The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

Morrowind departed from the previous direction of the series, in Daggerfall, with a more tailored approach to the world. In my opinion, and from the perspective of someone if immense importance to the Elder Scrolls series like Julian LeFay, this is not the direction it should have taken. Nevertheless, the story and world still manage to grip you, and pull you into the illusion of a living universe, full of intrigue, danger and massive scope. I heartily recommend the game to fans of roleplaying games, and if there are things you don't enjoy about the way things such as combat works (it's old school, and to-hit chances are like rolling a dice, not at all like the newer games in the series), there are probably mods out there to fix things to your liking. Like with all games in the series from Morrowind onwards, the modding community is what makes these games worth revisiting. On a personal note, and as a huge fan of Daggerfall, I'd just like to add that I deeply wish the developers had taken a different approach to the whole thing, but alas, the Morrowind that could have been will probably never see the light of day. Mods can only get you so far.

I never got deep into this one back in the day because of the annoyingly realistic feature that running makes your character tired. While Morrowind does appear to be a world best explored slowly, that patience only really pays off in reading through the lore. Walking - literally walking - around the countryside will get the player bored and/or frustrated and the character delayed and/or killed. HOWEVER - the GOG version comes the TES Construction Set, which is a program that you can use to mod the game (look in the folder where the game is installed). I used it to make running no longer tire out the player character (with some help from forums), and suddenly the game made a giant leap from unplayable to a pretty standard Elder Scrolls game. If you don't mind the old graphics, Morrowind's ... unique ... aesthetic (i.e. mushrooms, bugs, and ash), and you're looking to play more Elder Scrolls while we wait for Bethesda to descend from the mountain with Elder Scrolls VI, buy this on sale. Play it vanilla, mod it to pieces (I personally recommend giving yourself the ability to fly via the levitate spell effect), or select from the work produced by the large modding community. You can make it feel very much like Oblivion, or just turn it into your own crazy sandbox. (3/5 because some assembly required)

Bethesda is scummy. Sadly they keep removing the previous game I bought from the store, and adding it again (the same game!). This means GOG can't match the game ID with the one in my library. I always have to double check with all their games to make sure I don't double purchase. Check first, before buying.

Morrowind. Here I am, only having completed it now. 48 hours, if OpenMW is to be believed. I will never forget it. But is it a good game? Yes, But I don't think it's some timeless masterpiece with nary a flaw. Far from it. Lots to say, but reader attention span is limited, so I'll be short. Let's run through the good stuff, yes? Something new around every corner, an exploratory smorgasbord Bethesda became known for. The art direction carries the 2002 graphics and animations. The world woven is something unique, an interplay of distinct cultures as told through quests, ruins, and esoteric books written by a living god. Try to capture that one's soul and turn it into a hilarously useless pair of pants. It's good fun. You can even complete the main quest afterwards. But. You aren't doing that all the time, are you? I won't criticise highly subjective stuff, like quest markers. Let's talk about the moment-to-moment gameplay. Early on, you fight the fatigue system and a horribly-communicated accuracy system, and what little magic you can cast is unusably unreliable. Even Daggerfall didn't have spell failure chance. And that's with your trained skills, even. Point is, what works in a tabletop RPG does not in a 3D first person RPG. Ask a Morrowind veteran what to do to mitigate the early suck. No first-time player would know to do what they suggest. Blinding Speed, anyone? That's just it, really. So much basic stuff simply does not work how you would expect it to. The effectiveness of enchanted items vs spells is but one example. Leveling is another. There are many more examples. And later? It's so easy to break the game on accident, let alone the myriad ways you can do it "properly." And what if you don't? You get what is frankly a very dull, basic experience, chatting to walking Wiki pages that are most of the NPCs, and pushing the simple mechanics to their limits. Their depth is, frankly, an illusion. It's still a good game in spite of it all. But be warned.

This may be a bit premature as I'll only be dabbling with the game until Skywind is complete but let me just say this game is incredible in terms of scope, ambition and things to do. I still remember playing it on the OG Xbox for many many hours. What made it so great? It certainly wasn't the combat which, especially when compared to Skyrim or Oblivion, was frustrating as Oblivion (eh?). It wasn't the races you could play as. It certainly wasn't the cliff racers. But for some reason this game gained a legion of fans, myself being one of them. And now, many years later, I can safely say that the appeal of the game was the freedom. Morrowind was huge. And the possibilities were grander than Red Mountain. There was so much to see, so much to find, so much to sell, so much to learn. It was one of the largest games I've ever put my hands on. Now, a decade later, the land of the Dunmer has pulled me back. Being available without DRM (try buying it elsewhere without it: You can't) and the plethora of mods (player created little additions you can add to the game to enrich/improve it) make this game one for the Video Game Museum. The game is not without its flaws, of course. The combat system, baleful to you, fresh out of Syd Neen (spelling?) is merciless and clunky in comparison to Oblivion and Skyrim. The graphics are outdated (thank Vivec for Skywind's team. Hopefully they can finish soon). But the world of Morrowind, the books, the cities, the hermits, the Daedra, the mystery of the Dwemer, Corpus and Skooma... all the things nerds like me who like immersive gaming experiences care about, it's all here. Get this to experience a truly massive game.