The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition
by Bethesda Softworks
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Video Game Reviews of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition
Customer Review: A Difficult, Unrewarding Game
Summary: 2 Stars
You'd better like puzzle-type games if you buy this one. Having not previously played any of the Morrowind series, it took far too much time to simply figure out the controls, all keyboard entries. (Your character is, for unknown reasons, usually invisible.) Then deciphering where to go and how to get there, what your next challenge should be, how to equip yourself and carry on fighting, is far too complex. I even bought the not-too-helpful manual. Give me a game controlled by a mouse anytime.Customer Review: Most open minded rpg
Summary: 5 Stars
You can do almost anthing in this game. the graphics are wonderfull to.Customer Review: If your imagination can take the place of consequences for your actions, then until 2006 this was the ultimate roleplaying game.
Summary: 5 Stars
You are a prisoner. For some reason, the Emperor of Tamriel - the mythical land in which all Elder Scrolls games take place - has deemed that you should be released from the Imperial city, and taken to the land of the Dark Elves: Morrowind. When the game begins, you are released from a prison ship on the massive island on which the game takes place, Vvardenfell. Vvardenfell is a district of the province of Morrowind. If you follow the main quest, you will discover that the reason for your release is more profound than you may have thought initially. Of course, whether you ever even do the main quest is entirely up to you, which is one of the great things about Elder Scrolls games.
So, why were you imprisoned to begin with? What crimes you committed or whether you were falsely accused is to be decided in one place and one place only: your imagination. This is important, because it introduces you to Morrowind's greatest strength and weakness - its reliance on your imagination. Morrowind requires a good bit of imagination in order to both understand its complexities and subtleties, and enjoy its frequent lack of substantive ramifications following your actions. It isn't quite the "living breathing world" Bethesda probably intended (and which they finally succeeded in creating with Oblivion, which - if you like Morrowind - you should definitely play.) Morrowind has three things going for it.
1) It's enormous to a degree you've never seen in a game, and probably even bigger than you're imagining before playing it.
2) It allows you to do almost anything you want, go wherever you want, and be any sort of character you want.
3) It offers a rich cultural back-story and depth that is not unlike the meticulous lengths Tolkien went to in crafting the history, races, and minutia of Middle Earth in his Lord of the Rings saga and related materials; there are religions, races, regions, local flora and fauna, competing factions and centers of power, and an ancient history stretching back for thousands of years (all of which, incidentally, is chronicled in the literally hundreds of readable books found throughout the game - all of which are optional, but there if you want to check them out.)
It has several weaknesses, however.
1) Its enormity can sometimes be daunting, especially when you simply want to get where you're going and can't find your way.
2) While you can go anywhere and do anything and be anyone you want, nothing really changes in the world around you as a result (this is a shortcoming Oblivion resolved by giving the world more lifelike characters who remember how you've behaved around them in the past, and branching story paths similar to those in KOTOR.) You simply get rewarded with money, special items you can't get anywhere else, or more of the story (all of which is conveyed via text only) when you make a decision. Once again, your imagination is key, because the motivations and ramifications (beyond your reward and allegiances forged in the process) exist only in your mind.
3) Despite its genuinely impressive depth and richness, its fine points are conveyed through long-winded, encyclopedically clinical dialogue that exists purely in the form of text on the screen. Combined with the limited movement - all of which is entirely scripted - of the people who inhabit the world, this makes them seem pretty boring, redundant, and lifeless for the most part. They are basically gruff, seemingly listless cardboard cutouts masquerading as people, and they often repeat dialogue other characters have already shared with you. What is there, however, is extremely interesting and can even be engrossing if you (once again) use your imagination to breathe life into the otherwise lifeless text.
4) The game can often seem perplexing or seem bugged because locations, people, or items that should be present and are required to complete certain quests often seem like they aren't simply due to the enormous scope and complexity of the game. It can take ages sometimes to find someone or something, and this can make the game quite frustrating. It doesn't help that in two or three instances (though in a game this massive, the fact that there aren't more examples is impressive) actual bugs are the cause of the inexplicable issues.
5) You really have to breathe life into your character by role-playing. This is a true role-playing game, not just a fun romp that calls itself one. You have to envision the character you want to be in your mind, and then stay in character in the game. Most games impose restrictions, making you stay in character for the sake of consistency. But Morrowind doesn't. It allows you to do whatever you want. On the surface, and on the whole, that's a good thing. The problem is, if you are a knight that uses heavy armor and carries an axe, you are given the option to stray totally out of character because of that freedom. You can ditch your heavy armor, take up medium or light armor, and use a bow and arrow instead. This has the effect of making your character's class seem irrelevant, save for added convenience of your class skills leveling up more easily and being easier to use than those outside of your class. You have to avoid the temptation to go out of character if you hope to enjoy the game. Stay in character, and make decisions not as YOU would, but as the CHARACTER would. This is what "role-playing" actually means, and the Elder Scrolls series is a true example of an RPG. If you create boundaries for yourself (for instance: a character who only relies on magic because of some inate trait you come up with for them, or because they simply detest melee weapons as a quirk of their personality) and stay within them, the game is much more fun than it is when you just do whatever you please, totally disregarding your character's class. On the plus side, while there are numerous pre-made character classes, you can combine any of the game's 21 skills and attributes to create (and even name!) your own character class. When added to race and gender, as well as options for face as well as hairstyle (independent of one another) this makes for (not an exaggeration!) more than one million possible character variations. Ultimately though, regardless of the combo you choose, you will essentially be playing a stealthy thief or assassin type character, a magic-heavy wizard or mage, or a brawny warrior that uses armor and melee weapons. Everything else is just grey areas between the three.
THE TAKE HOME POINT OF ALL THE ABOVE FACTS IS: In order to really get into it, and "feel" like you're living another life in another world, you must overlook the above shortcomings, and use your imagination. See in your head the emotions and personalities of the people, as you would when reading a book. Do this from the outset, be very patient, don't rush, and you will enjoy the game - I guarantee it. Bethesda liked to say, "This is a thinking person's game, and doesn't hold your hand with video sequences or well-acted narratives." Personally, I think it surely could have done with SOME at least lol. They add drama, as they did in KOTOR. Nonetheless, what they said is true. Think, imagine, be creative, and you'll have fun.
Customer Review: Great game
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this game very engaging and fun. The only problem was that I had to spend 2 to 300 dollars upgrading my computer, and even then I had problems with the game. For some reason it kept crashing on me. I had to update some drivers to fix the audio problems and rename some file to fix some of the video problems I had. Other than that, it was a great game :)Customer Review: Bethesda does it again
Summary: 5 Stars
The wide openess of this game is the reasaon I keep coming back to play it again and again, I'm always finding something new to do. Various factions you can join, Make your own potions, Become a member of the Temple and heal others. Be an evil Telvanni that has no regard for others lives, it's just plain fun.