Oblivion: Did anyone else find it to be a poor sequel ?

[BertTheNerd]

*Loved* Morrowind, never tried Oblivion(I should, shouldn´t I)
...it´s true that the player-friendliness of Morrowind isn´t exactly
the most pleasurable, and at least the buggy quest-log was a major
turn-off to me, too, but otherwise it must´ve been one of the most
immersive rpgs I´ve played so far.

If Oblivion´s story and world dynamics are/were only half as convincing
as that of Morrowind and the playing mechanics (and graphics etc.)
improved, which one should take for granted, I don´t see why it should
be a poor sequel... okay, somebody lend me 10 bucks, I´m diving into
Oblivion!

 

[velcthulhu]

I agree with the OP, Oblivion sucked in my opinion.

 

[AboveUp]

It's funny how everyone says Oblivion had a smaller in-game world when in fact it was quite a lot larger. I think Vvardenfell was something like 10 square miles and Cyrodill was 16...

Anyways, everything was better in MW, except for combat and graphics if you ask me.

It's because there was more variety to the areas in Morrowind, plus it lacked the quick travel options. Sure you could pay to travel quickly, but it didn't get you to every area. Causing you to explore a lot more.

If Oblivion´s story and world dynamics are/were only half as convincing
as that of Morrowind and the playing mechanics (and graphics etc.)
improved, which one should take for granted, I don´t see why it should
be a poor sequel... okay, somebody lend me 10 bucks, I´m diving into
Oblivion!

That's the problem. The stats got dumbed down, and the story turned into an atrocity. Pretty much every one was, deep down inside, a good guy. Even the thieves were a bunch of Robin Hoods, giving back to the poor.
If you remember all the stories of corruption you heard about Cyrodill back in Morrowind, none of that really returns in Oblivion. In fact, Fable had a darker and deeper story than Oblivion.

Okay, I'm copying and pasting this, but I wrote this about Oblivion a long time on another message board, it's relevant to this topic:

Allot of people seem to think that I hate Oblivion.
Actually, I kind of like the game, I like arcade games and Oblivion is as arcade as it a sequel to Morrowind can get. There's extremely sudden stat change with the whole novice/apprentice/expert system, there are random NPCs without a real name that probably will respawn if dead for a long time - not sure if they do, but after killing a whole bunch of people named "bandit", I'm sure they do - and the quick travel that provides a completely free form of travel. I do miss levitate every now and then, but when you've got quick travel, who needs it?
Then again, who needs horses if you've got quick travel?

What I think is the biggest problem that Oblivion has is the story. Sure the NPCs now talk, and they have annoying fake conversations with each other which kind of make the world seem more "real". Though personally, I think it breaks the game world apart even more because every race has the same voice, and after hearing the same voice say that they have 10 different names I really start to wonder if I'm not really just talking to the same NPC.

The story in Morrowind dealt with allot of social and racial conflicts in a small island to the east. An island that hosts a race that is very.. erm.. Japanese. (this is not going the weeaboo direction, don't worry)
They are closed off to the rest of the world, prefer to deal with only themselves, have tons of strong religious believes, are superstitious, fight with katana... It doesn't get any more Japanese than that in a fantasy game without just calling it Japan, now does it?
This country, that just happens to be an island that hates foreigners gets blown open by stronger military power from the west. They are forced to trade with them, forced to allow foreign people in, forced to allow them to work there, forced to drop everything that the new western Imperial race does not like and considers "barbaric".

This led to a dark setting full of racism, with a country struggling for it's own identity.
A fantasy world that actually managed to capture allot of problems with race and identity that to this day lives on in our world, outside of the game.

To me, Oblivion missed this. Sure, it took place in Cyrodill. Cyrodill, home of the Imperials, the place where the military power is so strong the same problems cannot reappear as strong as they did in Morrowind. There are still some areas (for instance one town that was mostly inhabited by Kahjit and Argonian), but most of the game missed it.
I felt it took a standard good vs evil path again with all the Oblivion portals opening up everywhere. In fact, I got annoyed when so many of them opened up that you could see 3 of them on the same screen, without moving around.
It was just too damn standard in terms of story. The depth that Morrowind brought to RPGs was so refreshing and dark that I instantly loved the game. But Oblivion not only threw those darker tones out of the window, they also spat out everything else that was dark with the horrible overuse of bloom.

If there is ever going to be another Elder Scrolls type game, can we please go back to darker more engaging settings, instead of just yelling "HEY LOOK, I'M A VERY OPEN SANDBOX FANTASY RPG GAME!"?

 

[TOO S0BER]

Ok... I just have to say that Oblivion is NOT a sequel to Morrowind. To my knowledge, the Elder Scrolls series is not a progression of story plot. Each game has its own story, own plotline, etc. Just because Morrowind has "3" and Oblivion has "4" doesn't necessarily mean they are sequels. Because for those who have played both games, their storylines have absolutely nothing in common. Well, aside from you're character in Oblivion hearing obscure references about stuff that happened in Morrowind. But that isn't enough to say "sequel".

