For Those of You Who Have Been Playing Morrowind: Your Assessment So Far Is... - Page 2

Albromor · 05-14-2002, 11:29 AM

I want to sincerely thank everyone who posted. Wow, talk about in-depth responses! But that is why I asked because the people on the Ironworks Forums are some of the best on the net. Anyway, I hope I didn't come off negative in my original posting because that wasn't my intent. I am just pondering at this moment if it is a game I want to play because if I do I know I'll have to upgrade my CPU and Video Card. That is a considerable chunk of money just to play a game. I have to admit, though, that the true role playing aspect of Morrowind fascinates me.

Medieval Dead · 05-16-2002, 02:20 AM

All I know is that I've been playing this game on average for about 2 hours a day (wwhich seems like forever) since it came out and I've just recently looked at my fold out map and thought "My god, I've only been in about 1/10 of this map, this game's huge.". I haven't played 3-D CRPGs, but I'm not stranger to CRPGs in general (my first CRPG was Zork or maybe SSI's PHANTASIE). It reminds me, though, of ULTIMA IV without the party, and in a 3-D environment. I love that you actually explore the world! I've found hidden treasure in the bowels of sunken ships, went Indiana Jones style into some dwarf ruins, went critter hunting through marshes, tomb raiding for goodies, running up and down mountains, taking out monsters from afar with my bow and arrow... it's great! I also like that I'm still learning the world and it's rules. I've only recently begun using spells and alchemy, I was too busy before learning sword fighting and archery... and then sneaking around.... jumping, etc. Like someone said before, I'm afraid I'll never finish the game. I don't even know if I'll have to bother with another game this year because I'll probably be playing this game all summer. Gotta love how unique you can make your character, both character sheet-wise AND 3-D avatar-wise. This game is a true RPG to me and requires a lot of patience and a love for being alone in the world. If you are into running around and hacking things and grabbing goodies while trying to make it to the next level then I'd suggest something else. Not that that's bad or anything, I owned Dungeon Siege and loved it, but it last a week (one glorious week) and I got bored.

EDIT : Forgot to add that I'd advise you try and get your CPU to meet the RECOMMENDED specs for the game. I'm sure this game would be frustrating to play on MIMIMUM.

[ 05-16-2002, 02:22 AM: Message edited by: Medieval Dead ]

Lucian · 05-19-2002, 02:02 PM

Theres only one or two problems with this game but they are big ones. The advancement system, though it sounds cool, could use some tweaking. As it stands now, it is fairly easy to get rich quick with your character and easily train your skills up to god like levels. in no time flat. The choosing of major and minor skills is basically meaningless other than to help you raise your stats through training. Basically, you make sure you have at least one skill chosen per stat (except luck which cant be raised like that), then you grab alot of expensive stuff, you sell that stuff to a guy caled creeper, and you take ure boatload of money to these trainers and max yourself out in no time flat. The other big problem with this game is that once you get to a certain level, the game is just too easy (even without stat/skill maxing). I had to mod the game to give the enemies triple hit points and double damage to make it remotely challenging (even then, it is was still fairly easy).

Charmy · 05-19-2002, 03:06 PM

I agree with Lucian thoroughly. Morrowind is a great game with alot to offer. Its so immense its doubtful anyone but the most hard core player will manage to even complete all the quests. Beautiful graphics, beautiful (albeit small) soundtrack.

But the gameplay problems are glaring and numerous, especially in the INCREDIBLY exploitable skill system. Its implementation is quite foolish, and to 'achiever' gamers it can be quite a nuisance. Some skills are so much easier to raise than others. Armorer, for example, even when set as a major skill, which should raise fast, only gains something along the lines of two skill points out of a hundred every successful repair job. You can either go broke buying smith hammers and breaking your stuff, train the skill for $$$, or live with having it at low levels. On the flipside, I had my acrobatics up to 70 just by jumping everywhere I wanted to go, and I'm less than 5% through the game. Weapon skills are also pathetically easy to raise. They go up considerably even as a misc. skill per successful hit, regardless of the damage you do, or the monster you fight.

