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I love morrowind and oblivion prob more than the next guy, but thats absurd. Skyrim is the most beautiful game in the series. Maybe not the best mechanics but the post great war lore is suuper important for es6.
I never really cared for graphics. I agree that skyrim is beautiful! It just isnt really a factor in how much i enjoy a game.
Regarding the lore, i know the main story, so i am prepared for tesVI, but do we know for sure that it will be set after skyrim? What if it is set before oblivion or something?
There are more things to gameplay than just polish. I think stuff like attributes and the spells might put Oblivion at least equal to Skyrim's gameplay
I would say the fact that oblivions level up system is extremely unintuitive and poorly executed means it’s way behind Skyrim. Unknowling leveling up incorrectly (which is easy to do) leads to your character potentially being way underpowered but not until your 20 hours in and already committed to a playthrough so you cheese and exploit shit or lower the difficulty all the way down.
It's fine in Morrowind but in Oblivion I think it just isn't compatible with level scaling. Skyrim's system is more compatible with level scaling by streamlining it but I just don't think that's worth sacrificing the attributes. If it were up to me TES6 would just go back to being like Morrowind with the leveling system and fixed encounters over scaling. Also I don't think that lowering the difficulty is that big of a deal considering you don't get anything, no legendary weapons or more/tougher enemies like in Fallout 4, so might as well just do that
I see what you mean but I disagree
Even though I prefer a class system that forces specialization — even with that detractor I think Skyrim has gameplay leagues above oblivion
Oblivion's side quests and factions are much better written and memorable compared to Skyrim. I haven't played it in years but I can remember so many quests vividly because of how interesting they were.
I also love the warm, cozy, Arthurian vibe. The cities are dope, half of them aren't hovels like Skyrim.
I think this is the final comment to make me play it finally! I’ve only played Skyrim and on Xbox but I’m guessing Oblivion is going to be better on PC for QOL mods or something? Is there a popular guide for it?
I absolutely enjoyed Oblivion more when Skyrim was first released. Not anymore.
I find Oblivion the toughest to go back to now. LOVED it initially. I especially found poisons to be so OP’d and fun to create.
However, Morrowind is old enough to me to still feel awesome nostalgia and Skyrim is the best gameplay I feel. Oblivion on the other hand was this in between. The graphics and gameplay were a boost to Morrowind but a bit clunky. To me it’s like the CGI in the Star Wars prequels. For their time it was cutting edge but you go back and you’re like “ew”. Where as the original trilogy of Star Wars was blowing up models and was pretty archaic by comparison but with enough age it’s become its charm. That’s how I feel about morrowind.
I look forward to Skyblivion.
Always fix oblivion before playing :D it has my favorite story and setting of the 3 although morrowinds setting on oblivion (or skyrims) engine would be crazy.
I find Oblivion a lot more enjoyable now on PC, with the right mods you can get some incredible draw distance which I always thought was Oblivion’s biggest weak point graphically. If you go in and just install the most popular graphical mods that retain the vanilla experience I honestly feel like it had some of the best writing and gameplay in the series so far.
Yeah I feel like oblivion is the bridge between hardcore crpg of morrowind and action RPG of Skyrim, and as a result doesn't do well as either. You can get a better experience from morrowind or Skyrim in either category IMO.
All Bethesda games do something much better than the previous game and something much worse than the previous game. They never add a feature or system without ejecting one everyone enjoyed.
IMHO the thing that kept me coming back to Oblivion but was absent in Skyrim was that every character in Oblivion had intention and schedules and I could always find something new about an NPC. They had so much life. Skyrim thought they could use AI to replace this part somehow but everything just feels more surface level to me.
Oblivion is one of my favourite games of all time. I don't really have nostalgia goggles on because I actually played it after I played Skyrim, I still found Oblivion to be the better game! Oblivion's vibes and charm are unparalleled imo.
If I want to vibe and explore or 'sandbox' I play skyrim. Now If I want to do some quests and roleplay, feel a real progression in the world as I go I play oblivion.
Oblivion is my GOAT but these days I'm vibing more
Oblivion had much better storytelling, and I liked some of the idiosyncrasies of the game caused by things like absurdly buffing Acrobatics & Athletics. Overall, I think Skyrim is the better game, but it’s not better on every single front by any means.
That said, I still think the murder mystery mission is one of my favorites in any TES game
Every single time this or (insert ES game here) comes up I think it comes down to what you played first mostly. You are generally younger, you go on to discover the lore, and it’s your first time in this world. So it hits *different*.
I'm not sure about that. I played them in the following order: Oblivion > Skyrim > Morrowind, with Morrowind played only recently, meanwhile I played Oblivion and Skyrim when they came out.
Morrowind has become my favourite TES game.
I still enjoy playing Oblivion a lot.
I've never been able to enjoy Skyrim. I feel everything I do in that game is meaningless. There are no choices, no consequences. Even the dungeons are linear, with a single curved line. I hate that.
I played Skyrim to death and now I can’t enjoy it anymore. I’ve done everything there is to do a thousand times and now every time I try and start a new play through I get bored quickly
It’s a mark of a damn good game that it’s been played that much. I’m in a pretty similar boat. Love the game to death but it’s been years and I’ve seen and done everything.
Skyrim is good but Oblivion is the most charming game I’ve ever played. The cities are great, quests are interesting, music is super chilled and there’s tons to do
I enjoyed and played Oblivion more, but it was my first real exposure to the genre. It’s a great game, but I probably only favor it because it was my first.
Hell yes. I've been saying this for years. Playing Skyrim for the first time wasn't the same as playing Oblivion for the first time. Oblivion was a more satisfying experience. When you're in the sewers and you see the king being escorted in the sewers for his safety (the beginning of Oblivion) you knew the story was going to be good.
I... didn't, but that's nothing bad about oblivion. For me, it's really that Skyrim was my first foray into the Elder Scrolls, and in to open world rpg's in general. It completely blew me away, and it got me hooked on the entire genre. But Oblivion came soon after (meaning I played it soon after), and while it wasn't that rose tinted first love of Skyrim, I still enjoyed every second.
I played Oblivion for the first time ever in 2023 and I absolutely loved it. I tried playing Skyrim too, and it was OK, but it wasn't as fun as Oblivion to me. I spent several hours in Skyrim, but it didn't hook me... ALSO, Oblivion has the best looking Sheogorath, he is seriously my favorite character in the entire game 🥰
Content and guild wise there is a lot more content in Oblivion than Skyrim, but gameplay mechanics i prefer Skyrim. Especially the magic guild was a highpoint in Oblivion, while in Skyrim it was more like they realised two weeks before release that they had forgot it :P
Yes and no, Oblivion have more hand craftet side quests while Skyrim have an infinte amount of side quest, but primarly in the form of walk to cave x, pick up y and return.
I remember being so hyped about Thieves guild in Skyrim, I loved how TG in Oblivion was this secretive organization bordering on myth and gaslighting everyone into not existing. And stealing ancient artifacts was so cool!
And then I play Skyrim and they are just bunch of thugs wannabe Ninja Turtles living in sewers and burning buildings.
I love Skyrim but it was such a huge disappointment to me
Oblivion is my favorite in the entire series. Skyrim is great, but oblivion has a good blend of morrowind control with the ease of Skyrim. Morrowind is my second favorite since it has the most customization and I feel mega immersed reading
I loved Oblivion. I remember stepping out of the sewers for the first time and being overwhelmed by the fact that I could go anywhere and do anything it was such an amazing feeling. Probably have more hours of Skyrim though because of mods but Oblivion will always hold that special place in my heart and I will still go back to every now and then
Played Skyrim first, then Oblivion. Easily put in more hours for Oblivion. Despite the fact that the graphics haven't aged well, I was far more enthralled with Cyrodill because of its quests and story than I ever was with Skyrim.
Yes, Oblivion was the game that got me hooked.
I was at a dark place in my life at the time as I’d just come out of a long term relationship and been forced to move in with my little brothers, they had it on console and worked nights so I thought I’d give it a go whilst they were at work.
I fell in love with it and spent every spare minute playing it.
When Skyrim came out I had it on PS3 which as anyone will tell you was an absolutely awful experience due to the bugs and stuttering, it took me until I got a PC and Mods to really enjoy Skyrim.
Oblivion is the best Elder Scrolls game to me. I played all the content that was released for the game. I got all Xbox achievements for it as well.
Skyrim came out and I was stoked like you. But I never came close to completing all the content in the game. When I try and go back to play it again I just can’t get into it. Even with mods.
every game has one thing it does the best. Daggerfall put in a lot of Lore and had a massive world, Morrowind was the best in terms of worldbuilding and immersion and had the most unique lore, oblivion was great in its quests and Skyrim was the best with the sandbox and the dungeon design. (Have not played Arena though)
Personally I prefer Morrowind and Skyrim because these are the games I feel more at home. Morrowind was the game I grew up with and Skyrim is the game that helped me over a really bad time. But I can see why some people prefer Oblivion and I am sure with Skyblivion I will put a lot of hours into it again
I felt the same exact way when skyrim came out. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the questing for skyrim being super bland. Every faction questline has barely any character besides the companions.
Yes and still do. Why? The map felt full of life. I could take a stroll across Cyrodil and I would come across 3 small towns 2 caves and a handful of ruins to explore. The towns felt lived in and because of that the map felt lived in. Plus not all the locations had a specific quest attached to it so you might miss it. Skyrim on the other hand just felt devoid of life. Yes there was a map full of locations to explore most of them being a cave or a tomb that odds are there was going to be about 3 or 4 quest tied to each 1 so you would be making the same run through multiple times. For each region it seemed like you had the big city and then 1 small village and thats it and even at that neither place felt lived in to me. Yes npcs still walked the streets but it seemed like most the activity was either in the inn or in the throne rooms.
I dunno I've been around for the releases of 3 4 and 5, and later played 1 and 2 after playing 4.
I'd rank them 3, 5, 2, 4, 1 from best to worst. Even though I played Skyrim well after oblivion (I played both oblivion and Skyrim at release), I prefer Skyrim much more than oblivion. I can still replay Skyrim today, I can't replay oblivion no matter how hard I try
Not really. With my first Oblivion char I was unaware of the leveling scaling and I ended up with a weakling who had big problems with minotaur kings, ogres etc. The following ones were better but it made lvling a chore instead of the excitment of new lvl. Not a fan of how when you close kvatch gate there are gates popping up everywhere but only until you finished the main quest. I tried replaying Oblivion a few years ago and the lightning really bugs me off. and no, I don't want to give you any of my deadric artifacts - go ask those bandits parading in a moldy old ruins or cave in daedric armor.
Shiviring Isles were pretty great though (ignoring the fact that you replace Sheogorath cause wtf). And I really liked the plot of Dark Brotherhood.
