I've always enjoyed the TES games as an immersive exploration experience. In that regard, I definitely enjoyed Morrowind the most, as I'd never played anything quite like it, at the time.

I don't actually think any of them are that great as games. Their systems are usually rubbish, the leveling is a killer, and I get bored way before the end.

Arena for me. It was the original and the newness of the world really grabbed me. I liked every one, but for the favorite it's Arena.

Lue.

Thanks to FCOM (overhaul), Deadly Reflexes (where Skyrim stole its combat system) and a myriad of other mods, I have to say Oblivion.

Originally Posted by Hastar
Take the Skyrim combat and the Morrowind world and you have almost a perfect Elder Scrolls game.

The combat felt weightier, more solid, as the series progressed, but for my money the combat remained much the same. Fights still consist mostly of backing up for miles while shooting/swinging/spell-flinging. Everything rushes you. I tried to find a Skyrim combat mod for some time that might change that, but I never really did.

Originally Posted by forgottenlor
Morrowind was the only game of the series that really had an unusual setting, and that won me over. Daggerfall and Oblivion are too vanilla fantasy for me. Skyrim may be a little better, but Norse settings are also pretty tried and true, though maybe less so when Skyrim was released.

I'm not really a fan of Norse culture/mythology, but I think it could still have been really interesting if Bethesda hadn't taken such a skin deep approach. Being called a milk drinker and finding runes was about the extent of the Norse-ness. It wasn't even cold until Frostfall came along.

I enjoy all of the TES games i've played tremendously and for different reasons. All have their charms. No one gets a pick for favorite, they're all my favorite.

That's what I love about Fluent. "Moscow in flames, bombs headed toward New York! What a great day lets go have a picnic."

Originally Posted by Hastar
That's what I love about Fluent. "Moscow in flames, bombs headed toward New York! What a great day lets go have a picnic."

God is always good.

Tell that to Sodom and Gomorrah God is definitely a Daedra.

Each one has merit. The last three particularly so once modded. Including building tools to allow modding is another reason to appreciate these titles.

I liked morrowind the most, but maybe that's because it was the first one I played. I think it is also because the world was more interesting (more variation in the environments, exploration, etc.)

Oblivion was pretty at the time but it never really grabbed me. Skyrim became too easy after doing the guild questline. It did have some interesting quests, but you had to find them in between all those mediocre quests.

At the end, it doesn't really matter. None of them are as good as many people think. Ok, ok, they are just not my preferred type of RPG :-).

In all seriousness, there is something about the engine (eg, woody animation + loading when entering the smallest shack) that never sat right for me. It also bothered me in DKS (same engine iirc), but I liked that one more (the puzzles!)

I really wanted to put Skyrim as number one but that Morrowwind world was just so immersive and different. And while the music for Skyrim was majestic and has many of my favorite pieces in all of gamedom, the Morrowwind music was subtly at its best. Both games are in my top 10 list.

I'm surprised the two oldest games got as many vote.

I like that Morrowind wins hands down. I loved it, when I played it at release, because it was completely different from other RPGs I knew in regards to athmosphere and how the story unfolded. I have fond memories, like finding the guy, who had invented a flying spell but ran out of mana (or something like that). The later games feel streamlined and watered down to me. On the other hand I looked at the older games only after playing Morrowind and couldn't get into them.

Probably there is a correlation that, like Ilm stated above, several people like the one most, which they played first.

I have a similar experience with Might and Magic VI, which I love (and also VII and VIII), but I can't really play the older Might and Magic games, because they feel outdated for me. I can understand intellectually that they are also good games but don't get into them.

Originally Posted by bkrueger
I have fond memories, like finding the guy, who had invented a flying spell but ran out of mana (or something like that).

He invented a potion that allowed him to jump very, very high, but neglected to think about, um, landing. So he splats down right in front of you, just outside Seyda Neen.

Skyrim > Oblivion > Morrowind

I never even finished Morrowind, despite two tries. The first ended because I got my levelling all screwy. The second ended because I learned to make a magic weapon that was terribly OP so the game got dull.

Oblivion was good stuff, especially the DLC.

I got to play Skyrim with 3D Vision which made it hugely epic! Finding Blackreach was one of my favorite moments in gaming.

Originally Posted by Wisdom
Morrowind > Skyrim > Oblivion > the rest

That is exactly my thought - when I started Oblivion I was excited … and then after a few hours realized it was incredibly broken and mostly boring and so many things were more PR than gaming.

Skyrim is really pretty great, even loved replaying it on the Nintendo Switch. But Morrowind is definitely my fave.