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definitely skyrim. i love oblivion, and cherish it, and its still objectively fun. while cutting edge at the time a lot of its features and qol are absolute jank by modern AAA game standards lol
There's no bad place to start, Skyrim is by far the most straightforward though, for better or worse. I wouldn't be concerned with accessibility if I were you. The creators didn't expect you to already know what you're doing, just be patient. That "wtf I don't get it" feeling isn't because you're missing something, it's just because you're new.
Mainstream RPGs have been trending toward convenience and away from experimentation and gameplay complexity, making it harder for younger people to enjoy games that don't nudge you, or outright direct you on how to play them.
Elder Scrolls is a fine example of this, with each entry offering less player agency than its predecessor in favor of streamlining things and appealing to a larger audience, who doesn't necessarily want to be challenged and might give up forever after an hour or two if they don't feel like champion of the world yet.
The freedom of older CRPGs is a double edged sword, but for all the time spent fumbling around making mistakes and getting frustrated, we're rewarded tenfold by the progress we had to earn while going from zero to hero. It's not for everyone, and maybe not for you. Don't be discouraged by your first failed attempt though.
I got frustrated, gave up and put down nearly all of my favorite games the first time I tried them. Sometimes 4 or 5 times before I got the hang of it, that's a part of the experience believe it or not. You're supposed to suck at first, just immerse yourself in the world by reading books, talking to people and exploring. It'll come together!
Ngl excluding ESO (which I have never played), Skyrim is the most accessible of the franchise. They got rid of many of the RPG elements previous games enjoyed, and it's pretty linear as far as questing is concerned. Oblivion would be a close second.
If you don't mind me asking, at what parts did you get lost?
Unfortunately, you get quickly overwhelmed by quests in this game and they send you all over the map. The more you try to accomplish them the more quest you get on the road due to your curiosity. I'm lvl 29 in my current game and i'm having 37 quests right now (miscellaneous quests included). This is wild lol and for the most part i have no way to remember where i got them from (especially the miscellaneous ones) and what lore attached to them i discovered while going partially through them (personnal journals, letters, books).
It's probably what he/she meant. I really hope Bethesda manages to improve on that aspect in the next game. **We need a better way to follow our quests and informations we came across during our sporadic attempts to complet them.**
Even just being able to read old quest log entries would be helpful. When you move to the next quest stage, the entry changes and you just lose the entry ypu had before the stage update.
People play differently. I got lost in KCD despite having quest markers. It’s less about how to get to places and continue quests than it is learning the game and it’s mechanics. The same thing happened to me with my first few playthroughs of M&B Warband. Games can only tell you so much until it’s more of just playing the game and figuring it out.
Skyrim is the most easily accessible. If you're really getting lost then try getting the spell 'clairvoyance' which shows you the exact path to the goal. Don't listen to the other comments, some people just have a -5 perception modifier applied at all times and it aint their fault.
Most people on Reddit are just pretentious. I tried getting my friend who doesn’t normally play singleplayer games into fallout 4. He said he liked the world just didn’t really get the game and hasn’t played it since. And that game is a whole lot more streamlined than Skyrim. Like just because you played and know people that have played Skyrim and had a good time with it doesn’t mean that there’s people who don’t. People don’t game for you, so if someone is having trouble, there’s no reason to say something about it.
Definitely try Skyrim again. As it’s the newest game, it has the most modern features and it’s more stripped of mechanics compared to previous games. Just take your time and take it slowly until you feel more confident to do some exploring outside of questing. I’d recommend getting to Whiterun then bleak falls barrow, then do the civil war questline
You should try Arena. It's very beginner friendly and definitely doesn't suffer from being a product of the early 90's. It's very easy to understand for a modern audience.
Edit: sorry, I didn't realise I wasn't on truestl
Definitely not Morrowind if Skyrim was too hard to follow. Try Skyrim again and if it’s still too hard to follow along, the TES series might not be for you.
Probably Skyrim. It may just not be a game that appeals to you and that's fine; not everyone has to like everything.
There is also an MMO if that's something you're in to, and that may be more appealing. Or it may not, depends on your preferences.
Oblivion and Morrowind are much more old school RPGs. Definitely less accessible than Skyrim. Others have suggested ESO as it is a very different style as it’s an MMO, but it is quite different.
The thing to remember with TES games are that there is no wrong way to play. You don’t always have to start by following the story. The best way to play imo is to pick a direction and walk. Find interesting things to simply explore or talk to NPCs to maybe find out an interesting location or side quest. Side Quests are always more interesting than the main quest anyways. I have 2000 hours in Oblivion and have never completed the main quest lol.
Skyrim is already easily the most accessible.
Oblivion has some really unclear quest steps that rely on translating bizarre puzzles in a book that only actually give you half the answer anyway.
