The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Moby ID: 6280
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Description official descriptions

Freed by the decree of Uriel Septim VII, the Emperor of Tamriel, a lone prisoner is transported to the province of Morrowind. It seems that the strange dreams this prisoner has been having lately may have a connection to equally strange events occurring there. The protagonist is given a simple assignment: join the Blades, a secret organization whose goal is to protect the safety of the Emperor. This leads to a discovery of an ancient prophecy and an evil scheme concocted by a powerful deity whom the protagonist alone is able to stop.

Conceived in the tradition of the Elder Scrolls series, Morrowind is a fantasy role-playing game with a vast world open for exploration. After being released from a prison ship at the shores of the island Vvardenfell, the protagonist may do more or less what he or she wants: follow the main quest and solve the mystery of an ancient prophecy, join any of roughly a dozen guilds and rise in their hierarchy by performing duties, or simply explore the gigantic island with its stylistically diverse cities, hundreds of dungeons and tombs, ancient ruins and mighty fortresses.

Morrowind uses a two-stage skill system. The hero’s primary stats (strength etc.) increase with each level gained, while secondary abilities improve by use – for example, the more often the character jumps, the more proficient he or she becomes in the Acrobatics skill, etc. The action-oriented fights are simple exchanges of strikes or spells, until one combatant dies. The enemy's hit points and condition were not originally shown; however, at the request of customers a health bar was added for enemies as part of the first upgrade patch.

The protagonist's race and gender, but also his or her reputation influence the reactions of NPCs. If a character’s sympathy for the hero is low (rated on a scale from 1 to 100), he might refuse to answer questions; if it is high, the player will get more detailed information and better bargains in shops. Most quests involving other persons can be solved by persuasion, pick-pocketing, or simply by force.

The game's NDL 3D game engine is powerful in drawing wide, detailed outdoor landscapes as well as complex indoor environments. Transitions are not fluent; houses and dungeons must be loaded upon entering.

Spellings

  • 上古卷轴III:晨风 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 上古捲軸 III:魔捲晨風 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

118 People (80 developers, 38 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 89% (based on 83 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 283 ratings with 23 reviews)

The third installment in the ES series is, like its predecessors, a flawed masterpiece.

The Good
Morrowind is a truly excellent title. I've been a fan of the Elder Scrolls for a long time, so I had been following the game's development for years before its release, and I was shaking with excitement when I inserted the disk into my CD-ROM drive for the first time, praying that my system stats-- which were barely over what the game required-- would make it, and a small, rebel part of my brain (the part that could admit that there was a possibility Morrowind might be a disappointing game) was praying I wouldn't be disappointed.

I wasn't.

The game begins on a prison ship, as you may well know. You are smoothly introduced to the basic controls and interface as you design your character. The choice of races is slightly more expanded from the prequel, Daggerfall, to add Orcs (who are no longer considered vicious barbarians by all the other races) and Imperials. As in all the ES games, you have complete freedom in designing your character. No newbie to RPGs, I built myself a custom character and jumped right into the game. Beware, Morrowind World.

The graphics are stunning in Morrowind; everything, from tables to rocks, is modeled with great attention to detail. I was shocked when I turned wireframe on for the first time and really grasped the complexity of the 3d models they use. I've never seen so many polygons in an RPG before.

The sky is a real treat, and, in my opinion, the very best part of the graphics. Clouds float gently across the sky, slowing growing denser, until a steady rain begins to pour; then they part, the sun peeks out, and you have a few more hours of light before it sets... ahh, the sunset. And then the night! You can even spot constellations in the sky around the large twin moons of Nirn (The World). You have never seen such a wonderfully detailed sky before.

The creatures were well modeled and not disappointing at all, especially as you meet higher level ones. I just love how the Dremoras look. And-- thank you Bethesda-- there are no spiders in the game. +5 to gameplay on a 1-5 scale for that ;-).

