Skyrim vs Oblivion, as an alternative

[flaggpuss]

This might be a silly question in ways, but wondering if oblivion can have the creative character attributes and freedom to be anything that skyrim has but modded where that could/can be a possibility and is the action gameplay just as good or the same?

[ponyboy10]

I don't have personal experience with Skyrim, but a lot of people have said that it's leveling/skills/etc and some character options are actually streamlined (some might say "dumbed down") compared Oblivion. You can also get a bunch of mods for Oblivion to make it look nearly as good if not better than Skyrim. You'll also find some of the newer mods are very Skyrim-influenced. You definitely have a lot of freedom in Oblivion, before even getting into mods. From what I understand, the basic gameplay is very similar as well. Oblivion also has a few mods to overhaul the combat system if you want a more action-oriented experience.

[flaggpuss]

Oh, thank you, maybe later on I can get TESIV for cheap the ultimate edition or something, rig can't handle Skyrim anyway and TESIV has more to offer and has more of an laid storyline than skyrim does to me.

[ponyboy10]

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm doing -- Oblivion came up for sale for $5/$6.24 on steam so I grabbed it. I can't bring myself to spend $40+ on Skyrim yet :) The modding community is definitely huge for Oblivion still, so you should have plenty to keep you busy!

[David Brasher]

Oblivion is a dumbed-down ("streamlined") spinoff of Morrowind. Skyrim is a dumbed-down ("streamlined") spinoff of Oblivion. How dumbed-down do you suppose this makes Skyrim look when compared to Morrowind?

 

For Skyrim, these jokers at Bethesda took away our character classes, our birth signs, our greeves, our second ring slot, our need to cast healing spells, our spellmaking system, our repair hammers, our short swords, most of our daedra, and some other things. What were they thinking?

 

So Skyrim has superior graphics (if your computer can run them at high settings) and Oblivion, and especially Morrowind, have superior game mechanics and dynamics. Oblivion has terrible lag problems, but if you have a computer that can almost handle Skyrim, then Oblivion will run pretty good. Oblivion is definitely worth trying. You might fall in love with it.

[Brittainy]

As others have pointed out, a lot of things in Skyrim are very much dumbed down compared to Oblivion. I think modded Oblvion (or hell, even Vanilla Oblivion) holds up pretty well. But it does depend on personal taste, of course.

 

I didn't enjoy Skyrim. I'm just adding more mods to Oblivion and it's quite astounding how much is out there to improve the game.

 

:thumbsup:

[Rennn]

@original post

Yeah, most of Skyrim's new content was based on Oblivion mods anyway.

 

The new followers are just like the CM Companions mod for Oblivion.

 

Some of the new spells in Skyrim appear to be direct ports of Midas Magic Spells of Aurum.

 

ImpeREAL forts for Oblivion is better than any of the new active forts in Skyrim.

 

Open Cities makes the towns in Oblivion better than the ones in Skyrim.

 

Deadly Reflex makes the combat better than in Skyrim. In fact, Skyrim used several of the ideas from Deadly Reflex (such as rolling and beheading). Deadly Reflex is hard to install correctly, unfortunately.

 

Qarl's Texture Pack is still higher-resolution than Skyrim's vanilla textures.

 

More Animals for Oblivion adds rabbits and foxes- something else that vanilla Skyrim acquired, no doubt inspired by the More Animals mod in Oblivion

 

The Climbing mod lets you scale vertical walls, like in Daggerfall. It's very good when used with Open Cities. This is a feature Skyrim doesn't have, but I had to list it. It's one of my favorite mod combos.

 

Sounds of Cyrodiil no doubt was the basis of Skyrim's new ambient sound effects. (like hearing a blacksmith beating metal through a door, or being indoors and hearing it rain outdoors)

 

Seeing containers and doors open in Skyrim was also inspired by an Oblivion mod that does the same thing.

 

There were plenty of crafting mods in Oblivion, which are very similar to the crafting system in Skyrim.

 

The 28 Days mod for Oblivion is also awesome. I prefer Version 2; Version 4 adds a lot of new features (like zombie goblins and zombie animals), but it's buggy. Version 2 is more basic, but it's still great and has practically no glitches. Skyrim doesn't have an analog to that.

 

Natural faces improves character face graphics. It's still not as good as vanilla Skyrim's faces, but a lot closer than the regular faces in Oblivion.

 

HGEC female bodies and Robert's male bodies look very similar in proportions, curvature, and polygon count to the vanilla Skyrim bodies, and even come in multiple versions for both nude and non-nude.

 

Unique companions like companion Vilja far and away surpasses Skyrim's "romance" system.

 

The Unique Landscape Series and Better Dungeons for Oblivion make everything more unique and fun, even better than the dungeon and land design in Skyrim, actually. Unique landscapes also add new animals where appropriate, like adding muskrats in the Heath near County Kvatch, or Kodiak Bears with cubs near Chorrol. Better Dungeons, meanwhile, adds unique encounters to vanilla caves, and really is just a big step up in cave design.

 

Another mod I really like is Alternative Beginnings. It lets you choose a mini-origin story, like beginning the game as a Necromancer or as a servant in a manor. It's a relief not to have to play the same huge, boring tutorial quest each time you start a new game.

 

Fading torches lets you drop lit torches that fade and degrade over time. It's most useful with Darker Nights and Darker Dungeons. Skyrim doesn't have anything like this yet.

 

Plus, vanilla Oblivion gives you more options than Skyrim. You can already ride horses in 1st person in vanilla Oblivion, and the world in general is more open. In Skyrim they put in more barriers and restrictions, similarly to Fallout 3 or New Vegas. In Skyrim you can get locked into quests and have no way out (*minor spoiler alert* the Molag Bal thing, for example), whereas in Oblivion you never have your freedom taken away.

 

In general, (and I like Skyrim) modded Oblivion is better than vanilla Skyrim. No doubt since Skyrim already has so many of these features, it'll be even better when heavily modded, but the bottom line is that right now, you won't miss much from Skyrim if you play modded Oblivion instead. You'll actually find it's better than vanilla Skyrim if you know how to install the bigger mods.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Rennn

[Rennn]

Oblivion is a dumbed-down ("streamlined") spinoff of Morrowind. Skyrim is a dumbed-down ("streamlined") spinoff of Oblivion. How dumbed-down do you suppose this makes Skyrim look when compared to Morrowind?

 

For Skyrim, these jokers at Bethesda took away our character classes, our birth signs, our greeves, our second ring slot, our need to cast healing spells, our spellmaking system, our repair hammers, our short swords, most of our daedra, and some other things. What were they thinking?

 

So Skyrim has superior graphics (if your computer can run them at high settings) and Oblivion, and especially Morrowind, have superior game mechanics and dynamics. Oblivion has terrible lag problems, but if you have a computer that can almost handle Skyrim, then Oblivion will run pretty good. Oblivion is definitely worth trying. You might fall in love with it.

 

@David Brasher

I'm looking at your SI root systems mod. It looks very similar to a mod I'm making for a mine network in Oblivion right now. Unless I find a conflict I'll definitely DL, because it sounds awesome.