I've played the ES series since I found Morrowind about 8 years ago. I played that, Oblivion, Skyrim, and ESO.

I found the series good, sure one title would do things differently than another which is a good thing, so the gameplay never got to be completely repetitive. I never, however, found much reason to complain about the nature of any of the games.


My issue with Skyrim: So focused on D&D. or.. " Dungeons and Draugr ". I understand the setting and reasoning, but dungeons just didn't feel... Interesting enough after a single playthrough.

My issue with ESO, originally a pc player back from the initial betas and P2P.: Most long-term single player ES game players had difficulties adapting to a MMORPG world, where leveling, mechanics, world immersion, and just about everything other than graphics and sounds were otherworldly different than how a single player game from the series was played..

Back in the beta, I quit because of the enemies. I got mildly annoyed at getting hit by an assassin's dagger when I was way beyond logical reach of it.

Now, years later when I've returned to playing it on PS4 with my girlfriend, I find that I'm really enjoying it. In my case, It's easier to say people just haven't adapted to the change.. Or that they don't like the format in which the game is presented compared to Skyrim, Oblivion, or so forth.

Because ESO's production started before Skyrim's so it's more of the previous games.

Because this game requires more skill?

Just sniping with a Bow from sneak is the best way to play Skyrim, it's awful in ESO.

1. Skyrim attracted a lot of casual players. It was the first TES game with mass appeal, so lot's of kids got into it. These types of gamers are more likely to pout and hold irrational opinions.
2. They think that the reason TES VI hasn't come out yet is because Zenimax is dedicating all of their resources to ESO.

Well there's 2 things. First of all, Skyrim is the easiest TES games, a lot of things were dumbed down and even "Legendary" difficulty is meaningless because mobs are basically just damage sponges. So I guess Skyrim fans might be overwhelmed.
Secondly, of all TES games Skyrim is the least rpg-like. Sure, you have some rpg elements, but pretty much everything is focused on action/adventure side. ESO character building has much more impact on your gameplay, in Skyrim you can just do random stuff and still win (sure that works in ESO questing as well but it seems like people dont want to be excluded from vet content).
Well, at least thats why I prefer ESO. Skyrim just seems too shallow unless you have a ton of mods.
Also it seems like people often prefer their first TES game and Skyrim is probably the first for many players.

Im geniunely surprised when people say that Skyrim provides better rpg experience... Imo its a good game, but still its a very mediocre rpg with a ton of forced choices (thieves guild questline is the worst offender imo with the whole "sell your soul to Nocturnal or you cant finish the quest" thing). I can understand this in an mmo (ESO quests are still good compared to your regular mmo quests), but in a single-player rpg it just seems "forced" and annoying.

I like ESO, I've played it on and off for 4 years now and put more hours into it than I did into Skyrim. However, I've never been able to live in ESO like I did in single player Elder Scrolls games. It's a complex issue, but it mostly boils down to the multiplayer nature of the game. I don't feel like anything I do matters because so much content is repeatable; I never feel I've cleared a dungeon, driven out the bandits and did a good deed because they respawn five seconds later. I can't do an interesting quest to receive a powerful weapon, I have to grind for it for days. Until recently I couldn't store the treasures I collected in my own house. And at launch, the game was heavily railroaded because of the leveled zones. Without account upgrades, it's still horribly un-TES-like with its racial locks. And of course, it doesn't have any content mods.

The reason why some people hated it is because they expected Skyrim 2.0 and didn't get it. We spent years asking for small scale co-op Elder Scrolls... And got an uninsipired MMO instead. Horrible vet rank grind, no justice system, no player housing... It took two years to get it to a state worthy of the Elder Scrolls name, no wonder people bounced off at first.

Some also reacted allergically to certain lore issues that were blown out of proportion and misrepresented by beta players who didn't see enough of the game. Ah, Cyrodiil's infamous endless jungles!

When ESO was coming out, people thought it would be Skyrim online of some sort.

That is, the Skyrim players at least. The MMO players knew it wouldn't.

This lead to a lot of disappointment but eventually the TES fans that enjoyed both the single player and the MMO game stayed and learned to appreciate them both (such as myself).

I played Skyrim back in 2013 and I had a blast. Same with ESO shortly after.