The world itself is quite different from Daggerfall. It's not the same massive scope twice as big as the UK; no, it's more like, say, two miles. But unlike Daggerfall, none of this is stock terrain. Every bit of land has been custom designed, from the plants-- that you can pick-- to the creatures and the dungeons. There are around 300 dungeons to explore and 15 towns; this may sound like very little, but I have had characters get very far in this game, and they have barely scratched the surface of the world you are allowed to explore.

The NPCs are unique, too; all 3000 of them. They will each have an individual opinion of you, each have different things to discuss; you can also bribe and 'admire' them if you want to get on their good side, or taunt them if you want a fight without getting in trouble with the authorities.

The whole world is wonderfully set up and it's such a relief to have the world so ALIVE around you, such a sharp contrast to Daggerfall's everyone-comes-from-a-cookie-cutter-ness.

The game is packed with extra 'little' features, like making your own spells and trapping souls and enchanting items-- doing it yourself or having others do it for you, you choose. There are a collection of guilds to join; there are some unique to Morrowind, like the Morag Tong, and then the typical Fighters, Mages, and Thieves guilds. The quests in Morrowind are unique; you'll never be told to do the same thing twice. Side-quests included, I'd estimate there were something like 200 of them, but that is a very low estimate.

There are also three Great Houses in the game you have to join at one point or another. The conflicts between them, and the foreign Mages, Fighters and Thieves guilds, grow more obvious as you learn more about Morrowind. The whole place is veritably seething with intrigue, but if you think guild conflicts are all there is, you've got a lot to learn. Along the way, you'll find out about the (generally) hated Daedra and the Tribunal of gods, and about a prophecy that is changing the world.

The sound in the game was a bit of a disappointment for me. Each creature has 3 sounds and that's it, and some are even re-used for other creatures. This felt very cheap. NPC dialogue lines, however, are very well recorded and there are a large number of lines per Race/Sex combination.

The music is wonderful. There are only about 40 minutes of it, but it'll take your breath away the first time you hear the title theme. It grows a bit redundant, but you can add in your own fantasy themed music easily if you want too.

Then there is the Construction Set, the tool with which the entire world was made. You can make mods of all types with it-- change walk speeds, make new armor, raise a whole island, or even change the world completely. The CS deserves a review by itself, really. It's the best game editing tool I have seen-- beats the NwN toolset flat, in case you were wondering.

The Bad
The NPC models were a bit of a disappointment. The graphics system had to manage NPCs so that different armor could fit over any body part, so the game had to use a clunky limb system. This isn't too bad normally, but it does look a bit blocky and subtracts from the realism.

The game isn't balanced too well. Good items are too easy to find early on. But then again, how could it be balanced perfectly, in a game where any class could go any place at any time?

Is that all? No, not really. That's not enough to call Morrowind a 'flawed masterpiece'. But there is something else about the game. It's hard to explain.

But, after playing for a while and then going back to another game for a bit, you'll realize how bland Morrowind's textures are. It's like every single texture was taken and had the contrast lowered half way to black and white; everything is nearly in shades of gray. Except the sky! You don't notice it right away, but it can really bug you after a while.

It's only part of the full effect, however. Added is the fact that you start the game as a stranger in a strange land; the world around you is alien and very dry. The burned lands that have been ruined by the Fire Mountain take up 3/4 of the whole island. After a while, you'll find yourself yearning for verdant forests, lush fields-- something that feels ALIVE! That is my main complaint with the game. It really does begin to trouble you after playing it for a while.

The Bottom Line
Morrowind is a great game. The one large flaw and other, very small ones do not ruin it; they might have destroyed a smaller game, but Morrowind is so massive, with so many amazing features and so many hours of gameplay, that it still comes across as a brilliant game. It's one that I think every gamer should get, especially those who enjoy RPGs. It really revolutionizes the genre. 'Flawed Masterpiece' just about sums it up!

Windows · by ShadowShrike (277) · 2004

Sigh...

