what is TES: Morrowind like?

I just order the anthology edition during black friday, and I want to know a few things about it.

is the game hard? and is the combat durable?

Mods I should get for it?

is the storyline good?

I dont know what you mean by "is the combat durable"

It's harder than Oblivion or Skyrim, with a much larger world. People argue that Morrowind is THE BEST elder scrolls game to date.
I'd recommend getting some graphics mods (haven't played it in awhile), while the story/gameplay is good, it hasn't aged very well.

The storyline is pretty good, although like every other TES, the game is meant for more than just playing the main story. It has a ton of quests.

I'm not sure what you mean by "is the combat durable" but I will say that it isn't like Oblivion or Skyrim. It is much more like RPG combat, than 3rd person action game combat. You will miss, even when you're aiming right at the enemy. It all depends on your skill levels. The game isn't too hard, but it can be a bit challenging depending on what you do.

There is a huge overhaul mod that I would suggest. I think it's just called Morrowind Overhaul. It completely revamps the graphics and a bunch of other stuff.

I enjoyed it the most out of all the ES games. It hasnt aged well though IMO.

The combat and some various mechanics are dated compared to the newer games, but the world is by far the best. There are also some mechanics that were removed/changed in later games, like spell crafting

I think morrowind is complete garbage IMO. oblivion is where its at. skyrim is good

It's by far the best TES game. Has the best writing, most content, most mods, best mods, best main quest, best vanilla gameplay, most customization, most skills, most items and item types, most handcrafted quests, etc. I could go on forever. It's the best and has the most.

It's VERY hard to get into. I've tried twice, and couldn't. The combat at the beginning is abysmal (you can't hit a rat right in front of you).

what skills I should level up? and when I mean if the combat is durable, I mean is it kinda like oblivion but it doesn't seem so.

How can an RPG be hard ?

Thats a paradox

It's like a grandma. She might of been hot in her time but she just hasn't aged very well. But than again some people don't let that stop them and still go in for the kill. So give it a try and maybe you'll get into it.

It was a great game for its time, even with the overhaul mod it has not aged well at all and was tough to get back into. I was thinking of trying Morrowblivion, which is a Morrowind remake with the Oblivion engine. Haven't looked into it much yet.

My personal favorite game of all-time

How can any game be hard?

i played morrowind back in 03 and it was my first elder scrolls game. to me it was a special experience, different from any other game i've played. oblivion and skyrim failed to match that height, perhaps because i was already exposed to the genre by then.

that said, if you first play morrowind in 2013, you might not understand why i liked it so much

as mentioned i would strongly recommend the morrowind graphics overhaul. the best description i have heard of it is "it makes morrowind look like how you remember it" :P.

the combat is also very different from oblivion or skyrim. its all dice rolls happening in the background essentially so just because your sword goes through an enemy doesnt mean you actually hit it. your character skills play a bigger role than in oblivion or skyrim.

also be prepared to read. very little of the text has full voice over.

still a very good game though. the writing is better, there is a sense of culture and history in the game that the newer games lack (though skyrim did do better than oblivion in this regard), the main story is better and there is tons of stuff to do. the game also has no problem punishing you for building a bad character or doing something silly like using a long sword with very few points in longsword...but it doesnt hate you like dark souls does :P.

The combat is nothing like Oblivion's. You have skills for each type of weapon. In the beginning, they're low and you'll miss a lot, even if you're point blank with the enemy. The more you hit, the more the skills increase. Once you get to a decent level you'll be hitting a lot more. The same goes for using a shield. In the beginning, you won't block much, but as you continue to level that skill up you'll begin to block more attacks. As far as the skills, it all depends on what you want to play as.

In comparison to the region of Skyrim and Cyrodiil, the province of Morrowind has a unique landscape. The Dunmer also make this game very interesting as well with the rich Dark Elf culture(although somewhat disturbing). The Elder Scroll prophecy in Morrowind is by far the best in the series(unless you're into thu'ums and dragons). Nervar rising!

But like many have said before, the game itself did not age well. One thing you'll have to remember is that Bethesda did not rely on voice-acting prior to Oblivion and there is a ton of text to read. Some would consider that to be a fault while I just remember many games using text to tell stories. The combat isn't exactly real-time with hit detection, blocking, parries, and dodges. Instead the game relies on your skills and attributes to calculate whether you'll hit a enemy or not. Like some one said above, you can swing at a rat for a minute, and still not hit it.

Do you remember some of the older TES fans complaining about the skills system in Skyrim because it was too streamlined? Once you play Morrowind, you'll understand what they're talking about(or still disagree with them). Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is a skill that needs to be raised. One-handed axe, one-handed sword, and one-handed mace are all separate skills. Athletics allows you to run faster, and acrobatics allows you to jump higher. It is still easy to make hybrid classes but not as accessible in comparison to a game like TESV.