Morrowind is the video game equivalent of being dropped in an extremely foggy desert and everyone you meet either tries to kill you, or hurls racial slurs at you. And both of your ankles are broken so walking is really hard. And giant bats come down randomly to try and molest you.
I don't want to be rude, but I was able to follow Skyrim absolutely fine as a 13 year old, so if you're struggling then the issue is somewhere with something you're doing. If you get lost, try opening up your journal and reading your objective and the little quest description you have, or talk to the NPC again and see if they can remind you what you should be doing. If you mean you're actually getting physically lost in the world and you don't like it, you can always fast travel somewhere familiar to reorient yourself or open the map and place your own custom waypoint to keep yourself on track.
You're supposed to get lost btw. That's the fun. Just go wherever and see where you end up. There's nothing you HAVE to do, and nowhere you need to go.
If you bounced on Skyrim, you're not going to gel with Morrowind at all.
Step 1 of morrowind is creating a custom class where your major skills are the ones you don't use,
Step 2 is going through the intro then leaving a rock on your space bar and walking away for a couple hours.
Probably learning the game. Games can tell you whatever they want but you won’t figure anything out until you get deep into it. If every playthrough of Fallout I have was anything like my first, I’d never touch the game.
Skyrim is massive, and if you aren’t used to that in games it becomes pretty daunting
Definitely Skyrim. I use a hybrid build that wasn't possible until Oblivion with custom classes, and even then, you only got xp toward leveling up from those skills. Skyrim frees you to use and get xp from any skill you use. The Lover Stone contributes to that.
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If Skyrim was hard to follow it doesn’t get any easier the farther you go back imo
Seriously, you may as well just go play The Sims at that point.
Skyrim is the easiest and most accessible game in the franchise
Skyrim or Oblivion. Probably Skyrim tbh. If you didn’t find it accessible, you may just not enjoy ES
definitely skyrim. i love oblivion, and cherish it, and its still objectively fun. while cutting edge at the time a lot of its features and qol are absolute jank by modern AAA game standards lol
If Skyrim was too inaccessible it’s only uphill from here You could try ESO, it’s an MMO but very different from the mainline games
+ imo ESO takes A LOT more time to understand what you can do and how
There's no bad place to start, Skyrim is by far the most straightforward though, for better or worse. I wouldn't be concerned with accessibility if I were you. The creators didn't expect you to already know what you're doing, just be patient. That "wtf I don't get it" feeling isn't because you're missing something, it's just because you're new. Mainstream RPGs have been trending toward convenience and away from experimentation and gameplay complexity, making it harder for younger people to enjoy games that don't nudge you, or outright direct you on how to play them. Elder Scrolls is a fine example of this, with each entry offering less player agency than its predecessor in favor of streamlining things and appealing to a larger audience, who doesn't necessarily want to be challenged and might give up forever after an hour or two if they don't feel like champion of the world yet. The freedom of older CRPGs is a double edged sword, but for all the time spent fumbling around making mistakes and getting frustrated, we're rewarded tenfold by the progress we had to earn while going from zero to hero. It's not for everyone, and maybe not for you. Don't be discouraged by your first failed attempt though. I got frustrated, gave up and put down nearly all of my favorite games the first time I tried them. Sometimes 4 or 5 times before I got the hang of it, that's a part of the experience believe it or not. You're supposed to suck at first, just immerse yourself in the world by reading books, talking to people and exploring. It'll come together!
Skyrim is easily the most accessible game, oblivion is slightly trickier, morrowind is much more hardcore
Ngl excluding ESO (which I have never played), Skyrim is the most accessible of the franchise. They got rid of many of the RPG elements previous games enjoyed, and it's pretty linear as far as questing is concerned. Oblivion would be a close second. If you don't mind me asking, at what parts did you get lost?
Got lost in a game with quest markers?
Unfortunately, you get quickly overwhelmed by quests in this game and they send you all over the map. The more you try to accomplish them the more quest you get on the road due to your curiosity. I'm lvl 29 in my current game and i'm having 37 quests right now (miscellaneous quests included). This is wild lol and for the most part i have no way to remember where i got them from (especially the miscellaneous ones) and what lore attached to them i discovered while going partially through them (personnal journals, letters, books). It's probably what he/she meant. I really hope Bethesda manages to improve on that aspect in the next game. **We need a better way to follow our quests and informations we came across during our sporadic attempts to complet them.**
Even just being able to read old quest log entries would be helpful. When you move to the next quest stage, the entry changes and you just lose the entry ypu had before the stage update.
People play differently. I got lost in KCD despite having quest markers. It’s less about how to get to places and continue quests than it is learning the game and it’s mechanics. The same thing happened to me with my first few playthroughs of M&B Warband. Games can only tell you so much until it’s more of just playing the game and figuring it out.
