Oblivion VS. Morrowind?

[cimerians]

Which is better?

 

I hear rumors that Morrowind has more things to do, more depth...whatever that means.

 

Impossible!

 

Anyone tell me as I'm itching to start playing one of these again. Morrowind on the original Xbox of course (worse graphics etc etc)

I've never played Morrowind....I skipped to Oblivion. (Finished Oblivion)

Edited April 30, 2009 by cimerians

[Hyper_Eye]

For an RPG fan Morrowind is better in many ways. It has more factions, items, quests, spells (flying!), weapons, armor, etc. It also has a deeper storyline. But I do agree that the graphics look fairly rough now. The best thing to do is play on the PC with a few mods.

 

Take a look at these comparison shots I took of plain Morrowind and Morrowind with the mods I use:

 

http://www.huntsvegas.org/screenshots/Morr...eenShot%201.jpg

 

http://www.huntsvegas.org/screenshots/Morr...enShot%2036.jpg

 

Also, here are some shots just to see what else the mods provide:

 

http://www.huntsvegas.org/screenshots/Morr...enShot%2037.jpg

http://www.huntsvegas.org/screenshots/Morr...enShot%2038.jpg

http://www.huntsvegas.org/screenshots/Morr...enShot%2039.jpg

http://www.huntsvegas.org/screenshots/Morr...eenShot%209.jpg

 

I run in Linux but this all works in Windows. Here are the mods I use:

 

Better Heads

Better Heads Bloodmoon

Better Heads Tribunal

Better Bodies

Book Rotate

Book Rotate Bloodmoon

Book Rotate Tribunal

RealSignposts

Book Jackets (w/ Book Rotate support)

Book Jackets - Bloodmoon

Book Jackets - Tribunal

Ultimate Textures Complete

 

I went with the "Ultimate Textures Complete" package because it was the only complete texture replacement package I could find that stayed true to the original look and feel of the game. This was very important to me.

[+Random Terrain]

One thing I don't like about Morrowind is that if you play it like you're supposed to, instead of wandering around freely and killing anything you see, there are many missions where you feel like you're repeatedly being sent to a grocery store that is 200 miles away to buy one item at a time. On foot or magically flying at top speed, it's a pain in the butt. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. . . Not my idea of fun. Good news is that you can have fun without running back and forth.

 

I hope Oblivion isn't as tedious. From what people have said, it seems you can skip ahead to your destination, so it should be more fun for people like me who hate the back and forth part of it.

[SeaGtGruff]

Which is better?

I'm playing Morrowind now, myself. If you've never played it, then go for it! At first I didn't like it as much as Oblivion, because Oblivion's graphics look(ed) better (I thought). "You mean *that's* what a ___mud crab / wild boar / Argonian / Khajiit / etc.___ looks like in Morrowind?!? Ooh, yucky poo!" But it didn't take very long before it grew on me, and now-- I dunno-- maybe I *do* like Morrowind better!

 

Michael

[SeaGtGruff]

One thing I don't like about Morrowind is that if you play it like you're supposed to, instead of wandering around freely and killing anything you see, there are many missions where you feel like you're repeatedly being sent to a grocery store that is 200 miles away to buy one item at a time.

I think that's fairly typical of RPGs. But it isn't as tedious (well, okay, maybe it still is!) if you save up your quests from all the different factions, and try to tackle them in groups. "Okay, I think I'll go to Ald'ruhn now; what quests do I need to complete that require going to Ald'ruhn?"

 

But there's no "like you're supposed to," because you can play it using whatever strategy or playing style appeals to you.

 

Michael

[Hyper_Eye]

One thing I don't like about Morrowind is that if you play it like you're supposed to, instead of wandering around freely and killing anything you see, there are many missions where you feel like you're repeatedly being sent to a grocery store that is 200 miles away to buy one item at a time.

I think that's fairly typical of RPGs. But it isn't as tedious (well, okay, maybe it still is!) if you save up your quests from all the different factions, and try to tackle them in groups. "Okay, I think I'll go to Ald'ruhn now; what quests do I need to complete that require going to Ald'ruhn?"

 

But there's no "like you're supposed to," because you can play it using whatever strategy or playing style appeals to you.

 

Michael

 

It also helps to be in the Mage's Guild so you can take advantage of teleportation as well as using the striders and boats. Sure it isn't as fast as fast travel is in Oblivion but it is much more realistic (well in a fantasy sense anyway... I know you can't really teleport) and it isn't as slow as presented earlier. You don't have to go across continent on foot over and over. That would be ridiculous.