However, the true power of Skyrim nowadays lies in the Special Edition with all the mods that have been developed over the years and ported for SE.

As a result, my personal version of Skyrim SE now has more than 200 carefully selected and integrated mods, while maintaining maximum stability and performance.

It was a 2 week long journey to make it all 'click' but it's paying off in such satisfying ways.

And I can confirm that the custom version of the game is truly awesome once every aspect of it has been polished and expanded in ways previously unavailable.

There is just nothing in ESO that can rival the solo PVE content of an improved Skyrim build.

But that's not what ESO is about after all.

If anyone is unfamiliar with modding Skyrim, here's a little short clip that will quickly show you how different the game can be.

Sadly, videos on Youtube do not do it justice, it's 3 times better in-game.

Hopefully people will appreciate both games for what they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVl9Z0uDEEU

Because if you were to compare in terms of if they both released at the same time the gameplay in ESO is largely worse.

There are some really good features in ESO don’t get me wrong but if Skyrim and ESO were released the same year it wouldn’t be close.

Skyrim all the way but I don’t hate ESO or dislike ESO because of that, I’m sure my dislike is due to ZOS 100%

Because both of these games are from different genre.
I love Modrim and I like ESO because of ES3 and 4 and Modrim.A lot of the stuffs in ESO doesn't make sense because of being MMORPG. Especially when it comes to immersion.
ESO is the least immersive 3D ES game.
Skyrim vanilla is almost as bad as ESO though but still better.
Your confusion is most probably because you play or played Skyrim on console.
It is hard to enjoy an open world game in which the world doesn't feel alive.

Long term Elder Scrolls players have said that Skyrim was a deviation from the way TES games had previously been done. It may be that those people who liked Skyrim were not really experiencing 'true' TES gameplay and 'true' TES gameplay may not be for them.

Also the MMORPG aspect could be another reason, this is my first MMO and it took me a fair while to adjust. I solo completed Cadwells silver and gold before I even embraced doing anything as part of a group.

i Loved Morowind single player game, i have never seen anything else like it ever made.
anywhere, ever.
zen devs tried but eso is just "similar" in a few small ways.
skyrim is the same thing. it's it's own thing, if try to duplicate it then is just upsetting.
UNLESS the same people that made morrowind were able to make it then it will not be the same.

I love eso on the whole, but Skyrim was amazing. My own personal world full of stories and amazing loot. Everything was achievable and some of the mods enhanced the game to ridiculous levels. Eso is grest , but if a new elder scrolls game came out tomorrow I would stop playing eso immefiately. Why? Because I would have fun and stop feeling like it will take me years just to be at the same level as the long timers that can devote thousands of hours of their lives to this game. Until then I will play this casually and enjoy it.

First of all, it's not Skyrim fans only, it's Elder Scrolls fans. Personally Oblivion was my favorite gameplay, but Morrowind is my favorite because it was the first I play and fell in love.

The reason why I don't like it is because;

1: You're forced into a class. Elder scrolls games were all about freedom of choice on how you wanted to build your character. Combine any skills, spells and abilities and tailor it to your playstyle. In ESO you can't really do this with skills being locked behind classes.

2: Combat is no where near as good in ESO. While the combat in the TES series can be lacking, it is much more diverse and fun. You choose what kind of attack you use with your weapon, special abilities weren't locked into a slotable button but were instead controlled by your movement, positioning and timing.

3: Bows used to take skill. In ESO you click it fires. No aiming, no headshots, none of the features real bow users want.

4: Exploration. Zones have loading screens between them. TES games do not have this other than when entering a dungeon/building or traveling to another continent or realm. Much better for immersion if I can just continue throughout the entire world and never encounter a loading screen. Other than when I enter a dungeon of course.

5: Enchanting. Enchanting on eso is nothing like any TES game and it is severely lacking imo.

6: Catered to social activity. ESO was built with groups in mind. Most of the activities required you to socialize and let's face it, most people who play single player games don't want to feel forced into social situations to do content. I for one have been all for more solo gameplay mechanics in ESO since day one.

7: There are a ton of other reasons, but I feel my post has gone on long enough. I love ESO, but hate that it isn't what I think it should have been. It could have been so much better, but they changed almost every mechanic and it only has the lore now, not the whole feel and immersion of the single player games.