You can potential get 100 spear skill for example by buying a chitin spear, finding a cluster of mudcrabs and whacking them over and over with a 1-3 damage chop or slash. Every hit, your skill skyrockets. Same with magic, every successful cast, the skill goes up. Find a room, cast a spell over and over, and your skill will go up, regardless if whether or not you had a target, or whether or not your spell cast had any purpose whatsoever. Your magic skill even goes up when you try to summon a dagger when the spell is already in effect! Progress means little in this game, and so do levels, because they are so easy to attain that its laughable.
And guess what this does to difficulty? You guessed it, this is the among the easiest of RPG games I have ever played. Get some decent equipment, and a good weapon/magic spell and nothing can stand up to you.

And even those purist gamers who enjoy playing without any powerleveling will still find that they NEED to powerlevel to an extent if they want to keep up certain annoyingly implemented skills. A good example of this is Sneak. Take a purist thief, someone who wants to play the game without any repetitive skill raising. They will never get their sneak skill up to any decent level without paying tons of $$$ for training. Why?

a) Sneak skill only raises when you are in line of sight with your opponent and STILL are invisible to them.

b) You can only maintain your invisibility for a very short time, even at higher levels, as alot of is based on randomness.

I find the only tolerable and conceivable way to raise sneak is to find a townsperson, hide from them, and then peek-a-boo at them over and over and over and over. If you use the skill ONLY when you need to (to steal something, to backstab someone) then you're going to have a sorry time trying to get it to go up =/

And anyone can tell you that combat is a horribly simplistic affair. Three attacks, regardless of what weapon type you are using, and thats it. You click the mouse button, you hold the mouse button, you release the mouse button, all the while running into enemies. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Diablo was a hit too and its gameplay may even be more simplistic. I personally don't HATE the combat system, but I do think that its somewhat undeserving of being called great, especially in comparison to other top RPG combat.

Since the game really encourages practicing skills, and they go up to maximum levels very quickly, the game as a challenging RPG and an enjoyable progression of character power, somewhat falls flat.. Some people LIVE for progress, for levelups, for skill and stat gains, etc. They will hate Morrowind, because this is not where its treasure lies.

However, once you look past these ugly blemishes of combat, levels and skills, you'll find that Morrowind STILL is worthy of your time. Its got bazillions of quests, a very epic adventure feel, glorious landscapes, weather effects.. this is THE game for roleplayers outside of a MMORPG setting. Despite the repetitive-dialogue and the immobile NPCs, you still feel that Vvanderfel is a living, breathing place, and that you are making a significant contribution. Morrowind puts the RP in single player RPG. There is a huge amount of options for equipment lovers. Yes, there are a somewhat limited selection of armor and weapons, but don't let this fool you. there is an extremely robust enchantment system, so you can create (or ask someone else to create) some really awesome magical weapons. There is a alot of freedom here, and you really can make any piece of armor or weapon you desire. Its the same with spells. You can create your own spells! How cool is that? [img]smile.gif[/img] Alchemy has a great deal of depth as well.

For bookworms, there are some pretty good yarns scattered throughout Morrowind, as well as some decidedly rare book series, for those who like to collect things. Getting the next chapter of a cherished story is something some people will really enjoy, and the skill gains you get by reading them are nothing to scoff at either.

In short (man this post was way longer than I wanted it to be), Morrowind is great for those who love to roleplay, explore, quest and outfit their characters. The construction set only adds to the immense longevity of the game. You can potentially be playing this one for 150 hours + and even then you will likely have missed something. I recommend you get the strategy guide, if you don't mind some spoilers. For exploring types, its a real pain to know when you've missed a great piece of equipment or a fascinating quest. It also makes the somewhat overwhelmingly huge world, with so many hard to pronounce (let alone remember) names more manageable, unless you LIKE keeping your own journal. The in-game one lacks any detail, and isn't too useful..

