bukary on 29/1/2005 at 22:22

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Description:
My legs hurt! I'm tired! Never ending story...

Review:
Delicious.

:)

loony on 31/1/2005 at 14:28

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Description:
Not to sound like a total wenie, but describing Morrowind is not unlike describing life. It's epic to say the least. For just a quick run down (and don't anyone beat me up, I'm not a power player, so I'm just going from memory)...

Basics: Morrowind is a complete RPG game. It's played mostly in First Person, although there's a toggle for Third Person if you'd rather play that way (or look at how badass your character looks). The size and sheer scope of the game is astounding.... and really even just saying that is an understatement.

Character: Morrowind give you several options in the character creation side of things.
First, you choose a name for yourself.

Next you choose your sex and choose from several races for your character to be. Each race has special skills, bonuses, and weaknesses. Some races are better with magic, some are instinctively better with animals, some are inherently more sneaky, and some are just plain better liked by the natives of Morrowind.

Next you choose your Class (Mage, Barbarian, Thief, Ranger...). There are three ways:
1) Beginner: They ask you personality questions to decide which type of character you'd have the most fun playing.
2) Intermediate: They give you a list of the standard classes and you pick which one you want to be.
3) Custom: They give you a list of all the available skills and you choose which ones you want to specialize in.

Skills: Skills are broken up into three categories.
1) Combat. Things like...
Light Armor (how well you use Light Armor. There's also Unarmored, Medium and Heavy)
Short Blade (how well you use short bladed weapons. There's also Long Blade, Axe, Blunt, Marksmanship (for bows and throwing weapons))

2) Magic. Things like...
Destruction (fireballs, poison, lightning...)
Restoration (Cure Disease, Heal...)
Illiusion (Invisibility...)
Alteration (Water Breathing, Water Walking...)

3) Stealth. Things like...
Security (picking locks and disarming traps)
Sneak (remaining unseen)
Speechcraft (making people like you and trust you)
Merchantile (making people give you deals when buying/selling things)

Lastly, you choose the sign you were born under. this just gives you a little more to your character. There are I think 12 signs. Some give you a constant points bonus, some give you magic spells you can cast once per day, and so on. Because there's a lot of walking in Morrowind, I almost always choose "The Stallion" as my sign as it adds 25 points (out of a total 100) to how fast you can walk.

One of the coolest things (I think) that Morrowind offers is the points leveling system. If you are a fighter who uses Axes, the more you use your axe, the better you get at using axes. If you're a Mage specializing in Restoration, the more magic you use, the easier it gets to cast spells without fail. and so on. There's a lot more to character creation bu tI don't feel like getting into it. Needless to say it can be pretty complex, or you can just do one of the first two options and jump right into the game.

I've never been much for REAL RPG games. I'm hooked by things like Diablo and System Shock 2. I've never played a Pen and Paper game, never liked Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, or any of the more hardcore RPG games. So I guess I'm saying you can come into Morrowind without a vast RPG background and still have a great time.

Now the really cool part. Morrowind redefined Non-Linear for me. I thought games that offered 2 or 3 ways to beat the same part (like the Thief series) were as non-linear as you could get. Morrowind is different. You start off in this little town on this huge island with a general hint as to where to go next, but you don't have to follow the hint if you don't want to. You can (as I have) spend weeks and weeks putting in an average of 4 hours a day and never once advance the main storyline which would bring you to beat the game. You can wonder aimlessly, or do random quests people ask of you, it's completely up to you.

Review:

Graphics: Stellar. Morrowind was the first game I played where I found myself just standing there, watching the sky, watching the rain hitting the water. It should be said that there's no real break in play of Morrowind. No distinct levels as it were. There's a full day/night cycle. You can stand there and watch the sun rise, watch clouds come in and rain, watch the sun go down, watch the clouds give way to the moons and stars of the night sky. It's simply amazing to behold.

Gameplay: The control is as you would expect for any FPS adventure game. Walking, running jumping. The combat is probably it's weakest point, and mainly because you can take and axe (at low skills) and slash repeatedly through an enemy and not really hit it. So there's a bit of suspension of belief required in that respect. I typicaly play a ranger/mage/thief hybrid, using ranged weapons, which is quite a bit more believeable.

Sound: I bought the collectors edition when it first came out, which came with the game's soundtrack. The music is definitely worth this much attention and more. Very good music, and that's coming from someone who typically turns the music off in game so I can hear the sounds better. With Morrowind, it's just that good.

