The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition

"One of the greatest games ever? I think so."

This game is incredible. One of the best games that I have ever played, and probably ever will. This game is Massive, it's hugely addictive (good thing?), it's fun, it looks great even by today's standards. It's the slightly lesser known game that preceded the juggernaut that is "Oblivion", and I truly believe that even though Oblivion is a wonderful game, it was not able to surpass the masterpiece game, Morrowind.

Gameplay 10/10

This game can definitely be overwhelming at first. You're dropped off in a boat, and a guy is talking to you asking your name and such. You create your character, ranging from the lizard Argonians, to regular Humans, to the walking talking cats, Khajiit. You fill out some forms where you choose your class, and then you're dropped off in a small village in the middle of nowhere. You might begin to get used to your controls, jump around a bit, talk to a few people, and maybe find a few quests. You have no idea that this game will slowly suck out your soul, and get you hopelessly addicted eventually.

Whether you're exploring tombs, caves, mines, sunken shipwrecks, underwater caves (There are literally thousands of places like that you can explore. Ranging from the tiny caves, you run in, find nothing's in there and run out, to the massive caverns, smugglers hiding inside, high level monsters that guard powerful equipment and items.)

Or maybe you're running through cities such as Vivec (A massive city, literally in the ocean, made up of different sections where you can explore, and find quests and secrets around every corner. And what's that flying boulder up in the sky? Maybe you should get a levitating potion and check it out...) Or Balmora ( A town holding many guilds in which you can rise through the ranks and become a Master Thief, or the leader of The Fighter's Guild.) or maybe even a small
village such as Seyda Neen, where you wouldn't imagine much would be going on in it, but once you begin to talk to citizens and explore, you may find some surprising secrets...

The long list of skills are interesting, from athletics, to charisma, to heavy armor, each one plays an important role in the game. Charisma will allow you to be able to charm characters, and get them to like you more (The more shop owners like you, they will lower their prices more and more) while athletics will simply allow you to run and swim faster.

As I've mentioned before, this game is absolutely massive. I don't even want to think about how long it would take to walk across the continent. I advise you to wander. Don't always follow the path. You can find many interesting things that way. Maybe a depressed warrior, urging you to end his life. Or maybe you'll stumble upon a dead man lying in the middle of the road, a victim of his own experiment gone wrong (You may wonder if some of the mysterious scrolls on his body are the source of his death or not. You may want to try one...)

Now combat can get boring at times. You basically click, heal, cast spells, click, repeat. But really, everything else in this game makes this flaw almost insignificant. Whether your heart's beating fast while you're running through a dungeon, a monster behind you chasing you out, or if you're fighting your way through monster after monster, trying to get to a chest behind them, you will most likely hardly notice.

And while you're running around exploring, you may wonder to yourself "Wait, is there a main quest in this game?" Well yes, there is. But you may not notice at first. Think back to the very beginning of the game, when a guy gave you some papers to give to a guy in Balmora? Oh yeah, that's it. The main quest may take you about 20 hours to complete, but that's nothing compared to the time you'll be spending on everything else. You don't even need to finish the main quest. Although you'll probably want to.

And then there's the Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions. I'll get to that later.

Graphics 10/10

This game is gorgeous. Surprisingly, because it came out in 2003. Sometimes you may just stop and look out onto a lake, as the sun's setting, It's beautiful. Or maybe you look onto a daedric ruin, on a dreary day, and you can see the lightning flashes of powerful magical creatures. Now, there's no doubt you may see a few clones of people as you travel around. But that's bound to happen when there are thousands upon thousands of other characters in the game. And almost all computers will be able to run this game on max settings.

Sound 9/10

And the soundtrack is beautiful. As you're walking along, you may just stop to listen to the beautiful, soft orchestra playing in the background, Or the booming, fast paced music. It can get repetitive, as you'll be spending so much time on this game. The voice acting is great in the different characters, but again, it can get repetitive. It's repetitive, but not so much that you notice.

Story 10/10

The story is great. Whether you're following the main quest, or a small side quest, you'll be intrigued by the outcome. One quest might have you looking for a person who can cure a curse on someone else, but *gasp* you find that they're dead. Or another might have you sneak a cursed bone into a rival shop owner's store, only to find that the rival gets attacked by a ghost, and you have to save them. And there are so many choices in this game. A person may ask you to “take care” of another character, so do you do the right thing and warn the victim, or do you carry out the deed? Now the Main Quest will have you along for a rollercoaster of a ride, that has many twists and turns. Maybe a few people will die, and if someone does, you may find that you've grown an attachment to them.
Overall, the story is very good and involving.

Tribunal 10/10

A great and huge expansion to the already massive game of Morrowind. It drops you off in the city of Mournhold, a giant place filled with shops holding powerful equipment, a museum which you are able to fill up yourself (You can add high level weapons and items to the museum as you find it) and an interesting story, that brings you into the middle of everything ending with a huge shocker. This expansion has many interesting quests, and high level equipment to gain. You may find yourself kicking the drunks out of a bar, or trying to prevent an assassination attempt. Or maybe a low level wizard attacks you, and his much more powerful brother is pissed at you for killing his sibling. Overall, very interesting, although, not the biggest place to explore, Mournhold has enough things to do in it to keep you busy for a very very long time.

Bloodmoon 10/10

This expansion adds the massive island of Solstheim to the game. Solstheim is about 1/3 the size of Vvardenfell (The main island in Morrowind) and is a dangerous place. On Vvardenfell, people will warn you of the place, and leave you with mysterious talk of bad things happening over there. It is no place for a low level. When you arrive on Solstheim, the first thing you'll see is a giant castle. Go into the castle, and you'll find that something's off... As the story unravels, you may think you're over your head.

One of the biggest changes that comes along with this expansion, is that it will allow you to become a werewolf. Now I won't give away exactly how you become one, but once you do, You'll become stronger, and everyone will attack you on sight.

Another part of Bloodmoon, that is my personal favorite, is a massive quest, that allows you to start your own little colony on "Raven Rock". At first a few people will start to move in, just a tiny village, and by the end of things, there will be a bar, a mine, your own personal mansion, tons of people living there, and even it's own boat to take you places.

Replayability 10/10

A score of ten just doesn't seem enough for this game. If I could go off the charts I would. This game has the most replay ability of any game I've ever played. Don't like your class? Maybe want to be a thief? Start a new game and everything will change completely. Say if you were a warrior in your first play through, as a thief, you will now focus on breaking into houses, stealing things, lock picking chests, sneaking up behind people and stabbing them in the back. It's completely different.

And I will guarantee, that you will not see everything this game has to offer, even if you play for 1000 hours. You may find a shrine for a god that starts you on a quest that results in you getting one of the most powerful weapons in the game. Or maybe you find a underwater grotto in the middle of the ocean that holds powerful armor. Or maybe you find a talking mudcrab merchant, or a khajiit that always lies (weresharks? climbing ropes? multiplayer? The shrine of Boethiah? Well maybe that last one is true...), a message in a bottle that holds a letter from a ghost, Creeper. There are so many little things like that, that you will find as you play, it is almost impossible to find everything, explore every place, do every quest, finish everything there is to do.

Buy or Rent?

If you've actually read this review, then you know what I'm going to say. BUY! There is absolutely no way that you will have enough time to do enough in this game to fill your appetite. You will just end up buying it eventually.

So in closing, I urge you to buy this game. Please. It is my favorite game, and very well may be your favorite if you get it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/08

Game Release: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition (US, 10/31/03)