I think I missed the point of Skyrim

[JesterRaiin]

Or am I just missing something?

Imagine Skyrim being very advanced Minecraft. Very crude, basic storyline, a few subquests and big, big world you can enjoy.
There you go.

 

[WaysideMaze]

Morrowind just had more focus. There were multiple questlines and factions that a character could logically partake in. Playing a suave thief? You can do the Thieves Guild, House Hlaalu and the Imperial Cult on one character and it makes perfect sense. Plus, most of the questlines were much longer than in Oblivion and Skyrim. You actually felt like your progression in organizations actually meant something.

My main was a Breton Mage in heavy armour. Meaning I spent a lot of time in Telvanni territory. Giant mushroom houses FTW.

Yeah, the sheer number of factions you could join was staggering.

For me, random dungeon crawls don't allow me to RP a character as well as having multiple different factions with unique ideals that I can align myself to.

 

[Fappy]

Morrowind just had more focus. There were multiple questlines and factions that a character could logically partake in. Playing a suave thief? You can do the Thieves Guild, House Hlaalu and the Imperial Cult on one character and it makes perfect sense. Plus, most of the questlines were much longer than in Oblivion and Skyrim. You actually felt like your progression in organizations actually meant something.

My main was a Breton Mage in heavy armour. Meaning I spent a lot of time in Telvanni territory. Giant mushroom houses FTW.

Yeah, the sheer number of factions you could join was staggering.

For me, random dungeon crawls don't allow me to RP a character as well as having multiple different factions with unique ideals that I can align myself to.

My Telvanni mage was bent on world conquest XP

I love the last quest, "You're the second in command now! Questline over! Though, you know, according to Telvanni law you could kill your superior and become the head of the house... though its not a quest, so whatever. Do what you want."

*You kill the leader*

"Gratz brah you are the leader now. We're all going to go back to experimenting on slaves and generally ignoring each other. You have fun with your robot army and your giant mushroom."

On an unrelated note I command creatured the Mudcrab Merchant all the way to my Mushroom Fortress. He hung out in my bedroom next to my mark location. OP for dropping off loot.

 

[WaysideMaze]

Morrowind just had more focus. There were multiple questlines and factions that a character could logically partake in. Playing a suave thief? You can do the Thieves Guild, House Hlaalu and the Imperial Cult on one character and it makes perfect sense. Plus, most of the questlines were much longer than in Oblivion and Skyrim. You actually felt like your progression in organizations actually meant something.

My main was a Breton Mage in heavy armour. Meaning I spent a lot of time in Telvanni territory. Giant mushroom houses FTW.

Yeah, the sheer number of factions you could join was staggering.

For me, random dungeon crawls don't allow me to RP a character as well as having multiple different factions with unique ideals that I can align myself to.

My Telvanni mage was bent on world conquest XP

I love the last quest, "You're the second in command now! Questline over! Though, you know, according to Telvanni law you could kill your superior and become the head of the house... though its not a quest, so whatever. Do what you want."

*You kill the leader*

"Gratz brah you are the leader now. We're all going to go back to experimenting on slaves and generally ignoring each other. You have fun with your robot army and your giant mushroom."

On an unrelated note I command creatured the Mudcrab Merchant all the way to my Mushroom Fortress. He hung out in my bedroom next to my mark location. OP for dropping off loot.

Only problem with the fortresses you had built for you, they were right in the middle of fucking nowhere.

I know you can mark/recall to them but I used that spell for so many other things. The fortresses were cool and all, but ultimately useless to me.

 

[Fappy]

Morrowind just had more focus. There were multiple questlines and factions that a character could logically partake in. Playing a suave thief? You can do the Thieves Guild, House Hlaalu and the Imperial Cult on one character and it makes perfect sense. Plus, most of the questlines were much longer than in Oblivion and Skyrim. You actually felt like your progression in organizations actually meant something.

My main was a Breton Mage in heavy armour. Meaning I spent a lot of time in Telvanni territory. Giant mushroom houses FTW.

Yeah, the sheer number of factions you could join was staggering.

For me, random dungeon crawls don't allow me to RP a character as well as having multiple different factions with unique ideals that I can align myself to.

My Telvanni mage was bent on world conquest XP

I love the last quest, "You're the second in command now! Questline over! Though, you know, according to Telvanni law you could kill your superior and become the head of the house... though its not a quest, so whatever. Do what you want."