[Major Havoc 2049]

Both are great games, but Morrowind was a little better, with a deeper and more satisfying fantasy RPG gaming experience.

[moycon]

I need to play through Morrowind again.

The first time I played for hours and never realized you had to sleep to level yourself up, so I was constantly getting my ass handed to me over and over. I wound up enabling cheats which kind of ruined the game for me. I do remember it was confusing what to do. You had a journal but it just kind of noted things as you encountered them, realistic...yes, but also annoying to shuffle through a virtual book to try and figure out what you were doing or what you could do. I LOVED Oblivion. I'd have to replay Morrowind now that i know how to level up.

[Hyper_Eye]

I need to play through Morrowind again.

The first time I played for hours and never realized you had to sleep to level yourself up, so I was constantly getting my ass handed to me over and over. I wound up enabling cheats which kind of ruined the game for me. I do remember it was confusing what to do. You had a journal but it just kind of noted things as you encountered them, realistic...yes, but also annoying to shuffle through a virtual book to try and figure out what you were doing or what you could do. I LOVED Oblivion. I'd have to replay Morrowind now that i know how to level up.

 

The journal was never fixed on the XBox (it still sucked in the GOTY edition) but on the PC the journal has a quest button added to it that gives you a list of quest titles and you can select one to see the journal items that pertain to that quest only.

[Herbarius]

I heard there are people who like Morrowind, but they don't like Oblivion, while there are also people that like Oblivion, but not Morrowind. However, there are only few people who like both.

 

I have Morrowind and I like it, however I never played Oblivion, only know it from Screenshots.

Edited May 1, 2009 by Herbarius

[Hyper_Eye]

I heard there are people who like Morrowind, but they don't like Oblivion, while there are also people that like Oblivion, but not Morrowind. However, there are only few people who like both.

 

I have Morrowind and I like it, however I never played Oblivion, only know it from Screenshots.

 

They are both great games!

[+Random Terrain]

But there's no "like you're supposed to," because you can play it using whatever strategy or playing style appeals to you.

That's 'supposed to' as in doing what various people tell you to do in the game. Actually doing the missions, similar to a Grand Theft Auto game. You can freely run around in the GTA games and never do one mission or you can play like you're 'supposed to' (they way they want you to) and do the missions.

 

 

It also helps to be in the Mage's Guild so you can take advantage of teleportation as well as using the striders and boats. Sure it isn't as fast as fast travel is in Oblivion but it is much more realistic (well in a fantasy sense anyway... I know you can't really teleport) and it isn't as slow as presented earlier. You don't have to go across continent on foot over and over. That would be ridiculous.

If you did nothing but ride Striders and boats, there's still a lot of walking you have to do. And flying at top speed can feel pretty darn slow too.

[Artlover]

From Doomsday Arcade, Episode 8, as they are entering the underground lair of the GFYA bunker:

 

Michael: Well, looks like they're busy trolling forums.

Troller1: Star Trek's better than Star Wars.

Troller2: Luigi is better than Mario.

Troller3: Mario is better than Luigi.

Troller4 <screaming>: Oblivion is better than God!

 

So there's your answer. Oblivion, it's better then God.

[cimerians]

Thanks for the screenshots Evil and everyone else....I'm basically trying to get info on Morrowind here as I'm tempted to play it but I'm obviously a fan of Oblivion.

 

I tried the Xbox version last night....created a Redguard character. I'm going to try the PC version this weekend.

[Hyper_Eye]

That's 'supposed to' as in doing what various people tell you to do in the game. Actually doing the missions, similar to a Grand Theft Auto game. You can freely run around in the GTA games and never do one mission or you can play like you're 'supposed to' (they way they want you to) and do the missions.

 

You are implying that their intention was for you to strictly follow a linear path based on quest instructions. The game is open because that was the kind of game they wanted to make. The whole point of that is to be able to do what you want. So they didn't make a way your "supposed to" play. You can strictly follow the quest path if you want but they spent a lot of time on everything else and I am sure they would consider it a shame if you neglected to see it.

 

 

If you did nothing but ride Striders and boats, there's still a lot of walking you have to do. And flying at top speed can feel pretty darn slow too.

