The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

This is definitely my favorite Elder Scrolls game. Skyrim comes close, but this game is truly perfect. I would instantly recommend this.

This didn't always look like a warmed over turd. I bought a brand new 1.2 ghz 512 mb ram with a Geforce 4 ti 4200 to play this game with, and it looked spectacular. I had never seen water effects so lifelike. Once upon a time this was the cutting edge. Who cares about the janky animations. I stood outside my Eletronics Boutique for an hour to claim my reserved copy. I took it home and was instantly transported to heaven. I have logged more time with this game than any other (with the exception of WoW) and bethesda has been unable to top the unprecedented amount of freedom that they offered here. Oblivion offered some quality of life improvements like the combat and instant travel but I think the rest of it was absolute crap. In my mind a completely unworthy successor. Skyrim is a distant second. It was good but nowhere near as good as Morrowind.

I first played Morrowind on the original Xbox. Loved it. The world was more immersive than any I'd experienced in gaming at that point, and offered far more freedom than the JRPGs that I'd played before or since (sorry, Final Fantasy fans). Having been a console gamer (until 2007), Morrowind was the first western RPG I'd played. Fast forward to KotOR, KotOR 2, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Divinity II: Developer's Cut, Skyrim... I'm hard-pressed to bother with RPGs that don't focus on action, an open-world, and CHOICE. Even RPGs with linear stories, like the Torchlight series, must allow me CHOICE in how I upgrade my character and exploration of an open environment if they want my hard-earned money. Morrowind's open-world and customization not only set the stage for Oblivion, Skyrim, and the Fallout games, it was also the beginning of my no longer settling for linear RPGs with locked-in character leveling.

Morrowind has its problems, but its still a great game. The storyline is pretty good and some of the plot elements are funny. I love the world as well and the gameplay. This game is MUCH better than TES IV oblivion. Not better than TES V Skyrim, but oblivion? Yes. If you enjoy classic Role Playing experiences, try this game. Plus, its DRM free, which is rare for bethesda. Maybe soon we can get a non DRM Fallout 3?

During the tutorial, you can pretty much do anything: steal and kill without consequences. BTW: killing... That's not as easy as it might sound: although you see a visual representation of your character swinging a sword, it depends on the virtual dice roll in the background if you can actually hit a sleeping, stationary target you're standing right next to. You can abuse the hell out of Enchantment system and become an immortal, omnipotent god that can 1-hit any enemy. Handling: your character's speed depends on your stats - you'll be slow at the start of the game. Menu systems are utterly useless. Journal is also useless, you'd better make notes for yourself. Sounds: NO voices for characters. You'll be doing a lot of 'talking' (it's an RPG, after all), but with the characters being voiceless, it's a lot (A LOT) of reading. Most of the info you gain from dialogues is useless, but even completing the main quest will be about a 100-page worth of 'dialogues'. Graphics: Water and Sky textures are acceptable, character models are terrible. Quests: The backbone of RPGs. Quests in a normal RPG: go get the Divine Something of Someone's Ghost - Here's a map marker, GPS coordinates, and when you're there, look for a door with a big red X. Quests in Morrowind: Go eastwards for about a day until you see some weird-looking rocks, then take a left turn (seriously). This is the reason i gave 3 stars - i actually like it. Except how you can't finish even a simple quest without magic: Found the cave? Ok, the item you need is in a place that you can only access by flying there, hope you bought a Levitation scroll or two. Oh, you forgot? Too bad, you have to walk back to Balmora (because that sloppy excuse for a fast travel system is not even worth mentioning)...