Poll: Which TES game hit the sweet spot?

[endtherapture]

The sweet spot between a good world, accessibility, story, and enjoyability.

For me although I enjoyed Skyrim most, Oblivion hit the sweet spot. A vast and expansive world where the ruins didn't just feel like bandit hangouts, great quests and complicated game mechanics but still very accessible and easy to play.

Skyrim had a great world and a lot of wow factor but the actual mechanics of the game were lacking, and Morrowind had a brilliant game and awesome story hindered by the fact that the game was borderline unplayable for me because of the absolutely horrible game mechanics.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I couldn't enjoy Morrowind or Oblivion, Skyrim was the game that, not just in terms of TES games but games in general, I thought was the perfect mix of world, mechanics, story and most of all enjoymentability.

 

[Roxas1359]

For me I will honestly say Oblivion is my favorite. Yeah, I like it more than Skyrim and Morrowind (although Morrowind and Oblivion are very interchangeable for me). Reason for me is that I had a lot of fun just wandering around the world, do the side quests, and just abusing the broken magic system to make some fun spells. I enjoyed it way more than Skyrim also because Skyrim had so many bugs and glitches that it just literally put me off of the game. The amount of glitches I had on the Xbox 360 version of Skyrim outnumber the amount of glitches and framerate issues I had when playing Fallout New Vegas on my PS3, yeah it was that bad.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Detested the uber dumbed down, lobotomised, playschool hued guff that was Oblivion - largely because it followed on the heels of Morrowind, and I just couldn't reconcile the two games were made by the same company.

Morrowind had the most interesting world, and by far one of the niftiest central narratives in all of gamingdon. But, I'd probably, almost grudgingly, have to say Skyrim hit the proverbial sweetspot - certainly as far as overall experiences (and accessibility) go.

As much of a fan of the three mainline TES's as I am, I don't think any of them have nailed all those elements. Skyrim's narrative is just pitiful, as are the choices (and number) of factions. Also has crappy writing and dicey, inconsistent voicework. Comparing it to Morrowind now is also very tricky, as certain aspects of that game haven't aged well at all.

But yeah, if I had to pick one - looking at the vanilla experience, without mods - then Skyrim with its DLC is an immense game, with a decently presented story, great player freedom, accessible mechanics, and impressively cohesive world design.

 

[Elfgore]

For me I will honestly say Oblivion is my favorite. Yeah, I like it more than Skyrim and Morrowind (although Morrowind and Oblivion are very interchangeable for me). Reason for me is that I had a lot of fun just wandering around the world, do the side quests, and just abusing the broken magic system to make some fun spells. I enjoyed it way more than Skyrim also because Skyrim had so many bugs and glitches that it just literally put me off of the game. The amount of glitches I had on the Xbox 360 version of Skyrim outnumber the amount of glitches and framerate issues I had when playing Fallout New Vegas on my PS3, yeah it was that bad.

Is that even possible? The PS3 port of NV was terrible. I don't imagine anything being worse. I also thought the PS3 port of Skyrim was the worse port, appears I was wrong.

OT: Oblivion is mine as well. First Scrolls game I bought and still my favorite. I've bought it about six times and have purchased all of the DLC twice. When you mod it with the really amazing mods, it easily becomes the best game. Massive world, awesome quest, and fun combat. I lost myself for hours when I first played Oblivion. I didn't even know what fast travel was, so I ended up walking everywhere. Really made the game awesome.

 

[Muspelheim]

Well, to me, they all are once taken as a whole, which is how they feel best approached, at least to me.

They all had their glaring problems, ratified in later games but at the costs of entirely different problems. But they all had their consistant threads, too. Little things that were kept all the way through. Honestly, the ultimate Elder Scrolls game that would hit every sweet spot would be the one who, somehow, managed to stitch them all together.

 

[Qvar]

I have only played Morrowind and Skyrim, but I know this: I sinked (sank?) 200+ hours in Skyrim (and haven't played Dragonborn or Dawnguard), and I couldn't bring myself to finish Morrowind. Too much of a mess, that journal. The loot was boring. The plot... Did it have a plot?

 

[Risingblade]

While Skyrim had better gameplay and was bigger, Oblivion's world seemed more alive. I could spend hours just walking on the road, taking all that nature in.

 

[Windcaler]

Morrowind is still my favorite to this day to the point where it seems like a couple times a year Ill install the game just to explore Vvardenfel and the many player made mods add a huge amount of replayability and needed mechanical overhauls that make the game one of my favorites of all time.

That said, the balance you describe while not taking mods into account...yeah I gotta give it to oblivion. Now I hadnt played oblivion till recently, it just flew under my radar when it came out and I was never really put into a position to pick it up till the christmas sale on steam last year. I got it for $6 I think and while I still havnt finished the game (Ive been playing other stuff, mostly path of exile) I think it has the right balance of accessiblity and complexity for most entry level players without mods. However one of the things that Ive been being let down with Oblivion is the lack of player choice. Much like skyrim I feel like Im just along for the ride instead of being able to make a lot of meaningful choices like I did in Morrowind or other RPGs such as Dragon age: Origins or Shadowrun returns

 

[RJ 17]

but still very accessible and easy to play.

While I agree that Oblivion is the better game over-all, I have to disagree/nit-pick at your notion of accessibility. The fact that any character can become anything the player wants in Skyrim - just pick a skill and start using it - I'd say makes it more accessible than Oblivion which had pre-made classes to pick from. Granted, you could make your own customized class with a customized list of skill specialties, but that's for more advanced play once you've already got a pretty good handle on how things work. When you're just starting out in Oblivion, it can be pretty overwhelming. You might not know what skills are good and which ones aren't, and since you're stuck with the ones you've picked at the beginning of the game, there's no real room to experiment and say "You know what, I suck with the bow, I'm going to switch over to magic".

