The Elder Scrolls series

[Ravnulfr]

I'm kinda suprised there is not already a thread about those games. I'm a huge fan of this series, my favorite ones are Morrowind and Skyrim.

I played Morrowind during all my teen years, this game is so amazing ! Seriously, The Elder Scrolls games have a rich lore, a wonderful universe, a liberty that I never found in other RPGs, each game has a so unique atmosphere, wonderful OSTs, and a big community of modders, creating cool mods and enhancements that always renews the game (or completely destroy it, because "some men just want to watch the world burn"). So ok, the stories are not always really good, but the Morrowind one is just woah !

What do you think of this series ? And what is your favorite game ?

Spoiler: And listen at this magnificent music !

Oh, I also play The Elder Scrolls Online (even if it's not at all the better TES, but it's still a good MMO), so far I played alone so, if someone wants to play with me, just PM me !

 

[Sotherius]

Okay, i think i got to know the series when oblivion came out, my pc wasn't able to run it well, and i never made far into the game.

January 2012, i got Skyrim, and i think that Skyrim is top 2 fav games on my x360, i played a lot, did a lot of characters, and sometimes i still go back to it, it is not as fun, since i've done most of the game content, but sometimes i figure out a new idea for a character, and i'll go crazy, play a new adventure, and such.

I actually played ESO back on the beta days, and i loved while the media hated it, why i don't play it now then? Really simple reason, my pc can't handle the game, and i don't have a xone or a ps4, but that will change. I'll do my beautiful high elf lady, and be happy.

Now, i tried to play morrowind and oblivion, but those games are not playable to me, i get headaches on the first person, and third person is not really playable. D=

 

[Ravnulfr]

Well, Oblivion isn't the best one to me, it's even my least favorite after Arena, but I still play it. X)

For Skyrim, it's exactly the same for me. I spent so many hours, trying different characters and ways to play and I'm still loving it !

I played the beta too, but I hated, just because I couldn't find the same feeling as playing a solo Elder Scrolls. Later, I retried but by keeping in mind that it wasn't a regular TES but a completely other game wich takes place in this universe, and I surprisingly found it was a really good game. You still have a great liberty, especially for the character building, this is brand-new in the MMO world. If I want to make a mage with plate armor and dual-wielding swords, you can ! You even can become a vampire or a werewolf, like in the other games ! The only thing I regret is that there's no player housing.
This is a heavy graphics game, a good PC is required. Mine is not amazingly good, but the game runs well, even with ultra settings.

I'll do my beautiful high elf lady, and be happy.

Oh, high elf too ! I really like them. :D My main character is a beautiful vampire battlemage !

Morrowind and Oblivion are really old, but there's a huge mod for Morrowind: http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/...s.com/morrowind/ajax/modfiles/?id=36945&pUp=1
It enhance the graphics and rebalance the game, but it needs a pretty good PC...

 

[Muro]

I only played Skyrim with all DLC within the last 2 years, so I didn't really get to develop any nostalgia for the series yet.

My impression about the game was that as a world it's very big - but also very shallow. There was a ton of books so the lore is there, but in the actual gameplay the background and story were there just as an excuse, same for just about all dialogues. Game gets praised for freedom, but I'd say there's too much of it. So much freedom that you don't have to worry about choices and consequences, because there are none. If I can become a collage archmage without knowing any magic and sell my soul to seven evil gods at once without anyone including the evil gods caring, my immersion breaks completely.

Don't get me wrong, it is a charming, enjoyable (and addicting) game. Had my dose of fun, relaxed while smithing my own armor and weaponry, apparently sunk over 640 hours in it while tracking down all achievements and completing all quests there were to complete. It definitely succeeded as a product and provided a lot of gametime for dollar spent.

I'm generally a fan of a different type of RPGs, though. Character-driven, with good engaging dialogues, a story that makes you care about it and moral decisions with impactful consequences on every step. The Fallout series (save for Fallout 3), Arcanum and Planescape: Torment are my golden RPG trio thanks to those features.

 

[Sotherius]

So much freedom that you don't have to worry about choices and consequences, because there are none.

This is probably what kinda annoys me a lot about Skyrim, like i said, i make characters, and i have to limit myself, or imagine something in-lore to explain the BS i'm doing.

Like, the companions, they hate magic, i shouldn't be allowed to be on the companions and the winterhold college at the same time, and stuff like that.

Also, minor nitpicks, but let's go: I hate that being part of the college is required to progress trough the story (well, not required, since you can skip, but there isn't another way in game to know where to go, the skip is only possible if you know what to do. Not being able to abandon quests. And the lack of consequence in general.

But, i still love this game. I value a lot character customization in general, and skyrim is good at that, but also gives me a lot of freedom in character building, and is a lot of fun to mess up with armor values and enchantments.

I'm still like, trying to find a good, open world experience, that allows freedom, but with consequences, character creation, etc and etc.

 

[Ravnulfr]

Yes, the choices and consequences is one of the biggest problem in Skyrim, and in Oblivion too. In Morrowind, you need specific skills to join a guild, but with a lot of money and trainers, you still can join all of them (except for the Great Houses, this is the only choice with big consequences). So, it forces the player to roleplay, which is a hard thing to do, especially with this great liberty. But I love RP, so that's not a problem to me.

Well, there is still The Witcher for a RPG with big choices and consequences, but the liberty is really limited, even in the third one.

My impression about the game was that as a world it's very big - but also very shallow.

Unfortunately, that's true too, at least for Skyrim and Oblivion. That's one of the reasons of why I love Morrowind so much: the background is really rich, every guild stories are more or less linked to the main quest and are sometimes interconnected to each other. The main quest itself requires to learn more about the background, and all quests in general requires to have knowledge about the Morrowind geography (there's no quest marker).

I'm still like, trying to find a good, open world experience, that allows freedom, but with consequences, character creation, etc and etc.

That would be the perfect game, but it would take so many years to do, and not to mention the budget...

 

[Notkastar]

Quick Random Question:
Not sure if a mod caused this but I just walked out of a building during the day and saw this.
Does this happen in the vanilla version or do you think a mod's causing this?

(And after the spider incident, I'm not forgetting to take screenshots this time! =)