Why do people hate Oblivion so much?

[Lemming42]

Alright, I'm playing it now with a very minimal modlist. I'm having some fun - the Mages' Guild reccomendation quests are as fun as I remembered, and I've now stumbled into this quest where you go looking for a woman's husband and end up marooned on an island hunted by debased rich people who've paid good money to hunt human prey.

It's a point that's been made many times over the years but the ideas for many quests in this game are actually very good and far outclass anything in Daggerfall (ten generic guild quests over and over), Morrowind (ultra-linear fetch/kill quests with boring concepts and absolutely no reactivity or player choice) and Skyrim ("cinematic" high-stakes bullshit that's universally underwhelming).

As always though, the dullness of the setting and the fact that nothing quite works properly constantly threaten to undermine everything and render it boring. I'm not 100% sure why this game doesn't come off properly - you can point to lots of individual elements that are good, the gameplay mechanics aren't good but aren't significantly worse than Morrowind or Skyrim (probably about equally as bad in different ways), and yet it doesn't quite click in the same way that other TES games can do.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

Essential Oblivion Mods:

Unofficial Patches
Better Cities
Unique Landscapes Compilation
Natural Environments
Alternative Start Arrive By Ship
Quest Message Popup Removal
Elven Map Redux
BTmod
Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul

 

[Sykar]

The most essential mod is called uninstall.exe

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Not gonna lie, playing Morrowind made me appreciate Oblivion's NPC routines and interactions. Those interactions in Oblivion made the world a little more interesting.
Oblivion did add a bunch of stupid shit that plagued later games, but it did have side good quests and introduced sleep and eating routines.

 

[Mychkine]

I've discovered the Codex since it seemed it was the only place on the Internet where people were hating Oblivion, its bland design, uninspired dungeons, shit level scaling and for being overall decline when compared with Morrowind . I don't think there can be such thing as too much critisism of this game, which ushered a long period of setback for the genre.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Oh yeah, Oblivion's level scaling and world resets are crap.
Being able to just leave something in a crate or on the floor in Morrowind and come back to it a few hours later is so much nicer than constantly worrying about safe storage.

NPCs not being fully decked out in Daedric armour was nice too, and such gear actually felt rare and exotic. Skyrim sort of toned down Oblivion's silly shit like that but not really, it's still easy to get Daedric and Glass gear.

 

[anvi]

I've discovered the Codex since it seemed it was the only place on the Internet where people were hating Oblivion, its bland design, uninspired dungeons, shit level scaling and for being overall decline when compared with Morrowind . I don't think there can be such thing as too much critisism of this game, which ushered a long period of setback for the genre.

Imagine how I feel, I thought even Morrowind was decline.

 

[Lemming42]

being overall decline when compared with Morrowind

I'm saying this as someone who's put hundreds of hours into Morrowind and buzzed about it on the Codex endlessly, even putting it in my top games list years ago:

Morrowind itself is an almost comical level of decline, especially compared with Daggerfall. It just gets away with it because of the setting and superb art direction. Barring the level scaling - which absolutely is the ultimate failure of Oblivion - I'm honestly not seeing the significant difference between it and Oblivion on a gameplay level. Both have really shit combat that consists of HP bloat in the early game and enemies going down instantly in the endgame, both have easily exploitable mechanics, both consist of very bland dungeons, and in both games you become nigh-invincible very quickly. Oblivion's slightly reduced array of skills is a shame, but then again who gives a fuck about having both a Long Blade and Short Blade skill. I haven't gotten access to Oblivion's spellmaker yet, but I've heard that's a step down too, so I'll throw that in.

Morrowind and Oblivion are both basically about wandering around a big open world and trying to find something to do. The choice to me seems to be between having novel experiences in a reactive but deeply boring world (Oblivion), or having boring experiences in a static but highly novel world (Morrowind). The latter ultimately wins out, because Vvardenfell really is an incredible setting while Oblivion's boring-ass Middle Earth stuff can't sustain itself for a whole playthrough, but people overstate the difference between the two games to a ridiculous extent.