*You kill the leader*

"Gratz brah you are the leader now. We're all going to go back to experimenting on slaves and generally ignoring each other. You have fun with your robot army and your giant mushroom."

On an unrelated note I command creatured the Mudcrab Merchant all the way to my Mushroom Fortress. He hung out in my bedroom next to my mark location. OP for dropping off loot.

Only problem with the fortresses you had built for you, they were right in the middle of fucking nowhere.

I know you can mark/recall to them but I used that spell for so many other things. The fortresses were cool and all, but ultimately useless to me.

I got really good at getting from there to places I needed to go via mysticism spells. Port to Wolverine Hall from fortress, take mage port or boat to wherever. Recall to go back home. It wasn't too bad, but it is always nice to have a small place in one of the major cities. Every character I have ever played stocked some stuff in the murdered Hlaalu guy's manor.

 

[drivel]

I agree - it's very bizarre that every quest line for the guilds involves the end of the world as we know it, and you ARE ALWAYS THE CHOSEN ONE.

The Thieves' Guild:
Frey steals the Skeleton Key, and if he gets away with it, he'll be unstoppable (although, as far as I can tell, it just means he will never break a lockpick). You're the chosen one, fated to become a Nightingale, return the Skeleton Key, and save the Thieves' Guild.

The Mages' Guild
On like the second goddamn quest you get a vision where a guy tells you "dark times are ahead... blah, blah... only you can stop it, etc.

The Dark Brotherhood
The Dark Brotherhood is on the decline, but, surprise! You're the chosen one! The Voice! Who can hear the wishes of the Night Mother and do her bidding! Of course, she really only talks to you ONCE during the entire quest line, and after that, she just tells you where to run about so you can kill nameless NPCs. I'll admit, murdering the Emperor was pretty cool, but it's lame that the Stormcloaks' dialogue doesn't change as a result.

The Fighter's Gui... I mean the Companions
The Companions are werewolves, but only because some evil witches trick 'em. This is apparently NOT AWESOME, because you don't get to go to Savngarde when you die when you're a werewolf. Look, I've been to Sovngarde. It ain't that nice. But don't worry, you're the chosen one. You can kill those witches, burn their heads and free the Companions from the curse of being able to turn into a super awesome werewolf and being a werewolf in the afterlife.

The Bard's College
Who cares, Bard's are dumb.
But if you must know you have to save a festival, and recover some instruments.
Turns out you're not the chosen one, but instead an errand boy.

Honestly, Oblivion's guild quests were, in my opinion, much more engaging. Despite all this, I still somehow managed to sink 85 hours into this game. Damn you, Bethesda!

 

[Jaeke]

Was Morrowinds main quest that great though? I didnt think so. From a gameplay perspective, it was worse than Oblivion or Skyrim. The only thing it had going for it was the outstanding lore.

I guess that was what you were saying anyway, but meh.

I'm a bit confused by this point. If we're talking about story then surely the gameplay shouldn't matter, just the, in your words, 'outstanding lore.'

Not trying to be rude, I'm just a little puzzled as to what you think makes Morrowinds main quest worse.

After Skyrim was announced i got a craving for Elder Scrolls and since i had put 600+ hours into Oblivion i thought about getting Morrowind just for the hell of it.

2 hours in and my disposition was: "damn.... im out of stamina again, why can't i see 20 feet in front of me... WTF FAST TRAVEL!?!"
6 hours in and my disposition was: "OMFG JUST HIT THE DAMN CLIFF RACER! ITS NOT THAT HARD TO SWING A SWORD!!"
14 hours in and my disposition was: "What the hell!?! Why did I just lose all my stats?? WTF is this Fury sword!!" RAGE
16 hours in and my disposition was: "Dammit now I have to go kiss up to 3 damn houses and 4 backward tribes... *sigh*"
25 hours in and my disposition was: "Oh, cool... i guess I get to meet a god... WTF..."
30 hours in and my disposition was: "Dammit Dagoth Ur you've killed me 5 times already... oh wait levitation potion... ENDGAME"

I had to literaly pull myself... nay... skulldrag myself through that game... I know its a classic and is heralded as the greatest RPG of all time but damn... it kicked my ass...

 

[Aerosteam]

I agree - it's very bizarre that every quest line for the guilds involves the end of the world as we know it, and you ARE ALWAYS THE CHOSEN ONE.

