Elder Scrolls games

nerrollus

If I wanted to go back and play some of the pre-eso games, are there some that are total garbage and I should stay away from or are they all good?

Thinking about buying the complete elder scrolls collect and just running through them.

Also, which of them is over all thought to be the best game that is required to play before you die?

Melufey

Oh, playing the pre-ESO games isn't a mistake.
Okay, if we forget Redguard and Battlespire, are all games a must been played before death.
But this is my personal opinion.
But you will make no mistake if you only play Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim (III-V)

TonyCawk

Morrowind is my personal favorite.
Oblivion and Skyrim were also amazing, you can't go wrong with them.
Anything before that I can't tell you.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO

nerrollus wrote: »

If I wanted to go back and play some of the pre-eso games, are there some that are total garbage and I should stay away from or are they all good?

Thinking about buying the complete elder scrolls collect and just running through them.

Also, which of them is over all thought to be the best game that is required to play before you die?

It first of all depends on how important the graphics are to you, Daggerfall from 1998 is pretty crude by today's standards for example.

That said, buying the collection is a pretty decent idea, Oblivion and Skyrim are certainly stand up well graphically, Morrowing being from 2002 is showing its age but still fine.

Dayv

I've barely played arena and I've never played Daggfall, but I'd say Skyrim is the best one to start with, but do get the UI mod for inventory if you're playing in PC. I also really like Oblivion, but people tend to be more divided on it. Morrowind, is an absolute must, it's by far the most complex in terms of skills and gear and has loads more factions than the other ones. Morrowind totally blew me away when I first played it, I'd never seen a game with such scope.

Istyar

Morrowind is the best RPG ever made IMO, I bought it in 2003 and I still play it nowadays. In terms of freedom do to what you want, Morrowind is like as GTA, you can do almost anything you want to do and in terms of lore, its the best TES game by far, and Tribunal IMO is the best expansion pack in all TES games.

If you dont want play Arena and Daggerfall, you can start from Morrowind, you can download a mod called Morrowind Graphics Overhaull and your game will look amazing.

Morrowind really deserve a try.

ItsMeToo

Get them all and use mods, but you need to know what you are doing.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO

To me, Daggerfall is a flawed masterpiece. I hugely enjoyed it but some of the bugs became a trial to put up with and there were several progress-blocking ones that never got fixed.

The random dungeons were a good idea, poorly done IMO, they were far too large and boring; the dungeons used for the main story were hand-built and generally pretty good, it was the random dungeon builder that needed to go on a diet.

However, it was a highly enjoyable RPG of its time, in some respects it hasn't aged well but it's well worth taking a look at.

Knootewoot

You can't go wrong. I wouldn't suggest Arena or Daggerbug anymoe, but Morrowind is still fine. I still play Vanilla morrowind with only the mod which allows me to play in widesreen and 1920*1080 (fps optimizer or something it was called) and of course better bodies 2.0 for boobs.

Oblivion is still fun to, except i didn't like the NPC scaling. Skyrim is of course still great to play.

I would also suggest Redguard as i though it to be a great game back in the day. Battlespire sucked imho and i don't advice to even look at it.

kassandratheclericb14_ESO

TES games are wonderful and imperfect gems. I started years ago with Oblivion then went to Morrowind. If you are a person that has no interest in the RPG story and wants awesome graphics and combat mechanics then going back and playing anything pre-Skyrim is just not going to be something you enjoy.

If that is not important to you then I would urge you to go back and start with Morrowind and work your way forward. All the games are moddable but require a significant willingness to learn about modding and how to safely mod your games. I am sure that coming this winter Steam will have all these games on sale and you can pick them up super cheap if you are willing to wait. Not that they will break the piggy bank at present.

All games graphics can be improved with mods. Anything can be changed with mods from how your character looks to updated combat, animations, to complete overhauls of the game. I like to play them first typically before I mod. But modding is not for the faint of heart. It takes willingness to learn how to do it (apply mods to your game) and is not just a point and click for these older games.

However if you are willing to give these games a chance....well they are the reason I am into computers today. Morrowind has a great story and is plenty of fun. Oblivion was a fine, imperfect game. Skyrim is wonderful and beautiful world and most issues can be fixed with mods. I don't recommend playing any of them on anything but computers.