If you go back to around the time of Morrowind's release, you can see people on the Codex ripping the absolute shit out of it, both as a standalone game and when compared with Daggerfall. I'm not entirely sure when or why the Morrowind veneration in popular culture started. It's an outstanding piece of software for people who want to really dig into a unique esoteric fantasy world and learn all there is to know about it, but it's not much good for people who want a tightly-made and interesting game. I feel like the core differences between Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim (and Fo3 and FNV, for that matter) are so much smaller than people would like to admit. Some of them (Morrowind, New Vegas) are far better works of art than the others, but in gameplay terms they're all just shades of the same experience.

 

[Butter]

Morrowind has dice-roll combat, which makes its combat vastly superior to Oblivion's. There is actually no hp bloat at any point of Morrowind (pre-expansions), and I'm not sure how you could conclude that there is after playing it for hundreds of hours. Morrowind has vastly superior itemization and magic (e.g. there are active enchantments, spells aren't locked behind skill levels, Mysticism isn't worthless). Morrowind doesn't force you into a retarded lockpicking mini-game, and lockpicking not stopping time is better because you can be seen if you take too long. Oblivion's garbage is just crouch, wait for the eye to fade, then play the shitty mini-game until you win (worst case scenario is you lose some easily replaced lockpicks).

Morrowind's gameplay is so much better than Oblivion's it not even funny.

 

[Lemming42]

Dice-roll combat doesn't work in a real-time first person action game IMO. Yes, you get the constant tangible reward of enhanced competence as your stats slowly increasing, a crucial part of any RPG, but the real-time aspect means that the optimal strategy is spamming left click at high speeds in the early game (when you can't hit reliably) and switching to holding down left click in the late game (when you'll always hit). Combine this with terrible enemy pathfinding and the comical ease with which the player can just back away from enemies (or go up a small bit of world geometry) while attacking.

It's the old jarring disconnect between player skill and character skill, and I don't think Morrowind handles it any better than the other various failed attempts people have made at joining the two. I don't think Oblivion or Skyrim's combat would be any less tedious if a die roll determined whether or not the sword you just thrust through someone's face was considered to have "missed" or not. But again, it's all meaningless in these games because you become unstoppable so quickly.

I don't mind spells being locked behind skill levels. I haven't played with the enchanting system yet but if all enchantments are passive then yeah, that's very disappointing.

Agreed on the lockpicking minigame, it's absolutely unacceptable dogshit. Not least because mastering it is so straightforward meaning that like every fucking lock in the entire game becomes openable to you as long as you have the cognitive abilities of the average four year old.

 

[Mychkine]

being overall decline when compared with Morrowind

I'm saying this as someone who's put hundreds of hours into Morrowind and buzzed about it on the Codex endlessly, even putting it in my top games list years ago:

Morrowind itself is an almost comical level of decline, especially compared with Daggerfall. It just gets away with it because of the setting and superb art direction. Barring the level scaling - which absolutely is the ultimate failure of Oblivion - I'm honestly not seeing the significant difference between it and Oblivion on a gameplay level. Both have really shit combat that consists of HP bloat in the early game and enemies going down instantly in the endgame, both have easily exploitable mechanics, both consist of very bland dungeons, and in both games you become nigh-invincible very quickly. Oblivion's slightly reduced array of skills is a shame, but then again who gives a fuck about having both a Long Blade and Short Blade skill. I haven't gotten access to Oblivion's spellmaker yet, but I've heard that's a step down too, so I'll throw that in.

Morrowind and Oblivion are both basically about wandering around a big open world and trying to find something to do. The choice to me seems to be between having novel experiences in a reactive but deeply boring world (Oblivion), or having boring experiences in a static but highly novel world (Morrowind). The latter ultimately wins out, because Vvardenfell really is an incredible setting while Oblivion's boring-ass Middle Earth stuff can't sustain itself for a whole playthrough, but people overstate the difference between the two games to a ridiculous extent.

If you go back to around the time of Morrowind's release, you can see people on the Codex ripping the absolute shit out of it, both as a standalone game and when compared with Daggerfall. I'm not entirely sure when or why the Morrowind veneration in popular culture started. It's an outstanding piece of software for people who want to really dig into a unique esoteric fantasy world and learn all there is to know about it, but it's not much good for people who want a tightly-made and interesting game. I feel like the core differences between Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim (and Fo3 and FNV, for that matter) are so much smaller than people would like to admit. Some of them (Morrowind, New Vegas) are far better works of art than the others, but in gameplay terms they're all just shades of the same experience.