And like many older games the graphics aren't the best anymore. Although there are plenty of mods to change that around and making this game gorgeous! I personally love the story in TESIII and the quest are by far the best. I'll admit that in 2004, I was still a bit frustrated with the combat at first when playing it. But if you love role playing games and TES it is a must play.

The combat will make you want to throw your computer out the window

"Damn this game where I'm spending 10 minutes just trying to kill a mudcrab sure is fun you guys"

I bought it over Summer, and even with the graphics mods the game just feels dated. The stat based combat feels odd in a real time setting, and I could barely hit anything at the beginning. Also there is so much written text, and it just isn't as well written or as interesting to read as games like Planescape or Fallout.

I had no real idea what I was supposed to be doing, and gave up about an hour or so in.

There's a journal that has all of your quests in it. I'm not sure how you got lost only an hour into the game...

@ KHAndAnime

Well I'm no expert but they can start by axing the ridiculous level up system.

@bussinrounds said:

@_SKatEDiRt_ said:

oblivion is where its at

Very funny haha

Be warned, people gloat old games that are simply inferior in every way to newer games. Deus Ex people love to talk about, I tried playing it for my first time last year and it wasn't fun. It didn't age well.

While there is truth to these games not aging well the context in which you put this is absurd. These games were GREAT for their time and I would argue had a lot more substance that today's games do. Graphics, animations, sound, and the presence of voice overs alone are far superior in today's games. What today's game lack is depth, period. Most are linear pieces of crap dumbed down for the masses. Even Skyrim and Oblivion were dumbed down compared to Morrowind, each more than the previous, but wow they have voice overs and look great.

Morrowind is a great experience as long as you can understand its limitations due to the time it was made. If it were made exactly the same today but with modern features mentioned it would be the best RPG ever imo.

Who cares if they were great for their time? I want a game that's fun, not have broken outdated mechanics.

Later 2D games luckily don't have this issue.

There is nothing broken or outdated about Morrowind's mechanics. Yeah, the graphics are outdated, but that's not the game mechanics and can be updated with some mods.

Pen and paper rules aren't outdated

What I meant was that there are still games that use stat-based combat like Morrowind, they just tend to be turn based. Outdated usually means that a better way to do it has been found, but I don't think that's the case here. Sure, different combat systems have become much more popular, but nothing can really replace what Morrowind was trying to do, which was a real-time stat based combat system. The system would still work well in a modern game and there is very little they could do to improve it without completely changing it to a different system like Skyrim.

I also just got the TES anthology, where is the best place to download the updated graphics mod for Morrowind?

Morrowind is actually what got me to buy this, I have Skyrim for PS3, but wanted to be able to go back and play Morrowind and Oblivion, also interested in the Mods for all the games.

I loved it while I played it! :)

You must be a nugamer because I first played Deus Ex only a few years before that and found it to be one of the best games of all time. Must be unfortunate to be accustomed to the instant gratification that only newer games provide ;) Deus Ex has superb gameplay mechanics and writing, far superior to the games in the series that succeed it, so whatever inferiority you must be talking about must be due to the lack of streamlining found in newer games.

well there's a morrowind mod for skyrim, maybe I'll give that a try

It's a waste of time. You need the real thing. Morrowind with mods competes with Oblivion's graphics (with mods) anyways.

I actuall played Morrowind many years ago, no seriously I did. And man it was the most impractical, complicated game I've ever played, it was like a midevil GTA for geeks.

yes but the what people saying about the combat is kinda putting me off.

The combat is fine. It's absolutely no different than any other (real) RPG out there - you click, it rolls an invisible to dice, and then it decides your damage. But it happens in real time. People who complain about the combat make a class that specializes in one weapon, then they use a weapon they don't specialize in and are dumbfounded when they can't hit anything - and then hate the game based on that. Oblivion and Skyrim is just lolspam. It's no better in those games.

That's your prerogative, but to say we "gloat" games that are simply inferior is a simpleton statement and it completely not true. Just because you don't enjoy them does not make them "inferior in every way" to newer games. You have to be a pretty shallow dude to say such a thing.

It's pretty blatant which games have the inferior RPG mechanics and RPG content, and we are talking about RPG games, aren't we?...

But who am I to judge someone who wants their RPGs to be an action game and nothing but.

This is of course subjective, but Morrowind remains my favorite game of all time. It's a beautiful fantasy world that is very deep and fun to explore. Compared to Oblivion and Skyrim, it's deeper, allows for more involved role-playing, and less forgiving. It also allows for a great deal more in the way of player choice. However, if you didn't grow up playing games with more overt reliance on D&D rules, Morrowind may feel like it has a steep learning curve. Your attacks do not always hit, but instead have a chance of hitting and doing a range of damage based on your skills and attributes, along with luck. This can be very frustrating for new players, but if you come to realize that being low level SHOULD feel like you're bad at life, I think you'll enjoy it.

Starting out being bad at everything makes it a lot more rewarding when you improve.

Also, the art design and music are amazing.