Poll: Morrowind

[Thaius]

...Your quest list is cumbersome, there's no indication of anything on the map, ...

A little off topic, but seriously? That's one of my favorite parts about Morrowind.
Instead of an NPC saying "Go to Castle Pants" as they do in Oblivion, and just having a marker show up on your map and compass, you get "Go north from that town until you hit a fork, take the west road and keep going until you see a stone that looks like a face on your right side, from there go to etc etc etc".
That's brilliant is what it is.
Ah, Morrowind. Good times.

On topic: buy it. There's mods to make it look freaking incredible for a 9 year old game, and well.. you know. Mods. Anything from a new weapon over new races to probably a mod that replaces all chairs in the world with dancing midgets.

Why anyone would ever buy things like Morrowind, Oblivion or FO3/NV for anything other than PC is baffling. No offense, but it's more than baffling, it's plain stupid. Mods elevate those games from plain good to amazing.
I can't imagine playing any of them without mods.
For example, FO3. I can't imagine anyone having as much fun as I have playing that game with the pathetic vanilla amount of.. what, 6 guns? While I'm running around in a world with freaking dozens.

Well yes, I do like that aspect of it. The need to explore the world instead of simply following markers; that's great. What's annoying is when you come across a person or quest or something you don't have time or resources to do at the moment, so you pass it up and say you'll do it later, only to completely lose where it was. But the most annoying part of what you quoted from me is the quest list. The journal is a great idea, but each quest tends to take anywhere from 2-5 entries, sometimes even more, and they just stack up chronologically. So if you need to go somewhere for the main quest but stop to do tons of side stuff and explore Vvardenfell, you end up needing to scan like 20 journal pages just to try and remind yourself where to go next. That's irritating. Had they just made it a more traditional list of quests, with each step of said quest marked under it and completed quests filed away, the game could have flowed a heck of a lot smoother.

 

[Ruwrak]

20$ is alot for an old game like that.


HOWEVER, Morrowind is not -just an- old game. It's a milestone of epic proportions. Sure the combat is a bit odd (to put it lightly) but it will hit you on the head with a club and drag you to it's cave. It's a masterpiece, especially if you are planning on getting Skryim, Morrowind is a good timesink to fill the gap.

And if Skyrim tastes like Morrowind does, we're all in for a big treat ^_^

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Morrowind was a lot better to play vanilla then Oblivion was.

I played Morrowind vanilla for a year before I discovered mods, and even still I only run like 5 or 6.

Oblivion when I first played it I had to load at least 50 mods into the game inorder to make it playable, and even then it was still repetative and boring after a while.

fuck Morrowind's marksman combat...

The only main difference between Morrowind's marksman combat and Oblivion's was that Oblivion's allowed you to hit every time, wheras Morrowind didn't. This I liked a lot better then Oblivion's since it made sense. An FNG woodsman is not going to be 100% accurate with his bow and even if he hits it's likely to bounce off the enemy then to pierce through it. Conversely the bow and arrow/crossbow was pretty OP in Morrowind.

Listen to this guy. The combat in Morrowind isn't outdated in the least, it's just that the game is a pure RPG under the hood, instead of an action game with RPG elements, ala Oblivion. Saying Morrowind's combat is outdated is tantamount to agreeing with that Bioware guy who said pure RPGs are now an outdated genre, and RPG elements should be more like CoD than KoTOR.

OT: It's definitely worth the purchase, but I wouldn't buy it from Steam for full price unless you just have money to blow; $20 is ridiculous for a nearly ten year old game. It doesn't have any DRM beyond a disc check, so if you want to save some money, do some poking around on E-bay and Amazon. As a bonus, you'll probably get the manual and the map, and certain mods will be easier to run, because there's an extra step or two to get them to work with the Steam version versus the retail version.

 

[pffh]

Well yes, I do like that aspect of it. The need to explore the world instead of simply following markers; that's great. What's annoying is when you come across a person or quest or something you don't have time or resources to do at the moment, so you pass it up and say you'll do it later, only to completely lose where it was. But the most annoying part of what you quoted from me is the quest list. The journal is a great idea, but each quest tends to take anywhere from 2-5 entries, sometimes even more, and they just stack up chronologically. So if you need to go somewhere for the main quest but stop to do tons of side stuff and explore Vvardenfell, you end up needing to scan like 20 journal pages just to try and remind yourself where to go next. That's irritating. Had they just made it a more traditional list of quests, with each step of said quest marked under it and completed quests filed away, the game could have flowed a heck of a lot smoother.

