The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

this game has it all, and has been the standard to which i've held (and been disappointed by) every other RPG. morrowind is incredibly rich and compelling and i don't know why other game studios don't try to rip it off more. it's the kind of game that hooks me from the start. i love the mysterious beginnings bethesda titles always have. in this one you're an anonymous prisoner aboard a ship, and the story begins unfolding and developing immediately. the gameplay is absolutely perfect. while in later bethesda titles, you could just fast travel everywhere, in morrowind you still had to travel the hard(ish) way - by foot, silt strider, and teleportation by the mages guild. there are countless destinations you can only reach by walking. i'll admit, when i played oblivion & skyrim i was relieved to be able to fast travel. but after revisiting morrowind again recently, i find it so much more absorbing to have to walk and run around and actually listen to directions NPCs give me. here is an incomplete list of things that are just perfect about this game: ~character creation & subsequent relation to leveling up - if you are unfamiliar with the mechanics of elder scrolls games, you might sink 10 hours into this game before realizing you need to start over with a more finely tuned character. that may sound terrible, but it speaks to how incredible the character creation is. ~rich storyline in the elder scrolls mythos ~easy, compelling gameplay & controls ~awesome graphics for its time ~item, spell, and enchantment creation - limitless in scope, absolutely stunning and such a thrill to finally compile the "perfect" suit of armor that you can tailor based on your character's strengths and weaknesses. ~replayability - playing as different kinds of characters will completely change gameplay and quest availability ~open world - absolutely necessary in my book to be considered a great RPG bottom line - if you think you love RPGs, you must play this game.

Only picked this up a year ago on a recommendation, and with a bit of modding and a tolerance for walls of text, I’ve come to enjoy this game for what is it now, still a blast to play. 4 Stars as it’s outdated, but the story telling never gets old.

I'm just getting into RPGs and they've recommended this game. So far so good. I couldn't get it to run with Wine on linux and I found OpenMW which can extract the game data from the GOG installation and lets you play on Linux.

The combat doesn't hold up well, but as it stands, Morrowind is the prime Elder Scrolls experience, featuring everything that makes the franchise brilliant, and without sacrificing the essence and personality of itself or the genre it inhabits. An essential buy.

This is the third episode of The Elder Scrolls, while it is the first TES game whose lore was mainly designed by Michael Kirkbride. That man is awesome. He made The Elder Scrolls distinguish from those old-school, DND like fantasy RPGs and created a mysterious and dramatic Tamriel. Though out of fashion in graphic, system ,etc. You still deserve a try.