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[NullPointer]

I preferred Oblivion's lockpicking. If you were patient and knew what you were doing you not only would keep your picks around for longer, but could get into some high level chests right from the beginning. Thats' something I put to real use when I started up my mage-thief.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

In some places.

- The guild quests in Oblivion are better by a wide margin
- I like the variety in Cyrodiil. Skyrim kind of looks bland and samey through most of the map.
- Oblivion had more fantasy enemies and the way the game looked felt a lot more mystical and other worldly. It's brighter and the heavy bloom makes it look more like a fairy tale, which the enemies being minotaurs and stuff like that helps as well.
- Oblivion wasn't shy with being silly, Skyrim feels super serious all the time
- The main story NPCs had more personality and better voice acting. I remember Brother Martin, I have no such memory of anyone from the story of Skyrim.
- Oblivion's "big" mods are better than Skyrim's "big" mods in my opinion.

- Skyrim has a better stat and leveling system
- Better combat
- Better stealth
- Better archery

 

[Crankshaft]

Oblivion is better to me because I played it first. I put 300 hours into Oblivion and 100 hours into Fallout 3. I put 30 hours into Skyrim and decided I needed a break. I got wore out on the Bethesda formula.

 

[dlauv]

The clothing was ~less~ stripped down, the environment was a little more fae-like and inviting. Shivering Isles was good, Dark Brotherhood was good, Thieves was good. The campaign finale was better.

Other than that, it's not as good as Skyrim at all.

 

[MKIL65]

Every new installment of Elder Scrolls is just worse than their predecessor. That's why.

You don't start out as a legendary dragon-tongue-screaming-person-whatever in Oblivion. It feels good.

 

[UncleSporky]

This. In Oblivion, each corner of the world felt unique. The gold coast where anvil sits is very different from the swamps of bravil. I loved that sense of journey and mystery. Skyrim lacks that sense of feeling. Love both games btw.

I disagree with this. Skyrim has temperate forest around Falkreath, similar to Oblivion's environment...it's got autumn-colored birch forest around Riften...gross misty swamp around Morthal...plains and mountainous, rocky terrain around Markarth...plains with some vegetation and hot springs in Eastmarch...and different varieties of snowy areas in the rest, some are more forested, some are wide open, some are rocky and hilly. It's got a ton of variety, and it's expressed better than in Oblivion, which needed mods just to add the little scenic details that are already all over in Skyrim. Oblivion's wilderness was incredibly flat and lifeless compared to Skyrim.

 

[Artdayne]

I preferred the environmental variety of Oblivion over Skyrim. Even in Oblivion if you traveled far enough north you got a bit of the Skyrim landscapes whereas if you traveled to the southeast it started to look like the Black Marsh. I also really liked the capital city. Other people have talked about it but the quests felt a lot more interesting in Oblivion.

 

[Alexander DeLarge]

Bethesda's games have been getting considerably worse with each iteration. As they've tirelessly simplified and become more 'cinematic', they've completely lost their charm and creativitiy. Morrowind is still the best Elder Scrolls game, and I suspect that will never change.

This is why the Morrowind modding community is getting larger rather than getting smaller. Why even attempt to overhaul fundamentally flawed games when the things that aggravate people about Morrowind are a matter of simple tweaks? Between the open source implementation of Morrowind's engine (OpenMW), Province Cyrodiil, Project Tamriel and Skyrim home of the Nords, give it ten years and I can easily see all of Tamriel being playable and filled with content. TES3MP is looking great too and I can't wait to see what people do with that. Morrowind has a bright future ahead.

Also, OpenCS will allow people to create their own TES-esque open worlds and I find that far more interesting than the prospect of an upcoming Elder Scrolls assuming the downward trend continues.

 

[Sinfamy]

See that mountain...

 

[Vinter]

I much preferred the quests in Oblivion, but I think the world and environment was better in Skyrim. I remember thinking Cyrodiil was a bit bland, something Shivering Isles made up for later. When it comes to music I think both games were pretty good.

 

[MattKeil]

It wasn't. Oblivion was the most bland and least engaging Elder Scrolls game. While there are some elements of Morrowind I like better, Skyrim is much better than Oblivion in every way.

