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A True Virtual World

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 98 / 140
Date: November 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The Elder Scrolls 3 continues the Elder Scrolls tradition of providing a true fantasy virtual world for you to create an alternate life in. Set in the exotic island of Vvarvendell, the developers have truly defined an entire culture, with such nuances as clothing, housing styles, food, and architecture being unique to each game region. You can do anything you want, from running a mercantile business to being a mass murderer. Be a powerful mage living high in your own tower, or be a shadowy thief jumping across rooftops at night. Create your own spells from scratch, concoct mysterious potions, enchant your own weapons. It's totally up to you. In addition to all this, Morrowind ships with the easiest-to-use game editor to date, allowing you to create your own game content such as quests, characters, items, spells, and sharing them over the net with your friends. You can't go wrong with Morrowind!

A fitting sequel to Daggerfall

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 23
Date: May 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Unlike the first "reviewer", I've actually played the game and I can tell you it is amazing. I spent a few minutes just looking at the sky, marvelling at the photo-realism. Morrowing is much more than pretty pictures, though. Bethesda has created a fully fleshed out fantasy world in the tradition of Middle Earth. Almost any character type can be created and role-played in any manner desired. There are myriad guilds and factions to join, so the quests you perform will further your own interests. This is very nearly a true virtual world. Five stars doesn't do it justice.

I bought this game..............returned it the next day.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 37
Date: May 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I am a people pleaser and I don't take pride on turning down anybody... but... gamers should know that there is nothing new about this game. In fact the control is hard, you need to use your mouse everytime you want to look up or down. The battle is illogical and no sense of precision (if you think you hit the enemy, you did not - if you think you did not hit the enemy, you did !!!) after you defeat an enemy you'll see them floating (the usual graphic problems). Talking to people is also annoying. Almost everybody you'll meet will say "Make it quick I am a busy person" "I have little time" this words makes you feel unwanted...(another illogical aspect of the game)...after you click the communication box you'll see words such as "I'll be happy to answer any questions"

The only reason why I gave this game a star is the graphics. The sunrise and sunset makes the game look good. However thats about it, and most gamers will agree with me that gameplay always outweigh graphics.

The idea of doing whatever you want in an enchanted world is surely interesting. If you can play considering all the flaws I have presented, then try this game. However, I bought this game and returned it the next day...and what a great relief!

Wonderful game, but has tech hurdles

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: May 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was totally hooked on Arena. I immersed myself in
Daggerfall, and I've been oh-so-waiting for Morrowind, the
latest addition to Elder Scrolls series. Although I just
barely scratched the surface of it, I can say: the game is
huge, deep and marvelous. The visuals are stunning, and
the world seems alive and immersive. A lot of things from
Daggerfall are here: a multitude of guilds, factions
offering quests, a vast countryside to explore. Spell,
item, ption making all here. Respect the law, or join a
Thieve's guild or a tong and walk on the shady side - but
get ready to dodge guards. Prevail upon NPCs with brute
force, with shiny coins, with sweet words or by doing
tasks for them or their friends. Advancement is skill -
based. So you can level up trading goods or just running
around.
Any RPG fan will be making himself a huge favor by getting
this game.
So, why four stars? Actually, it is a rather a 9 out of 10
than 4 out of 5. The game has tech problems. Under Win XP,
it would now and then crash to desktop. So save often.
Hopefully, Bethesda will address this issue with a patch
soon.

A True RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 24
Date: May 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, continues in the Bethesda Softworks campaign for games that are 'true to concept.' After a long drought of releases, they've put a game in the market that simply blows away the traditional concepts of what was possible in a true RPG today. For those that play online RPG's, beware... Morrowind provides for a very in depth system of character play, but the typical online strategy of "kill, level, kill, level" has no place here (unless you play a brutal warrior of chaos who does nothing but murder...It's possible). A -very- rich graphic world eventually plays background to the focus of the game, which is a complex system of quests that cross factions, sometimes meeting paths other character styles you might choose to play, but based on different RP background and reasons. Choices are made that can affect your chacter at every turn, wheter it be your persuasive manner towards a single merchant, or your honorable standing amongst the members of the fighter's guild. The choice is yours, and you alone can decide to live with those decisions or go back to a previous save point and play it differently.

