The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition

"A new challenge for Godlike players"

To be perfectly honest, I believe Morrowind is God's gift to humanity, and by far the best game I have ever played. I must have logged over a thousand hours in the original, and at least a hundred more in the expansions added with the GOTY edition.

First, I have to say that if you don’t like games that don’t spoonfeed you or games where you have to think, then don’t play it. While that should be common sense after reading a couple of reviews, I’ve seen too many people “try it anyway” and then say it “sux” and I really couldn’t stand any more. But enough about this, let me get to the facts:

First, I would like to dispel some myths about Morrowind:

This isn’t your average hack and slash RPG like some people make it to be. There are no experience points, and while grabbing a weapon and swinging it might work on the mainland, you’d end up having the cleaning lady scrub your remains off a dungeon wall in the expansions.

The game is not “slow paced”. While it starts that way, the game offers you enough freedom to change that if it annoys you, and when you’re as good as I am, that can change about five minutes into the game.

There’s nothing wrong with the collision detection. If you can’t hit anything, then your character is either tired, or lacking in that particular weapon skill.

And now, some of the things that makes Morrowind GOTY godlike:

Freedom. You can do whatever you want, to whoever you want (within pg-13 limits, mind you). This is done in a real world kind of way. There is a structured society, and breaking laws constantly will do you more harm than good. Just like in reality, you can steal and kill people, but if you get caught, you have to pay(either money or serve time). And, of course, you can be an evil scourge of all living things, it isn’t usually very profitable. Therefore, while the game does push you in a certain direction, it doesn’t force you. The game also gives you a lot more freedom than the freedom of decision. There is a huge world to be explored, and it gets more dangerous the more you level up. There are hidden artifacts to be found, and if you want, you can even enchant your own items and make your own spells by mixing different spell effects together.

Immersion. The game draws you in. It doesn’t spoonfeed you a story, you have to hunt for it. As a result, you can do in-game research on the main subject, or you can beat the game without knowing what the hell or why the hell you did it. There are also dozens, if not hundreds of side quests for you to do that continues to make Morrowind feel more like a real world with real people than just another game.

Variety: There are a LOT of things to do. From playing the role of an explorer who wants to uncover every square of the map, to building yourself a fortress out of pillows and even having your little sister play dress-up with your character, there is something to do for everybody.
If you want a more detailed rating system, I can provide that as well.

Graphics:8/10
While the game might not look as good as some of the other titles out there that have shown over and over the Xbox’s might, I did not rate the graphics based on a quick look. Those of you who have the game for pc know the monster requirements that the game needs, and for it to look as good at the pc version, you’d probably need a console 3 times better than the xbox in terms of hardware(except the video card, which continues to surprise me in terms of quality). Personally, I’m surprised they managed to port it to begin with, so I’m not going to be the one to complain about the graphics. In the end, it came to either have large spaces and a playable frame rate, or have the game look amazing and shove a load screen down your throat every ten meters.

Sound: 7/10
The music is good, but the sounds can get a bit repetitive, especially after playing it for a long time, but they’re never annoying enough to warrant a low mark.

Story: 10/10
There isn’t just one story, there’s dozens of them. You can follow your destiny as the incarnation of a dead leader of the nation’s past, blast your way to the top of a great house, clean the fighters’ guild of the corrupt scum infesting it, and much much more. As an additional bonus, you can find books to read throughout the game that tell more about the country’s history, or provide insights on political powers that could be useful to the player.

Gameplay: 10/10
Plenty of people find it “boring” because they don’t know what to do. Once you figure out a way out of the hitting and missing phase though, the gameplay flies sky high as you realize there are always dozens of potent combinations that can be used to take out an enemy, and a lot of them are more effective than bashing out brains(by combinations I don’t mean “combos” fighting game style). In fact, if you venture in some of the new areas that GOTY brings, duking it out the old fashioned way is not a very good idea.

Final(not an average): 10/10
The expansions were a welcomed challenge, and the original is just as good as ever. In addition, the GOTY edition removes the DDEs and most of the freezing that plagued the original. I think that if you give the game a chance, as well as a couple dozen hours you will enjoy it as much as the rest of us are. If you have no patience, then I feel sorry for you because you have no idea what you’re missing out on.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/04