AWKWARD ZOMBIE

I think combat has improved, but other than that I think the rate at which the series improves is disappointing and they have taken steps backwards on some things

The setting itself became more of a standard fantasy game I have the feeling. Where Morrowind had entirely original enemies we now have mostly regular this-world animals like bears and stuff and your discount undead collection, apart from the Dremoras and other Daedra.

All I know is that when I played Morrowind I had all of the intro before I started hating it and nothing in the game made me hate it less.

Skyrim started good and only got better.

... You didn't like the intro?

No the intro was fine.
Everything after was horrible.
I wasn't even really immersed in the game very much and it just made things that much worse.

I think they've been aiming to improve the playability of the game, and in general that means simplifying a lot of things, like taking out hand-to-hand or removing weapon/armor repair, which honestly is just tedious. Some would argue it's more realistic, but on the other hand when something gets damaged it's not because you hit stuff X number of times, it's more complicated than that.

So a lot of the things that were more pen-and-paper based got changed so there was less number crunching or complexity to it, which on the whole is nicer for this setting.

I don't think they really removed hand-to-hand that much. I mean the skill is gone but like you can still do unarmed damage, and there's still ways to increase it.

I guess the logic is that you can punch people harder, but just hitting people doesn't really require a skill.

Fight a martial artist.

Also spears, throwing weapons, crossbows(at least they added this in the expansion), daedric being incredibly easy to get, dungeons being fancy but linear, faction quests being short and being generally unrelated to the faction gameplay-wise (eg. mages guild). General trend of simplification in other words.

I'd much rather have a more simplified game that was more fun as a result, and allowed the developers to focus on building the world and story, than a complex game that's boring because of it.

Which is basically the difference between Skyrim and Oblivion.

edit: whoops i wrote morrowind because now all i can remember is how much not fun i had with that game

My problem is they simplified the world and story too.

I really think that Skyrim does certain things much better than Morrowind:
-Lockpicking isn't just pure luck
-HIGHLY refined stealth, where all of the weight of your equipment matters
-You actually know which items in your inventory are stolen (In Morrowind, All of the guards knew which of your items were stolen and would confiscate them; it was only you who had to keep tabs)
-Improved NPC AI. While not super-advanced or smart, they're definitely a step up.

Well it'd be pretty horrible if there were no improvements at all, wouldn't it? I'm just saying I'm not satisfied with the direction the series is heading.

The thing I dislike most about the direction Elder Scrolls is going is the more standard fantasy setting. I remember playing Morrowind and loving the flying jelly fish, the towns with tree towers where the wizards lived and there were freaky things all around that really made it it's own world.

Especially in Oblivion I felt like I was just in Middle Earth or something.

To be fair Cyrodil and Skyrim pretty much are generic fantasy lands. The unique landscapes and structures are in places like Morrowind and Ellswyr. High Rock too probably.

Oblivion had Shivering Isles though. That definitely wasn't generic.

Well it was their decision to choose two places with generic fantasy looks two times in a row, that's pretty much the same thing. If they put a more unique setting in between, it would be less obvious that they are trying to make the game as accessible as possible. And hey, marketing wise I don't blame them, Skyrim was a huge success. But as a fan I'm disappointed.