Wanted: patient people to help clueless newbie

[Melusine]

I hope you clicked on this thread because you are in the possession of truly angelic patience, and not just out of insatiable curiosity slash hopeless forum-addiction slash shameless desire to post useless spam. Because I really think I'm gonna need lots of help...

Right.
So, I got this game from the bargain bin a few days ago (only cost 5.99 euros/dollars! Whee!). It said on the box that there would be an online manual provided but there doesn't appear to be one. [img]tongue.gif[/img] I found a link to the official Morrowind site, but that's not much help. So it appears I've got myself a game without manual and if there's one thing I hate.... [img]graemlins/1pissed.gif[/img]
Actually I'm really enjoying the game so far, but it's kind of hard to figure out everything by yourself.
So, some game info: I'm playing as a Breton female healer, born under the sign of the Lady, fighting with a blunt weapon mostly. I can't remember my stats exactly, but I've 35 in Strength, about 75 Personality, Speed Willpower and Intelligence all moderately high and Agility moderately low. I've associated myself with the Mages Guild and the Fighters Guild, resolved a few minor quests and walked around Balmora, Pelagiad and Seyda Neen. I haven't done anything else in the game (Ford Moonmoth for instance) so please, NO SPOILERS!

I've figured out some stuff on my own:
- you gain levels when you gain 10 points in your Major and Minor Skills.
- jumping around increases Acrobatics, running increases Athletics (and both make you really tired )
- Reading books can sometimes increase one of your skills
- as a Healer (read: puny little weakling push-over) you suck in battles.
- Apparently you can join several guilds but only one House

Anyone got more useful hints like these, to get me into the workings of the game? And could anyone explain the usefulness or lack thereof of the different skills (I think I have Major/Minor Skill in Restoration, Speechcraft, Hand-To-Hand, Light Armor, Unarmored, Blunt Weapon, Alchemy, Illusion and I can't remember the rest). Is Marksmanship essential for instance? Since I'm not exceptionally strong, I tend to get whacked around quite a lot. Is it worth it anyway to increase skills that aren't major/minor ones? How does disposition work with merchants? What's the use of taunting and bribing? Is that ever useful? I've tried admiration quite a lot (also to increase my Speechcraft). Do merchants get pissed off (ie lower disposition) when you keep offering too little for their items or asking too much for your own?
Oh and, where can I get lots of cash for little effort? I've done the simple mage quests (all of Ajira's ones and two fighter quests - the rats and the egg poachers. I've done the smuggler's cave and dead tax collector in Seyda Neen too. And I was stupid enough to turn down the offer of finding out Fargoth's hiding place, damn goody-two-shoes that I am...)

Uhhh... holy question-abundance Batman. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I'll shut up now. Any non-spoiling tips much much appreciated!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Edit: oh, I forgot one thing. I'm really not interested in starting over with the game. So unless you're telling me my character absolutely sucks 100% and stands a snowball's chance in hell of getting anywhere in this game, I would like to continue playing with it.

[ 04-28-2004, 05:39 PM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

[johnny]

Don't worry too much about the respective major, minor, and misc skills Mel, eventually they all go up, either by practicing the skills yourself, or by running into one of the mastertrainers.

You might find this useful on your trips through the wastelands. It's a map of every location in Vvardenfell. If you don't wanna use it, it's understandable, but you'll find out that some locations are VERY hard to find, and then a few directions may prevent a lot of stress.

While you're still in the beginning of the game, you might wanna sign up for as much guilds as possible, the Mages, Thieves, Fighters, Morag Tong, Temple, Imperial Cult, Imperial guards... all of them. Try to do one task at a time for every guild, so they won't interfere with one another (some do eventually).

Edit: Yes, taunting and bribing can come in quite usefull, work on those skills. Sometimes you need to get something from someone, and if they're not giving it voluntarily, you could taunt them into attacking you. If you kill people after they attack you first, you're always at the right side of the law. If you deliver the first strike, you'll get a bounty on your head, and every guard in the entire game, will attack you on sight.

[ 04-28-2004, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: johnny ]

[Aelia Jusa]

Glad you're enjoying the game, Mel! I found it extremely fun, and I really liked the levelling up/stats etc system. I especially appreciated the fact that as you train, your strength etc increases - much more realistic than BG type systems where you're always the same strength no matter how many weights you lift

To try to answer some of your questions, most skils have some use. Speechcraft is good for getting more information out of people - if they like you more, they will tell you more or help you more. Merchants also have lower prices if they have a high disposition towards you. High speechcraft allows you to admire/bribe/etc people you talk to to improve their disposition. When it's quite low, this fails a lot and their disposition will drop. I recommend getting training in it to get it up to 50 or so before trying too much admiration. Your armour skills improve the use of armour - if you have high light armour skill then wearing light armour will be more effective. The same goes for all weapon etc skills as well.

