I'm not sure whether I love or hate this game...

[Brayf]

I'm still shaking.

So I've had this game for like a week now. I've tried out a few characters to start with and decided to take my normal RPG strategy of playing the game through with a sword and shield warrior first, to get a feel for it. However, I didn't quite realise the extent to which one can "get a feel" for Morrowind.

Last night, after advancing to level 8 and feeling pretty tough (I can now kill rats like they're nothing more than... well, rats), I decided to boldly go east and discover a great city, rob it blind and parade back to Balmora with all my riches.

Except I didn't find a great city.

I found death. And despair. And destruction. And disease. And OH MY GOD IT WAS HORRIBLE, after about half an hour I was completely lost, in the middle of nowhere, in a terrifying sandstorm with crazed axe murderers camped out surrounding me. I found some Argonian slave and agreed to help him, as I was really scared being by myself, but he died a grisly death in a pit of lava that I barely escaped from. The only forms of civilisation I could find were the scariest old dwarven ruins I could've imagined, and to top it all off I got a blight disease!

I thought I was doomed. Now I'm not exaggerating, I was genuinely scared. Me personally, not my character. That game draws you in so much, it's the most brilliantly horrible game world I've ever seen, by a long way. And I didn't think anything was ever going to beat the Baldur's Gate lands. The weather effects are absolutely amazing!

Anyway, long story short I remembered getting a scroll of divine intervention and thanking the gods, used it straight away. Never again will I be so careless.

I haven't played the game again yet, and I'm not sure if I actually can. I was seriously shaken up by my adventure last night, it took several cups of tea before the colour returned to my face, and I'm still shaking now.

And I can't decide if all this makes Morrowind the greatest game ever, or the most horrific surreal nightmare simulator ever. Did anyone else experience this upon first playing the game? How the hell did you get through it? I need Morrowind therapy please.

[Radek]

You need to reorder your doings [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] First of all, level 8 isn't too much, the first Fire Atronach will show you what it is worth. Second, you need armor and weapons better than the ones sold in Balmora or found in a trash heap. There are better armor and weapons, which can be get at level 8, in the game. Moreover, there are "bound" weapons in the game. An item (it need not be a weapon!) enchanted with a "bound weapon" spell "cast when used" will provide you with a daedric weapon when you will need it. Third, you will need some potions:

(1) Cure Poison potions
(2) Cure Disease potions
(3) Cure Blight Disease potions
(4) Cure attribute potions
(5) Heal potions
(6) Restore mana potions

It's worth to invest into your Alchemy skill and make the potions yourself. There are trucks of ingredients around, which can be used for it. Moreover, mixing potions and selling them isn't a bad source of money, especially at higher Alchemy levels. Note that the alchemists will buy any potions, including the "spoilt" ones, so that you need not mix usable potions if you want to sell them.
Later on, you can use spells instead of potions.

Now, try adventuring again [img]smile.gif[/img]

[booklord]

Escaped slave? Were you wandering out East of Ald Velothi? That can be a rough neighborhood. You could have walked into the Quarra vampire headquarters.

Anyway I've got you beat. My first character was a Breton apprentice. I walked into the big Sixth House base between Seyda Neen and Vivec. At least it was over quickly.


Raviir ( Best guess on name ) in Balmora has some nice bound weapons at a very cheap price. Personally I like to buy the devil spear as one of the first things in the game. ( Endurance is a very important stat )

Another thing you may want to try is getting an amulet of divine intervention and amulet of almsivi intervention from Edwinna Elbert of the Mages guild after a few very easy quests. ( only fight is a Scamp )

Carry potions to heal almost every attribute or if you were wise enough to take Restoration as a major skill. Learn the spells. You only need to learn one restore spell then a spell-maker can help you make the rest. It's a major space saver not to have to carry all those potions.

In any event try avoiding most Dwarven ruins and Daedric Shrines until you're ready. Most Ancestral Tombs are bad news as well. The safest bet is to stick with the starting faction quests until you feel confident to start exploring on your own. Another idea would be to talk to the townspeople. Generally they can point in the direction of the easier dungeons.

[Legolas]

The weather effects are great, yes. I remember my own surprise when the skies turned red and snadstorms started blowing. And having heard about the blight, was very much concerned that merely being exposed to that might cause a disease. I was lost, too, and though I could just beat one or two racers at a time, they were -everywhere-. It was a pretty interesting experience but backtracking got me out safely in the end.

As for potions and the like, I have this issue with using anything that has limited uses. I repair my weapons but that's about it.
The cure disease potions I found were mostly useful because people would ask for them in a quest. For the restore attribute options, I had spells made which restored them a little for 1 mana point per casting, not too difficult even for those without Restoration skill. Particularly Strength is a necessity because when that's drained and you have a decent inventory, you are going nowhere in a hurry. Other than that I used levitation potions where required, and that's about it.