 

[AntraxSuicide]

More memorable quests is the simple answer, as others have said before. Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Vampire quests, etc.

They were quite dull to play though. Most of them just boiled down to "clear this dungeon", without any finesse or choices.

Hell, if you're a decent mage, just go invisible and skip almost every quest in the game.

I used to like Oblivion a lot more, and maybe gun to my head I'd still say that, but a recent play through soured me on it a bit compared to Skyrim.

 

[GusZamboni]

mostly dark brotherhood and the cities, tbh i like more the florest ambience too, more livid than frozen wasteland that skyrim looks like in the 360 version that i played

 

[UncleSporky]

See that mountain...

Never understood this phrase as a pejorative because it's actually true.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

For me Skyrim's aesthetics were dull and unappealing, and there was a complete lack of diversity in the world and characters. Cyrodill had lush forests, snowy mountains, the Oblivion gates, marshland and a huge main city - I wanted to explore the world because it was beautiful. Skyrim, yes, is meant to be colder climate than Cyrodill, but it was just so damn brown and didn't feel cold or bleak, I ended up having to use a mod that drastically increases the amount of snow in the world because I was so tired of looking at it.

I also felt that the towns in Skyrim were pretty much worthless, Cyrodill had a far larger main city yet every other town still had multiple reasons to visit. In Skyrim you had Whiterun which was tiny compared to the Imperial City, but aside from Windhelm and maybe Riften none of the others were worth visiting for more than quest reasons - hell the port town in the North didn't even have a damn general store to sell anything to.

Finally the quests - particularly guild ones - were just outright better, nothing in Skyrim came anywhere near Whodunit? from Oblivion.

Edit: Ok fine, another thing, Skyrim's soundtrack was decent but Oblivion's was incredible and one I still regularly listen to.

 

[SirMossyBloke]

For me Skyrim's aesthetics were dull and unappealing, and there was a complete lack of diversity in the world and characters. Cyrodill had lush forests, snowy mountains, the Oblivion gates, marshland and a huge main city - I wanted to explore the world because it was beautiful. Skyrim, yes, is meant to be colder climate than Cyrodill, but it was just so damn brown and didn't feel cold or bleak, I ended up having to use a mod that drastically increases the amount of snow in the world because I was so tired of looking at it.

I also felt that the towns in Skyrim were pretty much worthless, Cyrodill had a far larger main city yet every other town still had multiple reasons to visit. In Skyrim you had Whiterun which was tiny compared to the Imperial City, but aside from Windhelm and maybe Riften none of the others were worth visiting for more than quest reasons - hell the port town in the North didn't even have a damn general store to sell anything to.

Finally the quests - particularly guild ones - were just outright better, nothing in Skyrim came anywhere near Whodunit? from Oblivion.

Edit: Ok fine, another thing, Skyrim's soundtrack was decent but Oblivion's was incredible and one I still regularly listen to.

Basically this is spot on. I may play Oblivion again actually. But heavily moded for graphics.

 

[Van Bur3n]

Oblivion's quest design was leagues beyond that of Skyrim. Bethesda has gone downhill in that regard ever since Fallout 3.

However, I wonder how many people in this thread have gone back to play Oblivion, as I've gone back to play both of them fairly recently. Back to back even, as I was just in that TES mood. And I have to say, outside of the amazing quests, Skyrim is an improvement upon it in most regards.

Skyrim possesses better world design (the one thing that has gotten better in Bethesda games), a far better leveling system that finally left that mess of a leveling system from Morrowind and Oblivion behind, improved combat mechanics, better UI, and no terrible level scaling from Oblivion.

Also, you would have to possess a very rose-tinted memory if you think Oblivion's samey environments are more varied than Skyrim's holds. Almost every hold in Skyrim is unique in their own way, with some stunning environments. The plains of Whiterun, the golden trees of the Rift that stand high above the geysers of Eastmarch, to the foggy marshes of Hjaalmarch and the icy canyons of Winterhold, the dense forests of Falkreath, to the mountainous region of the Reach. The only real hold that doesn't stand out too much being Haafingar, but its greatest highlight is the city of Solitude.