Expect to do a lot of searching around and testing...this games is not for the casual gamer, though the in game journal helps to keep you up to date when you forget what it was you were doing (easy to do, as the game world is huge for a 1CD game). Overall, it is a must have for gamers who really enjoy playing a character as they see fit and dealing with the consequences...just as a true RPG should be.

Not for casual gamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 45 / 50
Date: May 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is the second best Role Playing Game ever made. Period.

Role playing has been deluded from it's original intentions, playing a ficticious character in a fantastical world with all the perks and hardships associated with it. Previous ventures (anything Diablo, Dungeon Siege, Everquest) have all been experiments in one of the fundamentals of Role Playing, character development. With Baldur's Gate, a cohesive, player-centric universe was created and a flimsy story along with it to increase immersion. Not until the advent of the best Role Playing Game of all time, Planescape: Torment, had a game captured the player with a beautiful, tragic story, colorful, detailed characters, and a fluid, easy to use interface.

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is the only game since Planescape: Torment to grab my attention and make me actively participate in it's story. In Dungeon Siege the plot was based on leveling up to defeat the main guy, all well and good, but in Morrowind my goal is anything I want it to be.

I remember playing a level 4 mage in Daggerfall for months, just because there was so much to see and do that I never got around to the main quest. In Morrowind, you can either not follow the main quest at all, follow it, or follow it once in a while and explore the rest of the time. The amount of open-endedness in this game is only surpassed by it's feeling of soul, for some reason this game feels alive moreso than any other game I've played (sans Planescape: Torment).

Casual gamers will not be able to play this, they'll get confused, frustrated, lost and stop playing, claiming "it's too non-linear!" Die hard pen and paper RPGers will not be able to play this, "you have to use the mouse to see things!" But any computer game player with half a brain, half a memory and at least 100 hours to play this game will find an experience they will never forget.

Reno, layeroffrost.com

Epic! Mesmerizing!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: May 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

What a blast! I've been playing RPG's since 1978 and this is truly a gem. I find myself thinking about it when I am not playing. My favorite is the exploring aspect. You can wander in any direction and discover....anything! I delight in the seemingly infinite details like weather and night sky. The biggest problem I have is having to fight for time on the game with my kids so I mostly play at night. Unlike online RPG's, you can quit and save anytime and not worry about missing anything because you pick up where you left off.
I could write more but I want to get back to the game.

Excellent game, with tweeking, a perfect masterpiece

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: May 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is the most imersive game I have ever played. And it's hard to imerse me, I am easily distracted. The graphics are spectacular with Java effects such as shimmering streams and seas and contrasting environments such as swamps grasslands, deserts ect. It is not just the Earth-like places but the more alien places too that realy do feel other worldly. Giant mushrooms, luminescent swamp grouth that glows in the swirling mists of the gloomy evening. As the main character in the game 'Redgaurd' said, "these Dark Elves are wierd!" You must have a top of the line graphics card for these effects to be truely appreciated. Geforce 3 will do, a Ti 500 can run the effects and cliping planes at a decent frame rate but with some choppieness. A AGP Pro 50/100 slot(and card) will be needed for a full experience.
Sound FX are equally spectacular with the odd alien creatures of Morrowind.
But the graphics and sound are only the icing on the cake, it is the character developement that is really the masterpiece. This game, according to some is TOO realistic, and I agree some of the stuff could have been left out, such as the mundanity of everyday life. The purpose of playing a game is to ESCAPE from the real world, not re-enter it in simulated form. I don't need practice in dealing with people or meanial work experience, that is boring and should be left in the real world where it belongs. The guy that asks you to take your clothes off should also be removed in the patch, no one on the forums likes that. Me either. It is a plot critical and if you do not, you can't progress through the game. There are some skills also that could be tweeked. Speechcraft for one. I don't think admire is the appropriate thing to do in a place like Morrowind. I think persuade would be better in that slot and 'admire' could be in an optional slot and renamed 'flirt' because that is exactally what you are doing. Ever wonder why guards say "bet you say that to all the guys" when you ARE a guy! That really offends me personally and takes the fun right out of being an Impirial Knight or any kind of diplomatic character. If you want speechcraft, be a rouge and use it only to intimidate and bully people. Unless of course you want to flirt with the guards and citizens. I think for the sake of diplomatic characters who don't want to fight citizens a 'persuade' method is more appropriate than 'admire'. Persuasion deals with being asertive and, well, persuasive. Complementing strangers is not realistic, it is stupid! Especially too Dark Elves. If the game is going to be realistic make it realistic, but make it where you can deal with the world realsitcly too or it will make for a frustrating experience. Speechcraft is, however much better than Daggerfall's method but the options are very limited. At least you know who you are dealing with.
I think the option 'persuarsion' should be added for dealing with people in general and obtaining quests and so forth. The 'admire' option should be changed to 'flirt', for when you want to well, uh... 'flirt'. It should not effect speechcraft however, hey, it doesn't in real life either.
I think I'll wait until Elder 4 comes out(probably in a beastie land. Black Marsh or Elsweyr) to play a Knight(an agile Knight), maybe by then speechcraft will be tweaked better. For now, a Nordic Crusader is my character. He doesn't say much that's interesting or clever(like me mostly), but he gets the job done heroicly.(and he swings a mean sword and mace to boot). Redguards are much better balanced than Nords at fighting, however. Both races are better at fighting than anything else. Willpower is a Redguard's only weakness(his mace and axe are a bit weak too.) Nords lack sword skills and Agility. Combat and freelance adventure is the funest aspect of this game(when you make level progress)control and timing are key. I haven't played far, but the guilds seem to be a bit boring. You get alot sure, nice gifts from members, training, ect... But the quests are menial(more on that later) The legion is for Impirial characters(I think), most of those quests involve killing the natives or something. That is not my style, I like heros, not law-abiding [people].

