.

The transition from DF --> MW was very similar in gameplay (still character skills mattered much more than player skills) and the difference was mostly scope (smaller landmass but with MUCH more detail). A few skills were lost, but most of those didn't matter much anyhow. I don't think anyone looked at MW and said it was "dumbed down" from DF

The transition from MW --> OB was drastic in that it changed the way the game was played. A LOT of skills were cut for what appeared as no good reason, MUCH more emphasis was placed on player skill rather than character skill, and overall the game is much more simplified than MW--especially in terms of NPC interactions (far less dialog! What the heck?)

So in short, I think a bit of the frustration was that Morrowind still felt like it was made for fans of DF while hopefully adding to the fanbase--on the flip side, Oblivion felt like the intention was to replace the fanbase with a different, larger one.