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| Erwin's Pages Central > Articles > Games Reviews > The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | |||
   
  
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Developer: Bethesda Softworks I don't know why I'm here. All I
know is I got hit on the head while I was doing time and the next thing
I knew, I was on this Imperial ship sailing to uncertainty. Not that
I liked prison, I wasn't meant to be there in the first place. Stowed
away by corrupt magistrates and brandished as lowly scum, this is the
fate of a man who has led hundreds of adventures, visited thousands
of lands, and seen all the stars… Welcome to Morrowind, province of the empire of Tamriel, and brand new RPG of Bethesda. Bethesda became famous for their gaming philosophy of total freedom: you are the hero, and only you will determine your fate and the progress of the game. Unfortunately, Bethesda also made a lot of programming errors in the past, making games like Daggerfall and Arena a heartbreaking experience: on the one hand you had a great game with dito story that really sucked you in, but just as you forgot you were playing a computer game, you were cast back down to earth by bugs and crashes. Redguard, the spin-off to Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series, was much better technically-wise, and prophecized the ripening of Bethesda games. Morrowind is to be the pinnacle of what the Elder Scrolls universe has to offer, in every single respect. As you start the game, you need to set who you are (i.e class, race,…) but instead of a drop down menu in the beginning, this process is woven into the game. As you exit the Imperial transport ship, officials will ask you "who you are": this is the place where you set your characteristics. Very nice. Already from the start, you notice the enormous complexity the Elder Scrolls universe has to offer. Races go from the warrior races like Nord, Imperial and Dark Elf (Dunmer), mage races like the Bretons and High Elves and other even more exotic races like the Khajjit and Argonians. After choosing a race (with all its inherent abilities) and your appearance (most faces look hideous btw J) another officer crosses your path. Either through pre-set questions, a list of classes or a custom parameter menu, you can exactly define your class. I fine-tuned my class using the third option, but I also tried the first option, which is a set of 3-answer questions. Example: You see a man running from an angry mob. What do you do? A) You help the poor man B) You help the mob hunt him down because he may be a dangerous criminal C) You do nothing, since it is none of your business. After this set of questions, the game sets your class. Surprisingly, the derived class what not so far off of my custom set class. After this short procedure though, you are absolutely free. And with free, I mean total freedom without any boundaries. Unlike other games which allow limited freedom but ultimately force you to follow the main storyline because certain areas are closed off, Morrowind has absolutely no restrictions. You can become a member of the Imperial Guard, travel to the Emperor who has supposedly ordered your release from prison, you can explore the land as a lone wanderer and earn a living by cleaning out bandit camps, you can be an assassin either in sole employment of a single rich businessman or as an independant hireling… the possibilities are infinite. For some this might sound too overwhelming or too good to be true, but the game really is that complex. For such an elaborate game, the interface is surprisingly streamlined and slim, yet informative and comprehensive. It consists mostly out of windows including your status and stats, your inventory, the larger minimap (which also switches into World View) and your readied spells and skills. What's also very good is that you can leave these windows open during gameplay if you want. The smaller minimap on the lower right-hand corner gives you a good idea of where you are and where you are heading. Talking is done through a association dialogue system: this means that through talking about for instance the Emperor, you can automatically select as topics "Empire", "Imperial Guard" and so on. If your "persuasion" stat (which you can alleviate by helping people, making small talk, bribing…this goes easier ifyour personality stat is higher) relative to the person you are speaking to is high, he/she will more easily grant you information or even perks and secrets. Unfortunately most dialogue is not accompanied with speech. Moreover, the game freezes when you are engaging in dialogue. Of course, in a game this magnitude it is impossible to put in speech everywhere. The characters you meet do have lip synchronization though. The models are quite complex and are nicely textured. Their motions and physics is a bit stiff, though. Talking graphics… Morrowind simply has the best graphics ever. Period. The screenshots were already amazing, but in real-time the entire experience is beyond comprehension. I first saw the game on a GF2MX, but on a DX8 generation board, it is even more stunning. The vegetation, the landscape, the villages, the water (refractions, reflections, shimmer), the skybox (I caught myself staring at the clouds)… You have to see it to believe it. At one point, I asked my girlfriend whether she saw a picture or a game, and she answered the first. Never before was she fooled, but Morrowind… Simply put, Morrowind caused the greatest graphics shock since Unreal back in 1998. This game truly shows what DX8 graphics boards are capable of. Incredibly detailed textures, enormously high polygon counts and meticulously added details make Morrowind… another world. Not only through graphics, but also through the AI you get the feeling as if you're in a real world. Word will spread quickly about your actions, and even the most ridiculous things are noted by the commoners. Example: if you simply stand still in a crowded area, the villagers will start to gossip against each other: "He just stood there, I wonder what he's up to?" The monsters are pretty dumb, but groups of raiders can be very tricky, since they will always strategically attack you (archers back, melee fighters sandwiching you). Taunting is also part of combat. "You have taken you last breath, foreigner!". The combat itself feels a bit stiff, just like the motions of the characters. I missed a real fluid motion during combat. Then again, you can strafe, jump, duck… Can't have it all I guess. Magic on the other hand is pretty straightforward: you can ready one spell but you can quickly scroll through skills and spells. Note that combat and magic are separated, so you cannot simultaneously cast a fireball and perform a, say, sword thrust. The sound presentation of it all is subtle, as it should be in a hardcore RPG. You don't want to find yourself distracted by incessant noise when focusing on an important quest. The quests are stored in your journal, which is, sorry to say, a bit of a mess. Although the journal does index all information gained from conversation or literature, the quests are stored chronologically, and there is no archiving of done quests and those that are yet to be completed. Being such an expansive game, a journal in the style of BG2 (Quests-Done Quests) with annotation possibility would've been greatly appreciated. I guess that's why pen & paper are still around eh? And if it's not enough, Bethesda also includes the TES Construction Set, a comprehensive editor which can add scenarios, races and even an entire new story into the already massive game. The editor is much more powerful than Neverwinter Nights' editor, but is also a bit harder to learn. But when you're familiar with it, it allows endless possibilities. Lastly, we are happy to say that the bugs are limited to a minimum. We only experienced a crash or two during 50 hours of gameplay, so that's not so bad, or even pretty darn good in comparison to previous Bethesda titles. Shadowy parts of Morrowind are few: we already indicated the journal. Also, the system requirements are insane. A 1 Ghz cpu, 256 mb ram and a DX8 generation graphics board are above the minimum requirements, but they are what you really need to fully experience the adventure. EP sez: There's still an enormous deal to say about Morrowind. The guilds, the glamourous items you'll find… But the best way to find out, is to buy the game. It ships in a DVD case (which we loathe), but a beautifully decorated one. If you count all of Morrowind's qualities, there is absolutely no reason to pass this game up. The lack of multiplayer is no big deal, since the game is so big and requires another sort of immersion and concentration than multiplayer games. Morrowind is huge, fun, immersive, great value through the TES Construction set, sets new standards in graphics… Ok, it has a so-so journal and ok it may require you to buy a new pc, but what better reason to upgrade is there? Morrowind is worth it. Every step of the way. Pros and Cons + Huge
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