Does Morrowind hold up?
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Personally, I cannot get past the shit combat in Morrowind. That type of game really shouldn't be based on a dice roll hit/miss system, and it becomes annoying when I'm standing next to a scaly thing with a massive greatsword and missing 99% of my hits because my skill isn't high enough.
The story and the characters and the themes are all very good. The setting is the primary reason to play it. The main storyline is great, the organizations all intersect in interesting ways rather than being largely separate (you can't reasonably do all of them on one character, which is something you have to get over), and the political and religious themes are very interesting (Skyrim continues a lot of these, while Oblivion dropped most of them).
The gameplay is neat in that you have options allowing you to do effectively anything. The gameplay is terrible in that it doesn't allow you to do anything in a compelling way.
The mod community is also awesome. I highly highly recommend The Lighting Mod (TLM).
The gameplay is neat in that you have options allowing you to do effectively anything. The gameplay is terrible in that it doesn't allow you to do anything in a compelling way.
The mod community is also awesome. I highly highly recommend The Lighting Mod (TLM).
Never really got on with Morrowind or Oblivion, but I'm getting on fine with Skyrim cept the clunky interface and companions walking in front of my paralyzing bow and spending entire fights lying on their faces.
So, I'm gonna say No. Morrowind doesn't hold up compared to new games. But then, I am missing the story so my opinion probably doesn't count for squat.
So, I'm gonna say No. Morrowind doesn't hold up compared to new games. But then, I am missing the story so my opinion probably doesn't count for squat.
Morrowind fan here.Shim3d said:
Morrowind is a great adventure and it was the game that brought me into the Elder Scrolls series.
One poster said that the start is ironically crippling and whilst I agree in one sense it's better than Oblivions by a large margin. You're basically dumped in a tutorial village and one that isn't done in the traditional sense where NPCs will spout the control system to you but one that gives you a basic understanding of things to come without breaking the 4th wall.
You'll also discover fairly quickly that there is no fast travel system like in Oblivion and Skyrim where the player would open the map and click a location to be instantly transported. In Morrowind players use Silt striders, each one will go to a set amount of locations and you basically pay a small sum to go there. Shorter version is basically it's an Elder Scrolls Cab system.
It's a neat little system that I'd never thought I would miss when I played Oblivion, I was surprised when I found myself disliking that travel system and wanting to be able to explore the world one location at a time.
True later on you may find it a bit of a nuisance when you want to go to certain locations and you have to take two or three silts but it makes the majority of the game much more engaging.
The combat is what you'd expect I suppose from a melee perspective at least, get a sword and bash. The block is completely RNG based and leveling up your skills will increase the % of block you'll get but it's not controllable.
There's no fancy visual animations either for killing guys so just get used to watching that sword swing away.
Speaking of swinging, at the start you're likely to die to rats. It happens, don't worry.
This part of the combat was removed in Oblivion but I again surprisingly really missed this part.
When you first pick up a weapon (including magic), expect to miss. It's supposed to give your character a sense of progression in the early stages. As you've been playing with swords for a while, when you pick up that new mace you want to use you will weigh up the odds of the coming fight as you're not going to be as successful with your attacks.
Personally I liked it but people did say that they spent a while just grinding their spells so that they could do damage when they wanted too and they found it annoying, but each to their own.
Magic is magic, nothing different from this to any other Elder Scrolls game really. It's weak to start with and then it just gets stronger and stronger. You can also use the crafting section to make your own spells which if you look online you can find how to make certain interesting spells.
There are many schools of magic and they all have interesting effects so none really feel like they're overlapping in usefulness.
Personally I found magic a little too strong and it dulled the game, floating over a village and dropping atronauchs on people is all fun and games for a while but eventually you'll find something that will take care of your problems and that'll be your bread and butter for the game.
The story line is great and it will take you all across the globe and with game of the year edition being super cheap now you should really pick it up.
The expansions are fantastic, well worth the price you'll pay for the game.