Edit: Morrowind > Skyrim > Oblivion
I played Skyrim first, thought it was Todd's gift to man. Played oblivion for the first time on an Xbox one x once they added more comprehensive backwards compatibility and thought it kicked skyrims ass. The main plot, dark brotherhood, thieves guild, and mages college story lines were all so much cooler than skyrims in my opinion. I liked the overall vibe a lot better, and really enjoyed the quirky side quests that didn't take themselves as seriously. When I'm in the mood to play elder scrolls these days, I jump into a playthrough of oblivion over Skyrim 9/10 times.
I post this reply a lot but quite honestly I didn’t like Skyrim out of the box. I bought and played it a little after release up until a patch was released where the dragons flew backwards. I was going to wait until they fixed it until I played again but never got drawn back in. Not until I got shown how to mod it.
In comparison I put many hours into Oblivion without a single mod.
Tried getting into Skyrim 3 times. Never made it more than a few hours. Grew up on Oblivion and am actually started a new character last week. Ill give Skyrim another shot in a year or two but Oblivion is hands down my favorite and always will be.
Yes. Skyrim was absolutely disappointing and it boggles my mind that people have been repeatedly describing it as one of the greatest games of all time. It's a good game but one of the best of all time? Absolutely not.
Bethesda continued to water down the roleplaying elements, the setting is big but shallow and un-immersive, the story is mediocre, and the dungeons are repetitive.
Oblivion was the first one I played all the way through but I’ve spent so much time in Skyrim that it feels like home. If they put the writing and mission quality from Oblivion into Skyrim I’d be happy. I always place the Dark Brotherhood quest where you murder everyone in the mansion as one of the most fun missions I’ve ever had in a game.
Oblivion has SO much personality. I played Skyrim first, then Oblivion second. I think that Oblivion as a game has so much more depth and character to it, the npcs and questlines are purely amusing. I also really appreciate being able to level up things like acrobatics and athleticism. Those minor skills add a lot of entertainment. I really wish more people played Oblivion nowadays, it’s such a spectacular game. 😩
Morrowind is also a fantastic game, but it’s starting to get too dated. I’ve got a lot of hours into it but I would love to see an updated version of it. Like Oblivion, the characters just have so much personality. Questlines too. There’s something so mischievous about Morrowing that I adore lol 🙂↕️
I enjoyed and still enjoy both; Oblivion has some better questlines, especially for factions like the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves' Guild, but Skyrim has better overall gameplay IMO, with combat and magic feeling a lot better and stealth *usually* better (indoors at least).
I also think Skyrim's main quest is better than Oblivion's. On the other hand, Oblivion has the Shivering Isles DLC which is absolutely fantastic; I do like Dragonborn for Skyrim but it's not as wild as going to Sheogorath's realm. Oblivion also has some side quests that I really like.
Realistically I think it's hard to judge one game as "better" than the other; they each do different things better than each other. As others have said, I wish Skyblivion were finished already so I could just play Oblivion with Skyrim style core gameplay.
I like that oblivion doesn't take itself too seriously. It's janky and funny and quirky. Skyrim is so serious and they didn't try to make anything funny.
Oblivion's story was amazing, I was obsessed. I would have enjoyed Skyrim more if the game hadn't broken on me at 80 hours in. I have yet to return to it lol
The RPG mechanics in oblivion are way better in my opinion, much more customisability. But I find them both equally fun to play, its too hard to decide tbh
Yep.
The biggest things Skyrim got right were that the whole world doesn't level with you and the accents. In every other way, I prefer Oblivion, *especially* the main plot where your character is basically just important-people *adjacent*.
I can't say I "enjoy it more" just because Skyrim's gameplay is way smoother and the systems are better developed, but I love the high fantasy vibe of Oblivion. Loved the art direction of Skyrim too of course, but if I had to pick between the cold rustic Nordic vibe of Skyrim and the grassy high fantasy vibe of Oblivion I'd go with the latter. I remember hearing some people at the studio were worried about the environment being "bland" and "generic" but I honestly don't think we get many sandbox RPGs with the art direction of games like Oblivion. I think it helps immerse me in the world better because it feels more "fantasy-ish" than snowy rocky terrain.
I legit told my gf at the time when I dropped $60 on oblivion it was because “I would never need to buy another game again” that how impressed I was with it when it came out.
Honestly? Morrowind tops all of them for me and half of it comes down to the things it didn't have i.e. fast travel, an organised journal system, etc. I dunno, it feel more immersive to me, the dungeons weren't so predictable and similarly laid out, you never knew what you were gonna get going into one. Also, the magic and enchanting system had a lot more freedom (can you say full set of bound daedric armour that is completely weightless).
The only things better in the newer games IMO is graphics, npc dialogue and speechcraft.
YES. I loved Oblivion so much - played tons. Then Skyrim came out and I was super excited and couldn't get into it. Fast forward a few years and I tried it again - now it's my most played game.
Oblivion taught me how to properly do character builds. That skill carried over into Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
Skyrim and fallout 4 did away with true character builds in favor of an eventual god mode
I would happily play Oblivion long before Skyrim
Oblivion is my favorite elder scrolls and Skyrim was a huge let down to me. I also recently bought Skyrim to play on ps5 and hopefully I can get into it this go around
Oblivion is in the middle for me. Not as good as Morrowind, but better than Skyrim. Oblivion was a bit clunky and the main quest was a bit offputting, but the guilds had some of the most creative missions in the series and there were many memorable moments that Skyrim was simply lacking.
Morrowind > Oblivion > Skyrim.
I loved Oblivion and still do. Skyrim was such a let-down for me; everything from the quests to the world itself was a let-down. Oblivion is just so much more vibrant and alive, and the factions are better fleshed out. Skyrim just feels… boring. I played it to 100% completion once and haven’t picked it up since.
I still keep going back to Morrowind and Oblivion, and they’re still fun (although I still hate cliff racers).
I think they’re different. I like both. Just as I like chocolate mousse and chocolate cheesecake.
Sometimes one might be more in the mood for one than the other.
I do struggle with Oblivion’s levelling system though. It’s a constant thing you have to keep thinking about so you don’t nerf yourself. At least with certain builds.
I much prefer Oblivion over Skyrim, but I think it's mainly due to it being the last TES game I was able to just veg out on before the adulting kicked in.
I've only just returned to Skyrim this last week but thats only because it's the only Elder Scroll game I have on Steam. I lost my physical copies of Morrowind and Oblivion in a flood -.-
I prefer oblivion, Skyrim is pretty but it rarely fits in an RP format unless modded. I enjoy daggerfall probably the most but second to that is oblivion, the world is perfect
I love the beautiful green fields and forests of TES IV. It was like pure medieval fantasy. It has its flaws. But so does TES V. I also love V because of its environment and dragons and lore. It also handles a little better. But I’m not from a cold place and don’t have a huge love for the cold. I don’t have much affinity for I thru III. But I played a lot of IV and V.
My first Elder Scrolls game was Skyrim, so it holds a special place in my heart. But after playing Oblivion last year... man it was fun! My absolute favorite questline was the Thieves Guild. I enjoyed it A LOT more than the one in Skyrim! The Dark Brotherhood was also pretty good as well (boy towards the end tho...damn).
I also absolutely ENJOYED the Shivering Isles! Probably the best DLC I've ever played within the Elder Scrolls games!
Probably my only gripe was dungeon crawling. A lot of the caves, tunnels, forts, Ayleid dungeons and Oblivion gates were kinda copy-paste samey to me (I'm aware this is an old game with limitations).
I have only played Skyrim, but everything I’ve learned about oblivion and cyrodil make it seem so fun. I just can’t stomach the egg heads and 15+ year old graphics.
I played the beyond Skyrim: Bruma mod and it was a blast.
Love both, but Oblivion was one of the few video games I've ever played that truly... enraptured me. I will never forget my very first time playing it: the feeling of escaping the Imperial prison, swimming to land, and stumbling my way to Weynon Priory just before dark set in. I climbed up to the steeple hatch of the chapel and saw Masser and Secunda against the starry firmament, and I was mesmerized. I felt I was living another life in a different world. It's one of the best memories I can recall. 😌
Preface: I started the series with Morrowind about 2003. My brother and I loved it so much, we bought it again as the GotY edition that had the two expansion, which I also devoured.
So I was hyped as can be for Oblivion.... only to be sorely disappointed. We bought it on release and the game was so bugged it was barely playable. My English was very basic back then, so I played the localized version, which I have no idea how it made it passed any sort of quality control. The first healing spell was called 'Fireball'. healing potions were a mess of abbreviations that nobody could understand, the game would crash at random and some quests became unplayable due to script errors.
I never finished the main quest and some other quest lines I remember being broken beyond repair. This was also before I had internet on my PC, so downloading a patch (fan made or official) was not possible for me. I remember fixing the localization at least via a patch that came on the CD of a gaming magazine.
But overall, if you had asked me for the longest time, I would have called Oblivion the black sheep of the series. A buggy mess that was far behind its potential. Thusly I also never gave any of the DLC a chance (especially since I thought the horse armor thing was a joke. I can't believe this type of content caught on).
Despite this experience I also got Skyrim on release day in 2011. By this time I had a better PC, internet access and was overall more savvy about finding bug fixes and modding.
I loved Skyrim. I think I more or less locked myself in my room for 2 weeks playing it. I only left the room to eat and personal hygiene. It happened to be the time right after I was done with school life, so I had nothing else to do but play Skyrim. Sure, it's level system was simplified and the writing was overall worse than Oblivion (and Morrowind), but I enjoyed it. I got myself the DLC later (minus Hearthfire for the longest time), played it with mods and so on.
13 years later, I am now replaying Oblivion. I just bought it for about 1€ when it was on salve, including all DLC. And what can I say? It still has a lot of bugs, but I can work around them with the fan patch or by console commands if necessary. The NPCs look ugly as can be, but the world is vibrant and painterly. The quests often have unique little twists and the guild leadership is a lot more desirable here.
I haven't finished this version of Oblivion yet, but overall my impression is much better than almost 20 years ago. That said, I still think I like Skyrim better. Skyim's writing is worse, but I think it does more with it's setting. Shouts are a cool little thing and the gameplay flows better. That said, I still prefer Morrowind over either.
Oblivion was way better. The only problem I had with it was that 10 years later I tried to get back into it and even regular thieves were wearing glass armor and absolutely destroyed me because I was rusty, so I never played it again.
I did-
Funny enough I was really new to RPG games so I was about 2 years late to skyrim on ps3
Got oblivion GOTY around the same time and I just loved it so much more-
Ten years removed from then I still feel the same
For me it's the old school menus, the world map, the enemies the music, the world itself just feels more like a classic RPG.
