The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

I can excuse many flaws in this game, for the experience is really good. An actual RPG, where you can actually play the role you choose. So much freedom, to mess up, to learn, to get things right. It's possible to role play, or not even care about that. It's possible to min-max, but there's no need for that. There's a variety of factions, for a variety of playstyles. The first time I actually play this game, I played it more as an action adventure game. Although that's not really the point of the game, it is possible. I didn't know english at the time so, it was not very possible for me to actually role play. I didn't understand most things that were written. And that is one of the flaws of the game: there's a lot of reading to be done. Everything has to be read. It's a minor flaw, but it has to be pointed out, because there may be issues with those who cannot read. Still, it is possible to play the game, as I already pointed out. Dark Brotherhood assassins out to get you as soon as you're out of the tutorial is also a flaw. Funny thing: I manage to kill some of these guys without them using their dart. And once, that dart actually hit me, and I died. Throwing weapons are great Enchanting is impossible on your own, unless you fortify you inteligence A LOT. But, this is a implementation problem. It could have been fixed. As many other problems the game has, like pickpocketing being impossible, for example. And it is still possible to enchant by paying for enchantments, so that's just a minor problem in the end. It actually gives the player a use for their earned gold, so I'm fine with this. Unfortunately Bethesda didn't had time to spare to fix some of these issues that could make this game better than it is. Still, it's a great experience, and that's what really matter for a game to be considered a 10/10 for me.

This will wind up as a story, no matter how I try to format it. A very long time ago, at the beginning of high school, I tried this game for the first time. I had previously played a whole lot of Fable 1 (not The Lost Chapters), and so I had my expectations when my dad told me "it's like Fable but *better*". Now, at the time, he was wrong. I completed the tutorial, ran in the direction that did not allow me to find the magical falling man with the continent-hopping scrolls. I walked the coastline, actually enjoying the atmosphere for a while, until through the fog, an island appeared over the water. Well, my dad said I could go anywhere I could see. So I tried. I was almost immediately eaten by slaughterfish. I put the game down for two years after that. It didn't click with me at the time. So, two years into high school, I've made friends with fellow nerds. One of which starts hanging out with me now and then, and one day he sees my dad playing Morrowind on the Xbox. His eyes light up, and he starts asking my dad what all he's actually done in the game, before going on about how he accidentally found half a set of Daedric armor, with a dai-katana as well, and found out about a glitch to permanently control low level NPCs. It was magical. I began to understand that I never gave Morrowind a real chance. So, I dove in again. For several years, I explored this game across two, maybe three characters. The atmosphere was bar none for games I had played, and even on a small CRT, with a near-powerpoint framerate, this game set a standard for story and exploration driven games that I rarely see now, but more importantly, cannot ever have the time to enjoy like this one ever again. The game itself is a 4/5, what with *the bethesda moments* creeping in, but the experience with the game in my life gives an improper fraction for a score. Something about 45/21.

Morrowind is a fantastic RPG. Multiple playstyles are viable. You are able to become super powerful. They really managed to strike a nice balance in the story where you might be the chosen one but you will have to prove it. Great mod support and now with OpenMW, many stability bugs and engine limitations will be fixed.

GOG does it again, giving us all what we want AND including that are just great to have, unlike other platforms.

My dad received a copy of this game with some computer thing he bought when I was about nine years old. Unsure what it was about, he passed it off to me, and I henceforth spent probably over a week of cumulative game time exploring the world of Morrowind. Let me be honest. A lot of my opinions on this game are softened by nostalgia. The graphics are awful. The sound design is lacking. There's one voice actor per race/gender combination, and some of them are quite mediocre. The NPCs speak like walking encyclopedias and are never quite as immersive as Oblivion's or Skyrim's, and that's saying something as even those are quite shallow in comparison to Bioware NPCs. Criticism aside, let me say that the world design is phenomenal. There is nothing like Morrowind except Morrowind. Imagine a marriage of Dune and medieval fantasy with some anthropomorphic lizard and cat people thrown in, as well as a beautiful slurry of conflicting mythology, philosophy, surrealism, Roman Imperial influences, and some hands-down fantastic worldbuilding. Unlike Oblivion and Skyrim, which both go to great lengths to protect you from your own stupidity, Morrowind chucks all that and lets you do what you want. Want to charge into a late game area at level one and get slaughtered? Go ahead, nothing will stop you. Nothing scales to your level here. Want to murder a vital main quest NPC? Sure. Never touch the Main Quest? Go ahead. Go on a killing spree and reduce Balmora to a population of one? Hell yeah! The storytelling is fantastic. The dialogue is shit, yeah, but the plot makes up for it. You're presented with a story that allows you to have your own impressions and opinions. Are you the Chosen One? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you know that you aren't but you're saying you are anyway. You are handed a neatly deconstructed pile of tropes and told to create something for yourself out of them. If you're the kind of nerd who likes reading lots of fictional documents, then welcome home, outlander.