Great Game in it's Day, Still A Great Game Now, Some Things Never Change. This Game Passes The Test of Time.
There are good graphics (for how old it is, mostly the npc models suffer, the landscape and so on are very nice but there are mods that can bring Morrowind's graphics up with that of Oblivion, but I'm content to play it old school ;) ), good voice acting, very nice music, so you don't mind walking/swimming some, another thing you have to do is read, they changed that in Oblivion where the npc's spoke their dialogue, whereas the npc's largely have printed dialogue in Morrowind, but will speak some.
Many people have mentioned feeling abandoned, and overwhelmed by the beginning of the story, after you get off the boat/ship whatever and get your papers (and pick your class/character set up), they turn you loose and many people feel like they don't know what to do and feel overwhelmed in such a big world on their own. Well, I'm sorry for them, but I guess how you feel depends on your personality and the types of games you're used to playing. I was pleased to be on my own and free to do as I choose, isn't that the appeal of an open world rpg? You don't have to start the main story, and the map is completely open to you- you're free to play as you wish, which can be different on various playthroughs. If you're comfortable with single player, rpg's and don't need hand-holding and can think for yourself, you'll be just fine in Morrowind. Just remember, it's not linear, it's an open-world rpg, so explore, level up, make some money, learn the people, the town, do a few odd jobs, join a guild, start your main objective if you like or just keep exploring and leveling, it's your choice.
Let's move on, if you kill a character necessary for the main quest to play out, a message will pop up on the screen and tell you that you've done that and that you can either load a save or continue in this world. You can save and the game also auto saves, and quick save is available.
This game is still in stores and cheap- $19.99 for the GOTY, runs best on XP, but I can play Morrowind on Vista, but me and others have problems with the expansions (Bloodmoon and Tribunal) on Vista. Some people say they are able to run the expansions on Vista, but it's kind of a 50/50 risk. (*Update, I am able to run this game/all expansions on my new Win7-64, you just have to change compatibility mode to XP SP3). Still worth a buy if you're like me and many others and have both a Vista and an XP computer still around. It can run on an older, weak computer, it's not a demanding game for PC's, it's such an old game.
O.K. you can't talk about Elder Scrolls/PC and not mention the mods! There are an insane amount of mods out there for this game (and Oblivion). You can check them out at Planet Elder Scrolls (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/ ). As the name suggests it includes all Elder Scrolls games -each game will have it's own section and you can browse mods for Morrowind/Oblivion. Just go there & look for yourself, there are so many to choose from, I couldn't possibly hit all the high notes. Gaming on PC, it's really the ultimate experience, mods extend the life of games, there's always more (free) content, doesn't let the game get old, no offense to my console friends, but, if you're playing an rpg especially on anything but a PC, you're only getting half the game, at best.
Your character can extend into Bloodmoon/Tribunal quests (and they're a nice change of pace), Bloodmoon especially is different and enjoyable. In Tribunal you end up meeting a couple of important in game characters but let's just say that's a loaded statement and leave it at that to not spoil it for you. Anyhow, I highly recommend this game for anyone considering TES3 GOTY, such an awesome game, many people even prefer it over TES4, and if you're a typical Elder Scrolls fan, you can never get enough of it (Elder Scrolls), and since a 5th one has been denied within Bethesda (let's hope they change their minds!) you need to get it while you can, it will enrich your game collection and be one of the brightest stars in it. Any rpg lover will love this game as well.
**EDIT** Yes, they did change their minds it seems as Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim is due to release on November 11, 2011. I am cautiously watching the information. Morrowind was ace, then Oblivion comes along, weaker main story, they change a few things, (like in Morrowind, you have long blade, short blade, etc. in Oblivion, you just have blade, I hate streamlining in this type of game where details are what it's all about) now they've mentioned removing skills in Skyrim- like acrobatics and athletics. It's only May, no telling what else we'll hear by November, but I am already not pleased with the continuing progression of streamling (some say consolization) of games that are meant to have detail!