Skyrim was my first TES game, I liked it so I bought Oblivion. I liked Oblivion too, but I still haven't completed it. I have heard Morrowind is really good but ￡13 seems like alot for a game made in 2002, I know it is GOTY edition, but ￡13? And I can only buy it from steam because everywhere is sold out, with it being old. Is it worth buying it, especially since the combat looks terrible, with a chance to hit the enemy, but I don't mind the graphics being bad. Also when I am at my grandparents house, there is no good games to play because the computer isn't very good, so if I bought Morrowind I could play that on that computer.

I think it's definitely worth it. I've played it only a bit, but I think it's amazing. Still, it depends on your personal preferences.
Also, this should be on the MW forums.

I played Oblivion and Skyrim on an older type of PC and it was alright. Morrowind should run on your computer pretty fine.

Morrowind has a pretty high entry barrier. You're basically told the controls and what the Red, Green and Blue bars mean, and then you have to learn everything else. It's maybe not as brutally unforgiving as say, Demons' Souls or Dark Souls, which punish exploration and experimentation, but if you're looking for an experience where you always have direction, Morrowind is going to probably just anger you.

Morrowind is my favorite game on the planet, but I don't want to oversell it. It's from a different time, and it's for a different kind of player. It really has no anology I can say "If you like this, you'll like Morrowind". It plays nothing like Oblivion and Skyrim. It has rewarding exploration, an extremely rich world (Tenfold more detailed than even Skyrim, though Morrowind is only one-third the size), plenty of Variety, and the best overall faction design.

Personally? Yes.

But I doubt many of today's generation could handle it. Morrowind is all text and reading, it's all SELF-discovery (no quest markers; if that woman says "go talk to my husband in the small hut near the fork in the road" then you better just keep your damned eyes peeled) and the combat is more RPG-like; your skill level with a weapon determines the likelihood that you hit your enemy, so it's not about YOU aiming or YOU blocking, but rather your character's stats.

It's a game unlike today's games. It doesn't reward meagre actions and you have to pour a lot of time in to get reward. If you've played a lot of RPG's I recommend it. If Skyrim is your first ''RPG'' (it isn't a very good one) then no I wouldn't.

Skyrim's actually a stellar RPG, it's just the current definition of RPG that really svcks now, the Genre has always been bogged down with a clarity issue. At it's core, "RPG" as a genre encompasses anything that allows the player to redirect a form of progression, which means yes... Call of Duty 2-3 and Battlefield 3 are RPGs (Multiplayer only).

Save your money.

I absolutely loved Morrowind when it came out but theres always a danger when going back to previous games in a series like this where you'd be buying it on how much you enjoyed the current game in the series only to find it's nothing like it.

Oblivion aye but i fear Morrowind may be a step too far.

I suppose even though its not specifically this, I class a true RPG as one where my actions have meaning and quests can take multiple paths. There's some meaning in some of the quests in skyrim. The quest paths however are very linear. Especially when compared to a modern game such as New vegas.

With some ods to bump up the graphics yes absolutely.
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1211599-wipz-morrowind-overhaul-game-experience/

I wish MGSO worked on my computer but it doesn't agree with windows 7 for some reason

I understand what you mean, I just have a personal goal to raise awareness of how horrible the current definition of the RPG genre is. It lets games like Call of Duty get away dancing under the banner for their feature count.

Skyrim's quests are painfully linear with often only one resolution. Two resolutions (Blood on the Ice, Promises to Keep, With Friends Like These/Destroy the Dark Brotherhood) being a rare treat, and Three or more, virtually unheard of. I could go on for pages. Even though there was significantly less content, I think even Fallout 3 was a stronger title overall, weaker mechanically as an "RPG" but allowed personal characterization to a much greater level than Oblivion or Skyrim through it's own content.

I agree it seems everyone has a different perception and definition of an RPG. I started with Oblivion but then I moved to Fallout and I believe that Fallout 3 and New Vegas destroy Oblivion and Skyrim in terms of quests and dialogue obviously some will disagree.

I cant stand playing morrowind for one reason: The graphics.
But i ignored the graphics. I tried to bear with the graphics and completed morrowind, all factions, most side quests and the dlcs. And its worth it.

Defining things is quite simple, really. Just be logical and objective about it.
To me, a ROLE-playing game implies that you can play a role. What is a role? It's a specialized function of your character, just as a police officer is a specialized role in the real world with a specialized function. What defines their functions? Two things: How the character is played and how the world reacts to you. Again, real-world example of a role: A police officer is better with a gun, typically more authoritative and brave than the average citizen, has the right to arrest and investigate people, and the world reacts to him differently, either out of fear or respect or whatever. Without these traits, what seperates a police officer from a citizen? Nothing. Thus, these are vital in defining a role, and the specific functions per role should be unique from character-to-character, obviously.

Skyrim severely lacks the latter part while not being super-strong in the former. The latter part (the world reacting to you) practically doesn't exist in Skyrim. Nobody cares who you are or what you do, the exception being the guards. It's VERY limited.
The former? Characters do play differently, yes, but again, Skyrim seems limited to ~3 playthroughs and ~3 roles, as you can easily make a thief, a mage and a warrior and you'll have explored it all. Any combinations of the three specializations basically feel the same.

