Sunday 12 January 2003

Pic of the day: Ready to take the plunge? Screenshot from Morrowind. (Taken by night.)

Morrowind improved

I'm humming the Morrowind theme at work, so I guess it is time for another blue entry. Yes, surprisingly it's about Morrowind rather than DAoC, though this may change in the near future since the expansion pack is in the mail. (My friend "Skyknyt" sent it to me, in exchange for a cool strategic adventure game made in Europe.) In contrast, I have had the expansion pack for Morrowind for a while. Tribunal, it is called.

Morrowind, if you must know it, was declared RPG of the Year 2002 by pretty much all who had opinions on such. Some would even say Game of the Year, for both PC and Xbox. It is the third in a series of games called "The Elder Scrolls". The first two had a cult following among core RPG fans, who loved the immense game world and the freedom to create very different characters. Unlike most games at the time, there was no handholding from the creators. You were the captain of your fate. It was more a gaming environment than a traditional game, although there was a main quest you could follow if you wanted to. Sadly both of the games were wounded by their own ambition: The sheer size made them monotonous and repetitive, with one village or town looking much like the other, only with the houses placed sometimes to the east and sometimes to the north. (Not that real life is much better in this respect; but then again you don't pay to be born here.) Finally, the sheer freedom to so the unthinkable meant that customers did much of the bug testing. This did not go down well with the mass market.

Morrowind is smaller in terms of pure geography ... a county rather than a country. But every stone and every hovel is handcrafted and placed there by dedicated game developers. That is not to say that we are back with a scripted game, in which you are expected to do the right things in the right order. It is not really possible to write a walkthrough for Morrowind. There are some goals to meet in the end, but mostly you have to live a game life that prepares you for that end. You have to grow strong in battle or in magic or in stealth, though often a problem can be solved either by diplomacy or by brute force. Your path through Morrowind life is long and winding, but in the end you need to rise above the common, to challenge the gods themselves. Sort of. It's all about character building, and having fun while doing it.

***

When I say the game is small in comparison, don't make the mistake to think that it is anything like Baldur's Gate or Ultima IX. There are hundreds of unique characters, as well as guards. Some say there are 3000 people on the island, certainly there must be more than 1000. And now there are even more. The expansion pack, Tribunal, has added yet another large city, complete with dungeon sewers, as well as some other territories. There are new monsters, but also possible allies. Like the other two games, Morrowind is about 1 character, not a group. You can still see through that character's eyes like in the first two games, but you also now have the option of watching their deformed backside. (You'd think when you get a posterior camera, they would take the time to make good-looking backsides. But the player characters are all ugly and their butts are misshapen lumps. Or perhaps I'm just spoiled.) Anyway, as I was saying, you're still on your own; but now you can actually hire a bodyguard. (There was already a couple plug-ins to this purpose, made by fans. But this is a more reliable and better- integrated approach.)

Along with the added areas and their denizens, Bethesda Softworks has also added a few features to the regular game. Some of these were available as patches already, such as an opponent health bar to let you see how you are doing in a fight. But the journal system has been completely revamped, and it certainly needed it. You can now group journal entries by the quest they belong to, so you can easily keep many quests going at the same time and not get confused. The journal is already written with hyperlinks, so ask all people about everything (except people standing along the road, some of them may be looking for trouble). The journal will sort it all into place for you. The more you ask around, the more sense your journal will make. Umm, that's the game journal, not online journal. They never make sense, do they?

Some say you ought to buy the add-on just for the journal. I disagree. I think you should first buy the original game, then download the last patch ... there were no show stopper bugs but they added several nice small features ... then play for a long time before you buy the expansion pack. You won't run out of places to explore on the original island for a few weeks at the very least. Also the new areas are mostly for high level characters. But worse yet, the expanded part of the game introduces itself very violently. After installing Tribunal, the next time you sleep you risk being attacked by an assassin, and a pretty competent one. For each hour of sleep there is a greater chance of being attacked. Sadly this also applies if you create a brand new character. New characters in Morrowind tend to be rather weak and helpless, having trouble enough with a rat. To meet a well armed assassin with a magic weapon is not good for your health. (You may try to sleep in houses and run out, if you cannot defeat them. Or just don't sleep much until you are prepared ...)

To be honest, I haven't explored the new area more than a cursory visit. To be completely honest, I haven't even explored all of the original game area. But the game is quite enjoyable, and Tribunal is a good excuse for returning to it. If you feel that you have seen everything in Morrowind, it is highly recommended. If you feel you have a good grasp of the game, it is moderately recommended. Just don't install it before you play Morrowind the first time.