The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

During the tutorial, you can pretty much do anything: steal and kill without consequences. BTW: killing... That's not as easy as it might sound: although you see a visual representation of your character swinging a sword, it depends on the virtual dice roll in the background if you can actually hit a sleeping, stationary target you're standing right next to. You can abuse the hell out of Enchantment system and become an immortal, omnipotent god that can 1-hit any enemy. Handling: your character's speed depends on your stats - you'll be slow at the start of the game. Menu systems are utterly useless. Journal is also useless, you'd better make notes for yourself. Sounds: NO voices for characters. You'll be doing a lot of 'talking' (it's an RPG, after all), but with the characters being voiceless, it's a lot (A LOT) of reading. Most of the info you gain from dialogues is useless, but even completing the main quest will be about a 100-page worth of 'dialogues'. Graphics: Water and Sky textures are acceptable, character models are terrible. Quests: The backbone of RPGs. Quests in a normal RPG: go get the Divine Something of Someone's Ghost - Here's a map marker, GPS coordinates, and when you're there, look for a door with a big red X. Quests in Morrowind: Go eastwards for about a day until you see some weird-looking rocks, then take a left turn (seriously). This is the reason i gave 3 stars - i actually like it. Except how you can't finish even a simple quest without magic: Found the cave? Ok, the item you need is in a place that you can only access by flying there, hope you bought a Levitation scroll or two. Oh, you forgot? Too bad, you have to walk back to Balmora (because that sloppy excuse for a fast travel system is not even worth mentioning)...

This game suffers from Rose coloured nostalgia glasses from most reviewers. When people tell you it is the "most this" or the "best that," you know they couldn't be objective if their life depended on it. This game has a lot to offer but it isn't like god desented from the heavens and annointed this game the best that ever was or ever will be. One thing that the nostalga hype machine seems to forget is that when morrowind was released a significant number of "fanbois" HATED it. yes the darling of the Bethesda ball was hated by "hardcore" bethesda fans and "true" lovers of the series. Why because at the time Morrowwind was released we saw the great gameplay vs graphics debate in pc gaming. As if you couldn't have both good graphics and good game play. The haters felt that bethesda sold out to the "graphics crowd" and it hurt game development because the "dungeons" in morrowind were tiny compared to the HUGE ones seen in daggerfell. This was cited as proof graphics were ruining gameplay. Also at the time morrowind was hated for its combat and character generation because they changed things from what made the series great in the first two games. I'm not saying this is a bad game but be wary of the retro hype. It has major flaws, it is starting to show it's age and it isn't whole magnatuides better in the story elements. i know multiple people who have played the last three in the series that don't think it is the best story. It is harder to fine people who have played all 5/6 games. I can't judge because i still haven't finished skyrim's main questline, and that isn't because I quit, i just get side tracked all the time. Of the first 4 games' main quest, I like oblivion best. If you like the series then you will most likely enjoy this game but be aware that it is buggy, suffers from being old technology, it looks its age and has clunky rpg mechanics that have since been refined. Also watch out for how people taks these cons and try to say they are features.

To all the imperials, there is gold in Black Marsh. Beautiful gold and many a great things. Black Marsh has it all.

I've spent more time playing this game than any other. I still haven't seen it all. The sense of wonder is still with me when I think about the city in the southeast of the map that looks like Vivec but that I never explored, or the Tribunal expansion that I never even finished. This is the game that defined the paradigm that subsequent Elder Scrolls games have refined and streamlined. However, beyond its expansiveness, I wonder what value, if any, this game would bring to a modern first-time gamer. The combat, characters, and quest -- after experiencing several dozen of them -- reveal themselves to be quite primitive. The game is truly more of a sandbox than a simulation of a living world, and my playthroughs often degenerated, sooner or later, into efforts to exploit the spell & potion systems. I think it's worth experiencing if you have the time to put aside, but the first impression may be jarring, and there may not be enough depth here to justify the investment.

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is an amazing game. The other reviewers have touched on all the things that made it great. This game was originally made for PC - then later ported to consoles. After that, Bethesda lost their edge. Now, they cater to the console players (hand holding, scaling enemies so as not to be too hard, etc.). I have attempted to play Oblivion, Skyrim, and Fallout - they just don't hold a candle to this title. Sure, they have flashy new graphics, but they don't have the feel or the story found here. By far, one of my all time favorites.