SajuukKhar said:
Starting off your post by insulting someone does not make your points any more valid, and is entirely unnecessary.
except that wasnt an insult. Youth does not make one better or worse, and the second part was my argument. modern videogame design has robbed it of critical thinking. Virtually all free-roam RPGs tell you exactly where to go, and what to do when you get there. Morrowind and games like it (especially ones before it) require you to THINK. As he stated Oblivion was his first RPG, I can therefore assume that he is child of a primarily modern library, and as such in incapable of grasping videogame logic that seems completely basic to myself and my peers who were raised in this previous school of design.
Now, on to your counterpoints to my main article, as it were
Also, Morrowind has tons of flaws
-Terrible combat
The combat action is functionally identical to the later games. The only difference is how damage is calculated, and as I said, I maintain the dicecheck system makes the combat BETTER than the ObliviRim damage soak. I will concede that having an active block is preferable to the passive one found in morrowind, but that is one minor point.
How is it useless? I have never once had trouble navigating by that map. Your assertion leads me to believe you simply can't read a map.
-NPCs that have no real character or life because all they do is stand in one spot and repeat the same 50 dialog topics that 99% of NPCs have.
as opposed to oblivion, where the same 8 voices have repeat the same dialogue? And can do it even when unprompted? And have even less character because the actors play each of their with the exact same delivery, making it impossible to tell them apart? And how inept the dialogue assignment was, leading to characters saying things that don't match the script, with a different voice than the previous sentence, or even repeating lines entirely as the voice actor requests another take? The developed characters in morrowind sound unique, the devoloped ones in oblivion are identical to the generic NPCs
-Guilds lack any sort of plot, and are just pointless fetch quests, that lead into nothing, and affect nothing, and that have the same depth as a radiant quest from Skyrim.
I already said this. But upon further consideration, they have MORE plot than the ObliviRim factions. Some have MULTIPLE STORIES in one quest group. But even discounting that, as I stated, they didn't NEED a plot, because they had such a good reward system. for example, you had to be an awesome wizard to be head of the mage's guild, unlike Skyrim, where the mage's guild questline is easiest to accomplish if you forgo magic entirely. the quests you receive from factions help raise the relevant skills, and earn you loot, most of which IS actually useful, if you play the game without cheating and thus need supplies from time to time. And no, they don't affect the world around you, but neither do the ObliviRim quests. Those don't even affect their own questlines, but are checkpoints along the railroad. Morrowind guild quests detail the interactions of the people, and have political ornamentation that make your actions seem like part of the WORLD, as opposed to unseen, unheard cave sessions that leave you with none of the recognition the game claims you've earned, as is the case with ObliviRim.
-Directions given by NPCs are often wrong, and lack details such as how far south, and how far west, something that is south west actually is.
There are THREE npcs who have incorrect data. Hardly "often". The rest almost always list landmarks and such for you to make sure you're headed the right way. when they DON'T, its because it's a direct path to the target location.
-An attribute/skill system that forces character to become MORE SIMILAR as they level up
No. Nothing forces you to level anything other than the skills YOU said your character has. You gave your character ten specific skills, and they only relate to the attributes that govern said skills. If you DO level your non-class skills, and attempt to max out everything, of course you are similar to other things. one character who masters everything by definition HAS to be the same as another character who maxed out everything. If YOU have a problem with your character becoming a master of all skills and gaining godlike attributes, then YOU DONT DO IT. This point isn't just wrong, its NONSENSICAL
-Tons of weapons that are all essentially the exact same because they lack any unique gameplay mechanic of their own, and only differ in what skin they have.
ROLEPLAYING game. Variety exists for unique characters, and the different skill sets reward that dedication. In ObliviRim, ALL melee weapons are the EXACT same, without even unique animations for their type (as opposed to morrowind, where you had different animations for knives, spears, staffs, swords and axe/hammers). In morrowind, your character learned to fight with a claymore. If he picked up a knife, he wouldn't know how to be effective with it. In ObliviRim, your character magically knows how to use ANY bladed weapon with equal effectiveness. True, you don't HAVE to pick up that dagger that has stats twice as good as your claymore, its up to the player, but unlike the last point, this doesn't encourage roleplay, but rewards you for ignoring it. That's another reason the dicecheck system made the system work better: ObliviRim mages have no reason not to deck themselves out in the heaviest armor they can find. it rewards you for ignoring the rules of the world and treating the game like brawler.
