The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

The Good
The 'good' section could go on for quite a while, so I'll try to keep it as summary-ish as possible while still detailing all the marvels of this game.

You start out as a released prisoner who's been shipped off to the island of Vvardenfell, on the far northeastern reaches of the Empire of Tamriel. Why, you don't know (and similarly you have no other knowledge of your past). You at once enter a charming little medieval village filled with great architecture and people milling around randomly. Of course, as soon as you talk to a few NPCs, the less-than-charming undercurrent of events in the town becomes evident: the local tax collector has vanished, and probably killed by the way people talk of him. The guards are corrupt. People at once offer you quests of stealing from other people. And this is before you get to cities with the assassin's and theives guilds! (There seriously is an assassin's guild, and what's more it's totally legal--a writ from the guild being literally a pardon for murder!)

Once you've gone through the preliminary steps of creating your character (which is cool because you can choose from a huge list of diverse characters, or--as I think most people did--just combine whatever skills you want into a character of your own choosing) then you can head out into the next room from the census officer and proceed to rob it of all its silver plates and lockpicks and money, if the urge strikes you. From there on you can do whatever you want. No limitations, no orders from anybody except directions to go to another city and find some guy, which you can put off forever if you like. You can explore around the gigantic island of Vvardenfell, which has impressive landscapes: the coastal areas are green with grass and mushroom shaped trees and lakes, but as you move closer to the volcano in the middle of the island it becomes a maze of paths in between rocky, blacked mountains, with buildings made from the shells of giant insects and bazillions of dungeons and tombs throughout.

There are numerous guilds and feuding factions you can join and do quests for them to gain respect and services. There is a main quest, but you can just ignore it and go explore the island, discovering every little secret plot, historical mystery, or evil shrine that is has to reveal. After a good amount of playing, my character has still only explored the western coast of the island, which leaves lots more to see, and has never run short of things to do. Many secrets await (such as being turned into a vampire, sometimes inadvertently) and little flashes of humour too (sometimes unintentional: one time I sold a huge heavy shoulder pad to a wizard in a robe, and if you sell an expensive item to anyone, they'll put it on. She put this on, and it looked hilariously funny)

Even out in the wilderness are NPCs who offer you quests: I was walking around one time and some lady asked me to direct her to a place where she was making a pilgrimage to. She knew where it was, so I don't know why she needed a guide. But she offered me 150 gold, so I obliged. Along the way, we were swimming through a lake when I noticed that her dead body was floating on the surface of the water, having been killed by a hostile sea creature. it was all the same to me--the gold was on her anyway. Etc.

The game is totally opened and it would take months or maybe years of playing to full explore the island--and there are two expansion packs as well, Bloodmoon generally being considered the better of the two.

Anyway, graphics are awesome, there's a wierd variety of creatures, that, combined with the wierd 'Ashland' terrain almost feels like you're on a desert alien planet. The architecture is extremely varied and carefully done, and every little detail is in place. You can do anything you want, almost, and lead your character down any path you like. Live as a knight, running around freeing slaves and saving lost pilgrims. Or become an outlaw, sneaking around towns and hacking up citizens for their valuables--which works fine as long as you don't get caught. Well, Looking at how much I've written, it's probably almost enough. So on to the Bad.

The Bad
The majority of my gripes with this game are of the 'it could have been even awesomer' variety. As it is, the game is better than most, but I still find myself seeing ways it could have been better done.

A more serious problem first: The quests are often repetetive and boring, consisting of go-get-this-item (or, even worse, gather a batch of alchemical ingredients, for which you have to go rooting through every little plant in the countryside hoping to find it) or go kill such and such a person or monster. I hear the quests are a lot better in the Bloodmoon expansion, which I haven't played.

Secondly, you need an incredibly powerful computer to run the game, due to all the great graphics and huge extent of the place, and most people probably don't have the required system specs. And even with a great computer, you'll encounter frequent sandstorms in the Ashlands which drive your framerate down to horrible levels.

While there are plently of different NPCs to talk to, they seem bland and undetailed, most of them apparently having no in-game reason to exist--they don't reveal any information that other people don't, they don't offer quests, etc. And the time of day doesn't affect them in any way: they still wander around the streets, meaning it's no easier to commit a crime under the darkness than the light. The only difference is that the guards carry around torches at night.