I'd actually agree with you on most points. Morrowind lacked interest as a RPG. Mechanics were poor, gameplay was stale. At least the systems were easy enough to break. It had one redeeming features as a RPG that was, the hand-placed loot which encouraged exploration.

Still, the setting was remarkable enough for the game to stand out when compared to other games of its time. Pity that its legacy was its poor gameplay...

 

[d1r]

being overall decline when compared with Morrowind

I'm saying this as someone who's put hundreds of hours into Morrowind and buzzed about it on the Codex endlessly, even putting it in my top games list years ago:

Morrowind itself is an almost comical level of decline, especially compared with Daggerfall. It just gets away with it because of the setting and superb art direction. Barring the level scaling - which absolutely is the ultimate failure of Oblivion - I'm honestly not seeing the significant difference between it and Oblivion on a gameplay level. Both have really shit combat that consists of HP bloat in the early game and enemies going down instantly in the endgame, both have easily exploitable mechanics, both consist of very bland dungeons, and in both games you become nigh-invincible very quickly. Oblivion's slightly reduced array of skills is a shame, but then again who gives a fuck about having both a Long Blade and Short Blade skill. I haven't gotten access to Oblivion's spellmaker yet, but I've heard that's a step down too, so I'll throw that in.

Morrowind and Oblivion are both basically about wandering around a big open world and trying to find something to do. The choice to me seems to be between having novel experiences in a reactive but deeply boring world (Oblivion), or having boring experiences in a static but highly novel world (Morrowind). The latter ultimately wins out, because Vvardenfell really is an incredible setting while Oblivion's boring-ass Middle Earth stuff can't sustain itself for a whole playthrough, but people overstate the difference between the two games to a ridiculous extent.

If you go back to around the time of Morrowind's release, you can see people on the Codex ripping the absolute shit out of it, both as a standalone game and when compared with Daggerfall. I'm not entirely sure when or why the Morrowind veneration in popular culture started. It's an outstanding piece of software for people who want to really dig into a unique esoteric fantasy world and learn all there is to know about it, but it's not much good for people who want a tightly-made and interesting game. I feel like the core differences between Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim (and Fo3 and FNV, for that matter) are so much smaller than people would like to admit. Some of them (Morrowind, New Vegas) are far better works of art than the others, but in gameplay terms they're all just shades of the same experience.

Morrowind's world is way more immersive (cities actually being big, writing is great, art style is great, no essential NPC's) and the level scaling is way less offensive than Oblivion's. Dice roll combat was not a problem as long as you mained a weapon class + had enough Fatigue (though of course it wasn't the best kind of combat and I really wished for a better implementation of the Blocking skill). Besides that, Morrowind actually handles the open world exploration aspect far better than Oblivion and many many other RPGs because it doesn't give you quest markers, so there actually was a reason to go exploring and turning every stone inside out in a specific area.

 

[markec]

being overall decline when compared with Morrowind

Morrowind itself is an almost comical level of decline, especially compared with Daggerfall.

Morrowind is worse and better then Daggerfall in many ways and in reality they are quite different games.

Barring the level scaling - which absolutely is the ultimate failure of Oblivion - I'm honestly not seeing the significant difference between it and Oblivion on a gameplay level. Both have really shit combat that consists of HP bloat in the early game and enemies going down instantly in the endgame,

This is nonsense, Oblivion is infamous due its level scaling precisely because all enemies scale in such way that even goblins at high level get such hp bloat they are chore to kill even with best possible gear.

both have easily exploitable mechanics,

True

both consist of very bland dungeons,

Not even close, Morrowind dungeons might be short but they have hand placed enemies, hand placed loot and occasional secrets and pieces of enviromental storytelling. Oblivion dungeons feel like a places that a randomly assembled from same few blocks, with leveled loot.

and in both games you become nigh-invincible very quickly. Oblivion's slightly reduced array of skills is a shame,

True

but then again who gives a fuck about having both a Long Blade and Short Blade skill.

