Why does nobody talk about how good Oblivion's Daedric quests actually are

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I'm replaying Oblivion right now and just finished the Mehrunes' Razor quest, and man, it genuinely hits different compared to Skyrim's Daedric artifact hunts. Like, Skyrim's are fun don't get me wrong, but they feel way more like fetch quests with a villain monologue at the end. Oblivion actually makes you work through the lore and the weird logic of each Daedric prince's realm.

The Mehrunes' Razor one especially - you're not just walking into a dungeon and fighting a boss. You're dealing with Silus and his whole obsession with the blade, and then you're navigating actual Oblivion itself with all the weird architecture and the sense that you're genuinely in a hostile plane. It's disorienting in a good way. Skyrim's Daedric quests feel more like "go here, do this thing, get artifact" and then you're back in Skyrim in like twenty minutes.

Also the rewards actually feel dangerous? Mehrunes' Razor is this genuinely scary artifact that has this whole curse-like vibe to it. Skyrim's artifacts are powerful but they feel more like loot. There's no weight to them.

Anyone else feel this way or am I just nostalgic? I feel like the Oblivion Daedric quest design gets completely overshadowed by people talking about the Shivering Isles (which yeah, is incredible) but the base game's Daedric stuff is actually underrated.

 

[EbonyWarrior]

I get where you're coming from, but I think you're conflating a couple different things here. Oblivion's Daedric quests are genuinely good - don't get me wrong - but Skyrim's aren't really worse so much as they're just... different design philosophies.

The thing is, Oblivion was way more willing to be weird and abstract. The Mehrunes' Razor quest works because Silus is this genuinely unsettling character and the whole setup feels off in a way that matches Dagon's chaotic nature. But that's partly because Oblivion as a whole had weirder, more alien aesthetics. Even the regular dungeons felt stranger. Skyrim went for something more grounded and Norse-inspired, which means the Daedric quests feel more like "tasks from powerful beings" rather than "you're in an alien realm now."

That said - and I say this as someone who loves Morrowind and Oblivion's weirder vibes - Skyrim's Daedric quests aren't just fetch quests. The Mind of Madness is legitimately unsettling. Boethiah's Calling has actual moral weight. Even Ill Met by Moonlight, which is simpler, nails the vibe of Hircine's hunt. They're just shorter and more straightforward than Oblivion's, which honestly isn't always a bad thing depending on what you want from a quest.

The "rewards feel like loot" thing though... yeah, that's fair. Oblivion's artifacts had more personality. But that's a broader Skyrim design choice - everything's more streamlined, less weird. Which is a trade-off, not a failure.