Winterhold:

Whiterun:

The Rift:

Eastmarch:

Hjaalmarch:

The Reach:

The Pale:

Falkreath:

Overall, Oblivion still stands as one of Bethesda's ugliest games and a very uninspired art direction.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

I know a lot of people didn't like them which is why they stream lined: but i appreciated a lot of Oblivions dumb skills like alethetism.

 

[chemicals]

People keep conveniently forgetting how much of a buggy mess Skyrim was at launch. That game needed more QA before release. Oblivion was an epic experience.. Skyrim lost me with the backwards flying dragons and quest-breaking bugs.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

People keep conveniently forgetting how much of a buggy mess Skyrim was at launch. That game needed more QA before release. Oblivion was an epic experience.. Skyrim lost me with the backwards flying dragons and quest-breaking bugs.

I don't think anyone has forgotten.

 

[AntraxSuicide]

I preferred Oblivion's lockpicking. If you were patient and knew what you were doing you not only would keep your picks around for longer, but could get into some high level chests right from the beginning. Thats' something I put to real use when I started up my mage-thief.

You can do exactly the same thing in Skyrim lol. I'd even argue the skill game is easier since there's actually a correct solution.

 

[UncleSporky]

People keep conveniently forgetting how much of a buggy mess Skyrim was at launch. That game needed more QA before release. Oblivion was an epic experience.. Skyrim lost me with the backwards flying dragons and quest-breaking bugs.

I think you're also forgetting how much of a buggy mess Oblivion was, and remains, though. Or things that weren't even bugs but end up being more annoying than bugs would be, like the spreadsheet-keeping required if you want to level up efficiently.

 

[ryseing]

Imo, Oblivion was like a childhood memory of mine whereas Skyrim was all snow.

I wish Oblivion had the VR update instead.

I had this same thought upon entering this thread, especially as I never got to play Shivering Isles. I'll buy Skyrim VR for novelty's sake if nothing else, but I think I would put actual time into an Oblivion VR.

 

[johntown]

Basically everything about Oblivion is better except the graphics.

 

[Taker34]

Oblivion had way more depth and interesting content. Guilds were represented meaningfully, quests (apart from the main quest line) were memorable, no radiant quests, more armor pieces, more skills, more weapons... even though it was a step down from Morrowind, Skyrim really took the cake and simplified every aspect of TES.

That should give everyone a little idea:

Don't make do one for quests... and please excuse any errors in the picture as I created this one really quick.

 

[AntraxSuicide]

Oblivion had way more depth and interesting content. Guilds were represented meaningfully, quests (apart from the main quest line) were memorable, no radiant quests, more armor pieces, more skills, more weapons... even though it was a step down from Morrowind, Skyrim really took the cake and simplified every aspect of TES.

That should give everyone a little idea:

Don't make do one for quests... and please excuse any errors in the picture as I created this one really quick.

To be fair, both the Mages Guild and Fighters Guild were padded a bit with quick dumb quests. The Mages won't even let you join without arbitrarily going to every guild hall to do a quickie for each person in charge there.

Good image though.

 

[Spman2099]

I can see the points that most people are making in this thread, but this one right here is crazy.

Skyrim's environments show their age now, but they looked way more natural than Oblivion.

Skyrim looked bad on day one. It may be technically be more impressive than Oblivion, but the visuals pop a lot more in Oblivion. Everything is so bland and drab in Skyrim... It doesn't look realistic, it doesn't look appealing. It just looks bad.

 

[RPGam3r]

Oblivion had very nice Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild quest lines. Other than that I prefer Skyrim.

 

[vareon]

I prefer Oblivion's overworld and dungeon design, particularly caves and tombs. Skyrim's caves felt too much like a videogame level to me. Level and loot scaling is terrible though.

 

[Zafir]

Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guild were fantastic. Overall I felt the world was more interesting too.

That said, I think the most important thing is probably that I was more accepting of the mediocre melee combat in Oblivion. It came out near the start of the 360/ps3 gen, and the combat was fine for that time period. By the time Skyrim came out though, I feel like other games had improved a lot in that aspect, and Skyrim just didn't improve it enough - the melee combat was awful.

 

[Rajang]

They are both bad.

Morrowind is incredible though.

 

[UncleSporky]

Oblivion had way more depth and interesting content. Guilds were represented meaningfully, quests (apart from the main quest line) were memorable, no radiant quests, more armor pieces, more skills, more weapons... even though it was a step down from Morrowind, Skyrim really took the cake and simplified every aspect of TES.

