My thoughts on Morrowind

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Wed May 08, 2002 9:07 am

I haven't been around GB lately, so I am involved in the game.

My criticisms:
I find that a lot of the game is tedious. Finding things and places takes way too long. I think that the makers of the game thought we'll give everyone a giant game that will take a long time to finish. I don't think that I had in mind spending hours just going from Point A to Point B.

The NPC's are boring.

You can have light, medium, or heavy armor. My character already had medium as part of the major skills, so I thought I would put all my points into that. There's hardly any good medium armor in the game. If I were starting over, I would concentrate in heavy armor and strength.

I've never played Diablo, but I get the feeling the game is somewhat similar.

The quests early on are impossible to complete for a low level character. For example, the Blades quest for information from that guy in Balmora.
SPOILER
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He sends you on another quest to get a box from this dwarven ruin. When you hack your way all the way down to where the box probably is, you run into creatures there is simply no way for a low-level character to kill. I've had to postpone that quest till later. This is one of the first quests in the game!!!!!

I'll post more criticisms later.

Zantax · Post by **Zantax** » Wed May 08, 2002 9:18 am

I have to say your critique strikes me as completely off base.

If you dislike spending a lot of time on travel try the silt strider or the mage guild teleporter. If that doesn't float your boat make a character with speed as a favored skill and pick the steed as your birth sign, couple that with a custome made spell at recharges fatigue and you can get around pretty quick. If none of that appeals consider a spell I saw in the game called Wind Walker, it was a levitate spell with a very high magnitude(how fast you go), you can really whip around with that thing.

As for that quest you found to hard all I can say is I can do it easily with a level 2 character, heck I once took out the whole mage guild in Balmora with a level 2 character. It all depends on how you design your guy. Also consider that level doesn't have to mean a lot, a level 2 guy that has been played for a while without leveling that has a lot of spells and enchanted items can be very powerful.

I haven't played a guy with medium armor but I did have some very nice medium armor I got in Vivec, it's the same stuff the guards wear and it is pretty darn good.

Basically I think what you really mean to say is "I really haven't put much thoguht or effort into exploring the game and character design and it has made my experience a bad one".

flash95 · Post by **flash95** » Wed May 08, 2002 9:20 am

What I Love

All of the things you are complaining about are what I love about the game.
you cant just run through blindly and whack everything that comes along.
you have to think about what you are doing before you do it
as far as distances how long would it realy take you to walk to the next county?

If you dont like it dont play!

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Wed May 08, 2002 9:30 am

Hey Whoa--I am playing it, and it is interesting and nice to have a new game. However, being a huge fan of BG--I can't help but compare it, and it does fall short for me. I keep thinking how nice it would be to have a few NPC's talking to each other and to me during these long walks. I guess I'll never stop wanting another BG2.

There are the silk striders and mage guilds for travel, but they don't go everywhere. Ever done the walk from H'la to Balmora? It's long! I've read several other posts dealing with the issue of holding down the w key all the time.

I like the non-linearity of the game, though. And this game is the most non-linear of all the games out there.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed May 08, 2002 9:45 am

Folks, believe it or not--it's possible for several people to approach gaming from distinct viewpoints, and arrive at different but equally accurate conclusions. If you disagree with a given point of view, say so courteously, and explain why. There is no need for rudeness or flames, and I would remind you about the site owner's forum rules: http://www.gamebanshee.com/sitefeatures/forumrules.php

@Voodoo Dali, one point: most treasures seed randomly within a given level of difficulty related to their location and guardians--so you could luck into something decent in the next cave you investigate. There are also a few difficult dungeons that have excellent medium armor artifacts. Hope that helps a bit. But if you don't like Morrowind, I can understand that.

The generic dialog in particular is one of the worst features of the game, though I clearly enjoy it a lot more than you do.

flash95 · Post by **flash95** » Wed May 08, 2002 9:49 am

Sorry

You are right Fable
I apologize for my tone.

In this ones humble opinion Morrowind will take game of the year
over all other RPGS

SloppyNuts · Post by **SloppyNuts** » Wed May 08, 2002 11:47 am

I've just got to say not to flame you or anything but just so nobody gets the wrong idea, morrowind is absolutely *NOTHING* like diablo, diablo is running around wacking monsters and doing some linear quest that doesn't really even qualify as a quest but rather as a means to wack more monsters, this is far from what morrowind is

though i understand you not liking the game, it's definitely not a game for everybody.

Oh yeah and one more thing, for good medium armor: Indoril, it's the stuff ordinators (the guards in vivec) wear, though they get mighty angry and all attack you if you wear it, though they're not too hard to kill, especially not if ur wearing armor as good as indoril, it's damn good stuff

madmarcos · Post by **madmarcos** » Wed May 08, 2002 12:25 pm

medium helmet

also, the ebgames plug-in for morrowind has a medium armor helmet as the prize (the quest might be difficult for low level tho). armor rating for the helmet is 40-something. that's better than any heavy helm around. plus it can hold around 150 enchantment points which aint bad either.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed May 08, 2002 12:56 pm

What EB Games plug-in? As far as I can tell, the website is simply a middleman that sells you commercial products.

