#testag

"Come to the Heart Chamber. I wait for you  there, where we last met, countless ages ago."

“ I don’t know who you are. “ 

“ Ah, but we both know thats not true. “ 

Alright, so the question asked by this post is - are TES games fun? Do they hold up? Are they good? And well, a game being good is mostly subjective, same for fun, as it depends on your tastes, but "does this game hold up to this day" is a different thing. For the four last main games (I'll be ignoring Arena, I know a single maniac who finds it fun) let's explore what they brought, what they lost, and what they have that's unique compared to the series.

Daggerfall

Brought: In depth character creator

Brought: Lore that'll remain for the rest of the series

Unique: gigantic map and dungeons

Daggerfall is a very interesting game that I can't call good because it's, let's be honest, a chore to play. While unmatched to this day in RPGs, it's map is endlessly generated nothing, and the dungeons are repetitive and labyrinthic.

Gameplay wise, it really shines in some aspects. The character creator gives you so many options no other game has, and some small details add wonders to the immersion, like the fast travel system giving you real time travel days. While unpopular I am also a huge fan of the swing mouse to swing sword mechanic. The controls are rough but the way they're set up favors a slow gameplay and coupled with adjustable reflexes, makes it easier to play for me than action games. Unfortunately, it's bug ridden, and the graphics have not aged well.

Is Daggerfall good? Eh. It has some gems if you can dig through the sludge, but it's aged poorly and that makes it inaccessible to modern gamers.

Morrowind

Lost: map size

Brought: map detail

Lost: customization options

Brought: full 3d, and quality of life improvements all around

Brought: new lore for the region

Unique: world design and uhm...writing quirks

Morrowind is so radically different from the change in leadership that occured after Daggerfall. While it's map is tiny in comparison, it's filled with things to do. It's a completely different philosophy. Player characters lost many customization options but it's clearer where to get things in the world.

Graphics - while polygonal to hell and back, Morrowind benefits from killer art direction that makes the game look surprisingly decent for it's age. Might make zoomers cringe but I doubt anyone who grew up playing games where you can see the texels will cringe at the visuals. The world design is so iconic it carries itself.

Gameplay wise Morrowind is aged. It's a game that can barely be played without a manual, and new players often complain about the difficulty. But if you ask me, it's not a hard game, it just works differently. If you play it like Skyrim it'll be hard. Morrowind forces you to read and to accept the rules of the world it's set in. Luckily, reading makes you understand the world. Now in terms of game feel, it's clunky as hell and below barebones.

Writing wise, Morrowind is easier to follow than Daggerfall was with a better journal and a more guided main quest. The genius of said MQ is it makes you explore the world and contact it's factions organically, as well as read into the lore. It's also a weird game, made by a bunch of guys in a basement, with quests that feel like an injoke and others that come off as offensive. It's a relic of a production that wasn't made to appeal to a large demographic, for better and for worst.

I believe Morrowind is a good game that's aged...more or less well, depending on the background of who's playing.

Oblivion

Brought: fully voiced dialog

Brought: active NPC AI

Brought: graphics improvements especially a physics engine

Lost: character skills

Lost: world design

Lost: weird shut-in appeal

Unique: main quest and game design experiments

Unique: Have You Heard Of The High Elves? Bwah! Urmf! Guhhh!

This one will be quick because...to be honest with y'all i have not played Oblivion. I have tried several times and i hate this game. Sorry TES 4 fans.

Oblivion is a weird one. At the time, it was a revolution. An open world game who was beautiful and let you dick around as you wanted. Oblivion was less weird and more forgiving than Morrowind, so had mass appeal. It had physics and voiced dialog. Everyone wanted to be Oblivion.

The problem with being a revolution for your time is computers progress at a neck breaking speed and relying only on what's impressive technology ages terribly. To prove this...have a good laugh at Oblivion's graphics. Unfortunately, the game opted to surf on LOTR visuals so has no originality, and just looks bad to this day.