The Good
Well, Morrowind.....here goes. Even thinking about this game makes me tired. It never ends. Taught me a lot about that I don`t necessarily have to finish something I don´t like.

Well, the graphics are nice, especially compared to Neverwinter Nights which came out the same year. Each location really does feel real and new...almost. Was kinda nice to explore.

The books, oh the books were excellent...the background for this game was brilliant. It seems that the Bethesda designers really aren`t stupid (like I sometimes like to think) but instead have a huge amount of knowledge about how the real world works; the geography, history, Rennes-le-Chaeteu style historical mysticism... I mean everything that I can think from our world was in some form or another there. The world of Morrowind seems logical thanks to the background information. This was the only time when I felt that a fantasy world really could work.

And it`s world. Most fantasy games use just Ye Olde England for inspiration for their worlds. Well Morrowind... The Empire is Roma with a touch of baroque, and Morrowind (the nation, not the game) has a lot of similarities with occupied Israel with a touch of Mongolia, completed with the Temple and longing for the Messiah stuff.

I loved the small details. Like looting corpses gives you stuff what you saw them carry when they were alive and what they logically would carry. You will not find a Sword of Ultimate Destruction on some beggars corpse, or in the booksellers chest. I also loved it that you don`t gain experience from killing but from practicing your skills.

Art Design... Sadrith Mora, Ascadian Isles, Vivec...beautiful locations, just beautiful. I like mushroom buildings.

The Bad
Art Design....the world was mostly brown. I cant stand brown, it makes me feel horrible. I even cant really stand games that are brown when they have good storytelling like Arcanum or Ultima 6.

Morrowind boasts itself as the most open-ended and complex cRPG before Oblivion. The truth is that none of the Elder Scrolls games are really open-ended. (Bob the imaginary gaming friend : "Hey now, that`s quite a statement considering the fact that Elder Scrolls are known for their open-ended gameplay.")

Wait let me explain, true, you can go anywhere you want to and do any quest you want to (Bob: "Aint that what open-ended gameplay is all about?"), but... for example, in Arcanum if you killed an plot-critical character the game was designed so that you could still continue... in Morrowind if you kill a plot-critical character the game ends with a message that you can no longer complete the main story (Bob: "Thats what some would call choice and consequence.").

And the quests are pretty generic. I mean, there were basically like 3 different quests (get me that item, kill that man, go to a place called Abu Dhabi) in the game and 1000 variations of them. Thats not what I would call open-ended. Its just bad design.

And having a different character does not change anything; I mean in 2002 when Morrowind came out the gaming world had already experienced Fallouts and Arcanum where the game responded and commented on your choices in character design(even Ultimas did that). Morrowind does not to that. There isnt really any difference being a female or male, Orc or Nord, Mage or Fighter.

You cant make any choices in the game, it all comes down to this: accept or decline quest (Hey, wtf I am talking about! There were only like 10 incidents when you even had the choice to decline the quest, you mostly accept them), and when you accept the quest there really is only one way to solve the quest. When they tell you to kill, you kill; when they tell you to fetch, you fetch; when they tell you to bark, you bark or kill them, loot them and then get another quest. Sometimes you can even give people money (or admire them) so that they would not kill you. Yeah it is kinda like persuading, but doesnt feel as cool (Troika did persuading and seducing best).

One of the problems is that the dialogue is boring, dull, horrible, disastrous, catastrophic, apocalyptic, you name it - it is just so nonliving and unreal. I played Arena just for seeing if designers at Bethesda have somehow evolved and... they haven`t. It is still the same boring stuff without any distinctive characteristics.

Here is an example:

NPC: "Hi, I am mister Sinuele Musiala and I am commoner."

PC: Commoner

NPC: "Commoners work."

PC: Molag Amur

NPC: "Molag Amur is the lava-region in the Vardenfall district of Morrowind in the Empire of Tamriel."

PC: Ring

NPC: "My ring was stolen and I heard that Lukipikidikus Mahaberallus last saw it in the other side of the world."

