Board Thread:Morrowind/@comment-12277465-20150219060203/@comment-25340654-20150407191623

Kestrellius wrote: Disclaimer: I make this argument from the dubious position of never actually having played either Morrowind or Oblivion. Yet. (...Please don't yell at me? I'll get around to it.) However, I have read a great deal about both games, so I feel like I have a pretty good handle on why the fandom at large, with a few exceptions, seems to worship Morrowind and despise Oblivion. I've also played Skyrim quite extensively.

Now, I'll admit that from what I've read, the mechanics of Morrowind (the magic mechanics, not the derpy melee) do sound pretty appealing. And Oblivion seems to have simplified it somewhat. Although afaict Skyrim simplified it far more, which is why I don't get the common view that Skyrim is the superior game and is only slightly inferior to MW.

But there's one simple thing that gives me pause about MW, other than the fact that this sort of fan consensus on the quality of a work is incorrect with staggering frequency.

'''It's brown. It's freaking brown, and everything being brown makes it an ugly game. And Skyrim had the same problem, although to a lesser extent -- it does have forested areas; they're just tiny and still kind of bleak. Oblivion seems to be the only current-era TES game that actually understands the concept of colors. Look, I don't care how "original" your scenery is. If it's all one color -- particularly if that color is a hideous one -- it doesn't matter. Also. Since when is a dust-covered wasteland original? Seriously, you can't go two steps without bumping into a game set in a desert where you can't see anything. Granted, I don't think the MMS glut had hit yet when Morrowind came out, but it applies today. A desert full of fungi is still a desert.'''

'''Actually, now that I think about it, wouldn't a mushroom forest usually imply tons of bright colors? Sure, mushrooms are often pretty drab in real life, but the fictional convention is typically to have them all technicolor. I mean, just look at Felucia. ...or, you know, Blackreach, actually.'''

'Now, if Morrowind is somehow far, far more aesthetically pleasing than every single one of the screenshots I've seen would imply, please let me know. Otherwise...it just bothers me that everyone loves a game with such atrocious visual design. And hates the pretty one, and likes the one that's ugly but not quite MW-ugly. Seriously, that's the only attribute I can think of in which Skyrim is closer to Morrowind than Oblivion is, which raises the possibility that TES fans somehow value ugliness. And that disturbs me.'

I do apologize if this comes across as overly aggressive. It's just that overwhelming agreement on things that don't make any sense...confuses and angers me. '''By the Three what are thinking? How original are green hills? Or freezing wastelands? A gigantic vulcano 'spauwing' out ash is creative, because how much games have the concept of ash deserts involved with the main story? Mostly it's just to create a feeling but in Morrowind this ashlands has a backstory and a direct connection with the storyline. And about the cities? Face it cow, it has too a back story, they recreate what they see in the dessert. Giant insects as Silt Striders, so on they design their buildings in that style.'''

By the nine, the Telvanni uses one kind of mushroom, no wonder they are all the same.

First of all, nearly veryone who plays the game today uses the overhaul, this makes' the graphics really good. And goddamnit I started playing this game just a month a go and you play it for the story line. The storyline of skyrim was damn miserable, a dissapointment towards Oblivion and especially Morrowind. Too the damn combat options are 500 times better because you can't take a greatsword and a spell at the same time.'