You mean like they did in bloodmoon? Because yeah they totally did that in bloodmoon.

 

[Scott Guthrie]

Step 1- Buy Morrowind

Step 2- Mod the living shit out of it

Step 3- Profit

 

[TrevHead]

And if Skyrim tastes like Morrowind does, we're all in for a big treat ^_^

I hope so, I really do but the way Bethesda (and Bioware) have been heading its probable the game will be seriously lacking. Ofc we will all buy the game and because it'll be the closest thing there is to a modern Morrowind.

Many ppl when they think of old school RPGs just think of the stats, but there is more to RPGs than stats and number crunching, theres as certain magic to morrowind and baulders gate which has been lost in modern WRPGs. Maybe it's because they tried to imitate pen and paper RPGs. This article is a good read imo http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1571/the_history_of_computer_.php

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

If you do play it I suggest you mod it alot. In Steam you have to change the date on the files so the mods can overwrite them. In particular there is a run speed mod that you can google which will give you a decent run speed at the start of the game, I really couldn't stand to go past Balmora without that rofl.

Once you get into it and your eyes get used to the kill it fire graphics (Morrowinds enemies actually manage to be horrifying just through the age of the game) It is actually a really deep and atmospheric game. It certainly has a feeling of strangeness and discovery that Oblivion doesn't

I'd agree with people saying to make a warrior. Although the combat is little less interesting than a mage,it's much more manageable on your first run through. Redguards start with Longsword Shield and Heavy Armour, I think, so they are a good first character.

One thing that make me laugh is the fact that people complain about fast travel in Oblivion when there is TONS of fast travel in Morrowind it's just in the more subtle form of boats, silt striders and teleports.

 

[Bagk Nakh]

The PC version isn't much different... If you didn't like it on xbox, you won't like it on PC.

 

[Weaver]

The great thing about Morrowind is that if you don't like any aspect of the game you can just mod it.

In a lot of ways it's better than Oblivion. The world is far more interesting and there are many more interesting things to find. The flexibility with your magic creation is great as well, and enchanting is a lot more flexible too.

The combat is worse, not going to lie; but there are just a lot of very strange and fun things. Like the boots of blinding speed, which I think fortifies your speed by 150 with the catch that it also blinds the wearer 100%. So unless you have magic resist you're just running around with a black screen and a mini-map at like 60km/h

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

Buy it, and make sure to get Better Bodies and Always Hit Morrowind mods. Makes things so much better.

 

[Ruwrak]

And if Skyrim tastes like Morrowind does, we're all in for a big treat ^_^

I hope so, I really do but the way Bethesda (and Bioware) have been heading its probable the game will be seriously lacking. Ofc we will all buy the game and because it'll be the closest thing there is to a modern Morrowind.

Many ppl when they think of old school RPGs just think of the stats, but there is more to RPGs than stats and number crunching, theres as certain magic to morrowind and baulders gate which has been lost in modern WRPGs. Maybe it's because they tried to imitate pen and paper RPGs. This article is a good read imo http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1571/the_history_of_computer_.php

It's called atmosphere really. And these days games more often then not lack atmosphere. Morrowind was such a succes because of the way it drew the player into the story, the environment and all the things you call magic

Oblivion tried that as well, it was portraited as THE new game that would rock civilisation as we knew it. And in a way it did, but was a dissapointment. THey improved the combat by leagues (seriously, they did.) but at the cost of the atmosphere. Oblivion had a whole less pull to it. Maybe it's because of the relatively short storyline, beautifull but kinda copy paste world you walked around in and possibly the distorted leveling system.

I hope that Skryim has the atmosphere. I've seen the live play demo (as every other fan worth it's salt I hope.) and I think I can get excited about the way they want you to level, use your skills, abilities and suches. But this tiny voice in the back of my head still says that somehow it's not going to be the holy grail which will turn me, excuse the metaphore, turn saintly christian.

But I'm getting kinda offtrack here....