 

You still have left out teleportation as well as the fact that there are mark and recall scrolls. You have to use your head a little bit to minimize travel time just as you would if you actually lived in the world of Morrowind. As a fantasy game I can accept the premise of striders, boats, teleports, and scrolls. I can't accept the premise of opening your map and instantly moving to a location (many of which you have never been to.) When I cranked up Oblivion for the first time and saw that they had every town already on the map and selectable I made a rule for myself that I could not fast travel anywhere I had not personally traveled to. That was to make sure I actually experience the game. Now my map is covered in places I have discovered from one side to the other.

[Video]

Morrowind, even without he expansion is just a bigger game than Oblivion. It also seems to me there are more places to go on the map. Now don't get me wrong, Oblivion is HUGE, but Morrowind seems to be bigger. Morrowind also has a far wider selection of special weapons, spells, and a bunch of cool things you don't get or cant do on oblivion.

 

Only one real stumbling block for Morrowind, the graphics aren't that good (though there are a lot of models recycled fom morrowind to oblivion for lots of items) and the vanishing point is barely tolerable, if you set it all the way to max. Truthfully, other than pretty graphics, Oblivion feels like the first game and Morrowind feels like the more fleshed out sequel in many ways.

 

I would love to see Morrowind redone, with no changes at all, with the exception of one, put on the graphic engine of Oblivion. That would be a killer game there.

[+Random Terrain]

You are implying that their intention was for you to strictly follow a linear path based on quest instructions. The game is open because that was the kind of game they wanted to make. The whole point of that is to be able to do what you want. So they didn't make a way your "supposed to" play. You can strictly follow the quest path if you want but they spent a lot of time on everything else and I am sure they would consider it a shame if you neglected to see it.

I wasn't implying that at all. They put all of these various missions in the game because they'd like you to do some of them. If they didn't want you to do missions, they wouldn't have created them. They'd just create a big world full of monsters, hand you a sword and say "go kill stuff." There are many tiny linear-ish missions. If you want to achieve a certain goal, you have to run errands for people. Here's a silly made up example:

 

You must give a guy the golden Zoopydiddle before he'll give you the wand of Kernoople, but before you can get the golden Zoopydiddle, you have to blow a troll under a bridge, but before you can blow the troll, you have to find the lost condom of Condor. Lots of tedious travel over paths you've already taken a million times. Seems like nothing but busy work, but if you really want the wand of Kernoople, you must do it.

 

 

You still have left out teleportation as well as the fact that there are mark and recall scrolls. You have to use your head a little bit to minimize travel time just as you would if you actually lived in the world of Morrowind.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention teleportation, but it's just like using a Strider or a boat. You have to get there to use it. I only use mark/recall to get back to the talking crab island (once I have flown there the first time). I'm not the only one who thinks that even with the various ways to get places, travel in Morrowind can be tedious. Here's one example:

 

http://www.geocities.com/ataniel/morrow7.htm

. . . I strongly recommend playing your first game all the way through without cheating or twiddling with the game system at all, for subsequent playthroughs the Morrowind cheat codes are extraordinarily convenient, particularly since they allow you to teleport your party to a map location of your choosing (thus eliminating boring and repetitive travel time)

Travel can be slow and grating, especially in the middle game. The cheat code player->coc "placename" (fill in "placename" with the actual placename, actually, like "Seyda Neen") will bring you there instantly. This can be a godsend if you're playing the game for a second or third time and trekking across the countryside has lost what wonder it once had. Even playing for the first time, it can save you a lot of annoying retracing of steps (avoid using it to travel to locations you've never been before, though, since you may miss critical clues you would have gotten upon arrival.)

Too bad I can't do something similar on the Xbox.

 

 

As a fantasy game I can accept the premise of striders, boats, teleports, and scrolls. I can't accept the premise of opening your map and instantly moving to a location (many of which you have never been to.) When I cranked up Oblivion for the first time and saw that they had every town already on the map and selectable I made a rule for myself that I could not fast travel anywhere I had not personally traveled to. That was to make sure I actually experience the game. Now my map is covered in places I have discovered from one side to the other.

Those are your hang-ups, not mine. I'd love to point at a certain place on a map and go there immediately when doing a mission. I can explore when I'm not on a mission to get a specific thing I need.

[Hyper_Eye]

Those are your hang-ups, not mine. I'd love to point at a certain place on a map and go there immediately when doing a mission. I can explore when I'm not on a mission to get a specific thing I need.