I do, the more skills the better.

I haven't gotten access to Oblivion's spellmaker yet, but I've heard that's a step down too, so I'll throw that in.

True

Morrowind and Oblivion are both basically about wandering around a big open world and trying to find something to do. The choice to me seems to be between having novel experiences in a reactive but deeply boring world (Oblivion), or having boring experiences in a static but highly novel world (Morrowind). The latter ultimately wins out, because Vvardenfell really is an incredible setting while Oblivion's boring-ass Middle Earth stuff can't sustain itself for a whole playthrough, but people overstate the difference between the two games to a ridiculous extent.

I replayed Morrowind dozen times and never had issue with it being "static". In Oblivion everything is bland and pointless, there is little variety in the world design, there is little to find outside dungeons and all loot is scaled removing the joy of exploration. Especially in end game where bandits wear full Deadric armors making completely pointless deep diving in dungeons. Morrowind has lots of smaller dungeons which purpose is to provide bits of lore and enviromental storytelling to build up on the world. There are many hidden things and quests to find in the open world to provide some rewards for player exploration. World itself is designed in such a way that you need to plan your travel and be aware of your surroundings and finding ways that ease your travel is satisfying. Only issue seems to me is that NPC dont do much in cities which I personally find more immersive then watching Oblivion NPCs often talking about nonsense and behaving in nonsensical way which just destroys my immersion.

If you go back to around the time of Morrowind's release, you can see people on the Codex ripping the absolute shit out of it, both as a standalone game and when compared with Daggerfall. I'm not entirely sure when or why the Morrowind veneration in popular culture started. It's an outstanding piece of software for people who want to really dig into a unique esoteric fantasy world and learn all there is to know about it, but it's not much good for people who want a tightly-made and interesting game.

Similar to Battlespire which is a great game thats hated for not being like Daggerfall, people reacted angrly on obvious differences with Morrowind. Less skills, smaller world, tiny dungeons were things that put off many players. Some continue playing and came to appreciate Morrowind and all the good things it did better then Daggerfall.

I feel like the core differences between Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim (and Fo3 and FNV, for that matter) are so much smaller than people would like to admit. Some of them (Morrowind, New Vegas) are far better works of art than the others, but in gameplay terms they're all just shades of the same experience.

I will not admit is because its not true. Morrowind has a far better world, story, characters and factions then either Oblivion and Skyrim, and its not even close. Sure the core gameplay in terms of combat is similiar but thats pretty much it.

 

[anvi]

I would probably be a big Morrowind fan if it wasn't for EverQuest. But that game was just so much better and 3 years earlier. If it wasn't for that I probably would have seen Morrowind after Lands of Lore, Eye of the Beholder, Anvil of Dawn, etc and it probably would have seemed like a great modern RPG. Maybe.

 

[Lemming42]

Not even close, Morrowind dungeons might be short but they have hand placed enemies, hand placed loot and occasional secrets and pieces of enviromental storytelling. Oblivion dungeons feel like a places that a randomly assembled from same few blocks, with leveled loot.

I don't agree. The landscape is littered with countless copy/pasted Ancestral Tombs and generic smuggler caves with no real environmental storytelling to speak of. Dungeons are also typically very short and restrictive, no less so than Oblivion. In terms of their structure as dungeons, there's not much to recommend them over Oblivion's similarly dull Ayleid ruins.

The overworld locations are also often scuppered by the game's complete non-reactivity: the slave plantations, for example, offer nothing for you to do in gameplay terms because you can't even fight the slavers to free the slaves. Nobody cares if you kill the plantation owners, there are no repercussions anywhere else in the game, the keys to free the slaves often don't even exist, and "freed" slaves stand completely still in their fields regardless.

World itself is designed in such a way that you need to plan your travel and be aware of your surroundings and finding ways that ease your travel is satisfying.

Really? I don't have the same experience at all; the static nature of the world means that you're often repeatedly walking over the same empty roads over and over again. Going from, say, Seyda Neen to Balmora by foot is the same every time and there's never anything new to watch out for on the roads.

