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Stunning visuals, but outrageous resources requirements...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 20
Date: September 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I am going to make this very simple, the quote on the box states "best looking RPG ever". This is not an exaggeration -- this is pure fact. The monsters, weaponry and game space are without equal -- anywhere, in any game. But at the same time, imagine trying to play Doom 2 or Civilization on an Atari 2600. You got it: it won't work -- just like Morrowind on most modern day HOME computers.

Unless you're running it on an NSA mainframe (think Cray supercomputer), then expect three hours of wait time for every hour of play time, or worse. And even though the visuals are stunning, it becomes maddeningly frustrating to have to deal w/ all the load times, oftentimes in the middle of battle.

To give you a sense for the system requirements, I run an HP 9895 with 256 MB of RDRAM with an Intel 1.7 Ghtz Pentium 4 processor and a video card with 32 megs of video RAM. And this game cooks all system resources and consistently crashes my machine about every 45 minutes. If Bethesda Softworks (the company who eveloped this game) is reading this: yes, this is an indictment of your ability to manage code and system resources -- you've done a terrible job of this in Morrowind.

Net/net:
1) Awesome visuals
2) Cool monsters and weaponry
3) Huge, and I mean huuuuuge world to play in
4) Unfortunately, do yourself a favor, put your money and time elsewhere -- this game is simply not fun due to the exasperatingly slow play caused by flawed programming

Use the game editor to make this game more fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 23
Date: May 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've aborted the main storyline completely, and focused on tweaking the construction editor, which is sort of a glorified cheating system. God bless 'em for including it, but unless you have inhuman willpower and a conscience prone to guilt, you're going to be cheating. Not necessarily by using the editor either; the game has an in-game cheater that's only a button away. Having a problem with an enemy? Go into 'God mode' and never get killed. Character too weak? Give yourself a million hit points. With that kind of help, there's very little challenge. I quickly lost interest in playing fair (and getting killed), but there's still a lot of fun to be had with Morrowind. You don't have to walk around doing the boring quests and looking for certain people, then talking to them, then going on to find someone else in another town. Yawn!

Use the editor to make a poison spell that affects the whole continent. Everyone comes after you at once. Or add the "Disintegrate armor" spell to a weapon, and watch as the guards' clothes disappear with each hit. You can get them down to their bras and barefoot. Or make yourself some darts with the "command humanoid" spell, and and fire away - everyone that's after you will start fighting each other. If you're going to cheat, have fun with it and don't feel guilty. Forget the main story, just focus on seeing how many people you can get to attack each other by creating weird spells. Guards fighting guards is fun to watch. Or match a Golden Saint vs. a Dremora for a good time. If you're in God mode, you don't have a thing to worry about. That's the fun of this game - it's always there when you want to spend a couple hours flying around naked and throwing darts at people.

Unfortunately, the game runs pretty badly, even on top-of-the-line systems. People are rushing out to buy new graphics cards and even that's not gonna help, sorry to tell you. And if you make even one small mistake with the editor, the game will crash repeatedly and it's up to you to find out what's wrong. Actually, the crashing is not too bad - in fact it's fairly rare, if you have a high-end PC, learn how to use the editor, and don't go nuts with it. The main problem is the loading times. Every time you walk a few steps or turn a corner, you've got to sit there patiently while the game view catches up with you. Frustrating. Hard on the eyes too.

Compared to Daggerfall, it's worse in some ways and better in others. Daggerfall was much "scarier", for sure, although it had a million problems with stability. There was no in-game cheater, you had to fight on your own. You could be killed at any time, and the atmosphere was dark and intense. Morrowind has lost that quality. There's no attics to crawl around in, no houses to build, no special holidays, no werewolves, hardly any vampires. Hand-to-hand combat is ill-conceived too. There are still dungeons and factions you can join, but as I said: with the ability to cheat only a button away, why bother? I get much more fun out of the game by wandering around, being a mass murderer and general antagonist, tweaking the editor then watching the results of my changes. Bethsoft did a fine job with Morrowind, but somehow they've lost the special quality that Daggerfall had. And they REALLY need to do a better job with the way it runs. Even so, it's been fun so far.

Stellar game, totally fun, only one downside

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As many others have commented, this game looks great, plays great, and is just packed with main and tangent adventures, almost too many to keep track of. I found it challenging, provocative and really fun until I hit about 20th level. Then the game began to get too easy, and I was only halfway through the main adventure because I kept choosing to be lured by side quests and Faction duties. I've just won the game at around level 35, which made me far too powerful. I killed the big bad guy in about 6 or 7 hits! But I didn't deliberately go around "character building," I was just following the various story lines and rising up through the ranks of the Fighter's Guild, Mage's Guild and House Redoran. The game needs MUCH more powerful villains in the last third of gameplay. I understand the Tribunal expansion tries to compensate for that, so I've ordered it and look forward to playing. But I may have to start that game fresh, or use an old Saved game from when I was much lower level, if it's going to be challenging at all.

