Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-25563616-20141022060550/@comment-25340654-20150110153548

Emperor Maximus wrote: I may get crucified for saying this, but... I preferred Oblivion. Yep. I said it.

For me, Oblivion (with expansions and DLC) was better than Skyrim (with expansions). Obviously, if you're including mods, then Skyrim is pretty much the best game ever due to how extensively it was modded.

I preferred Oblivion's story - Skyrim's was really shallow, with little to no plot development. Now, I know the Elder Scrolls are hardly known for having the best storylines ever, but Skyrim's was bad even for the Elder Scrolls. In Obliovion, you really feel like it's an apocolypse. People are worried, gates open all over the world, and things are actually in serious sh*t. Throughout the game, the gates appear with more frequency, and the situation gets worse. In Skyrim, dragon attacks aren't really serious at all. Poeple don't seem to care or worry that there's a supposed 'Crisis'. In fact, they barely even mention it!

Skyrim does have a better game world, though. Oblvion's was great at first - the pleasantly green meadows and gently rolling hills - but it didn't take long before you realised that that was the only bit of gameworld. There was basically no variation across the map.

Skyrim also had better dungeons. In Oblivion, there were two basic dungeons. The Ayleid ruin filled with bandits, and the obandoned mine filled with goblins. Then they copied and pasted the same dungeon over the landscape a few times. In Skyrim, at least there was a bit of variation in them!

Guilds... I preferred them in Oblivion. They were more interesting, and were more fun. Also, unlike in Skyrim, you could actually make a living from being a thief. Shops actually had stuff worth stealing in them, there were wayside estates that you could rob, nobles had lots of valuables in their houses etc.

The guards in Oblivion were 100 times better. They were hulking behemoths in full plate armour, and were badasses. If you got into a fight with the law, you couldn't expect to last long. There were patrols along the roads too, which I was especially thankful for. And they never had trouble with their knees, either.

In terms of core mechanics, Oblivion and Skyrim are close... but Oblivion does it better. I like perks, and not having the clunky attributes and skills system (that was retarded), but I hate how there are no classes. Skyrim feels too open-ended. Without an obvious class, you just tend to flick between playstyles before finally settling on one. And also, I prefer the system of only being able to level up after improving skills that you're actually meant to improve. Weapon degradation, I thought, was much better! I want to have to look after my equipment, and keep it in good condition.

Also, there's no crappy Civil War questline in Oblivion.

Anyway, that's my opinion. I love Skyrim, don't get me wrong, but I happen to prefer Oblivion. The world wasn't great and NPCs are fucked up in Oblivion. I rather like Skyrim in a later phase because you've more interaction with NPCs and more quests. Oblivion is in the begin good when there are still many quests and the world is new to you but later on the world is empty.