Disciple · 05-20-2002, 03:16 AM

Although I'm having fun with the game so far I agree with the previous posters about the skill system. Two other things I don't like.

1- No info on how combat is going. Sorry but the occasional grunt and such isn't good enough. Give an option to put up a health bar or somehting.

2- The Journal. It blows. Its one big endless mess. The have the encyclopedia setup for terms but its a pain to keep trak of quests. Keep unfinished and finished ones seperate. Even better catagorize them based on where they occur. By town or region etc. I have started my own personal log in a notebook. I haven't done that since the RPG's in the 80's. Bethesda could have done much better.

I still am having fun with it, and could see myself playing several diffrent types of characters to play out the diffrences.

[ 05-20-2002, 03:18 AM: Message edited by: Disciple ]

dwarf4hire · 05-26-2002, 11:52 AM

I've been playing this game since it came out the first of the month. It's exactly what I expected. Anyone who had played the previous games of this series(Arena, Daggerfall, etc...)expected it to be the best...yet riddled with bugs, incompatibilities, and incomplete thinking in certain areas(where's the friggin wagon,huh?!) The fact that(playing 4-6 hours a day the first few weeks) I've only gotten kicked out to windows three or four times tells me how much more effort they actually put in this time before shipping

This is probably the most visually stunning game I've played(and I've just been playing wizardry 8 and Baldur's Gate 2, whose graphics I was extremely impressed with.) Have you gone out on a partly cloudy night to look at the two moons? Did you notice the stars actually move, too? Have you seen the water during predawn slowly change from dark, to milky colored opaque, to that almost magnifying glass-like bottom-of-the-lake spying effect, then to mirror-like reflection quality as the sun goes throug it's climb up into the sky? I'm sure many more moments like that await me, too.

I'm not a pure gamer. I don't know how to over-clock my computer or video card or do half of the rest of the things you guys talk about. I don't even UNDERSTAND half of what you talk about. I do know what looks good though, and that's this game. It's the Lord of The Rings of gaming to me right now. Absolutely beautiful...and exactly what I was looking for as promised, but which is usually not delivered as promised.

I don't play multiplayer online games because I don't have that kind of money...or time. I can't afford to spend that much and become addicted to something like that, or alcohol, or drugs for that matter. I don't have a cell phone, I don't have any of the rest of the electronic doohickies you all probably have. My brother bought half of this computer for me and most of the games I play come at christmas time because after car payments, medical bills, insurance, food, gas, and other living expenses I don't have the kind of cash to throw around on computer games...except for this one.
I'm sure glad it's worth it. It's open-endedness is what will allow me to keep playing it long after I would have gotten tired of playing most other games. After finally finishing the game as a Knight, assasin, thief, pure wizard and whatever else I decide to play...I'll be able to creat my own world for myself...what more can you ask for?

Bugs? Sure it's got bugs. Problems? Yeah, what game doesn't have a few problems? The thing is, I know they'll fix most everything that's wrong with this game. We've got a history together me and this world. I can trust it to be whatever I want it to be. And now I can even make it change. Wow. What a time we're in for

Sorry this post became so long. I only meant to come out here and see if anyone mentioned having problems re-loading a save when there is a small chest around. Gotta go back and see if I can find a damsel in distress for my knight to rescue...maybe I'll create a damsel in shining armor to come and rescue me while I'm at it

Medieval Dead · 05-27-2002, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lucian:
[QB]The advancement system, though it sounds cool, could use some tweaking. As it stands now, it is fairly easy to get rich quick with your character and easily train your skills up to god like levels. in no time flat. The choosing of major and minor skills is basically meaningless other than to help you raise your stats through training. Basically, you make sure you have at least one skill chosen per stat (except luck which cant be raised like that), then you grab alot of expensive stuff, you sell that stuff to a guy caled creeper, and you take ure boatload of money to these trainers and max yourself out in no time flat.[QB]

My workaround for this problem is to NOT go to trainers to increase your skills. It doesn't solve the problem completely, but it helps.