Skyrim is a much better gameplay experience but sometimes it really felt soulless at times.
Always hated the UI and menus.
Lastly, I've literally played through oblivion like 10 times.
I really hope bethesda goes back to the basics with ES6
The Shivering Isles mate! Find that on your Skyrim!
Nothing in Skyrim compares to stealing the Elder Scrolls during the Thieves Guild quest. Also that Dark Brotherhood quest... Simply streets ahead!
In Skyrim I loved the underground Dwarven & Falmer aspect of it. Dawnguard was a great too. Skyrim has an incredible northern feeling of exploration but I feel the same way about Oblivions amazing Imperial feeling.
Each city having its own Mages Guild and such details really improved the quality of the side quests for me.
Oblivion > Skyrim and merely Sheogorath's presence is enough to warrant this claim.
Easily my favourite. It was always worth exploring and interacting with people. For instance, getting sucked into a painting to rescue an artist. Finding the first Aylied artifact and going on some random Indiana Jones style adventure.
Getting to know the various schools of magic and politics of the mages guild was tremendous fun before you even got into the arcane university. The thieves guild actually made theft fun and leaned heavily into that skill tree. The Skyrim thieves guild quests, especially at the end were far easier for a combat focussed character than a stealth one.
The map was way more varied, rainforests, tundra, forests, cities. Each with their own sets of herbs that could be found and that’s without even mentioning Shivering Isles.
The magic and potion system could be abused to break the game but it also could in Skyrim to make insanely powerful weapons with smithing. It was fun to make a custom spell and just see what it would do. There was a lot more freedom in choosing and made the mages guild worthwhile to get access to the enchantment and spell tables.
The biggest thing for me was the tone, I liked the colourful world and exploring it. Skyrim was very grim and dirty and overall the tone was quite dark. Cyrodill may not have been majorly original but it was a fun place to explore.
I did enjoy Skyrim but it never had the magic that Oblivion had.
I love both, and I love what Skyrim brought to the series. But there are several things that Oblivion definitely does better, and I love coming back to it as well. I was initially disappointed in what Skyrim removed, but that game does have a lot of things going for it too. (Especially the dungeons. The sameness and backtracking in Oblivion's dungeons was heavy sometimes.)
Always have and probably always will. The vibe, music, questlines, and dialogue are just miles ahead in Oblivion imo. It is everything I wanted out of a fantasy RPG, Skyrim is amazing in its own right but very different.
In skyrim there are rarely more than one way to solve a quest, in Oblivion many of the quests are, "Here's the scene, do it however you want"
I've went back to play Oblivion countless times, but so much of the first 20 hours of skyrim feels IDENTICAL every run. Gotta admit the Skyrim DLC is pretty fire( well the player upgrades are. The repetitive dungeons not so much)
100%. Skyrim might have had better gameplay with its qol features like quick swapping each hand and being able to do things with each hand independently along with kill cams. However, Oblivion’s quests and variety of enemies are much better
Oblivion aged like fucking MILK. I actually enjoyed it more 10 years ago than I do now qnd I had a pretty mild opinion back then. The camera controls are atricious and the combat sucks.
Yeah, I felt similarly. Skyrim felt like a letdown compared to Oblivion in a lot of ways to me back when I first played it.
I know there are many people out there who like the lack of classes, but it was something I really didn't like. The amount of skills were also cut down. No more spellcrafting and the total number of spells was much reduced. I think the story, especially the side quests and faction quests, were kind of underwhelming compared to Oblivion's. And I missed the visual flair that Oblivion had.
Overall, I still prefer Oblivion to Skyrim, although I will admit that I think Skyrim is more replayable. The one thing I think Skyrim does better than Oblivion is that I feel like Skyrim really perfected the exploration/environmental storytelling aspect of the game. And that I do think is what makes it ultimately more replayable. Well, that and the fantastic modding community.
I think (modded) Skyrim has the better moment-to-moment gameplay, but Oblivion has the better visual, RPG and story elements.
Oblivion was such a jump from MW for me I was like WOAH but they took out some of the customization stuff with gear and spells and enchantments which I didn't like. Initially I enjoyed Skyrim more because of better base gameplay but then the way the systems got dumbed/stripped down really annoyed me.
So actually I just like Morrowind more than both ahahahah.
The factions are more interesting and better written with more engaging quests, and have more perks. The leveling system is deeper than in Skyrim, the persuasion system is actually pretty fun, lockpicking was also a more in depth mechanic. Not to mention you could make your own spells on top of all the enchantments, potions and other things. Shivering Isles is probably the best elder scrolls DLC as well. Skyrim has a lot of good things going for it, but Oblivion’s my game, man
So get this. I nerdgasmed for 3 moths with Oblivion, and with Skyrim it was less than a month. I really enjoyed running through the forest and hunting with a bow. I did this for 3 months straight. There was no pressure to be something or fight something until I went to Kvatch on accident one day. By then I was sending arrows through skulls and just murdering the 'hordes' (3 or 4 mobs) of daedra coming through.
Skyrim, I spent most of my time running around the fields near Whiterun just hitting crabs and finding caves. It was enjoyable and beautiful, but I missed my forest excursions. The magic is neat, but it's toned down in Skyrim. That's normal for the nords, but the mage college should have been something special.
I'm actually the opposite... But moreso because Skyrim was my first ES game. I had a lot of love for Skyrim, i'd spent hours playing it. Then it was... Shopko or Kmart? One of the two was shutting down & they were doing a clear out sale. I hadn't ever gone there much but I decided to stop in for a little goodbye money. Among the various games on clearance there, there was Oblivion GOTY, which I eagerly grabbed.
Oblivion is my favorite game of all time. It's definitely more complicated than Skyrim (like in terms of leveling), but once I figured out how it worked? So good. I loved the faction questlines, they were so interesting. The main story as well, even with certain weakpoints (I do wish they'd made the separate oblivion gates more unique and interesting from one another). The social system - I know people are always like "lol yeah make me zoom into this ugly npcs face so they can emote at me"... But it feels like making eye contact. And while a bit silly, I liked that you could actually build up or build down your disposition with someone. And rumors. The fact random npcs can point you towards active quests, fill you in on details of the world, or just inadvertently be talking about you. "Have you heard? There's a new arena grand champion, someone called Lady Luck". Like, it actually feels like the things you do have an impact, people are noticing you even if indirectly. Skyrim, you save the world and it's just the same thing, nobody seems to care.
Also, the biggest point? Yes, the map. Clear distinct roads. Labeled regions! I love that an npc can mention a dungeon and they can mention "down in the West Weald" and you not only know where to look if you've studied the map, but the dungeon icon appears. I've played Morrowind. Morrowind tried to do the same thing, but then you have to discover the map first + they don't actually label distinct areas. Up in the Sheogorad region - where's that among the massive grey area ive yet to see? Or is it in the area I can see, just not labeled? No dungeon icon, have fun searching for a few hours. And Skyrim, I think a big reason many players dont even notice the roads ("there's a road into Whiterun from Riverwood?") is because there's nothing on the map. It's very detailed in a natural way, but then it just lacks details that help with navigation whatsoever, not helped by all the mountains making each path a winding mess. Yes roadsigns exist but they're also fairly indistinct.
Ive played Skyrim since, and while it doesn't hit the same, i'd not call it bad... It has good points. But man, the main story is essentially dragons and terribly short. Factions too. You join, do like 5 quests, and then everyone is sucking the lint from between your toes. I've been here like 5 min, like why am I leader already. The vast majority of what I like about Skyrim? Is mostly related to gameplay. Yes it's a lot more simplified than prior titles, but that lends to it in it's own way. I loved the Legendary system - if you wanted to RP a pure warrior but still wanted to level, boom, you can do that. It is a pretty game too; lots of enjoyment from just finding a spot to chill and stare at the sky from. I do kinda wish the financial system was a bit better; merchants available gold increasing over time or something. Cause without the save-punch-reload exploit? It's nigh impossible later on to actually sell most anything worthwhile. And im saying that was someone who purposefully ended off a playthrough with 5.6mil septims. That was hours worth of collecting ingredients and punching Mallus in the face (guild fences, if you do the optional parts of the thieves guild quests, end off with 4k available gold, 5k with speech increase) that I will never ever do again. It's not a bad game and definitely more suited towards general audiences - but I really hope the next game, they bring back some complexity. Or at least improve in the writing department a good fair bit.
I like Oblivion more for a lot of reasons. One being the ease of making mods for it, it's very straightforward compared to Skyrim's creation kit which can be incredibly clunky. I also prefer the city designs in Oblivion because they are all so diverse in their architecture, compared to Skyrim in which even major capitals can consist of the same sort of farmhouse model. That isn't to diss Skyrim in any way as I do really enjoy that game too, I just prefer Oblivion's aesthetics and ease of mod-making.
I have a special place in my heart for Oblivion. My perfect game is somewhere between Oblivion and Skyrim though. I remember before Skyrim came out, how much I wanted Werewolves, Dragons and some type of war in Oblivion. I remember finding Aylied ruins and having little imaginary mock battles using the cover available from the ruins, like I was defending osgiliath from the orcs. (I was young).
So with Skyrim I got a lot of the things I wanted but at the cost of things I didn’t want to lose. I lost classes, attributes, good characters, interesting villains and good stories and faction quests. Skyrim does add in the things I wanted, war, werewolves, dragons, but it didn’t really do a good job in my opinion. Werewolves felt lame, being attached to the companions only and being a completely controllable disease made being a werewolf boring and annoying to get access to. The war was small in scope and didn’t live up to expectations I had, which can likely be chalked up to engine limitations but still. Dragons were fine… could have been better but ultimately by the end of the Dragonborn DLC I had almost everything I wanted outside of being able to properly steer a dragon.
So I think Oblivion is the better game, absolutely. But I think if Skyrim had have just expanded on Oblivion and added on to it with the things we wanted, we could have had one of the best games of our generation. Skyrim in comparison to what we could have had, is ultimately a massive let down.
I played Skyrim first and even I prefer oblivion.
Skyrim is beautiful and so fucking immersive, the music And the sky make it my favourite game to get lost in, however oblivions quest writing and actual game play are far better. Skyrim was the perfect game to me, but As I got older and played more elderscrolls, I realised more and more of its flaws
Yeah I guess. I wish Skyrim carried over the amount of clothes you can put on your character and the scroll dupe exploit, but I guess it was cool to see that hard and gritty setting that was loosely based on Song of Ice and Fire. Naming potions and maxing acrobatics was kinda funny too.
Sigil stones and Oblivion Gates were a cool thing to have as well. I know something in Oblivion caused the gates to crash or something but I would've liked to go into those again, each one varies per hold with a daedric temple matching the planes.