I've now reached the stage where none of the random spawns give any trouble, and it's only a few special characters that I can't beat. I prefer hand to hand over bound weapons, by the way, which has to do with how I finished the main quest.

[Aelia Jusa]

I remember doing that quest to help the escaped slave. I felt so responsible for him! I led him around all over the place, swimming and running, and he got injured and I didn't have a heal other spell and I was so worried about him! I worried that he'd die, or drown, or that when I took him through Sadrith Mora that he'd be spotted and recaptured... it was very stressful! So um, yeah, I was sucked in a little

I love not only the look of an ashstorm, but the sound effects as well - all swirly and scary. And the sky is so lovely, especially at night.

I would recommend when you're not that tough to only make forays out into the wildnerness doing quests, and even then try to teleport to the absolute nearest city you can before making a trek outside. It is a really LONG way across the map, and there are lots of beasties out there, that just to wander (especially without teleport spells lol!) is not a great idea. I remember getting lost once when I was walking about trying to find the path to ghostgate. All those winding paths and hills and the area is so big that on my map it looked like I was in the right place but I was actually way off, wandering around in circles.

[Kakero]

Tackle the game like you would do in real life, In real life would you venture out into the unknown without preparing yourself? Would you prepare provisions ( healing potion, mana potion, cure poison, cure disease potion ,enchant your items or the like? )beforehand? Would you journey outside without a good trusted weapon? Would you filled yourself with spells first?

If the difficulty overwhelms you and you happen to have a patched game or got expansions. Do scroll down your difficulty option down to -100. Thus making the enemies encounter easier to handle until you are ready for them.

If you think that you are running into circles, Do check up your map often. It can be viewed in local map or world map. Thus it should prevent you from getting lost.

[Brayf]

Originally posted by Kakero: Tackle the game like you would do in real life... Would you journey outside without a good trusted weapon?

On my block? That'd just be suicide!


Seriously though, thanks for the support guys, I think I'm gonna get through this trauma. I dared to play it again last night, I ended after finding the Bonebreaker Bow and returning to Balmora, so I guess I'm about to go and hunt down the lost prophecies.

I'm at level 18 now, is that a bit better for the stage I'm at? I was under the impression that the game generally took enough time to get to about level 30, but since level 15 the levelling message things have been somewhat pessimistic as to my chances of improving much more.

And thanks for the equipment advice mainly, right now I think I'm using all steel armour with a tower shield, with... is it "Duke's Steel Cuirass"? Duke's something, I'm sure you know what I mean. my armour class (do we call it that in MW?) is something like 42 in top condition and I'm using a Storm Blade. Is this a lot worse than what I could or should be using? I'll look into the weapon-binding items, thank you Radek [img]smile.gif[/img] and booklord, yes, and even further. I was on the east coast at one point

[ 02-24-2005, 06:50 AM: Message edited by: Brayf ]

[Peytin of Rothmire]

Brayf, I'm in a similiar boat as you. I have a fighter-type, playing thru for the first time and just hit level 7. I've had a few run ins with some nasty guys but have always come out on top. As a fellow newbie, the best advice I can give you is to stay to the west. The roads between Seyda - Hla Oad - Balmora - Caldera - Ald-ruhn were relatively safe, only random spawns of creatures that I could handle. This is a good training ground. There is no reason early in the game to use fast travel between these towns. As far as caves, tombs and the like, avoid them unless they are quest related. You can rarely tell from the outside what is inside!

MINOR SPOILER BELOW


If you would like to do a little ruin exploring, search the area roughly SE of Ald-ruhn, NE of Caldera, W of Ghost Gate for a Daedric Shrine that has level-appropriate enemies and higher-than-level-appropriate loot. If you can't use what you find, sell it and train or enchant. This was the first ruin-type that I entered (not counting the caves and tombs around Seyda). The second one? Much different story. (some fellow newbie advice - save BEFORE looting the shrine offerings).

And yes, I did spend the first day in Seyda going "Oooohhhhh" as I just stared up at the sky. I didn't want to come down from that lighthouse!

[Brayf]

Hey thanks [img]smile.gif[/img]

Dear Brayf, (and others)
One thing you can do if you are using an Xbox is this code that you use at the screen that shows all of your stats. Highlight the health bar and press:
Black, White, Black(3x), A to raise your health but to be (temperarily) invulnerable, press:
Black, White, Black(3x), A (hold A)and tap the B button.
There are 2 other codes I can show you
Magic - Black, White(2x), Black, White, A( for infinite magic hold A and Tap B)
Fatuige- Black(2x), White(2x), Black A ( for infinite Fatuige hold A and Tap B).

PLEASE NOTE, Only one of the cheats can be used at a time, AND, if you go to another menu (ex. inventory) the Invulnerability, or Infinte thing will go away and you will have to enter it again.
GOOD LUCK!