“Seen any elves? Heheh.” – Almost everyone in the entire game
(found it rather fun at first as I played as an elf.)
“The boat has been tossed around from the bad weather that has raged on, the waves moves against the aging wood, it creaks under the force of the water. In one of the poorly lit rooms, a elven female in tattered prison clothes is tossing and turning while she sleep, she seems to have a bad dream but is soon awaken by the sounds around her. There is an elven male in the room as well, trying to get her attention. As she starts to stir, he mentions that they’ve reached their destination but is soon interrupted by a guard who grabs the woman and forces her up on deck. She spits on him, cursing under her breath when they make their way up, as he is having her arm in a forceful grip.
Her red, wavy hair is getting in her face as she tries to fight free from the clearly stronger guard but to no avail. As they reach the deck she is soon cast off the boat and landing face first onto the wet, moldy and cold dock and the only direction she gets is to get her papers from a nearby captain.
“Oh, gold!” is the first thing that hits her, even as she lies there bleeding from her lip. She dries her mouth and quickly makes her way inside with light steps and a really greedy smirk on her face.”
So, I just recently finished playing Morrowind and that’s kinda how the game started in my mind. I’ve played through the main story and then some really awesome mods. My first impression of this game is that it is damn hard, at the beginning at least. The low level character that you have is so slow, misses everything and anything and that fatigue is nonexistent, resulting in you getting really exhausted really fast. But as you progress forward, building that character how you want her/him, it’ll get easier. Suddenly you realize that when your attributes get drained later in the game, you’re so much better now than you were before without hardly noticing it.
My character is a really greedy, sorta evil, sneaky female, wood elf thief with an epic marksman skill. Though I ‘created’ my own class called Shadow Dancer, with all the skills that I wanted her to have. Her tongue is pure silver and her hands are fast. Though later on I tried to change her into a heavy armor type with short/long sword but that wasn’t as fun. I leveled her stats so that she can sneak, hit hard and use both light, medium and heavy armor fairly well. Though her sword skills are not that good so far. I started to kinda micromanage my skills. I train each stat, when I can, to the point where I get a x5 in each stat I need when I level. Training only the non major/minor skills not to level up by training as I get experience for it as well.
The story of the game is really interesting and the quests are really random, from going to a mad God’s imaginary ball in a shrine to killing off an entire bar of assassins, from stepping in for a “sick” person in a theater performance to getting a kiss from a rogue that is about to attack you. From being knee-deep in cold water in a filthy, dark cave to roaming the beautiful open lands with thick forests no matter what weather it is. It’s really unique and I love every second of it. Though some things in the game could’ve been better. Like the inventory screen with it’s lack of properly seeing what I actually wear and what I don’t and the not so epic last boss battle but maybe that one is on me being lvl 40 when I got there.
Kinda early, I got a liking for the whole glass armor and early on I stole it, without anyone seeing it. (Yes, I am kinda bragging here.) The stealth system took a little while to understand and it was rather hard at first to steal things in rooms full of people. But I could use doors, pillars and crates to my advantage. Another thing that gets me going is the challenge to assemble the whole daedric armor that is scattered around Morrowind. Said to be really rare. But then I realized that the 4000 year old Divayth Fyr have the whole armor and all I have to do is kill him. He isn’t that easy to kill in that small room, and he’s not alone. I killed him after I had finished the main quest and now that armor is looking really awesome on my elven ‘thief’.
This is that sort of game that lets you explore til your heart bursts, with its million of caverns, cities and ruins that just begs for you to explore every little bit, every corner and every single dead body, chest or altar. It is actually a really nice looking game, even better with mods.
It was hard not to horde (I did anyhow, like a crazy person) and I ended up with a house full of stuff like swords, armors, scrolls and other things. I am so glad that I downloaded The Furniture Mod by Dave Humphrey. I got my own house (really expensive though) that I could decorate as I wish, with furniture and things like that. Though one thing it lacked was the weapon racks that I so sorely needed so I fixed another mod for that as well and my house were complete and so full of stuff. Filled the game with flora and fauna as well, better textures and a whole new part of the world among many other things. Upgraded the whole game and oh how nice it looks. I will link all the mods I added on the next ‘page’. Just click the numbers at the bottom of this post and check my modlist or click this link here.
Another fun thing about modding is that you can make the game so much bigger and better. For example, I play with Tamriel Rebuilt, Balmora Expanded, Vivec Enhanced and some other mods that adds areas and things to the existing towns and it just makes it all so much better. That plus all the flora and fauna around Vvardenfell makes for truly a fleshed out game.