That should give everyone a little idea:

Don't make do one for quests... and please excuse any errors in the picture as I created this one really quick.

I hate those dumb infographics. At least tell the truth and get your numbers right.

Oblivion on the left, Skyrim on the right:

If you want to argue that Oblivion had higher quality quests, then say so. That's more debatable anyway. But don't blatantly misrepresent the amount of content.

Thieves' Guild in Skyrim has 30 quests compared to 14 in Oblivion. Dark Brotherhood has 32 quests compared to 25 in Oblivion.

And ranks are utterly meaningless and do not represent actual content in any way.

 

[Lanrutcon]

Skyrim is like fast food.
Oblivion is home cooked meal.
Morrowind is fine dining.

 

[SpiceMelange]

This. In Oblivion, each corner of the world felt unique. The gold coast where anvil sits is very different from the swamps of bravil. I loved that sense of journey and mystery. Skyrim lacks that sense of feeling. Love both games btw.

I have no idea how you could say that, Bestheda made a point to rectify the complain that Obivion was all grassy hills in Skyrim with very distinct and varied biomes.

 

[Angry Fork]

I haven't played both in a while but I 100% remember as I was playing Skyrim thinking the dark brotherhood and thieves guild were way better in Oblivion. They were more mysterious and interesting, it really felt like you were joining a creepy cult and you couldn't predict where it would lead.

 

[Gabriel_Logan]

Oblivion had a god damn quest based on the Ice T classic Surviving the Game.

 

[Taker34]

I hate those dumb infographics. At least tell the truth and get your numbers right.

If you want to argue that Oblivion had higher quality quests, then say so. That's more debatable anyway. But don't blatantly misrepresent the amount of content.

I listed specifically the guild main quest lines for both games, since Skyrim is filled with radiant quests. I don't consider any of them being worth anyone's time. Regardless of what kind of content you consider important, isn't it simply sad that you can complete the "fighters guild" of Skyrim by doing only 6 (!)quests? Say what you will about the quality vs quantity but Skyrim certainly doesn't have any of it. Almost every faction and representation of it has been dramatically cut back in order to prioritize a man made gameworld as opposed to the randomly created terrain in Oblivion,

If you want to argue that Oblivion had higher quality quests, then say so. That's more debatable anyway. But don't blatantly misrepresent the amount of content.

Thieves' Guild in Skyrim has 30 quests compared to 14 in Oblivion. Dark Brotherhood has 32 quests compared to 25 in Oblivion.

And ranks are utterly meaningless and do not represent actual content in any way.

I already did. It's hardly misinterpreted as the main quests for guilds have been reduced quite drastically. Technically Skyrim guilds have infinite radiant quest versions of "picking up item A in place B and B bringing it to C" or "kill A and report back to B" - absolutely stunning CONTENT. I can't wait for more MMO fetch quests in my single player RPGs... I'm not attacking you or your opinion; I just want to clarify what I wanted to show with my graphic.

Oh and while you're right that ranks aren't content, they still serve for a very neat purpose: role playing. Skyrim certainly does not have a lot of that.

 

[orborborb]

the UI wasn't just a hideous pulsing list of all caps san serif text

the quests were occasionally charming

the ruins had a cool alien vibe to them

the rpg systems ocasionally improved the game (though you really needed mods for anything to be actually GOOD)

 

[UncleSporky]

I listed specifically the guild main quest lines for both games, since Skyrim is filled with radiant quests. I don't consider any of them being worth anyone's time. Regardless of what kind of content you consider important, isn't it simply sad that you can complete the "fighters guild" of Skyrim by doing only 6 (!)quests? Say what you will about the quality vs quantity but Skyrim certainly doesn't have any of it. Almost every faction and representation of it has been dramatically cut back in order to prioritize a man made gameworld as opposed to the randomly created terrain in Oblivion,

See, that's what I'm talking about. That's the dishonesty, just simply deciding that some quests don't "count" for some arbitrary reason. You're talking about numbers so compare the numbers as represented on the actual wiki pages you say you're citing.

