What is the greatest Elder Scrolls game?

[Master Guns]

From the Iliac Bay to the depts of Skyrim itself, to the entire world of Tamriel, which installment of the Elder Scrolls series do you deem the greatest? And please, tell us why!

Personally, for me, it is TES III: Morrowind, hands down, but I love each game for my own reasons. I was introduced to the series with Morrowind when I was a young man, and it just had an impression on me that I, to this day, cannot shake. I personally believe that it and Ocarina of Time are the two greatest games ever made.

[breadisfunny]

such a biased poll. who are you to say someone is an idiot for enjoying something that is subjective?

[Gallinn]

My favorite was Morrowind, probably because it was the first one I played, and there were just so many hours of content. I used to love just going around robbing everyone like the vault in Vivec. Fun stuff : )

[apepi]

What are you talking about? He didn't say anything even remotely close to that.

Read the poll.

[Rixis]

What are you talking about? He didn't say anything even remotely close to that.

Look at the poll options

[hellosaltygoodness]

morrowind is the greatest, but skyrim has the prettiest graphics and blandest world.

[Gallinn]

My bad, I missed that, but I actually agree anyway. ESO is shit

[smackyslap]

no shadow key? pfffft lame poll

[Deleted]

While I loved all Elder Scrolls instalments (minus Redguard/Battlespire/Shadowkey - didn't play those; and yes, ESO included, deal with it), Morrowind holds a special place in my heart. Never before, nor again, did I feel so immersed in exotic, alien world. Complete freedom of choice, great attention to detail, very expansive lore (main plot was amazing, and so was entire concept of Tribunal and secrets you could discover with inquisitive enough mind - like Sermons of Vivec) and just unforgettable locations (city of Vivec with its great cantons, Telvanni towers, Ald'ruhn, Ghost Gate). Fact that you could stumble on powerful artifacts just by exploring (say Mentor's Ring or Boots of Blinding Speed) made such trips much more thrilling. Also interactions between gameplay systems were rather interesting - alchemy stacking or using enchanting to counter negative effects of some artifacts (like boots mentioned earlier) gave it some depth - if you were willing to figure it out.

Arena and Daggerfall just came in period when I enjoyed games less, while Oblivion and Skyrim lost a bit of this exotic magic that Morrowind had. And frankly, I can still go and play Morrowind without any mods (mayhaps graphical ones, but not touching gameplay), while for later instalments I find myself modding games extensively to enjoy them.

[Venziir]

Oblivion - no doubts.

[Deleted]

ESO (pick this if you're an idiot)

Uhh, an idiot? Right... So why not put asinine shit in parenthesis to all of the options, then? Here you go:

TES: Arena (pick this if you're an old fart with rose-colored goggles on)
TES II: Daggerfall (pick this if you're an old fart with rose-colored goggles on)
An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire (pick this if you're an old fart with rose-colored goggles on)
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (pick this if you're an old fart with rose-colored goggles on)
TES III: Morrowind (pick this if you're a bit simple and think cliff racers are fun)
TES IV: Oblivion (pick this if you're too young to have played Morrowind)
TES V: Skyrim (pick this if you are still a child who was born in the 90s or later)

See, aren't all the options a lot better now? /sigh.

[Deleted]

I've only played Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, so cant speak for ESO or the predecessors, but i just couldnt get into oblivion, so that was not a good game for me, morrowind i played for hours on end, and skyrim i marathoned non-stop for a month after its release and then didnt go back to it... so i guess ill go with morrowind?

[Xothic]

I've played II-V mainline, and my favourite is 100% Morrowind. Skyrim is just such a fucking empty shell in comparison to even Oblivion.

Personally I think a more interesting question would be what is the best TES DLC? Because goddamn, with the exception of Horse Armor TES DLC is top fucking notch.

[zealo]

Morrowind is the peak of the series thus far, and I do not expect that to change due to Bethesda wanting to keep their games fairly simple.

[Afrospinach]

Morrowind is the peak of the series thus far, and I do not expect that to change due to Bethesda wanting to keep their games fairly simple.

Ugh the curse of our time.

[Rabblexthree]

I personally chose Oblivion. I played Marrowind before Oblivion but didn't get into it that much. Oblivion was great. Skyrim was great. Went back and played Marrowind and it was great. Oblivion was the first TES game I really got into so obviously it is my favorite.

[Master Guns]

Ffs seems like the kids can't take a joke here. Should have known better. It's called sarcasm, people.

[Graeham]

I went with ESO. Don't get me wrong, I have my fair share of criticism to toss in the direction of the game but it's such a great insight into Tamriel due to not being confined to one particular region. I liked Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim but being able to explore beyond their borders is pretty awesome.

[Versatia]

For me , morrowind was the first touch to the Elder scrolls games, the only 2 downsides to the game are : 1. the world could go a bit bland, with all the goddamn ashlands stuff for miles, and ofc cliffracers..... 2. i didnt like the magicka system , played morrowind on both console and PC

Oblivion : liked the game, but the oblivion gates popping up sometimes bored me, i had these insane speed potions which i would use to rush to the end , get the stone to GTFO ... magicka system greatly improved ( the D-pad on the xbox, which i played oblivion on)

Skyrim : great story, alot to do aswell, good system for swapping weapons and spells and so on, barely any downsides for me on skyrim.

ESO: i kinda liked the gameplay, was elder scroll-ish enough, but since its and MMO you cant go out and explore as you normally would. I liked to play with others, i liked the search for the skyshards and books. downside was that the sotry didnt let me feel as immensed as in the other games, also due to it being an MMO, all in all, this is not a bad game. Just a whole different genre.

So in the in end i will probably pick skyrim, due to it having a good system for swapping spells and stuff. it would have been morrowind, if not for the ashlands being a bit too large. ( i like snow <3)

[c0rp]

I picked ESO because I am an idiot. Oh, and OP: you need to change your sig....your 970 is 3.5GB, NOT 4GB...