Morrowind & Oblivion,should i play them Vanilla first?

I never got into the mods much, but for Morrowind, at the very least, get something that has readable signs.

Personally i recommend at least one vanilla playthrough and the use of mods afterwards. If Morrowind can be enjoyed without any mods, Oblivion is a different matter.

In Oblivion, the enemies are levelling up every time you level up. That means you will have trouble with a band of goblins at level 40, just as you had at level 1. For mods go to Nexus.

For Obblivion you have to chose between Oscuro's Overhaul ( dude has a long list of stuff that's included in his mod ) and Francesco's ( long list, also makes the enemies not levelling up like crazy - can you imagine a levelled up bear or wolf?! ).

People act all crazy about mods, and while I'd personally say that Morrowind still has loads of charm as it is, I don't see any reason not to use a couple graphical overhauls to make it look extra pretty.

I used a few mods on Oblivion to adjust things, without going "whole new game". Added hand to hand weapons, put in a ring that opens a console for when things occasionally freak out and need to be fixed (I have one of those machines where it doesn't like the keyboard driver and won't allow ~ to open the console), a few other small tweaks. Morrowind I use the FPS Optimizer to make it play nicely with 1920x1200, giving it proper widescreen and gui scaling, but nothing that affects actual gameplay.

The weapon thing in Oblivion is purely thematical...I'm playing a Khajiit stealth melee and felt hand to hand with touch magics fit better than using small weapons like daggers or short swords, but the weapons it adds are right in line with existing short swords and daggers statswise. Tried to do the same in Skyrim but alas, when I last checked it didn't exist. I'm still bummed about no hand to hand option there!

Play enough to where you know how everything works in vanilla. Then mod the shit out of everything.

You shouldn't play Oblivion at all.

yes

Morrowind is fine without mods, I just recommend you the one that makes your mana regenerate according to your willpower level if you play as a mage, it was a must for me. There is also a mod adding combo effects to your attacks, just to make fighting more interesting. And lastly, download Morrowind Overhaul to make it look current-gen. I personally prefer vanilla graphics, but it's probably just nostalgia. I envy you! I'd give away half of my steam library to experience Morrowind the way I did the first time :,)

evey elder scrolls game is good, including the first ones.

Install a ton of mods :-)

i always add RP mods ( like for skyrim the ones where you can die from hypotermia ), companions and NPC's, i also raise the maximum amount of companions and play as a member of a small weak group rather than as a invicible level over 9000 god.

For Morrowind you should be fine with only MGSO.

Morrowind is beautiful even as vanilla, though you would really like the BetterBodies mod. Year 2003 was crazy, and characters were... ahem... strange :D

At least run the unofficial patches, but yeah they are still great games unmodded.

Install lots of mods, don't listen to hipster garbage.

best mod ever for oblivion here

Well its almost necessary for Oblivion.

You can play Morrowind without anything really.

For Morrowind try some of the less intrusive mods for a vanilla run through. When I 1st played it there were things like the LGNPC series (less generic NPC) that changed a towns worth of NPC conversations so they didnt loop endlessly.

i'd play them chocolate if i were you

Absolutely play morrowind with Morrowind Overhaul for gfx. Make sure to have unofficial bugfix mod (not sure if that was included), and any mod that will delay the assassins from coming to ass rape you while you sleep starting at level one, since you'll have GOTY with all expacs enabled from the start, and normally they wouldn't come later in a game until you installed future expansions.

I would generally recommend unmodded (apart from the official DLC and expacs). The graphics might be a little off-putting now, considering their ages, which is something mods can help with. But the gameplay is generally solid regardless.

Your question has been asked countless times by new Elder Scrolls players. Most of the time, people suggest starting with Oblivion since it's the least interesting in terms of storyline, so I'll focus on that game. The best answer I've seen regarding modes, thus far, is the one found in the Nexus forums, so I'll paste the important details here.

[Mod Management for Oblivion]
Wrye Bash (slightly more complicated than OBMM, but much more useful)
BOSS (Better Oblivion Sorting Software)
OBMM (Oblivion Mod Manager, because some mods require OBMM)

[Patches]
Official Patch
Unofficial Patch
Unofficial Official Mods Patch (if you have the official mods installed)
Unofficial Patch Supplementals
Unofficial SI Patch

[Ease of Use Mods]
Script Extender
Graphics Extender
Stutter Remover
Streamline
Fast Exit 2
DarNified UI

[Graphical Improvement Mods]
Improved Facial Textures
Corean Hair
Facial Textures by Enayla
All Natural

[If you want specialized Paladin gear]
Lost paladins of the Divines (optional)

I hope that's helpful to you.

Ahaha I love how everyone has a different "you only need this one" mod

The only mods that are worth installing on your first playthrough are described here, i.e. the mods that make the game look pretty and don't do anything else.