Whatever you choose to jump into, good luck. The Elder Scrolls is a wonderful, deep and compelling world.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO

Just one thing I'd add: the TES games are unique in my experience in that the game doesn't know what 'experience points' are, you level by using skills which is actually one of the genre's Achilles heels TBH as it's easy to create a build when leveling stops long before you probably want it to.

RazielSR

TES single player games are the most wonderful thing ever happening in PC gaming.

EVER.

Shennynerd

nerrollus wrote: »

That said, buying the collection is a pretty decent idea, Oblivion and Skyrim are certainly stand up well graphically, Morrowing being from 2002 is showing its age but still fine.

I have to disagree. I've tried many times to get into Oblivion and the graphics manage to give me a headache every time.

Woolenthreads

I love Morrowind+expansions more than Oblivion or Skyrim, though it could be broken reasonably quickly if you were inclined that way. It was large, the dungeons were varied and you could cast flying magic. The stories were varied and complex, the dungeons were quite varied. The first time I played, a rat killed me in the first half hour. When I started a new character after installing Tribunal, I was attacked by a Dark Brotherhood Assassin, who I managed to kill. He wore the second best Light Armour in the game LOL.

Some of my friends hated it because of the perceived lack of Fast Travel. It had a fast travel system based around boats and 'Striders that resembles Wayshrines to a degree. Personally, being an explorer/rpg gamer I liked running all over the place.

Audigy

nerrollus wrote: »

If I wanted to go back and play some of the pre-eso games, are there some that are total garbage and I should stay away from or are they all good?

Thinking about buying the complete elder scrolls collect and just running through them.

Also, which of them is over all thought to be the best game that is required to play before you die?

This list which I complied might help you a bit.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/99931/a-look-back-in-time-elder-scrolls-history

Falmer

As others have said, your own personal tolerance for dated graphics is going to be the largest obstacle to some of the games. Each were awesome in their time, but are showing their age.

Arena - First of the ES series. Huge in geographic scope, could visit all of Tamriel, 1990s 2D graphics. Pretty average story, but does introduce you to some of basic concepts of the ES world.

Daggerfall - Also fairly huge in scope, though only takes place in area around the Illiac Bay in Highrock/Wayrest/Sentinel area of the world. This was the first real story upgrade for the series. You also had amazing flexibility in a real sandbox. You could join any number of dozens of different factions. You had multiple possible endings to the main story. Cons were it was incredibly buggy, though nothing game breaking anymore.

Redguard and Battlespire - were an attempt at a spinoff type of game. They are not sandbox games, but single set character story games. They tell of a single adventure set in various settings (Stros M'Kai and the Imperial Battlespire).

Daggerfall - This was sort of the crown jewel game for me. This was the series Lore upgrade. Most of everything that made the series shine as a living breathing world were created here IMO. It was also the game that really made exploration so thrilling. I probably spent 12 hours getting from one town to the next because I would spend time diving in pools collecting pearls from clams.

Oblivion - This was their combat upgrade which to me was its only real improvement to the series. Many other areas took a HUGE step backward for me here. Exploration for one was a major disappointment. They took it upon themselves to implement quest markers here for the first time which took out all the thrill of finding stuff yourself. It was the first game I had to shut down and MOD the very first day because those markers just killed everything for me. They also began stripping out many features that made daggerfall so great. Very limited spellcrafting. They also seemed to pressure your character for the very first time. No longer could you just roam and do your own thing... now everywhere you went a dumb portal opened, such that I started ignoring them, which also killed much immersion for me. The level-scaling was atrociously implemented. Bandits in daedric plate armor was just game-breakingly silly.

Skyrim - was a huge improvement over Oblivion. The graphics and feel were spot on. You had the option to turn off the compass and markers, which is the only way I feel it should be played. They did a much better job of fixing the level-scaling problems. You still have a more theme park feel to the game rather than a sandbox feel that was left behind in Daggerfall. However, the feel of combat is amazing. They also brought back some of the exploration element in tailoring the dungeons/caves to a specific enemy instead of leaving them a vague hollow shell that they could stick any old thing in like Oblivion.


