It's weird particularly to see that praise for Skyrim when (imo obviously) morrowind in the same series had a substantially more interesting story and world, a decade prior
I think Skyrim was a big entry point for a lot of fans who haven't played the earlier games. I do agree though, Morrowind is amazing and is, in my opinion, a better game than Skyrim. Skyrim is kind of a dumbed down Morrowind.
Even worse, it's a dumbed down Oblivion, which itself is a dumbed down Morrowind.
I always thought Oblivion was a much better setting than Skyrim, but I replayed Oblivion recently and I realized nostalgia was doing a lot of heavy lifting. I came away not knowing really what to think. Oblivion still held up and was clearly a great game but it wasn't perfect and was a bit dated (Jeez I mean skyrim is also dated lol). Maybe everyone just kinda feels that special something about their first ES game lol.
Edit: I should add, I also played Morrowind somewhat recently (much longer after playing the original two) and it was also a great game but didn't seem necessarily better than the other two.
Edit: Edit: I also played daggerfall, it was very ok lol
Edit: Edit: Edit: I also played ESO, 5/10
Skyrim was a significant improvement over Oblivion, in every way I can think of. Only Oblivions quest lines were better, but that's not what I go to an open world game for (and I found the extreme mismatch between the cinematic plots and open world gameplay immersion-breaking). And while Morrowind has a much more interesting setting (and the plot weave that encompassed that setting was brilliant), Skyrim was the first entry since Daggerfall to really give me a decent first person action RPG feel.
True, Vvardenfell was a really interesting setting because of how alien it is, but skyrim added a lot of interesting lore through books and such. Like the argonian counter-invasion of oblivion after they were physically altered by their hist-trees, forcing the immortal forces of dagon to close their own portals.
I don't think the in-game history books count very much at all. That's the flattest, laziest world building possible. They're fine, sure, but having good "told but never shown" history is worth the least marks by a long shot.
It's weird particularly to see that praise for Skyrim when (imo obviously) morrowind in the same series had a substantially more interesting story and world, a decade prior
I think Skyrim was a big entry point for a lot of fans who haven't played the earlier games. I do agree though, Morrowind is amazing and is, in my opinion, a better game than Skyrim. Skyrim is kind of a dumbed down Morrowind.
Even worse, it's a dumbed down Oblivion, which itself is a dumbed down Morrowind.
I always thought Oblivion was a much better setting than Skyrim, but I replayed Oblivion recently and I realized nostalgia was doing a lot of heavy lifting. I came away not knowing really what to think. Oblivion still held up and was clearly a great game but it wasn't perfect and was a bit dated (Jeez I mean skyrim is also dated lol). Maybe everyone just kinda feels that special something about their first ES game lol.
Edit: I should add, I also played Morrowind somewhat recently (much longer after playing the original two) and it was also a great game but didn't seem necessarily better than the other two.
Edit: Edit: I also played daggerfall, it was very ok lol
Edit: Edit: Edit: I also played ESO, 5/10
Skyrim was a significant improvement over Oblivion, in every way I can think of. Only Oblivions quest lines were better, but that's not what I go to an open world game for (and I found the extreme mismatch between the cinematic plots and open world gameplay immersion-breaking). And while Morrowind has a much more interesting setting (and the plot weave that encompassed that setting was brilliant), Skyrim was the first entry since Daggerfall to really give me a decent first person action RPG feel.
True, Vvardenfell was a really interesting setting because of how alien it is, but skyrim added a lot of interesting lore through books and such. Like the argonian counter-invasion of oblivion after they were physically altered by their hist-trees, forcing the immortal forces of dagon to close their own portals.
I don't think the in-game history books count very much at all. That's the flattest, laziest world building possible. They're fine, sure, but having good "told but never shown" history is worth the least marks by a long shot.