So I bought Morrowind with high hopes as I hear so much about how beast it is, but I just can't get passed the graphics! The first Elder Scrolls game I've played ( and only ) was Oblivion. The graphics are like three times better and the glitches were fewer ( I've heard about how this game has MANY glitches whilst I only experienced like two glitches on Oblivion ). Is it just the fact that it's an older game and you guys just feel like you're "better" than us filthy Oblivion lovers? I really wish to enjoy it, but I can't get passed the first 15 minutes.

Well, if you have it on PC, even the most modest of computer can use mods that will vastly improve the graphics. (better than Oblivion IMO)

Being an avid player of both games, I can assure you that Morrowind has about the same amount of glitches as Oblivion. The community made patches fix 99% of these, so they are not an issue anyways.

Morrowind (and about 5000 other older games) are not about visuals, but instead focus on gameplay, depth and having patience. If you only want eye-candy, then an un-modded Morrowind is not for you.

Basically, if you don't like it then don't play it... seems pretty simple to me.

Install Morrowind Graphics Extender, then texture mods, then face mods, then other visual effects.

http://egamer.co.za/wp-content/comment-image/64784.jpgt by Vality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NX-MvnYUEs



But one of Morrowind's strong points has been its graphics during development and as a selling feature. With good reason. They were gorgeous at the time.

Forgot to mention, I do have the GOTY edition for the Xbox 360.

Oh.

Then there's nothing we can do if you can't get past the graphics.


I don't have problems with playing older games. Recently, I've been purchasing a couple of old 1990's RPGs and adventure games on websites. Games I missed because I was mostly a SNES/N64 player back then. There are numerous gems of games out there, no matter their age. Morrowind is one of those.

THAT'S WHAT I PLAYED. Ok, I'll help you out here. The best part about Morrowind is just the breadth of scope. Yeah I've seen 3 cent hokers that look better than TES3 at this point. There are about 3 times as many factions you can join, many of them interacting with other factions. An infinitely better story than Oblivion (MQ wise) and more skills, none of which are useless. The toughest part for me going back to it isn't the graphics, but the text boxes, which I'm getting used to again. In Morrowind you really don't have to do the main quest and you can still feel accomplished and enemies don't scale. In order to enjoy it, I recommend looking up the factions, decide what ones you would like to join, build a char around that, and try to do those quests and have a come what may attitude about side quest sand stuff. Hope that helps!

Then your options are the following:

1-Get used to the graphics on Xbox.
2-Acquire the PC version to gain access to graphic mods + extender.
3-Find a "prettier" game to play.

Not much else you can do.

I didn't go to the forums for such obvious answers. What I want to know is what are some of the major elements of the game that makes this game special and grand? I hear so much about this game, but the only good thing about it seems to be the story or the lore of it, not so much the actual gameplay. Please tell me I'm wrong and give me some highlights so I can seek those highlights out!

Did you not read this fantastic post that answered all of your questions? (look below)



awesome job aamnorok!!

As dumb of a response this is, nope I didn't . I like that response!

Yes, you're wrong. This is a great game.
And just keep playing... get into the game.... or are we supposed to do that for you, too?

Seriously though, Morrowind can be difficult and frustrating at first for new players, but the more you get into it, the more you realize the massive amount of fun there is to be found.

The way I see it, is how are we supposed to make you like it? Either you love this type of RPG or you do not.

What got my attention was the complete customization you had in regards to creating your character. Sure, the aesthetic options were limited, but I'm talking about the skills you could take. Any combination of 10 skills, with 27 to choose from, allowed you to create virtually any character you could think of. Want to create a tanking warrior? Do it. A powerful mage? Do it. A stealthy assassin? Do it.

Or... do you want to play a warrior who is skilled in arcane abilities? A mage who attacks from the shadows? An alchemist who finds the best deals to sell his goods? Anything you could think of.

Then the world. The completely open world that allowed you to go anywhere, do anything, and just interact with the world as you see fit. Do you want to embark on the main quest, or defy the Emperor's orders and follow your own path? Do you want to join guilds and move up in the ranks?

I've only "beaten" the game once, with my main character, a Wood Elf custom class character. Essentially, my character was a stealthy archer assassin / thief. No, my build wasn't too terribly unique, but my experience was. As you progress through the main story, there are many aspects of the game that truly hook you to your character. I became very attached to my character as the game went on.

I've actually recently gotten the game again on X-Box as well (when I played previously it was on PC, but my PC that ran it blew up and I don't currently have a gaming PC) and have been trying to find a character build that I like for a new go round. I know the foundation of the character (dark mage summoner), but I'm trying to figure out some of the minor skills that I want to use.

