Morrowind vs Oblivion

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Having played both games I am curious as to how others who played both feel about the two games.

General speaking I prefer Morrwind because I think the main quest is more integrated into the game. There is none of that 'rush out and do this but take your time, explore, adventure' in Morrowind. You can merrily traipse along killing monsters, freeing slaves, rescuing obnoxious damsels in distress and getting lost in the Ashland Wastes without feeling guilty that you haven't saved the world from whatever it is that threatens it.

My initial reaction to Oblivion was (and still is) that the Developers had a lot of ideas left over and created a game stew, a fun game stew true and a quite well done one.

The graphics have improved and the NPC's are more developed in Oblivion. Spell casting has been improved. But Oblivion is a no-fail game. You always repair your basic armour, you always cast your spell assuming you have enough magicka, you always make a potion if you have the ingredients. Ah, ingredients, much better in Oblivion. There is actually food. I really do not want to eat rats even in play.

So what other opinions are there?

 

I prefer Oblivion...easier to get into, more fun to play. But then, that's because I think of Oblivion as a medieval FPS rather than a full blown RPG...

Oh yeah, and shinier graphics, better sound and less annoying gameplay (fatigue drains when you run...so you have to walk EVERYWHERE!! Spells fail! You swing your blade but dunno if you are hitting!)

Maybe its just me but I could never really get into Morrowind that much...besides, if I wanted to do number crunching in an RPG there's always NWN!

 

I prefer Morrowind. In Oblivion, when you enter a dungeon, you know you'll find some enemies from one particular group (goblins, undead, bandits, natural beasties etc...), and some minor loot. Except for quests, they rarely deviate from this. But in Morrowind, if you enter a random cave, you can find mini-stories, like one cave I entered where all I found at first was a single dead scamp near the entrance. Went further in, and found two mages who were summoning scamps to tunnel into the tomb of some great king. Another one: daedra worshippers had summoned an ogrim, explaining the lack of almost any enemies. You can just enter almost any random hole, and there's something new to see.

There's also more complex spells with tactical uses, like Lock, which I really missed. And Detect Key, and other interesting things.

And sub-tasks, there just for players to see if they can do. Like robbing the treasuries in Vivec (I only managed to rob the Telvanni and one Redoran... there are keys to all of them somewhere).

And you can fail. In Oblivion, if someone important dies in the main quest, you're forced to load. In subquests, NPCs tend to be invulnerable. In Morrowind, anyone can die.

It sounds like I hate Oblivion now... but I love that too. The combat is so much better; much less focused on stats, and more on player skill. I can develop my own fighting style, rather than frenzied left-clicking, since I have to manage blocking myself. The spellcasting mechanic is nicer too, and the dynamic world is brilliant. There are a few things to find, like the woman who makes skooma drops in the wilderness once a week, and the goblin totems, with the raids by goblins on whoever has them, to get them back, including other goblin tribes who've stolen theirs. And, of course, there's the graphics and physics... and Oblivion has less bugs (although it does crash too much...).

But the big thing that puts me off Oblivion is that it's designed for enemies that scale to your level. That's not what I'd call a freeform world. That's a world where enemies exist purely to jump at the player. Some areas should be naturally harder than others. If I walk through a battlefield (in reality), the soldiers don't arm themselves with slingshots just because I'm around, and I don't want it happening in a game. I liked entering a random ruin in Morrowind, seeing a vampire, and cheesing it, hearing maniacal laughter from behind me. If only enemies could follow through doors... another Oblivion success.

Uh... I love both.

 

I've only played Morrowind out of the two, but from what I've heard of Oblivion combined with how impressed I was by Morrowind (not to mention the tendency of sequels to truly great games to suck in comparison), I'm about 90% sure I'd prefer Morrowind.

 

Ah, fighting in Oblivion and Morrowind. Oblivion improved the fighting but several times I have seen references to the 'just left click' in Morrowind. There is a right click and I use it a lot. It does seem to initiate block to some extent depending on the character's stats and give a power blow if you hit the enemy.

