Got Oblivion, and boy you guys were right!

  • Welcome to Skyrim Forums! Register now to participate using the 'Sign Up' button on the right. You may now register with your Facebook or Steam account!

shadowkitty

Mistress of Shadows

Felidae

The White Wanderer
I enjoy both Skyrim and Oblivion, but here are 5 aspects of TESIV that I prefer over TESV.

5. The Characters
I found that most of the characters in Oblivion were very unique and interesting with their own little quirks and personalities; some being perhaps a little over exaggerated. In Skyrim, there may be more characters but they all seem a little downplayed and quite forgettable, and a lot of people you can't speak to at all. Whenever a character died in Oblivion, I genuinely missed them and the world felt more empty afterwards. For example, when I was unable to locate Jauffre after the end of the Main Quest I spent ages searching for him, before finally discovering his body in the snow outside Bruma, where he apparently perished during the battle of the Great Gate. For me, that was pretty depressing.

4. The Soundtrack
The Skyrim soundtrack, while nice, just seems a bit too generic (aside from that kickass Dragon-slaying song, of course). Every tune in Oblivion was distinct, beautiful and fit perfectly with the environment the player was currently in. One of the fondest memories I have of Oblivion is simply wandering through the Great Forest while that peaceful choir plays in the background:
(Seriously, how can you not get goosebumps when you hear that music?)

3. The Quests
Say what you will about the epicness of the missions in Skyrim, the ones in Oblivion were, in my opinion, just more memorable. I mean, how could you forget the end of the Thieves Guild quest-line when you steal an Elder Scroll? Or the DB mission where you have to infiltrate a house party undercover and kill off the guests one by one? And who else was scared to walk Niben Bay at night after they heard rumors of the Forlorn Watchman? What about the haunted mansion in Anvil? The village of Khajiit that you terrorize with a barrage of flaming Dobermans? The potato-snatching Ogre? That creepy village in the woods who try to sacrifice a young girl to some unknown entity? The Main Quest itself?

2. The Setting
The graphics in Skyrim are obviously a helluva lot better than the ones in Oblivion, and I think they make the game look brilliant, but for me they're perhaps a little TOO realistic if you get what I mean. Skyrim's landscape may be dramatic and awesome, with it's towering snow-capped peaks and deep valleys, but I personally preferred the lush green hills and forests of Cyrodiil. Cyrodiil was bright, colorful, and its cartoony graphics created a more fantasy-like setting, whilst Skyrim is bleak, colorless and overall quite depressing to look at, despite its vastness. I mean yeah, the mountains are cool and everything, but what about the simple beauty of the Gold Coast and Nibenay Valley? Cyrodiil is the kind of place I would want to live, my favorite town being Chorrol (the absence of bookshops are another thing I find annoying about Skyrim).

1. The Overall Atmosphere
It may just be nostalgia doing the talking, but Oblivion had a simple charm to it that Skyrim will never have. Technically Skyrim is a better game than Oblivion, with more depth, a bigger map, better combat/magic system, improved graphics etc; pretty much everything that was wrong with Oblivion has been improved in its successor. But Oblivion was a landmark in the history of open world games and introduced the genre to a lot of people (myself included). I'll never forget that first moment you step out of the Imperial sewers, see the world laid out before you, and it suddenly hits you just how huge it is and how free you are to follow your own path. The ugly citizens, the awkward AI, the silly amour, the bizarre bugs, all just added to the atmosphere of the game, but do I see why a lot of people would now find it off-putting. I welcomed the campness rather than shunned it.

Now, nostalgia does play a big part in our lives when it comes down to what we like and dislike, and this game is the one I remember the most fondly (in fact, I probably remember it being better than it really was). I don't dislike Skyrim at all, and as I said before I do think it's technically a better game, but I just enjoyed playing Oblivion more. Both are in my top three, however.
 

Twiffle

Well-Known Member
I enjoy both Skyrim and Oblivion, but here are 5 aspects of TESIV that I prefer over TESV.

5. The Characters
I found that most of the characters in Oblivion were very unique and interesting with their own little quirks and personalities; some being perhaps a little over exaggerated. In Skyrim, there may be more characters but they all seem a little downplayed and quite forgettable, and a lot of people you can't speak to at all. Whenever a character died in Oblivion, I genuinely missed them and the world felt more empty afterwards. For example, when I was unable to locate Jauffre after the end of the Main Quest I spent ages searching for him, before finally discovering his body in the snow outside Bruma, where he apparently perished during the battle of the Great Gate. For me, that was pretty depressing.

4. The Soundtrack
The Skyrim soundtrack, while nice, just seems a bit too generic (aside from that kickass Dragon-slaying song, of course). Every tune in Oblivion was distinct, beautiful and fit perfectly with the environment the player was currently in. One of the fondest memories I have of Oblivion is simply wandering through the Great Forest while that peaceful choir plays in the background:
(Seriously, how can you not get goosebumps when you hear that music?)

3. The Quests
Say what you will about the epicness of the missions in Skyrim, the ones in Oblivion were, in my opinion, just more memorable. I mean, how could you forget the end of the Thieves Guild quest-line when you steal an Elder Scroll? Or the DB mission where you have to infiltrate a house party undercover and kill off the guests one by one? And who else was scared to walk Niben Bay at night after they heard rumors of the Forlorn Watchman? What about the haunted mansion in Anvil? The village of Khajiit that you terrorize with a barrage of flaming Dobermans? The potato-snatching Ogre? That creepy village in the woods who try to sacrifice a young girl to some unknown entity? The Main Quest itself?

2. The Setting
The graphics in Skyrim are obviously a helluva lot better than the ones in Oblivion, and I think they make the game look brilliant, but for me they're perhaps a little TOO realistic if you get what I mean. Skyrim's landscape may be dramatic and awesome, with it's towering snow-capped peaks and deep valleys, but I personally preferred the lush green hills and forests of Cyrodiil. Cyrodiil was bright, colorful, and its cartoony graphics created a more fantasy-like setting, whilst Skyrim is bleak, colorless and overall quite unpleasant to look at, despite its vastness. I mean yeah, the mountains are cool and everything, but what about the simple beauty of the Gold Coast and Nibenay Valley? Cyrodiil is the kind of place I would want to live, my favorite town being Chorrol (the absence of bookshops are another thing I find annoying about Skyrim).

1. The Overall Atmosphere
It may just be nostalgia doing the talking, but Oblivion had a simple charm to it that Skyrim will never have. Technically Skyrim is a better game than Oblivion, with more depth, a bigger map, better combat/magic system, improved graphics etc; pretty much everything that was wrong with Oblivion has been improved in its successor. But Oblivion was a landmark in the history of open world games and introduced the genre to a lot of people (myself included). I'll never forget that first moment you step out of the Imperial sewers, see the world laid out before you, and it suddenly hits you just how huge it is and how free you are to follow your own path. The ugly citizens, the awkward AI, the silly amour, the bizarre bugs, all just added to the atmosphere of the game, but do I see why a lot of people would now find it off-putting. I welcomed the campness rather than shunned it.

Now, nostalgia does play a big part in our lives when it comes down to what we like and dislike, and this game is the one I remember the most fondly (in fact, I probably remember it being better than it really was). I don't dislike Skyrim at all, and as I said before I do think it's technically a better game, but I just enjoyed playing Oblivion more. Both are in my top three, however.


i couldnt agree with you more, , well put, , i think it sums it all up in one word, , , Nostalgia. . :)
 

Recent chat visitors

Latest posts

Top