Morrowind Or Oblivion To Play First?

[Angboy Ahoy]

Hey, the only elder scrolls game that I've really invested any real time into is Skyrim, although i've wanted to play Oblivion and Morrowind for ages. Just wanted some experinced players thoughts on which one I should be playing first.

[Bob of Mage]

Might be slightly better to play Morrowind first due to some minor plot details being revealed. Really it just reveals what you learn about halfway into the main plot, and that you as the hero lived to "sail off into the sunset".

Of course Morrowind is also much more different from Skyrim then Oblivion is. It plays much more like like a tabletop pen and paper rpg where just because you swing your sword at someone doesn't mean the hit connects. There's also a lot more effects to deal with, and much less hand holding. And I really mean it about less handholding because some quests can be downright confusing (you can sometimes even be told to go to the wrong way a few rare times).

So the biggest question is what did you like most about Skyrim? Was the action and combat what you enjoyed most, or did you prefer the fantasy world and enjoy being part of the world? A great example of what Morrowind did well was the fact I was once overjoyed to find a hidden library with rare books in a dwemmer ruin. Of course I also disliked the fact that 90% of the weapons and armour were outright junk (going unarmoured is better then most of the common armour types), and only a few types were any good to use.

Oblivion didn't have as strong of a story, and while the combat was more fluid, it was greatly simplelifed. Personally I feel I got alot more out of Morrowind since there was so much more to do. Each unexplored ruin had the chance for some rare item since most items were not scaled to your level, and some of the guild questlines locked you out of another guild's quests (in the case of the great houses you only got the chance to join one of the three for example).

[Craftian]

The Elder Scrolls has always had a loose chronology, so it isn't essential to play previous titles. Morrowind is still definitely work a look, but it's up to you. The most you'll get in terms of plot spoilers is vague hints or books that reference events from the previous games.

[Erei]

The main plot is, and always was, the weak point in any elder scroll. In fact, there is little link between Oblivion story and Morrowind, except for a few dialogues here and there, and some references you will not even notice if you don't know morrowind.
Ultimately, you should do your choice based on what you look for.

Keep in mind that Morrowind is old. Like really. Oblivion is also old, but less so. So Morrowind is dated in many of its mechanic and graphic.
It's still an AMAZING game, but for example you will not be able to sprint really fast in the beginning (barely faster than walking), you basically use dice to hit, no fast travel (you need to use spells, or the local "taxi" equivalent), no leveled area and so on. It is however a very immersive and alien world. If you are looking for an amazingly hand crafted world with tons of secrets and stuff to explore, that's your game. If you want an action game, well, that's not the best.

Oblivion is more recent, and was one of the first to start the "mod it until you break it" trend with Bethesda game. You have more mods, and they greatly help to make the game look and feel better. It's still rather old, and the UI was/is a console garbage (like Skyrim, without sky UI). The stories are interesting but vary greatly. For example the thief/DB questline are amazing, while the mage questline is extremely underwhelming, especially at the end. It's still full of stuff to see and explore, and some amazing quests (like one where you are inside a painting, with appropriate graphics). Combat is more modern than Morrowind, but not as good as Skyrim (you will not use dices, but you tend to swing your weapon at stuff with tons of HP until it dies).

On a side note, the spellcrafting in Oblivion (and I think in Morrowind ? Been a few years and I played mage only once) is simply amazing compared to what we have in Skyrim. The amount of customization is impressive, and you ends up having a spell for everything as a mage.

[PainkilleR]

I'd say go with oblivion first. This way you won't rush your Morrowind walkthrough to get to the newer and "more superior" Oblivion. It will eliminate the desire to finish it fast just to get to another TES entry. You will also appreciate it more after both Skyrim and Oblivion, since you'll understand why Morrowind is so much better rpg, and will notice how dumbed down TES4 and TES5 actually are.

OR you will totally hate it for it's dated graphics and drop it so that it will save your time.

[Coldheart2236]

@PainkilleR

I agree. I played Oblivion first, then Skyrim, then started Morrowind. I personally found the story for Morrowind to be a *lot* richer and deeper than TES IV & V combined. Regarding the later games in terms of "dumbed down" they are, this is especially true when going from Morrowind to Oblivion. No map markers - though locations are often marked on your map for you - as well as no fast travel (as it is in TES IV & V, Fallout 3, etc.) and also very little voice acting.

None of these things are negatives in my opinion, I should clarify. My personal experience was playing the later games, as well as games like Fallout 3 & New Vegas, without ever playing Morrowind 'back in the day' as it were.

I'm currently playing through Morrowind - first time on a vanilla install - and the 2002 graphics and limitations (lack of distant land, for example) don't bother me one bit. I'm playing through slowly, and while I'm 100+ hours in and about level 42, I've still a way to go in the main quest.

[mrwibble]

The worst thing about Morrowind isn't really the dated graphics. It's the journal/dialogue system. It's like a giant wikipedia page where you click on hyperlinks representing topics of conversation. And almost everyone has the same wikipedia page, just with slightly different topics. I absolutely loathed it. Don't get me wrong, in terms of atmosphere and world-building, Morrowind set the bar incredibly high, and it remains a high point for the Elder Scrolls... but seriously, conversations were such a chore.

[cyäegha]

by all rights, i should probably enjoy morrowind the most, with the alien atmosphere and the old-school, no hands-held approach, but i still think oblivion is the more 'enjoyable' experience, though that's probably a case of i only think that because it's the one i played first

same with ratchet and clank; i played 2 first, so while i should probably enjoy 3 more, because of the objectively improved gunplay, i still find myself going back to 2

[TheCr33pur]

Also Morrowind is much harder to play than Oblivion, so it depend if you can use the Morrowind Graphic Overhaul addons. It make the game really nice, but Wins10 is going to ignore it unless you can figure out how to get around that. IMO i would stick with Oblivion.