So, what am I supposed to do now? Play Skyrim?

Seriously, though, what a great game. I actually found myself rather sad to be finishing it, because I realized that there wouldn't be much else for my character to do in Vvardenfell after killing Dagoth Ur.

Plus, the place seems... melancholy now.

This was my first real, serious run through Morrowind. I got off the boat in Seyda Neen and chose an Imperial, as they're usually my favorite. I started with an idea for a roguish kind of character, and in the Census and Excise office I answered the questions. When finished, I was presented with the class of Acrobat. Looked good, so I went with it.

From there, I undertook two major questlines: the Thieves Guild and the main quest/Blades. They actually didn't seem very contradictory to me; I could see how my underworld contacts could help me with my work for the Blades, and vice versa.

In between, my character developed a keen interest in exploring and looting Dwemer ruins - and, when he was feeling cocky, he would even dare to plunder Daedric shrines.

Exploring the strange island and interacting with its odd inhabitants was incredible. Even the combat system didn't bother me once I got used to it. Coming from Skyrim and Oblivion, I thought for sure I'd be annoyed by it.

Once Caius was recalled (?!?!), I actually felt strangely alone. Here's the guy who helped me get my feet under me. Was he really an addict, or was it all just a show? Was he recalled as a punishment by powerful enemies, or for some heroic undercover work? Would he come back?

I continued to rise through the ranks of the Thieves Guild, eventually meeting Gentleman Jim himself, and helping to resurrect the memory of the Bal Molagmer (though sadly, I finished the TG quests before the Bal Molagmer ones, and I don't think I can finish those now). When Gentleman Jim retired and handed the reins of the operation over to me, I could feel glad that I had stymied the Cammona Tong thugs and helped the imperial-leaning Thieves Guild get a toehold on Vvardenfell.

And then, the Nerevarine prophecies. My character was initially doubtful, but he needed to get to the bottom of this strange cult. Caius seemed to think it was important - even if the Empire went to hell, I could still make a difference here.

By the time I faced Dagoth Ur, I had 100 sneak, marksman iin the 70s or 80s, and a decent Spear skill, along with enough enchanted gear, scrolls, and potions to get me through about anything. Most of the process involved sneaking - and at the very end, levitating away from the maniac man-god and luring him into the pools of lava, which gave me plenty of time to strike the Heart.

After that, some words with Vivec were in order.

I don't know quite why I'm writing this, but it's just such a contrast from the way I felt about the end of Skyrim's questlines. With Skyrim, I have major restartitis. In Morrowind, after beating the MQ I wandered around a bit, spoke with the people who had helped me along the way, and eventually found myself in Arielle's Taphouse back in Seyda Neen, where it all began. I went upstairs and spoke with the redguard scout - the Blades operative - who told me she still sends messages to old Caius. A good place to retire, I figured.

Not many games do I feel the need to 'retire' a character like that. Not many games make me feel like I just put down 'Lord of the Rings'. Not many games make me feel like I've just accomplished something epic, strange, and almost unaccountably sad.

There's no way I can even think about starting a new character in Morrowind for quite some time. It just doesn't feel right, for some reason.

What a game.

Play Tribunal or Bloodmoon?

and the side factions, theres loads of them and have interesting stories with different possibilities to do them

if you think you're done with morrowind after the mainquest you might aswel quit scubadiving before going under 3 feet deep

Yea, you can't really compare Morrowind to Skyrim. Skyrim is rather shallow, compared to the other TES games. If you want to feel like you accomplished something, like your actions mattered and affected the game world, then I highly suggest Fallout New Vegas! Get the Ulitmate Edition, which includes 4 DLCs!

I was a 100% TES fan/addict and played Oblivion for over 6000 hours, it's still installed, and I've played through Morrowind a few times. Skyrim was a let down, if you ask me. I love the world, I think the dragons are awesome, but it left a stale taste in my mouth, since nothing my character did changed anything. So, yea, I suggest you either play Fallout New Vegas or Obivion if you haven't tried that one yet. I suggest New Vegas, did I say that already?

Nice read.
What now? ->stay absent from that game for some time: Then start again, join a house & built your stronghold there.

Tribunal continues the storyline directly, and Bloodmoon is even better. You ain't done yet; get back in there!

I'd love to play Tribunal, but for some reason it isn't installing correctly on our computer. Now we have *some* of the features Tribunal added (enemy health bars, 'max sale' option for vendors), but no DB assassins and no way to continue.

Bloodmoon I actually played a little of on a previous character a few years back. I made a Nord fighter in an attempt to get into Morrowind. It worked for a while, but I ignored the MW MQ and went up to Solstheim ASAP. After a while there it was a little ridiculous... no fast travel options, lots of back-and-forth, and every 30 feet there's a bear, a berserker, or a riekling! But it's a moot point since we can't get that to work either...

And no, I'm definitely not saying I'm 'done' with Morrowind! I'm just done with this character. For now, at least.

