Comparison of Skyrim's intro to Morrowind

[Velothi ●]

So yeah - here's a comparison of the two intros and tutorials of said games.

To those who have never played Morrowind; here is a detailed synopsis.


As you're first placed in Morrowind you are...forced to learn controls rather than freely using them (though you can experiment with the buttons if you feel to defy the Imperial commands) - but you are given time to experiment and practice.

And really - Morrowind's tutorial is rather quick to be honest. Where in Arena, Daggerfall, Redguard, Oblivion, Skyrim AND that-tower-place you basically have a dungeon to work with. This varies from each person of difficulty and dull-ness but Morrowind does not do this.


Morrowind has, at most, a three-minute tutorial. Why three minutes? Takes time to create a character, and that's it. You are given boxes that have information and generally have time to practice the abilities. You are told things (magic, lockpicking, weapons, movement, journals) but not others (pick-pocket. That's it).

You were given time to practice if you had the patience. Of course there are drawbacks for those who wanted to head-first into the game. But even then - people could make mistakes. Kinda. You really felt like a weakling as level one - not able to beat a MUDCRAB.

So you're forced to do leveling, find extra things to do and attempt to endorse yourself into the area. Thus get to know the NPCs, do some quests, and plot a course of where to go. (Whether or not to follow the Main quest - an entire choice is up to you.)

And that's it for Morrowind. Literally it does not give you much and throws you out into the world like a flinching infant.

Skyrim does, persay, take in Oblivion's path of dungeoning but in a unique way. It gives the OPTION of lockpicking, allows for practice with weapons (it doesn't tell you of double weapons - the player has to figure that out for himself or herself), and give opportunities for sneak and archery.

They don't feel necessarily forced like it did in Oblivion - though in some cases they are. (The Bear scene)

And after that you get a small character-tutorial of the Star-Shrines. But that's it. The player is not told how to do work in town (must ask characters) and can literally stay in Riverwood if he wanted to or if she wanted to. Just hunt game, work in the mill and earn honest coin.

Or get the Golden Claw from the Barrow or go to Whiterun. It doesn't feel particularly forced and actually interlopes with the mainquest (get Dragon stone in Mainquest or do it whenever you feel like it in Riverwood).

Of course the actual intro (that long scene) does feel forced to bring us into the whole civil-war scenario.

And when fighting one can both feel how strong the character is and weak the character is. My Argonian Character (Expert level) is finding combat easy yet difficult due to his Histskin ability.

My Dunmer character was moreso a loner thus more difficult up until enchanted weapons.

But on Skyrim's flaws; they really reduced the way we could choose our character. They give us magic (Fire), weapons, heal spells, and so forth. They don't allow us to change our stats accordingly, rather the species we choose gets their predestined stats and we work with this.

That feels forced and takes away (as well as adds) RPG elements.

[Dark Spark ●]

My very first Skyrim incarnation took the whole "we should split up" bit to heart— and ended up very much dead in the bandit camp nearby.

My second incarnation stuck close to my impromptu guide.

In Morrowind, my first incarnation stalked the Bosmer embezzler and stole his stache.

In Oblivion, my first character almost soiled their trousers at the sight of the first menacing torch-bearing horserider on the road (this was soon after The Lord of the Rings, and I assumed Bethesda ripped a page out of The Fellowship to place Mythic Dawn hunters on watch over the roadside).

My biggest gripe with the Skyrim tutorial? I can't see my character's face in true 3rd-person view until after I've run a small gauntlet through the dragon's fire. Only then will I have any idea to continue on, or restart on the facial generation screen some three minutes earlier.

[Eltee ●]

Yeah, I know! So annoying. And there is no way to edit it before you exit Helgen.

[OblivionDuruza ●]

I've restarted enough times now to be able to finish the intro in about 10-15 minutes, so I think it's a good length as far as setting the scene, which is a must, and being too long like Oblivion's. The Intro does give you a lot of choice, in a way, and it is a nice one, however, I do love the Morrowind intro, which may be less action packed, but is charming in its own way.