In that sense, does Skyrim MEET the definition of an RPG? Yes it does. The issue is to what degree. It's very weak in meeting the definitions. This would basically be as if I called Grand Theft Auto a racing game, or if I called The Legend of Zelda a platformer.
So yeah you can look at the RPG and say it is one, but I think the degree is more important. I mean, one could argue that a game should be classified into whichever category it BEST meets, and I think we can all agree Skyrim definitely meets more qualifications for Action/Adventure than it does for Roleplaying games.

If you enjoy reading and thinking for yourself - then Morrowind is an absolute must.

If you're more of a power-gamer, hungry for fast action and want pointers as to what to do next - then maybe give it a miss.

Characters are interesting, there's a lot more dialogue, and for atmosphere and storytelling it wins over Skyrim and Oblivion any time. Yes, the graphics are dated, but if you're willing to look past them and the combat mechanics (or simply download some mods to bring it more up to date), you'll soon be hooked.

Don't expect an easy ride - at the early stages of the game, be prepared to run away from enemies rather than taking them on. It makes the later stages of the game so much more rewarding.

Personally I'd say buy it
I've got more hours out of MW than any other RPG and still ocasionally find new places/things
If you haven't played any older RPGs you may find the graphics hard to cope with but mods can fix that
Things like lack of quest markers, no essential NPCs, limited fast travel etc might take a bit of getting used to but its worth it
What else could you get for ￡13 that will give you thousands of hours of entertainment

The combat can be frustrating early on, but it adds the sense that you're really a weakling in a dangerous world.

I would recommend it, though it depends on how much time you have at your grandparents house - if you give it like an hour or two, then you'll find you probably haven't got very far and that can be frustrating.

EDIT: essentially, what Jackstarr said.

Yes, buy it.

I get where you're coming from. I was going over a lot of the options Guards have in terms of Dialog, and if they had only expanded that to include all citizens of Skyrim, or Most (Maybe a Begger wouldn't know Ebony Armor from mud body paint), the world would have seemed a lot more believable. Well... with one exception, they really need to change the dialog responses for Skills above 30... At least boost it to 75 (Expert)... Or better yet, react to your three highest skills.

There's nothing wrong with an Adventure game though. I personally believe Skyrim is tenfold the RPG that Dark Souls is, and for some reason, that game is lauded for being "Sooper deep and mega rewarding" (How deeps is spamming Ironskin and END upgrades, really?) as an RPG. For me, under those guidelines, Elder Scrolls has always been an Adventure game, on the cusp of a true RPG like Fallout(series). They never truly gave you a third dimension to your character development even at it's best, but at least Daggerfall and Morrowind were ambiguous enough to allow freedom of imaginative interpretation. Oblivion, and in particular Skyrim threw that out the window.

Yes.

First time I tried Morrowind I quit in a few hours. Oblivion was my first TES I played through the MQ, then I gave Morrowind a 2nd try and then I understood it's strengths.

If the dice roll mechanics are too much, mod/cheat over them you see fit [Just up your health so you don't die or do more if you wish to go all out], it's the journey... the doing it all on your own, that is the trip.

I wouldn't mod it heavily, just better bodies, a hair replacer, texture replacers [including bottles and such] and adjust quadriatic lighting [ini settings] and avoid Morrowind Graphic Extender for the first run through. If I was going to add one mod [South Wall].

Hm, I am using it under Windows 7 64 Bit. I had constant freezes until I found out that AA and Real-Time Shadows don't work at the same time, which was 3 days ago. ^^ Maybe that's your problem as well?


I quit after 3 hours as well, than 2003 I gave it another chance and it was simply awesome. But why do you say to avoid the MGE (or MGSO for that matter) on the first playthrough? With MGSO basically anyone can install it with a little bit of effort.

@topic

I have to agree with most of the posts here. It is worth it, if you can find the time to get used to the world and like RPGs in general.

It is a VERY different experience from Oblivion and Skyrim, but definitely worth buying. If you are not pleased with vanilla there are TONS of mods to fix whatever you want to be fixed. I say buy and enjoy.

vD

MW is an outstanding game, even better than Skyrim for its time. The devs did such an awesome job of making the world come alive and the sense of immersion is like no other game I've ever played. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of TES.

However, you need to have the right perspective if you are going to play MW considering it's nearly 10 years old. The outdated combat system will probably big one of the biggest detractions for many of todays players who are used to OB and SK. The dialogue with NPCs is completely written, rather than the spoken, voice-acted version that was introduced with OB. There are several upsides to consider as well:

- Many more skills
- Many more armor slots
- Many more clothing slots
- Levitation
- A world that is almost completely static compared to OB and SK
- Levitation

I could go on, but those are the main ones for me.

DON'T get Morrowind on Steam, get a disc version

much more of a pain to get mods working

But yes, Morrowind is awesome. So long as you were still a gamer before Halo, you should be able to enjoy it. Best world of any game ever.