Morrowind. Yes.
BUY IT! those 20$ are best spend on Morrowind then on generic shooter #534

 

[Svenparty]

Although the world felt more varied than Obivion I gave up due to mot being able to hit anything and clifff racers.

 

[Samurai Silhouette]

I have to have an unbelievably strong urge for oldschool to go back to Morrowind. I'd say play Oblivion with mods.

Spoiler: Also

http://morroblivion.com/

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

And if you want to post without contributing to the main question, feel free to post fond memories or favourite mods.

I'll do both I guess.

Yes, please buy it, but you'll need a shitload of mods to make you happy with it in this day and age. Some basic ones to start with:

Spoiler

Morrowind Graphics Extender: makes game look 1000x better if your comp can handle it
Morrowind FPS Optimizer: ESSENTIAL mod if your computer isn't top notch. It makes minor automatic changes on the fly while you play to keep your fps up and to prevent freezing.
Official Mods: Found on Bethesda's site. For some reason they aren't on the Steam version already.
Better Heads/Better Bodies/Better Clothes: makes character models and textures look way better
Darknut's Mods: This guy makes texture replacement for practically everything in the game. Clothes, weapons, armor, enemies, you name it. Might cause a slight fps problem, but not likely.
Darker Morrowind/Texture Fix: there are other texture packs, but that one's my favorite. Texture Fix gets rid of obvious lines between between textures which are really noticable when you use a texture pack.
Geisha Character Development: makes leveling system automatic and way more balanced
Combat Enhanced: makes combat more varied/interesting by adding things like combos. You'll need Morrowind Enhanced to run which is a pain to download.
Morrowind Code Patch/Morrowind Patch Project: numerous bug fixes as well as changes like letting you cast with a weapon out and toggle the sneak button. Download both as both mods have made sure they don't conflict with the other.
Head Packs by Westley: if you don't like the default heads for your character
Morrowind Comes Alive: adds NPCs to towns to make them more lively. Other mods give the new NPCs names and unique stuff to make it more immersive. Might take a hit to your fps.
Children of Morrowind: Adds children to cities and gives them some unique animations. It's a little unrefined, but it's great to have imo.
Starfire's NPC Mod/Animated Morrowind: Adds even more NPCs if you're not satisfied with the above two mods.
Less Generic NPCs: Awesome fan project that's amazingly still ongoing. It makes every character say different things for each topic as well as adding some new quests. Great for immersion and adding variety.
Necessities of Morrowind: The "hardcore" mode from New Vegas before there ever was one. If you like having to eat and drink to stay alive, this is for you.
No Glow: One of the simplest mods, but also the best. Removes the ugly glow from characters with enchanted weapons.
Vampire Embrace: Download if you want to be a vampire. Makes being a vampire a new experience instead of just a disease by giving you cool powers like mind control.

You can find mods on Planet Elder Scrolls or Elder Scrolls Nexus.
Install them by unzipping them and extracting to Program Files/steam/common/morrowind/Data Files. Also, it'll save you a lot of time in the long run if you run the game to see if it works after every few mods. There's nothing worse than downloading a dozen mods and having to find out which one made the game crash
Morrowind has one of if not the best mod community ever, and if you install the right mods, it makes it 100 times better than the Xbox version. Hope that helps. ^_^

 

[Echo136]

I dont think its going to get much cheaper than $20

 

[Bad Jim]

In particular there is a run speed mod that you can google which will give you a decent run speed at the start of the game, I really couldn't stand to go past Balmora without that rofl.

A short way outside Caldera is a woman called Pemenie who will give you the Boots of Blinding Speed as a reward for a short escort mission. You can do this very early in the game. They let you run very fast, but they also (haha) blind you. There are a few magical solutions to this, but you can nearly negate the blindness just by switching footwear using hotkeys.

Other travel tips:
-Join the mages guild and use the guild guides.
-Get a short duration levitation spell/item.
-Learn Mark, Recall, Almsivi Intervention and Divine Intervention, Or find items that do it.
-On top of Vivec Temple there is a shrine called the Shrine to Stop The Moon. Donate a levitation potion and you can fly around very fast for about twenty minutes.

 

[gery900]

You could always pirate it for free on pirate bay.
Old games like these, would download and work in no time.

Just sayan..

JK, buy it, Bethesda deserves it.