To make the game even more alive, I added more creatures, more structure to the animal life like babies, nests and different ‘ranks’ to the grown up animals as well as children to the races of Vvardenfell as well. (I found a lost baby at the beginning of the game, haven’t gotten rid of it yet. So cute in its little bundle in my inventory.)
I added prettier faces and bodies as well among many other things in an overhaul called Morrowind Graphics and Sound Overhaul (MGSO), it is basically a ‘compilation’ of sorts for graphical mods.
http://www.ornitocopter.net/morrowind-overhaul/
All in all, this must be one of the best games I’ve ever played after Baldur’s Gate 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 and if you haven’t played it yet, do it now
(This is my house, an empty mod house that I could decorate with the help of another mod and this is how it looked in the end with all my loot. I placed tables, shelves, an open fireplace and loot all by myself. Sorry about the long load time and poor quality.)
I Hate Loading Screens 
The Elder Scrolls… Morrowind home of the the Dunmer… How you bring back memories, hours upon hours of game-play… ruins, mountains, fights, dust storms, animals…
I never played a modded version but back then, yes so many years ago now, it was still an epic game, one that drew me in so much, music, game-play, scenery et c…
I’m sorry I’m getting dragged down memory lane right now, having the theme for Morrowind playing now while I write this, so thank you, I loved reading this post about one of my all time favourite games.
It raises a few questions though, hope you don’t mind
You start by pointing out that you feel the game was hard, as it’s been some time since I played it myself I do not remember if it was that, I only remember how I as a too low level character decided to go into a dwarf ruin getting my behind kicked around thoroughly. 😀
My question for this part is this, was it hard enough? Did it drive you to work harder to get into the game more or was there moment you wanted to give up?
Was there any other form of class that you considered? You say you tried out heavy armour with long sword, ever thought about making her into a heavy tank instead of a thief? What was the reason for trying out that route? Tired of the “thief” game-play by then or wanted a new challenge?
I watched the video at the end of the post and that was a nice addition to the post, to see all that you had gathered up and was showing up on display, the music in it sure helped dragging me down that memory lane I mentioned earlier, but are there any other armour sets that you did not have on display that you still would want to get hold of?
When it comes to world designs in RPGs (and MMORPGs for that matter) do you prefer the open world type like these? Or do you like the ones more of a type where the story and where it takes you dictates what you get to see of the world? A bit like a theme park? Where the story then is the main part not the world in it self.
Could you elaborate what made the game feel so much better with some of those mods you mentioned? Balmora expanded for example.
So your Bosmer became an adoptive mother? 😉
Do you have to take care of that baby or is it just hanging out there taking up a slot in your inventory? Not acting like one of those Tamagotchis? 🙂
Well that was the questions I had for now, beside one last one…
Why no mention of the music? Is it just me that sometimes have the theme playing over and over again? No I’m not obsessed! I promise I’m not! (I allow a mental picture of an insane commenter here)
Beside that you did not add a note about the music ( 😛 ) I enjoyed reading this post, through it you managed to bring back memories of the past, you showed how you enjoyed playing the game (which I should add I’m glad you did, it is a great game after all) and you made me want to keep reading.
“Stars guide you”
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Yes, it was almost too hard, and it was fun. Made me wander around the land more carefully and explored even more than I would have if it was easier.
I got somewhat bored of the thief part, wanted to try my hand at swords and stuff so I changed her to a heavy armor used, mostly though so she could use the Daedric armor. I never did change her completely, bow and sneaking is the way for me to play this game.
I had to buy all the furniture and place them around the empty house, so felt I should show it off better than with pictures. It was only the best of what I had gathered that was on display there and nah, can’t say I knew about any more armor sets that I didn’t have. I did collect the glass armor, Daedric armor and the Sixth House armor.
I do prefer the open worlds, to make me choose my own path instead of following in the footsteps of the game. But games that makes me follow a path can be good as well.
Well the game got prettier, bigger, more things to do and see and explore. Balmora was one of the towns that got really big, so did Vivec. Really nice mods.
Yes, I suppose that you can say that. I didn’t have the heart to throw the poor baby out after a while. It was just an item in my inventory sadly, I could equip it on the back but I couldn’t do anything else with it.
I have written this post over such a long time and it seems that I forgot the music, though it only looped between a few songs. It was beautiful and fitted well.
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So it being harder did not discourage you from exploring? Interesting, not sure if that is a common thing or not.
