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Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is without doubt one of the finest RPG's ever created, step inside the rich and deep world of Morrowind.
Not being a massive RPG fan I followed the development of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with some trepidation, sure Iād heard some big rants and raves about it but thereās something about character classes and levelling up, which instantly switches me off. Sure I have had some great times playing games like Zelda, but you canāt call these RPGās in the truest sense of the word, youād even be hard pressed to call the Final Fantasy games true RPGās, however Morrowind is exactly that, firmly rooted in nerd territory with character classes, skill, attributes, etcā¦ and I absolutely love it.
Iāve been playing Morrowind for the previous couple of months now, ever since we received preview code and to say Iām hooked would be the understatement of the whole history of mankind. I know how bad this sounds, however the experience Iāve felt playing through Morrowind is the nearest Iāve ever come with a videogame to creating an alternative reality, itās pure escapism and I love it.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is the latest chapter in the epic, award-winning RPG series that has included Arena and Daggerfall, and a game destined to redefine the genre by presenting the most detailed virtual world ever created.
Played through a first-person perspective, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is an epic, open-ended single-player game where you create and play any kind of character you can imagine. Upon starting the game you wake up to realise that youāre a prisoner onboard a prison ship, a quick chat with a fellow passenger reveals that youāre being set free on the Emperorās orders, and so begins the games excellent character creation system. After leaving the boat youāll create your character through a number of conversations with different people, firstly you select your name and race from a dialogue with the first soldier you see. The game offers a number of different races to choose from, each offering different skills and attributes. Upon selecting your race, gender and look youāre then greeted by the Census Officer who sets up your character class, which can be created in three different ways. Firstly is the choice of answering several multiple choice questions, your answers will then decide what type of character you are. You can also pick from a selection of standard character classes or create your own. The way that this has been implemented into the gameās dialogue is a sign of the excellence on offer in this title, and a great way for the game to start off, hooking you immediately.
After that youāre free to explore the wonderful world of Morrowind, what you do is completely up to you, explore the first town of Seyda Naan, talk to the villagers and get to know a little about the world youāre currently in or perhaps engage in some tasks that they may have. There is a strong running narrative behind Morrowind, which tells of an Imperial courier marked by the stars, born on a certain date to uncertain parents, came to Morrowind a stranger and outlander, and lived to become one of that nation's most enduring legends. Youāre free to follow this main story or take on the hundreds of different quests available, join guilds, wander through the wilderness raiding the different tombs that frequent the landscape or just do what you want to. Bethesda Studios have created the most open-ended and non-linear adventure you could ever hope to play, fortunately thereās been some very clever design to back this up so you donāt end up aimlessly wandering around lost in the mist.
Firstly is the excellent journal system which keeps track of what youāve been up to on a day to day basis, keeping notes of important conversations and letting you bring up information on anything particular, itās like an encyclopaedia crossed with a diary and helps to keep you on track when you might begin to get confused. Without this Morrowind could soon have become lost in itās own greatness, Bethesda have created such a rich and vibrant world full of history and politics that without any direction players would have soon become lost and given up. Just as an example the game contains dozens of books, each of which can be read to give you some understanding about the world, itās history, the epic story of the struggle between good and evil that took place, and the relationships between the many different races that populate Morrowind. Itās fair to say that Bethesda have created the richest game world ever seen in a videogame, at times itās so daunting yet equally compelling to find out everything about the world you now live in.
To start off with youāll want to converse with the many characters that populate each of the regions town and cities, dialogue is handled in a traditional RPG manner with a box that allows you to talk about specific areas that you can talk about. Each NPC that you talk to will react differently to you, some may like you other wont, it all depends on your different attributes and reputation. A player who has a high rating in the speachcraft skill will be able to charm the socks off anyone, those who lack the ability to chat can always try to intimidate, taunt, admire or bribe their way to find out the information they want, of course this may come at a cost as they could see straight through you and begin to loose their respect in you.
