[.ca] Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind (Game of the Year)

"Best game, EVER!" -- Comic guy:
Why can't game developer's get it into their heads that we appreciate content and open ended-ness. The most popular titles are ALWAYS the games that allow the player to be creative, rather then just responding to obvious plot and crude visual cues. Morrowind really allows players to involve themselves in the game with a lot more freedom of action than any other I've played. Steal someone's big house, lay out your favorite weapons, grab your lute, and a jug of mazte, maybe some moon rock and chill until you decide to master a continent that will take you MONTHS to explore... literally! (the problem is that all the guys that were playing Dungeons and Dragons in the eighties got jobs writing code, instead of game design.)

For the smart people:
Hmmm... The guy near the bottom is an complete idiot for saying this game sucked... Maybe because he dosent know how to play different game other than lord of the rings (attack and kill... point of game. Thats it.) So dont listen to people like that guys. If youre a smart person, youll be able to actually play a game that isnt only based on one button. You can do what ever you want in this game, you dont HAVE to go on the main quest, really. Do what you want, when you want, how you want- As they say. By the way, im 14. =P

Awesome:
The Elder Scrolls III series is an amazing, wide and beautiful world. Dont listen to the other reviewers that tell you that the graphics suck. The truth is, it doesn't matter. The world is so large and beautiful that you don;t even notice. Sure, there are bugs such as that if you add soultrap on target to ANY spell it stays forever. Character creation and development is awsome, with many classes. If you are one of the beast races, people may make rude comments on your posture and societal standing. Overall, a wonderful experience that will provide a long and entertaing journey through Vvardenfell(yes, i spelled that right).

Way too buggy and slow:
This could have been a great RPG. This could have been a fantastic RPG. This could have been THE RPG. Instead, we have this. It's buggy, it's slow, it's far too easy once you reach level 30 or so, etc. Generally, it's just too ambitious. The game world is huge; you could literally spend several hours walking from one side of the continent to another if it didn't freeze. This brings me to the most frustrating part of this game. It freezes every 30 minutes or so! It's like the programmers had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Also, there's some sort of weird problem where NPCs drift from their normal locations over time. I'm pretty sure Morrowind runs below 30 frames per second. This is shocking, because the graphics are blocky, the animations are unbelievably bad, and the texturing is muddy and pixelated. Now on to the good parts of the game. The experience system is different from most RPGs; instead of just gaining experience points for killing stuff, you get better at things as you use them. There are about 30 different categories from Destruction spells to lockpicking. Every time you perform one of these actions successfully (even stuff like taking a hit while wearing heavy armor), you gain experience in that skill. When you gain ten levels in your selected major or minor skills, your character gets a level. Depending on what other stats leveled up in between character levels, you have different amounts of points to spend upgrading your character. Combat is simplistic; you basically just keep hitting the R button until the enemy is dead. You can build up your weapon skill a lot faster if you just repeatedly chop instead of building up for a more powerful swing. Once you get to a certain level (30 or so), you become invincible. Nothing can kill you, no matter how hard they try. You don't even need your healing spells and potions. There's a huge amount of quests for you to undertake, from running errands to escort missions to being hired as an assassin. All of these quests are kept track of in a near-worthless log that records all events in the order you experienced them; there's no way to look for a particular quest. Morrowind is a good game. It's not great, but it's passable. The slow pace will drive some away; the freezing will drive away others. Those that stick with it will find 300-500 hours of gameplay to keep them busy for a long time. Just make sure to save often.

A World of Possibilities:
Right off the bat let me tell you one thing: Morrowind III is a great game. The animation might not be great, but don't let that trick you into thinking that is a crappy out-dated game, because you would be dead wrong. Morrowind is a great RPG for XBOX (one of the few). You have limitless possibilities for what you can do. You dont even have to follow the main quest if you don't want to. You can join any of the various guilds, houses, etc. and rising through the ranks will take a considerable amount of time. This is not a game you can finish in a few hours. This is not even a game you can finish in a few days. With so much to do and see this makes for a great game. It is totally customizable (name, race, class, etc.) right down to how much the NPCs like you. Using an endless array of magic, weapons, armor, and items, you can choose any path you want. This is my second favorite RPG for XBOX (my favorite is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic which, if you haven't already, you have to go out and buy because it is awesome). All in all, a very good game. (A little advice: get the Platinum Hits version of the game. Its the same game but its 10+ dollars cheaper.)