The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Game of The Year Edition) Review

It took me about three hours to just start writing the introduction for this review. For my intros I always like to go for a quote, a special metaphor, a very good aspect or even an event in the game. I wasn't sure what to do in this case. In fact until this moment I wasn't even sure if I could review Morrowind. After all, who can review a game that would take you more than a month to finish, and even then I bet with my first born life you are in for a lot of surprises the next time you play it.

The very first time I played Morrowind I was lost. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a bad thing to be lost in such a grand world; over 15 square miles of land to be explored. And that’s minus the island of Solesthiem which is added through the “Bloodmoon” Expansion Pack. The game starts off with a dream, a vision, or if I am allowed to be precise: a prophecy. Waking up from such a dream you begin to salvage your strength as you get told that you are a prisoner on a ship. But luckily for you, you’re being released. Why? What happened? You don't know. You won't know either until you reach almost the middle of the game, that’s if you choose to continue the main game quests.

That’s right, Morrowind is all about choice. You get taught that pretty early in the game too. As you are being steered off the ship you are introduced through tutorials along with the very much detailed Character Creation System. It is up to you to choose a race from a possible 9, varying from Dark Elves and Wood Elves to Imperials and Orcs. With two unusual races first introduced into this game are the Khajits and the Argonians. The former being a cat like race and the latter being a lizard like race. Of course both sexes are available, and even humans have 3 different races.

If you think that is varied then just wait until you see how you pick your class and star signs. You have more than 13 classes to choose from, including the typical Assassin, Thief, Warrior and Mage classes. But if by any means you think that those classes aren't enough for you, there is always the method of creating your own class by choosing from over 25 skills and 6 main attributes, which range from Strength to Personality. In addition the aforementioned signs grant you with a special unique bonus. But if you don't know where to begin, or if like me indecisiveness is a plague that hunts you down in such situations, then I suggest you take the questions options and through answering them a class will be generated for you.

As you can see by now Morrowind is not your typical RPG where you pick a race and class, who is then thrown right in middle of the action. And that is carried throughout the whole game in every aspect. 15 square miles of land to explore that contains more than 10 main cities to visit. Imagine how many quests you would ponder upon or, even more; how many things can you do in such overwhelming place.

With all what is said I have slipped a lot of things here and there. But then even after playing the game 4 times, each with a different class and with a different approach, I still know that there are more than enough secrets and quests to bring me into a fifth or even a sixth trial. For the most powerful aspect about Morrowind as you can see now isn't just the storyline, but is about how FREE you can be in such a world; arguably it has more freedom than a MMORPG.

Adapting to the environment around you, you will realise that almost everywhere in Morrowind there is conflict. House Haluulu - a business type of group - is on the opposite side of the table with the arcane scholars’ type, the Telvanni Mages. The Thieves Guild is also fighting to control the smuggling business with the old criminal syndicate the Cammona Tong. You will also find that conflict even reaches further beyond, where gods want the upper hands and kings need to control the people. In other words you won't find one moment in Morrowind thinking about what you might do now. With such huge content I think it will keep you busy for weeks if not months.

Much of the Morrowind era game graphics weren't all that shiny. Not much like the ones we see now with Metal Gear Solid 4 or Gears of War. But then it was still a magnificent break through. And you can feel that instantly. The incredible details thrown everywhere reaches to the smallest things of all. You will no doubt admire the many days that will go by (in game time), with beautiful sunsets and sun rises. Even the ash storms that sometimes breakthrough in the city of Ald-Ruhn or Maar Gan or the misty nights over at Balmora and Khuul still feel so atmospheric. The atmosphere assisted by the graphics engine will immerse you more and more in the world.

With all such glamour and lustre that surrounds the game, there is also the dark side that every game sadly has to have. You will start to notice these with time. For instance the background ground music gets dull, with only 3-4 tracks being replayed day and night, and only a few tracks played when someone attacks you.

