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How would you rank the different ES games and why?

Bonus question: do you read ingame books?

It's hard to say, I enjoyed all of them I've played so far. It's hard for me to put them in a specific order though. Morrowind left the best impression on me, and I haven't played enough of Daggerfall to have an opinion on it. Oblivion I've sunk hundreds of hours in to it when it came out, but looking back I wonder why I liked it so much. I liked Skyrim more than Oblivion in some instances and not as much in others.

Overall they are fun and immersive games, and that's what's important in my eyes.

for example, a comparison between battle, leveling systems, etc

Content: Morrowind
Choices: Morrowind
Atmosphere: Morrowind
Graphics: Skyrim
Leveling System: Morrowind (pfft, like it actually needs a leveling system)
Most variety: Morrowind
Bloom: Oblivion
Exploration: Morrowind
Difficulty: Morrowind
Most broken game: A tie between Daggerfall and Skyrim
Best version to pirate: Morrowind goty edition
Longest loading times: Oblivion
Best combat: Skyrim (didn't mind it at because I don't resort to smithing and enchanting)
Best UI (w/out mods): I guess Morrowind
Music: Morrowind (quality over quantity)
Best mod support atm:...all of them
Best immersion: Skyrim (at first)
Most CTDs: Oblivion
Best Alt+Tab usage: Skyrim
Best looking npc's: Dragon Age 2
Best dragon combat: Dragon's Dogma
Best books to read: Lusty Argonian Maid along with the Beggar, Thief, Warrior, and King books. Some books are nice to read.
Best customization: Morrowind (no brainer)
Best voice acting: Serana
Best npc: Riften guard

Over all best game: Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask or Morrowind

I haven't played through Morrowind, but I think it has the best main story than the rest of the games. Sure I can't say for certain that it is since I've only played little of it but with the knowledge of Oblivion and Skyrim's main storyline I wouldn't say that they are hard to beat. Not saying that neither Oblivion or Skyrim's main story is bad just that they are just to straight forward to actually to be really interesting.

As for what goes for Arena and Daggerfall I haven't played them at all so I can in no way give a fair judgement of the two.

But for what goes as favourite I have to say Skyrim, because it is the game I had most fun playing.

I've only played Oblivion (am still playing it actually) so I can't say which one's best.

I'll answer your bonus question though; I have read a number of books from the game and I actually do find myself browsing through bookshelves often. However, I usually only read the ones with interesting topics and skip out on the long and boring ones.

At 8/12/12 05:13 PM, Mismo wrote: Not saying that neither Oblivion or Skyrim's main story is bad just that they are just to straight forward to actually to be really interesting.

I think Oblivion's main story/quest wasn't really that interesting to play through and certainly not the highlight of the game. Like you said, it was very straightforward and I think the ending was a bit anti-climactic.

I think it's fair to say that you can pretty much disregard Arena, Daggerfall and the spin-off titles. Maybe worth checking out if you're curious but I'd imagine you're unlikely to see them through.

To me, Morrowind definitely felt like it had the most stuff to do, although I've not revisited that since playing Skyrim. Morrowind does suffer from some nasty graphics, especially on character models, but is perhaps the most in depth of the three more recently TES games. It certainly feels the most "hardcore". Plus, it has a good amount of additional content in the Game of the Year Edition.

Oblivion was nice. It felt so much nicer to play than Morrowind did. It was all colourful and bright looking, which I liked. You could say that they've dumbed down elements of the game which some people prefer and others dislike. Personally I don't think they dumbed it down enough to make it feel incredibly simple. The menu systems are less complex and you have less option for customisability. Oblivion's main benefit over Morrowind is the nicer graphics and the more interesting map.

Skyrim was pretty much just Oblivion made better. Only I was less fond of the Skyrim map. It was too bland and boring for me. The game itself trumps Oblivion in almost every other way though. Although I must admit I did dislike how they got rid of having a chapter of each guild in every town. In Skyrim, each guild has one building throughout the entire map. And the guild questlines did feel a lot shorter in Skyrim. Those negatives aside, I guess you could call Skyrim the best game, unless you preferred the style of Morrowind, which a lot of people do.

At 8/12/12 06:18 PM, Dean wrote:

HD Texture pack for Morrowind
http://www.mediafire.com/?8li22xs1k5j788d
http://www.mediafire.com/?b9dbns6e00e55bk
http://www.mediafire.com/?8myra8y0bgbk1ga

HD Texture pack for oblivion
http://www.fileplanet.com/182537/180000/fileinfo/Elder-Scrol ls-IV:-Oblivion---Qarl%27s-Texture-Pack-III

Im sure there are other mods for texturing those
I usually dont use mods besides the HD textures ones.