Would you want to see such an addition to an RPG? where you had to be reminded about the hardship of life? Taking care of a baby or a small pet to make sure it survived?
The Sims meets Morrowind can that be something? 😛
I guess I should forgive you for forgetting the music, play the theme ten times in a row and all is forgiven 😉
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*Get’s poked in the eye by an Elf ear on the Prisoner Ship* “Ow, damnit!” – Disgruntled Breton Prisoner
Great start with the little fiction piece! RPing a singleplayer game can be fun, imagining your character coming out of that prisoner ship as nicely as they do is a bit boring! I wanna be hauled out and thrown on my arse! Haha 🙂 Ahhh Morrowind. Just so happens I have the Morrowind Overhaul Mod also! And it makes the game look beautiful, I must say.Every little detail is improved upon! I have a Female Elf Ranger with a pendant for Sword/Dagger play along with a Bow and Arrow.
On with the post! Yes, this game is very hard to start off with, however the entrance into the game is fun! Albeit you’re a Prisoner, your character seem real lax about it. I also found myself a bit confused on where to go after leaving the Office, due to me not really listening because I was too busy staring at those new faces, however thanks to the Overhaul Mod, the signposts had clear enough directions on them to point me where I wanted to go! (At first I thought I was going the wrong way, because I went through many swamps and desolate places, but eventually reached my destination! Was quite exciting to see so much variety just in the first few minutes of playing!). My character itself, as I mentioned before, was a Sword/Dagger and Bow user. I did go for the stealthy approach however my inability to patiently wait for most enemies results in my running in, all sword blazing! (Though that ended up me being killed in lower levels quite easily). Sometimes I wonder if I should re-roll another character and try the complete Assassin type approach, though I think the game is so long and so large that the combat style would take a while to get anywhere if I kept waiting for enemies to get in the right position!
– Do you generally go for a similar character concept on all your RPG games? For example: Red hair, evil natured, Elf style looks (I tend to go for the red hair, pale skin, and kind of naughty/evil approach myself! But with a nice side when Romance is needed!)
I love that sum up of Quest styles! I am currently exploring as much as I can of the beautiful Overhauled landscape! So much variety of ground and plant-life: From the swamps, to charred wasteland, to grassy plains. The Overhaul makes it look so much better then it used too, though it still keeps that memorable feel with the Vanilla game. I myself started on Oblivion in the Elder Scroll Series, however I quickly heard how Morrowind’s exploration and questlines were a rival for it, and tried to get my hands on this gem. Sadly though my poor old PC couldn’t run the Overhaul, but now I have my new PC it runs it no problem what-so-ever, and I’m very glad I went back to try this! (Made me giggle when I saw the Overhaul Mod was bigger then the actual game itself. Just goes to show how much the players loved this game to put so much hard work into modernising the animation and graphical system, along with fixing all the bugs and combat mishaps.).
– Looking at the pictures, you have a -lot- of items. Were you real dedicated to searching for certain items to improve your stats? Or, as you mention later on, did you hoard everything you could and pick the best stuff? Hehe
Hmm, Glass Armour. I have mixed views on that style! In Oblivion I disliked it greatly. Was a bright green colour with rather weird decoration/shape, and I got a mod to change it (Then again, there was much left to be desired with the entire Elf race in Oblivion. Their faces looked so odd to me, mainly their thin features and highly slanted eyes. Much love for Mod’s that helped improve this!). I did the same in Skyrim, however the Vanilla wasn’t so bad there. My ‘Assassin’ ( So to speak. Darn your bragging! I’ll be better then you one day! 😉 ) is using Leather Armour at the moment! ( Totally choose too, not like I’m low level or anything with no money… 😥 ). I have much love for the weapon/armour styles in the Elder Scroll’s Series, and thanks to the Overhaul, we’re able to appreciate it much more in the Morrowind game.
– If you really took to Glass Armour, what style of weaponry took your fancy? I kinda like less-decorative items on my character. I don’t wanna appear to be a rich Noble kind of Elf, but more a behind-the-scenes stealth kind of person. Not noticed by passers by unless you really look, a crowd blender and neck cutter! :3
I haven’t got a House myself, however I’m sure I will hoard quite a lot. Not because I want to keep -everything-, but mostly because I just see a Chest full of crap and go “Lovely treasure! Ya’harrr!” Hehe :-). Just love how there is mods for nearly everything though, even though the game originally is amazing, it’s just those little details they Players add that improves little by little till it is perfect. The same with every game! However I don’t think I’ve seen as extensive an overhaul of a game that is Morrowind Overhaul. (There is Skyrim 2K Textures, but that is just improving on visuals. This Overhaul combines and improves everything, which to be honest is amazing that they’ve got so much to be compatible and minimise crashes, especially with the size of the Overhaul being bigger then the Vanilla game!).
