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How was Oblivion better than Skyrim?

A

Alpha Phoenix

Member
While Skyrim gained a massive following upon its 2011 launch and in the years that followed, I know for a fact that many series fans preferred Oblivion. Thing is, I'm not entirely sure why someone would think of Oblivion as the better game, unless perhaps they were unhappy with Skyrim's approach to being more accessible to newcomers.

So if you liked Oblivion better, enlighten me!
 
N

nynt9

Member
The dark brotherhood and thieves's guild quest lines were way better. The main story was a lot worse.
 
Roufianos

Roufianos

Member
I found that the quests were much more creative, especially the Thieves Guild and Dark Britherhood.

Also the combat in both games was pretty much the same in both games which works against Skyrim seeing as standards had improved.

I also found Oblivion's cities be much more memorable.
 
M

Mobius and pet octopus

Member
I remember liking Oblivion, but it's been such a long time. I'm actually looking for oblivion on a steam sale and I'll probably pick it up again then. I'd pay ~5 dollars I have sitting in my steam account doing nothing.
 
M

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Better quests and better setting. I personally prefer green high fantasy settings over drab tundra settings, so that was a big factor, too.

Also Oblivion felt really "next-gen" when it was new while Skyrim couldn't deliver the same feeling because it was so late in the last gen.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
The main story was a lot better, wtf. The whole thing about Martin being the next of kin, unraveling that mystery, etc. That was awesome. The game itself SUCKED (seriously the repetitive oblivion gates, the gameplay) but the story was better compared to what in Skyrim? Talking dragons and then it just ends with like 5 dudes charging across a field? Skyrim had nothing memorable about it.
 
R

Rickenslacker

Banned
It had some standout moments, as nynt9 pointed out certain guilds had great questlines that weren't as good in Skyrim, and Shivering Isles was great.

On the whole I'd peg Skyrim as being better though, I can't really look back on Oblivion very fondly, it was all too same-y and its aggressive scaling tagged along with one of the worst leveling systems ever conceived really make it hard for me to hold it in high regard. I'm not about to forget about the Oblivion Gates either. Skyrim was, eh, okay I guess, but in my own ranking it stands above Oblivion. I'm still the curmudgeon that maintains preference to Morrowind but at least the ways Skyrim tries to streamline things ended up working better for it in my opinion.
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
Y2Kev said:
The main story was a lot better, wtf. The whole thing about Martin being the next of kin, unraveling that mystery, etc. That was awesome. The game itself SUCKED (seriously the repetitive oblivion gates, the gameplay) but the story was better compared to what in Skyrim? Talking dragons and then it just ends with like 5 dudes charging across a field? Skyrim had nothing memorable about it.
Click to expand...

To this day I never found the strength to actually finish the main quest in Skyrim. Just too damn boring.
 
A

Ahasverus

Member
Have you people saying Skyrim's main quest was better played it recently? Because it's dreadful, with everybody having a circle jerk over you while still being the errand boy, zero gameplay variety and tons of caves.

Meanwhile, Oblivion was a nice change of pace with you not being the center of attention, and the quest felt more like a journey to a crazy climax. Alduin was a jobber compared to Mehrunes Dagon.
 
D

Darknight34

Member
The imperial city and a lot of the cities were better in my opinion. The imperial city in particular is still so awesome to see fully realized.
 
F

Flame Lord

Member
It's been a long time since I've played either, but I think my main reasons for liking Oblivion more were that I thought it looked better than Skyrim, not technically but artistically. Skyrim is one of the most drab fucking games I have ever played. The variety of enemies in Skyrim is pretty lacking. I only remember fighting people, zombies, spiders, lichs, dragons, and robots. Oblivion kind makes it hard to see all of it's enemies with the shitty level scaling, but at least they were there.

Then the biggest difference would be the quests. I played nearly 100 hours of Skyrim, and nearly every fucking quest amounted to "go to X get Y, and kill Z if you see him." Even the guilds, which had some of the best quests in Oblivion, were fucking ass in comparison. ESPECIALLY the Dark Brotherhood quests.

I think there were some other things too, but I haven't played Skyrim since the year it came out and I haven't played Oblivion seriously since even before that, so I can't really remember anything much more specific.
 
S

StrategyFan

Member
skyrim was way too easy

most of the quests and dungeons were extremely linear

none of the exploration felt like exploration

oblivion had a bit of this problem too, but it wasn't as widespread or as dumbed down


a game of that size is going to have a few bad quests and levels. but for skyrim, the entire game was like that
 
Z

Zedark

Member
The world had much more varied environments, with more interesting cities as well imo. The main story had much more interesting quests to it than Skyrim, and generally side quests were better than Skyrim. The expansions were better than Skyrim's, too, mostly due to Shivering Isles, of course.