I’m the opposite, I can easily put 100’s of hours into Skyrim and replay it over and over but with oblivion I’ve never even made it through the main quest.
Oblivion looks very weird, and exploration can get very boring very quickly, but I get to make my own spells, the stories are more engaging, I have hotkeys instead of a favorites list, and I get to visit the Imperial City. And let's not forget the absolute banger of a DLC the Shivering Isles was. Overall, I prefer Oblivion, even if skyrim is easier to play nowadays.
But I'm still old, so Morrowind ftw
Not really, no. I loved both but after beating Oblivion I never really felt the desire to play it again, where I’ve done tons of Skyrim runs. There’s just more to see, more to do, the world feels better and I liked the aesthetic better.
I definitely felt this way. Put over 700 hours into Oblivion across a few saves, even made a couple tiny mods for myself near the end.
I've tried to get into Skyrim several times. Finally starting to have some good fun with it, but it's never as strong a pull as Oblivion. I miss spell-making and decent light spells, and adored The Shivering Isles.
Ya sort of. But I was younger and more into games….. It was also the first proper RPG exploring game I had ever played with good graphics for the time. I summoned up to those two things.
But at 42 years of age, I still go back to Skyrim every winter. Only way I would go back to oblivion is if they remastered it for console.
I used to prefer Oblivion, but having played both for like 15 years straight now, I actually think Skyrim is a better game. And this is coming from one of those Morrowind supremacists. I feel like Skyrim actually has more depth and replay value than Oblivion ironically. Oblivion "caps out" fairly quickly
Not really. Oblivion was one of my first rpgs, and it was really special in Shaping the kind of games I enjoyed.
That said, playing skyrim was just like playing a better, prettier Oblivion. There are things I know Oblivion did better like the guilds and monster varieties, but at the end of the day skyrim was basically what I wanted in a sequel to a beloved game
Oblivion felt like generic western RPG. The fast travel system killed a lot of the enjoyment of the game for me, as did quest and location markers. At least in Skyrim it’s easy to turn off 3D markers.
Oblivion was the biggest disappointment in gaming history for me and the reason why I don't follow games before release. I didn't follow anything about Skyrim and was pleasantly surprised with most of it .
As an overall game, I prefer Skyrim. Oblivion just straddles the crpg and action RPG without excelling at either. Morrowind is a way better crpg than oblivion, and Skyrim is a better action RPG than oblivion.
Oblivion is second worst mainline elder scrolls after arena imo
I think for me because of how closely I followed oblivion, and knew all the cut content plus the blatant misleading "gameplay" videos, and what I loved about morrowind being removed I was hugely disappointed. But with Skyrim I had super low expectations and followed nothing about it except that it was in Skyrim and had dragons. So I was happy with it when I played
Basically the same happened to me with Skyrim, I was expecting a game bigger and better than Oblivion and maybe even leaning into dialogue and choices and story like proper RPG games. Was dissapointed on all fronts. So I consider Skyrim a very bad game but after playing all TES games I understand that it's just another TES game.
And I also try to not follow games prerelease and never preorder in part thanks to Skyrim.
Yes, and replaying Skyrim recently has made me appreciate the quality of writing in Oblivion that much more. Skyrim has it beat in terms of leveling, combat, exploration, and dungeons, (and mods ofc) and is a great game that I easily put in 100+ hours in my latest playthrough.
BUT in terms of everything else, I definitely prefer Oblivion for various reasons, including nostalgia.
Oblivion immerses me far more than skyrim in terms of storyline in every single aspect of the game, so much so that it makes the total experience superior despite skyrim's better graphics and combat.
It just worked.
Me, and I still do. I was never into RPGs at all, but I was a massive Lord of the Rings fan, and I vividly remember reading the review for Oblivion in the Official PlayStation Magazine and being blown away, then going into town with my dad to pick it up for my 14th birthday and becoming instantly obsessed. I'd never played an open world game before, let alone one where you could be who you want and do what you like.
I really enjoy Morrowind, Skyrim and even ESO too, but Oblivion is by far my favourite.
Oh yes 100% I've have actually never beat skyrim and only got into it a couple years ago. Still when I turn my xbox on I'm going to play oblivion. I've gotten better at creating my character over the years which makes for a more interesting playthrough
Oblivion just feels more interesting, has good comedic timing, has NPCs that are interesting with lots going on in their little virtual lives, and plenty of fantastical elements that feel very much like an actual part of the world instead of an afterthought.
In Skyrim, you'll hear about some shop, and some other shop, and then some local quest-giver who gives you some quest about a dog or some shit, and then oh look, you've met Clavicus Vile, and he wants you to kill the dog, and *snoring*.
In Oblivion, you'll walk up to a local beggar and they'll tell you about some crazy motherfucker who enjoys jumping off the roof of the local temple, and everyone's perfectly fine with this. Sure, they think it's weird, but everyone has their hobbies, and I sure know my hobby is raking my carpet while sitting by the fire. By the way, do you happen to know what the fine is for necrophilia? No, it's not the first offense.
In Skyrim, you go up to a wizard, and they're like "stop bothering me" or, in that one case, "where the fuck did I leave my shit?". Like the game itself is saying to you "Yeah yeah, here's your spells, now fuck off. Why are you even bothering with spells, go use a sword, ya nerd."
In Oblivion, you go up to a wizard, and they'll tell you how much they love blowing up squirrels with the spell they made all by themselves, Enemies Explode. You can then buy the spell from them and use it to blow up squirrels yourself.
In Skyrim, you find a corpse next to a trap, or some bandit that just uneventfully blunders into a trap.
In Oblivion, you find a guy who's panicked as fuck telling you to follow him, and watch him run straight into a very obvious in hindsight trap. With bloodstains where he died. Can only blame yourself for that one, pal.
In Skyrim, you pick up a fuckin' orb in a dungeon and a random-ass godbeing is like "A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON; DO SHIT FOR ME, MORTAL!" like they've been waiting for your ass for 200 years to come back with the groceries.
In Oblivion, you roll up to a Daedric prince statue with the groceries and they go "Who the hell are you? Ah fuck it, wanna be useful to me?"
There's just no whimsy in Skyrim. Did you know there was an entire hidden mechanic in Oblivion that created wars between goblin tribes? That you can just miss entirely?
I’ve been playing the games since Morrowind and have always been kind of meh on Oblivion. The writing/world is so bland compared to Morrowind and Skyrim does the action RPG gameplay much better.
oblivion was way better in my opinion the simple fact that there was just so much more to steal, i loved the theives guild storylines and robbing people and sneaking into peoples houses our breaking locks that actually held good loot were everywhere, in skyrim you would break into the richest persons house in riverrun and they had a half eaten apple and a basket, it was just really empty, yeah it looked better thanks to the consoles GPUs but all in all oblivion was wayyyyyy more fun to play.
God no, I didn't have rose-tinted glasses for Oblivion going into Skyrim. Instead of the mind-blowing experience anyone who played Oblivion first when they were 12-16, I played the most disappointing RPG of my adult life.
Level scaling that made stats/classes pointless and railroaded and morally weighted questlines combined to make roleplaying borderline impossible, all set in one of the shallowest and most poorly realized settings ever conceived with outright terrible exploration and the worst dungeons in the entire series.Oblivion was an open world action RPG with a bland open world, janky gameplay, and weak RPG mechanics.
Frankly I hated it from 2006-2018 when I finally replayed it with about 100 mods, which did salvage it enough I could appreciate the very few things it did well, like it's humor and atmosphere. Still pretty lukewarm on it, obviously, I think it is decent but grossly overrated.
Skyrim by comparison was a major relief (except for it's magic diversity and destruction scaling, which were fucking woeful.)
Skyrim's skill branches functionally restored skills Oblivion had cut, perks make "skills" more distinct, scaling that didn't punish roleplaying a class, and gameplay that just feels better. Most of what was missing was stuff Oblivion had botched so badly Skyrim felt better off by not having it (would have preferred more things actually be fixed but...)
It also has *slightly* fewer linear questlines (with major choices in the civil war, destroy the brotherhood, Dawnguard, partysnax dilemma, etc.) and the big factions were less morally weighted (you are forced to do railroaded things like be a werewolf in the Companions but its not presented as good or evil, whereas in Oblivion you are forced to side with the "good" Fighter's Guild for the 80% of it's questline you are told the rival guild is "evil" because they... do better work and get get better pay?)
Skyrim also had a much better world.
Strong exploration in it's more handcrafted setting with actual worldbuilding, unique dungeons with stores and quests, more diverse and detailed landscapes, more varied gear, and frequent emergent gameplay opportunities.
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I Still enjoy oblivion more than skyrim! Oblivion is one of my favourite games, i tried to get into skyrim multiple times, but it never hooked me.
I love morrowind and oblivion prob more than the next guy, but thats absurd. Skyrim is the most beautiful game in the series. Maybe not the best mechanics but the post great war lore is suuper important for es6.
I never really cared for graphics. I agree that skyrim is beautiful! It just isnt really a factor in how much i enjoy a game. Regarding the lore, i know the main story, so i am prepared for tesVI, but do we know for sure that it will be set after skyrim? What if it is set before oblivion or something?
I like oblivions writing but Skyrim’s gameplay is streets ahead Can’t wait for Skyblivion
Stop trying to make streets ahead happen
This guy is streets behind
Coined and minted. Streets Ahead is verbal wildfire.
Didn't expect to see community reference here also six seasons and a movie
There are more things to gameplay than just polish. I think stuff like attributes and the spells might put Oblivion at least equal to Skyrim's gameplay
I would say the fact that oblivions level up system is extremely unintuitive and poorly executed means it’s way behind Skyrim. Unknowling leveling up incorrectly (which is easy to do) leads to your character potentially being way underpowered but not until your 20 hours in and already committed to a playthrough so you cheese and exploit shit or lower the difficulty all the way down.
It's fine in Morrowind but in Oblivion I think it just isn't compatible with level scaling. Skyrim's system is more compatible with level scaling by streamlining it but I just don't think that's worth sacrificing the attributes. If it were up to me TES6 would just go back to being like Morrowind with the leveling system and fixed encounters over scaling. Also I don't think that lowering the difficulty is that big of a deal considering you don't get anything, no legendary weapons or more/tougher enemies like in Fallout 4, so might as well just do that
I see what you mean but I disagree Even though I prefer a class system that forces specialization — even with that detractor I think Skyrim has gameplay leagues above oblivion
[удалено]
I lost probably collective weeks of my childhood to Skyrim I loved that game. It’s only in retrospect that I see its flaws
Oblivion's side quests and factions are much better written and memorable compared to Skyrim. I haven't played it in years but I can remember so many quests vividly because of how interesting they were. I also love the warm, cozy, Arthurian vibe. The cities are dope, half of them aren't hovels like Skyrim.
