The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

The Good
...and nothing more to it, really. Granted, a walk like that can be fairly interesting for a while, much like being in an enigmatic dream that may or may not just turn into a nightmare. Thus your walk may be intriguing up to the point that you visited all the highlights, set pieces like 'The Quiet Fishing Village', the 'Dark Foreboding Tomb', 'The City With The Weird Architecture' and so forth. But then you realize that this is a 'hands off' kind of theme park, there are no interactive elements; sure, you can enter the caves and houses but their residents are the dullest androids ever, each repeating the same lines. Sometimes radio-controlled creatures seem to attack you but they feel fake and out of place. You soon feel that you had enough; it's one lifeless, soulless park.

The Bad
Morrowind just doesn't work as a game. Without repeating all the agreeable criticism of the previous reviews I'll just emphasize what is possibly the ultimate cause of the title's failure: stock dialogues. NPC conversations are normally the life and soul of an RPG and these were removed due to a highly regrettable design choice. Either that or Bethesda's complete lack of writing skills and NPC-related imagination. Was Ultima7 the last game that got it all right?..

The Bottom Line
Here's hoping that Bethesda learns the error of their ways and Oblivion will actually be an enjoyable role-playing game with unique, believable NPCs.

The Good
The Elder Scrolls franchise has always been one of debate. Some love it others hate. With it 3rd installment Morrowind, we find a game that not only lives up to it’s predecessors, but surpasses them. This was the best of the series until Oblivion that is.

“Each Prophecy Is Preceded By The Coming Of The Hero, If They Fail To Appear…”

Morrowind opens with a somewhat cryptic montage. You awaken from your dream, or was it a vision? To find that your are on route to Morrowind, the newest province of the Empire, it is the continent of the Dunmer, or the Dark Elves. You have been released by writ of the Emperor himself. You have been instructed to travel to Balmora, and report. Of course you do not have to. That is the point and fun of Morrowind. You can play 100 hours with out ever completing “Main Quests”. Or just breeze through the campaign and finish under 40 hours.

The main plot, should you choose to except it, is very good and very well written. It involves you being the reincarnation of The Nevaraine, an ancient hero of the Dunmer. Upon his death Lord Nevar, said he would return again when his people needed him most. That time is apparently coming. As Dagoth Er, is also being resurrected, he means to crush Morrowind under his heel. And is a former friend of Lord Nevar.

The story is filled with twists and turns. As you try and fulfill a ancient prophecy. And the conflict between The Nevaraine and Dagoth Er, is the classic Hero/Villain conflict. The plot is very rich and has everything. Prophecy, revenge, betrayal, conflict, and everything in between.

Who Are You?

Character Creation in Morrowind, is astounding. You have control over everything. From your race, there are 10 total. Your class, there are tons, and you can create you own Multi-class, by mixing and matching, or by using the editor. Speaking of the editor, Morrowind, for the PC includes a Tool Set disc. With this you can create quests, classes, weapons, structures, and even NPC’s. It is incredibly easy to use, as even I was able to use it, and I have no experience whatsoever designing games.

Leveling up is handled a little differently than most RPGS, as you do not gain EXP. Instead you learn by doing. If you want to be a master thief, you must pick locks, a swordsman, you must use your sword, or ply your other various trades. It makes for a more realistic gameplay experience, but may turn some players off.

“Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting….”

Combat in Morrowind, is visceral, and can be great fun. With various implements of destruction, you can slash, stab, and chop your way through various enemies. Blocking is a passive skill, which sort of sucks, but what can you do? The real fun is when you do battle with humans and humanoids, as dueling a fellow swordsman is more fun, that cutting down a monster.

Crime and Punishment

Will you be a model citizen, a thief, or even cold-blooded killer? However beware, unlike some “open-ended” games. Ahem, GTA. Crime can gain you actual punishment. From jail-time, which can lower your hard-earned stats if you gain a long sentence. To banishment. Or even death.

But remember, it is not a crime if you are not caught.

When It Comes To Graphics This Game Steals The Show

The visuals in Morrowind are excellent. The continent of Vvardenfell, or Morrowind. Manages to look alien and realistic all at the same time. As tall trees and enormous mushrooms, fill dense forests. Strange and familiar creatures wander the landscape. Small villages and monolithic cities abound, as well as dark dungeons and tall mountains. The human and non-human inhabitants look real alike. The lighting effects excellent, the sun lights the sky and depicts realistic shadows, as does the glow of the twin moons. The changing time of day and weather also effects the look of the game. And the torch-light cast on your avatar looks stunning.

The sound and music is excellent as well. Combat sound effects are loud and reverberate. Voice overs sound great. But are not that common. Monsters roar, and spells sound eerie. There is lack of ambiance, but that can be solved by downloading a quick add-on.

The music steals the show here. With an epic score composed by videogame maestro, Jeremy Soule. The tunes range from, epic, heroic, to frantic as your engage in combat.

The Bad
The Bad and The Ugly

Well, the leveling system, is not for everyone. And Bethesda could have taken measures to make the world seem more populated. But this is a flaw in most games like this.

It can be very difficult getting started, combat will be very hard, and the game can overwhelming. Yet towards the end the game is too easy. Other balance issues abound.

The game also tends to very buggy. But at least updates are common.

This game has fairly low system requirements considering how impressive it is. Yet still may be too much for some systems, and others may have trouble getting it to work properly, despite the fact that they meet all the system requirements.

Passive blocking is the bane of this game. Why do you have no control over your shield, and weapon when it comes to blocking? At least Oblivion remedies this.

The Bottom Line
In the end Morrowind, is a fun, and addictive RPG experience that over comes it’s many flaws. And user-created content just adds to an already huge game. Live another life and have fun exploring and adventuring in the vast world of Vvardenfell.

The Good
Not what I liked, more like what I loved. I personally put in over 2000 hours in this game (not including modding). The great thing about this game is that you don't have to follow any line of quests, you can just do whatever you feel like, and if you feel like doing the main quest, or side quests, do as you please. The graphics are unbelievable, even today, nearly two years after it came out. Not to mention the size, unbelievable. It's hard to get a grip of how huge Vvardenfell is, but get a grip. The beauty in the world is amazing. Some people say that the NPC's are dull, and that they should be doing stuff. They do do stuff, walk around, thats the NPC's job, to do nothing but maybe give you hints to what to do, thats why they're non playable. And some do, most don't, but considering the hundreds of npc's, and by hundreds I mean over 1000, it is truely remarkable. And if they dont like the games way's, it comes with an EXTREMELY powerful editor that is fully compatible with 3D Studio Max.

The Bad
The bad, well, with a game with so much goods, things can go wrong. You have to read a lot in this game, as would be expected with the size of the world, and the limits on a cd. I think that the game could have had them talking about most things if it were on multiple disks, which most huge games are. Reading doesn't bother me much, but it may bother others. Another thing that bothered other people, but not me much was the inability to do much when you start out. Virtually any animal can kill you, and you can't hit anything, and most people in today's world are used to GTA and games that you start out with abilities, and don't gain or lose any of them. But you have to earn your way to the top of the world in this game, and I love that. The cool part is, that technically have unlimited levels. In one of my characters i'm level 232 (and i'm 1000 in another, but that time i used the console). Other than that, there's not much wrong with this game.

The Bottom Line
This game is, to me, the greatest game I've ever played, if your into games with freedom, then this is for you. Think of it like this, its GTA, except with a much bigger world, more NPC's and a better story, but with swords, spells, and that D&D flavor....... buy it today...