The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

oblivion 100hrs, Skyrim 100hrs, Morrowind 1200 hrs. I only ever completed the main quest lines once, the reason, I kept being diverted by the vast array of things to do, places to see, skills to level, ruins to delve into. Even with its gameplay flaws, this game shines like no other!

But do install the updated graphics and etc., The game starts slowly, but is easily as rivetting as Skyrim, and far better than fetch quest Oblivion.

I play A LOT of RPGs and have been gaming since 1980. Morrowind is one of the best games ever made, and in many ways it is superior to Oblivion and Skyrim. Unfortunately, Bethesda has traded great story telling and gameplay for handicapped and gutted games designed to cater to casuals and those who cannot figure out how to play an RPG. Thankfully, Morrowind has a vast community of modders, progammers, and hackers who keep this game alive. You have the MWSE option which opens up so many mods that it is unreal. Openmw, while having LUA support, is not quite there yet as far as LUA capabilities go, but it runs Morrowind very well. I personally do not use OpenMW at this time, but I probably will when the modding scene catches up to the vanilla engine. The time you can put into Morrowind is endless. The vast main quest and many side quests, the hundreds if not thousands of mods which add quests, new areas, new characters and stories, and even entire continents - with many of these mods surpassing the quality of Bethesda's original work. It is entirely possible to recreate Skyrim in Morrowind, just with dated visuals and with old school gameplay (though there are mods which add modern gameplayu mechanics and better graphics.) You can create entirely new games with the Construction set.You can use mods with higher-poly models and 4k textures (I use them, but when doing a vanilla+ playthrough, I stick with vanilla textures and heads.) I would recommend Morrowind to any RPG fan and fans of mods. I never completed Skyrim, because I keep playing Morrowind.

Why is this one the best? Because you can do crazy things and have a blast breaking the game. Potion creation is nuts. Enchanting items is insane. Jumping is hilarious, and flying is so cool. All of this over-the-top craziness is fun you won't have playing other 3D rpg's!

Not much I can add that hasn't already been articulated better by others, but rest assured that Morrowind definitely lives up to its reputation. Even in 2021, everyone should give the game spin, with or without mods. Not a perfect game, but legendary all the same.