The Kiwi · 05-27-2002, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Disciple:
Journal. It blows. Its one big endless mess. The have the encyclopedia setup for terms but its a pain to keep trak of quests. Keep unfinished and finished ones seperate. Even better catagorize them based on where they occur. By town or region etc. I have started my own personal log in a notebook. I haven't done that since the RPG's in the 80's. Bethesda could have done much better.

...

It's supposed to be no big problem at all. Any text editor can manipulate the Journal file whatever way you like. Mine is too short (so Far) to have bothered, yet.

The K.

Mahlennacht · 06-15-2002, 01:31 AM

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!

theifprowess · 06-15-2002, 03:01 AM

i disagree with crazy horse. hes the leader of the fighters guild what a shock the quests involve killing people. try a real clan. do the imperial cult quests. the ladyu that sends you out to find items of legend. oh he'll love those quests.

wouldnt be surprised if he wasnt back on here crying for help wanting to know how to solve certain quests.

the fighters guild is by far one of the most sipmlest guilds to work under.many of the clans quests involve doing multiple tasks and multiple items which all require people to think.

i would say that even though the imperial cult is got by far the hardest quests, it has the greatest rewards.

hell doing the fighters guild has not one advantage to gain no unique weapons no reputation points nothing.

now that that is said and out of the way. i am kinda glad it is not like EQ or even forbid diablo2. playing online has its advantages but it also causes problems. people tend to cheat or play unfair. and it gets repetous. atleast with MW the game is never the same.

people can come back prolly a month from now and still not have discovered half of MW. thats what i like about this game.

and npc's have been more lively than ive seen in alot of other games. i have seen guards catch bandits in the act. i like it when there is a storm out they cover their faces. they do move around. and on many quests it does require. timing and some skill working around npc's. guards have routes in which they follow and there are times you have to wait out.

i can honestly say that this game is well thought out and has a great story line to it. it wont get borring and repetitive cause hell it could take amonth just to beat the game.

there are many styles you can play and there are amny turning points in the game.

that and you dont have to do the quests if you dont want to. the world is totally under your control, the quests you can do in any order.

i just hope that once i do beat this game and after fully enjoying it, NWN will be just as good and story rich.

05-26-2002, 11:52 AM	#16
dwarf4hire Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: April 4, 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri,USA Age: 57 Posts: 39	I've been playing this game since it came out the first of the month. It's exactly what I expected. Anyone who had played the previous games of this series(Arena, Daggerfall, etc...)expected it to be the best...yet riddled with bugs, incompatibilities, and incomplete thinking in certain areas(where's the friggin wagon,huh?!) The fact that(playing 4-6 hours a day the first few weeks) I've only gotten kicked out to windows three or four times tells me how much more effort they actually put in this time before shipping This is probably the most visually stunning game I've played(and I've just been playing wizardry 8 and Baldur's Gate 2, whose graphics I was extremely impressed with.) Have you gone out on a partly cloudy night to look at the two moons? Did you notice the stars actually move, too? Have you seen the water during predawn slowly change from dark, to milky colored opaque, to that almost magnifying glass-like bottom-of-the-lake spying effect, then to mirror-like reflection quality as the sun goes throug it's climb up into the sky? I'm sure many more moments like that await me, too. I'm not a pure gamer. I don't know how to over-clock my computer or video card or do half of the rest of the things you guys talk about. I don't even UNDERSTAND half of what you talk about. I do know what looks good though, and that's this game. It's the Lord of The Rings of gaming to me right now. Absolutely beautiful...and exactly what I was looking for as promised, but which is usually not delivered as promised. I don't play multiplayer online games because I don't have that kind of money...or time. I can't afford to spend that much and become addicted to something like that, or alcohol, or drugs for that matter. I don't have a cell phone, I don't have any of the rest of the electronic doohickies you all probably have. My brother bought half of this computer for me and most of the games I play come at christmas time because after car payments, medical bills, insurance, food, gas, and other living expenses I don't have the kind of cash to throw around on computer games...except for this one. I'm sure glad it's worth it. It's open-endedness is what will allow me to keep playing it long after I would have gotten tired of playing most other games. After finally finishing the game as a Knight, assasin, thief, pure wizard and whatever else I decide to play...I'll be able to creat my own world for myself...what more can you ask for? Bugs? Sure it's got bugs. Problems? Yeah, what game doesn't have a few problems? The thing is, I know they'll fix most everything that's wrong with this game. We've got a history together me and this world. I can trust it to be whatever I want it to be. And now I can even make it change. Wow. What a time we're in for Sorry this post became so long. I only meant to come out here and see if anyone mentioned having problems re-loading a save when there is a small chest around. Gotta go back and see if I can find a damsel in distress for my knight to rescue...maybe I'll create a damsel in shining armor to come and rescue me while I'm at it __________________ \"To fail to speak to a man who is capable of benefiting is to let a man go to waste. To speak to a man who is incapable of benefiting is to let one\'s words go to waste. A wise man lets neither men nor words go to waste.\"~Kung Ch\'iu-Confucius

