I never played the elder scrolls games.

[TheHouseAlwaysWins]

Is it still worth it to play Oblivion? I think the concept of the main quest is cool and Shivering Isles looks fun. Is it worth it to play it or should I just play Morrowind? Which ones in the series should I play NMA?

 

[Radiosity]

I've only played Skyrim. I regretted it.

 

[Millim]

I've played a bit of all 5 so I'll give you a brief summary of my opinions.
1. I've only played about an hour at best, it's a free download so it may be worth checking out. Really, it's an old CRPG which is rather dated. It's hard as Hell but has a nice open map.
2. I've played even less than 1, it's more or less the same (Opinion Wise). It may be worth checking out over Arena, but considering they are both free, it's really up to you.
3. I've put in a few hours of Morrowind, so far, it's really good, and I heard it gets a lot better. Combat wise, it uses an old system where the games rolls an invisible dice over whether you hit or not. For that reason, the game starts off rather tedious. I'm sure a few more hours in, and the game will start picking itself up. I recommend that.
4. Oblivion gets a lot of hate, and I can see why. Personally, I find it at least half decent. It's nowhere near as good as 3 and it has some truly awful design choices about it. But I can at least applaud Bethesda was experimenting a bit. I say if you enjoyed Morrowind, you may have a good time with it. But it's up to you if you want to check it out really.
5. Skyrim is the only one I've completed, I found the game to be kind of boring and tedious. It's a real shame because the game looks nice and there is a lot of decent things to do. I enjoyed reading up on the lore and I liked some parts of the game (like that party part). But otherwise, the game is just a step down from Oblivion, every quest is the same, every location is the same, every npc is the same. It's okay to waste a few hours on, but I couldn't recommend it to anyone who likes RPGs.

Personally, I say stick with Morrowind and at a stretch Oblivion.

 

[R.Graves]

You're not missing much outside of Morrowind.

Edit: I'd still give the others a chance though. Different strokes and all...

 

[Atomic Postman]

Morrowind is an absolute classic and most definitely the best of the series. I'd highly recommend it.

Oblivion is bland, generic garbage that's bloody ugly to look at. Give it a miss.

Skyrim is a shallow, yet somewhat fun, open world action game. If you've got the PC/patience to mod the living hell out of it, I'd give it a go.

 

[Hassknecht]

Morrowind is great, you should definitely give it a go. Skyrim can be a good while of mindless fun, so try that one, too.
Maybe try Daggerfall as well.

 

[AskWazzup]

Morrowind, skip oblivion, maybe skyrim. Oblivion was only novel when it was new and the graphics were kind of a high point at the time, but now the graphics and gameplay suck major ass and donkey balls. Morrowind has the depth, skyrim has the visuals and the improved combat mechanics.

 

[Earth]

You're not missing much.

 

[Jogre]

TBH, it's my least favorite in the series:

I mean, Morrowind has the benefit of a great story, and giving you total player freedom, and Skyrim has the benefit of having a smooth combat system, that makes it really easy to get in to.

Oblivion imo, is the worst of both worlds. It has the insanely repetitive and slow combat system of Morrowind, meaning that you and the enemy will hit each other several dozen times before doing a small fraction of damage(And enemies with healing are utter bitches), plus it has really generic and bland quests, that are in many ways far worse quality than that of Skyrim. If you're going to start anywhere, don't start on Oblivion, that's just the awkward place to start.

 

[Millim]

It appears I might have to replay Oblivion, it's been years since I have done and everywhere I go, I see negative comments on it.
Well, I'll put it on my list (which is just full of really long RPGs ><)

 

[Deleted member 79804]

If you play Oblivion, you will probably have to mod it, so prepare yourself for that. My opinion is always changing on this game. I loved it at the time but it's impossible to deny how broken it is. The scaling is horrible, the acting is over the top cheesy, the combat system is a step down from Morrowind's with only better animations and better stealth and lastly, the camera zooms in too much when you talk to people. Aside from the acting part you can fix most of those things with mods.

It has some great quests though, just don't get your hopes up for any diverging paths in the quests because they railroad you to hell and back (literally) but at least they're fun. I recommend An Unexpected Voyage, the The Siren's Deception and A Brush With Death to name a few, all creative and memorable. All of the guild quests and the DLCs are worth playing too. The main quest is... eh, I like it for what it is but most people don't like it. I know plenty of people who never touch the main quest in Oblivion. It's weak compared to Morrowind's main quest, the pacing is better but the writing is worse, the main villain is cool and that's about it.

Overall, I'd say just play them in order if you can, first Morrowind, then Oblivion, Skyrim last, after getting your fill of those you should go back and try Daggerfall just for fun. I was extremely surprised when I realized how much I enjoyed it. Just remember not to feel pressured to finish one just to move on to the other, they're huge games and not everyone has all of the time in the world, play them at your own pace and skip one if you feel like it but they're all at least worth trying.

 

[kraag]

I started with Oblivion then Morrowind then Skyrim. Therefore I thought the combat mechanics of Morrowind were shit compared to Oblivion, and when Skyrim came out I thought it was much better than Oblivion, a very decent upgrade worthy of my money. Now seeing their pathetic effort with Fallout 4, Skyrim really shines that much brighter, especially with all the great mods available.

Oblivion with mods is also now excellent and worthy, hell it even beat Fallout 4 for me. If you want you can play Morrowind in the Oblivion engine with Morroblivion - it's come a long way and had a lot of work put into it, also worthy of a few hours of your time, I think it's a great way to explore Morrowind without having to deal with the older gen combat system.

Or you can just wait for Skywind, which looks fantastic.

 

[vdweller84]

Watch the Gamer Poop series in Youtube about Oblivion and Skyrim. The will give you a good idea of what these games and their modding communities are all about. It will save you a lot of time.

On a more serious note, if you like hiking simulators with nice sunsets, forests, nice classic music composed by Jeremy Soule and the occasional atmospheric moment, with mild RPG elements, you can give them a try. If you like Main Plots, a dating sim can and will provide more than these games. Srsly.

 

[Irwin John Finster]

Is it still worth it to play Oblivion? I think the concept of the main quest is cool and Shivering Isles looks fun. Is it worth it to play it or should I just play Morrowind? Which ones in the series should I play NMA?

I like Oblivion and Morrowind. Skyrim is the most dumbed down Elder Scrolls to date, and I found it completely empty and boring and shallow, but it was a smash hit and has lots of mods so maybe it will be fun for you.

Morrowind with the Graphics and Sounds Overhaul mod looks better than Skyrim IMO. It is the best.

Oblivion has very relaxing atmosphere and music and I enjoyed it in large part because of that, it's just not as "deep" as Morrowind.

Skyrim is where the dumbing down really becomes evident. It's a very popular game though so maybe get it on a sale. After Skyrim, I correctly predicted the linearity and shallowness of Fallout 4 because since Morrowind all these games are a steady progression of dumbing down tremendously.

Final Verdict: If your computer can handle it, Morrowind with the MGSO mod is pretty hard to beat. Oblivion is a good option as well. Skyrim is your best bet if you like Fallout 4 more than any game ever made.

 

[0wing]

Played Morrowind, hated it. Just can't stand this bethesdian do whatever you want 'cause we don't know what to do with our world. Dice roll system implemented poorly and felt out of place, and that was final nail in the coffin, cleaning the dungeons felt as fun as cleaning the toilet with a fork. Read the lore on wiki and never bothered to return.
Skyrim at least had pretty visuals. But the game's not any better so why bother with another toilet-cleaning simulator anyway?
Sorry in advance if an opinion on TES3 was too personal but preferences to things like video games cannot be imposed by force.