And by "ease your travel" do you mean "come up with spells and enchantments to cut down on time spent walking through the same empty bit of the world over and over"? I'm not saying that in a sardonic way, I actually agree that there's some satisfaction in learning new ways to hasten your journey across the island as your skills and knowledge of the world expand.

I will not admit is because its not true. Morrowind has a far better world, story, characters and factions then either Oblivion and Skyrim, and its not even close. Sure the core gameplay in terms of combat is similiar but thats pretty much it.

That's essentially what I said, though:

It's an outstanding piece of software for people who want to really dig into a unique esoteric fantasy world and learn all there is to know about it, but it's not much good for people who want a tightly-made and interesting game.

People often posture that Morrowind is some kind of deeply complex RPG that stands head and shoulders above the other TES games as an RPG, when it really isn't. Same for people who try to pretend like New Vegas is mechanically much less of a shitshow than Fo3. I think games like NV and Morrowind demonstrate the value of "storyfag" elements and the joy of getting lost in a detailed fictional world, because I'd argue they succeed despite weak gameplay and dull dungeon design, and Oblivion/Fo3 show us how bad these same styles of game are like when stripped of their interesting worldbuilding.

 

[Sykar]

I've discovered the Codex since it seemed it was the only place on the Internet where people were hating Oblivion, its bland design, uninspired dungeons, shit level scaling and for being overall decline when compared with Morrowind . I don't think there can be such thing as too much critisism of this game, which ushered a long period of setback for the genre.

Imagine how I feel, I thought even Morrowind was decline.

You people throw out the word "decline" far too easily. You also overrated Daggerfall a lot.

 

[JarlFrank]

Daggerfall has GREAT systems, best character system out of all Elder Scrolls games.

But it barely has any real content. You go on random quests in dungeons that were generated by randomly-connected pieces of pre-made dungeon building blocks, leading you to crawl through the same rooms over and over again.

The gameplay is fun, but apart from the hand-crafted main quest dungeons, there's no actual content in the game.

 

[markec]

Not even close, Morrowind dungeons might be short but they have hand placed enemies, hand placed loot and occasional secrets and pieces of enviromental storytelling. Oblivion dungeons feel like a places that a randomly assembled from same few blocks, with leveled loot.

I don't agree. The landscape is littered with countless copy/pasted Ancestral Tombs and generic smuggler caves with no real environmental storytelling to speak of. Dungeons are also typically very short and restrictive, no less so than Oblivion. In terms of their structure as dungeons, there's not much to recommend them over Oblivion's similarly dull Ayleid ruins.

The overworld locations are also often scuppered by the game's complete non-reactivity: the slave plantations, for example, offer nothing for you to do in gameplay terms because you can't even fight the slavers to free the slaves. Nobody cares if you kill the plantation owners, there are no repercussions anywhere else in the game, the keys to free the slaves often don't even exist, and "freed" slaves stand completely still in their fields regardless.

The environmental storytelling is present not in every dungeon but in some, but you need to pay attention and not just run trough them.

You complain about non reactivity and copy pasted dungeons, then what exactly do you think that makes Daggerfall so superior game?

World itself is designed in such a way that you need to plan your travel and be aware of your surroundings and finding ways that ease your travel is satisfying.

Really? I don't have the same experience at all; the static nature of the world means that you're often repeatedly walking over the same empty roads over and over again. Going from, say, Seyda Neen to Balmora by foot is the same every time and there's never anything new to watch out for on the roads.

Neither is in Gothic if you only walk same road every time, its off the road that you find interesting stuff.

And by "ease your travel" do you mean "come up with spells and enchantments to cut down on time spent walking through the same empty bit of the world over and over"? I'm not saying that in a sardonic way, I actually agree that there's some satisfaction in learning new ways to hasten your journey across the island as your skills and knowledge of the world expand.

Not only that but you find passes in the mountains that make your trips quicker then when following roads. The hand made environments have unique landmarks that you remember and help you get oriented.

I will not admit is because its not true. Morrowind has a far better world, story, characters and factions then either Oblivion and Skyrim, and its not even close. Sure the core gameplay in terms of combat is similiar but thats pretty much it.

