Jun 20 2011
A Friendlier Version of Morrowind
(click to enlarge)
Though I count Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion among my favorite games, and sunk hundreds of hours into it, it was in fact my first experience with the series. So yes, this means I’ve never played Morrowind or Daggerfall or whatever the first one was called. I hope to catch up with those at some point down the road when I clear out some free time, but until then I’ll leave the above references for those who get them.
Artist SnowSkadi wanted to give the world of Morrowind more of a cartoony edge, and even the villains pictured aren’t all that scary. If you’re a fan and can name all the characters, I’d be impressed, and I actually could see this being its own Saturday morning cartoon.
Which should I play first, Morrowind or Daggerfall? Or go WAY back to the beginning? I’d like to get at least one in before Skyrim is released, but I probably won’t be able to do more than one title, so I’d like to pick the best one.
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I absolutely loved Morrowind. It was the first Elder Scrolls game I played, and I still have installed it on every computer I’ve had since. If you enjoyed Oblivion, you’ll enjoy Morrowind.
Assuming you play the computer version, I am going to recommend the Lilarcor mod. There’s nothing like having the talking sword from Baldur’s Gate making snide comments as you hit things with him. It doesn’t affect the gameplay or the storyline, but it is a lot of fun to have regardless.
I’ll try to identify as many things as possible:
Top Row: Dagoth Ur holding the Heart of Lorkhan on Red Mountain, a cliff racer, a flying guar, Tarhiel above Seyda Neen, an ordinator peering over a Telvanni structure, the Ministry of Truth with Vivec City in the background, a bull netch.
Second Row: An ash ghoul?, a lame corprus, not sure about the dunmer by the “ghost fence” or the creature holding the exclamation point sign, sixth house bells, a scamp (possibly Creeper) with a guarskin drum, an ascended sleeper, maybe someone from Desele’s House of Earthly Delights? with a lute, Socucius Ergalla, Almalexia, Sheogorath, Ra’Gruzgob (the orc who thinks he’s a khajiit), Fargoth’s tree stump.
Third Row: Hisin Deep-Raed, Botrir, Hlormar Wine-Sot, a Dwemer? (don’t know who the dwemer is chasing), Vivec, not sure who’s sitting next to Vivec though he must be someone important, M’aiq the Liar (don’t know the khajiit to the left of M’aiq), Caius Cosades with Skooma.
Bottom Row: An ordinator, Azura selling “moon and star” croissants, the Player Character (in Daedric Armor and face of god, with Keening and Sunder, various loot, and a pet scrib), an ordinator.
^Confusing, I know, but that’s the best I could do.
Anyway, I love Oblivion, but I like Morrowind A LOT more. I consider it the best in the series and highly recommend playing it at some point.
Morrowwind is pretty awesome. Just make sure you save tons because it’s VERY glitchy. I played it on the original xbox and it was actually the first game I got for it. Probably the most wide open game I’ve ever played
I played the crap outa Morrowwind back in the day… one of my favorite games evah!
Also, Morrowwind is one of the few games that made me actually go back and play more.. I used to make up my own stories and adventures.. I stole every candle in the game and made a really neat Lair in one of the caves for my Vampire.. then I decided to see what would happen if I turned my vampire into a werewolf… really glitched the game out and my character was insane looking with no head. I didn’t look nearly as cool as you’d think it would, just super glitched and that’s when I stopped playing. lol… so many hours later.
Morrowind on PC. I’ve played them all and Morrowind is still my favourite. The graphics and mechanics may feel dated at first. I actually found it quite painful in the beginning because the game does not hold your hand like in Oblivion. Essentially you wake up and that’s it. You have no idea what’s going on and what you’re supposed to do because you just have to figure it out the old school way: by talking to people and observing your environment!
At first I couldn’t stand this but it really starts to come together, and if you stick with it I’ve found it to be one of the most involving and rewarding gameplay experiences ever!
p.s.- the story is awesome.
The exclamation point is likely a reference to what happened when mods broke. If a graphic couldn’t be found, you got a big ! in a box where the graphic should be.
Morrowind is awesome and is probably the first complete elder scrolls experience.. Daggerfall was great in the day, but the sheer number of bugs and the way the content generator made dungeons make it a hard sell now. I couldn’t tell you how many hours I put in that game, but only completed it once.
Arena was the first game. It had an awesome spell that would allow you to remove walls in dungeons. Played it a lot, but never came close to completing it. It was a cool concept that didn’t quite work for me.
Probably the best way to learn about Daggerfall now is to read about the Warp in the West or the in-game book “Where were you when the Dragon broke?” which explain how all six of the game’s endings are simultaneously true despite being incompatible with each other.
Morrowind is miles deeper than Oblivion in terms of story and the general world. Many people find the combat mechanics to be lacking after playing Oblivion first, but I’ve never really noticed, I guess.
And yes, add the Lilarcor mod. After I found that, I never played Morrowind without it.
Morrowind was awesome but I doubt you will have the patience to stand the load times. There’s also the fact that there isn’t a real speed travel feature. Oh you can ride the striders but you have to get to a strider station and board it. Think of it as a giant bug bus.
One really cool thing in morrowind is that you could cast levitate on yourself and basically walk in mid air.
MORROWINDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDd
Play Morrowind.
Morrowind on PC, definitely. None of the glitches that sucked on the Xbox version, mods, and the game is just plain awesome. There’s a reason why you hear about Morrowind (and people have been working on a mod for Oblivion for years to add in Morrowind into that system). There was more depth to the game, period. Even the expansions were huge. The only thing you’re probably not going to like about it? No fast travel- you have to rely on a boat or stiltstrider.
Personally I really enjoyed the lack of fast travel in morrowind.
Never was one for taking shortcuts. Of course I never ever managed to get from point a to point b without getting side tracked by the other 25 points along the way
Morrowind for sure. On PC though. Get the enhancement mods that make morrowind look simply amazing. I forget what they are called.
I love this game on PC.
@Ryan: Great work! I only caught about half of those. Maybe the guy with the scroll wrote one of the books in the game; I can’t remember, but don’t you find a love letter at one point? Ash zombie by the fence? The dwemer might be chasing one of those centurion things?
As far as speed travel goes, you also have the Mage’s Guild (just don’t steal from them and sell back — “That’s my roobrush!”)
But you can get around pretty quickly on foot by using the Boots of Blinding Speed and a magic item that gives you Dark Vision (or whatever it’s called — the spell that lets you see in the dark.) I zip around pretty good with that combo.
To expand on what Ryan had said, specifically the Bull Netch in the back is the one from the Fork of Horiplation quest, and beneath Tarhiel on the back row is Juib sticking his head out the imperial prison boat (later to become Saint Juib for driving the Cliff Racers away). I’m going to second what dikelley said about the exclaimation point, that’s the game engine’s placeholder for a missing mesh file. The Dwemer’s chasing Sotha Sil, and between Lord Vivec and M’aiq is playright and equal-opportunity pervert Crassius Curio.