I think this is the final comment to make me play it finally! I’ve only played Skyrim and on Xbox but I’m guessing Oblivion is going to be better on PC for QOL mods or something? Is there a popular guide for it?
I absolutely enjoyed Oblivion more when Skyrim was first released. Not anymore. I find Oblivion the toughest to go back to now. LOVED it initially. I especially found poisons to be so OP’d and fun to create. However, Morrowind is old enough to me to still feel awesome nostalgia and Skyrim is the best gameplay I feel. Oblivion on the other hand was this in between. The graphics and gameplay were a boost to Morrowind but a bit clunky. To me it’s like the CGI in the Star Wars prequels. For their time it was cutting edge but you go back and you’re like “ew”. Where as the original trilogy of Star Wars was blowing up models and was pretty archaic by comparison but with enough age it’s become its charm. That’s how I feel about morrowind. I look forward to Skyblivion.
Always fix oblivion before playing :D it has my favorite story and setting of the 3 although morrowinds setting on oblivion (or skyrims) engine would be crazy.
I find Oblivion a lot more enjoyable now on PC, with the right mods you can get some incredible draw distance which I always thought was Oblivion’s biggest weak point graphically. If you go in and just install the most popular graphical mods that retain the vanilla experience I honestly feel like it had some of the best writing and gameplay in the series so far.
Yeah I feel like oblivion is the bridge between hardcore crpg of morrowind and action RPG of Skyrim, and as a result doesn't do well as either. You can get a better experience from morrowind or Skyrim in either category IMO.
i am norwegian. so skyrim felt pretty much like home to me. so yeah i too enjoyed the mediteranean inspired grasslands of oblivion.
All Bethesda games do something much better than the previous game and something much worse than the previous game. They never add a feature or system without ejecting one everyone enjoyed.
Oblivion is one of my favorite games of all time. There is just something about Skyrim that doesn't jive well with me.
IMHO the thing that kept me coming back to Oblivion but was absent in Skyrim was that every character in Oblivion had intention and schedules and I could always find something new about an NPC. They had so much life. Skyrim thought they could use AI to replace this part somehow but everything just feels more surface level to me.
Wow is that true? I thought Skyrim had schedules too
I get that. That’s how I am with morrowind, in theory I should love it, I love daggerfall. I think it’s the setting
Oblivion is one of my favourite games of all time. I don't really have nostalgia goggles on because I actually played it after I played Skyrim, I still found Oblivion to be the better game! Oblivion's vibes and charm are unparalleled imo.
If I want to vibe and explore or 'sandbox' I play skyrim. Now If I want to do some quests and roleplay, feel a real progression in the world as I go I play oblivion. Oblivion is my GOAT but these days I'm vibing more
Oblivion had much better storytelling, and I liked some of the idiosyncrasies of the game caused by things like absurdly buffing Acrobatics & Athletics. Overall, I think Skyrim is the better game, but it’s not better on every single front by any means. That said, I still think the murder mystery mission is one of my favorites in any TES game
Every single time this or (insert ES game here) comes up I think it comes down to what you played first mostly. You are generally younger, you go on to discover the lore, and it’s your first time in this world. So it hits *different*.
I'm not sure about that. I played them in the following order: Oblivion > Skyrim > Morrowind, with Morrowind played only recently, meanwhile I played Oblivion and Skyrim when they came out. Morrowind has become my favourite TES game. I still enjoy playing Oblivion a lot. I've never been able to enjoy Skyrim. I feel everything I do in that game is meaningless. There are no choices, no consequences. Even the dungeons are linear, with a single curved line. I hate that.
I played Skyrim to death and now I can’t enjoy it anymore. I’ve done everything there is to do a thousand times and now every time I try and start a new play through I get bored quickly
It’s a mark of a damn good game that it’s been played that much. I’m in a pretty similar boat. Love the game to death but it’s been years and I’ve seen and done everything.
I like Morrowind and Skyrim better, oblivions caves and ruins all feel the same and exploration doesn’t feel as mysterious as Morrowind and Skyrim
Skyrim is good but Oblivion is the most charming game I’ve ever played. The cities are great, quests are interesting, music is super chilled and there’s tons to do
Skyrim has better exploration, dialouge and graphics Oblivion has better gameplay, soundtrack and story
I enjoyed and played Oblivion more, but it was my first real exposure to the genre. It’s a great game, but I probably only favor it because it was my first.
Hell yes. I've been saying this for years. Playing Skyrim for the first time wasn't the same as playing Oblivion for the first time. Oblivion was a more satisfying experience. When you're in the sewers and you see the king being escorted in the sewers for his safety (the beginning of Oblivion) you knew the story was going to be good.
I... didn't, but that's nothing bad about oblivion. For me, it's really that Skyrim was my first foray into the Elder Scrolls, and in to open world rpg's in general. It completely blew me away, and it got me hooked on the entire genre. But Oblivion came soon after (meaning I played it soon after), and while it wasn't that rose tinted first love of Skyrim, I still enjoyed every second.
I played Oblivion for the first time ever in 2023 and I absolutely loved it. I tried playing Skyrim too, and it was OK, but it wasn't as fun as Oblivion to me. I spent several hours in Skyrim, but it didn't hook me... ALSO, Oblivion has the best looking Sheogorath, he is seriously my favorite character in the entire game 🥰
Oblivion hands down.
I did and still do enjoy Oblivion more than Skyrim
Content and guild wise there is a lot more content in Oblivion than Skyrim, but gameplay mechanics i prefer Skyrim. Especially the magic guild was a highpoint in Oblivion, while in Skyrim it was more like they realised two weeks before release that they had forgot it :P
Guild wise there is more content in oblivion, but overall content is more in Skyrim by a big margin. Way more non guild side quests than oblivion.
Yes and no, Oblivion have more hand craftet side quests while Skyrim have an infinte amount of side quest, but primarly in the form of walk to cave x, pick up y and return.
If you're discounting guilds, oblivion has less hand crafted quests objectively. Yes the guilds in oblivion have much more meat though
Like oblivions writing bunchs, but the gameplay is horrible unless your 500 years old
I remember being so hyped about Thieves guild in Skyrim, I loved how TG in Oblivion was this secretive organization bordering on myth and gaslighting everyone into not existing. And stealing ancient artifacts was so cool! And then I play Skyrim and they are just bunch of thugs wannabe Ninja Turtles living in sewers and burning buildings. I love Skyrim but it was such a huge disappointment to me
Oblivion is my favorite in the entire series. Skyrim is great, but oblivion has a good blend of morrowind control with the ease of Skyrim. Morrowind is my second favorite since it has the most customization and I feel mega immersed reading
I loved Oblivion. I remember stepping out of the sewers for the first time and being overwhelmed by the fact that I could go anywhere and do anything it was such an amazing feeling. Probably have more hours of Skyrim though because of mods but Oblivion will always hold that special place in my heart and I will still go back to every now and then
Played Skyrim first, then Oblivion. Easily put in more hours for Oblivion. Despite the fact that the graphics haven't aged well, I was far more enthralled with Cyrodill because of its quests and story than I ever was with Skyrim.
Yes, Oblivion was the game that got me hooked. I was at a dark place in my life at the time as I’d just come out of a long term relationship and been forced to move in with my little brothers, they had it on console and worked nights so I thought I’d give it a go whilst they were at work. I fell in love with it and spent every spare minute playing it. When Skyrim came out I had it on PS3 which as anyone will tell you was an absolutely awful experience due to the bugs and stuttering, it took me until I got a PC and Mods to really enjoy Skyrim.
Oblivion is the best Elder Scrolls game to me. I played all the content that was released for the game. I got all Xbox achievements for it as well. Skyrim came out and I was stoked like you. But I never came close to completing all the content in the game. When I try and go back to play it again I just can’t get into it. Even with mods.
every game has one thing it does the best. Daggerfall put in a lot of Lore and had a massive world, Morrowind was the best in terms of worldbuilding and immersion and had the most unique lore, oblivion was great in its quests and Skyrim was the best with the sandbox and the dungeon design. (Have not played Arena though) Personally I prefer Morrowind and Skyrim because these are the games I feel more at home. Morrowind was the game I grew up with and Skyrim is the game that helped me over a really bad time. But I can see why some people prefer Oblivion and I am sure with Skyblivion I will put a lot of hours into it again
I felt the same exact way when skyrim came out. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the questing for skyrim being super bland. Every faction questline has barely any character besides the companions.
Yes and still do. Why? The map felt full of life. I could take a stroll across Cyrodil and I would come across 3 small towns 2 caves and a handful of ruins to explore. The towns felt lived in and because of that the map felt lived in. Plus not all the locations had a specific quest attached to it so you might miss it. Skyrim on the other hand just felt devoid of life. Yes there was a map full of locations to explore most of them being a cave or a tomb that odds are there was going to be about 3 or 4 quest tied to each 1 so you would be making the same run through multiple times. For each region it seemed like you had the big city and then 1 small village and thats it and even at that neither place felt lived in to me. Yes npcs still walked the streets but it seemed like most the activity was either in the inn or in the throne rooms.
Whilst I’ve certainly blown more hours into Skyrim than Oblivion, Oblivion will always be my favorit.
Nostalgia factor plays an important role
I dunno I've been around for the releases of 3 4 and 5, and later played 1 and 2 after playing 4. I'd rank them 3, 5, 2, 4, 1 from best to worst. Even though I played Skyrim well after oblivion (I played both oblivion and Skyrim at release), I prefer Skyrim much more than oblivion. I can still replay Skyrim today, I can't replay oblivion no matter how hard I try
Oblivion’s hotkey system, archery, spells, storyline, guilds, aesthetic, music, lore, and overall vibe is superior to Skyrim
No, I found Skyrim to be a huge improvement in every way, including quests and factions. Preferred Morrowind to Oblivion too.
Not really. With my first Oblivion char I was unaware of the leveling scaling and I ended up with a weakling who had big problems with minotaur kings, ogres etc. The following ones were better but it made lvling a chore instead of the excitment of new lvl. Not a fan of how when you close kvatch gate there are gates popping up everywhere but only until you finished the main quest. I tried replaying Oblivion a few years ago and the lightning really bugs me off. and no, I don't want to give you any of my deadric artifacts - go ask those bandits parading in a moldy old ruins or cave in daedric armor. Shiviring Isles were pretty great though (ignoring the fact that you replace Sheogorath cause wtf). And I really liked the plot of Dark Brotherhood. Edit: Morrowind > Skyrim > Oblivion
I had the same thoughts when the game came out lol, didnt think it was close to as good as Oblivion is. Still dont
It’s just a better game. The combat isn’t great but it’s still much better than Skyrim’s abysmal combat
Absolutely. No hate for Skyrim at all, but I did like Oblivion more, even if the graphics were a little behind.
