Morrowind

[Emeli]

Okay, we've got some discussion going on about the best RPG ever, and Morrowind, the elder scrolls and oblivion are popping up a bunch. I've gotta say that I bought both III and Oblivion and stopped playing them both within two hours because I was bored. They just seem pointless and without direction.

But I'm not just trying to bag out some games, I'm an RPG fan in an FPS fan's world, I need to open my mind, so could somebody, anybody, tell me what the hell is up with these games? What makes them so popular? What niche do they fill? Did anyone else have a wizard fall on their head?

 

[crackdealer]

Well, I think that thats the beauty of those types of games, where you sometimes have to go and find adventures for yourself. But, I feel that oblivion does much more to guide you than III.

 

[roastbeefy]

I liked Morrowind more because it felt bigger and you seemed to have more options, and it had a pretty good story. These games, like many great RPGs, take some time to get into, because they tend to move pretty slowly to start with but then you begin to get used to things.

 

[whiskey_hicks]

I liked Morrowind more then Obilivion just for the record. The reason I enjoyed both of these games is simply because it just felt like I was there, I really felt immersed in the game world, but it's primarily the First Person Perspective that did it. But one of the main problems with not just Obilivion and Morrowind, but Daggerfall as well is that when it's all said and done you're given a vague idea of what you're supposed to be doing and not a lot of coddling into doing it.

Honestly the majority of all the games for me is not even doing the main quest, i just enjoy exploring tombs, slaying whatever is in it and taking all the loot.

So in general most of Bethesda's RPG games fill that "open-ended RPG" niche, and if you're not into that particular kind of RPG I understand completely.

And yes the first time playing Morrowind I remember hearing a yell and a guy falling on me. The Scroll of Icarian Flight... awesome idea, very poor execution. My suggestion is don't stand on top of the book and once you hear the yell stand completely still.

 

[Emeli]

I kinda get the open world thing. I mean, two of my favourite ever games were the Fallout and Baldurs Gate series', and those only had very passing association with the main quest. I just don't feel like there's much to achieve in Morrowind. In Fallout you had every weapon and most armour available from the word go if you had enough money, most sandbox type games have a HQ option that you can afford.

I just... don't see the point of doing all the extra quests. Am I missing something?

 

[MasterSqueak]

EXP, Rewards, extra storylines, RPG-ish stuff.

 

[Delicious]

I kinda get the open world thing. I mean, two of my favourite ever games were the Fallout and Baldurs Gate series', and those only had very passing association with the main quest. I just don't feel like there's much to achieve in Morrowind. In Fallout you had every weapon and most armour available from the word go if you had enough money, most sandbox type games have a HQ option that you can afford.

I just... don't see the point of doing all the extra quests. Am I missing something?

It's mainly just for the experience. Side Quests (in Morrowind) generally give you a method to level up a few skills in relative safety, as opposed to taking your chances with a dungeon that may or may not contain baddies capable of ripping your head off and shoving it down your throat before you can say "Nix Hound".

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

My friend has the same problem.

I rationalize that its just that Fantasy Role Playing isn't for everyone.

You really have to really immerse yourself and enjoy the RPGness of it all.

 

[Librarian Mike]

I enjoy both Morrowind and Oblivion equally. While Oblivion is prettier and fixes annoying things about the former (i.e. the journal), I like the fact that Morrowind's world doesn't look like a typical RPG world. For me, the fun thing is just picking a direction and wandering. I can see how some people are just not into that though.

 

[quack35]

I love both Morrowind and Oblivion, but I'm not sure if I could explain why.

It's like what Louis Armstrong always said : "If you don't know, I can't explain it to you".

 

[Erana]

Its not your genre.
Go buy a more linear game.

I, on the other hand, love both games because one of my favorite things in gaming is exploration. Oh, so much exploration to be had...

I lost the dwemer puzzle box on my second day of playing and have never regretted it.