The crime and legal system could have been a lot better. Let's give some examples: I can walk into a guard tower and find a guard standing up there, doing his job. I decide to wait until his back is turned and then grab that incredibly valuable armour sitting on the table behind him. My crime is unseen and I walk out (he doesn't notice. 'Is that an iron longsword in your pants or are you just glad to see me?') but you'd think that he'd have had a good enough look at me that when they notice the stuff is gone they'd come looking for me. Or I can go up there and kill the same guard, and beat him to death instantly, but somehow I get the message box that 'Your crime has been reported' and I have a bounty on my head--making people unwilling to talk to me, among other things. Even though the only witness is stone dead.. Could it be that someone saw me on the way out? No, because I got in trouble the second I hit the guy. Another example: I can kill a villager while nobody is looking, then sit next to the body poking at it with my sword and playing paper doll with it, putting different clothing and armour onto it, and a guard walks right past, not having any second thoughts. And nobody ever mentions that the person died, either. And finally, I can find someone wandering in the back alleys and hit them. Then they run away and out into an open area full of people and guards, and I then catch up and kill them. But the guards didn't see the beginning of the fight and don't pay any attention to it.

Enemies don't go through doors. Every location, even a cave, has a door, and if you're being overpowered, you can just walk out the door and sleep for a couple hours to regain your strength, while presumably the enemies are beating on the inside of the flimsy wooden door, unable to open it.

And your actions, ultimately do not affect the game world. You can do whatever you want, become head of any guild, or the leader of a ruling house, but you can't affect their political relations with the other houses, or send people on the same missions you fought through to get to your position. But forget about all this. The game is still awesome.

The Bottom Line
This game is incredible. Get it now. First get all the necessary computer upgrades to run it, but still get it. And tell all your friends!

The Good
Let me start out by admitting that it's been several months since I played Morrowind. At first I thought that that would make my review a little suspect, but I've reached the conclusion that instead it might actually help people, since my remarks represent the impressions that have stuck with me over time.

First, the good. Morrowind is by far the most immersive RPG I've ever played. That's because it all takes place in first-person, in a convincingly rendered 3D world. Unlike most RPG's, which make you strain to convince yourself that you're actually the character on the screen, Morrowind lets you don the armor of your character of choice quite convincingly.

Hand in hand with that goes the fact that the art, the sounds, and the animations are all done nicely, and there are some genuinely interesting sights for you to see--at least for a few hours, until no matter what you see you'll have the distinct feeling that you've seen it all before.

Finally, the stats system is nice, with lots of areas for you to dump points into, and the freedom to shape your character as you'd like. Oh, and for the creatively inclined, the inclusion of a full-featured editor is a major boon--at least until your game gets so clogged up with crappy, doofus-grade mods that you swear off the use of them entirely.

The Bad
Ok. So much for the good. The bad: it's boring. Even though when you first start out, you'll be impressed by its seemingly limitless horizons, you'll soon realize that Morrowind is little more than yet another Federal Express simulator. The NPC's are flat and characterless, and there is absolutely no sense of life or activity in the countryside. Not a single butterfly or bird flits about in the sunshine. There is only lifeless landscape dotted with the occasional out-of-place looking "monster" (I put "monster" in quotes because none of them are particularly frightening). You'll be hard-pressed after a few days of repetitious slogging through Morrowind's environments to convince yourself that you're in anything like a realistic, living world.

Adding to this problem is the fact that Vvardenfell (the actual name of the island on which the game takes place) has got to be the most depressing place ever conceived. If Everquest is like crack, Morrowind is like Valium, and beyond one humorous main-quest NPC at the beginning of the game, there is nary a smile or bright moment to be had in the entire game. At least, there wasn't up to the point at which I finally had to quit playing before I just slit my wrists and ended it all. Every dark place is filled with evil and foreboding, but it's not exciting evil and foreboding, like, say, Mordor. It's dull evil and foreboding, like Cleveland, and somehow the designers have made even the bright, sunny areas of Vvardenfell seem merely like bright and sunny tombs full of nothingness.

As I said, the quests are boring. Even the main quest, which features one of those dime-a-dozen monumental revelations about your true nature so common to RPG's, lacks any ability to engage the intellect or imagination, and simply serves as one more excuse to send you hacking and slashing into yet another cave full of dark foreboding and evil. On the one hand you could ask, what does one expect from an RPG anyway? But on the other, you could ask with equal justice, why does the obvious and boring have to seem so doggone obvious and boring as it does in Morrowind?

The Bottom Line
Morrowind is a fun game for awhile, and is easily the most immersive RPG made to date. But it suffers from the somewhat serious defects of being boring and depressing. To be sure, it has legs among a certain segment of the population--those, I guess, who rather like boring and depressing games--but I imagine that for most people the interest in it will be relatively short-lived.

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.