I think if you are playing a weakling, marksmanship may be very useful for you. I played through as a fighter-type and I never used a ranged weapon and didn't need to, but I think you would benefit from getting some training and practice in that. Like acrobatics etc, using any skill will make it increase.

If you think you will use non-major or minor skills, definitely use and train them so they increase. The only benefit of major and minor skills is that they increase faster with use - eg casting an illusion spell may give you 1 point (out of 100) if it's a non-major/minor skill, but if it's minor it might give you 2, and major 3 (those aren't the exact numbers but that's the gist ).

Restoration, illusion etc are your magic skills - high skill in these mean when you cast a spell in that school you are more likely to be successful (and I think maybe also it will be more powerful? Not entirely sure about that.) For example healing spells belong to restoration. If you haven't figured it out yet, learning spells takes a number of forms - buying spells from spell merchants, creating custom spells from spell merchants, or casting them directly off scrolls or items. You can't scribe spells you have on scrolls into your 'spellbook'.

Getting high disposition for merchants is useful - their prices will be lower. Mercantile is also a useful skill for merchants - this allows you to be better at bartering. Their disposition does drop if you continually ask for low prices, however I'm almost certain it pops back up again if you leave and talk to them again.

Hope that all makes sense and is helpful! [img]smile.gif[/img] Have fun!

[Aelia Jusa]

Oh and also, it's a good idea at the beginning not to use the silt striders etc too much. As long as you're not in too much danger of dying at the very sight of a cliff racer, it's really helpful to walk where you want to go. You just get alot more opportunity to practice your skills (plus it's cheaper). And you get to admire the beautiful graphics. Walk outside when it's night and just stand and admire the sky. It's really gorgeous.

And quick save often! The game has an annoying habit of dumping you back to the desktop on a fairly regular basis. There's not a lot you can do about it so just take precautions!

[Melusine]

LOL Aelia, I've already been wandering around gawking at the nightsky and bumping into things for hours! It's truly lovely. All the weather effects are, actually - I just walked into Balmora at sunrise and it was so pretty. Unfortunately it rains there all the time, it seriously gets my spirits down.

Anyway thanks for all the help both of you guys! [img]smile.gif[/img] I did figure out the spells, yes, and I'm glad Restoration is a Major Skill since I use Hearth Heal all the time.
Johnny, thanks for listing all those guilds! So you're saying I can become associated with all of them, and they later might get into conflict with one another and I can drop out of some of them again?

I've thought of more questions, BTW... sorry - I warned y'all I'd be annoying.

- There are no party members in this game right? It's all solo? Because so far there isn't much of a roleplaying aspect. Not that I'm complaining, I do like the game a lot.
- Does anyone know what all the alembics, mortar & pestle and so on are for? They come in Master's, Journeyman's, Apprentice's etc. so I take it they are used for a certain skill and come in different qualities, just like the Lockpicks and probes. Are they used for Alchemy? That's one of my skills so how can I make use of them?
- What's with the soul gems? I recall finding someone (perhaps Galbedir in the Mages Guild) who could do something with them...
- Is it worth it creating your own spells? It seems so cool a feature to play around with!

[ 04-28-2004, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

[promethius9594]

"- There are no party members in this game right? It's all solo? Because so far there isn't much of a roleplaying aspect. Not that I'm complaining, I do like the game a lot."

No, no party members. if youre just starting the game, you might have a hard time limiting yourself as JUST a healer, especially if your strength and combat ability is so low. I would restart and make either a true mage(breton), an assasin (my favorite)(khajiit), or a warrior mage (dark elf). Its all well and good to be a healer, but i have no magicka ability so to speak of and manage to heal myself quite nicely, while quests which require healing others are few and far between. Trust me, start over a few times until you get a character you'll enjoy which you can win with. If you need any pointers on which skills are useful (light armor) and which arent (hand to hand, unarmoured, etc), let me know.

"- Does anyone know what all the alembics, mortar & pestle and so on are for? They come in Master's, Journeyman's, Apprentice's etc. so I take it they are used for a certain skill and come in different qualities, just like the Lockpicks and probes. Are they used for Alchemy? That's one of my skills so how can I make use of them?"

yes, they are used for alchemy. despite the fact that its one of my skills, i havent ever used it (assasins dont have time to mix drinks between killing daedra).