So all in all, if you don't mind a graphics reduction and combat from a more dice-rolled era than Morrowind was the star of the series regarding lore, story, and just an overall sandbox feel. Oblivion has great graphics and combat, but it has so many flaws that make it feel gamey rather than immersive. Skyrim is a great game that gives you the modern combat feel you would likely expect, and they fixed a lot of the flaws of Oblivion.

Fairydragon3

just be prepared for some quest bugs

Dayv

ESO is certainly different from the other ES games in that weapon builds are more powerful than all out magic builds. Edit magic builds less powerful than weapon builds in other ES games

Has anyone been following Skywind? It's a huge Skyrim mod to put the Morrowind content in it. Kudos to the people doing it, what they've got so far looks great, but with that much content they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

Moonscythe

Morrowind on an Xbox was my gateway to RPGs and is still my favorite, graphics notwithstanding. I hate gaming on computers (I'm here until ESO launches on a console near me) but have taken multiple characters through multiple hundreds of hours in Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim on Xbox. In a way, Skyrim epitomizes the openness and replayability of even the vanilla game because I played 4 major characters through all main quests including DLC and never even began Civil War or most factions. Morrowind though has the deepest story and most involving main quest. Besides, you can levitate!

If Skywind actually lives up to the hype it could make me a happy gamer on my computer though I would probably need a new computer because mine is on the edge of acceptable for ESO.

Hoamaii

If you've never played another TES game before, I would recommand Skyrim for a start: the graphics are very good, it does not require special tuning on a Win7 or Win8 computer and you'll have no pb playing full screen. Plus most of the original bugs have been completely fixed. Then if you can stand the dated graphics, work your way backwards to older games.

Another reason for Skyrim, on my opinion, is that the modding community is still very active and the number of available mods is absolutely impressive - as a matter of facts it has even regained a lot of activity in the past 2 months (maybe an ESO side effect?). You'll be able to customize your game any way you want: graphics, items, character, AI, gameplay, dungeons, new lands, quests, etc. - the possibilities are amazing and addictive.

Dayv wrote: »

Has anyone been following Skywind? It's a huge Skyrim mod to put the Morrowind content in it. Kudos to the people doing it, what they've got so far looks great, but with that much content they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

Not lately but last I heard they were going to release the 1st part this month. Have you been trying it?

Sihnfahl

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

To me, Daggerfall is a flawed masterpiece. I hugely enjoyed it but some of the bugs became a trial to put up with and there were several progress-blocking ones that never got fixed

Well, the final patch for Daggerfall gave a pseudo-console to get around those progress blockers.

Daggerfall's graphics are dated, and you WILL end up having to rely on the pseudo-console to successfully complete the 'random' dungeons.

But, unlike the later ES games, stores actually empty at night. Course, you can really load up with stolen loot like that, so...

Morrowind is pretty good. Oblivion's conversation wheel is a bad thing, but fortunately, MODS.

Rosveen

nerrollus wrote: »

Also, which of them is over all thought to be the best game that is required to play before you die?

All of them. If I had to choose one, I'd say Morrowind. It was the first TES game for many of us and it's commonly considered the pinnacle of the series - its worldbuilding is astounding, the Dunmer society's portrayal is detaied and exotic in all the right ways. The main quest is excellent, exploration thrilling (it was years before I found the shrine of Boethiah, no online guides involved) Do play this one.

However, I think I'd actually start with Skyrim and work my way backwards because it's the easiest one to get into for a newcomer. You should play at least the three newest games anyway and their stories aren't connected, so the order in which you play them doesn't really matter. You might just miss some small references to earlier events.

BBSooner

If you are young enough to not remember the old DOS dungeon crawler games you should probably start with morrowind - the grainy graphics of daggerfall are a hard obstacle to overcome if you aren't already accustomed to it. That being said, daggerfall is an amazing game and where I usually start when I do playthroughs , but just go in order.

Also, for morrowind oblivion and skyrim I'd check out nexus mods and get the graphics/armor/unofficial patches to ensure everything looks good snd nothing actually breaks mid game.