And fighting with companions in Oblivion. Lord of Games, save me from my comrades. Dumb idiots get in my way and then blame me. . I find Morrowind marginally better except for the fact I've almost been killed by some companion's spells on several occasions.

There is something that I hate, really, really hate in Oblivion and that is that Personality Wheel thing. Boring, boring, boring and frequently doesn't even fit the character. Why do I have to get some guy who wants to kill me to like me first? At least in Morrowind I just taunt him to death. I think Personality was a bit unbalanced in both games. You have to have a high personality. Actual I can accept it in Morrowind since a charismatic person fits the main quest but Oblivion? Nah, I'm just a poor slob caught in the middle and the pawn of the gods.

Both games you start as a prisoner. Never explained why you are a prisoner. In Oblivion you escape, become a hero and no one ever questions you about the past. In Morrowind the Emperor finds out you fit some obscure prophecy and sets you free, well sort of. You are drafted into the Blades and sent to Vvardenfel (not the nicest place in the world) but that is certainly better than rotting in jail.

 

I don't really like one over the other, I had a blast in both. In both cases if something annoys you , there's generally a mod that will fix/alter that for you.

 

Both games are great. Oblivion however is kind of a "dumbed down" version of morrowind, and way to easy since everything around you is leveled at your current level. The fast travel in oblivion was a better option to all the running around from place to place in morrowind though.

 

New Elder Scrolls player should play Oblivion first. It's much easier than Morrowind. Skills are diluted, equipments are diluted, quests are diluted, factions are diluted, everything is diluted. Morrowind might be too overwhelming for new players who have no idea what Elder Scrolls games mean.

Picking herbs in Morrowind requires you to open a new inventory screen, move cursor around to pick your flower. Oblivion is easier and better.

Traveling in Morrowind is more is real life. You have a mix of several means of transportation. Oblivion fast travelling is very convenient, yes. But this convenience kills the texture of the game.

Morrowind offers 13 wearing/clothing parts at a time. This offers a lot of custom mix and match for the player. Again, Oblivion kills is layer of texture.

The most i enjoy about Oblivion that i cannot get from Morrowind is Dark Brotherhood. Marog Tong in Morrowind just tells you to get there, kill this. Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood assassination offers more fun. You cannot outright kill a person in broad day light, every assassination has to be accidental. Especially the "whodunit" part, i need save and load several times to enjoy the fun of it.

Oblivion is like Lord of the Rings movie, real eye candy, easy to understand. Morrowind is like LotR books, deep, tedious, but excellent. i prefer the books.

 

Well said. You kind of nailed it I think.

 

Diluted down! Excellent description of Oblivion. Even the armor is so diluted that if a mudcrab sneezes at you the armor needs to be repaired.

I played Oblivion first, complained about it in FAI and was persuaded to try Morrowind. I love Morrowind.

I made a misstatement in a prior post. In Morrowind you hold the left or primary button down to get a power attack and/or block.

The NPC's in Oblivion behave in a more natural fashion, eating, sleeping, wandering around all over the place.

You can join every faction in Oblivion. There is no overall intrigue. Here you are, folks, ten games in one. I like that you need to think in Morrowind. Your actions have consequences at least some of the time.

 

I love Morrowind because I hate Morrowind.

(That isn't a mistake.)

Perhaps it is better to say, I love Morrowind (the game) because Morrowind (the setting) is weird, harsh, ugly, xenophobic, fractious, complex and inspired. The atmosphere and world design are unique and compelling. The weather is awful. And against all opposition from primitive traditionalists, religious zealots, a vast swathe of vested interests and a god you piece together the puzzle of a 3000 year-old murder (your own) and have to deal with the terrible consequences of the mistakes made by your killers (and, to a lesser degree, your old self). In the end, you must defeat a former ally, twisted and mad because his loyalty to you in your former life cost him so dearly. It's kind of like Torment but with much higher stakes, suffused with themes of both retribution and atonement, set in a brilliantly conceived and executed environment of conspiracy and hostility. I don't care if the combat is a little bland. And what's more, it's also fine to ignore all of the above and just treat the game as one big sandbox.

