Has there been a decline in quality of TES games since Morrowind or is it nostalgia?

What does Metacritic score have to do with how well a game has aged? These are all great games and despite some of them being clunky, these games still have a lot of redeeming qualities about them, might even be better than the games we have right now in the market. Have I somehow offended your taste in video games? If I have, I am terribly sorry. However if these games would have played that great today, you wouldn't have games like Pillars and Divinity OS on Kickstarter, which are at least easily approachable by majority of the players, both old and new.

I didn't mention Metacritic score…

@Ivanwah Difference between quality of life mods and patches without which the game is literally unplayable. I think Arcanum has lot more cracks than Morrowind has but that's just my opinion. And if the market would have had more quality top down RPGs, I don't think you would have remembered Fallout 1&2's mechanics that fondly. I too play 1.6 and frankly enjoy it more than GO. Lots of games that just click, some which don't.

Originally Posted by Ivanwah
Civilization 3

Yeah, I'm still playing that one too

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I didn't mention Metacritic score…

Aren't the games you discuss sorted on the basis of their Metacritic score? Hence the supposed popularity.

They have been in steady decline since they were not made UgoIgo. Making them UgoIgo would be an incline.

Originally Posted by Tihskael
@Ivanwah Difference between quality of life mods and patches without which the game is literally unplayable. I think Arcanum has lot more cracks than Morrowind has but that's just my opinion. And if the market would have had more quality top down RPGs, I don't think you would have remembered Fallout 1&2's mechanics that fondly. I too play 1.6 and frankly enjoy it more than GO. Lots of games that just click, some which don't.

I wouldn't call it "literally unplayable". I played them all without patches back in the day, and while I did find some bugs (not nearly as many as in TES games, mind you, especially from Oblivion onward), I was able to finish them just fine. Unless you're talking about them not being playable on modern systems which is a moot point since they do come with those patches out of the box and/or are easy to set up.

On the other side you have the abomination that is Morrowind's combat which would work fine if it were a top-down/isometric game, but in first person is just horrible. Literally unplayable.

And I would remember Fallout's mechanics that fondly since I find them more enjoyable than many games today.

Originally Posted by Tihskael
Aren't the games you discuss sorted on the basis of their Metacritic score? Hence the supposed popularity.

Oooh, the order I listed them.

Ok, here they are again, out of order and without any reference to order for you:

Freedom Force. I'm afraid I don't know much about that and it's current playable state as I've never tried it.

Warcarft III, I think there's still lots of people who play that one. In fact this game was the headline news game just this year across the entire gaming world.

Neverwinter Nights, a game that's been relevant and played by many for each and every year since it was made.

Ah, now we get to Morrowind, ah well, nearly at the top, always the bridesmaid, never the bride, eh.

Might and Magic IX. Yeah, not sure I'd say this was ever 'playable'. Nor played really.

Dungeon Siege. Again, one I've never played but I haven't heard that it's unplayable from people who've said they've replayed it recently.

Age of Wonders II, not really RPG, but in the ballpark and is one of those genre benders that gets talked about a lot round here. Yes, I played this one this decade and I believe it's a good seller on GoG and new AoW games are a still a prominent feature of the gaming world.

Icewind Dale 2. Apparently this struggles on Windows 10, though I've never tried so can't confirm, but is known to be a bestseller on GoG. This one could well die due to software incompatability, but not because people don't want to play it or because the game is difficult to play generally.

Divine Divinity. Well, I'm sure there must be people still digging into this, what with Divinity being such a big current name.

Heroes of Might and Magic IV, yup, same as Age of Wonders.

Arx Fatalis. Yeah, probably not so many people playing this one, I don't know, not really a 'big brand' so…

Can you understand the point provided easier now?

Morrowind's combat was bad, there is no denying it, but it did get decent as time went on, but that is no excuse. Troika games run just fine on my system, I enjoy them quite a lot. Vampires especially blew me away. As far as Fallout is concerned, it does tone and atmosphere better than the 3D ones, gameplay is alright if you know what you are doing. JA2 kind of spoiled turn based combat for me. Its a strategy game, so maybe its not fair to compare its combat with Fallout's.

Still the best rated games on Metacritic lmao. Okay so you do agree that some of these play well still (NWN, Warcaft III, IWD2), some not so much. Maybe I should have said "Most of the games I have personally played of that time haven't aged so well as Morrowind". And I stand by it.

@Tihskael, um lackblogger loves to debate. The best idea is to just drop it after a couple posts unless you're just a glutton for punishment.

I think I have realised that by now. Thanks for the heads up.

Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse ME!

…


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@lackblogger, sometimes I wonder if you take the contrary stance on purpose just because you enjoy the debate?

I find most of those games are indeed playable and enjoyable to me today as well. To me and all the people who enjoyed the games games back then. I do however doubt many if the younger gamers (many who weren't even born 20 years ago) are interested in playing games that old? I would be pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong though.

Originally Posted by TomRon
@lackblogger, sometimes I wonder if you take the contrary stance on purpose just because you enjoy the debate?

The contrary stance to what in this specific case?

She never gets tired of dragging threads into Oblivion. (pun intended)

Ah, welcome back JDR, how nice of you to join us. Have you managed to acquire lots of meta-game knowledge about a particularly easy RPG from those fine people at the codex?

They forgot to mention, yes, you should put some points into your chosen weapon of choice, this will help something called the 'to-hit' stat that will enable you to… hit things easier when you go into melee or fire an arrow.

Also, be sure to make sure you save a couple of HP potions, you never know when you may need one!

If you have any more questions about RPGs before you play them then I'm sure someone at RPGWatch will be able to help you

Originally Posted by lackblogger
The contrary stance to what in this specific case?

In this specific case I meant towards Tihskaels post regarding playable games from 20 years ago. And I don't actually think you aren't being genuine. I'm just amazed by the walls of arguments you conjure up in many threads, which leads me to believe you find it enjoyable?

Well… what is your view on whether his statement was even close to being a valid statement?

Originally Posted by TomRon
In this specific case I meant towards Tihskaels post regarding playable games from 20 years ago. And I don't actually think you aren't being genuine. I'm just amazed by the walls of arguments you conjure up in many threads, which leads me to believe you find it enjoyable?

Well someone had to pick up the slack in DArt's absence, and I think she's doing a wonderful job.