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05-14-2002, 11:29 AM	#11
Albromor Mephistopheles Join Date: June 13, 2001 Location: Northfield, NJ USA Posts: 1,417	I want to sincerely thank everyone who posted. Wow, talk about in-depth responses! But that is why I asked because the people on the Ironworks Forums are some of the best on the net. Anyway, I hope I didn't come off negative in my original posting because that wasn't my intent. I am just pondering at this moment if it is a game I want to play because if I do I know I'll have to upgrade my CPU and Video Card. That is a considerable chunk of money just to play a game. I have to admit, though, that the true role playing aspect of Morrowind fascinates me.

05-16-2002, 02:20 AM	#12
Medieval Dead Dungeon Master Join Date: January 6, 2002 Location: My chair Posts: 66	All I know is that I've been playing this game on average for about 2 hours a day (wwhich seems like forever) since it came out and I've just recently looked at my fold out map and thought "My god, I've only been in about 1/10 of this map, this game's huge.". I haven't played 3-D CRPGs, but I'm not stranger to CRPGs in general (my first CRPG was Zork or maybe SSI's PHANTASIE). It reminds me, though, of ULTIMA IV without the party, and in a 3-D environment. I love that you actually explore the world! I've found hidden treasure in the bowels of sunken ships, went Indiana Jones style into some dwarf ruins, went critter hunting through marshes, tomb raiding for goodies, running up and down mountains, taking out monsters from afar with my bow and arrow... it's great! I also like that I'm still learning the world and it's rules. I've only recently begun using spells and alchemy, I was too busy before learning sword fighting and archery... and then sneaking around.... jumping, etc. Like someone said before, I'm afraid I'll never finish the game. I don't even know if I'll have to bother with another game this year because I'll probably be playing this game all summer. Gotta love how unique you can make your character, both character sheet-wise AND 3-D avatar-wise. This game is a true RPG to me and requires a lot of patience and a love for being alone in the world. If you are into running around and hacking things and grabbing goodies while trying to make it to the next level then I'd suggest something else. Not that that's bad or anything, I owned Dungeon Siege and loved it, but it last a week (one glorious week) and I got bored. EDIT : Forgot to add that I'd advise you try and get your CPU to meet the RECOMMENDED specs for the game. I'm sure this game would be frustrating to play on MIMIMUM. [ 05-16-2002, 02:22 AM: Message edited by: Medieval Dead ]

05-19-2002, 02:02 PM	#13
Lucian Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: January 21, 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA USA Posts: 5	Theres only one or two problems with this game but they are big ones. The advancement system, though it sounds cool, could use some tweaking. As it stands now, it is fairly easy to get rich quick with your character and easily train your skills up to god like levels. in no time flat. The choosing of major and minor skills is basically meaningless other than to help you raise your stats through training. Basically, you make sure you have at least one skill chosen per stat (except luck which cant be raised like that), then you grab alot of expensive stuff, you sell that stuff to a guy caled creeper, and you take ure boatload of money to these trainers and max yourself out in no time flat. The other big problem with this game is that once you get to a certain level, the game is just too easy (even without stat/skill maxing). I had to mod the game to give the enemies triple hit points and double damage to make it remotely challenging (even then, it is was still fairly easy).

