The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

[ZCAB]

Game: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Genre: First-Person Role-Playing Game
Released in: 2002
By: Bethesda Softworks
Platform: PC (recommended) and XBOX





If I had to name one game that I thought was vastly underrated, it would be this one. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a masterpiece, no matter how you look at it. It has some bugs, sure. It's combat system isn't always perfect (I'll tell something more about that later), okay. But all these small faults are simply overshadowed by the things that are good. And I can assure you, I have enough good to tell you about this game.

Graphics (25%)

Hmmm, a toughie. Since this game was released in 2002, looking at it's gfx through today's standards is pretty difficult. Let me start with the best feature of the game's graphics, best portrayed in this picture. The water in the game is just stunning, which is good since the game plays on an island named Vvardenfell. Sure, the effects aren't as gorgeous as Far Cry, but with two years in between the two, you couldn't call Morrowind's water unimpressive.
There are a lot of different outfits you (or rather, your character) can choose from, ranging from leather to ebony. You can combine pieces of armor to the level of wearing two different types of gloves. When you find a piece of armor, it will always fit, wether you are a man or a woman, or even beast (though the beast races can not wear boots or shoes). Armor generally looks good and hardly clips with the base player model.

Unfortunately, other aspects of the graphics have not passed the test of time as well. The textures placed on geometry are plain ugly, there isn't another word for it. The draw distance isn't too impressive either, though I perfectly understand why it isn't; this game was very impressive when it came out in 2002, compared to the computer systems that were usual in that day.
The character models you can choose from in the game give me mixed feelings. Some faces are nicely detailed (a few faces of the Khajiit, the cat-like race you can choose from when you build your character, are pretty good-looking), while others are definately not as pretty. There are even mods that make the faces prettier with less polygons. It is advised you locate and download those mods. Until you do that, I am going to give Morrowind's graphics a

8\10


Sound (25%)

Morrowind is a text-based RPG, which means all dialogue is in a text form rather than speech. This might sound like a bad thing, but considering there are about 3000 characters in the game you can interact with, let alone a huge amount of guards that regenerate when, err, something... happens to them, it would have taken too much time to make all that in speech. There is no lack of speech in this game, though, since every NPC in the game will greet you according to how much he likes you. The voice acting is pretty solid, with the raspy-voiced Dark Elves as a highest.
Environment sounds are pretty limited, but they are enough. You can clearly hear the creaking of wood when you walk near the docks, as well as the waves breaking on the shore. The most impressive thing about Morrowind when it comes to the sounds are the spells you can cast. You can clearly hear the difference between a fireball you fire against an irritating cliffracer (a dinosaur-like bird creature that enjoys attacking you when you are just taking a walk in the mountains), or a spell to freeze up a group of violent skeletons.

Like the graphics, not all is perfect in the sound department. While the sound of a longsword cutting through the air is good enough, once it actually hits something, things go downhill. A sword hitting a giant rat in this game makes the sound of hitting someone with a bundle of twigs; if this game was a Batman comic, it would have said "thud". Not exactly encouraging when you are fighting a giant beast with more teeth than a room full of hollywood actors.
Ha, you thought I was done didn't you? No, I am not. One thing worth mentioning about Morrowind's SFX is the music. Many people dislike the music for having the tendency of repeating itself more than a 80s sitcom. I beg to differ. Morrowind's musical score is a beautiful, orchestral piece that fits in perfectly with the game's medieval theme. Listen to some of the music in the game here (Yes, it's legal).
Mainly due to this music, I award Morrowind's sounds with a

8\10


Gameplay (50%)

This is where Morrowind shines. No, it is not the first RPG we have seen. No, it is not the prettiest RPG we have ever seen. But it sure as hell is big! You are free to do whatever you want in this game. Want to explore the province and know about everything? Sure. You want to travel from town to town and kill everyone inside? Alright, if you wanna. And there are a lot of towns; around 50, ranging from the giant city of Vivec (built around a single god everyone seems to worship) and the small fishing town of Khuul. They are connected by roads, some more accessible than others.

I doesn't matter if you have a big province at your disposal if there's nothing to do there. This is not the case for Morrowind, however. All around the land, there are quests to conquer (people to save, criminals to kill, murders to solve). Also, the island is scattered with caves, mines and tombs. While most of these aren't exactly worhty to loot, there are some spectacular things to find.

Throughout the game, there is an evident but inconspicuous main quest. You start the game on a ship next to a Dark Elf named Jiub, whom you tell your name. You don't have the chance to speak with him for too long, as a guard coms towards you to take you away. As you make your way out of the ship, an Imperial guard approaches you and asks you where you are from. You can choose between 10 races, each with their distinct qualities. For example, the Viking-like Nords, who are from a cold region in the Empire that Morrowind is a province of (Tamriel), can handle frost like no other, while the lizard race named Argonian can breathe under water and is perfectly resistant against poison.

Once you are done with choosing your race, you are to pick out a Birthsign (one of twelve) and picking a Class (from Battlemage to Acrobat). If that is all done, you can start with the quest, which is about a not very nice god named Dagoth Ur, who lives in a volcano, and you need to take him out.
While the games' story might not be all that flashy, the land of Vvardenfell has a rich history and you can ask anyone about it. This shows a great dedication to the game from the creators; they could have just as easily focused on the now and here of the province. And it's not just the folklore that shows Vvardenfell wasn't founded yesterday; the island is full of beautiful, ancient ruins and most cities clearly show signs of age and history. And what better way to start loving a place if it has a nice history?

While Morrowind clearly shows how well it was made by the graphics and the history of the land you are in, not everything is perfect. First of all: the combat. Eacht short distance weapon (in the classes Long Blade, Short Blade, Axe, Spear and Blunt Weapon) has three attacks: Chop, Slash and Thrust. This is generally a good idea, but the issue is that your individual weapon skills don't only make out how powerful your strikes are, but also how accurately you hit your foe. If you have a 50 for Long Blade skill, there's a 50% chance that you actually hit your enemy. At that level this isn't too frustrating, since the movement of your sword will make sure you hit your enemy eventually. However, when your Long Blade skill is only 5, you are better off not using it. Even worse; when you have one type of weapon that you are actually good at using, you'll end up using that type of weapon and you will neglect to train all the others. Lickily, you can speak to private trainers for a fee, but this isn't exactly ideal when you are short on funds.

Another frustrating aspect of the game is that it's pretty glitchy. You will end up stuck in poles more than once, and random crashes will sometimes drive you insane. However, if you manage to play the game for a few hours and it crashes then, you'll start it up again with a big grin on your face. For that, Morrowind's gameplay receives a

9\10

Okay, so this game isn't perfect. What is? My thoughts are: if you like Role-Playing Games and you are looking for a game to keep you occupied for a few weeks (or more), this is the one. My final score?

8,5\10

Screenshots

[CowInParachute]

Probably the best review I've seen here.

[ZCAB]

Thank you.

[The Canadian]

Good reveiw...extrememly long but yeah I find this game unbeleivably amazing just all the classes the stealing of items from a shop is so badass I give this game a 8.5/10