-Tons of broken mechanics that fail to do what they are supposed to do, normally stop exploiters, and only prevent legitimate players from playing the game.(guild requirements specifically)
Like what? You mention the guild skill requirements, but that's to encourage you to go do other things instead of grinding through ONE questline. You're supposed to be traveling, doing multiple quests from multiple groups. No wonder you think it's boring, you're playing the quests like the spoon-fed stuff in ObliviRim (which, by the way, ALSO tries to encourage you to stop one questline and do other things, by giving you the "come back in a few days/a week" messages) instead of doing a task and letting it lead you to other quests or dungeons to crawl. So what are some of these other "tons of broken mechanics"? Most of the glitches that exist either are virtually unavoidable in this sort of game and affect legit and cheating players equally, or happen as a result of deliberately trying to fuck with the game. I can't think of a single mechanic designed to stop cheating that hinders non-cheaters. Not one.
-Hand placed loot that often makes 99% of dungeons have loot that is worthless for anyone over the level of 20, essentially making most dungeon delving 100% pointless as you wont get jack shit out of it once you get to an event half-way high level like 25.
This point was awkwardly phrased, but i THINK i've figured it out, so i'll rebut: until you get to high levels, if you aren't cheating, you WILL need supplies. The top-range gear rewards exploration. If you want to keep it, you have to keep it in repair. repairs cost money, either for a smith, or to purchase hammers. you will always need potions and to purchase scrolls or spells. until your skills are raised high enough, you can't subsist on your own. You need to dungeon crawl to get free supplies, or to grab loot to sell for the cash to get them in town. the loot isn't insanely valuable because having one trip solve all your money trouble for the rest of the game doesn't encourage you to keep crawling. If you don't crawl, you don't explore, which means you aren't playing the game. And yes, once you are at high levels and are making your own potions and enchantments and repairing your own gear, and making tons of money, and collecting gear that has not value except the money you can't spend, dungeon loot seems a little worthless. BECAUSE IT IS. you've moved beyond it. you're operating on a different scale than you were when you were an atrophied malnourished prisoner scraping in the mud for the spare gold to afford the silver weapon you would keep to fend off ghosts. I don't know what to tell you, except that that's the point. Your character has GROWN. Having leveled loot makes the worthless dungeon scraps slightly shinier worthless dungeon scraps, and makes the weapons less impressive. Suddenly, that daedric artifact spoken of in LEGEND... isn't as good as a sword you took off a bandit's corpse. Wow, guess that accomplishment doesn't mean much anymore, does it? leveled loot turns LEGENDS in VENDOR TRASH.
-the journal system was such a broken mess that they had to fix it in Tribunal, and even then, it was still widely regarded as being crap on a stick.
It's a book that tells you what you have learned. If you can't figure it out, i just don't know what to tell you. Yeah, it sucks that you need to flip through all those pages to find that quest you forgot to do, but, well.. its a book. it also kept you in touch with your character, as opposed to the way the other two (mostly skyrim, but oblivion has a little of this) just list the next task. it makes your quests a checklist, not adventures to recall and tell to awed listeners.
Look, I hate to be that guy, but I think your problem with Morrowind is that you aren't playing it right, or at least don't understand what kind of game it is. It is not a hack'n'slash. it is not a "combat" game. It is a role-playing game, a game about a WORLD, and combat is part of that world. And ObliviRim's combat, while more streamlined than Morrowind's, is LESS deep, and more boring, though Skyrim's better leveling made it MUCH better than Oblivion, despite the even MORE simplified nature of combat in that game. You could argue that they've turned the series into an action game, but its a CRAPPY action game, and its generally a terrible idea to switch genres on your fans (especially since some have been playing their RPG series since Arena). It's still an RPG, just one that isn't as deep or smart as its predecessors. At least the writing picked up for Skyrim, Shivering Isles was just about the only good writing in Oblivion.
I LOVE Skyrim and Oblivion. I still haven't gotten sick of Shivering Isles is some of the most fun I've had in a game, ever. But taken as a whole, point for point, flaw for flaw, Morrowind is FAR AND AWAY the best game of those three.
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