That's essentially what I said, though:

It's an outstanding piece of software for people who want to really dig into a unique esoteric fantasy world and learn all there is to know about it, but it's not much good for people who want a tightly-made and interesting game.

People often posture that Morrowind is some kind of deeply complex RPG that stands head and shoulders above the other TES games as an RPG, when it really isn't. Same for people who try to pretend like New Vegas is mechanically much less of a shitshow than Fo3. I think games like NV and Morrowind demonstrate the value of "storyfag" elements and the joy of getting lost in a detailed fictional world, because I'd argue they succeed despite weak gameplay and dull dungeon design, and Oblivion/Fo3 show us how bad these same styles of game are like when stripped of their interesting worldbuilding.

I mostly agree but I do think that Morrowind in a deeply complex game in how in interweaves all the factions and the main quests.

 

[Jinn]

But it barely has any real content. You go on random quests in dungeons that were generated by randomly-connected pieces of pre-made dungeon building blocks, leading you to crawl through the same rooms over and over again.

The gameplay is fun, but apart from the hand-crafted main quest dungeons, there's no actual content in the game.

Exactly why I've bounced off Daggerfall the 6 or so times I've tried to play it. The game is extremely overrated, but really wouldn't be if it had handcrafted content throughout. Probably why I keep trying it despite knowing full-well what I don't like about it. There's a great potential there that's ultimately squandered by the silly, misguided "never the same game twice" design approach. Fuck random generation in games so hard. It's a blight on the medium.

 

[Lemming42]

The environmental storytelling is present not in every dungeon but in some, but you need to pay attention and not just run trough them.

You complain about non reactivity and copy pasted dungeons, then what exactly do you think that makes Daggerfall so superior game?

I'd level many of these same criticisms at Daggerfall, to be clear. I prefer Daggerfall (as a game, ie. in terms of mechanics and level design) to Morrowind because I find the possibility of building a much greater range of characters to be hugely exciting, I prefer the vast dungeons to Morrowind's tiny ones (even though when you learn the layout of each "block" in Daggerfall, the game essentially ends because you've seen everything) and I think the scope of the game is really cool even if it doesn't always translate into engaging content for the player.

Also, it's a very minor thing, but I really enjoy Climbing as a skill. I understand from a development standpoint why it doesn't exist anymore in Morrowind, but it adds so much in terms of how the player can navigate the world, and makes Thief/Assassin characters feel spectacular. Climbing to the upper balcony of rich shops and breaking in through the upstairs door, very cool.

Morrowind's big crippling point to me, even more than the static world, is the really boring quests. Daggerfall's don't tend to be any less dull in terms of premise, of course, and scarcely ever offer better C&C, but at least you always knew you were going to have a proper dungeon-crawling experience. Plus I like how DF quests all have tight time limits meaning you've got to properly plan your trips across the world map, often choosing to travel at "Reckless" speeds at 1% health or whatever.

To pick up on one point from your earlier post that I missed:

I do, the more skills the better.

I agree to some extent but some level of streamlining isn't bad - there wasn't any logical reason for Thaumaturgy to exist in Daggerfall, for example, when it could be so easily blended into other Magic skills, hence why Morrowind did away with it. Fusing Short Blade and Long Blade into "Blade" makes sense to me in the same way it made sense for New Vegas to merge Big Guns and Small Guns into "Guns". With the awkward quasi-FPS way these games work, a lot of these skills don't feel different in the way they might in a more abstracted, turn-based game.

Basically: Dagger and Sword make sense as different skills in something like Age of Decadence because they play completely differently, suit different character builds, and have different effects. Short Blade and Long Blade in DF/MW play just about exactly the same as each other. There's no real need to have both skills and I can't bring myself to hold it against Oblivion for merging them, any more than I can hold it against MW for scrapping Thaumaturgy.