Gameplay is...different. By being less strict than Morrowind and with a game feel that isn't "rolling around naked on an unpolished wooden floor", it's way more fun to run around in. Character customization lost some options, nothing too drastic unless you played Morrowind for the dressup or hardcore RP.

When you get into the writing, Oblivion has some very clever and memorable quests, unforgettable (for better and for worst) dialog and delivery, and a MQ where you play not the hero, but assistant to a hero of the lore, which I have not seen any other game attempt.

But nowadays, you don't see Oblivion known for its writing, most people know it as a big joke. Because the awkward graphics, the mess that is the dialog system and NPC AIs, make for an unmatched comedic improv experience. If you ask me, a game that's known for being goofy because of how shoddy some of its systems are...is not a good game. Unfortunately for Oblivion, gamefeel also improves as games progress and it's open world hill hopping appeal will get obliterated by the next installment.

Skyrim

Brought: more graphical improvements!

Brought: return to a nicher art direction

Brought: action game influence

Lost: RPG mechanics

Unique: Dovahkiin, dovahkiin, you know the song by now

Skyrim is funny to me as a game I remember everyone being amazed at when released. Nowadays the graphics look dated, but compared to Oblivion, it's nicher more cartoony art direction is iconic. Skyrim isn't a game that tries to be photorealistic like Oblivion did and that saves a lot of how it looks.

For the gameplay Skyrim ditched the RPG. Character customization, as in mechanics wise, is barely existing. Sure you can play different weapons but they all play similar. Builds have little influence. Choices are minimal to nonexistent. The main quest, unlike oblivion, has a cheesy chosen one story you can't escape. Asides of the daedric quests and if you do the DB, writing wise, it's pretty damn boring. The game doesn't even give you correct options to opt out of these. Skyrim assumes you play it the way it wants you to play it. If you fit that demographic, it's great! If you don't...its not fun.

The gamefeel in Skyrim is the best the series had. Taking from action games, combat was much improved and so was walking around the map, even if transportation skills were all axed. And the map is gorgeous. It's varied, it's big enough to explore without getting too lost, and it's just plain pretty.

And Skyrim has mass appeal. To the average person that doesn't care about justifying their elves action based on their complex lore rich backstory. Wandering around and slashing at things has never felt better! It's hard to meet a single person who hasn't played this game and most who did put HOURS into it.

However, the open world genre exploded several times since and took with it a lot of what made Skyrim special. Games now effortlessly make prettier maps and polished games that go all in on what exploration means. Skyrim does have its unique atmosphere, but the gameplay isn't unique enough to demark it from the rest. Someone who just wants to run around the map shooting at stuff will be better off with Far Cry who's entire gameplay is built around that. Skyrim isn't built around that. It's a large game that wants to be an RPG but doesn't give you choices. It's too rough around the edges to be a good action game. The content gets stale fast. Most people who still play it do so for the mods.

Every time I open Skyrim it's out of a deep longing for it's world and every time I close the game after 30 minutes of trying to find what to do. The atmosphere is there but the moment you take action, nothing. If you don't like killing draugr in dungeons or bandits in forts, there's just not much to do, as even city quests redirect you to those. It's a hiking simulator that doesnt do much to simulate hiking.

Currently Skyrim is the last game of the series and has been for over a decade and I believe that's why it still has any relevancy. It's success was a product of it's time like it's predecessor, it just hasn't had a successor yet. Skyrim is...not a very good game. Iconic yes, but not very good.

My conclusion

What makes these games interesting is often the features that get removed later, as basic features who remain get degraded by time as technology proves one can do them better. No TES game has aged well and the series is stagnating. That being said the earlier games sporting features not made for mass appeal but for the benefit of the game make them interesting in parts. These games nonetheless benefit from art (visuals, but also music!) that contributes to atmospheres one doesn't forget. TES has never been outstanding mechanically, but it can write a world.