The dialogue box also allows you to train and barter with certain characters, training simply costs a fee and youāll then increase that particular skill. Barter allows you to buy and sell items and goods, which brings me on to what for me was the most impressive aspect of the game. Every single item in the world of Morrowind has a value and a worth in the game, you can pick up anything that you see, allowing you to steal items if you get the chance (though youāll have to watch out for anyone that may see you), or perhaps pick berries from a plant to use in a potion if youāre sufficiently trained in the skills of alchemy. I know itās not a major feature in the world of RPGās, but to a certain extent itās all feels so natural and lifelike in 3D, there are no restrictions on what you can do and thatās whatās so wonderful.
Youāll probably spend your first few days in Morrowind without actually engaging in any combat, in fact if you donāt want to get your arse kicked itās probably a good idea to stay away from it until youāre sufficiently equipped. A quick way to increase your combat levels is to explore the areas just outside of towns, often populated by minor creatures that you can kill to safely increase your stats. After awhile youāll have built up your character sufficiently and purchased enough weaponry, armour or magic to engage in some of the games more serious missions. Joining the various different guilds on offer will open up new tasks and objectives which will give you experience and money, there are a number of these guilds to join including Fighters, Mages and Thieves, whilst you can also enlist to any of the number of Great Houses that govern the different regions in Morrowind. Slowly the game will push you to a meeting with a character, where youāll realise that the Emperor sanctioned your release for you to enlist in the Blades, a secret society of spies working for the Emperor himself. I donāt want to spoil any of the surprises in store, suffice to say there is an epic story to be told, wonderfully presented through important dialogue, reading the books and occasionally through cryptic clues during dream sequences.
As your skills increase your character will begin to advance to different levels, this grants you points that you can then use to increase your attributes. All the skills are dependant on the relevant actions, so using a sword will increase your long blade skill, once you level up youāll then be able to increase your strength attributes and so on.
The actual combat is your standard FPS material, if youāre skilled enough in the areaās of combat and blocking youāll be able to connect with your slashes and block any attacks on you, this is of course if you choose a warrior type of character. Spells are cast in a similar manner, and on the whole it works well. Unfortunately there is no way of gauging how much energy your opponent has, it would have been nice to see a health bar somewhere or more impressive visual damage to your opponents armour and body would have given a visual clue, as it stands this is one of the games main problems so make sure you make use of the quick save function, activated whenever you take a rest to top up your health and fatigue levels.
Whilst weāre also on the subject of problems the game contains a number of bugs, and problems with clipping. Of course with a game so large itās understandable that everything is not perfect, however these can prove to be very frustrating at times as characters block your entrance to a doorway or fall through the environment. Thankfully most of these can be eased with the console commands, āfixmeā should sort out most of the problems youāll find yourself up against.
An area that has no complaints though is in the visuals; the rich and vibrant world is really brought to life with some of the most impressive visuals I have ever seen. Textures are ludicrously crisp and highly detailed, whilst the games different regions all sport varying looks and appearances. Take a look at the sky at night and witness Morrowindās twin moons in all their magnificent glory, whilst the weather system will truly suck you in to believing this is a real world youāve stepped into. Of course this all comes at a price as youāll need quite a hefty set-up to run Morrowind in all itās glory, Iād advise a PIII800, 500MB RAM and a GeFroce3 card to get this running nicely.
To top things off Morrowind has a stirring soundtrack and fantastic spot effects, crank it through a Hi-Fi or decent sound system and be prepared to jump the first time youāre caught in a storm or wandering through the ambient voices whenever you explore the tombs.
Perhaps the master touch is the inclusion of the TES Construction Kit, which allows you to create your own add-ons and expansions. The game itself offers unlimited longevity, even when youāve completed the games main storyline you can always just wander around Morrowind exploring areas you might have missed and completing the tasks you didnāt attempt. However the plug-ins allow the world of Morrowind to continually evolve, already Bethesda have released three plug-ins offering new weapons, a new soundtrack for a particular area and the ability to earn money from entertaining people. There are dozens of plug-ins out there created from Morrowind players, so basically there is no end to the game this is something to last you a life-time.
