I know this title evokes some hate over me even speaking(or typing), but as a fan of this series, I need to tell you this. Oblivion was nothing compared to Morrowind. I used to think that Oblivion outshone it in every way. Now I know I was wrong. Here's several reasons why:

1). No training Mission
As soon as you got off that boat, you were on your own. It only took about 2 minutes for the guard to escort you off and then, you choose your class and everything we all know. From that point on, you were no one's bitch. You had no obligation to go to the main job and you could pretty much roam around and do anything.

In Oblivion, you had to wait until you worked your way through the sewer before you could get to the meat and potato's and there were a lot of servings. Yet, the game felt so slow at that point. I wanted to get outside and get going. Yet I had to plod through voice-overs and wait until they explained everything. After that small annoyance, the game was open to you just as open to you as morrowind.

2). Auto-leveling NCP's ruin the fighting
You may reject this point, but I had a lot more satisfaction killing things 10 times higher then me in morrowind. When you explored, you got a sense of the power behind the people. You knew the difference from thugs and trained troops. You felt the mighty blows they would land on your level one ass and know not to go there until you level up. You didn't know to what level. You just leveled up and kept trying. That made the loot worthwhile.

Yet, in Oblivion, the combat always felt so one-sided. No matter what battle I ran into, I knew the weaker enemies would fall before me always and the tougher enemies would only take about 3 more blows. That's because, the feature that allows you to aim and swing without missing made the combat feel like swinging instead of skill. No matter what battle I would enter in, I knew my battleaxe would mop them up. I knew that they would die before me, like the other enemies in the other cave did. I'm, not saying the combat was a letdown, It just felt like I didn't need to think things through because I knew the enemies would be a pretty even match, even though I'd kill everything in 1 hit.

3).The teleporting made traveling nonexistent
In morrowind, I ran everywhere there wasn't a strider. I could never get to where I wanted to go. I remember swimming to Solstheim about 5 times. And I loved it everytime. I got to the point where I just said "Fuck the strider, I'm walking!" And off my Orc would go. Running saved me money and found me quests, like exchanging notes between thief and victim, unfreezing a Nord with no clothes from a witches spell, finding a Redguard to lead to a city for healing. It rewarded travel with things to do.

Oblivion, on the other hand, gave you the wonderful feature of teleporting. Traveling? Screw that. I don't need to see all these grass fields and tree's more than once. Missions were almost never stumbled upon, and the perplexing task of finding Nirnroot? The only time I explored at all. The rest of it was going to dungeons and finding the same things, which sloppily leads me to

4). You find one weapon, you've found them all
Morrowind was a weapon whore. I could constantly look for new weapons and find them constantly. I'd have to follow a turtle and dive underwater to kill a thief who stole the king's helm. I had to fight tooth and nail with 3 orc warriors in full combat armor to get any decent gear(might I add by a statue of what I think is their god). I would have to scrap and battle through waves of people to get a 10,000 pound weapon out and be nude and really drunk doing it. Then, I'd come back and rob it again to get more weapon swag.

Oblivion had weapons too, but most of them were enchanted other weapons with armor called something else but looking the same too. There was really no unique reward for fighting through the dungeon. Maybe aleyid(probably spelled wrong) statues that you could give to the collector. When that's done, then what? The statues gave you some alright gear but I always had something better.

5). The 24/7 system really didn't change much.
Morrowind had all characters that were in the game standing around outside. Oblivion had them walking around. I don't see the improvement. If I took the time to follow them, maybe they'd do something interesting. Even if they had places to go, it looked like they didn't even care. They plowed through whatever was in their way, unless it was you, then they stoped for a few seconds and moved on. Sure, they'd talk to a few people for 2 or 4 lines of dialog, but they never went to the shops or traveled anywhere. Everyday, when i'd see them, they'd be walking the same route with no variation. It's just as bad as them standing there.


Sure, Oblivion shines in some area's, but to me, great graphics and great sounds don't mean great game. It was fun for a while, but I kept Morrowind GOTY for 2 years and played it constantly. I played Oblivion for 4 months and moved on. I felt letdown. The arena was a pushover, the mages guild was easy to get into even if you weren't a mage, and the game STILL has a glitch preventing me from getting Grandmaster of the fighters guild. For this, I cannot forgive oblivion. I'm more happy with an older decent looking gal compared to it's better looking younger sister because there's more personality.