Morrowind and Oblivion had some wonky level ups, to be sure, but at least in Morrowind it was balanced by the fact that the enemies didn't necessarily get all that stronger. I mean, in the Bitter Coast region you'd get more Bull and Betty netches in later levels, and those annoying bat things wouldn't show up until level 5 or something, but ultimately there wasn't "levelling" and you CERTAINLY couldn't beat the game at level 1.
Now with Oblivion, things (and I mean ALL things) level up JUST AS FAST as you do. Its not like in Morrowind where there are always really weak areas and really strong areas (even though in some places you can get the loot before ascended sleepers spawn depending on your level), but you can't finish the whole damn game on level 1 unless you use potion exploits or cheats.
In Oblivion however you have your actual level and your relative level. So lets say you want to beat the game at level 1. How do you do this? Well, you pick all major skills as things you don't want to use, and then you get to level 100 in all other skills. 99.9% of the time the game will be a breeze, since your relative level (in all but HP) will be 100 while your enemy will be level 1. Sure your attributes will be a "little" low, but with custom class and custom sign you can get +15 luck which is the only stat you will ever need (on a level 1 run). Sure, there is that 0.01% of the game where there the enemy is NOT leveled and will strong regardless of your level. In this case, you need to use ample summons, poisons, sneak, and other such tactics ... since in this case you will be a glass cannon. But more often than not this is not the case.
Now, although Skyrim isn't quite as "cool" some would say (namely me), as Morrowind ... the level up system is SO MUCH BETTER. Its everything a TES player could want, imho. You gain levels as you fight/quest/etc without a care in the world about attritbute increases or maximum potential level. How did they do it? There are no attributes (other than HP/Magic/Fatigue), and maximum potential level is ALWAYS 80. All skills add to your level, the higher the skill the more 'exp' you get for each skill increase, and the stronger the enemy the faster you level your skills (essentially).
In Morrowind and Oblivion there are always 2 concerns ... killing your opponents/completing quests (the Macro), and Leveling your Character as best as possible (the Micro).
Now, as a fan of Civ IV, I can always appreciate some good micro ... but in Oblivion its just rediculous. Sure, I find it a challenge to level up my Oblivion character as best as possible (especially since I haven't figured out how to emulateXP/play morrowind on my new laptop), but there is always this nagging sensation of "Why don't I just beat the game at levels 1-10 again?" I think my first Oblivion character (before my 360 died) I had 100 sneak by level 6. Iirc I was a male redguard that tried to get +5 agility at each level for an Archer/Sneak character that never went past level 10.
Its too much focus on Micro. At least with Morrowind, you could either focus solely on the macro, (and still get decently strong characters), or focus solely on the micro (and get any number of different character builds, whether weak early on for higher max level, or strong early on and just get 100 attributes/max level before level 30, or to just try to max out your luck as much as possible ...), or any hybrid in-between.
Even in Morrowind though, as awesome as that game was, I think (at least from someone who finds it hard to ignore micro in a leveling up sort of game) it would be 10x better if it did levelling like Skyrim does.
Therefore, I think Morrowind with a Skyrim engine/level up system would be the best
and that both Morrowind and Skyrim are better than Oblivion :D ... and that I'd give props to Skyrim for fixing the levelup problem.
Now with Oblivion, things (and I mean ALL things) level up JUST AS FAST as you do. Its not like in Morrowind where there are always really weak areas and really strong areas (even though in some places you can get the loot before ascended sleepers spawn depending on your level), but you can't finish the whole damn game on level 1 unless you use potion exploits or cheats.
In Oblivion however you have your actual level and your relative level. So lets say you want to beat the game at level 1. How do you do this? Well, you pick all major skills as things you don't want to use, and then you get to level 100 in all other skills. 99.9% of the time the game will be a breeze, since your relative level (in all but HP) will be 100 while your enemy will be level 1. Sure your attributes will be a "little" low, but with custom class and custom sign you can get +15 luck which is the only stat you will ever need (on a level 1 run). Sure, there is that 0.01% of the game where there the enemy is NOT leveled and will strong regardless of your level. In this case, you need to use ample summons, poisons, sneak, and other such tactics ... since in this case you will be a glass cannon. But more often than not this is not the case.
Now, although Skyrim isn't quite as "cool" some would say (namely me), as Morrowind ... the level up system is SO MUCH BETTER. Its everything a TES player could want, imho. You gain levels as you fight/quest/etc without a care in the world about attritbute increases or maximum potential level. How did they do it? There are no attributes (other than HP/Magic/Fatigue), and maximum potential level is ALWAYS 80. All skills add to your level, the higher the skill the more 'exp' you get for each skill increase, and the stronger the enemy the faster you level your skills (essentially).
In Morrowind and Oblivion there are always 2 concerns ... killing your opponents/completing quests (the Macro), and Leveling your Character as best as possible (the Micro).
Now, as a fan of Civ IV, I can always appreciate some good micro ... but in Oblivion its just rediculous. Sure, I find it a challenge to level up my Oblivion character as best as possible (especially since I haven't figured out how to emulateXP/play morrowind on my new laptop), but there is always this nagging sensation of "Why don't I just beat the game at levels 1-10 again?" I think my first Oblivion character (before my 360 died) I had 100 sneak by level 6. Iirc I was a male redguard that tried to get +5 agility at each level for an Archer/Sneak character that never went past level 10.
Its too much focus on Micro. At least with Morrowind, you could either focus solely on the macro, (and still get decently strong characters), or focus solely on the micro (and get any number of different character builds, whether weak early on for higher max level, or strong early on and just get 100 attributes/max level before level 30, or to just try to max out your luck as much as possible ...), or any hybrid in-between.
Even in Morrowind though, as awesome as that game was, I think (at least from someone who finds it hard to ignore micro in a leveling up sort of game) it would be 10x better if it did levelling like Skyrim does.
Therefore, I think Morrowind with a Skyrim engine/level up system would be the best
and that both Morrowind and Skyrim are better than Oblivion :D ... and that I'd give props to Skyrim for fixing the levelup problem.