– That’s a question: Along with the Overhaul Mod, did those extra added mods (Like Furniture Mod and Weapon Racks) cause any instabilities? Or did the game run fine as if the Overhaul was perfectly entwined with the Vanilla game? I find sometimes in games with huge mods, there are unknown tiny conflictions that can really mess thing sup.
The exploration, as I talk about further up, is definitely a high point in this game. So much to explore and see, even the guy near the start falling from the sky for a quest is a spectacle! (If you saw that anyway, though I imagine you did, apparently it’s quite well known). I found myself wanting so badly to roam off from my quest to just explore, but I knew silly me would just get lost in the middle of nowhere and end up getting mauled by some Bandits or unknown Monster D: Damn creatures of the Darkness… Was a bit creeped out in the charred area during the start. Though some Daedra would pop out and carve my head off >.>
Oh? Added whole new areas too along with Flora? Wow your game -was- heavily modded… I wouldn’t be surprised if you answer the question above with a few conflicts, but if there wernt any, that is some rather masterful coding by the Overhauler’s! Just adds so much more life to this game when they add whole new maps to explore with seperate questlines and such. It’s always sad to finish a game and have to say goodbye to all that hard work you put into a character like on the Elder Scroll’s Series when you’ve completed everything, but stuff like Tamriel Rebuilt for this, and Oblivion’s Deserts of Elswyr (If I spelt that right), brings us back yearning for more adventure and giving us back our character for new and exciting adventures! More animals too? (Aww a baby chicken! Grow him/her nice and plump for some Roast Chicken, ‘eh? 😉 Haha joking!). I do have a Monster Mod for my Skyrim, and another mod I loved for Oblivion was Midas Magic!
– What specific Mod’s/parts of Mod’s did you feel were truly needed for Morrowind?
– Were there any Mod’s you could think of creating for the game yourself to improve upon if you couldn’t find any?
– Do you feel Morrowind was a ‘real’ RPG experience with it’s fun/large exploration system, hard stealth, difficult combat, and expansive character settings?
– Out of all the Elder Scroll’s Series games, which will you look back on with the most fondest memories and why? (If this question is too easy to answer, with it being Morrowind, what out of all of them in in a -Vanilla- State/Completely Modless would you choose to be your favourite/most memorable?)
Sorry this was so long and so many questions, but I really do enjoy this Series. I am trying to complete this, but also I want to completely start Skyrim again and give it more of a chance. I found it real easy on my first playthrough, so this time I want to Mod it with higher difficulty, tons of Monsters, some graphical mods to make it look stunning and maybe even a custom Elf Race!
Love that you added a video also, and don’t worry the quality is fine! ( Your house looks nice and yummy to be robbed! Ehehe! -Gets my Thief/Assassin Elf!- 🙂 ). Pictures were also brilliant! Your character looks real snazzy in that Glass Armour, even though I’m not too fond on it myself. Looking forward to the next review, and hopefully I won’t make too long a comment like this! Have fun, game on, and show them enemies who the real Master is!
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My characters always goes both paths of evil and kind, and they are most often redheads but not always and of course they’re always elfs if I can choose it.
I did not search for weapons per se, I just explored and looted all I could.
My character used bow all the way through and now when I look back, I used the bow in all three Elder Scrolls games. And my character had what I liked her to have, I didn’t really role-play in that way.
I wouldn’t say that the mods caused any instabilities, it was mostly the textures that did because I don’t have that much VRAM in my kinda old graphics card.
All mods were needed imo. I couldn’t think of anything besides that, that I could add to the game really.
Yes, I’d say that Morrowind is a “real” RPG, though would be fun with more options to say, but I love it still.
It is a hard question to answer as I haven’t played any of them without mods, so Morrowind is the fondest memory, Skyrim sucks and Oblivion I played though in the total conversion called Nehrim – At Fate’s Edge, that I’ll post about soon.
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Woo for Redheads! Hehe, I find Wood Elf’s are my fondest Race as I do enjoy a mix of Melee and Ranged, and their inherent skills with a bow and quick with a dagger are nice!
