Morrowind: Yes/No? (compared to Oblivion)

[C95J]

I know I will get a biased answer to this question, but...

I was thinking about buying Morrowind off Steam. I have played enough Oblivion, and thought this would be a good idea before Skyrim.

So, what is Morrowind like compared to Oblivion, gameplay wise (I don't care about the quality of the graphics), worth the £12.99? (again, I know the answer to this question might be biased).

Also, what did you guys prefer? Morrowind, or Oblivion (or any older Elder Scrolls game for that matter).

 

[Jack Brown]

I am pretty sure Morrowind is worth the £12.99 i have played Oblivion and Morrowind and Morrowind was just so much more enjoyable the story and gameplay just seems more fun to me

 

[faspxina]

As far as I've seen here on the Escaspist, Morrowind is probably the most beloved entry in the series.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Gameplay wise it isn't as....refined as Oblivion. Skills are more number crunchy, meaning you will likely be swinging your sword at a crab for a while before actually landing a blow. Magic is also likely to fail, and there is no manual blocking.

But, much like Oblivion, there are numerous mods available to fix most issues you'll have with the game.

Can't say I agree with the price, but I also got it during a Steam sale for a quarter of it's standard. If you want an even older and clunkier gaming experience, Daggerfall is offered for free on the TES site. You'll need DosBox though.

 

[Nihlex]

I prefer Morrowind, the setting to me just feels a lot more immersive. Everyone is racist towards you because you are an outsider, so you feel like you have to earn people's respect a lot more then in Oblivion.

It's not level scaled as well which is nice because it shows the difference in power, higher ranking people are actually tougher then bandits.

The combat is different and kind of based on dice rolls, The higher your skill and stamina = higher chance of hitting enemy. For spell casting higher number of skill and stamina also = higher chance of the spell being successful.

The combat seems to bother people but I find it enjoyable, if I know I'm going to be fighting people I just walk and let my stamina stay full instead of draining it by running.

I would recommend it to anyone but in reality different people like different things, so the only thing you can do is try it yourself.

 

[wordsmith]

Yes, yes, by the Nine Divines, yes!
Once you get past the feeling that the combat is "broken" (you can look at someone, hit them straight and central with an axe, but it your Axe skill is shit, it won't register as a hit), it's amazing. It's story is second to none, looking around at the RPG's that populate the market lately, Morrowind dominates them.

 

[DrStupid87]

Hell to the yes. Morrowind was way more interesting than oblivion. It felt more involving and didn't have that stupid level-scaling system.

 

[Delock]

I already know I'm going to get jumped on for answering this (I answered a previous thread question with the fact that I didn't like the ES games as much as most of the internet), but I'm going to anyways.

From the limited amount of time I spent with the game, I have only one piece of advice and that's to either find a fan or to find a short tutorial, since the game does even less explaining than Oblivion did before dropping you into the mud to slog around for a bit. You can actually do a surprising amount of things even before you've really set out, but if you don't learn a sense of direction, you'll more than likely end up lost in somewhere where everything looks exactly alike. Fast travel's also gone, which is still up for debate on whether that's good or bad.
In the end, I found it to be pretty much like a lower gen Oblivion that focused more on immersion than gameplay.

As for preference, I'd prefer Fallout 3 to both of them, but I still ran into the same problems as the other ones (with the exception of explaining stuff), such as scaling enemies to your level (apparently this is Oblivion only), and the wrong build ruining the fun of the game.

 

[cthulhumythos]

well, i preferred it to oblivion. it was much more handcrafted (each cave didn't feel the same, most loot not randomly placed, that sort of thing)

the game has a lot of pro's (dark elves are SO cool, and the beast races look like beasts and not people with lizard and cat heads, etc.) but there is going to be one thing that will bug you since you started off on oblivion- the weapon skills. well for starters they're divided up into many more skills (blunt, axe, spear, long blade, short blade, marksman). also how they work. if your skill isn't at 100 hundred, you will have a chance to miss. this is especially annoying early on when your skill is in the 40s and you can't hit a thing for about 5 swings.

all in all, i'd recommend it. it's a good game, and i feel it's held up. plus it's cheap!

also morrowind dark elves are badass.

 

[zehydra]

Oblivion is far better gameplay wise, but in terms of depth and world creation, Morrowind is a masterpiece in that department.

 

[Krantos]

Both very good. Morrowind does a much better job of giving you an interesting atmospheric world, but the mechanics aren't as polished as Oblivion.

There is also a pretty steep learning curve. The base builds are all pretty poor; a custom character build is almost always better, but they can be tricky to figure out. I suggest looking up some advice before making one.