I'd say it's more sad that you can "complete" the guilds of Oblivion at all, since the point of a guild is to take part in ongoing activities for which the guild's assistance is required. Once you become the leader of the mage's guild there's nothing left to do. You're the leader, you stand around looking pretty in archmage's robes. Believe me, I've done it. Isn't it really disappointing and anti-climactic to have nothing left to do? It makes sense for a number of tasks, mundane as they may be, to be repeatable. It makes sense that Urag gro-Shub is always on the lookout for more rare books etc.

And "radiant" doesn't even mean repeatable. It means the target of the quest could potentially spawn in a number of locations. So it doesn't even make sense to cut out all those quests as if they're insignificant - one of Skyrim's mage guild's most interesting quests is tagged "radiant." Dude studying the disappearance of the dwarves ends up getting more than he bargained for...it's a long multi-part quest and is only radiant because at once point he needs a staff somebody else sold to a bandit, who is located in a random dungeon. That doesn't make things any less interesting overall. In fact it makes it potentially more interesting, since most dungeons have their own associated quests and stories that you have to work out in tandem with the main reason you went there in the first place.

Compare with some of Oblivion's non-radiant quests that end up being kind of insignificant and boring. Yet you include them in your count anyway. Plus it's wrong to say you're listing "the main quests" when you're just listing "all the quests," since there aren't any side quests. Yet most of those "main quests" have the content of a simple side quest. That's just playing semantics. Even if you want to argue that most quests in Oblivion are better than Skyrim's, it's not debatable that some Skyrim guild side quests are better than Oblivion guild main quests. Doesn't even have to be many of them...but some of them. That alone is enough reason for their inclusion. They're legit.

I freely admit that the main Thieves' Guild questline isn't as good as in Oblivion, but having completed that...I prefer continuing to complete Thieves' Guild jobs with purpose, breaking into a specific target's house and stealing valuable stuff we'd gotten intel about, instead of just endlessly fencing junk. And it actually has the purpose of restoring the guild to its former glory, gets shady shopkeepers to set up shop in the Ragged Flagon. You've got something to build towards whether you're done with the guild quests or not.

 

[TheVampire]

To be fair, both the Mages Guild and Fighters Guild were padded a bit with quick dumb quests. The Mages won't even let you join without arbitrarily going to every guild hall to do a quickie for each person in charge there.

Good image though.

A "quickie" ??

 

[UncleSporky]

Oh and while you're right that ranks aren't content, they still serve for a very neat purpose: role playing. Skyrim certainly does not have a lot of that.

But it's disingenuous. It's like the makers of those checklists where they pick out only what they want to highlight, put big green checkmarks on their product and big red x's on their opponent's product. It's not honest unless it's actually meaningful, and ranks aren't meaningful.

Like, here's a counter-example, I wouldn't actually put this forward as a real argument but I feel like this is roughly equivalent:

Heck I even forgot to put in jewelry.

Some people (I think many people) would consider crafting their own equipment and smithing it to be more powerful to be much more impactful of a role-playing choice than being assigned a rank.

But I wouldn't honestly put it forward in list form and slap a big ol' N/A on the opposite side, because that's silly.

 

[Doctor Ninja]

I liked the combat in Skyrim better than Oblivion, though that might be because Skyrim uses a more modern physics engine.

Oh, the hit detection was complete and utter garbage in Oblivion and it's improved in Skyrim, though that's not saying much.

 

[Pooya]

Bethesda used to have decent writing. I don't know what happened with their subsequent games. Still as a whole experience I don't think Skyrim is worse. It does many things better and plays better overall although heavily simplified. Some of the shit in Oblivion were unnecessary and didn't even work, like that dialog system it had that made no sense.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

I prefer Skyrim. I believe it's the best in the modern Elder Scrolls games. Morrowind had awful combat so I could never stomach to do anything in that game. Oblivion was a step up and I liked it but the world sucked and the quests were really meh. Only 3 still stick with me: Thieve finale, Brotherhood finale, and the one where you gotta murder all those folks in the house. There's an emphasis on story in the DLCs but the base game is "hey we need you to kill this guy for the Darkbrotherhood x 15. I can't remember anything about the Mage or Fighter's guilds. Fuck fencing shit for rep in the Thieve's guild, it sounds nice on paper but it's such a drag.