Yes, going back to it after playing Oblivion (a game that I STILL haven't beaten) is certainly tough. You're right - the graphics don't look as impressive now as they used to. Certain elements of the gameplay are rough. But if you're able to get past that, there is an amazing game to be found, I believe. One that I would say is much better all around than Oblivion. That's not to say that Oblivion isn't an improvement upon Morrowind in many ways, and I certainly do not look down on Oblivion players as "dirty Oblivion fans", as when it comes right down to it, the Bethesda 3 (Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3) are pretty much all 3 interchangeable for my "favorite game of all time" spot. I think I have to give the nod to Morrowind in the end, but Oblivion is certainly a part of that conversation. Those 3 games I think I can say are easily my 3 favorite games of all time.

I played Oblivion first, and then went back to try Morrowind. I still prefer Oblivion personally, but Morrowind is a fantastic game. Yes, it can be cumbersome and time-consuming sometimes, especially moving around. (That is, in my opinion, one of the weak points of the game), but one of the things I noticed very early on was the absolutely stunning atmosphere in the game. It was so thick it felt I could cut through it with a knife. Even though there are still things about the game that annoys me, and that keeps from playing the game as much as I would want to, that mysterious atmosphere and feel of the game always draws me back in.

The atmosphere and the music and there is something else that Morrowind has that Oblivion don't have that I cannot put my finger on. I still like both games they way they are. Maybe Morrowind has more guilds. I don't know.

Have to practice on my Markmanship though because I masted long blade.

For the most part, people who played either Oblivion or Morrowind first tend to prefer the one they played first. A more helpful answer is that you need to learn to forget about the graphics and instead focus on how open the game is. There's so much stuff to do compared to Oblivion that to some Morrowind players Oblivion feels a little empty. The game has so much to do in it that most players are unlikely to ever see close to everything it has to offer, and that's just the quests. The possibilities in finding your own fun are nearly endless as well if you're imaginitive. This game rewards people going out into the world to do whatever they want, even the main quest encourages you to experience as much of the non-mainquest stuff as you can. This game doesn't try to rush you like Oblivion's main quest does. The last thing I can think of that's not been addressed is that in Morrowind, levelling up actually makes you stronger rather than weaker because very few enemies scale with your level. The only level scaling is a few bosses and the appearance of new enemies at certain levels.

tl;dr The big draw is that you have more freedom to do what you want than most other games.

My last bit of advice is to drop the whole 'Is it just the fact that it's an older game and you guys just feel like you're "better" than us filthy Oblivion lovers?' attitude. If you think that we think we're better because it's an older game we play you're never going to play it properly or take us seriously. As this thread proves, most of us love Oblivion too, so that'd mean most Morrowind players somehow manage to think they are better than themselves which is gibberish.

Morrowind can be hard game to get in to, so give it some time.
I starded with Oblivion, and the first times I tried Morrowind I was like: "This game is so boring and hard!"
Nowadays Morrowind is my favourite game in the series.

A common concern that I see plenty of times when I go to gamestores and such.

Even with the updates to mechanics, graphics and the like, Morrowind keeps me coming back for more ALL.THE.TIME. For me, and some people MAY disagree, is the depth of the game, the customization, lore/stories, and to put it simply, all of the things that you can do in-game. Ive had the GOTY edition for in between 5-7 years now, and I can gurantee that I still havent done everything that there is to do. Where as Oblivion, everything is real cut and dry. Go here, kill it, bring back its claw. And the HUD made it much easier.

The customization to me is really good because there are more skills than Oblivion, even though its not TOO much, it makes training them much better. Ive heard alot of first time MW players gripe about the combat system. Although it may seem " harder " to those said players, its based entirely off your skill in that certain area. You want to use daggers? Then you better be sure to have it to at least a 30 or you will end up getting frustrated. Another bonus to me is the lore and the stories around the game and quests. All of the quests have well written plots and they can really get you into the backstory of everything in MW. And once you know more about the lore of MW, going around and associating with the NPCs will be more entertaining. As for lore, it goes without saying that there are plenty of things that you can search and explore for simply by going to one of the in-game bookstores and reading a book. For me, one of my favorite things to do is trying to find all of the items in the Tamrealic Lore book. And at this point, sadly, I still havent.

Those are my points. Concerned about graphics? Thats a pretty irrelevant thing to be concerned about with this game. Take your time, " LEARN " the game, explore, join some guilds, do quests, do some of the MQ. Sooner rather than later, Morrowind will swallow your soul. It just takes time

I had the same thing. I started it, got bored after 10 mins and put it away. I tried to play it about 5 other times, before I FORCED myself to continue.

