The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon

"Bloodmoon adds a good sized new island, new challenging enemies, and innovative quests...What's not to like about it? Sadly, there are downfalls.."

Morrowind – A game that needs almost no introduction. Basically, in Morrowind, the premise is simple – you are you. Do whatever you want, whenever you want, for whomever you want. Wander the countryside as a Barbarian, living off of the land, or maybe you want to be a Noble Paladin, serving the Empire? Or maybe a rouge Battlemage, running a murderous rampage through the Morrowind province. Well, whatever you may be, Morrowind is Morrowind.

The expansion we are looking at today, Bloodmoon, adds an entire new island to the world of Morrowind. The island is about 1/5th the size of Morrowind. 1/5th may seem like a small island, but since Morrowind is already huge, 1/5th isn’t the small. Solstheim, as the island is called, is a ‘Winter Wonderland’.

There is nothing to complain about the looks of the new island – In fact, it’s damn beautiful. Instead of the barren, Ash Wastelands of Morrowind, or the boring sewers of Mournhold, you get a wonderful Forest, an Ice Wasteland (This wasteland doesn’t look bad, either), and nice little caves. Solstheim’s atmosphere is great – when you arrive, you can tell the people there are having a rough time living there. People complain of it being freezing cold, some complain of it being a desolate wasteland. Either way, Solstheim is still great Eye Candy from the beginning. After you get off the boat, you are on some stone docks. You walk around a bit, to be greeted by Fort Frostmoth – a decent sized castle area, with many Imperial Guards walking around. When you walk outside the protection of Fort Frostmoth, you are greeted by a wonderful forest. Green, serene…You walk out a little farther, and you might notice the snow tipped Hills, or the snowy patches here and there. Or the packs of Bears and wolves trying to kill you, but we’ll talk about that a little later. Anyways, there really isn’t anything to complain about in the graphics Department. Solstheim is beautiful, and even being in the small caves situated throughout the island, you are still mesmerized. When you see your first snowfall, it is almost guaranteed your jaw will drop – Snowfall is BEAUTIFUL. BEAUTIFUL deserves to be capitalized when you see your first Snowfall. Yes, even the most powerful machines will chug and barely hold up under the amazing snow, but what you can see with your limited view distance when that happens is still great. Other things to note are the new armor and weapons – They look quite good, and since it is freezing on Solstheim, they all look comfortable and warm to wear. Werewolves also look great in Bloodmoon, and when you become one, it’s even better. The character models look fine, no flaws here. Monster models are more detailed, and look a lot more realistic than the enemies in Morrowind – Bears and wolves look very good. Other enemies also look incredible, although some models are kind of…strange. Overall, Bloodmoon has beautiful new graphics, great looking weapons, and good character models. Nothing to complain about here.

Graphics : 10/10
- Really, there isn’t anything to complain about.
- Snowfall and enemy models look wonderful.
- New items look good, also.

Gameplay in Bloodmoon is much more of the same. Walk/Run around, kill enemies, quest, and explore, blah blah blah. Even though it’s old, Morrowind is still highly enjoyable. Collecting items is enjoyable, with a good amount of new stuff. Exploring the island is highly enjoyable, with plenty of new eye candy everywhere. Combat in this game is also fun now, due to the new enemies. Enemies in this game are much more powerful than in Mournhold or Morrowind, It is recommended that you be at least level 20-25 before you traverse Solstheim, which is a pretty good level that takes a bit of time to get to. It is kind of sad that this sort of restricts the island to more expert players only, so beginners are recommended not to buy this expansion pack till a little bit later.

Exploring in Solstheim is much of the same; a large, open area, with lots of little caves strewn about, a village or two. If your character is slow, you will have a more enjoyable experience on Solstheim, since it is sort of small compared to Morrowind. You will have the chance to ‘smell the roses’, so to speak. If your character is extremely fast, or you are wearing the ‘Boots of Blinding Speed’, you will most likely see a lot of the island’s upper area fast. Either way though, exploring is still very enjoyable. Collecting items is still an enjoyable experience, and there are plenty of items to add to your collection. There are some new medium armor, a lot of new weapons, and some new alchemy ingredients, to name a few.

Quests in Bloodmoon are quite varied, which is great. One quest has you acting as a decoy for a monster while some else kills it, and a long string of quests has you constructing a mining colony, and you eventually get your own private property on it. The main storyline in Bloodmoon has a few twists and turns, and some quests are more of the same. The good quests outweigh the bad quests, though.

Overall though, Bloodmoon adds quite a few gameplay elements which are very good, and quite enjoyable. With the more powerful enemies, and the plethora of good and challenging quests, the gameplay is taken up a notch. If you enjoy collecting rare items, there are also plenty of items for you to add to your private estate, wherever it may be. Also, you get your own house on Solstheim also, which is a big plus. Overall, I can’t really see anything wrong with this expansion.

Gameplay : 9/10
- New quests are always good.
- Enemies are much tougher, but this restricts the island to more powerful players only
- Building your own mining colony is quite enjoyable.

The sounds in Bloodmoon are great. The new enemy grunts and new voices for NPC’s are enjoyable to hear every so often, but my main, and big complaint, is one, simple. TINY, thing. There is no new music still. After 1 expansion, you would think the second would add, maybe a TINY music sample, but no. We get no new music. At all. The music was enjoyable the first 300 times, and after awhile, it gets repetitive. This is my main complaint with Bloodmoon, and it brings it down a lot, in my opinion. After hundreds of hours of traversing Morrowind, and 30 or so hours exploring Mournhold, I would think Bethesda would include some new music for once. But alas, all we get are new sounds and voices.

Sound : 6/10
- New voices, new sounds.
- NO NEW MUSIC.

Overall, I would highly recommend this expansion to any Morrowind player. Aside from some bugs, which can be fixed by a mod, or a patch that will hopefully come soon, and no new music, this expansion has no problems, and it is highly enjoyable. Solstheim will cram another 20-40 hours of playtime into Morrowind, and overall, I give it a 9/10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/03, Updated 07/01/03