I didn't like the passive leveling shit, it felt really outdated and useless even if you maxed it out. I remember leveling up stealth to max after leaving the sewers by using an elastic band to crouch and walk forward in front a skeleton in a cage. Things like swim speed and that shit didn't amount to much. Condensing the skills in the tree was a better idea since it's no longer a Morrowind type game.

I like Skyrim the best because it improves on the world and quests. I dislike how skills just became OP eventually: sneak would mean instant safety, bows were 1 shotting even hard mode dudes, stealth / dagger would just rek, same goes for the others. Lack of item variety sucked as well -- I hope in the next game they have different stats like Witcher + more variety of skills.

Also give me online. k thx. i would really like to have me and 2 friends explore your worlds. :3

 

[Octavia]

Well:

Number 1 biggest offense:

Spell making

This just killed Skyrim for me. So so so much gameplay potential and fun missing. Fuck, half the game in Oblivion was coming up with dumb weird spells for your build, either a paralyzing touch so you could beat their lifeless ragdoll body, or stacking a bunch of slightly different named speed spells so you could run so fast you broke the loading of the cells. Or how about a fireball the size of a city block that moves slower than shit? So much fun and freedom, completely gone.
Enchanting also got just about as equally neutered.

Also, in general, Oblivion had:
-A better, happier, less depressing to be in world. Why do I want to spend 500 hours being gloomy and depressed? Skyrim has its pretty moments, but most of the map is glum city.
-Better music. Skyrim has some amazing music but a lot of it is annoying and depressing and I had to turn it off 20 hours in. Also, the best songs in skyrim are rare. None of the music in Oblivion actively annoyed me.
-Better quest themes and quest design. This has been said to death in here already. Not every quest sends you ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ENTIRE MAP.
-More interesting lore and exploration of world lore.
-Better houses to buy, and you could decorate them with physics objects from your inventory. This was completely broken in skyrim and after reloading the game all the objects would be misplaced or fallen through the world.
-One of the last "expansion packs" in gaming ever, and it was amazing (Shivering Isles).
-Guilds were way deeper and the arena was awesome.
-I like the enemy variety and opposition better in Oblivion personally.
-I actually enjoyed the Oblivion realm. I thought it was fine and added more to the game than just caves and ruins on the overworld.
-Both games are broken in terms of scaling and difficulty, but I found Oblivion a little less so, but maybe that's because I was more inclined to min-max everything in that one.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Oblivion also has better hammy actors.

Arrow to the knee? pfft, give me STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM

 

[HeeHo]

I much preferred the blue skies and green terrain in Cyrodil compared to Skyrim. That was my biggest gripe. I like Oblivion a lot better but I don't know exactly why. I do think the side content was more memorable in Oblivion though.

It was pretty easy to become absurdly OP in Skyrim but that might've been true for Oblivion too. I actually liked the level scaling since it made fighting stuff like bears still a challenge even in the long run.

 

[UncleSporky]

Also, in general, Oblivion had:
-Better music. Skyrim has some amazing music but a lot of it is annoying and depressing and I had to turn it off 20 hours in. Also, the best songs in skyrim are rare. None of the music in Oblivion actively annoyed me.

I think Skyrim's best were the best in the series, though. Some themes seem to have broken out of gaming somewhat and gotten to some broader audiences. Far Horizons was covered by the London Philharmonic and other orchestras. Streets of Whiterun was amazing as well.

Music is one area where I can't fault any of the modern Elder Scrolls games. Personally I like to listen to Morrowind's themes on repeat, but I refuse to say any of them are better than any other. They're all so beautiful.

-One of the last "expansion packs" in gaming ever, and it was amazing (Shivering Isles).

While Shivering Isles was awesome, so was Dragonborn. It was a real expansion and not just a couple tiny new areas (Dawnguard) or some minuscule housing content (Hearthfire, roughly equivalent to a number of Oblivion's expansions).

 

[Cat Party]

Skyrim is the better game but Oblivion was the moment the Xbox 360 generation truly began for a lot of us. Emerging from the sewers for the first time is an all time moment.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

I still remember the first time I saw oblivion on console.

I was like... I already played this on PC. lol

I didn't know it came out on console. Was surprised to see these stoner friends playing it.