05-19-2002, 03:06 PM	#14
Charmy Dungeon Master Join Date: March 23, 2002 Location: Canada Age: 41 Posts: 81	I agree with Lucian thoroughly. Morrowind is a great game with alot to offer. Its so immense its doubtful anyone but the most hard core player will manage to even complete all the quests. Beautiful graphics, beautiful (albeit small) soundtrack. But the gameplay problems are glaring and numerous, especially in the INCREDIBLY exploitable skill system. Its implementation is quite foolish, and to 'achiever' gamers it can be quite a nuisance. Some skills are so much easier to raise than others. Armorer, for example, even when set as a major skill, which should raise fast, only gains something along the lines of two skill points out of a hundred every successful repair job. You can either go broke buying smith hammers and breaking your stuff, train the skill for $$$, or live with having it at low levels. On the flipside, I had my acrobatics up to 70 just by jumping everywhere I wanted to go, and I'm less than 5% through the game. Weapon skills are also pathetically easy to raise. They go up considerably even as a misc. skill per successful hit, regardless of the damage you do, or the monster you fight. You can potential get 100 spear skill for example by buying a chitin spear, finding a cluster of mudcrabs and whacking them over and over with a 1-3 damage chop or slash. Every hit, your skill skyrockets. Same with magic, every successful cast, the skill goes up. Find a room, cast a spell over and over, and your skill will go up, regardless if whether or not you had a target, or whether or not your spell cast had any purpose whatsoever. Your magic skill even goes up when you try to summon a dagger when the spell is already in effect! Progress means little in this game, and so do levels, because they are so easy to attain that its laughable. And guess what this does to difficulty? You guessed it, this is the among the easiest of RPG games I have ever played. Get some decent equipment, and a good weapon/magic spell and nothing can stand up to you. And even those purist gamers who enjoy playing without any powerleveling will still find that they NEED to powerlevel to an extent if they want to keep up certain annoyingly implemented skills. A good example of this is Sneak. Take a purist thief, someone who wants to play the game without any repetitive skill raising. They will never get their sneak skill up to any decent level without paying tons of $$$ for training. Why? a) Sneak skill only raises when you are in line of sight with your opponent and STILL are invisible to them. b) You can only maintain your invisibility for a very short time, even at higher levels, as alot of is based on randomness. I find the only tolerable and conceivable way to raise sneak is to find a townsperson, hide from them, and then peek-a-boo at them over and over and over and over. If you use the skill ONLY when you need to (to steal something, to backstab someone) then you're going to have a sorry time trying to get it to go up =/ And anyone can tell you that combat is a horribly simplistic affair. Three attacks, regardless of what weapon type you are using, and thats it. You click the mouse button, you hold the mouse button, you release the mouse button, all the while running into enemies. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Diablo was a hit too and its gameplay may even be more simplistic. I personally don't HATE the combat system, but I do think that its somewhat undeserving of being called great, especially in comparison to other top RPG combat. Since the game really encourages practicing skills, and they go up to maximum levels very quickly, the game as a challenging RPG and an enjoyable progression of character power, somewhat falls flat.. Some people LIVE for progress, for levelups, for skill and stat gains, etc. They will hate Morrowind, because this is not where its treasure lies. However, once you look past these ugly blemishes of combat, levels and skills, you'll find that Morrowind STILL is worthy of your time. Its got bazillions of quests, a very epic adventure feel, glorious landscapes, weather effects.. this is THE game for roleplayers outside of a MMORPG setting. Despite the repetitive-dialogue and the immobile NPCs, you still feel that Vvanderfel is a living, breathing place, and that you are making a significant contribution. Morrowind puts the RP in single player RPG. There is a huge amount of options for equipment lovers. Yes, there are a somewhat limited selection of armor and weapons, but don't let this fool you. there is an extremely robust enchantment system, so you can create (or ask someone else to create) some really awesome magical weapons. There is a alot of freedom here, and you really can make any piece of armor or weapon you desire. Its the same with spells. You can create your own spells! How cool is that? [img]smile.gif[/img] Alchemy has a great deal of depth as well. For bookworms, there are some pretty good yarns scattered throughout Morrowind, as well as some decidedly rare book series, for those who like to collect things. Getting the next chapter of a cherished story is something some people will really enjoy, and the skill gains you get by reading them are nothing to scoff at either. In short (man this post was way longer than I wanted it to be), Morrowind is great for those who love to roleplay, explore, quest and outfit their characters. The construction set only adds to the immense longevity of the game. You can potentially be playing this one for 150 hours + and even then you will likely have missed something. I recommend you get the strategy guide, if you don't mind some spoilers. For exploring types, its a real pain to know when you've missed a great piece of equipment or a fascinating quest. It also makes the somewhat overwhelmingly huge world, with so many hard to pronounce (let alone remember) names more manageable, unless you LIKE keeping your own journal. The in-game one lacks any detail, and isn't too useful..

