Which other ES game should I get?

[👽GLEEPUS👽]

So, I haven't played any other Elder scrolls games yet, and I was wondering which other game I should get out of Oblivion, Morrowwind, and Daggerfall?

Like, what are the ups and downs of each of those games? Where they hit and where they miss?

[FauxFurry]

Arena and Daggerfall have been free ware for decades now (that includes the Unity engine remake of Daggerfall) so there is little reason not to download those right now.

[Steelfleece]

If you don't mind antiquated graphics (without modding the hell out of it), very little voice acting and a somewhat more complicated but old-school leveling system, Morrowind's great.

[matt]

Each game feels kind of like a reboot of the series, but the the first two games are pretty similar. They're both procedurally generated and definitely of their era. I don't consider that a bad thing, though. Starting with Morrowind, the games get a bit more modern.

Arena is great fun, but it's akin to a mobile game today. It doesn't have much in common with the rest of the series. I still have fun with it today occasionally. If you just want to kill monsters and explore dungeons, it's a great choice.

Daggerfall is huge, complex, and pretty hard. It had some interesting ideas, but the excessive use of procedural generation sometimes made it feel to me like it was big for the sake of being big. I guess I preferred the simplicity of Arena or the worldbuilding of Morrowind. It's also very buggy. Modern remakes, like Daggerfall Unity, probably don't have as many bugs.

Morrowind went in a completely different direction. The lore is weird and awesome, and there's no procedural generation. It's a good choice for someone who likes the lore of the Elder Scrolls series, but people who want a modern action RPG will probably be frustrated. Although it's pretty easy, it doesn't hold your hand. For example, no quest markers or anything like that.

Oblivion is the first game in the series that's truly recognizable as a modern action RPG. It's got a lot of similarities to Skyrim, but it's also got a foot in the past, from back when RPGs were more complex and detailed. There are attributes, different tiers of skills, and builds can get a bit complex. The quests are fun, but the world itself is a bit bland and boring.

[FingerYourFries]

i really recommend oblivion, the magic is more fun in my opinion and its yet another story for you to get into

[Steelfleece]

Originally posted by matt:

Oblivion is the first game in the series that's truly recognizable as a modern action RPG. It's got a lot of similarities to Skyrim, but it's also got a foot in the past, from back when RPGs were more complex and detailed. There are attributes, different tiers of skills, and builds can get a bit complex. The quests are fun, but the world itself is a bit bland and boring.

Oblivion's setting was kind of a turnoff for me. The first ES game I played was Morrowind, so Oblivion felt a bit... Well, generic. Standard fantasy forested Europe setting. After Morrowind's rather alien world, it just felt like playing any bog standard MMO in single player. ...That and the face editor why oh why I'm trying to adjust the bridge of my nose and suddenly my cheeks are huge and my skin's got a blueish shade WHY AM I A BLUEBERRY TODD IT DOES NOT JUST WORK

I mean, some day I intend to go back and finish it, but after I find a mod to fix that last part.

[Yellowbeard]

Enderal.

[matt]

Originally posted by Steelfleece:

Oblivion's setting was kind of a turnoff for me.

Yeah, the world was really generic, but it would have been developed around when the Lord of the Rings movies were released. I think that explains a few things.

[Steelfleece]

Originally posted by matt:

Originally posted by Steelfleece:

Oblivion's setting was kind of a turnoff for me.

Yeah, the world was really generic, but it would have been developed around when the Lord of the Rings movies were released. I think that explains a few things.

Yep, someone had mentioned they'd watched Peter Jackson's trilogy and wanted to go with that aesthetic.

I have a feeling Skyrim was influenced to some extent by WoW's Wrath of the Lich King expansion, which released while Skyrim still had a few years of development to go.

Morrowind? I think it was inspired by mushrooms.

Copious amounts of mushrooms.

[Morgan Fun Gamer]

I would say that all the Elder Scrolls games are worth playing.

[Valden21]

Morrowind, definitely Morrowind. It's style, the range of things you can DO, and just the overall alien feel of it make it a worthy expense. Put it this way: first time I ever played Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC, and I heard the Morrowind theme begin playing, instant warm fuzzies.

[Death Approaches]

hey I've played morrowind on mushrooms, acid too. it's still goofy. Makes Oblivion more fun, though. all that janky sprite animation makes it feel like a flash game sometimes.

But if you can get past that '80s feel of Daggerfall, definitely give it a shot. the controls and overall mechanics are just so dated it's very hard for some, nevermind the graphics, but it's a very fun game... the best thing about it? NO HANDHOLDING! You're not told crap. Do this. How? You're the gamer, you figure it out! And I love that the main quest is both not automatic and entirely missable, and even has a time cutoff... didn't make it? oh well, keep playing if you want to, the world still exists, there's just no winning... and no announcement either, just one tiny notification, oops you missed. if you're busy at the time, you won't even know. I sorely miss that about RPGs... the handholding came about when consoles started getting popular for adventure gaming not just shooters and side-scrollers; this is one of the last games where you're truly on your own and you'd better keep a notepad and pen handy on the other side of the keyboard, like a 2nd mousepad, because you need to take notes.

[vee-kay]

If you like mods, then look no further than Oblivion. Oblivion is more complex than Skyrim, it has tons of mods (and IMHO, its modded follower management frameworks and automatic follower interaction systems are more intelligent than Skyrim's) and some of its mods (especially overhauls) are among the best mods ever made.

IMHO (and with all due respect to Morrowind), the older ES games feel too dated for those comfortable with modern era of gaming. You can try them, but I would wager, you would come back to scratch that Skyrim or Oblivion itch.

On a side note: if you want Skyrim but with guns, then try out Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 3. They got tons of mods too.

[Zero McDol]

I bought them all during the last sale, but have only played Skyrim (Skyrim, I bought in 2021) so far. I'll hop into the others at some point, but for now I just wanted to collect the games.

[Mugiwara]

I am over simplifying here but think of each game as the following: Arena & Daggerfall play like good old fashioned dungeon crawlers. Morrowind like a classic pnp rpg. Oblivion tries to blend Morrowind style with more action rpg and Skyrim is an action rpg.

Obviously the later in the series the graphics get less antiquated but even Skyrim hasn't aged well. Writing isn't amazing as the main point of the game is sandbox. Music is epic. Gamepay overall is decent. Modding allows for absurd levels of replayability ad infinitum. The big selling points of all the games is the absurd level freedom you have. Don't want to do the main quest no problem, carry on for 100+ hours. Kill an essential character that breaks the game, yes you can do that too.

In short Morrowind for character building, Oblivion for magic and Skyrim for Dragons.

Edit: vee-kay makes a good point about Fallout.

[FingerYourFries]

Originally posted by Zero McDol:

I bought them all during the last sale, but have only played Skyrim (Skyrim, I bought in 2021) so far. I'll hop into the others at some point, but for now I just wanted to collect the games.

i did the exact same thing, im slowly trying out all the games as i understand each one, after 100 hours of skyrim i think its time i tried out oblivion and its a lot more crashy and buggy but theres mods for the bugs of course, cant say much about the crashing