In Oblivion you help save a crumbling (yet surprisingly pretty) generic fantasy land from brain-dead demonic invaders. Yawn.

 

ha! i played oblivion on xbox360 for about 12-13 hrs over a weeks time before i ever rested in a bed! couldnt figure out why i wasnt leveling up when i waited(yea, yea, i know...doh!) i was thinking man this games gonna be hard if it takes this long to level up once! i had closed 5 oblivion gates. so when i finally rested in a bed and leveled! wow! my level bar didnt go down? rest another hr. another level. the bar is still up? rest again. yep ended up 9th level before i was done resting. talk about feeling like a NOOB!!! i had taken all major skills in H arm, armorer, acrobatics, block, blade, athletics & sneak. so i had a really strong, really high endurance sneak in H armor who couldnt cast a spell worth a lick. thats what i get for renting a game without the manual! had a 95 strength and 100 end but a 30 willpower, intelligence & i think personality. big strong and as likable(& almost as smart) as a brick. needless to say the second character was a little different. now a relative is getting me morrowind as a christmas gift fo the pc so hopefully i will be able to appreciate this game more

 

Something I HATED about oblivion was the Spell effectiveness reduction with waring armor. Waring heavy armor was an option in Morrowind, and even if you didn't have 100 in it it was worth while...

BUT IN OBLIVION! No! You HAVE to have proficiency or you may as well give up on spells. Gah! Annoying!

 

I haven't tried Oblivion. From the sounds of it, Morrowind is the best of the series, so I'll stick with it, even though my X-box is getting tempermental in it's old age...

 

I got Morrowind and honestly going from Oblivion to Morrowind I'm having some serious issues getting motivated to play it. It lacks a ton of mechanics that Oblivion makes more fun. I also can't find horses or 'travel fast', so I'm assuming Morrowind doesn't have those.

Of course, it does seem to me there's more roleplay options in Morrowind, but I think Oblivion is the better game just out of a pure gameplay view. It's almost like a BG1 vs. BG2, where BG1 has better banter and group orientation, but BG2's technology makes it more enjoyable.

 

Morrowind uses magic as a means of fast travel. Mark your spot in a dungeon, then you can teleport right back there when you sell off your loot, heal up and are ready for more. The two intervention spells will take you right to temple steps, one for Imperial, one for Tribunal temple. Most towns have a Silt Strider or a dock allowing travel between cities, and the Mages guild allows for teleportation between any of the 5 guild halls...

 

I really miss the Mark and Recall spells

 

Well, really, Oblivion is a return to 'The Elder Scrolls'' roots - vast non-linear worlds a fair attempt at 'living worlds' (shops only open certain hours, NPCs sleep, work, relax at a tavern, etc).

If anything, Morrowind was a departure to the precedent that had been set with Daggerfall - only part of a single province in the empire to travel around, a WELL-WRITTEN, engrossing main plot underlying the events (that believably can sit and wait for you to complete your mudcrab collection) and even a deux ex mechina-ish justification for the loss of the 'schedules' (Dagon Ur is disrupting everyone's dreams so much that people don't sleep much anymore )

Despite not playing Oblivion yet (I haven't even wrung every last drop of fun out of Daggerfall yet, let alone Morrowind! ), I am a little iffy about getting it - the 'actionish' fighting turns me off (my reflexes are aging, there's a reason I prefer RPGs to FPSs), and other people's comments on the 'dumbing down' of it saddens me (I'd have called it 'consolization', except Morrowind for the xBox only left out a FEW small things...oh, and patches ) If I see it for cheap, I'll get it, if for no other reason than to complete my TES collection (yes I have Battlespire , and Redguard was interesting, but not enough so for me to go hunting for a copy)