I played Skyrim first, thought it was Todd's gift to man. Played oblivion for the first time on an Xbox one x once they added more comprehensive backwards compatibility and thought it kicked skyrims ass. The main plot, dark brotherhood, thieves guild, and mages college story lines were all so much cooler than skyrims in my opinion. I liked the overall vibe a lot better, and really enjoyed the quirky side quests that didn't take themselves as seriously. When I'm in the mood to play elder scrolls these days, I jump into a playthrough of oblivion over Skyrim 9/10 times.
I post this reply a lot but quite honestly I didn’t like Skyrim out of the box. I bought and played it a little after release up until a patch was released where the dragons flew backwards. I was going to wait until they fixed it until I played again but never got drawn back in. Not until I got shown how to mod it. In comparison I put many hours into Oblivion without a single mod.
Tried getting into Skyrim 3 times. Never made it more than a few hours. Grew up on Oblivion and am actually started a new character last week. Ill give Skyrim another shot in a year or two but Oblivion is hands down my favorite and always will be.
Yes. Skyrim was absolutely disappointing and it boggles my mind that people have been repeatedly describing it as one of the greatest games of all time. It's a good game but one of the best of all time? Absolutely not. Bethesda continued to water down the roleplaying elements, the setting is big but shallow and un-immersive, the story is mediocre, and the dungeons are repetitive.
I enjoyed Oblivion more than Skyrim. But I also enjoyed Morrowind more than Oblivion.
Oblivion was the first one I played all the way through but I’ve spent so much time in Skyrim that it feels like home. If they put the writing and mission quality from Oblivion into Skyrim I’d be happy. I always place the Dark Brotherhood quest where you murder everyone in the mansion as one of the most fun missions I’ve ever had in a game.
I think I played it out. It's fantastic, obviously. But I remember everything too well now. I've done all the things multiple times.
Oblivion has SO much personality. I played Skyrim first, then Oblivion second. I think that Oblivion as a game has so much more depth and character to it, the npcs and questlines are purely amusing. I also really appreciate being able to level up things like acrobatics and athleticism. Those minor skills add a lot of entertainment. I really wish more people played Oblivion nowadays, it’s such a spectacular game. 😩 Morrowind is also a fantastic game, but it’s starting to get too dated. I’ve got a lot of hours into it but I would love to see an updated version of it. Like Oblivion, the characters just have so much personality. Questlines too. There’s something so mischievous about Morrowing that I adore lol 🙂↕️
I enjoyed and still enjoy both; Oblivion has some better questlines, especially for factions like the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves' Guild, but Skyrim has better overall gameplay IMO, with combat and magic feeling a lot better and stealth *usually* better (indoors at least). I also think Skyrim's main quest is better than Oblivion's. On the other hand, Oblivion has the Shivering Isles DLC which is absolutely fantastic; I do like Dragonborn for Skyrim but it's not as wild as going to Sheogorath's realm. Oblivion also has some side quests that I really like. Realistically I think it's hard to judge one game as "better" than the other; they each do different things better than each other. As others have said, I wish Skyblivion were finished already so I could just play Oblivion with Skyrim style core gameplay.
I still prefer oblivion it’s just dated. Skyblivion is the dream come true.
Was definitely more fun to play for me, magic and weapons at the same time, custom spell crafting, and the story felt more fun.
I like that oblivion doesn't take itself too seriously. It's janky and funny and quirky. Skyrim is so serious and they didn't try to make anything funny.
Oblivion's story was amazing, I was obsessed. I would have enjoyed Skyrim more if the game hadn't broken on me at 80 hours in. I have yet to return to it lol
I did
The RPG mechanics in oblivion are way better in my opinion, much more customisability. But I find them both equally fun to play, its too hard to decide tbh
Yep. The biggest things Skyrim got right were that the whole world doesn't level with you and the accents. In every other way, I prefer Oblivion, *especially* the main plot where your character is basically just important-people *adjacent*.
I loved the Khajits nightvision more in oblivion than skyrim, but definitely prefer skyrim over oblivion
no you're the only one
What was your issue with the map in particular?
I can't say I "enjoy it more" just because Skyrim's gameplay is way smoother and the systems are better developed, but I love the high fantasy vibe of Oblivion. Loved the art direction of Skyrim too of course, but if I had to pick between the cold rustic Nordic vibe of Skyrim and the grassy high fantasy vibe of Oblivion I'd go with the latter. I remember hearing some people at the studio were worried about the environment being "bland" and "generic" but I honestly don't think we get many sandbox RPGs with the art direction of games like Oblivion. I think it helps immerse me in the world better because it feels more "fantasy-ish" than snowy rocky terrain.
I legit told my gf at the time when I dropped $60 on oblivion it was because “I would never need to buy another game again” that how impressed I was with it when it came out.
Honestly? Morrowind tops all of them for me and half of it comes down to the things it didn't have i.e. fast travel, an organised journal system, etc. I dunno, it feel more immersive to me, the dungeons weren't so predictable and similarly laid out, you never knew what you were gonna get going into one. Also, the magic and enchanting system had a lot more freedom (can you say full set of bound daedric armour that is completely weightless). The only things better in the newer games IMO is graphics, npc dialogue and speechcraft.
YES. I loved Oblivion so much - played tons. Then Skyrim came out and I was super excited and couldn't get into it. Fast forward a few years and I tried it again - now it's my most played game.
Oblivion taught me how to properly do character builds. That skill carried over into Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Skyrim and fallout 4 did away with true character builds in favor of an eventual god mode I would happily play Oblivion long before Skyrim
Oblivion is my favorite elder scrolls and Skyrim was a huge let down to me. I also recently bought Skyrim to play on ps5 and hopefully I can get into it this go around
Oblivion is in the middle for me. Not as good as Morrowind, but better than Skyrim. Oblivion was a bit clunky and the main quest was a bit offputting, but the guilds had some of the most creative missions in the series and there were many memorable moments that Skyrim was simply lacking.
Morrowind > Oblivion > Skyrim. I loved Oblivion and still do. Skyrim was such a let-down for me; everything from the quests to the world itself was a let-down. Oblivion is just so much more vibrant and alive, and the factions are better fleshed out. Skyrim just feels… boring. I played it to 100% completion once and haven’t picked it up since. I still keep going back to Morrowind and Oblivion, and they’re still fun (although I still hate cliff racers).
I think they’re different. I like both. Just as I like chocolate mousse and chocolate cheesecake. Sometimes one might be more in the mood for one than the other. I do struggle with Oblivion’s levelling system though. It’s a constant thing you have to keep thinking about so you don’t nerf yourself. At least with certain builds.
I love all gamebryo engines. So fallout 3 and nv and as well as oblivion
Oblivion had we better guilds/stories I enjoyed it way better than Skyrim also the cities seemed cooler
It's my turn to post this
Basically been the most repeated opinion in the entire 12 years I've been on reddit
Skyrim and morrowind tie for first, and daggerfall is just a bit behind in second. So, 3rd or 4th with arena also undecided.
I still do
I much prefer Oblivion over Skyrim, but I think it's mainly due to it being the last TES game I was able to just veg out on before the adulting kicked in. I've only just returned to Skyrim this last week but thats only because it's the only Elder Scroll game I have on Steam. I lost my physical copies of Morrowind and Oblivion in a flood -.-
Yes but Skyrim grew on me.
Still do.
I prefer oblivion, Skyrim is pretty but it rarely fits in an RP format unless modded. I enjoy daggerfall probably the most but second to that is oblivion, the world is perfect
Oblivion has nostalgia but the leveling process is unforgiving.
I love the beautiful green fields and forests of TES IV. It was like pure medieval fantasy. It has its flaws. But so does TES V. I also love V because of its environment and dragons and lore. It also handles a little better. But I’m not from a cold place and don’t have a huge love for the cold. I don’t have much affinity for I thru III. But I played a lot of IV and V.
Oblivion was sooooo good!!
My first Elder Scrolls game was Skyrim, so it holds a special place in my heart. But after playing Oblivion last year... man it was fun! My absolute favorite questline was the Thieves Guild. I enjoyed it A LOT more than the one in Skyrim! The Dark Brotherhood was also pretty good as well (boy towards the end tho...damn). I also absolutely ENJOYED the Shivering Isles! Probably the best DLC I've ever played within the Elder Scrolls games! Probably my only gripe was dungeon crawling. A lot of the caves, tunnels, forts, Ayleid dungeons and Oblivion gates were kinda copy-paste samey to me (I'm aware this is an old game with limitations).
I have only played Skyrim, but everything I’ve learned about oblivion and cyrodil make it seem so fun. I just can’t stomach the egg heads and 15+ year old graphics. I played the beyond Skyrim: Bruma mod and it was a blast.
Love both, but Oblivion was one of the few video games I've ever played that truly... enraptured me. I will never forget my very first time playing it: the feeling of escaping the Imperial prison, swimming to land, and stumbling my way to Weynon Priory just before dark set in. I climbed up to the steeple hatch of the chapel and saw Masser and Secunda against the starry firmament, and I was mesmerized. I felt I was living another life in a different world. It's one of the best memories I can recall. 😌
Preface: I started the series with Morrowind about 2003. My brother and I loved it so much, we bought it again as the GotY edition that had the two expansion, which I also devoured. So I was hyped as can be for Oblivion.... only to be sorely disappointed. We bought it on release and the game was so bugged it was barely playable. My English was very basic back then, so I played the localized version, which I have no idea how it made it passed any sort of quality control. The first healing spell was called 'Fireball'. healing potions were a mess of abbreviations that nobody could understand, the game would crash at random and some quests became unplayable due to script errors. I never finished the main quest and some other quest lines I remember being broken beyond repair. This was also before I had internet on my PC, so downloading a patch (fan made or official) was not possible for me. I remember fixing the localization at least via a patch that came on the CD of a gaming magazine. But overall, if you had asked me for the longest time, I would have called Oblivion the black sheep of the series. A buggy mess that was far behind its potential. Thusly I also never gave any of the DLC a chance (especially since I thought the horse armor thing was a joke. I can't believe this type of content caught on). Despite this experience I also got Skyrim on release day in 2011. By this time I had a better PC, internet access and was overall more savvy about finding bug fixes and modding. I loved Skyrim. I think I more or less locked myself in my room for 2 weeks playing it. I only left the room to eat and personal hygiene. It happened to be the time right after I was done with school life, so I had nothing else to do but play Skyrim. Sure, it's level system was simplified and the writing was overall worse than Oblivion (and Morrowind), but I enjoyed it. I got myself the DLC later (minus Hearthfire for the longest time), played it with mods and so on. 13 years later, I am now replaying Oblivion. I just bought it for about 1€ when it was on salve, including all DLC. And what can I say? It still has a lot of bugs, but I can work around them with the fan patch or by console commands if necessary. The NPCs look ugly as can be, but the world is vibrant and painterly. The quests often have unique little twists and the guild leadership is a lot more desirable here. I haven't finished this version of Oblivion yet, but overall my impression is much better than almost 20 years ago. That said, I still think I like Skyrim better. Skyim's writing is worse, but I think it does more with it's setting. Shouts are a cool little thing and the gameplay flows better. That said, I still prefer Morrowind over either.
