The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal

""Mournhold: City of Light. City of Magic.""

Bethesda has released an expansion pack to the immensely popular Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. In this add-on, players may now travel to Mournhold, the capital of Morrowind, for a series of quests centered around Almalexia & Sotha Sil, the other members of the Tribunal, as well as the new king of Morrowind, Helseth. In addition to many new quests, players can find new weapons and armor (including new High Ordinator armor and Royal Guard armor), new alchemical ingredients, as well as new creatures such as goblins and the Fabricants. In addition, an upgraded Journal system allows you to track all of your quests, a feature that was badly needed in Morrowind.

Story (9): Tribunal begins when the player is suddenly attacked by assassins of the Dark Brotherhood (triggered by resting). Investigating the assassination attempts leads you to a mage in Ebonheart who will teleport you to Mournhold where the Dark Brotherhood's activities in Morrowind are centered. Once inside the beautiful and somewhat serene capital city, you can start to follow quests related to the new ruthless King Helseth and the goddess Almalexia, one of the 3 members of the Tribunal, and explore the immense ruins that lie beneath the city.

Graphics (10): The graphics are as good as Morrowind. Mournhold features its own architecture, and the city is detailed with plants, roads, a bazaar, a huge fountain, a massive Temple for Almalexia, the Royal Palace, and a residential district. While the dungeons resemble the same architecture of those on Vvardenfell, they are very detailed and often immense.

Audio (8): Though it doesn't add any new music, Tribunal has a variety of new sound effects, including ambient city sounds (birds insects, etc.), new creature sounds, and of course, new speech. Not really the highlight of this expansion pack though.

Gameplay (10): While it plays very much the same way as Morrowind, Tribunal adds many new features that enhance gameplay. First there's the Journal system, which can now track quests. This allows you to quickly reference all notes associated for quests. Existing playwers upon first using Tribunal will have a quest list assembled, but that may take over half an hour (thankfully it only has to do it once). Its now easier to get rid of very valuable items. Tribunal adds a ''Seller Max'' button on the Barter window to automatically set the sell value to the sellers' gold, making it easy to get rid of items like Daedric equipment that no merchant can afford. In addition, there's a museum in Mournhold that will take a variety of expensive artifacts like the Staff of Magnus or Umbra sword. You won't get full value for them, but you'll probably get more for them than you ever could with a merchant. The game also now features pack animals, which can carry extra items for you. In addition, there are new sets of armor (including Royal Guard armor and the Dark Brotherhood armor), new weapons, and new alchemy ingredients. To top it off, there are many new creatures, including nasty goblins, durzogs, liches, Fabricants, and others.

Modding (10): Tribunal adds a second master file, which can be easily used by the TES Construction Set. Tribunal also adds a variety of new scripting functions, such as changing the water level in a cell. Many new plugins in the future are going to be using the Tribunal expansion pack, presenting yet another incentive to buy it.

Overall (10): All I'm going to say is if you like Morrowind, you'll like Tribunal. :)

While Tribunal isn't as long as the Morrowind quest line, it still adds many hours of the same entertainment that TES3: Morrowind provides.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/02, Updated 12/07/02