11. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition || Xbox || 10.01.22
Having been mildly interested in The Elder Scrolls franchise for years, I before did not want to undertake a RPG with a scope of its size. Nevertheless, after a long time, I finally decided to try the series from somewhere, and I began with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
With the little I know about The Elder Scrolls franchise, Morrowind seems to begin just as other games (at least its successors) in that the player-character is declared the world's hero related to their heritage who must stop some force of evil. The plot isn't original by any means, but the world crafted around telling the story through story progression and simple exploration is exemplary. NPCs recall historical events or relay oral stories passed throughout time, and the information remains consistent across all corners of the game's world. Additionally, written materials further develop any history, which can be impressively depth. I opted to read little of such written material, as my long playthrough would have otherwise been much more so.
I learned that, in addition to the game's natural story, over 400 sidequests are available for the player to discover and accomplish. Morrowind provides a decent amount of player independence, but I think that my impression of this aspect is marred by time. Compared to modern games, there was not a lot of player guidance for the player to rely on, if needed, which can be a positive aspect to some, and negative for others. The player will be instructed to reach a destination or to fulfill a task, and the goal seems fairly straightforward. However, not all quest details can be fully recounted when trying to revisit information, which is an aspect I grew to dislike more and more. On the other hand, there are many instances where the player is given perfect directions for how to reach their goal. There may not be way markers or compass system, but such detailed instruction only requires either remembering or documenting. It is difficult to say whether the player is given more independence or dependence, but there is some balance of both.
Throughout the main quest, dozens of dungeons exist for the player to discover. Some were certainly personalized, but many also felt trivial and cut-and-paste. Originally, I wanted to actually explore all throughout the game's world and finish each of these areas, but that goal felt less and less important as the story was reaching its end. Truthfully, exploration is not that enjoyable, as there almost always seems to be flying enemies named Cliff Racers in the vicinity to target the player from overhead. They are easily the most annoying enemy in the game and even probably the most annoying in any open-world game I've played. Even disregarding that aspect, the Xbox port does not offer a mini-map, which results in the player frequently pausing to open the menu map.
With 20 years of UX design in mind, obviously Morrowind has aged poorly but is something to expect. Still, the one aspect I would have loved to have been given better attention to is the player's Journal. The Journal keeps track of every game event, big or small. However, even in spite of its keyword tag system, it is very easy to lose track of what the player experiences simply due to the sheer amount of events happening. I resorted to taking photos or writing notes of my own, such as which page of the Journal an active quest was last updated, to help counteract the problem. Similarly, inventory management was another issue I'll briefly mention. There is a tab system that separates types of items, but it felt more of a hassle to utilize than not. In the spell menu, the player's dozens (hundreds, possibly) of spells, enchanted items, and magic scrolls are listed, but only one of these can be active at a time. There is a out-of-menu shortcut to cycle through these items, but it is not ideal and easy to cycle through what you're actually wanting to use.
Another major negative aspect lies in the game's combat. For a long time throughout the beginning hours, many of my attacks would not connect. In this regard, combat feels very one-sided against the player. Something else to mention is the game's use of magic. Magic attacks do not indicate to the player when the attack is successful in addition to not indicating how much damage has been inflicted. For these reasons, I almost never performed offensive magic. Early on, the game's fatigue system also makes early-game combat difficult, but it is an afterthought later on. Unfortunately, the fatigue meter depletes extremely quickly while replenishing slowly. Fatigue dictates every player action: attacks, spells, lockpicking, sneaking, bartering, persuasion—everything.
With this in mind, the endgame was incredibly anticlimactic. At the time of when I actually made my way to defeat the end boss, my character's stats were nearly maxed. While equipped with a good weapon, I was able to defeat the end boss in only two attacks. At first, I wasn't sure if they had teleported elsewhere or the game had glitched, but it turned out to be that they were really just a pushover. The biggest issue regarding this aspect relates in how combat can be when encountering average field enemies. There were many times even in the final hours of my playthrough did a simple rat enemy require three attacks to kill with an average weapon. Such damage discrepancy is an issue which I believe works negatively toward maintaining a sense of player immersion.
Apart from my opinion on Morrowind's design choices, the game also has a fair share of glitches. None of these aspects were too terrible, although I did experience maybe 4 or 5 crashes. Other lesser glitches include audio issues that may occur as it's raining and NPC movement. At some point throughout my time playing, a boat guide I regularly frequented had died after falling in the water somehow, which forced me to utilize quick travel means elsewhere. It is also very common for NPCs to block doorways which usually requires jumping over them to hopefully pass them.
Games like Morrowind which are massive and are known to have set industry milestones during its release are prone to being outdated years later. Still, it maintains the high expectations that fans loved then and continue to love all this time later. With that said, I enjoyed my playthrough. I certainly have more negative remarks to report than positive ones, but that shouldn't sway anyone to believe I didn't enjoy my time playing. Morrowind is a great game, and it was a fantastic introduction to the series. I am interested in continuing forward with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but I would like to wait a considerable amount of time before doing so.