Also, be aware the game is not going to hold your hand. If I have a single problem with Oblivion (actually I have several), it's that there was too much "safety net."

Enemies in Morrowind are (mostly) not leveled, so it's very possible to get in over your head very quickly, especially if you get off the beaten path.

That all being said, if you can look past the outdated polygons, and the less than perfect mechanics, it's a beautifully well done game that will suck you in for hundreds of hours. The only reason I don't play it (or Oblivion) anymore is because I've dumped literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours into it.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

Let's just say going backwards is always difficult. Morrowind's melee combat will feel damn near broken by comparison. But the expansions are superb and if you can get used to it, the combat is bearable and the game makes even getting lost in the woods fun.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Morrowind doesn't have level scaling which makes it a plus in my book. Mechanically, I'd say Oblivion is somewhat better, but the leveling is extremely broken.

I like Morrowind more though, it just has a more interesting world, and exploring actually feels rewarding, where in Oblivion it feels much less so.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

It seems weird to talk about any 2+ year old Elder Scrolls game in terms of the characteristics it has in vanilla, since almost everyone just mods the living crap out of them anyway. Level scaling in Oblivion? The hell you say. The Oblivion I played had no level scaling at all, because I modded that crap out of there the first chance I got.

 

[willgreg123]

Well actually, I'm not sure...

I think if you're use to the Oblivion experience, you might be disappointed with the way the Morrowing gameplay works, as I find it missing a few elements that made the gameplay of Oblivion flow better. The combat itself is pretty sterile, I found, but I have very little patience for controls that don't fit exactly for what I want. I put off trying Recettear: An Item's Shop Tale for months, because I thought the keyboard controls where idiotic, but then I recently played it and found my claims where based on nothing but ignorant gut reaction, and the controls where actually very good and perfect for the format is was doing, if you chose to use it with just a keyboard and mouse that is.

It's really not so different as to be a deal breaker, its just I was in the same scenario and bought it, but I found it lacking in some of the gameplay elements I liked in Oblivion, the combat especially. The graphical can even be enhanced with modifications, though not by much, but you don't care about that anyway, frankly neither do I, I was just curious what the modifications could accomplish.

One thing that really got my goat was the lack of voice acting, in a game that uses so much text. If you don't mind a lot of reading, then this is far from a deal breaker.

If you're really itchy to buy it, I say give it a little more thought, look at some gameplay videos and make sure. Me? I'm only regretful I didn't wait till it was on sale on Steam, as I think I would have been more forgiving of its shortcomings.

I would like to add that Morrowind seems to have a much more varied aesthetic though, the armor, weapons, settings and monsters, feel more off the wall and unique, I wish they kept a lot of these things in Oblivion, as I find its settings, armor, weapons, monsters and NPCs to be very plain.

 

[duktapeman90]

Yeah I had the same problem. I got Morrowind cheap of Steam one day, but I was already too used to the Oblivion gameplay. I really wanted to get into the story and all that, but I just couldn't get into the gameplay. But maybe you'll have better luck than me.

 

[FredTheUndead]

Oblivion is a terrible game that inspires so little enthusiasm I can't even be arsed to mod it. Morrowind on the other hand requires only really one mod, one that makes your attacks go where you actually aim them, plus a couple graphical touchups (Better Bodies/Better Heads/Darknut's textures/that Vivec mod that makes cantons into little towns), to become the best Insane Magician Reeks Havoc on Exotic Island While Mocking Pathetic Thieves and Fighters simulator ever.

Edit: having said that I don't like the whole "pick a topic" dialogue system but that's Elder Scrolls in general. At least in Morrowind the topics are interesting.

 

[Mekado]

Morrowind is superior in almost every aspect, except combat, and that is a big problem for me.

Morrowind
+ lore is better
+ locations are much more exotic and different from one another
+ more factions
+ better transport system than auto-travel via the map (boats+striders+mage guilds+recall)
+ more quests
+ items leveled lists makes much more sense than Oblivion (lvl18+ every bandit has full glass/daedric armor...what??)

Oblivion
+ better graphics
+ much better combat mechanics
+ cliffracers are extinct /PARTY-ON!
+ better quest tracking (not a locator but the journal in Morrowind was awful)

Even though the list is smaller with Oblivion, it wins my vote because of the combat, it was truly atrocious in Morrowind... I also don't mind "generic" fantasy world so the rolling green hills and forests of Oblivion didn't actually bother me.

Both games are good though, but Oblivion (modded to hell and back it becomes very good) is the better game imo.