The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

If you wish to pick any of the older Elder Scrolls games, take Morrowind. Let's start with the obvious: Ignore the screenshots above. Get some of the free graphics and sound mods - it will change everything. Morrowind is one of the games that aged well, for it never tried to copy the looks of real world or even classic fantasy creatures and places to begin with. Instead, each and all in this game is bizarre enough to be its own thing - which helps immersion to this very day. It is also not your classic fantasy story, but one of the most "outlandish" games available. One where you don't know what to expect - a story that actually makes you feel like you entered a strange foreign place that begs to be explored. Not much more to say, except that (obviously) it is still a Bethesda game, which means there are some filler quests - as usual - and you just HAVE to try some of the sheer endless list of mods to tweak (and fix) the game to your liking as this is a huge part of what made this game entertaining in the first place. And tons of content that will expand the game way beyond double or even triple the 80 hours advertised above. All in all, the game is still good value for its price.

Morrowind is an old school RPG that doesn't do any hand-holding for you. I recommend playing with mods. OpenMW, MGE XE and the webpage 'Morrowind Today' can be a good starting point. There are no experience points. Levelling up is based on skill point increases. Combat is wonky, but there are many other interesting systems in the game, such as spellcrafting, alchemy, enchanting and travel systems, that make up for it. Audio is excellent, while the story is okayish. Thanks to all modders for continually improving on the game!

After playing through Morrowind with OpenMW to completion, I can safely say that this is a fantastic experience. Despite the technical shortcomings of the vanilla game, Morrowind remains an exceptional case study in RPG greatness. Morrowind's gameplay serves as the foundation for the modern RPG. Everything is optional, everything is accessible, and everything is worthwhile. While the mechanics of the game can be quite exploitable, its world is certainly deserving to be immersed within, even for an over-powered player. Any role-player can live in the world of Vvardenfell as a warrior, mage, or thief-based character with great freedom. Despite having the statistics-based combat mechanics of old, Morrowind's gameplay is satisfying. The main quests remain interesting, all of the faction questlines are rewarding, and even many miscellaneous ventures are enjoyable. The graphics are dated, but can easily be enhanced with OpenMW's technical flair or overhaul mods. The particular aesthetics of Morrowind are some of the most interesting and unique of the franchise. However, the UI can be cumbersome, unhelpful, and even harmful to the eyes after extensive play without modification. Music in Morrowind is angelic, perhaps excessively so. I would argue that the soundtrack's Howard Shore-inspired medieval themes clash with Vvardenfell's Middle-Eastern style visuals. Also, there is a short run time for the soundtrack, leading to many loops of the same tracks throughout continued play. The story of Morrowind is a rather complicated and enthralling one. The main quests of the base game and DLCs are thematically very deep. Exploring the side activities leads to a plethora of interesting subplots, fun characters, engrossing literature, and cool items to find. The final technical state that Bethesda Softworks has left this game in is tragic, forcing me to fully recommend OpenMW for play today. Regardless, this game is remarkable and demands play by anyone who enjoys RPGs.

This game is well over 20 years old and still fun. When it came out, it spelled a revolution in the genre and it still holds up after all those years. I recommend getting some graphic mods though, because even though for its time the graphic was beautiful and revolutionary, it now looks a bit dated.

For me, Morrowind is the pinnacle of the ES series and the best open world RPG I have ever played. So much has been said about it and I won't re-iterate, but I will add the following: It always amuses me when I see people criticizing the combat system for relying on 'invisible dice rolls' to determine whether you hit. Sorry, but that is simply *how RPGs work*. Pen and paper RPGs going back to D&D have always relied on dice rolls to hit opponents. If you don't like that, then what you want is not an open world RPG, but an action adventure (not that there's anything wrong with that). The combat dice rolling in MW is not a design flaw - it was a deliberate choice, because that is how this sort of game works. I also have to point out that, although the original game was excellent, there are many great mods that have been developed over the past 20 years that have made it even better. Of course, there are many bug fix mods, but there are also many available that improve the graphics. With increased view distance; improved water shaders and shadows; higher resolutions and groundcover, the visuals can (imo) rival Oblivion. OpenMW is also an excellent open-source recreation of the entire engine, which works great and is much more stable than the original. The Tamriel Rebuilt mod is also essential, which is an enormous mod that aims to complete the rest of Morrowind province. The quality is incredibly high and it adds so much content that you will never see it all in 10 playthroughs. Morrowind is a timeless masterpiece and a captivating journey through one of the most enchanting and unique game worlds ever created. Even after completing the game, as I was strolling triumphantly back down Red Mountain, I still had the same sense of wonder and immersion that I did when I stepped off the boat in Seyda Neen. It is very rare that I can say that about a game. I got bored of Oblivion after about 20 hours, but I can see myself coming back to Morrowind again and again.