This complaint notwithstanding, Morrowing has literally been one of the very best RPG's I've ever played, at least as good as Baldur's Gate, which I also thought was spectacular. These long, challenging, complex games are one of the best values for money you can get: compare the cost of a 2-hour movie ticket to the cost of these fun and thoughtful games, and these pack so much more value for the $$$.

Breathtaking beauty!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: May 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is truly a beautiful game. But you better have the computer hardware to truly run this game with all the Prefrences up, Real-time shadows, Viewing distance, 3D sound etc. I started it two days ago, and have been playing day and night. If you buy this game, hit the pause button, walk outside look around for a few minutes. Now go back in and un-pause the game and look around at the sky, the water, and the tress look so similar to real life.

I highly recomend this game!!

Oddly relaxing

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: November 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Morrowind is a unique experience. As other people have mentioned, it is perhaps the prettiest RPG I have ever played. The beautifully rendered world is a joy to simply move around in, walking and listening to the music. (The music, BTW, is in standard MP3 formats. When you get tired of it, you can cut and swap in your own. I now occasionally wander to Beethoven's 7th Symphony, or fight to the Gladiator soundtrack.)

The game is huge, and full of wandering. You can take several forms of mass transit, including riding the bugs, taking a ship, or having mages zap you hither and yon, but when you take those methods you lose out on what I find most engaging in the game world: walking from here to there, killing the occasional rat and pterodactyl.

The main quest is utterly free from urgency. This means you are free to explore: doing the side quests offered by more than a dozen factions you can ally with. Or setting yourself quixotic goals, like I did: to walk around the whole continent on foot.

The game has flaws. At high levels, you'll still get attacked by rats and bugs that you can swat aside; there isn't much of a point to these combats. Most NPCs offer you dozens of conversation options, most of which repeat the same info you got from the last one you spoke to. The main quest is a CRPG cliche. The side quests begin with simple errand boy and kill the foozle stuff; you won't catch the subtleties of some of them unless you join multiple factions and work on their quests simultaneously. For siding with one may eventually preclude you from carrying out another's.

This isn't the most exciting game in the world. But that is what makes it charming. It's a game you can play for a while, set aside, and return to. It will not have you on the edge of your seat. But the mere business of strolling around the game world on the way to visit your next port of call has a hypnotic charm of its own.

Prepare to spend less time with loved ones..

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: July 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Now I'm not a huge RPG fan, I prefer simulations most of the time. However something on the box just grabbed my attention. Could the game really be as cool as the box says. Well, yes it is, and then some. First off the scenery is top notch, and they actually created a vast and completely virtual world. The world you travel in is filled with the little quirks that still continue to surprise me. Day turns to night, and you can actually look up in the night sky and see the stars slowly passing overhead until the sun begins to rise over a mountain or the ocean in the backround. Along with that there is a constant and believable weather system. You could just get a light rain or be smack in the middle of a thunder storm. Also in certain areas you could get stuck in a "blight" storm, which is kind of like a dust/sand storm. Although the best part of the game is that you can do whatever it is you want, and the area you play in gives you plenty to do if you choose to ignore the main storyline. You want to go and slap around some smugglers, go for it. You want to go raid some tombs, fine. If you really feel like it, you can even go diving for pearls in the ocean. Along with that, there is almost always a quest or two you can do in one of the many towns you can visit. Then you can always go back to the main quest any time you feel like it. The only real problems with the game is that it is a bit of a system hog, and your relationships with friends and family will definatly suffer. If only they could understand. Anyway, this game is a must buy for people into first person RPGs. You just may want to wait until a Friday before you start playing it though because it's going to take a lot to tear you away from it.

it's great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

if you like morrowind, then there's no reason not to get this.

it appears small at first, but when you get into it, it really lets loose. i don't want to spoil anything, but when you get into exploring the sewers, you'll REALLY know what your character is made of.

however, i finished the main quest in like 3 days.. so it is kind of short, but i'm still not finished with Morrowind proper, and i now have some pretty sweet toys to help me along thanks to Tribunal. and i do keep going back to Mournhold just because there's so much to do.

Disappointing

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: July 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I wanted to like this game. I really, really wanted to like this game. I was a huge fan of Daggerfall and spent countless hours playing that game. I expected more of this game.
* The world graphics are amazingly realistic, but are drab in color.
* The NPC's are lifeless and drone like. The world feels very empty and dark.
* Soo many things seem to be randomly generated or at least created with no uniqueness. Names, dungeons, items.
* The Character models are all ugly. When I say ugly I do not mean bad artwork, I mean (If I met this guy on the street I would jump)ugly. They also all seem to suffer from bolemia or anarexia.
* Missions and quests are uninspiring

Expansions don't get much better

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: August 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Elder Scrolls: Bloodmoon is essentially a new landmass, situated north and west of the main continent in the game. You need Morrowind but don't need Tribunal to play it, and it does add the very important Tribunal journal fixes to Morrowind if necessary. The new landmass is Solstheim, and it's both large and detailed. The developers clearly put a lot of time and effort into this expansion, with a host of new objects and a frozen landscape that is truly a sight to behold.