madmarcos · Post by **madmarcos** » Wed May 08, 2002 1:01 pm

heh

ebgames had some offer where if you pre-ordered from ebgames.com, you would receive an email for a link to download a morrowind plug-in containing a quest for this helmet (guess the plug-in contains the item, npcs, quest script, etc.) someone posted the link on the morrowind boards (painfully slooooow) that the email contained. so i downloaded it and gave it a whirl. glad i did

i bought the game from ebgames not ebgames.com, so naturally i felt somewhat entitled heh

dont remember the link sorry

but i'm sure it'll be easy to find

Mercury · Post by **Mercury** » Wed May 08, 2002 1:47 pm

Talking of that Box.... I could not find it in the dungeon yet. There is a broken bridge I can't cross and a locked door I can't hack. Is it somewhere behind those locations or did I just overlook it on another part of the cave? Thanks for a hint

madmarcos · Post by **madmarcos** » Wed May 08, 2002 1:57 pm

huh?

you talkin to me? about the ebgames helmet??

Mercury · Post by **Mercury** » Wed May 08, 2002 2:08 pm

I mean the same quest as VodooDali is meantioning (starter of this thread)

wildvixen · Post by **wildvixen** » Wed May 08, 2002 2:17 pm

morrowind will the rpg of the year.... you all wait and see.

I don't agree with voodoodali about the diablo thing or with morrowind. The games suppost to be like real life... and in real life going from a to b by traveling would take you along time.

voodoo you havint even played diablo and yet your stating it to be like a diablo game... your a hippocrit.

i like morrowind and i think it's great. The only thing i don't like about it is the sounds from a sword... like when you hit a guy it has this weird sound like someones taking there cloths off lol... i turned my head when i heard this while i was trying to kill one of those crablike things... and this guard was standing there behind me... i thought he was trying to get the reach around or somthing so i ran away! lmao !

... i didnt know empire soldiers could be so perverted... lol

i wish i could go to a bar and be a stripper or somthing... ima dark elf see... and i like pleasure ... pleasure is good... and yes we can be evil... i work for 20 dolla... 20 dolla get you dance and strippys... 100 dolla me love you long time.... smoooooooch LOL

shack · Post by **shack** » Wed May 08, 2002 2:51 pm

get the speed boots

just a quick comment on travel

there is a quest npc northwest of caldera on the road he offers you a quest to escort him to gnar mok. Pretty easy quest and the reward is so useful.

you get some boots that increase your athletics by 200 and also blind you for 100. (run during day its better of course)

well let me say running with these boots are unbelievably fast and a must. Makes travel real easy when you cannot port directly to a spot.

get these boots!

flash95 · Post by **flash95** » Wed May 08, 2002 2:57 pm

how can you use them if you are blind?
I mean you get there quick but you arnt sure where there is

schlitzcrew · Post by **schlitzcrew** » Wed May 08, 2002 2:57 pm

FOR MECURY, REGARDING THE BOX

Hehehe, you WAY overlooked it, just like I did. That building with the broken bridge and water in front of it is unsurpassable as far as I can tell. You need to go BACK all the way to the beginning, where you fought the first two men in the caves. Above where they were with the three round doors, there is another level directly ABOVE it with a rock path leading up to it. Go up that rock path, look around, there is another round door up there to the left with a boss in it. The puzzle box is on the shelf in that room.

-schlitz

flash95 · Post by **flash95** » Wed May 08, 2002 3:09 pm

but what about the boots?

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Wed May 08, 2002 4:13 pm

Originally posted by wildvixen
morrowind will the rpg of the year.... you all wait and see.

I don't agree with voodoodali about the diablo thing or with morrowind. The games suppost to be like real life... and in real life going from a to b by traveling would take you along time.

voodoo you havint even played diablo and yet your stating it to be like a diablo game... your a hippocrit.

@WV: as I said in my post, I have not played Diablo (except for the demo). There are a few aspects of MW that remind me of it, like the way inventory is handled. But I was just saying that maybe it's more like that game, since it is not like IWD or BG.

I started this thread to write a few of the criticisms of the game that have popped into my head while playing it. I am not saying the game sucks! It IS possible to criticize something and still like it.

Also, I don't want games to be like real life. If I did, I would be playing the Sims right now and worrying about whether my characters went to the potty yet. So, I think my criticism about the inordinate amount of time travelling is still valid. I think the MW folks realized that people want non-linearity in RPG's and they succeeded in creating that. However, I feel bummed that they left out one of the most popular features of BG--the interaction between NPC's and your character. To me, that is a major deficit of the game.

Just curious--how does MW compare to Dungeon Siege?

madmarcos · Post by **madmarcos** » Wed May 08, 2002 4:28 pm

DS and MW are different games. DS is mis-labeled as an RPG. it is more of an Action Adventure game with some RPG-ish character development. DS' graphics and audio are awesome. it's multiplayer is crazy fun. it's singleplayer is completely linear and dull. IMO: DS' audience is broad and shallow (from an RPG-interest standpoint, not intellectual). MW's audience is narrow and deep (from an RPG-interest standpoint, not intellectual).
i think better npc interaction can be scripted. but the standard npc dialogue might be limited. dunno. the ebgames plug-in features some interesting interaction between 2 npc's at one point. very amusing to watch.