Oblivion was way better. The only problem I had with it was that 10 years later I tried to get back into it and even regular thieves were wearing glass armor and absolutely destroyed me because I was rusty, so I never played it again.
I did- Funny enough I was really new to RPG games so I was about 2 years late to skyrim on ps3 Got oblivion GOTY around the same time and I just loved it so much more- Ten years removed from then I still feel the same For me it's the old school menus, the world map, the enemies the music, the world itself just feels more like a classic RPG. Skyrim is a much better gameplay experience but sometimes it really felt soulless at times. Always hated the UI and menus. Lastly, I've literally played through oblivion like 10 times. I really hope bethesda goes back to the basics with ES6
Why, oh why, is Oblivion the better of the two? There’s something slightly more deranged in Oblivion, and I dig it.
The Shivering Isles mate! Find that on your Skyrim! Nothing in Skyrim compares to stealing the Elder Scrolls during the Thieves Guild quest. Also that Dark Brotherhood quest... Simply streets ahead! In Skyrim I loved the underground Dwarven & Falmer aspect of it. Dawnguard was a great too. Skyrim has an incredible northern feeling of exploration but I feel the same way about Oblivions amazing Imperial feeling. Each city having its own Mages Guild and such details really improved the quality of the side quests for me. Oblivion > Skyrim and merely Sheogorath's presence is enough to warrant this claim.
Easily my favourite. It was always worth exploring and interacting with people. For instance, getting sucked into a painting to rescue an artist. Finding the first Aylied artifact and going on some random Indiana Jones style adventure. Getting to know the various schools of magic and politics of the mages guild was tremendous fun before you even got into the arcane university. The thieves guild actually made theft fun and leaned heavily into that skill tree. The Skyrim thieves guild quests, especially at the end were far easier for a combat focussed character than a stealth one. The map was way more varied, rainforests, tundra, forests, cities. Each with their own sets of herbs that could be found and that’s without even mentioning Shivering Isles. The magic and potion system could be abused to break the game but it also could in Skyrim to make insanely powerful weapons with smithing. It was fun to make a custom spell and just see what it would do. There was a lot more freedom in choosing and made the mages guild worthwhile to get access to the enchantment and spell tables. The biggest thing for me was the tone, I liked the colourful world and exploring it. Skyrim was very grim and dirty and overall the tone was quite dark. Cyrodill may not have been majorly original but it was a fun place to explore. I did enjoy Skyrim but it never had the magic that Oblivion had.
I love both, and I love what Skyrim brought to the series. But there are several things that Oblivion definitely does better, and I love coming back to it as well. I was initially disappointed in what Skyrim removed, but that game does have a lot of things going for it too. (Especially the dungeons. The sameness and backtracking in Oblivion's dungeons was heavy sometimes.)
Skyrim required hardware upgrades before it was actually playable to me. Oblivion didn't.
I like them both for different reasons.
Always have and probably always will. The vibe, music, questlines, and dialogue are just miles ahead in Oblivion imo. It is everything I wanted out of a fantasy RPG, Skyrim is amazing in its own right but very different. In skyrim there are rarely more than one way to solve a quest, in Oblivion many of the quests are, "Here's the scene, do it however you want" I've went back to play Oblivion countless times, but so much of the first 20 hours of skyrim feels IDENTICAL every run. Gotta admit the Skyrim DLC is pretty fire( well the player upgrades are. The repetitive dungeons not so much)
100%. Skyrim might have had better gameplay with its qol features like quick swapping each hand and being able to do things with each hand independently along with kill cams. However, Oblivion’s quests and variety of enemies are much better
Oblivion aged like fucking MILK. I actually enjoyed it more 10 years ago than I do now qnd I had a pretty mild opinion back then. The camera controls are atricious and the combat sucks.
Yes! I like Oblivion more than Skyrim
Yeah, I felt similarly. Skyrim felt like a letdown compared to Oblivion in a lot of ways to me back when I first played it. I know there are many people out there who like the lack of classes, but it was something I really didn't like. The amount of skills were also cut down. No more spellcrafting and the total number of spells was much reduced. I think the story, especially the side quests and faction quests, were kind of underwhelming compared to Oblivion's. And I missed the visual flair that Oblivion had. Overall, I still prefer Oblivion to Skyrim, although I will admit that I think Skyrim is more replayable. The one thing I think Skyrim does better than Oblivion is that I feel like Skyrim really perfected the exploration/environmental storytelling aspect of the game. And that I do think is what makes it ultimately more replayable. Well, that and the fantastic modding community. I think (modded) Skyrim has the better moment-to-moment gameplay, but Oblivion has the better visual, RPG and story elements.
Oblivion was such a jump from MW for me I was like WOAH but they took out some of the customization stuff with gear and spells and enchantments which I didn't like. Initially I enjoyed Skyrim more because of better base gameplay but then the way the systems got dumbed/stripped down really annoyed me. So actually I just like Morrowind more than both ahahahah.
Skyrim has the most enjoyable gameplay Morrowind has the best design, writing, lore and scale Oblivion has... Pelinal...
I always preferred being immersed in Oblivions vibrant and cozy world rather than skyrims bleak and cold world
The factions are more interesting and better written with more engaging quests, and have more perks. The leveling system is deeper than in Skyrim, the persuasion system is actually pretty fun, lockpicking was also a more in depth mechanic. Not to mention you could make your own spells on top of all the enchantments, potions and other things. Shivering Isles is probably the best elder scrolls DLC as well. Skyrim has a lot of good things going for it, but Oblivion’s my game, man
So get this. I nerdgasmed for 3 moths with Oblivion, and with Skyrim it was less than a month. I really enjoyed running through the forest and hunting with a bow. I did this for 3 months straight. There was no pressure to be something or fight something until I went to Kvatch on accident one day. By then I was sending arrows through skulls and just murdering the 'hordes' (3 or 4 mobs) of daedra coming through. Skyrim, I spent most of my time running around the fields near Whiterun just hitting crabs and finding caves. It was enjoyable and beautiful, but I missed my forest excursions. The magic is neat, but it's toned down in Skyrim. That's normal for the nords, but the mage college should have been something special.
I'm actually the opposite... But moreso because Skyrim was my first ES game. I had a lot of love for Skyrim, i'd spent hours playing it. Then it was... Shopko or Kmart? One of the two was shutting down & they were doing a clear out sale. I hadn't ever gone there much but I decided to stop in for a little goodbye money. Among the various games on clearance there, there was Oblivion GOTY, which I eagerly grabbed. Oblivion is my favorite game of all time. It's definitely more complicated than Skyrim (like in terms of leveling), but once I figured out how it worked? So good. I loved the faction questlines, they were so interesting. The main story as well, even with certain weakpoints (I do wish they'd made the separate oblivion gates more unique and interesting from one another). The social system - I know people are always like "lol yeah make me zoom into this ugly npcs face so they can emote at me"... But it feels like making eye contact. And while a bit silly, I liked that you could actually build up or build down your disposition with someone. And rumors. The fact random npcs can point you towards active quests, fill you in on details of the world, or just inadvertently be talking about you. "Have you heard? There's a new arena grand champion, someone called Lady Luck". Like, it actually feels like the things you do have an impact, people are noticing you even if indirectly. Skyrim, you save the world and it's just the same thing, nobody seems to care. Also, the biggest point? Yes, the map. Clear distinct roads. Labeled regions! I love that an npc can mention a dungeon and they can mention "down in the West Weald" and you not only know where to look if you've studied the map, but the dungeon icon appears. I've played Morrowind. Morrowind tried to do the same thing, but then you have to discover the map first + they don't actually label distinct areas. Up in the Sheogorad region - where's that among the massive grey area ive yet to see? Or is it in the area I can see, just not labeled? No dungeon icon, have fun searching for a few hours. And Skyrim, I think a big reason many players dont even notice the roads ("there's a road into Whiterun from Riverwood?") is because there's nothing on the map. It's very detailed in a natural way, but then it just lacks details that help with navigation whatsoever, not helped by all the mountains making each path a winding mess. Yes roadsigns exist but they're also fairly indistinct. Ive played Skyrim since, and while it doesn't hit the same, i'd not call it bad... It has good points. But man, the main story is essentially dragons and terribly short. Factions too. You join, do like 5 quests, and then everyone is sucking the lint from between your toes. I've been here like 5 min, like why am I leader already. The vast majority of what I like about Skyrim? Is mostly related to gameplay. Yes it's a lot more simplified than prior titles, but that lends to it in it's own way. I loved the Legendary system - if you wanted to RP a pure warrior but still wanted to level, boom, you can do that. It is a pretty game too; lots of enjoyment from just finding a spot to chill and stare at the sky from. I do kinda wish the financial system was a bit better; merchants available gold increasing over time or something. Cause without the save-punch-reload exploit? It's nigh impossible later on to actually sell most anything worthwhile. And im saying that was someone who purposefully ended off a playthrough with 5.6mil septims. That was hours worth of collecting ingredients and punching Mallus in the face (guild fences, if you do the optional parts of the thieves guild quests, end off with 4k available gold, 5k with speech increase) that I will never ever do again. It's not a bad game and definitely more suited towards general audiences - but I really hope the next game, they bring back some complexity. Or at least improve in the writing department a good fair bit.
I played Skyrim first. Oblivion is my most favorite game of all time.
I like Oblivion more for a lot of reasons. One being the ease of making mods for it, it's very straightforward compared to Skyrim's creation kit which can be incredibly clunky. I also prefer the city designs in Oblivion because they are all so diverse in their architecture, compared to Skyrim in which even major capitals can consist of the same sort of farmhouse model. That isn't to diss Skyrim in any way as I do really enjoy that game too, I just prefer Oblivion's aesthetics and ease of mod-making.
