I think the gameplay and graphics are the best out of the whole series, and they did such a great job with the illustrations of those buildings and scenery. Building cities, managing the inhabitants, keeping everything going smoothly - so much fun to work it all out! These games are great too - because I have a gaming desktop which handles modern 3D games no problem, but my laptop is more for things like word processing. However, if I'm off somewhere with just the laptop and need a break, games like this one that run in 2D sprites and tiles will work great on just about anything! So there's I quite enjoy high quality 2D games like Emperor. Years ago I lost my CD. Disaster! I have been waiting for a digital way to play this game for so long, fantastic!
The first thing I want to say is this: I've been playing Elder Scrolls games since Arena back in the day (and many, many other RPGs), hours and hours and hours playing them - but Morrowind is the only Elder Scrolls game I actually was drawn into enough to play right through to completion. I've spent an awful lot of time exploring and adventuring in the fantasy lives of the other games, even the Elder Scrolls MMO, but Morrowind is still my idea of the best in the series. I'm not even really sure why I like it so much. There's just this sense of 'atmosphere' that it has that nothing else has matched. With all the plugins enabled that come with the GOTY edition, the coast sound fix plugin really adds life to walking about the landscape. You have to remember when running the launcher for the first time, to select the plugin / data button, so you can activate the official addon files. When I stand in the starting village, by the water, and just listen to the sounds - the wind, the music, the insects, the distant calls of mysterious creatures, there is a sense of atmosphere that I haven't found in any other computer game. I bought the GOG version so I don't have to install and run off discs anymore, and in a break from the Elder Scrolls MMO, I've been playing Morrowind again lately, and it has lost none of its charm. Though I am running it now with the Morrowind Graphics Extender, which allows you to see distant terrain like in Oblivion and Skyrim, adds incredible realism to the water, and adds better shadows than any RPG I've played - if I equip my sword, the rising sun will cast leaf shadows over the blade. The graphics extender casts shadows from and onto everything, making it look really impressive, and everything - people, trees, buildings, rocks, sky, grass, all reflect into the new water. The extender also lets you run the game at 1920 x 1080 or other widescreen resolutions if you use the extender program.