I played morrowind, and I hate it. I like skyrim ALOT, and liked oblivion well enough though it is flawed in many ways. Morrowind is a little bit too incomprehensible as far as mechanics to actual story goes for me, and its too easy to break the system.
Morrowind was good, it had atmosphere and created a world that I wanted to play in, a huge and detailed world at that. It felt more crafted than Oblivion, more attention to detail perhaps, but Oblivion was better at grabbing the player and thrusting quests in their face, where as Morrowind was the sort of game where you could forget what the hell you were supposed to be doing and then wander round for 30 hours trying to find out again, an RPG really ought to be more engaging than that IMO.Shim3d said:
To sum up, both Morrowind and Oblivion are great RPGs mainly due to the scope and detail of their worlds, but both have grievous flaws. Oblivion does a reasonable job of engaging with the player compared to Morrowind, but both have the hideously retarded TES leveling system which has marred the series from the start, ultimately despite spending upwards of 100 hours on each I didn't finish either.
So in answer to your question, Morrowind is a genuinely good game but in terms of playability at least it was surpassed by Oblivion, which has in turn been surpassed by Skyrim. Only the most dedicated RPG fan would have any reason to go back and play Morrowind at this point.
Not really (strictly from a gameplay perspective). It's still great, and I prefer it to Oblivion, but the combat is absolutely terrible.
Hmm good question, it has actually been a while since I last got into Morrowind. I think Morrowind could easily hold it's own with Oblivion, but I am not sure about Skyrim. I think Skyrim just might beat it. Then again I am one of those extreme minority hated ones who actually likes good graphics in games.Shim3d said:
I loved Morrowind, I've probably put more hours into that game than I will with Skyrim (maybe...)!
The setting was fantastic; Morrowind gave a real sense exploration and discovery. The fact you could stumble into a cave at level 5 and be horrifically destroyed by something 10 times your power was great. Oblivion's level scaling was nasty, though I'm liking Skyrim's thus far.
Gameplay-wise, contrary to the popular opinion, I found it amazing! Morrowind was a game where you had to train. I spent countless hours beating mudcrabs with my fists to level up hand-to-hand, or picking as many ingredients as possible and constantly failing to make potions. The game was unforgiving, and I liked that! There was no instant gratification. You were not a great warrior at level 1 or even at level 10. Morrowind was a game that took time and planning to make a good character.
I think of it as one of my favourite RPGs and probably that last truly great one IMO; modern RPGs have largely been about instant gratification and not a real challenge.
The setting was fantastic; Morrowind gave a real sense exploration and discovery. The fact you could stumble into a cave at level 5 and be horrifically destroyed by something 10 times your power was great. Oblivion's level scaling was nasty, though I'm liking Skyrim's thus far.
Gameplay-wise, contrary to the popular opinion, I found it amazing! Morrowind was a game where you had to train. I spent countless hours beating mudcrabs with my fists to level up hand-to-hand, or picking as many ingredients as possible and constantly failing to make potions. The game was unforgiving, and I liked that! There was no instant gratification. You were not a great warrior at level 1 or even at level 10. Morrowind was a game that took time and planning to make a good character.
I think of it as one of my favourite RPGs and probably that last truly great one IMO; modern RPGs have largely been about instant gratification and not a real challenge.
Honestly, as a whole, the TES games are kinda dicey on the gameplay front. Even Skyrim is a really simple ARPG if you're going by just combat. Morrowind was the last before the shift off the heavy dice rolling focus that dominated the series before that, so you get a lot of attacks not hitting their target, and a lot of abilities simply randomly failing.
That said, Morrowind has one of the best settings of any of the TES games, and, to me, it has always felt the most fleshed out. The gameplay is slightly above meh. It isn't terrible, if you don't mind random dice rolls for every action, but it doesn't hold up to Oblivion. I think there are combat overhaul mods that do actually put Morrowind in the general range of Oblivion, but I never used them myself.