Even Daggerfall would have been better suited by merging a few skills - the language skills would make a lot more sense and be a lot more viable if they were merged. Nymph, Spriggan and Centaurian could be merged into something called "Woodland Speak" or whatever, for example.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

I do understand the argument about Morrowind being static; whilst the NPCs do react to the player due to the disposition mechanic, the world doesn't really change all that much.
Despite Dagoth Ur being called a threat and the terror of the sleepers and the corpus disease, you don't really see it affecting the major settlements all that much. No NPCs suddenly attack you like the Mythic Dawn agents do in Oblivion, there's no attacks by ashzombies or the like on towns, no NPCs slowly turn into sleepers, you can pretty much just ignore him.
At least in Oblivion you had the gates opening up and changing the landscape of Cyrodiil, and even though the Daedra don't attack settlements they will attack near by travelers and creatures. I think one or two gates even have a dead horse spawn near them, to give the idea that they are attacking people, which is a nice touch.

Similarly, NPCs do not sleep nor eat; that was a mechanic introduced in Olbivion. You will not see them travel the roads, there are no random encounters. They don't even respond to hostile creatures and hostile creatures likewise do not respond to them. I've had cliff runners fly into major settlements just to attack me, and most NPCs just ignored them, whilst even in Oblivion they would flee.

It would seem that the AI in Morrowind is just too primitive for that. And that's a pity; you have a large interesting world full of people and hand placed items and interesting lore about the culture, but the people themselves are pretty lifeless.

 

[anvi]

I've discovered the Codex since it seemed it was the only place on the Internet where people were hating Oblivion, its bland design, uninspired dungeons, shit level scaling and for being overall decline when compared with Morrowind . I don't think there can be such thing as too much critisism of this game, which ushered a long period of setback for the genre.

Imagine how I feel, I thought even Morrowind was decline.

You people throw out the word "decline" far too easily. You also overrated Daggerfall a lot.

I didn't play Daggerfall until after Oblivon, it was EQ that spoilt me. But it's really so far ahead it's ridiculous.

 

[Lemming42]

Good points about the AI not reacting to the main quest in typical Bethesda style, but my big problem is that they don't react to things happening right in front of them. The cliffracers in town example is a good one, but people also don't even react in dialogue to things that the player is doing. I remember even on my first playthrough when I was rightly wowed by the setting and in love with wandering around the world, those slave plantations struck me as stupid as fuck. A great many players are going to instinctively attack slavers on sight, the fact that the slaves just stand in the field refusing to acknowledge the death of their owners and there's no concrete repercussions anywhere in the world for killing these wealthy landowners is just comical. Compare with, say, New Vegas, where fighting the Powder Gangers in Goodsprings will lower your reptuation enough to turn the ones on the road to Primm hostile (thereby lowering your rep even further if you fire on them in self-defence), and preclude you from entering the Powder Gangers' prison HQ without some kind of disguise or recompense.

It feels like you're trapped in a frozen snapshot of an interesting world, not helped by the wikipedia NPCs who start to grate fast and the almost universally linear "go there and kill/collect that" quests. Wiki dialogue obviously especially funny in some cases, like certain Camonna Tong NPCs who apparently despise you and want to see you hauled off in slave chains, but are also thrilled to politely share information about the local area with you.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, I'm pretty late into the main quest right now and to my disappointment, the Temple will not, in fact, send hit squads after you even though earlier in the game they told you that they will hunt the Nerevarine.
Becoming Hortator of House Redoran was incredibly easy, even though they hate you for being the Nerevarine and their alliance to the temple.
You literally just speak to them and kill some dickhead in a duel. That's it.

I bet I could walk around Vivec naked with Moon-and-Star around my dick, and the Ordinators wouldn't do shit. They are that passive. The only time I got attacked was on Ald Daedroth, and that was only if I told one of them that I was the Nerevarine and even then that only applied to that specific NPC.

One of my favorite things to do is to dump moon sugar in front of a merchant to trade with them, and then pick it up. They don't care as long as you don't have moon sugar in your inventory.

That said I do like how NPCs will respond to you when you talk to them naked. I also like how you can cheese the Morag Tong quests by stripping naked, talk to your target, and spam taunt until he attacks you.
No stealth or writ needed, nudity is just that OP.

 

[Bad Sector]

I bet I could walk around Vivec naked with Moon-and-Star around my dick, and the Ordinators wouldn't do shit.

They attack you if you wear Indoril armor.