The Bloodmoon story is separate from the other plot in Morrowind and Tribunal, and can be initiated and continued at your leisure. In case you haven't figured it out from looking at the box, it has to do with werewolves, and you do get the chance to become one. For those that want to be a monstrous villain but found being a vampire too much a pain, rest assured you will have that chance. There are multiple ways to get the werewolf disease- fighting werewolves, the main quest, and the Ring of Hircine. The last two will work even if you've played the main Morrowind quest and have disease immunity.

Bloodmoon is clearly designed for higher level characters. I would recommend being upwards of level 20 to start, and probably around 40 by the time you complete the main quest. Aside from the central story, there's plenty of side quests and normal exploration to be done, and tons of treasure to find. Much of this treasure is unique- there's a whole new set of silver weapons that are especially good against werewolves, new Nordic Mail heavy armor, Bear medium armor, and Wolf light armor. There's also some primitive stone, iron, and monster weapons that look cool but aren't that good unless you play with the editor. Additionally, there are a few unique weapons and armor to acquire, including a full set of Stalhrim ice gear and (possibly) the most powerful spear you'll see in the game. As with Tribunal you have the chance to make custom armor- Snow Bear or Snow Wolf, both of which require a certain number of pelts and a visit to the Thirsk Mead Hall. Lastly, a good number of new monsters are added, including pig-riding Ricklings, bears, and Spriggans. Some of these are quite tough, hence the level 20 recommendation.

The plot is interesting and has some non-linear features that make replay fun. You can join a new faction- the East Empire Company- and either build a colony or work to destroy it. You can also lay claim to a Nord mead hall by proving yourself in combat. In all, there are no less than three new houses you may call home, and added to your Great House stronghold this makes you quite the property owner in Morrowind.

The first thing you should do when you get Bloodmoon is to patch it. There are a few bugs fixed in it- one of them quite serious and that I had the misfortune of triggering. Other than this, I've had no technical problems with the game. Another possible issue arises with the number of trees on Solstheim. The Morrowind graphics engine isn't the most efficient, and all those fir trees require a huge amount of power to render. The recommended system requirements are an 800 mhz CPU and 32 MB video card. I can assure you that this won't get you the performance you want. If you don't have a good PC and graphics card, you'll probably have to turn down the view distance and resolution to get things running smoothly. Since Morrowind is all about looks, this can be a bit of a disappointment.

The short of it is, Bloodmoon is a killer expansion and anyone that enjoyed Morrowind shouldn't think twice about picking it up. Aside from the new areas and items, it opens up a whole lot of possibilities if you're acquainted with the Elder Scrolls Construction Set, and adds immensely to Morrowind's great replay value.

rocks my socks!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: July 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a dedicated gamer, and I've been known to buy games (at full price, no less) that wind up just sitting around on my hard drive after being played for an hour or two. But I do like games, and I tend to finish the good ones.

Morrowind is one of the best.

I'm sure all the positives and negatives have already been mentioned in other reviews, but here are things that struck me. First, negatives: on higher levels, most monsters are amazingly easy to kill. NPCs do not have enough unique dialogue, and this can become really annoying when every NPC in town says the same thing to you in voiceover as you pass them ("You're *probably* looking for a *tavern*. I'm sure *I* can't help you..." in a town controlled by a rival faction, for example - yes, the line is insulting). This can be occasionally jarring when you talk to the NPC and their greeting to you, onscreen, is completely different in tone from their voice greeting.

Another big problem is the speed of character movement: walking around is terribly, terribly slow and detracts from gameplay. Several times I have used some of the built-in "rescue spells" (that teleport you to a safe location in the nearest city) just to get out of having to make a return trip to that area.

Among the positives: oh, the graphics! They're beautiful. All towns are designed in unique styles and interiors are also unique. It's like the graphics department got to design a world of virtual dollhouses, and they did an amazing job, considering that you have probably a dozen times more interiors here than you would in the average high-quality animated film. The movement system is easy and intuitive, though I did choose to customize the command keys. Another thing I really liked was that the game rewards players for choosing to play a female character (several challenges are difficult for male characters, but female characters will sail through them).

Finally, there's a great moment in the game where you can gain a full (in-game, not real-time) day of high-level levitation skill. This allows you to soar around for a while, immersively exploring the main city of Vivec from an aerial perspective with a full range of motion and greater speed than characters are normally allowed. Playing this portion of the game was the closest I've ever come in my life to duplicating the feeling of those occasional dreams in which I can fly; it was the point at which I was sure that I was playing something really special.

So should you... play this special game, I mean.

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