The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review

Developer	Bethesda Softworks
Publisher	Bethesda Softworks
Genre	Role-Playing

After approximately ninety hours with Morrowind, the lightest recommendation I can make for it is this: every single RPG gamer out there needs to buy this game. Period. Why? The answer is simple, as staggeringly simple as this game is staggeringly huge.

Morrowind is a simply huge RPG romp completely open to being played in whatever style you, as the player, determine. It allows you to be evil, good, or whatever shades of gray you choose, as well as letting you choose what style of character you want to be. Have a longstanding urge to play a dark elf mage who is as comfortable swinging a heavy axe as he is hurling fireballs? No problem, just make the decisions and deal with the consequences. Morrowind allows you to ignore the main quest, the side quests, the storyline – whatever you want to try to do, you can do. This is exactly the type of RPG we gamers have been clamoring for since games started, one that provides us with the backdrop on which to tell our story then gets out of the way and allows us to do it. The last game to really attempt to do this was another from the Elder Scrolls line, Daggerfall. That was back in 1996.

Gameplay - Despite having been created for the PC, Morrowind is extremely easy to control using the Xbox control pad. The left analog stick controls movement, and grants access to the Sneak skill with a simple click inwards on the stick. Meanwhile the right stick controls your field of view, with a click inwards cycling between first person (default) view and third person (horrible) view. The left and right triggers, in conjunction with the X and Y buttons, cycle through available spells and weapons, also acting as the zoom control for the “pan and zoom” viewpoint, and as the Jump and Attack buttons. While it all seems complicated you will soon find yourself nimbly switching weapons or spells while running to a fight, or running away from it, if that suits you better.

Unfortunately, while the controls are simple to pin down, the rest of the game is not. Morrowind defies accurate assessment since, even after ninety plus hours ingame, the wide-open style of play makes this review simply feel inadequate. Morrowind is literally overwhelming, allowing an incredible variation in basic types of gamers to enjoy it. Powergamers find delight in gathering new and more powerful armor and weaponry, as well as building skills and leveling. Those with a fixation on crafting can spend their time making potions, developing spells, and enchanting items. Prospective thieves can build their version of the ultimate thief template, and spend days trying to rob the population of entire towns of their belongings. Social butterflies will enjoy the interaction with various guilds and the dark elf Houses, as well as the opportunity to advance within these guilds. The list of ways to play is virtually endless, you can even play as a farmer simply going out each day and gathering the blossoms of plants to sell, or as a pearl diver spending each day diving off the coast.

Deciding how you want to play begins the minute you start the game. You awaken on a ship and through a series of conversations as you disembark you learn some of the basic controls, as well as choosing your name, race, and birth sign. While your name is likely important only to you, your race and birth sign can be critical to your ongoing success, so choose carefully. Your race offers skill bonuses, as well as bestowing you a special ability or two. For example, those choosing the Imperial race receive Voice of the Emperor which, when used, improves the disposition of the target towards you. This can be key when you are down to your last available money, and need to get a good deal on some items. Birth signs also offer bonuses, but may offer hindrances as well. Those born under the sign of The Apprentice for example, see an increase in their Magicka ability, but also take greater damage from Magicka used against them.

Once off the ship, you make the choice with the greatest significance to your game – choosing a class. You can opt to choose one of the twenty-one prepared templates ranging from Barbarian to Acrobat to Battlemage, each different enough to offer up a unique gameplay experience. Alternately you can choose to have one of those classes picked for you via your answers to ten questions, reminiscent of the old Ultima games. The final, and perhaps most fun way, is to make up your own custom class. Choose five major and five minor skills, decide what two attributes you get a bonus on, then give it a name and see how well it works. Trying to balance melee skills with a touch of magical ability can be quite a task, but this ability to min/max a character is, for some, the most entertaining part of Morrowind. Stealth specialized Dark Elf mage, axe-wielding Orc, or bow-using Breton – the possibilities are astounding

Unfortunately once into the main game it can, for some, fall flat. Once past the introduction there are no limits on what you can choose to do, and no NPC’s harassing you to get you back on track should you stray. Some gamers, those more accustomed to an RPG that constantly leads you along, find this approach to be simply too confusing. They get lost, they lose track of what quest they were on and where they were supposed to go, they grow frustrated at not knowing who to talk to at any given time. While the journal you keep is a fine source of assistance and information, it is ironically too confusing in its layout to aid those that need it most. Given some playtime most seem to outgrow this stage, becoming fluent enough with the gameplay that they overcome their initial confusion and frustration. On the bright side, while some struggle with Morrowind, most fall into the incredible depth of the game without ever looking back. The diversity of playing styles and experiences within the game make any meeting of Morrowind players inevitably end up in an excited “Did you see/do/try…” type chatter. Exploration and experimentation allow Morrowind to hold the attention of the gamer for far longer than the estimated two hundred hours to complete it.