All in all, Oblivion wins any "which is the better TES game" debate because Shivering Isles. That place was fun as hell, well worth the price of admission, and your primary quest-giver is an absolute riot, having you eagerly looking forward to your next conversation with him.

 

[Mikejames]

Oblivion had some copy-paste forests, some poor level scaling, and glitches every other play session, but I remember it fondly all the same.

Skyrim looks better and usually plays better, but I don't really recall any quests in the same caliber as Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood or Shivering Isles. Stuff that made exploration worthwhile.

For me I will honestly say Oblivion is my favorite. Yeah, I like it more than Skyrim and Morrowind (although Morrowind and Oblivion are very interchangeable for me). Reason for me is that I had a lot of fun just wandering around the world, do the side quests, and just abusing the broken magic system to make some fun spells.

Don't forget the acrobatics skill. It kind of screwed over the combat once I could start leaping rooftops, but hey, I had fun with it.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Skyrim is my favorite, though Morrowind pulls a CLOSE second.

What made Skyrim particularly stand out compared to the past games for me was how much more diverse the landscape was compared to Cyrodiils endless forests, and Morrowind's endless ashlands, while at the same time bringing the game series out of the mechanical dark ages Morrowind rested in, but without anywhere near as many screws up Oblivion had.

That and the focus on smaller, more personal, and more realistic quests isntead of Oblivion LOLSORANDOM BD and side quests made the world far more believable and enjoyable.

Morrowind pulls its close second if only because of the massive lore, and odd styles of the Dunmer.

All of them have major faults, but all in all, Skyrim has the best mix of gameplay and world.

 

[Dragonheart57]

For me, they were all great, but overall I think Morrowind was the best by a slim margin. Although it's famous for its clunky mechanics, I didn't have much of a problem with them, except for combat's dependence on stamina, but I usually fixed that easily with potions or enchantments. I like the journal of Morrowind, and the fact that people give you directions instead of just pointing it out on your map. It feels more like being an adventurer than playing a game. The world was by far the most interesting. It had a much more unique feel than Oblivion or Skyrim, and was leagues ahead of its predecessors in that regard.

Oblivion was fun as well, and I love that game, but the NPCs were terrible. The voice acting is like an ice pick to immersion, and the random conversations were awful. It did have some fun quests though, and the Dark Brotherhood is my favorite part of any TES game.

Skyrim really fell flat in a lot of places. It was extremely repetitive, and the random quests just make it worse. Every quest felt the same, and a lot of the combat variety had been stripped out for streamlined mechanics. Combat in that game was fun, it just got old very fast. I do like being a necromancer though.

 

[loc978]

For me, Skyrim was the only one worth sticking with... it was the one where they gave up and admitted their real-time direct control systems combined with enemy spawn points are suited to an action RPG, not so much a die roll system with complex player stats. Morrowind and Oblivion were probably the least immersive RPGs I've ever attempted. With Skyrim, though... spruce up the combat AI, rebalance the damage and level scaling, add some survival elements, and it's a great open-world ARPG.

Can't wait to experience Morrowind's story with decent game mechanics when Skywind is finished. The Oblivion conversion, not so much. Wasn't fond of the world design in that one, especially after reading how it was supposed to be in lore from earlier games. Still, the dungeon designs were neat, if you didn't mind either being a pure mage or loading yourself down with nothing but "repair hammers". How were those idiotic things supposed to work, anyway, with no forge or anvil?

 

[Dandark]

I never played Morrowind and I never played Oblivion on PC so I never modded it. It's a pretty unfair comparison because of this but im still going with Skyrim.

Overall it was a pretty good game. I loved Oblivion for it's immense amount of player freedom and it had much better quests than Skyrim but overall I would prefer Skyrim.

 

[sanquin]

I don't consider any of the games to have hit the sweet spot. Morrowind had crap combat mechanics. Oblivion had too much copy/pasting for dungeons and still had kinda poor combat imo. Skyrim did most things right for what I'd want from a TES game. But it did away with the old skill system, which I liked a lot more. And vanilla skyrim's colours are a bit too grey/brown/washed out for my liking.

I consider Skyrim to be the best game out of the 3 I've played, but it didn't hit that sweet spot yet.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I personally don't feel like any of them have hit the sweet spot. I love Morrowind but the combat left a lot to be desired as did the levelling system. Skyrim improved the combat and attempted to improve on the levelling system by removing just stats all together which I thought was a terrible idea. I also found Skyrim's world to be a bit bland and lifeless. I'm not mentioning Oblivion because I feel like it encompasses the worst of both worlds, and Arena and Daggerfall feel a bit too archaic for my liking.

I'm still waiting for the sweet spot but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

I think Morrowind really showcases the 'luicrousness' (is that a word?) of the Elder Scrolls series the best.

It really has that way that no other game series has of disconnecting you from the narrative completely by simply interacting with its world.

It's so broken in a way, but that's part of its charm and character as well.

It's really hard to pin down why it's good and not irritating, but I think it really is just because it's not game breaking, but just funny glitches, mostly.

If they ever make a more clean/perfectly designed game, I would actually be disappointed. It wouldn't be the Elder Scrolls way.

Morrowind for life. *Uses scroll of Icarian Flight* *Leaves*