Just wanted to point that out. Now on to what the thread is really about...

I liked both Morrowind and Oblivion, but I liked Oblivion much more. For one, the scenery was just far more pleasant to the eyes. I don't know about other people, but the constantly dreary setting in Morrowind was just a turn off for me. Seeing all the devastation from Dagoth-Ur's power spreading (or whatever) depressed me to a point I stopped playing (That and a scratch on my disc that prevented an ENTIRE town from appearing).

I agree in that Treasure hunting in Oblivion wasn't as satisfying, but I will say this: It isn't gratifying until you hit higher levels. That is where the grind pays off. My character is level fifty something and he gets all kinds of shit from caves. High level, valuable shit.

A tip for people playing Oblivion for the first time. Pick skills that will be easy to train. Blade, Block, Blunt, Heavy/Light Armor, Restoration. Also I found Conjuration invaluable for grinding as you can train off your own summons.

 

[Killerbunny001]

Oblivion is the perfect example of a bad sequel: Dumbed-down and homogenized to the extreme, and sugar-coated by shiny shiny graphics.

The lack of fast travel and less simplistic gameplay in Morrowind adds immersion, something Oblivion is sorely lacking in. Sure Morrowind has an actual learning curve, but it's not supposed to be simple--that's the great thing about it.

Also, Oblivion is far more linear than Morrowind. Immortal NPCs, few if any alternate quest paths... it's undeserving of the title "The Elder Scrolls".

Totally agree with you, although I don`t really find it undeserving of the title "The Elder Scrolls". It is still a very good game.

 

[quack35]

I love them both. I'm not sure which I've played more.

 

[Ushario]

Oblivion was in many ways a good follow up to Morrowind.
What it lacks in truly amazing storyline and world realization it makes up for with accessability and improved gameplay.

I wouldn't declare Oblivion as an improvement on Morrowind in every aspect but it is a better game.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I probably would have found it to be worse if I had played morrowind first, because it has cooler spells and shit, but since I played morrowind afterwards it just felt extremely outdated and i couldn't get into it.

 

[Low Frost]

I think that Morrowind had a lot going for it in it'se setting that most fantasy games don't have.
It inherently was more interesting aesthetically and in it's story line due to just how out there then Dunmer are in the lore. You'd be hard pressed to find another people who live in mushroom houses you know? The game, I think, followed the template of pen and paper games, both the good and the bad. It was very player dependent, you yourself had to be the catalyst for something to get done, leading to satisfying exploring.
On the other hand, the game was woefully broken, mechanically and structurally, and was extremely rookie unfriendly. Oblivion was mechanically broken (chameleon trick), hell, all the Elder Scroll games could be broken if you knew how, but Oblivion was quite player friendly with engaging, visceral combat. My only real disappointment with the game is how they made Cyrodil a stock medieval land and not Rome in a jungle like the fluff said. That would of been something to see.

 

[Flying-Emu]

It's funny how everyone says Oblivion had a smaller in-game world when in fact it was quite a lot larger. I think Vvardenfell was something like 10 square miles and Cyrodill was 16...

Anyways, everything was better in MW, except for combat and graphics if you ask me.

Size doesn't matter until they make a fully-rendered 3D realm the size of Daggerfall's.

 

[dsau]

im glad someone feels the same. i completely agree. to me morrowind was 10x better. its a good game but morrowind was one of my top 3 game of all time, and here is why Oblivion doesnt stack up, the world isnt large enough, there arent enough cities, there were less types of weapons and very few had enchanments so everything felt the same, i couldnt make money because there were no expensive weapons to take of fallen enemies to be sold(and i couldnt find a scamp to sell them to), the leveling system was... odd and didnt work, and where did all the custom enchanting go?!?! you had to collect those stones from oblivion to enchant your weapons or armor, and the stone would already have a preset enchanment on it so you couldnt custom make anything and then they would run out of charge and you would have to pay for that and it was expensive as hell. and where did all the sweet weapons go? even at level 30 i rarely found daedric weapons. and exploring usualy ended up with you scrathing your head wondering if you missed anything big and after the 50oth time doing this you realize exploring isnt worth it and finally the DLC wasnt nearly as good. Soltheism and mournhold were giant, with new weapons, quests, and hours and hours of gameplay. i was mostly let down by how all the creativity you could put into every single aspect of the game was virtually taken out especially when it came to the magic(mostly enchanting) system

dont get me wrong oblivion is a good game, i actually like the system in which you get a new perk when you reach journeyman, expert, or master. the graphics are fantastic, but all in all those redeeming qualities just dont make up for it.

sorry that was a long rant haha

EDIT: it just feels like they took away from the gameplay to add top notch graphics

 

[geon106]

Not at all. I played Morrowind and i loved the amount of content and the huge map. But Oblivion is x50 on content, although the map could have been more varied. Oblivion has so much you can do in it, it is hard to find someone who doesn't like it tbh.