 

[SimuLord]

I did a poll on escapistmagazine a long time ago. Morrowind was the highest ranked RPG apart from fallout 3 (which I only think got so high because the poll was conducted when the game was only recently released).

The beauty of these games is that it rewards wilful immersion. Take the time to figure out how the world's working and the game will reveal itself to be a masterpeice. It's for this reason that someone who gives up on Morrowind after two hours will never been looked at by morrowind players in a positive light; because it is impossible for someone to appreciate the game after two hours of playing - anyone who dislikes the game after two hours is not discerning; they're shallow. It's not a bad thing though, not the worst kind of shallow - they just need to play the games a bit more.

The great thing about Morrowind (and Oblivion, and Fallout 3 for that matter) is that it's really a case of a game that gives back what the player puts in. Bethesda's games don't spoon-feed the player (no, not even Oblivion does it). If you just follow the main story and play it like a "standard" RPG you'll be bored out of your mind, but if you go exploring and go digging for all the stuff that the developers threw in there more or less as their way of saying "You, player, are awesome for even showing up here" (Daedric shrine quests, especially Sanguine and Sheogorath in Oblivion, just for example---Morrowind's got artifact-filled caves out the ass that reward the player with uber-l33t equipment that you could beat the game and never even realize you were missing anything)...

You get the idea. As for the wizard falling on your head? Sell his gear to Arrille, that's your first chance to make an upgrade to your equipment. Do the Census and Excise tax collector quest and you're on your way.

 

[Therumancer]

Yes, the thing is that Oblivion is a huge world that is just teeming with stuff to do, and you can pretty much tackle things whenever you want to in whatever order you want to.

You can like go wandering accross the world, run into a ghost, and then go looking for the wrecked ship where his body (and of course treasure) are.

Honestly I've never quite understood why people talk about how it's a huge repetitive world with nothing going on, I found tons of stuff, and even most of the random seeming dungeons have SOME purpose you can eventually discover. Of course there are a few that are there just to be extra content for those exploring.

Really it tends to work best if in Oblivion you wind up heading to a couple of the first guilds and doing their quests, then they move you around to do things and you find more quests and more guilds to work for, etc...

Then of course you've got the main quest, and the need to shut down Oblivion Gates when they pop up randomly, and the whole Shivering Isles to deal with (Shivering Isles being a lot more self-contained and plot-centric).

Morrowwind is in the same spirit, it has less stuff going on outside of quest chains, but it does have more sets of quest chains overall as well.

>>>----Therumancer--->

 

[SimuLord]

You get the idea. As for the wizard falling on your head? Sell his gear to Arrille, that's your first chance to make an upgrade to your equipment. Do the Census and Excise tax collector quest and you're on your way.

hahaha i LOVED that guy! dropped the scroll to give you, what, 1000 agility? So you could jump halfway across the island? haha, aweeeesome!

You'd have to be quite out of your mind to give up the money and actually USE the Scroll of Icarian Flight, especially considering you'd be good and dead when you landed unless you had a Slowfall potion. Depending on which majors you'd chosen you could get over 400 gold for the three scrolls, enough to trade up in weaponry...dammit, now I want to roll a new Morrowind character and play through the game again! Umm...two weeks until classes start and I'm out of the house from 6:30 in the morning until 9:00 at night (crazy summer schedule!) Might as well make the most of 'em...

 

[sicDaniel]

I wanted to try the Icarian Flight spell once, just for fun, so I quicksaved and went weeeeeee

I landed unharmed in a lake on the other side of the world. That was one of the funniest moments in the game ever.
About the popularity of TES, have you mentioned the modding community? It´s quite unique and makes the game a million times better, especially some good quest mods. The Lost Spires for Oblivion is fantastic, the dungeons look so beautiful the original developers should be ashamed, with their 200 varieties of the same fort/aleiyd (?) ruin.

And let´s not forget the possibility to stuff the game full of undressed anime characters and genital armor, which makes the game appealing for a completely new group of people.