Ri_Dariit

Melufey wrote: »

Oh, playing the pre-ESO games isn't a mistake.
Okay, if we forget Redguard and Battlespire, are all games a must been played before death.
But this is my personal opinion.
But you will make no mistake if you only play Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim (III-V)

This one agrees with Melufey, however, Daggerfall was great too, however, the graphics will scare you off.

In regards to the other ones, get Skyrim and currently they're a modding community that works on Skyblivion but still is a work in progress. I remember they did the same for Morrowind as Oblivion Mod. Perhaps one day, some grand modders might try the same with Daggerfall, yet I believe ESO will be as close to that equivalent as you'll ever see.

Few words of advice though.
a) Those games are huge, beating the main quest does NOT constitute of you claiming "beating the game". Myself played Morrowind (2 yrs in-game), Oblivion (+700 hours), and Skyrim (350 hours), yet have not truly had the feeling of finishing neither of them (except Morrowind).
b) Bugs are quite common in the game, so if you hate ESO's bugs, you will encounter them as-well

So in regards of "getting them and running through them" you already failed with that statement. Those games are not supposed to be played that way, you make your destiny as you make each step ahead.

Personally I would consider Morrowind as Skyrim and Oblivion are nice, but Morrowind is truly large, especially with the three expansions (they used that term before DLC). The graphics are old, but that's the one that started amazing soundtrack, large quest lines (including a massive Vampire one) and before they came with all the dumb "time savers" such as instant location quick jumps.

others might disagree, but you've asked for everyone's 50 cents, and here are mine.

Sihnfahl

Rosveen wrote: »

You should play at least the three newest games anyway and their stories aren't connected

Well, they're loosely connected between Oblivion and Skyrim.

In Skyrim, it was the loss of the Emperor, the sacrifice of Martin, and the end of the Septim line that led to the weakening of the Empire through arguments, politicking and infighting. That's how the White-Gold Concordat came into play, which led to the friction between the traditionalist Nords (Stormcloaks) and those still loyal to the Empire.

But, yes, there's little tying Morrowind to Daggerfall, and the events of Morrowind have little impact in Cyrodiil, as it was mostly a Dunmer issue of little impact to the Empire.

GreySix

By the way, you'll note that the cities of Tamriel in Arena have no similarity to the same cities in later games.

Then again, Arena was using a similar game engine to Wolfenstein 3D, so there's only so much they could do with it.

Sallington

Nothing since Morrowind has given me the same experience of exploration and wonder. No hand holding, no quest markers, no fast travel. Just your imagination and intuition.

The single greatest game of all time IMO.

I still go back to it from time to time for a blast of nostalgia, and with the MGO, it can still be breathtakingly beautiful.

GreySix

Sallington wrote: »

Nothing since Morrowind has given me the same experience of exploration and wonder.

The single greatest game of all time IMO.

Tried to get into that game, but after having played Oblivion and Skyrim, Morrowind seemed boring and flat.

Perhaps if a modder redid Morrowind with the Skyrim game engine...

Sihnfahl

GreySix wrote: »

Perhaps if a modder redid Morrowind with the Skyrim game engine...

They're still working on it, but the issue they're having is that, well, the sheer number of quests to port.

Sallington

GreySix wrote: »

Tried to get into that game, but after having played Oblivion and Skyrim, Morrowind seemed boring and flat.

Perhaps if a modder redid Morrowind with the Skyrim game engine...

I can see why people think that, just because of the dated engine and dice-roll combat and all that. If I didn't play Morrowind when it came out I'd probably think they same thing.

It's just has a way more sandbox feel. Want to enchant a ring with levitation as a constant effect? Sure! Fly around the map! You could become and absolute god if you wanted to.

Not to mention that nothing leveled with you. You could stumble into a crypt with monsters 20 levels above you. The hand-placed legendary loot, all the little secrets here and there...

Uh oh.... my nostalgia is kicking in.

Pmarsico9

There's a mod where I think somebody is importing Morrowind or Oblivion (I forget) into Skyrim's Engine.

Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim are all absolutely fantastic games. But it's worth mentioning that they all also have bugs. You should be well aware of that and it's important to get them for PC so you can at least use the console to workaround said bugs where needed.