If you asked this question, there is no hope for yo--- err.. I mean, here is a short review of the game, written by yours truly, a long time ago.
The Elder Scrolls 3 : Morrowind. Released in 2002 sequel to Daggerfall. Let's get on with it :
World
Your adventure will take place on Vvardenfell, province of a region called "Morrowind". The island is simply enormous, and since it's an Elder Scrolls game you can explore every inch of it, all of its cities, mines, ruins, caves and dungeons. The island is separated into a few regions as well. Ash Lands, Azura Coast, Bitter Coast and Red Mountain to name. Each one of them has something unique to add. Be it weather, infrastructure, flora or fauna. Especially ash storms are spectacular, especially when they hit a city.
The island of Vvardenfell is home to countless conflicts. Slavery runs wild, three houses (Hlaalu, Telvanni and Redoran) fight each other on every front, thieves guilds are in an all-out war with fighters guilds, mages hold monopoly over magic teaching.. and on top of that we have Imperial Cult and Tribunal Temple, with their own dark secrets. There are even rumors about Vampire holds, and an other, even more wicked evil is lurking in the shadow of the Red Mountain. A very dark setting.
Character
Vvardenfell is full of different races. Redguards (dark-skin humans from Hammerfell, best warriors of Tamriel), Dunmers (dark elves, native Morrowind folk) Altmers, Bosmers, Nords.. The list goes on, and you'll be playing as one of them. After you decide which race you want to represent, you'll have to choose five primary, as well as five secondary abilities (you'll advance in these faster than the unselected one, and you'll gain levels whenever you gain ten ranks in total), your focus - which you chose between magic, combat or sneaking - and two strongest attributes. After that you chose your birth sign and you're good to go.
There are plenty of abilities, as each weapon has its unique skill (ranked from 1 to 100), but the newcomers won't have to worry too much when filling their character card. You can pick one of pre-set classes, or have the computer do it for you by answering a few questions.
After this is done, you'll pick a few items, talk with Seyda Neen's official.. and the tutorial is over. You're on your own from here on now...
Quests & Exploration
..And there is plenty to do! Literally over a thousand of journal pages will be filled, thousands of dialogue pages displayed, hundreds of NPC's met, hundreds of miles traveled. No one forces you to do anything, at any point in the game. You can follow the main quest line like a good boy, join a faction or two and slowly work your way to the top (if you're able to!), explore the countless caves scattered across Vvardenfell.. The choice, as pointed by the tutorial, is always yours.
Sadly the game for most part is linear, and very few quests have more than one way to resolve them. Quite the opposite of Temple of Elemental Evil. As long, and as open as it gets, but linear to boot! Don't fear however, because if you plan on doing every single quest before re-playing the game, it will take you a few weeks. I've played through TES3:Morrowind over five times in my life, and i still know of quests that i didn't do yet, fights that i haven't had, loot that i haven't stolen.
Mechanics
The game suffers from poor combat, sneaking and persuasion system. You attack with left clicking. By adding a side-step you make a swinging attack, by taking a step forward or backward you perform a thrust.. If you don't like mashing WASD keys all the time, you can always select the option to always perform the best attack (in game menu). And this is it. You and your enemy both make invisible rolls, where you add your luck, weapon skill and strength against his armor skill, armor value, block value, agility and luck. Sneaking? Also rolling. But it also does not matter if you stand in total darkness, or next to a torch. If you walk on sand, or over a steel crate. Persuasion comes down to pressing "Taunt", "Intimidate", "Admire" or "Bribe" button over, and over to influence the NPC's, and there is nothing more you can do.. Except for spells and alchemy.
Some kind of magic?
Magic is a strong point of Morrowind, the only system-related thing about this game that can be considered good. I personally consider it awesome. There are six different schools of magic in Morrowind, as well as Enchanting (which, as the name suggests, allows creating or refiling magic items) and alchemy. It's truly a fiesta for every mage out there. Starting from simple charms, invisibility, teleportation, through summoning and levitation, to everyone's favorite fire, lightning, acid or ice.. balls. Just as during character creation, there are many, many pre-made spells, but you can also do your own. It's not cheap, but a high level character, backed up with a few dozen magicka improving potions can create, and cast, spells that will consume entire city districts! High level enchantment allows you to create items with permanent effect, and high level alchemy. Well, alchemy is far too powerfull in this game. Powerful enough to break the balance by simply using it at all. You can get insanely rich with even the poorest alchemist skills. You can kill just about everything if you have enough potions. You can do.. everything.. If you just mix those herbs and gems. Potions share no cooldowns, and stack. One strength enchanting potion may be a nice ace in the sleeve, but using twenty is just gamebreaking. You be the judge of what exactly is too powerful.
Anything Else?
Much like in Buggerfall, in Morrowind you may occasionaly.. correction.. you WILL occasionaly encounter bugs, and while more advanced users (or ones who can access google) can get rid of all of them via console commands.. for others there is only quickreload button. The game may also crash on you, freeze, or make you fall through the floor.. Not much can de done about it, save, load, and if you enjoy it.. endure.
Advanced users are blessed with Construction set, that allows you to change every single aspect of the game in any way you want it. You can, if you have the time and will to do so, change the entire continent, every single dialogue, alter the game mechanics.. Everything.
Aside from its obvious technical problems, linearity, poor combat, sneaking and persuasion system and gamebreaking alchemy.. If you only endure those (or fix them by yourself, or using one of the countless already created mods) you're in for one of the longest, and more enjoyable RPG rides in your life. The world is huge, the possibilities are almost limitless, and each and everyone of us should play through it at least once.
Here we are, in another RPG LP...
Yes, it will be interactive, but only to a degree. I will not be asking you which ability to train, or what sword should i use.
I may ask you about how (if) to solve a quest, in what to invest, how to behave. But these will not be common.
I will ask you which direction to go, and YOU folks will be included in the LP as NPC's.. But before you spam the thread into stone age with requests, please wait till we actually get to a point where we can have you folks defiling the sacred lands of Morrowind. Wait for it, truly.
This let's play will be a roleplaying one much like Armenia or BG2, but i haven't yet decided whether it shall be a full RP one, and how deep will i go with it. (All the way, she said)
This let's play will be.. different.. than your average Morrowind playthrough.
I'm always open for suggestions, and sincerely hope that you folks will enjoy our adventure. It will be long. Most of you will stop reading at one point or another. But we will get on with it nonetheless.
And lastly.. Thank you for reading, truly.
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Topic: The Everlasting Slaughter III : Morrowind (Ch1 P10) (Read 55908 times)