holoz0r's A-Z of Steam: Why I won't be playing any more Morrowind

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In my recent post, I spoke about the fact that I've never played Morrowind, which Internet opinion (and objective analysis of a slew of various reviews) tout as the best game in The Elder Scrolls series.

For a long time, I've been vocal about the fact that an awful lot of modern Bethesda open world games suck. In particular, The Fallout series (if you want to read what I wrote more than two years ago!) is guilty of committing some cardinal sins, which I won't go into here, because, I'm writing about Morrowind.

By all accounts, a beautiful game, with a sprawling, enormous game world, writing and world building that is exceptional, dense, and filled with thousands of pieces of in-game fiction and walls of text, it doesn't stack up to the expectations of a modern game for several reasons.

Some of which, @kaelci raised on my recent post:

... it didn't age well at all. It's very... jarring to play after playing new and recent games.

Jarring is a good word. You can do that in Morrowind. There's ingredients, alchemy, magic, and the ability to brew potent, noxious poisons (or nourishing) potions to help your character navigate the dangerous land, and uncountable assailants you could encounter, depending on the choices you make.

While a role playing game shouldn't always be about the combat, as an adventurer, you're going to need to stick a sword into someone's side, or send a few arrows down into their flesh until they perish. That is where the first and foremost complaint of Morrowind becomes apparent to me. Combat is ungraceful - whether you're using a bow, a melee weapon, or magic.

Hit boxes bear no relation to the character model you're looking at. Magic doesn't stagger foes when it impacts, and there's no real feedback as to whether or not your intentions for manslaughter (or murder, depending on the context) - in this enormous world are having any consequence, until the foe you're fighting falls to the floor, ready to be stripped of their armour and worldly possessions - or you perish.

This is something, that in the year 2020 does not find itself compatible with an enjoyable, immersive gaming experience. Instead, it is indeed clunky, jarring, and not up to par. It indeed, has not aged well at all.

It was, however, fun to mod, which begs the question - Why is modding a Bethesda game often more fun than playing the game itself? This is a question I'll continue to face as I move through the other Elder Scrolls games in my library. I've still got Oblivion and Skyrim to dote upon.

I think I might even elect to experience Skyrim in a new way - via the PlayStation VR, but for now, it is time to move onward to Oblivion - which was my first real experience with Elder Scrolls.



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11 comments
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I spent months... on this game =) Really enjoyed...

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I reckon I'd love Skyrim in VR.

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Next on the list, once I get over Oblivion and how good it is :)

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It's so very very jarring! Haha.

When comparing Morrowind to Skyrim, my list of positives of the game are as such:

  • Say you have stolen off a merchant. When you talk to that merchant, he knows that you have his stuff and will call wrath upon you.
  • If you have skooma or moon sugar in your inventory, most people will think you're an addict and refuse to talk to you until you remove it.
  • You don't need a Killable NPC mod to kill people, muahaha. If someone dies, they stay dead. (I actually murdered the entire continent back in the day, bar the travel creature controllers and a few choice merchants)
  • In saying that, everyone else knows you're a murderer and you need to bribe them to like you.
  • You have to think for yourself when it comes to quests, there's no hand-holding.
  • If you train your acrobatics by jumping a lot, you can literally jump over mountains!

Actually, I think that's it. Haha. There's usually more I reminisce over when playing Skyrim, "Oh, I wish I could still do that..." but hard to remember at 6am.

I did love Oblivion too. It was also the game that taught me to press F5 every two minutes! 😁

If I may make a recommendation for after your Elder Scrolls journey... Enderal is a fantastic game! It's a free game modded from Skyrim and they did such an amazing job with it. I'd argue they actually did a better job.

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That's high praise indeed! I'll put it on the list as a curiosity to explore post-skyrim. Does it work with the Special Edition on Steam without too much trouble?

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Ooh, unfortunately it only works with the "Oldrim" non-special edition. 😬 They are thinking of porting it over to the Special Edition, at least they were a while ago. I'm not sure if they're actually working on it or not though.

But it really is fantastic ~ the graphics are absolutely beautiful. They've overhauled the combat, magic, leveling systems. If you get shot in the face with an arrow - it HURTS. You can't just suck down health potions. There are more than three voice actors. 😆 The story is pretty compelling and when it ends, it ends. Multiple endings!

As you play, you can't help but pick up that it clearly had a lot of love and thought put into it. 😊

(First time I opened it!) https://peakd.com/gaming/@kaelci/enderal-forgotten-stories-first-impressions

(Screenshots! Beautiful screenshots!) https://peakd.com/hive-140217/@kaelci/screenshot-showcase-enderal-forgotten-stories

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Thanks, I have both the Special Edition and original edition of Skyrim in my Steam collection so shouldn't be an issue :)

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... and I also have it on the PS4 for VR...

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