05-20-2002, 03:16 AM	#15
Disciple Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: April 29, 2002 Location: Flagstaff, Az Posts: 25	Although I'm having fun with the game so far I agree with the previous posters about the skill system. Two other things I don't like. 1- No info on how combat is going. Sorry but the occasional grunt and such isn't good enough. Give an option to put up a health bar or somehting. 2- The Journal. It blows. Its one big endless mess. The have the encyclopedia setup for terms but its a pain to keep trak of quests. Keep unfinished and finished ones seperate. Even better catagorize them based on where they occur. By town or region etc. I have started my own personal log in a notebook. I haven't done that since the RPG's in the 80's. Bethesda could have done much better. I still am having fun with it, and could see myself playing several diffrent types of characters to play out the diffrences. [ 05-20-2002, 03:18 AM: Message edited by: Disciple ]

06-15-2002, 01:31 AM	#19
Mahlennacht Drow Warrior Join Date: September 10, 2001 Location: CA, USA Age: 62 Posts: 298	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!

06-15-2002, 03:01 AM	#20
theifprowess Drizzt Do'Urden Join Date: March 9, 2002 Location: california Posts: 613	i disagree with crazy horse. hes the leader of the fighters guild what a shock the quests involve killing people. try a real clan. do the imperial cult quests. the ladyu that sends you out to find items of legend. oh he'll love those quests. wouldnt be surprised if he wasnt back on here crying for help wanting to know how to solve certain quests. the fighters guild is by far one of the most sipmlest guilds to work under.many of the clans quests involve doing multiple tasks and multiple items which all require people to think. i would say that even though the imperial cult is got by far the hardest quests, it has the greatest rewards. hell doing the fighters guild has not one advantage to gain no unique weapons no reputation points nothing. now that that is said and out of the way. i am kinda glad it is not like EQ or even forbid diablo2. playing online has its advantages but it also causes problems. people tend to cheat or play unfair. and it gets repetous. atleast with MW the game is never the same. people can come back prolly a month from now and still not have discovered half of MW. thats what i like about this game. and npc's have been more lively than ive seen in alot of other games. i have seen guards catch bandits in the act. i like it when there is a storm out they cover their faces. they do move around. and on many quests it does require. timing and some skill working around npc's. guards have routes in which they follow and there are times you have to wait out. i can honestly say that this game is well thought out and has a great story line to it. it wont get borring and repetitive cause hell it could take amonth just to beat the game. there are many styles you can play and there are amny turning points in the game. that and you dont have to do the quests if you dont want to. the world is totally under your control, the quests you can do in any order. i just hope that once i do beat this game and after fully enjoying it, NWN will be just as good and story rich.

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