Poll: Morrowind Or Oblivion

[ThetaOrionis01]

'Play your class as intended'? I would rather roleplay MY character - not the character someone else 'intends' - or rather, due to the lack of available options, forces - me to play.

[Moribundusvii]

Not the class someone else chose, the class you chose or even created. If you make a stealthy character and try to play it as a fighter type person then it is your fault you aren't doing so well. That's what I meant.

[goseki]

its become odvious that there are a few hotpoints which players are either going to love or hate depending on how they play...

 

namely...

 

combat.

i, personally like the new action oriented combat. but it is definatly not going to be everyones cup of tea. I grew bored of morrowinds combat quite quickly, but it didn't stop me from playing the game. it was simplistic gameplaywise but was based on a rpg numbering system not usually found in 3d games. morrowind had alot of fans and many of them are not going to like the aboutface in gameplay technique. especially when it gets to the point where your skills on the controls out weigh your char stats. this makes the game abit more action than rpg. hardcore rpgers cry console port, but i just like whats fun...

 

level balance.

i still like it, but it isn't necessarily better than a more planned out game world. somethings do end up being lost. the feeling of entering a dungeon and totaly getting your ass kicked and knowing that you'll have to level up and come back to clean shop. its an important part of rpg gameplay because it adds a bit of mystery.."whats in that cave thats so precious, i must find out" It also has the side effect of making the gameworld inconsistant by making it too consistant, meaning, for example, at level 5 the sewers of the imperial city will pose the same kind of challange as the terror plane of oblivion! Also you might turn to your friend and say 'i final completed pale pass at level 45, it sure was tough' and your friend says , 'uh, i beat it at level 3'

i still like the leveling system, but the ideal would have been having a bit of both. free form leveling in a world that aslo houses many set level dungeons and areas.

 

for the most part your feelings on these two issues will probably define which you like to play more.

[thanateros]

Not the class someone else chose, the class you chose or even created. If you make a stealthy character and try to play it as a fighter type person then it is your fault you aren't doing so well. That's what I meant.

 

Well yea, that's obvious, but if I choose to attempt to play a character that has skills oriented towards a thief, I don't want to end up having to compromise my skillset because all of a sudden my entire character's strategy bottoms out and becomes virually unplayable. I should never have to face the idea that my character isn't doing well, and I shouldn't be at fault for having to change my strategy to adapt to an enviroment that becomes do difficult to navigate that the only way to progress in the game is to put on some heavy armor and pick up an axe and shield.

[Moribundusvii]

Well then you change over the course of a few levels to get new attributes. You can't complain about building a character for a strategy then finding that that strategy won't work so well in this situation and then not being able to instantly become another character.

[modernlegend]

erm, I think what Thanteros is trying to say, and I have to say I agree with him is that in morrowind you could stick to one strategy for your charachter, mages blasting away with destruction or assassins and archers being sneaky and doing away with the enemy as they see fit, as is realistic. A silent assassin doesn't just suddenly say "*censored* this for a bunch of bananas i'm off down the smithy to turn in my knives and leather and buy a suit of steel plate and a ridiculously large sword!" And this is I think what Thanteros is trying to put over it isn't that he should be able to "instantly change character" its more that he shouldn't have to in the first place. Assassins and magi should be able to stick with their tallents and not have to learn to deal in hand to hand due to enemies becoming either too awkward or numerous for the strategy of one of the above to work. Anyway, you'll have to take that as my interpretation of what's said, my appologies Thanteros if you intended it to be meant differently.

 

Oh and clintonius, good thread man, I think you havent so much poked the killer bee's beehive with a stick as taken a 12 guage shotgun to it, lol.

[TairosAurelius]

Morrowind was definately a better game. It had much more depth in a variety of ways, including the skill system and the setting. Oblivion is really missing the political volatility that made Morrowind so interesting. And I'm sorry, but piling daggers into the same skill as claymores is idiotic. But its all been said before...

[Moribundusvii]

But you can stick with your talents and do well. You just actually have to be good at those talents. I've been a silent assassin all the way so far. I've not had to become a fighter or a mage. I clear dungeons with ease, wearing bleedin 0 armour robes and weilding a dagger. I use 3 spells, Invisibility, Paralysis and Detect Life. Invis for being able to restealth easily if I miss or need to hide to escape unintended attention, paralysis to stop those foes who don't go down in one hit from getting health, and detect life to determine when I should stay sneaking and when it is safe to move faster. A mage shouldn't have any problems either, as long as he keeps his distance, which is entirely possible in nearly every situation, and uses his spells properly. You don't need to change character ever, you just need to be good at playing the character you picked. Oblivion requires some skill, Morrowind didn't. I'll admit that I liked the main storyline of Morrowind better, but that's the one thing Morrowind has over Oblivion. Oblivion is fun because it is a more involved game, in combat, in quests and in most other things.

[Shake/]

I will admit Oblivion is more difficult than Morrowind, because you can't twink your character out (which I like) . But if you know what you're doing you can own the game with any character concept of your choosing. If you level up up as a assassin and don't work for x5 multipliers and don't enchant your gear with the proper spells, and if you're not so greta with the mouse and keyboard, Then yes you're going to get owned. But there is a difficult slider. I think this is the way TES should be. TES has always been about putting the combat into the players hands. And now BEthesda has gone one step forward and rmeoved dice rolls. Personally I'm happy with this, and I'm not a console RPGer. I've played almost every CRPG on the PC. BG/Fallout/Ultima etc. But each RPG is aiming for different things. Ulitma was aiming for exploration and story. BG and Fallout were aiming for good epic stories with good dialogue options. TES in my opinion has always been aiming for a RPG with exploration and lore and real time combat. Dice rolls and unscaled items never made sense in Morrowind becuase the actual control was taken out of the players hands. you could not even block when you wanted to.

 

Anyway it all comes down to preference I think. Some people expect different things from a RPG. And some poeple don't expect anything but a good enjoyable game. If you play the game wanting Oblivion to fit into a mold. Then of course you won't enjoy the game as much. Because Oblivion is pretty much doing its own thing. It's got a combat engine that is like a FPS shooter. Quests that share similarities to a Bioware RPG. And it has NPCs with some of the best scripting in a RPG. But then again it has a scaleing system whch is very old skool pen and paperish, and is not really a system that many CRPGs use. And it also has a leveling system which gives freedom at the cost of balance. So I'm not suprised that everyone has different opinions on the game. Because the game is trying to do so many new things at once that some people will either like it for its originality, or hate it because it doesn't stick to a formula which they're use to.

[aqwas]

Right, Plusses and minuses:

1. i know it said to ignore graphics... but really....

2. In morrowind, the most fun thing to do was go around and see if you could kill all of the NPCs, In oblivion, there is some amount of character depth.

3. I know everyone is thinking this, but compare the armor. In morrowind, the Daedric armor (the coolest in the game) made you look like you had an impressive array of tumors, in Oblivion, there is no problem with that.

4. Just look at the main quests. in oblivion, the main quest makes you feel like a hero, in Morrowind, it makes you feel unsatisfied. Ok, you killed dagoth Ur, what now? you did not see any threat from, he was just another target, albiet a harder one to kill.

5. In oblivion there are not as many useless enemies (cliff racers, anyone?)

6. All that said, Morrowind has one thing done better than Oblivion: the Construction set. Oblivion's construction set more resembles a puzzle kit than a real free modding utility (just try modding the cathedral)

Anyway, that was my rant, feel free to flame my post for any reasons that you can think of.