Aside from the little anoyances I mentioned, and a few others it is an excellent game. And should be played by everyone who plays games. Great combat, great environments, excellent character developement and deities to your weak areas.(Impirial Knight of the Lady is an excellent combination) And better quests than Daggerfall, much better. You don't know what you are missing!

Versatile -- Beautiful -- Slow -- Buggy

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: June 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The following things distinguish this game for me:

- Character Building: Combination of Race, Profession and Birth sign. 10 Races to choose from, 30 professions (divided into categories of Magic, Warrior and Sneak), and 12 birth signs that tweak characters abilities (adding speed, invisibility etc.)

- Leveling System: Very much like Asheron's Call. 6 major abilities, 6 minor abilities, and the rest misc. Using an ability advances it. Major abilities advance the fastest.

- Graphics & Character Interface: A lot like Gothic (or Everquest). On my small screen sometimes gave a headache. Despite 3 maps, I sometimes lost my sense of direction, especially in town buildings. Characters tend to say the same thing, and often waste time with unhelpful dialogue.

- Mouse Keyboard Control: A little bit primitive. Often need 2 or 3 keystroke/clicks where in some games you would need 1 to put items in inventory etc.

- Journal: Has chronological log and separate alphabetical index for acquired information.

- Atmosphere: A little less polite and uplifting than some games.

- Versatile: Separate disk devoted to construction of different things like character, scenarios etc. Can still have fun without following main plot/quest line of game. Easy to explore freely without being killed too much.

The Definition of Epic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 22
Date: June 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is worth $100, if not more. It is treasure. To extrapolate...

Graphics: Amazing. Jaw dropping. Best I've ever seen. The downside of this is that this game is DEMANDING, and will lag on all but supercomputers. However, that should be fixed in an upcoming patch.

Sound: Very good. The music is wonderful, but somewhat repetitive. The enviromental sounds and the voice acting, however, are top notch.

Gameplay: Simply addictive. Completely non linear. Hundreds and hundreds of quests, huge world. I've logged over 250 hours in this game with one charecter and am still not nearly done exploring this world. From the beaces of the Ascadian Isles to the blighted Ashlands, this game has diverse landscapes, creatures, caverns, villages, towns, and people.

Extras: Definitly buy the collector's editon. For an extra $15 above the regular edition, you get the soundtrack, which is great to listen to in the car or anywhere, the Orinator figure(My personal favorite part. It is very nicely sculpted down to every link in his chainmail. The mace is even sharp!), the Art of Morrowind book(Which is great when you first read it but even better after you've played the game a while and see where ideas came from and such) and the paper map which comes with both versions(The most detailed game map I've ever seen).

This is THE best game I've ever played, and I game 50 hours a week. Buy it. Now. Unless you want something akin to a life. In that case, stay far away from this game, as it will draw you in and not let go.

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