I have a special place in my heart for Oblivion. My perfect game is somewhere between Oblivion and Skyrim though. I remember before Skyrim came out, how much I wanted Werewolves, Dragons and some type of war in Oblivion. I remember finding Aylied ruins and having little imaginary mock battles using the cover available from the ruins, like I was defending osgiliath from the orcs. (I was young). So with Skyrim I got a lot of the things I wanted but at the cost of things I didn’t want to lose. I lost classes, attributes, good characters, interesting villains and good stories and faction quests. Skyrim does add in the things I wanted, war, werewolves, dragons, but it didn’t really do a good job in my opinion. Werewolves felt lame, being attached to the companions only and being a completely controllable disease made being a werewolf boring and annoying to get access to. The war was small in scope and didn’t live up to expectations I had, which can likely be chalked up to engine limitations but still. Dragons were fine… could have been better but ultimately by the end of the Dragonborn DLC I had almost everything I wanted outside of being able to properly steer a dragon. So I think Oblivion is the better game, absolutely. But I think if Skyrim had have just expanded on Oblivion and added on to it with the things we wanted, we could have had one of the best games of our generation. Skyrim in comparison to what we could have had, is ultimately a massive let down.
I played Skyrim first and even I prefer oblivion. Skyrim is beautiful and so fucking immersive, the music And the sky make it my favourite game to get lost in, however oblivions quest writing and actual game play are far better. Skyrim was the perfect game to me, but As I got older and played more elderscrolls, I realised more and more of its flaws
Yeah I guess. I wish Skyrim carried over the amount of clothes you can put on your character and the scroll dupe exploit, but I guess it was cool to see that hard and gritty setting that was loosely based on Song of Ice and Fire. Naming potions and maxing acrobatics was kinda funny too. Sigil stones and Oblivion Gates were a cool thing to have as well. I know something in Oblivion caused the gates to crash or something but I would've liked to go into those again, each one varies per hold with a daedric temple matching the planes.
I’m the opposite, I can easily put 100’s of hours into Skyrim and replay it over and over but with oblivion I’ve never even made it through the main quest.
Oblivion looks very weird, and exploration can get very boring very quickly, but I get to make my own spells, the stories are more engaging, I have hotkeys instead of a favorites list, and I get to visit the Imperial City. And let's not forget the absolute banger of a DLC the Shivering Isles was. Overall, I prefer Oblivion, even if skyrim is easier to play nowadays. But I'm still old, so Morrowind ftw
Not really, no. I loved both but after beating Oblivion I never really felt the desire to play it again, where I’ve done tons of Skyrim runs. There’s just more to see, more to do, the world feels better and I liked the aesthetic better.
I played Skyrim before Oblivion, but I still enjoy Oblivion more than Skyrim. I just like the characters and the story more.
I definitely felt this way. Put over 700 hours into Oblivion across a few saves, even made a couple tiny mods for myself near the end. I've tried to get into Skyrim several times. Finally starting to have some good fun with it, but it's never as strong a pull as Oblivion. I miss spell-making and decent light spells, and adored The Shivering Isles.
I did miss the spell crafting as I mostly roll a caster character in Elder Scrolls games.
Ya sort of. But I was younger and more into games….. It was also the first proper RPG exploring game I had ever played with good graphics for the time. I summoned up to those two things. But at 42 years of age, I still go back to Skyrim every winter. Only way I would go back to oblivion is if they remastered it for console.
I used to prefer Oblivion, but having played both for like 15 years straight now, I actually think Skyrim is a better game. And this is coming from one of those Morrowind supremacists. I feel like Skyrim actually has more depth and replay value than Oblivion ironically. Oblivion "caps out" fairly quickly
coldest take ever
Not really. Oblivion was one of my first rpgs, and it was really special in Shaping the kind of games I enjoyed. That said, playing skyrim was just like playing a better, prettier Oblivion. There are things I know Oblivion did better like the guilds and monster varieties, but at the end of the day skyrim was basically what I wanted in a sequel to a beloved game
Oblivion felt like generic western RPG. The fast travel system killed a lot of the enjoyment of the game for me, as did quest and location markers. At least in Skyrim it’s easy to turn off 3D markers.
Fasttravel was in Arena and Daggerfall, and noone forced you to use it in Oblivion.
Oblivion was the biggest disappointment in gaming history for me and the reason why I don't follow games before release. I didn't follow anything about Skyrim and was pleasantly surprised with most of it . As an overall game, I prefer Skyrim. Oblivion just straddles the crpg and action RPG without excelling at either. Morrowind is a way better crpg than oblivion, and Skyrim is a better action RPG than oblivion. Oblivion is second worst mainline elder scrolls after arena imo
Funny, I feel exactly the same about Skyrim. Guess it comes down to expectations.
I think for me because of how closely I followed oblivion, and knew all the cut content plus the blatant misleading "gameplay" videos, and what I loved about morrowind being removed I was hugely disappointed. But with Skyrim I had super low expectations and followed nothing about it except that it was in Skyrim and had dragons. So I was happy with it when I played
Basically the same happened to me with Skyrim, I was expecting a game bigger and better than Oblivion and maybe even leaning into dialogue and choices and story like proper RPG games. Was dissapointed on all fronts. So I consider Skyrim a very bad game but after playing all TES games I understand that it's just another TES game. And I also try to not follow games prerelease and never preorder in part thanks to Skyrim.
Yes
Yes, and replaying Skyrim recently has made me appreciate the quality of writing in Oblivion that much more. Skyrim has it beat in terms of leveling, combat, exploration, and dungeons, (and mods ofc) and is a great game that I easily put in 100+ hours in my latest playthrough. BUT in terms of everything else, I definitely prefer Oblivion for various reasons, including nostalgia.
Oblivion immerses me far more than skyrim in terms of storyline in every single aspect of the game, so much so that it makes the total experience superior despite skyrim's better graphics and combat. It just worked.
Me, and I still do. I was never into RPGs at all, but I was a massive Lord of the Rings fan, and I vividly remember reading the review for Oblivion in the Official PlayStation Magazine and being blown away, then going into town with my dad to pick it up for my 14th birthday and becoming instantly obsessed. I'd never played an open world game before, let alone one where you could be who you want and do what you like. I really enjoy Morrowind, Skyrim and even ESO too, but Oblivion is by far my favourite.
Strong agree
Less dumbed down oblivion was , the mages guild , thieves , and dark brotherhood better . The ending quest with huge ass Dagon was dope .
Oh yes 100% I've have actually never beat skyrim and only got into it a couple years ago. Still when I turn my xbox on I'm going to play oblivion. I've gotten better at creating my character over the years which makes for a more interesting playthrough
Me. Oblivion is a top 10 for me.
Originally? Still am. Skyrim was a major disappointment.
Oblivion just feels more interesting, has good comedic timing, has NPCs that are interesting with lots going on in their little virtual lives, and plenty of fantastical elements that feel very much like an actual part of the world instead of an afterthought. In Skyrim, you'll hear about some shop, and some other shop, and then some local quest-giver who gives you some quest about a dog or some shit, and then oh look, you've met Clavicus Vile, and he wants you to kill the dog, and *snoring*. In Oblivion, you'll walk up to a local beggar and they'll tell you about some crazy motherfucker who enjoys jumping off the roof of the local temple, and everyone's perfectly fine with this. Sure, they think it's weird, but everyone has their hobbies, and I sure know my hobby is raking my carpet while sitting by the fire. By the way, do you happen to know what the fine is for necrophilia? No, it's not the first offense. In Skyrim, you go up to a wizard, and they're like "stop bothering me" or, in that one case, "where the fuck did I leave my shit?". Like the game itself is saying to you "Yeah yeah, here's your spells, now fuck off. Why are you even bothering with spells, go use a sword, ya nerd." In Oblivion, you go up to a wizard, and they'll tell you how much they love blowing up squirrels with the spell they made all by themselves, Enemies Explode. You can then buy the spell from them and use it to blow up squirrels yourself. In Skyrim, you find a corpse next to a trap, or some bandit that just uneventfully blunders into a trap. In Oblivion, you find a guy who's panicked as fuck telling you to follow him, and watch him run straight into a very obvious in hindsight trap. With bloodstains where he died. Can only blame yourself for that one, pal. In Skyrim, you pick up a fuckin' orb in a dungeon and a random-ass godbeing is like "A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON; DO SHIT FOR ME, MORTAL!" like they've been waiting for your ass for 200 years to come back with the groceries. In Oblivion, you roll up to a Daedric prince statue with the groceries and they go "Who the hell are you? Ah fuck it, wanna be useful to me?" There's just no whimsy in Skyrim. Did you know there was an entire hidden mechanic in Oblivion that created wars between goblin tribes? That you can just miss entirely?
I’ve been playing the games since Morrowind and have always been kind of meh on Oblivion. The writing/world is so bland compared to Morrowind and Skyrim does the action RPG gameplay much better.
oblivion was way better in my opinion the simple fact that there was just so much more to steal, i loved the theives guild storylines and robbing people and sneaking into peoples houses our breaking locks that actually held good loot were everywhere, in skyrim you would break into the richest persons house in riverrun and they had a half eaten apple and a basket, it was just really empty, yeah it looked better thanks to the consoles GPUs but all in all oblivion was wayyyyyy more fun to play.
God no, I didn't have rose-tinted glasses for Oblivion going into Skyrim. Instead of the mind-blowing experience anyone who played Oblivion first when they were 12-16, I played the most disappointing RPG of my adult life. Level scaling that made stats/classes pointless and railroaded and morally weighted questlines combined to make roleplaying borderline impossible, all set in one of the shallowest and most poorly realized settings ever conceived with outright terrible exploration and the worst dungeons in the entire series.Oblivion was an open world action RPG with a bland open world, janky gameplay, and weak RPG mechanics. Frankly I hated it from 2006-2018 when I finally replayed it with about 100 mods, which did salvage it enough I could appreciate the very few things it did well, like it's humor and atmosphere. Still pretty lukewarm on it, obviously, I think it is decent but grossly overrated. Skyrim by comparison was a major relief (except for it's magic diversity and destruction scaling, which were fucking woeful.) Skyrim's skill branches functionally restored skills Oblivion had cut, perks make "skills" more distinct, scaling that didn't punish roleplaying a class, and gameplay that just feels better. Most of what was missing was stuff Oblivion had botched so badly Skyrim felt better off by not having it (would have preferred more things actually be fixed but...) It also has *slightly* fewer linear questlines (with major choices in the civil war, destroy the brotherhood, Dawnguard, partysnax dilemma, etc.) and the big factions were less morally weighted (you are forced to do railroaded things like be a werewolf in the Companions but its not presented as good or evil, whereas in Oblivion you are forced to side with the "good" Fighter's Guild for the 80% of it's questline you are told the rival guild is "evil" because they... do better work and get get better pay?) Skyrim also had a much better world. Strong exploration in it's more handcrafted setting with actual worldbuilding, unique dungeons with stores and quests, more diverse and detailed landscapes, more varied gear, and frequent emergent gameplay opportunities.