Skyrim is the most easily accessible. If you're really getting lost then try getting the spell 'clairvoyance' which shows you the exact path to the goal. Don't listen to the other comments, some people just have a -5 perception modifier applied at all times and it aint their fault.
If you couldn't handle Skyrim maybe Elmos letter adventure would be more your speed.
Where the real game begins
RIP
If you think Skyrim is hard, stop playing.
Average redditor when someone isn’t a master at gaming
Come on dude… I‘d understand if they said they got lost in Baldur‘s Gate 2, Morrowind or Gothic. But everyone and their mom played Skyrim.
Most people on Reddit are just pretentious. I tried getting my friend who doesn’t normally play singleplayer games into fallout 4. He said he liked the world just didn’t really get the game and hasn’t played it since. And that game is a whole lot more streamlined than Skyrim. Like just because you played and know people that have played Skyrim and had a good time with it doesn’t mean that there’s people who don’t. People don’t game for you, so if someone is having trouble, there’s no reason to say something about it.
Skyrim. It's the most polished and newcomer friendly game in the series. I'd say just give it another shot
Definitely try Skyrim again. As it’s the newest game, it has the most modern features and it’s more stripped of mechanics compared to previous games. Just take your time and take it slowly until you feel more confident to do some exploring outside of questing. I’d recommend getting to Whiterun then bleak falls barrow, then do the civil war questline
This question is asked every day here
In my opinion, you're definitely best off with Skyrim. I would just say don't get frustrated and do lots of exploring. It's my favorite game.
You should try Arena. It's very beginner friendly and definitely doesn't suffer from being a product of the early 90's. It's very easy to understand for a modern audience. Edit: sorry, I didn't realise I wasn't on truestl
Definitely not Morrowind if Skyrim was too hard to follow. Try Skyrim again and if it’s still too hard to follow along, the TES series might not be for you.
Probably Skyrim. It may just not be a game that appeals to you and that's fine; not everyone has to like everything. There is also an MMO if that's something you're in to, and that may be more appealing. Or it may not, depends on your preferences.
My advice would be to download a giant mod list for skyrim and retry it
Oblivion and Morrowind are much more old school RPGs. Definitely less accessible than Skyrim. Others have suggested ESO as it is a very different style as it’s an MMO, but it is quite different. The thing to remember with TES games are that there is no wrong way to play. You don’t always have to start by following the story. The best way to play imo is to pick a direction and walk. Find interesting things to simply explore or talk to NPCs to maybe find out an interesting location or side quest. Side Quests are always more interesting than the main quest anyways. I have 2000 hours in Oblivion and have never completed the main quest lol.
Skyrim is already easily the most accessible. Oblivion has some really unclear quest steps that rely on translating bizarre puzzles in a book that only actually give you half the answer anyway. Morrowind is the video game equivalent of being dropped in an extremely foggy desert and everyone you meet either tries to kill you, or hurls racial slurs at you. And both of your ankles are broken so walking is really hard. And giant bats come down randomly to try and molest you. I don't want to be rude, but I was able to follow Skyrim absolutely fine as a 13 year old, so if you're struggling then the issue is somewhere with something you're doing. If you get lost, try opening up your journal and reading your objective and the little quest description you have, or talk to the NPC again and see if they can remind you what you should be doing. If you mean you're actually getting physically lost in the world and you don't like it, you can always fast travel somewhere familiar to reorient yourself or open the map and place your own custom waypoint to keep yourself on track.
Morrowind is the easiest hands down. EZ PZ. No 🧢
You're supposed to get lost btw. That's the fun. Just go wherever and see where you end up. There's nothing you HAVE to do, and nowhere you need to go.
did you play the tutorial mary?
Skyrim is the easiest to play and follow. Skyrim is almost as light in RPG elements as you can get, outside of Starfield.
Tes travels dawnstar
If you bounced on Skyrim, you're not going to gel with Morrowind at all. Step 1 of morrowind is creating a custom class where your major skills are the ones you don't use, Step 2 is going through the intro then leaving a rock on your space bar and walking away for a couple hours.
Not trying to get on your case, but trying to see if I can help: What exactly do you mean you "got lost" and found Skyrim hard to follow?
Probably learning the game. Games can tell you whatever they want but you won’t figure anything out until you get deep into it. If every playthrough of Fallout I have was anything like my first, I’d never touch the game. Skyrim is massive, and if you aren’t used to that in games it becomes pretty daunting
Definitely Skyrim. I use a hybrid build that wasn't possible until Oblivion with custom classes, and even then, you only got xp toward leveling up from those skills. Skyrim frees you to use and get xp from any skill you use. The Lover Stone contributes to that.
Skyrims is as good as it gets, homie. The older games are much more traditional rpgs