The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition

"What Great Gameplay, What Horrible Graphics"

So you bought the ancient game of Morrowind. The huge, the large, the amazingly long Morrowind. This game has been found to be huge, massively addicting, and... terrible graphics. But what am I doing? Telling you about the review before I even started the review. Well let us begin, on our journey to cover almost every detail of this game

Game play: 8.5/10
Expansions: 9.5/10
For all of those fans out there on the boards that I know, most of you are already "OMG Guardian, how could you betray us", as I frequent the boards, and almost all of us love the game to no end. To absolutely no end. Nevertheless, what we see in this game, there are many aspects that are...less than satisfactory. For one, the massive amounts of glitches. I could sit here and list almost 50 glitches off the top of my head, and we could sit all day in the message boards looking at complaints of the glitches in the game. They go on and on, from lost of file, to massive freeze ups. And I mean MASSIVE.

What is worse than horrible glitches? A horrible start up. When you start, you begin as a convict, and you are set free. Basically, they say, "Hello, how are you? Alright you are a _____ and your class is a ______. Now go and deliver this package, off you go now." They shove you into the massive world of Morrowind, with nothing but orders to go somewhere. No tutorial, no free weapon except for one. Many people have been turned off by this horrible start.

But Guardian, you ask, with all these flaws, why would we want to buy the game? Well, if you're one to play long games, this is the perfect game for you. I have known many people to play over 200+ HOURS on the game, and still only beat the main quest, and half the side quests. And still not have the best armor in the game. In fact, right now there is a topic going on in the message board, a Morrowind 100% completion journal, that has been going on for a month. Every day there are updates, and he is still only about 1/3 done, without the expansion. He had daily updates. And only 1/3 done, and he hasn't even started the expansion.

Not only long, but the game play is interesting and free roaming. You can do anything, from mass murder, to creating invisibility spells. Yes you heard me, mass murder. Most of the quests are quite generic however, but there are quite a bit of unique quests out there. Some involve persuading a character to change their mind, sometimes you have to do it using a knife to the gut, or sometimes you have to talk it out like civilized people, but honestly, which one would you have found more fun?

Now to the golden nugget of the Morrowind GOTY game. The Expansions. There are 2 expansions, Tribunal and BloodMoon. I will not reveal any plot details, but in Bloodmoon you are given the chance to be a werewolf. Yes thats right, a real werewolf. With claws and the ability to slaughter anyone that comes in your path. Tribunal gives you, IMO, the coolest sword in the game, as well as a great story line. It also adds to the story line from the original a bit.

Combat: 6/10
Now we get to the worst of the worst. The combat system. In the beginning of the game, it is HORRIBLE. You swing a weapon 50 times, and never connect. Even if it is a rat. Why? Simply because in the beginning of the game, you suck. A lot. You need to spend at least five hours training before the combat actually becomes interesting.

There are 3 basic character models: the Thief, the Warrior, and the Mage. The Thief relies on stealth and quick attacks to do his job. The warrior is the one that you will usually see running in screaming swinging a large sword. The mage is what their name says. An adventurer who blows chunks in his enemies using spells. You will usually fight enemies larger than you, and sometimes up to 6 enemies at once, and this often results in you drinking potions like a thirsty alcoholic in a British Tavern. There are many character models that are mixed, the most common being assassin and spell warrior. Some people opt for role playing, and go builds that are similar to characters such as sith lords, LoTR, and other characters. I believe I even once saw a RP Master Chief.

Story 10/10

Wow. Amazing. Stupendous. All these words come to my mind when thinking about the story. You can do anything, from follow the main quest and destroy the Dagoth Ur worshiping people, or follow guild story lines and become a guild leader, or a leader of the great houses of Morrowind. There are over 7 other factions that you can play in, and you can lead almost all of them, and become the most powerful and feared man in Morrowind.

Graphics: 4/10

Horrible. Terrible. These words that come to my mind when I think about graphics, not story. For most RPGs, this is reversed, where story gets low, and graphics score high. But the graphics are blocky and terrible. The people look like squares, and unreal. Your character model is horrible, armor usually looks ugly, and the swinging of a weapon is repetitive. I mean, who swings a weapon the same way every time, and the person looks constipated when you walk with a bowstring drawn. The water effects, however, are quite nice, as are the environments. The people are the only thing that's dragging this category down to its water grave.

Replay Value: 10/10

Ahh another area where this game shines. Some people I know have literally spent over 400 hours in this game, and still have not beat the game. You can spend forever making Enchantments on your weapons, creating the best one possible, researching the mechanics of Alchemy and Morrowind lore if you love the game this much. Many people on this board (SR71, Inodri, Raug The Evil Dwarf, Vivec720), have spent a lot of time in this game, and know Morrowind Lore, Enchantments, and the game itself like the back of their hand. They are currently worshiped as Morrowind gods in the Morrowind Board Community. SR71, for example has spent presumably hours and hours on the exact mechanics of Enchanting, such as the RVMs, and how the target effect works. This may all sound like gibberish, but play the game, and learn it all.

Sound: 8/10
Nothing quite special about the sound, although the music fits parts of the game nicely (scary in tombs, calm in towns, etc). The sounds of fighting are quite real, and the words often have a expression, such as whiny, bored, or scared.

So what is this final score?
8.333333333....
Rounded down, that is 8. A great board community, long game playtime and the replay value tilt it up to 9

Final score: 9/10

A great game, a few flaws, but still great nonetheless. So buy or rent? I suggest rent first, and then buy. Some people don't find this their type of game, due to the tedious start, the long game play, and the graphics. But seriously, just buy it. It's like 10 bucks at your local game Game Stop or anywhere else
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Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/06