Graphics - Graphically, Morrowind is a mixed bag that holds a few disappointments to go along with some satisfaction. After five years in development for the PC, then getting a simple port to the Xbox, there are elements that just seem outdated on this platform. The most glaring is probably the way textures fail to take advantage of the abilities of the Xbox, with several (doors being chief among them) becoming downright ugly when viewed up close. Another issue is a draw distance that would, on most any other title, be a downright disgrace, as would the occasionally excessive use of fogging to hide the popping in of objects this causes. Animation is another disappointment, with the odd NPC moving about easily on limbs that appear to have been horribly mangled by a wheat thresher at some point in the past, and the third person viewpoint’s animation making the character look pasted onto the backdrop. The stilted nature of some animations is, at best, a minor complaint for the typical RPG, but Morrowind finds itself held to a higher standard. Morrowind produces such incredible immersion in the gaming world it provides that minor things like a stilted animation disturb the player, breaking them out of the feel that they are in another world, a real world.

The bickering over what should admittedly be minor issues aside, the rest of Morrowind’s graphics accomplish their goal with a combination of solid workmanship coupled with the occasional artistic flair that will make the gamer go back to see things again. Creatures appear in a wide variety of styles ranging from the typical rat all the way to the massive frame of the floating Bull Netch, and all have interesting designs and textures. Townspeople and guards also appear in a wide variety of designs, with differences in clothing, facial features, and hairstyles being more than sufficient to enable easy identification. Buildings and towns are well designed and laid out, if somewhat drab, though that is primarily a design choice as medieval villages shared the same dark and dingy colors. Once out of towns you will find an incredibly varied landscape where rocky hills give way to gently sloping fields covered in a wide assortment of plant and animal life – though a number of the latter type will likely take issue to your arrival.

Above and beyond all that, and I mean that literally, is the amazing work Bethesda has done with the constantly changing environment of Morrowind. The alteration of the skies with the passage of time from morning to night is incredible, with the sunlight and related effects being particularly well done. Many people will spend a considerable time walking around just looking up at it all even though this, it should be noted, is not considered especially conducive to long life or higher levels. Perhaps the only thing that will draw the eye away from the incredible skyscapes are the outstanding water effects, among the best seen on the Xbox to date. The first time they find themselves next to a body of water during a storm, most people wait out the storm alternately watching the surface of the water ripple when rain hits it, and watching the lightning crash around them. The storms, bolstered by Dolby Digital surround sound, are not among the best on Xbox. Instead they rank among the best seen in any game, on any console or PC, and are easily the best thus far on the Xbox.

Sound - As mentioned above, the storms in Morrowind make incredible use of the Dolby Digital capabilities of the Xbox. Thunder rolls around you in an amazingly lifelike recreation of nature, adding to the atmosphere of the game. In addition there are a host of background noises, including the lapping of water against the shoreline and the creak of floors and bridges. Walking through one of the ancestral tombs is downright spooky, particularly for those with a penchant for entering them at a dangerously low level, thanks to the haunting atmosphere provided by the combination of ambient sounds, lighting, and music. You can also hear the movements of the various creatures, and this is occasionally useful to try and pinpoint the hard to spot ones. The music, by Jeremy Soule, is also very well done, a continuation of the fine work he did with Icewind Dale though after fifty hours of play it can get repetitive. Combat situations bring on a musical switch, from the somewhat lazily paced main theme to a faster and more intense action sequence. The effects of the various weapons are also accurate enough, though not awe-inspiring by any means. A few NPC characters have speeches to give, and they all feature a line or two that indicates their disposition towards you. The vocal work for these characters is decent, though there is a lack of variety in both sayings and voices.

Overall Value - Morrowind delights, it frustrates, it amazes, and it teases. It offers a chance to play whatever character you want, in whatever style you want and makes no judgements on any of it. It may be too overwhelmingly large for some to fully appreciate, but the majority of people that try it will find something within that they enjoy. The variety of classes and the ability to create your own classes bring an almost unprecedented amount of replay value to the single player RPG genre, ensuring it a long life on the shelves of gamers everywhere.

Review by Rod Oracheski