 

No... that is a choice. I looked at the features the game presented and I chose not to take full advantage of the fast travel system as I felt doing it the way I came up with would make the game more enjoyable. That isn't the same thing as being hung up on something at all. I think you are confused on what that means. You are hung up on the travel system in Morrowind. There is a big difference between those two things.

[+Random Terrain]

Those are your hang-ups, not mine. I'd love to point at a certain place on a map and go there immediately when doing a mission. I can explore when I'm not on a mission to get a specific thing I need.

No... that is a choice. I looked at the features the game presented and I chose not to take full advantage of the fast travel system as I felt doing it the way I came up with would make the game more enjoyable. That isn't the same thing as being hung up on something at all. I think you are confused on what that means. You are hung up on the travel system in Morrowind. There is a big difference between those two things.

Hang-up can mean more than one thing. You said "I can't accept the premise of opening your map and instantly moving to a location . . ." That's your hang-up, a psychological or emotional difficulty or inhibition, not mine. You could say that my hang-up, meaning preoccupation in this case, is the travel system in Morrowind. The main thing I want to do is avoid the tedious parts of the game and just have fun. Traveling back and forth a million times to trade one thing for another isn't my idea of fun. I like exploring, discovery, and surprise. Morrowind has enough of the stuff I like to make it worth playing.

[Hyper_Eye]

Those are your hang-ups, not mine. I'd love to point at a certain place on a map and go there immediately when doing a mission. I can explore when I'm not on a mission to get a specific thing I need.

No... that is a choice. I looked at the features the game presented and I chose not to take full advantage of the fast travel system as I felt doing it the way I came up with would make the game more enjoyable. That isn't the same thing as being hung up on something at all. I think you are confused on what that means. You are hung up on the travel system in Morrowind. There is a big difference between those two things.

Hang-up can mean more than one thing. You said "I can't accept the premise of opening your map and instantly moving to a location . . ." That's your hang-up, a psychological or emotional difficulty or inhibition, not mine. You could say that my hang-up, meaning preoccupation in this case, is the travel system in Morrowind. The main thing I want to do is avoid the tedious parts of the game and just have fun. Traveling back and forth a million times to trade one thing for another isn't my idea of fun. I like exploring, discovery, and surprise. Morrowind has enough of the stuff I like to make it worth playing.

 

Your still wrong. I didn't spend any time complaining about the fast travel system of Oblivion or consider it a negative aspect of the game. I simply neglected to use the feature in certain circumstances and avoided the part I didn't care for while staying within the mechanics of the game. In other words, I didn't get hung up on the issue. You specifically targeted the travel system of Morrowind as a large negative within the game for you. That would be something you are hung up on. As I said before... big difference.

[+Random Terrain]

You're still wrong. I didn't spend any time complaining about the fast travel system of Oblivion or consider it a negative aspect of the game. I simply neglected to use the feature in certain circumstances and avoided the part I didn't care for while staying within the mechanics of the game. In other words, I didn't get hung up on the issue. You specifically targeted the travel system of Morrowind as a large negative within the game for you. That would be something you are hung up on. As I said before... big difference.

Give it up already, you silly goose.

[moycon]

Give it up already, you silly goose.

 

When are you gonna buy a 360 RT?

[+remowilliams]

I run in Linux but this all works in Windows. Here are the mods I use:

Thanks for pointing those out. I've wanted to check some mods out for a while, but couldn't gather the energy to go and start searching through everything. And I want the game to stay relatively unmolested as I play it as well.

[+Random Terrain]

When are you gonna buy a 360 RT?

I hoped I could buy one with the Obama money that I'll be getting later this month, but Google has screwed something up with their ads, so I might have to use that money for other things. Many AdSense affiliates went from making a fist full of dollars each day to making pennies a day and that means we can't reach the $100 monthly minimum, so a lot of us will be lucky if we'll get paid once every 2 months. Google has screwed something up and it seems they don't care. Google is getting paid and that's all that matters. The rest of us can go to hell.

Edited May 2, 2009 by Random Terrain

[Artlover]

Ya know after finally getting around to picking up Oblivion GOTY edition and actually playing it, I have to say this...

 

I understand all the critisim. In particular ZP's review of it. The game has it's issues, not the least being the horrible HORRBILE god awful voice acting. Like seriously, how in the heck did this pass play testing? Honestly, I stopped playing it after a few hours and dunno if I'll bother to finish it. If you want to play a good RPG using this engine, just play Fallout 3 instead which mostly got everything right.