Also worthy of mention is that with little variety in faces of the NPCs, you start to feel that you are seeing the same faces over and over again. And that feeling isn't lessened by the "dead" state that infects more than 70% of Morrowind's inhabitants. Many characters and NPCs exist in the game, but you will soon come to the conclusions that not only are they all static, but they never change or do anything other than stand there. That is of course only applied to the indoor NPCs; as for the outside ones, you will see they do at least tend to move around a little from time to time. With such little animation in every character and no expressions represented on any of the NPCs faces, not even when they are fighting you, you will start to feel that the world is a little dull and somewhat… dead.

But one of the main disappointments, or was at least for me generally, was when I gathered my courage to finally undertake the finale of the main quest. Through I do not wish to reveal too much about the story, I feel the final stages were a complete anti-climax. After such a promising and exciting build up, I had hoped for a lot better and can only remain disappointed.

With all that excels Morrowind over the other RPGs that roam the market, is its realism. As you treat people in your daily real life, they start to hate or like you. You can intimidate, admire, or taunt them. Even bribe your way through life if you can. With a bar resembling a NPC's status towards you, you can really know if that NPC is called a friend or sometimes a foe.

Compensating this might be the fact that the NPCs tend to "know" your state and your personality. Catch a plague or get infected by some kind of disease and everyone will start treating you with resentment and fear. Start killing people randomly or make bold thefts and you will be known by the people as a thief and wretched criminal.

Make one person like you enough and they will be willing to share with you some information that would assist you in your next quest, save you from a fight that you might not have otherwise won, or even tell you even a secret that if you follow might land your hands on a good item. With almost everyone in Morrowind being accessible for talking and persuasion, and with the random encounters you see every now and then, there is no telling what you might be against the next time you talk to someone. And as they say talk to everyone; talk is cheap.

The AI system is also good. You will feel its power when you start getting missions where certain people have to follow you around, or even fight with you. Then you will see that they are pretty resourceful. Rocks or tables won't prevent them from reaching you, nor will high cliffs (as long as it doesn't require jumping to access them).

All that and there is still much to talk about in Morrowind. The equipment and fighting system in Morrowind are also well thought of. With three types of armour: light, medium and heavy, and six types of weapons to choose from (seven if you can add Magic as one). These weapons range from Long Swords, Axes and Spears, to Hand-to-Hand combat style. Even then, with much of them there are two options for you to choose, as in one handed or two handed weapon, which if you choose the former will give you the option to use a shield that blocks a good portion of an attack.

The fighting system though appearing normal, has more depth than you imagine. Each weapon has three ways of hitting: Thrust, Slash and Chop. Each of the three ways has its different ability to inflict damage upon foes. Easily enough pressing a direction (W.A.S.D) accompanied by the hit button (Left Mouse Click) will deliver a different hit resembling one of the three ways. And if you started to hate the First Person View Mode you can always switch to the Third Person View Mode for a better handling of the situation.

With all that Morrowind has, there is still much to discover and see with the expansion packs Tribunal and Bloodmoon. But you do literally have to find out how to start Tribunal’s own quests all by yourself. No hints, nothing. You will soon find out that Tribunal’s quests starts in Mournehold; the city of magic and the city of light, as the guards say. There you will find out about the three gods in Morrowind and a secret plot that roams among them.

But if you are up to the task and you aren’t yet exhausted after saving the world in Morrowind (or even saving it once again in Mournehold), then you can try the Island of Solsthiem from the Bloodmoon expansion. This time though, you will know right from the start, since almost everyone in both Mournehold and Morrowind knows about it. Some will even give you quests to go there yourself. You will come to see that Bloodmoon’s Expansion Pack is well done and they have added some new features. Maybe making your game harder, but at least it was a fine addition.

Even with all this I feel I have neglected so much and that I owe to such game a better review. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is definitely not your average RPG. A must have game for all RPG lovers and the best title out there for the ones that feel they should try the genre. All in all Morrowind has found its place in my heart. I am sure it can find the same place in yours as well.