If you get bored or finish the main storyline(which takes 10 seconds tbf) then you can always go and join a guild or do alchemy or side quests or go off exploring etc. I hope there will be an Elder Scrolls 5

 

[cptbeaver]

Not at all. I played Morrowind and i loved the amount of content and the huge map. But Oblivion is x50 on content, although the map could have been more varied. Oblivion has so much you can do in it, it is hard to find someone who doesn't like it tbh.

If you get bored or finish the main storyline(which takes 10 seconds tbf) then you can always go and join a guild or do alchemy or side quests or go off exploring etc. I hope there will be an Elder Scrolls 5

In what way is there more to do in Oblivion? You could all of those in Morrowind, except there was more of it in Morrowind, there were more guilds, each with a longer storyline chain that made more sense, because a warrior couldn't join the mages guild without learning some magic first, unlike in Oblivion.

The main difference anyway, I found, was the storyline. Morrowind was just so much better in this regard, Oblivion felt tame and boring, although the main character's did have nice voice actors, I just like Sean Bean. Morrowind was epic, even the expansion packs added to this, Shivering Isles just felt so bland compared to Tribunal, where you got a city that in itself was more varied than all of Shivering Isles and is hardly anywhere near a big. Wait, I've gone of my own point here. Oblivion's setting never changes though, Morrowind is far more varied. Even though it does have the most annoying creatures ever, those flying things that you can't outrun.

Morrowind is unfriendly to new user's though. That is it's only problem, and that vanishes after a couple of hours playing. Oh no wait. It has an awful journal, but there are mods that upgrade it. What would be nice to see, a remake of Morrowind into Oblivion's engine, but I doubt we'll see that.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

I liked both games, but I admit to liking Morrowind a tiny bit more, although nostalgia probably has something to do with that, since it was my first big WRPG I played, and I loved every second of it.

Similarly, I loved Oblivion, but my enthusiasm for games has waned slightly, so I think that's why I didn't enjoy it quite as much.

 

[veloper]

Oblivion out-of-the-box fails at being a RPG and a cookiecutter fantasy one at that.

Morrowind has some things going for it: unique architecture, mad landscapes, alien culture and size.

Also, little voice acting is better than everything VOed badly, by a handful of people.

 

[Eleuthera]

I loved Morrowind, so much so that I'd been wating for Oblivion since the very first time I heard they were making it. I got it the day it came out, and stopped playing within a week...

Oblivion never managed to get me interested, at all. I don't know why I don't want to play it, but everytime I re-install it and try to play it a again there's just no connection.

Maybe TES5 will give me the same enjoyment as Morrowind again.

 

[StormShaun]

I played Oblivion on the 360 and I loved it, I think it is the best RPG I played to date but I havent played Morrowind so it might be better then Oblivion but why look at the past we you can look at the future.........aka Elder Scrolls 5, they are probly going to look at these forums and improve it, so it might be a really good game......MIGHT....I hope

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

I will agree that Morrowind is a sweet game with a huge world and tons of quests and good systems for alotta stat customization and leveling and everything. but Oblivion isn't that bad a game, maybe it's just that I never work myself up about any release, thus giving me the attitude of meh might as well play it. that being said i enjoy a wide variety of titles so long as they are adequately playable.

where did all the custom enchanting go?!?! you had to collect those stones from oblivion to enchant your weapons or armor, and the stone would already have a preset enchanment on it so you couldnt custom make anything and then they would run out of charge and you would have to pay for that and it was expensive as hell.

I dunno how you missed weapon enchantment armour enchantment, naming of equiptment, custom spell crafting and all that, it's right there in the mages guild and takes almost no effort to get far enough in the guild to unlock... I think you should give it another try as it surely is not missing from the game. also with weapon charge being expensive to recharge, it is. there's a quest to get a special soul gem style artifact from one of the daedric statues, you can refil it and charge your weapons off of it unlimitedly .

where did all the custom enchanting go?!?! you had to collect those stones from oblivion to enchant your weapons or armor, and the stone would already have a preset enchanment on it so you couldnt custom make anything

those were pretty cool little rocks. and useful for some of the more obscure enhancements. don't diss the sigils .

where did all the sweet weapons go? even at level 30 i rarely found daedric weapons.

Again i find myself confused, how did you not find any? I had a buncha daedric weapons when i got to lvl 20ish heck i had one i named "soul eater" which i used for final strikes on stuff to fill my soul gems to custom things with. great daedric longsword that it was . maybe I'm just lucky.

i was mostly let down by how all the creativity you could put into every single aspect of the game was virtually taken out especially when it came to the magic(mostly enchanting) system

I was personally not let down by a lack of creativity, but the reason is stated above. I would personally urge you to try it again and get into the mages guild and make yerself some custom fun! I made a spell which shot someone with an electric bolt and paralyzed them for a bit... like a tazer but wit magic... fun stuff. spell craft is kinda pricey though.

hope my comments help ya get as much fun outa oblivion as i did.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Morrowind is the better game and the series is not heading in the best direction but Oblivion is not a bad game.