Mod Reviews: Housing

Sirius_Sam · Post by **Sirius_Sam** » Wed May 29, 2002 10:47 am

I was never one to simply assault a homeowner and become a squatter in someone else's house. Nor was I fond of renting a room for the night in some shabby inn, so I have downloaded many "housing" mods for Morrowind. Strongholds notwithstanding, some of these homes are either shacks in the wilderness of Seyda Neen or uber-powerful warehouses of teleportation...and everything in-between.

I've finally settled on the House D'Orthay. It's a very cleverly written and designed mod (D'orthay O'Canzaz, flying monkeys, sapphire slippers...you'll quickly get the picture

).

The house itself sits off the southern coast of Seyda Neen, on it's own small, user-made island. You have to find the house (via quest-like dialogue clues) and also defeat it's guardian to claim it. Once inside, you won't be overwhelmed with it's grandeur...it's large, but relatively plain. It has a teleport area, but happily, you have to find the "Gatestone" for each location (by travelling there via foot/ship/strider) before you can activate the corresponding portal. This allows you to explore the land normally and use the t-port as a mere convenience much later. You can also make a quick trip back to the house via the "Sapphire Slippers" you find when you find the initial clues (in the rather tounge-in-cheek worded journal) to the gatestone locations.

The absolute best feature of the House D'Dorthay, IMHO is the little "alchemy nook" it provides. Bottles on shelves provide ready-made containers for EACH ingredient in the game...in alphebetical order

. This feature alone makes it my favorite House mod for Morrowind. Being able to store alchemical components in a very handy location makes the skill itself much more fun to use.

Anyone interested in this (or other mods) can find it by going here:

http://www.morrowindfiles.com/index.php

S_S

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed May 29, 2002 10:51 am

Originally posted by Sirius_Sam
The absolute best feature of the House D'Dorthay, IMHO is the little "alchemy nook" it provides. Bottles on shelves provide ready-made containers for EACH ingredient in the game...in alphebetical order . This feature alone makes it my favorite House mod for Morrowind. Being able to store alchemical components in a very handy location makes the skill itself much more fun to use.

Now, that sounds neat.

I remember a poorly-distributed British game of the mid 90s that had you in control of a castle, human cities, and dragon egg hatcheries, where you could buy plenty of alchemical ingredients, treat 'em a bunch of different pseudo-scientific ways, and figure out the effects by seeing the results. It was a lot of fun just watching the stuff, but I've seen nothing similar, since. Sounds like this house has a bit of that same feel to it. Thanks for passing that on!

cjdevito · Post by **cjdevito** » Wed May 29, 2002 12:08 pm

Just a warning to avoid the "Dark Manor" mod. I have no experience with it myself, but I've now read a number of posts by folks complaining that installing this mod has the side effect of deleting several key conversation topics from all NPCs. Further, that removing the mod will -not- fix the problem for any games you saved while the mod was installed.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu May 30, 2002 1:52 am

@Sirius Sam, I noticed no "initial clues" to the gatestone locations, as you mentioned in your post. Having found the house and the first gatestone in place, what am I missing?

Sirius_Sam · Post by **Sirius_Sam** » Thu May 30, 2002 2:06 am

@Fable:

Did you look in your inventory and see the journal belonging to D'Orthay ? The clues are in it (actually the locations of the stones are pretty obvious, but you have to travel there manually to get them first

).

S_S

Loredweller · Post by **Loredweller** » Thu May 30, 2002 9:19 am

BTW,

Is there some development of line of WWL and the misterious W?
TIA,
L.

Sirius_Sam · Post by **Sirius_Sam** » Thu May 30, 2002 11:25 am

C'mon, guys...

Follow the Yellow Brick Road (tm)

Seriously, I doubt there is much more to the story than just a punning background for the existance of the house and items...but I haven't bothered to find all the gatestones yet, so it's possible there is more to it.

S_S

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu May 30, 2002 12:05 pm

It's a clever idea, and well-implemented. I like the fact that you have to visit each site before you can activate the slippers' teleportation to there: adds an element of work and achievement which is rare to see (as yet) in many mods. I do have concerns about the constant minor fatigue removal factor in those slippers, however. Given that they may be pretty comfy

, that still doesn't make 'em any better than the expensive shoes. My latest mercenary in a complete suit of heavy armor, lugging around three or four weapons, shouldn't be able to run and keep his fatigue from increasing.