PC: World

NPC: "Yes."

journal entry added

I swear I saw the same kind of dialogue in Arena, just without the extra detail like commoners work.

Now to the main quest. Been there, than that. Doesn`t Bethesda have any talented writers (hard to believe considering the quality of the in-game books) or they just think that good writing is unnecessary.

Bob: "Actually, many of the in-game books were just crappy pulp novels."

At least the amount of side-quests allows you to choose which House to join (gives you a different looking stronghold), or which dungeon to go (although after visiting 3, they all look the same. There´s hundreds of them in Morrowind. How did Ultimas manage with only 8?). The main quest allows no choice in affecting it. Its static. I think this is very bad, especially in a cRPG made in the new millennium. You might say, hey you mentioned Ultimas and I see that they are in your favorite game list, but in them you could not affect the main plot either, so shut the f*ck up and praise Morrowind as the god that came before Oblivion.

Bob: "Actually, I wanted to say that..."

Well, my imaginary gaming friend, I got news for you Ultima 5-7 were made in 88-92 ,14-10 years before Morrowind. What they had were NPC schedules, npc-s lived lives, and then in Ultima 7 each NPC was an individual with his/her own fears, interests, life; they were real (as real as one gets in cRPG made in 92). There were no Lukipikidukus Mahaberraluses who say that commoners work.

Bob: "Hey, I even don`t like RPG-s, so..."

And then, my imaginary gaming friend, you might say: "What about Planescape or Baldurs Gate, they didn`t have these things you talk about."

Bob: "Will you stop putting words into my mouth!"

Well, my answer is, they had GOOD writing and in Planescape you could make choices inside the storyline. What my point is, is that games should evolve, not take a step back in design. Morrowind for all its prettiness and background world detail feels older than Ultima 5 (not to mention that U5 had more interesting characters).

Bob: "Great. There`s just no reasoning with you."

I mentioned that the background world detailing was excellent, but it is done in a encyclopedia-boring kinda way. It really is not in the real game-world. In theory Morrowind`s world is rich with conflict - two different religions, conflict between the occupied and the occupiers, dissidents and the official doctrine, secret cults, smuggling, slavery, racism, drugs, clash of cultures, everyday life and the supernatural, true history and false history, colonialism, etc. - but in reality all that represents these things are the variations of the "three quests" I mentioned earlier. Only books and some wiser characters (characters that come with more generic topics than others) try to add something to the world. Well Bethesda, less tell, more show next time (unfortunately you did the same thing with Oblivion).

Yet another thing. Jeremy Soule. I loved Icewind Dales soundtrack, but the guy is just rearranging his old stuff. If you compare the soundtracks of Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind and Dungeon Siege (which all came out the same year and all were made by Soule) you cant really tell that they come from different games.

Bob: "Well I dont know about that. Dungeon Sieges soundtrack was pretty catchy and more cheerful than the others."

And Morrowinds soundtrack is probably the worst that Soule has ever done. All the battle themes and explorations tunes are just variations of the main theme, which itself is quite a nice melancholic little tune, but in a big game like Morrowind it gets really tiring and old fast. Considering the fact that Morrowinds world is more original than Sieges or Nights, he could have created something more closer with the game`s world - a mix between baroque, roman and asiatic. That generic fantasy soundtrack, that can be easily used in another game, is really a disappointment for me.

I still remember midnight meetings with Katrina in Shadows of Darkness and talking with wisps in Ultima or Gabriel getting into trouble, even feeding the eagle in King`s Quest 5 thanks to the excellent music that fitted and made these particular moments even more beautiful. Sometimes Soule creates the same kind of music, that feels so right for the game, and enchances and enriches it making it alive. This time he did not.

I remember these moments from games that I played many years ago, I wonder if I remember anything from Morrowind after 4 years. KQ 5 was also pretty bad on the writing department, but its music burned it into my memory. Morrowind is generic both in writing and music. And it had so much potential. The creative ideas behind its world are so refreshing after yet another Forgotten Realms game. But Morrowind fails as an open-ended game because of the boring quests, lifeless world and lack of human element in its writing.

