Hello IW again! been a while
[RPG background is that I've come to Morrowind after a year-and-a-half of CONSTANT BG2/ToB]
OK, these are only my INITIAL IMPRESSIONS, no offense intended! [img]smile.gif[/img] This is kind of a downer post, but I'm a total newbie at MW so hopefully my opinions will change, I sure hope so... Unfortunately I'm finding MW a very tedious game at the moment.
I've been playing for maybe 30-40 hours, been from Seyda Neen to Balmora. About half my time was spent staring at the screen in bewilderment trying to decide what spell or enchantment to create, especially as I tend to avoid reloading unless I die. I thought I would enjoy the freedom to make spells, but I haven't found deciding among all these possibilites appealing at all (yet). Maybe when I get the hang of it I'll enjoy it, but right now I don't even know where the hell to start - the manual certainly is no help in this regard.
Graphics: personally great graphics have NEVER impressed me if the game doesn't play well, so I don't think about how great MW looks, which it does - reminds me of a tweaked-up Half-Life, though H-L had more atmosphere in my opinion, probably due to H-L's sound design... [the scariest thing I've come across so far is some awesome thunder-&-lightning, and yes, I HAVE been inside a tomb - my only reaction was merely mild irritation at having to reload after I got killed.]
Journal is absolutely unusable, it almost makes the game unplayable for me; I now use a pencil and a stack of Post-its.
Walking/Running speed is obviously way too slow; BoBS help but only a little... I used to deathmatch for hours every day and my "walk" finger hurts more in MW than when I was dodging incoming rockets every few seconds...
I don't feel much emotional payoff when completing quests; I know you will get up the ladder in the guilds this way, but finishing quests in MW is not very exciting yet - I guess I miss the rush of getting XP from the D&D system. Here you're kind of working your way up just like in real life, which I can't stand anyway, so maybe that's why I'm not having fun - too realistic!
What I probably miss most of all is laughing out loud, which I haven't done ONCE in this game. I know that many folks here enjoy MW after playing BG2, but I haven't yet encountered the wonderful characters and scripting (not to mention the outstanding voice-acting) that characterized BG2. Of course, MW ISN'T script-driven, it's very open-ended - but my god MW's dialogue is lackluster.
ANYWAY, I will keep at it for at least another month or two - I mean I didn't even remotely like Deus Ex until a couple months after I first tried it, and the same for BG2 as a matter of fact... so wish me luck. Or not. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] THANK GOODNESS for the IW forums here or I would be even more frustrated than I am now.
I'll TRY to play until I get to around 12th level at least, but if I can't deal after that I'm swimming back to Athkatla and questing there while I await the call to NWN.
PS - I LOVE THE GUARS AND SCRIBS!!! Best characters I have met in the game so far!