Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind

I’m a person that started their RPG video game “career” in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and TES5: Skyrim, so ‘forcing’ myself to go back and try Morrowind is something new. The game is very dated with a great story, complex DnD style combat, and incredibly bad movement. The character creation and DnD aspects of this game are amazing and play perfectly into the story. The combat desperately needs an explanation if you’ve never played this game before.

Starting out the game is very similar to the 4th and 5th games; A prisoner that gets released some way or another and starts their journey as this great god amongst men. You start in a small town, and if you don’t pay attention to the ‘tooltips’ or read your journal, you will get lost and waste a lot of unnecessary time. There’s a lot of things in this game that I wish they would bring into the later games; the persuasion button when you’re bartering, the minimap, the journal and building custom spells. I know there’s technically a journal in the later games, but they’re not used or nearly as necessary as the one in this game.

I love the way you get directions and the fact that you absolutely have to read notes. Directions are fantastically bad in this game and it makes it so much more fun. You’re told “There’s a tree to the north east that looks like a fire hydrant, to the left of that about 400 feet there’s a lever that activates the next mission” you really have to pay attention or else you’re not going to get anywhere. Having to rely on yourself and the way you interpret things allows you to feel like you’re actually doing something, rather than just following a waypoint on a map, and completing a mission.

Going through the story, you’re sooner or later going to need combat; with the game made to simulate DnD, it’s very hard for a new player to get into. When making your character you have to abide by DnD rules. You’ll only hit your target depending on that skill, even if you’re less than a foot away from your target. Magic is awesome in this game, same as basic combat it’ll only hit if your perk is high enough, but you can build your own spells. If you have enough skill in your magic, and enough money you can make a spell that never misses, one shots anything, and costs way too much Magika.

The game is f*cking amazing; with a great slow story, awesomely boring combat, and even better magic. The game also has an amazing modding scene, almost as good as Skyrims, and is getting a mod/style remake INSIDE Skyrim. I recommend this game night and day, but it’s still got it’s flaws.

8/10 – Kill those f*cking Cliffracers for me.

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