Replayability: Morrowind is the only game I've installed more than 6 times. See I'll install, spend hours and hours and hours playing it until a new game comes out that I want to get into, or I'll spend far too much time on it and uninstall it so I can move on with my life... but it only lasts for 3-4 months, then I'll feel the need to install it again. I play a LOT of games. From Atari to Nintendo to PC (starting with Doom and everything inbetween) and to date, no game has gotten more playtime from me than Morrowind.

I can safely say, one of the (if not THE) best games I've ever played. And where it's like $30 USD for the boxed set of Morrowind and the two expansion packs (Tribunial and Bloodmoon), it's a no brainer. Pick up this game :) I highly recommend the boxed set though. It's worth it for the extra content.

So yeah, pick up the game and enjoy :)
Loony

loony on 1/2/2005 at 14:29

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You know it's funny... I was trying to think of Stealth skills and I realized those (at least the light armor) was probably Stealth not Combat, but I figured since I was giving the guy and idea about the game and not actually instructing him on how to play, that I would let it slide :)

Thanks for paying attention :)

Loony

Korrow on 2/2/2005 at 20:11

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I'd check and see what your highest weapon skill is. ;)

loony on 3/2/2005 at 13:56

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As far as hints about fighting go.. here are a few...

1) The higher your fatigue, the better chance you have at hitting things. So if you run around until your fatigue (that's the green bar for those that don't know) is nothing then fight, you'll have a harder time hitting, but only slightly. Despite this advice, I usually run head-long into battle anyway, cause it sure beats walking everywhere :) So yeah, if you're having a hard time, invest in some scrolls or potions that either fortify fatigue or restore it.

2) The more you use ONE type of weapon (short blade, blunt, axe, whatever) the better you get at using that ONE type of weapon. So don't be the kind of guy who says "OOOOW LOOK, I just found this Battle axe that does 1 poison damage over 1 second. Time to throw away this dagger I've been using for the first part of the game!" So find a favorite weapon and use it alot

3) Keep an eye out for books. If you see a book that's valued at over 100, theres a good chance you can read it and it will instantly increase your stats. You can read any book that's out by clicking on it. If it is intended to increase your stats, it will happen instantly (I spent the first part of the game the first time I played it flipping though every page in every book, waiting for my stats to increase.) You can even read books in shops without taking them. However if they're in a chest or other container, you can't take them legally without being accused of theft. So be sneaky or buy it legit.

4) Find trainers. Trainers can increase your stats for a price. Here again, find a favorite weapon and have them teach you how to use it. The higher your skill with a particular weapon, the more damage you do with it and the more accurate you are with it.

5) Vary your swing?. Not sure if this makes a difference, but if you're strafing or retreating when you click the attack button, your swing changes, this might make your attacks more effective. I've not played much with it to know, but it's something to think about.

6) Hold Still? I've had mixed results with this. Using a bow/crossbow, I find I'm more accurate when I'm standing still for a couple seconds before I shoot. It could be coincidence or in my head, but I thought I'd mention it. But, I've sometimes found it easier to hit things (While using a dagger) while strafing or varying my swing. So do some experimenting and see what works for you and your character.

7) Crushing blow? Using the standing still technique, I've found at medium and higher levels with larger weapons, that you can hold the attack button, while someone charges you and let go just in time to hit them and it delievers a blow that drops them to their knees. I was using a Knight character once with a preference for blunt objects who had a ton of strength and a large war hammer and that was probably the funniest thing. People would come running up to me with daggers and I'd just thump them in the head and they'd go flying back on their asses and struggle back to their feet.

8) Magic attributes. Magic basically adds a little more pow to your weapon. However, yes, you can still miss. Again, I'm not positive on this, but I think you might have a better change to hit with magic items, or perhaps the magic can hit, even when the weapon does not. Regardless, every swing is a charge used, so it doesn't take long to lose all the charges for a weapon. Also, several enemies will resist certain magic, even if you hit them with it (it will say "Enemy Resisted Magic").

9) Agility. The higher this main character stat, the more accurate you are. Also check the governing stat for your weapon of choice. I believe for Axe it's strength. Increasing the governing stat I believe adds to the damage you do with the weapon... at the very least it sets the bar for how high you can train your skill with that weapon to. So if you've got a strength of 45, the highest you can train your axe skill up to is 45 (assuming my memory is right and Strength is the governing stat of Axe).

Hope this helps. Have fun :)

PS: Just figured out how to get my Thief to join house Telavini.

PPS: Sorry for my horrible spelling of all things Morrowind. I barely got English down, so I don't easily learn spellings and pronounciations of foriegn names and places. You should see me trying to explain something from Lord of the Rings :erm: