Summary
Skyrimwas an unprecedented success for Bethesda, introducing countless new players to the series. But with no new mainline entry in the last decade, for many fans, it was their first and only Elder Scrolls experience. But theOblivionremaster has opened the fiery gates to a series classic for a new generation, many of whom might be surprised at just how many features it has that its successor doesn’t.
Thankfully, for those of us who are interested in the nitty-gritty differences between each game,u/ImAGodHowCanYouKillAput together a comprehensive breakdown of every single one of these mechanics, separated by each skill type. Here are some of the highlights:
I’ve never played Oblivion, but hearing all these cool things you could only hope to do in Skyrim via mods, I can see why so many people were saying Oblivion was better all these years — u/EXFALLIN
That’s not even to mention the acrobatics skill line, which, when mastered, overhauls the movement in Oblivion. You can leap across vast distances, backflip away from enemies, and even jump on water. If you’ve ever wondered why Oblivion players hop about everywhere, that’s why. It’s one of the easiest skills to level, and has a huge impact on how the game plays.
What About Morrowind?
Like spell crafting and so many other beloved, if slightly broken, features, acrobatics was a focal point ofMorrowind, too. So, long-time fans were especially disappointed to find that the skill was missing in Skyrim, and now, Skyrim fans are feeling the same pain as they dive into Oblivion for the first time.
But while Oblivion and Morrowind share many of these popular features, Oblivion was also guilty of ditching several mechanics from Morrowind. For example, you could sell stolen goods to any merchant in Morrowind, so long as you weren’t trying to sell them back to the person you stole them from. That’s a lot more reasonable than the strange sixth sense NPCs seem to have in the newer games.
As u/Akasha1885 and u/Ganadote point out, Oblivion was also the game that began simplifying armour, placing the first domino that would lead to Skyrim’s more streamlined gear. In Morrowind, not only did you have light and heavy armour, but also medium armour. And all of these types were split into individual parts, such as left/right shoulder and left/right hands. There were also several local guilds beyond the main, recognisable few in Oblivion, and these each had built-in rivalries, like House Telvanni and the Mage’s Guild, or the Thieves' Guild and the Fighters' Guild, preventing you from becoming a jack-of-all-trades.
Maybe we’ll see some of these ideas return in TES6, or who knows? Maybe Morrowind will get its own remaster down the line. For now, it’s interesting to see how the series has evolved to capture a wider audience, leading to the enormous popularity of Skyrim in 2011.
