The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

Some people want to play a totally realistic simluation where they can't creatively overpower the system and do insane things. These people aren't fun. Morrowind was made for fun people. If you want to be a swordsman or an axe guy running around all day swinging your pathetic mortal weapons and doing pitiful damage this isn't the game for you. If you want to drink potions of foritfy agility until you can see the molecular vibrations of the galaxy and then fly around the world at mach speed completing quests like the Flash while wearing armor that makes you impossible to physically hit then this is very much the game for you. Balance is fine, even important in multiplayer games, but in a single player power fantasy like an RPG balance is honestly more a design choice. Morrowind isn't balanced, it isn't fair, so you shouldn't play fair, you should use every dirty trick you can imagine (trust me, the game will). Most importantly in order to exploit Morrowind properly you must explore and learn about it's world, which is what at it's core what the game is all about. All the crazy exploits and fun things you can do aside this game also has a very interesting and powerful story to tell about belief and the price of imortality, it's a subtle story and you have to know who to ask to find it, but it's there and it's great. In closing I'd like to note that I first played Morrowind in 2017, so this isn't a review tinted with nostalgia, I love this game for what it is even today in the modern age of flashy graphics and endless tutorials. Morrowind is a great game that has given me hundreds of hours of enjoyment, and will give me hundreds more in the future I have no doubt.

This title is still the definitive example of what an Elder Scrolls game, or really any open-world role playing game, can be. The huge variety of abilities, spells, weapons, and build approaches make just planning out a character a joy on its own. But, then using that character to interact with a varied, rich, and expansive world full of different people, factions, and quests is nothing short of amazing. Morrowind provides an opportunity that few other games do: the feeling of progress from being weak and defenseless in the beginning to a truly powerful being at the end. The magic, enchantment, and weapon customization options are far beyond that of any other game I have played, but you (and your character!) must earn your ability. What really makes Morrowing stand out, not only from other Elder Scrolls games but also from most RPGs, is the huge variety of meaningful, interesting quests which often have many different resolutions depending on the way you choose to approach them. Almost any build of character can be viable and useful, and the only other games I can think of that offer the player such accomodation for their choices are Deus Ex and Baldur's Gate. Speaking of quest variety, even discounting the epic main questline, which contains, in my opinion, a much deeper and nuanced story than any Elder Scrolls since, each guild/faction offers a series of quests that is equally long and deep. Do not expect to become leader of the mage's guild after only 6 short quests in this game!

The GOG release not only comes with the manual and strategy guide, but also includes all eight official add-ons, pre-installed. This is the definitive edition of Morrowind; get it.

You haven't truly lived a full life if you haven't played this game at least once, start to finish (including the 2 excellent expansions). In 2002 this game was the first-of-its-kind, and revolutionized RPG games, Morrowind is really where it all started, and it still does it better than most games today with the exception of the refinements technology 12 years ago couldn't accomplish. Incredible Dunmer ruins, spooky-as-hell tombs, intelligently scripted quest and NPC sequences, great crafting and magic, amazing scenery and hand-placed objects, memorable characters, unforgettable moments and sequences that, at the time, compared to nothing else I had ever played in a 3D world. To this day Morrowind is superior to Oblivion and Skyrim in my opinion - aside from the combat balancing and some other refinements - it drops you into a world where every little detail is lovingly crafted and produced...sandstorms to water splashing-up on a boat, the eerie moan from the humongous Striders (the early version of fast-traveling) and the first truly open 3D world that is still one of thee, if not thee, top PC games ever made. You will want to mod the game up a bit today, making it even better, mostly graphics and balancing mods, which are easy to install and maintain. I used the big, thick guide book back in the day, to learn all of the secrets, and there are many, but by today's standards you should be able to figure them all out if you take your time and enjoy it as it was meant to be enjoyed. Only something like Deus Ex could stand up to it back then in terms of first-person, 3D immersion. There really is nothing better than experiencing Morrowind and its escapist nature in a dark room on a cold winter night - again you haven't lived if you haven't played it!

If you want to play this game, it is probably worth it to check out the engine reimplementation: openmw.org It also runs on Linux and OS X!