The problem is, the main questline is so epic that starting in on some low-level stuff for another questline just wouldn't match the level of epicness, I think.

Plus, I don't want to join any of the other factions. Not with this guy, anyway. Blades and Thieves Guild were perfect for him.

Maybe someday I'll decide that it's time to take him out of retirement and find that sunken ruin supposedly off the coast of Gnaar Mok he heard about from a shifty Khajiit. Or follow up on the rumors of Mentor's Ring. Or find more Dwemer ruins to explore.

But I think what's needed now is a nice little rest in the Tradehouse of Seyda Neen, with the fellow Blades trainer to keep him company. Kick back, relax, and think about life. Wonder what Caius is up to, or Gentleman Jim Stacey.

It seems like a very rare game that makes me want to just take time away so I can absorb it all, before coming back or starting a new character.

Magnificent story.

Makes me want to avoid finishing the Main Quest, though. I think I'd be rather sad, as well.

I would encourage you to do a little digging and see if you can get Tribunal to work. It is in some respects, imo, even better than the base game quest-wise. The story of Tribunal is a direct result of what happened at the conclusion of the base MQ, and it truly makes you step back and reevaluate the way the Dunmer see things. Bloodmoon is very good as well, but doesn't really have anything to do with the Tribunal/Heart of Lorkhan/Dwemer kind of thing that the base game and TB have. It's more of a personal journey for the character.

Thanks for sharing. I remember the first time I finished the MQ and I felt very much the same.

So, you can't enjoy Morrowind with this character anymore because it isn't challenging anymore. After all that character must be level 25-30.
Well, if it is really only about that you could try downloading the creature pack mod. It allows for monster variants to appear until level 200.

You can find it here (it is a very small and easy-to-install mod.) : http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=1651

No, I wouldn't even say it's about the challenge. More about the story, and the experiences the character has gone through.

I mean, I'm sure I could still find challenging fights, tough monsters, and awesome locations to explore. But after all I've done in game, I can honestly imagine my character thinking that that stuff is sort of ... beneath him now, in a way. Exploration for exploration's sake is great for low- to mid-level characters, but once the fate of the world has been in your hands, going through a dungeon just because it looks neat ... I dunno. Doesn't have the same punch as it used to.

Yeah, I would really love to get Tribunal working. I'll take a look and see what can be done... ideally I can keep my character along the way!

Have you thought about buying the game on Steam? It may be redundant, but the GOTY edition is on sale right now for 9.99. Pretty sweet deal!

Good story. Your character may surprise you yet to want to get out of retirement after awhile

Don't understand why installing Tribunal and Bloodmoon would give you problems. It sounds like they worked sometime earlier. Good luck.

I have thought about that... Would I be able to carry my saves over if I got that version, though? Guess it doesn't matter in the long run, since obviously I'll play other characters down the road anyway, but it would be nice to go through Tribunal and visit Mournhold with my current character.


I guess it is one of those known problems with Win7. We've tried reinstalling as admin, but I think we never *un*installed MW completely, so we weren't really doing a fresh reinstall. Of course, a fresh reinstall would wipe our saves, I think. So I'll at least wait until my wife is done with her current character before I try that again.

Yes, your saves should carry over just fine. The only issue is if you use mods, you'll want to install the same mod's on the Steam version. But, considering both expansions were once $30 a piece, getting both for $10 is a steal. You will just need to move your saves into your new Morrowind folder in Steam, and if you need help with that, I can point you in the right direction.

You should be able to carry over your current characters, since the expansions were designed to be added to an existing game. Just make sure to do a last save before the change in a cell that's not directly affected by the changes (such as a deserted interior) to minimize any possible conflicts.

As mentioned, the Tribunal expansion continues the story. Your character isn't done by any means, and level 25 or so is a good "starting point".

Bloodmoon was a bit heavy on the outdoor encounters, fun if you're playing a Nordic barbarian, I suppose. I didn't enjoy Solstheim all that much, and never completed that expansion's MQ.

Solstheim has indeed gone over-the-top with the Cliff Racer-esque amount of outdoor encounters. But asides from that, Bloodmoon does a lot of things better than the main game since the developers had learned some stuff by then.

Hmm, now I'm wondering if there's a point to getting it on Steam... I mean, if it won't work from the Tribunal and Bloodmoon CDs, would it have a better chance of working via Steam?

If so, I'm definitely going to grab it.

What I would do, is back up your save games, which are you in your /morrowind/save folder, and then completely uninstall the game. Then, purchase and install the Steam version. There SHOULD be no issues with that. Then, just dump the save folder into the Steam directory for Morrowind.

Sounds good; I'll give it a try. It also occurred to me that the GotY edition would probably have patches or something, which would make it worthwhile to get anyway considering right now we're running the original CDs of MW and the expansions, with no patches or updates.

I have to assume that uninstalling the game completely is more involved than just selecting 'uninstall' from the menu, yes?