After that...it gets very, very good.

Here is the clincher as to why, for me, morrowind was better, overall -

After a month of playing oblivion, I suddenly got this hollow, shallow feeling when playing the game. I had done the guilds I wanted to, done some fun side quests, developed a nice character, and completed the main quest. Essentially, I felt I was done with the game - the only thing that was keeping me occuppied was collecting ingredients, exploring new caves (all of which felt distinctly familiar I must say), and levelling up. Yet all the places to explore felt the same, and as I levelled up, it seemed to be becoming harder to kill enemies. So I put the game away, and play it very occasionally, but never fully get back into it.

Now with Morrowind I have invested 100s of hours in with numerous characters, since the first time I played it in 2004. And I still have never got the feeling of shallowness that I did after a month or two of Oblivion. Why is that? I honestly don't know. Maybe its the amount of side-quests and factions, or the landscape, or the feeling that you are going to find something weird and amazing at every turn. Or perhaps its the npcs and the fact that you are basically reading a big thick dialogue heavy novel with exciting plot twists and characterization, that happens to have a neat game surrounding it. Most likely it is a combination of all these things.

Maybe one day I will say 'whew, I've finally finished Morrowind, now I can get on with my life'. Although Tamriel Rebuilt is making that look rather unlikey, and I must say I'm no to disgruntled about that fact. : )


EDIT - forgot to mention, playing with MGE, new textures, and a slew of mods (lokken, GCD, TR etc) has made playing morrowind alot less unforgiving, especially on the eyes.

This.

Gameplay > Graphics.

Agreed.

IMO if you dont roleplay in MW a bit you won't have very much fun. Enjoy decoding directions out of your journal, and enjoy the lack of a quest compass, enjoy the exploration and realize that in the next cave there might be a sick sword you can get no matter your level (no leveled items!!!)

Combat is a drag for the first 3-5 levels but once you get your skills up a bit you should be able to slice and dice with ease. There is a really good long sword you can get in right off the bat to help smooth things along:



If you don't like exploration and you played Oblivion for the combat or story then you probably wont like it more. Its really what TES is all about for most people and thats why a lot of folks were disappointed with Oblivion.

Options options options options

That is what will make you keep coming back. Because it seems like you NEVER run out of things, or combinations of things, to do.

My mystic right now is using PAPER as a deadly weapon, and its pretty damn effective, mind you. It has just enough enchantment points to hold a 10-19 absorb health on touch enchantment, or a 15 or so through 30 damage fire on touch enchantment. I get all that paper and soul gems by pilfering those cheap crates you see lying around Balmora and other towns (they're legal to take from, too).

Think outside the box.

Alright then. It seems I underestimated your determination to get into the game. Sorry. :mellow:
Here's some things I enjoy about Morrowind (trying to remember the vanilla parts vs modded parts...) :

-Being able to sneak around to find and steal great treasures (which won't scale to my level) from dungeons or towns is a lot of fun.
-Having access to spellmaking and enchanting from the beginning, without being forced to joined any guild. I consider that pretty awesome. Plus, enchanting is so much more versatile in Morrowind, you can't even compare it with what we have in Oblivion. Enchant your left glove with an healing spell and your right glove with an attack spell or your belt with a night eye spell if you like. You can create many crazy items with that enchanting system.
-You can actually use a stabbing attack anytime you want with a dagger. (The basic combos in Oblivion were all slashing attacks.) Most people won't care about that, but I do.
-Battles are much shorter and deadlier. Often, between 2 and 4 hits are enough to end an encounter. I like that.
-More guilds and quests in general to choose from.
-Vampirism AND lycanthropy.
-Very dumb escort NPCs that only get in your way. Oh wait, that's a bad side...anyway, avoid escort quests at all cost.
-Becoming more powerful with each level you gain. My powergaming-half really likes that part.
-Using a bow is sooo satisfying! The sound effect when you draw, the wait until your target walks exactly where you want and then the shot. Followed with curses if your victim survived.
-NPCs that know more than a few one-liners. Being able to ask almost anyone about general knowledge is convenient. Ask a scout about the local regions for example and you'll get a LOT of info. The replies for a single subject tend to repeat themselves often though.

I'll stop here, but that's a few things I enjoy about Morrowind. I didn't mention anything from mods, but let's just say they add a lot too.

Just rememeber this. In a few more years, when someone says that Skyrim was thier first game, and they are trying to get into Oblivon but the grahics for Oblivion are so bad that they couldn't play for 15 minutes and had to stop, how can they enjoy playing a game with bad graphics.

If you can answer this, then you got yourself partial answers in how to play Morrowind.