At 8/12/12 06:48 PM, kakalxlax wrote:

Oblivion textures

NG messed up that last link, hope this way works

While Skyrim is put into my Top ten favorite video games of all time I must say Morrowind was much more breath taking at the time of it's release and like it's two following sequels I froze in awe as I gazed upon the game's water graphics for the first time.

At 8/12/12 06:48 PM, kakalxlax wrote:

Im sure there are other mods for texturing those
I usually dont use mods besides the HD textures ones.

Morrowind Graphics Extender
for Oblivion, I'm assuming you're using Qarl's Texture Pack.

At 8/12/12 03:55 PM, kakalxlax wrote: How would you rank the different ES games and why?

Morrowind is number one in my books, and I haven't even beaten it. Oblivion is second due mainly to the fact that it had some awesome voice actors and pretty nifty DLC. Skyrim comes in third mainly due to the lack of items, the landscape is nice but there isn't much that's brought to the table.

Bonus question: do you read ingame books?

Every one I find, I read.

I have multiple houses in Skyrim mainly to keep my extensive library organized.

At 8/12/12 09:35 PM, Shade wrote:

At 8/12/12 03:55 PM, kakalxlax wrote: Oblivion is second due mainly to the fact that it had some awesome voice actors

Yeah because having Patrick Stewart die 10 minutes in the game was a great choice.. Sean Bean is always appropriate though.

But damn I'm pretty sure Oblivion was the start of Bethesda's "Tons of characters, ten voice actors" phase.

Well i absolutely love Morrowind so i'd say that one.

Daggerfall if you want the best customization and freedom, but Skyrim for pretty much everything else.

Morrowind.

At 8/13/12 01:56 PM, Rhinocerider wrote:

Daggerfall had pretty good customization (at the start and stuff), but I couldn't bear playing it.

I racked up so many hours in Oblivion, and I have have around 1.3GB worth of mods for it. Also, I don't use texture packs or anything, so yeah.

Daggerfall would've had the best customization for me if it didn't crash on me every 30 minutes. After 5 hours of playing, I just gave up.

At 8/12/12 03:55 PM, kakalxlax wrote: How would you rank the different ES games and why?

The only one I have played is Morrowind which I bought on Steam during a sale. I barely played it so I can't decide if I like it or not. I want to get Oblivion and Skyrim sometime. I'd have to get it on my Xbox 360 because my computer is shit when it comes to playing games. It really only plays games from 2004 and before well.

for Daggerfall fans, i read about a Daggerfall remake "DaggerXL", but im not sure if its out yet

At 8/13/12 03:28 PM, kakalxlax wrote: for Daggerfall fans, i read about a Daggerfall remake "DaggerXL", but im not sure if its out yet

there is also one called "Daggerwind", but im not sure if they are the same thing or if they were dropped or what

I prefer Morrowind.

Oblivion all da way

At 8/13/12 11:25 PM, Ragnarokia wrote: Morrowind will always be my favourite of the series. People can argue about atmosphere or music graphics or styles or gameplay or story etc. etc. etc. as muchas they want. But the reason why Morrowind is the best is the way the world draws you in. I played Oblivion and Skyrim a bit, enjoyed them but then stopped playing them as I got bored.

more or less the definitive answer

oblivion is a very plastic game. i can kind of see why people would enjoy it but the experience of playing it is very numb, it doesn't feel as if you're in the game. once you get over the fact that sean bean is voice acting and the novelty of oblivion gates, you realise you just have a watered down experience of the previous game(s) and it's kind of depressing. the questlines all lose their charm and intrigue after the preliminary quests because you will just find yourself talking to whatever npc, opening the world map and just darting around to wherever you need to go. there's no calling for exploration or immersion. a lot of people have said the thieve's guild and dark brotherhood quests were amazing but i just didn't see it at all. however, i soldiered through the game because i also read that people said the shivering isles was amazing but after the gatekeeper, bam, i'm bored as shit.

skyrim is like, a very very polished version of oblivion. it looks amazing with snow and mountains and shit rather than monotonous green that oblivion loves so much. the entire experience from the get go is set out as an epic quest with dragons fucking shit up rather than the oh dear, the emperor is dead. but again, after the initial wow and awe, there isn't that much to the game. it's like an ocean with the depth of a puddle.

morrowind is fucking awesome. from the start, you are given the quick little "you're special go do this" montage and then you're kicked out into an open, mysterious world. you are forced to explore and wander around the map to get to your objectives and it's amazing. you get to take in scenery and the estranged wildlife that isn't bears, wolves or deer. the game had creativity.

as i see, no one prefer Arena, there should be a good HD mode for it.

Sadly, now that TES online is coming out, i fear that it will happen what happened to Warcraft when Wow came out

While all of them are the generic role playing game, just with their own taste and class, skyrim is the best in my opinion.