But not being the chosen is boring D=

if you Dont jave a beard your doing it wrong

But I'm playing as a woman D=

OT: It's not like it's a bad thing, having an infinite amount of time to save the world, you know.

I get what you mean. The people in Skyrim say that you must defeat Alduin before it's too late or something, but who have all the time in Nirn

I knew from the start that Alduin won't succeed, because he's the bad guy. Bad guys never succeed if your're playing as the good guy.
(Mass Effect 2 is an exception.)

 

[T.D.]

Personally,

Positives

Large World
Perks
Levelling by using skills

Negatives

ALL STORY AND QUESTS, they are all really transparent and weak, there is no variety.

Couldn't they give just a bit of spice to the quests? The Dark Brotherhood is the best but even then you're very limited to how you can approach the situation of doing things.

BTW can anyone point me towards a quest like "Whodunit?" in Oblivion and "Tranquility Lane" in Fallout 3, as those style quests are my favourite.

 

[Burrito With Legs]

I think the point of Skyrim is to let the player choose their own adventure. You join different factions and guilds, and those affect how you're treated in the game. It's a lot more than just being good or bad.

 

[ImProvGamr]

I think the point of Skyrim is to let the player choose their own adventure. You join different factions and guilds, and those affect how you're treated in the game.

Theoretically. I mean, you can choose how you want to play it and which quests you want to do first, but those quest lines, even some of the main ones, are so short and insubstantial that you can't really build an adventure off them, and they go by so fast that you just end up being chucked from one random quest line to another. And even when you finish the quest line, you're just given your reward you're on your way. The only new thing is a few extra perks is someone saying "Oh hey, you're the Archmage!" or "Your that Listener guy!" (Not in those exact words, mind you, but you get my point)

 

[ImProvGamr]

Imagine Skyrim being very advanced Minecraft. Very crude, basic storyline, a few subquests and big, big world you can enjoy.
There you go.

That's actually a pretty good description for a lot of sandbox games right there, now that I think about it. That just means that Minecraft is the ultimate sandbox.

Or not. I've never played Minecraft, so I wouldn't know first hand.

 

[Lord-Enonymous]

I had an opposite experience. I started on my quest, then i went my own way and forgot about that whole "Dragon" and "Civil war" thing, and started adventuring. I have yet to get back to the main story mission, but now I'm not sure that I should.

I mean, better to have an over-hanging story than nothing, right?

Imagine Skyrim being very advanced Minecraft. Very crude, basic storyline, a few subquests and big, big world you can enjoy.
There you go.

That's actually a pretty good description for a lot of sandbox games right there, now that I think about it. That just means that Minecraft is the ultimate sandbox.

Or not. I've never played Minecraft, so I wouldn't know first hand.

Also, as an avid player of Minecraft, this is the absolute truth in my eyes :3

 

[Zer_]

I think they should just drop the whole main quest angle. I don't think they need a "save the world" main storyline in these games. Just focus on making the rest of the game awesome and I am content with a massive sandbox world to have fun in.

Yep. Pretty much it. Just let us choose from a selection of backstories and let us be on our way. Heck, they proved they could plunk us down in a wasteland devoid of anything green besides toxic waste and we still ate it up...the...the game not the...toxic...waste.

I wouldn't have a problem with a mainquest if they made it as good as Morrowind's. Yeah I know I preach Morrowind's awesomeness all the time and the main quest had a lot of boring quests in it, but the story was just too fucking awesome to pass up on any playthrough.

Strange, the story isn't what I remember of Morrowind. I remember the characters more.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

There's tons to do, lots of places to explore, and slinging around magic is a heck of a lot of fun.

Maybe that's the point you're looking for? From what I can tell they just wanted to put out the biggest game they possibly could. At what expense, is up to interpretation.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Imagine Skyrim being very advanced Minecraft. Very crude, basic storyline, a few subquests and big, big world you can enjoy.
There you go.

That's actually a pretty good description for a lot of sandbox games right there, now that I think about it. That just means that Minecraft is the ultimate sandbox.

Or not. I've never played Minecraft, so I wouldn't know first hand.

Then download it - with Notch's blessing - play a little, buy if you think it's worth your money.
You'll need no more than one hour to understand what it's about.

Point is : Sandbox games are for people with imagination, creativity, those who are willing to do a few things off-screen. Playing it like every other storyline-based game, rushing just to finish main scenario is pointless.