That's why Oblivion is the better of the two games, even though I love both games to death.

Edit: Oh, and that Dark Brotherhood quest makes Oblivion shine! Man, that was probably the most fun side quest in any game I've ever played, probably over all the majestic quests in The Witcher 3!

Edit 2: And the torture main quest in Shivering Isles was so much fun too!
Don't judge me!
 
M

Mung

Member
The actual parts in 'oblivion' were awful. The absence of those parts were the biggest improvement in Skyrim for me.

Looking forward to Skyrim for vr.
 
V

vatstep

This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
The UI wasn't total shit, and there was more variety in the environments. Skyrim was mostly grey, while Oblivion had lots of beautiful colors.
 
H

Heavy_D206

Member
Darknight34 said:
The imperial city and a lot of the cities were better in my opinion. The imperial city in particular is still so awesome to see fully realized.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%

Exploring the world in Oblivion was seriously amazing with how varied the different parts of the world are. Skyrim is great but all of the locations felt kind of similar IMO.
 
poodaddy

poodaddy

Member
I liked Skyrim and Morrowind much more than Oblivion, but then I just really like darker lands and foggier, more desolate environs. I enjoyed Oblivion but I think it was perhaps a bit too "fantastical" to me in presentation, so oversaturated and so much bloom. It's a cool game though.
 
S

Serenitynow

Member
Better quests
Better cities
Better music
Better Sheogorath
Prettier world
Funnier/More memorable NPCs
Skills like acrobatics and athletics that made traversal so much fun

Just to name a few things
 
A

Ahasverus

Member
Djostikk said:
Oblivion is great, but Skyrim is way better. By the way, will you be buying Skyrim for Switch? Just curious.
Click to expand...
image.php


Nice try, Todd.
 
A

ASilentProtagonist

Member
Oblivion had the perfect balance of quality/quantity. The Dark Brotherhood, and Thieves Guild contain some of the best quests in gaming, period.

The OST is so nostalgic too.
 
G

Gaz Pwnage

Member
Honestly everything about Oblivion (apart from the faces) was better than Skyrim. I found Skyrim an un-engaging snore-fest.
 
D

DrArchon

Member
As most people have said, the quests in Oblivion were so much better than the ones in Skyrim. All of the Daedric relic quests felt like downgrades, the Dark Brotherhood went from the best questline to thoroughly "meh", just stuff like that.

One thing Skyrim did great though was fix the way Oblivion handled leveling up. Holy fuck that was awful.

Also, the Shivering Isles. Nothing tops that.
 
R

rashbeep

Banned
I liked in Oblivion how you weren't the one with the crazy power to beat the big bad.

Don't see that often in the aaa rpg genre
 
R

Rad-

Member
It wasn't. Oblivion needed gameplay mods to fix some horrible design decisions. At least Skyrim was playable without mods.

That said, even Skyrim was miles behind Morrowind.
 
S

Sad Affleck

Member
Oblivion had a better main quest, better side quests and guild quests, a more interesting map and deeper RPG systems. Skyrim has better (but still bad) combat and better graphics. I do think Oblivion was better overall but both games pale in comparison to the masterpiece that is Morrowind.
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
I prefer Skyrim. I remember rolling my eyes everytime there was yet another Oblivion gate to deal with. It was also fun getting arrested on my way to saving everyone's ass because I had a stolen item on me.
 
F

Fantastapotamus

Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
The quests in Oblivion were way better and more interesting.
Making burning dogs rain down from the sky, getting that staff that spawns three annoying monsters and can't be unequipped, that village full of invisible people, entering a painting, the Dark Brotherhood quest where you are locked in with your targets etc

The rest of the game was worse, but the quests were much more interesting.
 
G

Gaz Pwnage

Member
Rad- said:
It wasn't. Oblivion needed gameplay mods to fix some horrible design decisions. At least Skyrim was playable without mods.

That said, even Skyrim was miles behind Morrowind.
Click to expand...

Can't say I had any mods when I played, and 1250g'd it, on xbox 360.
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
Oh man that troll quest in Oblivion that had you diving down a damn well to pick up a ring, only the ring was cursed and weighed like 9999 so you were always over-encumbered. Fucking mages guild.
 
T

Truant

Member
Oblivion had some good questlines - especially Dark Brotherhood, and it felt very fresh at the time. There was really nothing like it, and the graphics were absolutely fantastic at the time. Just the fact that you had huge lush forests were unheard of in games. It's easy to look back at it with rose tinted glasses, but I feel Skyrim is a much better game overall.
 
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