A bow all the way? Wow, show off! 😉 I don’t think I’d have the skill and dodge ability to stay away from enemies melee, however I imagine leveled up enough, a bow will do insane damage in a headshot. Also when I mean Roleplay, not actually say stuff and such, but feel like you are the character in the game. Unless that’s what you meant you don’t do aswell?
Ahh, well thats the trouble with newer games these days, the VRAM they require is really heavy! My 4gb 770 is holding up well though thankfully, just I imagine it won’t be long till VRAM begins to match actual RAM sizes.
– Do you think Developers are trying too hard to be ‘beautiful’ and forgetting some of us don’t want to keep upgrading and upgrading to play a game smoothly?
Okay, good then that they were able to cater to everything required within their Mod’s!
Yeah, can’t get everything perfect after all, but it is a real explorative RPG in my opinion also!
I’d agree Skyrim was quite sucky in terms of Quests and storyline (For example, I felt the beginning was never properly explained and the way you suddenly become the ‘Dragonborn’ was not properly explained, unless the Dragonborn DLC explains that? Not sure as I haven’t even done that DLC or the Dawnguard yet, even though I have them both). However I liked the introduction of Dual Wielding and other cool addons (Though more so with Mod’s which made the game enjoyable!)
– Did you not like Skyrim at all then? Or just the story/ease of the game ruined it too much to thoroughly enjoy it?
Oooo conversion for Oblivion? Nice! I look forward to that, and most likely with another long comment to go with it! Haha 🙂
– Any idea on when that Post may be up/ready? Or no spoilers? Hehe
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Yeah, you can’t be really good with a weapon if you don’t focus on it. So I chose bow, it’s the most fun and lets me sneak around dungeons.
Yeah, of course I do see myself as the character, I just don’t dress them accordingly to how I play most often.
Games always try their hardest at being more beautiful than before in some ways, and people are just stupid to think they always need to upgrade imo.
I can’t comment on the DLCs, I didn’t play with them installed I think. I felt that Skyrim was so empty, so boring and too dumb.
Yeah, that post will come out when I’ve written it, heh. No spoilers.
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Would be cool if they had a Mod where you could use the Bow in a melee style…Like, an assassination kill, sneak up behind and strangle them with the bow 😀 Knee in their back, yanking the string into their neck and choking them/breaking their neck.
Ahh okay, yeah I just meant, living out your character 🙂 Even though I mainly play females in games, I do try to put a mindset on them.
Mhm, my new PC was going to cost me 2,500 GBP as recommended by the website, but I got it down to 1,300 and it runs everything perfectly and is very fast! Though i7 CPUs and top of the range GPU’s really jump the price up when you don’t need it (I especially don’t see the point of Dual GPU’s. Overkill much? I suppose people who want to make their games, like Skyrim, -extremely- high graphics wise but then you’ve just got a beautiful game with a crap storyline).
The DLC is ‘okay’ … Hearthfire I found to be fun, to build my own house and such. Dawnguard was interesting, but Dragonborn has a whole new map if I recall correctly, which looks even more interesting! Even though you can just get mods with that, which probably have more gametime on them anyway.
Aw no spoilers, well I look forward too it! Oblivion being my first entry into the Elder Scroll’s Series, will be interesting to see this conversion mod 🙂
– I’m also interested to hear your opinion on Elder Scroll’s Online. Have you tried it? If so, how did you feel it compared, too much MMO, or too much Elder Scrolls?
– If not, would you be interested in trying it? From what I’ve played, it plays very much like Skyrim. Similar levelling system, wear any armour/use any weapons you want. There is a Class system, but it’s rather fun being a Bow Sorcerer as you can cast spells while holding the Bow! Does it feel like an addition to the Elder Scroll’s Series, or just a money bag to milk the Serie’s lore and such?
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I have seen the online game, but i have no interest in playing it. It doesn’t really look good, and it costs. I prefer the single player games and such.
I suppose that it can be seen as an addition but of course they did the whole online game to collect more money on a big name.
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Ahh okay, yeah the cost part is a bit sad, especially in today’s market of so many F2P MMO’s. If it was F2P, I might have given it more of a chance, but I don’t play it very often now.
Yeah, as most MMO’s about big series are about the money. Glad they never did a Mass Effect MMO myself as apparently was rumoured, though the Online feature in ME3 wasn’t so bad. On another note, Mass Effect 4 is rumoured to be quite expansive with a lot of planet exploration, so I’m looking forward to that! Just wonder what new characters will be brought in and such. 🙂
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