Bob: "Perhaps the game was intended to be as such."

What do you mean?

Bob: "Elder Scrolls series are one of the most well-sold RPG series ever. I am fairly sure that the "lack of human element in its writing" and the bestseller status are somehow related. I guess most people like "boring quests" and big lifeless worlds. Not all people are pseudo-intellectual geeks like you. Its simple really, the game is fun because its not deep."

I see. Well... most people are stupid anyway.

The Bottom Line
Despite overall negative attitude of my review, I did enjoy some moments of the game. I like exploring and meeting new people and see how they live. Morrowind got only the exploring part right (if you ignore cliff racers - those things make combat even more annoying than it is in JRPGs; yeah, it`s possible for combat to be more annoying than in Final Fantasy).

But still, Morrowind has one great value. It looks pretty.

Windows · by The Fabulous King (1332) · 2011

One Giant Ball Of Awesome

The Good
The Environments were spectacular and the creatures and landscapes were amazing. Bethesda crammed so much wonder into a little disk. The characters were wonderfully designed and beautifully generated. The random weather system itself was good. And just the amount of caves and tombs they could fit in and did fit in are just..wow.

The Bad
Well It lacked an actual conversation system. The only reason you talked to a guy was to ask for directions or kill him.On another note the combat system is repetitive.Just slash and slash and hope you kill your enemy before it can kill you. Also I believe that there isn't enough good loot to steal. That's what I love most about the game but you can pretty much only get cups and plates from someone you rob.

The Bottom Line
It's good still outweigh the bad. A perfect game for any true Elder Scroll lover. While others might have trouble with it just give it time. It's a wonderful game.

Xbox · by Lord Dayin (9) · 2007

[ View all 23 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Add Game Group karnak1 (22) Dec 24, 2012
Morrowind vs. Oblivion Unicorn Lynx (181780) Jul 26, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Content

Morrowind is told to include 3244 NPCs, 316.042 hand placed objects, 480 billion possible characters to create and play, 150 billion spells by using spellmaking in the game, and six full sized novels worth of text.

Creature differences

Some monsters and creatures went through drastic visual changes from Daggerfall and Battlespire to Morrowind. First, the type of khajiit are the same as those presented in Redguard, while the Dremora were turned from fair-skinned, horned demons to black and red-skinned demons. Harpies were replaced with (visually at least) Winged Twilights, and other monsters such as the slaughterfish, orcs and others remain much the same, though much better looking in true 3D.

Graphics

Ever wonder why Morrowind can run at such a slow FPS sometimes and why the game is notorious for making even expensive, fast systems (as of 2004) seem slow? The answer is simple; polygons. While playing the game you'll encounter vast areas full of people, objects and architecture. All these are made from polygons and require the videocard to process them. Morrowind has possibly the heaviest counts of polygons in a single video game, most likely surpassing every game before it and still with a vast number more than contemporary games.

References

There is a single daedric crescent from Battlespire hidden in Morrowind, but getting to it requires some work and initiative (it isn't a part of any main or faction quest), or access to a hint guide.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2002 – #9 Best PC Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2003 (Issue #148) - #3 overall in the "10 Best Games of 2002" list
  • Computer Gaming World
    • April 2003 (Issue #225) – RPG of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2002 - PC RPG of the Year
    • 2011 – #14 Top PC Game of the 2000s
  • RPG Vault
    • 2002 - Game of the Year
    • 2002 - Role-Playing Game of the Year

Information also contributed by calavera, Jason Musgrave, ShadowStrike and WildKard

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by NeoMoose.

Xbox One added by Kennyannydenny. Xbox Cloud Gaming added by Sciere.

Additional contributors: PCGamer77, -Chris, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, OFoglada, Shoddyan, Sciere, Aubustou, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack, Kennyannydenny.

Game added May 10, 2002. Last modified March 28, 2024.