"- What's with the soul gems? I recall finding someone (perhaps Galbedir in the Mages Guild) who could do something with them..."

heh, you get to enchant items. see my article "a beginners guide to enchanting items for more information on enchantments, then if you have any questions about it post them there and i'll be glad to answer them for you. some basics: having empty soul gems lets you trap a creatures soul when it dies. the easiest way to get soul gems filled is to make a weapon which has soul trap on it. how do you enchant a weapon with soul trap, when you cant trap a soul in the first place? well, one of the mages guild quests in balmora... SPOILER

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*Will have you place something or take something from the enchanter in the mages guild desk. at this time she will leave her desk for a few minutes. take ALL of the soul gems from her desk and use them to make some cool items (swords with soul trap, for instance). HOWEVER, dont ever go to the same woman again for enchanting, she'll try to kill you. i recommend bribing the guy in the balmora temple up to 100 disposition and then using him to do all your enchantments.

"- Is it worth it creating your own spells? It seems so cool a feature to play around with! "

yes, when you are small and weak, with little experience, creating your own spells isnt really worth it. as you get stronger and develope magicka abilities the spells you can create and use will be much more powerful than any you can buy.

[johnny]

No, you won't be expelled from the guilds if some of their paths cross, but you might have a hard time finishing quests. Especially the thieves guild is a club you wanna join right from the start. The first time i played Morrowind, i waited a little too long, and they wouldn't let me join them, because i had developed some skills that are not specific for stealthy characters. I know it sounds silly, but it really happened.

You CAN be expelled from guilds though, for several reasons. Of course you can't go around attacking other guildmembers, but the one time i got expelled, it was because i slept in someone else's bed. And i was Archmage of the Mages guild at that time, go figure.

Edit: Mel, every time you find a grand soulgem (i think it's what they're called, they are those round yellow gems), pick it up and keep it in your inventory. Later in the game, you'll run into opponents, who's soul will allow you to enchant clothing, armour and weapons with constant effect spells, very usefull. Of course you need a scroll or a spell in order to trap an opponent's soul after you've defeated him'.

[ 04-28-2004, 06:28 PM: Message edited by: johnny ]

[Aelia Jusa]

Originally posted by Melusine: - Does anyone know what all the alembics, mortar & pestle and so on are for? They come in Master's, Journeyman's, Apprentice's etc. so I take it they are used for a certain skill and come in different qualities, just like the Lockpicks and probes. Are they used for Alchemy? That's one of my skills so how can I make use of them?

Just to add a bit to what promethius said, to use alchemy you need your equipment (mortar and pestle etc - you don't need all the pieces to make something however having them all increases the power and also decreases the negative side effects of whatever you make) and some ingredients. Ingredients are plants and such - to make something with a specific power (e.g. a potion of levitation) you need at least two ingredients with that power (can be two of the same, or two different). Ingredients all have one or more properties (e.g. increase strength, decrease intelligence etc). The better your alchemy skill is, the better you are at determining what ingredients can do. Better quality equipment also increases the power of your potion and decreases the negative effects.

[johnny]

One other tiny detail.... i found that increasing your "luck" skill early in the game comes in quite handy if you're not all that wealthy yet. The higher your luck, the better items you find when looting chests and crates and such.

[promethius9594]

ugh, luck is the LAST thing i increase. contrary to popular belief, it does not significantly help your ability searching random items. what it does is aplies a luck modifier to each of your statistics every time you take an action.

for example: i swing my long sword with a fast strike. my strength is 50. i should about the lower end of the damage. my luck, however, is 70. because im a lucky guy, sometimes i strike towards the high end of the damage, even though my strength isnt very high. THATS luck.

Also,

when you first get grand soul gems, DONT hold on to them unless you have alot of greater, common, and lesser soul gems ALSO in your inventory. nothing sucks like soul trapping a cliff racer in one of the VERY limited number of grand soul gems. common rule of thumb: if it aint a golden saint or an ascended sleeper, dont soul trap it if you have a grand soul gem in your inventory. (be careful here, too, because a third of the dagoths look exactly like ascended sleepers). azura's star is different, if you trap something you dont want in there, then just use it to recharge a weapon and go out to trap another beastie.

[ 04-28-2004, 07:28 PM: Message edited by: promethius9594 ]