One observation I did have about Skyrim's intro though, is that it is so intense and action driven, I honestly felt like I was playing an action game, like CoD, but with swords and magic in the place of guns. And I think this is true for all of Skyrim. Playing through the Civil War, I oten feel this feeling, as a bunch of NPCs around me charge into battle, something more dynamic than anything Elder Scrolls has done before.

On your point about the lack of classes, I totally agree Velothi. I think it would have been swimming to be able to pick about half a dozen skills to boost by 5 levels, to give some character to our character, and to give them something to let them stand apart from others of their own race. Maybe if this increased the level cap on those skills to 105 it would have been even better. I love the levelling system of Skyrim, it's so easy to play, but I think that the removal of Classes themselves, was a bit of overkill.

[Fiar ●]

Well, if we wanna be technical, Morrowind had more of a 15 minute tutorial. Though after you get out of the starter house, you can scamper off in any direction (Much like the other games of course). If we all recall the ring, it gives us our first quest, to return it to the Bosmer, and then he mentions you talk to his friend at the shop. Right there, that gets you to look at the journal, and then introduces you to your first vendor/quest hub. Of course, it's entirely optional at that point, but the whole place is a starter area that really does tell you more of the mechanics for the patient, as does Skyrim.

I agree on the last part, it does suck they took classes out, which means any wanting to be a mage has a lower pool of spells then Morrowind and Oblivion. As you said though, it opens up RPG elements. I have a Khajiit mage, and in the other games; that would have been sub-optimal. Such a term doesn't truly exist in Skyrim, and I like that. I know I've mentioned this before, but it is good to bring up, since it shows there is a bit more freedom in how you build your character.


I remember my first Morrowind character though. Redguard, I wanted a Human, but I, at the time, didn't realize that is what Nords/Redguards/imperials were. I got through the tutorial, headed west, and proceeded to get utterly demolished by a single skeleton. It's then I knew the game and I were gonna have a very special relationship.

[Velothi ●]

[Chaos the N'wah ●]

I like Skyrim's tutorial, it doesn't do the story-combat flip-flop that Oblivion's did or drop you unaware into the breach like Morrowind. The pacing is good, a massive improvement to "lets walk slowly away from the assassins" and feels natural, "Give that axe a few swings" "Maybe we could pick the lock?" "We should sneak by her"; all suggestions unlike Oblivion and Morrowind's very unconnected windows for tutorials.

I will admit, I miss having the class system, if for purely symbolic reasons. I miss having the identity of Bard, Nightblade, Spellsword, etc.
I would have liked it if you could pick from a set of classes that gave minor bonuses to either certain skills or skill increases (like the guardian stones, but individual skills) and you were referred to by others as "Bard" "Nightblade" etc. Something less definitive as Oblivion's classes, but still there as an added extra layer of flavor. Maybe even little extra bonuses to stats (magic classes get +30 to magicka, Warriors +15 health +15 stamina, Stealth +30 stamina, hybrids +10 magicka +10 stamina +10 health)

[dzio ●]

I haven't played Skyrim, so I can't say anything about that, but I don't think that Morrowind "abandons" the player after the intro. I didn't have any problems at all, even with my very first character. If you actually read what the people are telling you, it's pretty obvious what to do and where to go (if you want to follow the main quest, that is). And one of the most common "little advice" answers in the game is the "talk to everyone, talk doesn't cost anything" speach - I don't see how you can get lost or confused if you actually do that... It takes a while to figure out all the details, but it's completely doable, without any help from let's play videos or UESPwiki.

[Chaos the N'wah ●]

The point is that there is a lost less pressure in Morrowind to follow the Mainquest than the other two, since literally the second you get to Balmora, the ol' Spymaster tells you to go do your own thing...

You get a couple windows for tutorials and thrown outside, so yes, it does leave you to your own devices

[dzio ●]

Well, for me that's a plus. A big one, actually. I had enormous fun discovering all I can do with the game. And not knowing what to do next wasn't a problem, not even once...

[Chaos the N'wah ●]

And it's as it should be, it's part of what makes Morrowind itself, but it's rather clear Bethesda is taking the mainstream tutorial route these days

It's nice that they're trying to make tutorials seemless, instead of taking the lazy route and make a by-the-book tutorial (look right, look left, up, down, set those things on fire, now run, wait sneak past, make a potion, make a dagger, etc.)