That said, Morrowind has one of the best settings of any of the TES games, and, to me, it has always felt the most fleshed out. The gameplay is slightly above meh. It isn't terrible, if you don't mind random dice rolls for every action, but it doesn't hold up to Oblivion. I think there are combat overhaul mods that do actually put Morrowind in the general range of Oblivion, but I never used them myself.
I note the sarcasm but of course you realise its not liking good graphics that is the problem right? its placing graphics before gameplay that stokes the wrath of the nerd gamer.A Free Man said:
The-Epicly-Named-Man said:
I'd just like to point out that a good RPG doesnt stand on its combat so combat alone should never be a reason to disregard an RPG. Too many gamers these days are weaned on bastard (in the literal sense) action-RPG hybrids (thanks Bioware) that they unfairly expect all RPGs to have a solid action core... thats just not what RPG is about.InterAirplay said:
But then i'm a crusty old-school gamer so just get off my lawn and all that...
I tried getting into it before I even got Oblivion, so there isn't any like weird "I got used to Oblivion so Morrowind is unplayable" thing, I could not get into it. The main thing that bugged me were the constant invisible background rolls against your stats. Try to hit something with your sword, see it hit head on, nope missed. Mostly the good things that I have heard are always the same two things, the story and the open world. Those can only take a game so far. I will sit through some bad gameplay to hear a great story, but I just could not with Morrowind.
I remember buying it a few years ago and playing it. Modded the shit out of that game to make it playable. I can see why it would've been a great game back in the day, but I simply put it down after 10 or so hours.
So no. I can't say it holds up for people who never played it before.
So no. I can't say it holds up for people who never played it before.
The only recent Bioware game... since... gah, Baldurs Gate maybe? That really struck me as having really good writing was DA2. Mass Effect and Jade Empire were kind of serviceable in a slathered with cheese kind of way.InterAirplay said:
Anyway, on the subject of the importance of combat, strictly speaking, Continuity is correct. It isn't that important to an RPG under ideal circumstances. I can only think of a handful of CRPGs that really work at that level though. In pencil and paper, he's dead right, but for something like Morrowind, combat, be it stealth/magic/or a huge ass hammer, is the single most frequent method of interaction with an NPC, and to a huge extent carries the game. If the combat isn't interesting or engaging in some way, most players won't care. In the case of Morrowind nearly every action is controlled by rolling a die, so, other avenues of interaction aren't any better.
Well the combat system in Morrowind does not hold up. Swinging your sword at a rat and missing 15 times out of 20 does not make a good combat system. Also, why the hell do you move so slow! It's like your in the mid of a battle and you decide to just have a casual stroll. Dont get me wrong Morrowind is a very good game, but for people who dont want to have to grind and die over and over again it is not a good game. In my opinion the perfect Elder Scrolls game would be Morrowind's skills, Skyrim's leveling and combat systems in a world similar to Morrowind's.
The weird thing about that post was that you said "put gameplay before graphics", then when someone said that the gameplay was crap you said that the world compensates for it. Having a good world is good and all, but when everything feels stiff and artificial (like in Morrowind) experiencing the world will always be hindered by the crap gameplay.Continuity said:
Whoa there buddy, you just made the cardinal mistake of conflating gameplay and combat, they are not the same thing, a game with no combat at all still has gameplay.ToastiestZombie said:
Yes but when the actual gameplay still is very bad, and the combat is bad. Just because there may be one gameplay feature that is good doesnt mean it excuses all the other bad gameplay features. Here's some example of bad gameplay that is not combat related.Continuity said:
.If you dont want to use the stamina bar much, you walk so slowly. In the middle of a battle you want to run about not have a gentle stroll.
.Barely any voice acting, which in an RPG with as many characters as Morrowind makes it much less immersive than it can be
.For new players there is almost no help whatsoever, no map, no compass, hard enemies right outside the first town and much more. I would rather have a game that was easy to old gamers but not so brutally hard to new players.