Back to Morrowind, once more.

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

My relationship with Morrowind is truly a curious one. I bought the game
and both expansions when they came out. I even bought a new computer
chiefly because of Morrowind back in summer of 2002. While the game
really offers everything I expect from a SP title (particularly the
flexible skill system), I never really managed to get into the game,
even though I tried a number of times. Normally, I would have banned a
game that fails to attract me on the shelf, but this one keeps making me
want to give it yet another chance.

Now, since I have no other RPGs to play, and with Oblivion hopefully
coming out next year (right in time for a massive hardware upgrade),
I've decided to give Morrowind another try. I spent some time
downloading various mods to "fix" some aspects that I always considered
lacking: the incredibly ugly NPC faces, the boring sound, the too
simplistic archer equipment, the too limited thieving/bardic skill(s),
and finally the absence of real crafting skills. I was delighted to find
player-created mods for all of these issues -- so, I pulled my feline
thief/bard out of the box and have spent the evening playing. The game
in this "enhanced" version is much better. There are more mods that I
was tempted to install, but I didn't want to overdo it.

I still wonder about this game and why it didn't "grab" me immediately,
yet keeps motivating me to give it another go. The open-ended design,
with its almost MMPORPG-like touch (it's the only SP game that seems to
offer it), is very much like what I had always hoped for, yet I ended up
playing NWN much more frequently, even though the latter is far more
restrictive and less compatible with my ideas of a perfect RPG. I think
the main problem was that while Morrowind offered a real world, it
lacked a sense of being "alive". The mods I installed fix this to some
degree.

And I hope that Oblivion will learn from Morrowind's shortcomings, as
subjective as they may be.

M.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

Michael Vondung wrote:
> And I hope that Oblivion will learn from Morrowind's shortcomings, as
> subjective as they may be.
>
> M.

Well, let us know how it turns out, and whether therapy sessions, etc. are
required or not.

--
chainbreaker

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

Michael Vondung wrote:
> My relationship with Morrowind is truly a curious one. I bought the game
> and both expansions when they came out. I even bought a new computer
> chiefly because of Morrowind back in summer of 2002. While the game
> really offers everything I expect from a SP title (particularly the
> flexible skill system), I never really managed to get into the game,
> even though I tried a number of times. Normally, I would have banned a
> game that fails to attract me on the shelf, but this one keeps making me
> want to give it yet another chance.
>
> Now, since I have no other RPGs to play, and with Oblivion hopefully
> coming out next year (right in time for a massive hardware upgrade),
> I've decided to give Morrowind another try. I spent some time
> downloading various mods to "fix" some aspects that I always considered
> lacking: the incredibly ugly NPC faces, the boring sound, the too
> simplistic archer equipment, the too limited thieving/bardic skill(s),
> and finally the absence of real crafting skills. I was delighted to find
> player-created mods for all of these issues -- so, I pulled my feline
> thief/bard out of the box and have spent the evening playing. The game
> in this "enhanced" version is much better. There are more mods that I
> was tempted to install, but I didn't want to overdo it.
>
> I still wonder about this game and why it didn't "grab" me immediately,
> yet keeps motivating me to give it another go. The open-ended design,
> with its almost MMPORPG-like touch (it's the only SP game that seems to
> offer it), is very much like what I had always hoped for, yet I ended up
> playing NWN much more frequently, even though the latter is far more
> restrictive and less compatible with my ideas of a perfect RPG. I think
> the main problem was that while Morrowind offered a real world, it
> lacked a sense of being "alive". The mods I installed fix this to some
> degree.
>
> And I hope that Oblivion will learn from Morrowind's shortcomings, as
> subjective as they may be.
>
> M.

Indeed, Morrowind takes my breath away every time I play it, naturally
there are things that I wish could be done, e.g. the well over stated
desire to play co-op with friends (I tried to get my hands on the NIF
file structure for reasons close to this ) in fact on some occasions
I wish I could move to Vvardenfell, I was recently able to appreciate it
more as I got a Radeon 9800 Pro that supports Pixel Shading so I can
see the cool water effects, another thing is I wish I had Surround sound
speakers, tried it at my friends house with surround sound and you can
hear where the people walking, *Swoon* now all they need to do is create
a version that supports full VR so we can totally forget about real life

~Cameron

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

Cameron wrote:
> Michael Vondung wrote:
>
>> My relationship with Morrowind is truly a curious one. I bought the
>> game and both expansions when they came out. I even bought a new
>> computer chiefly because of Morrowind back in summer of 2002. While
>> the game really offers everything I expect from a SP title
>> (particularly the flexible skill system), I never really managed to
>> get into the game, even though I tried a number of times. Normally, I
>> would have banned a game that fails to attract me on the shelf, but
>> this one keeps making me want to give it yet another chance.
>>
>> Now, since I have no other RPGs to play, and with Oblivion hopefully
>> coming out next year (right in time for a massive hardware upgrade),
>> I've decided to give Morrowind another try. I spent some time
>> downloading various mods to "fix" some aspects that I always
>> considered lacking: the incredibly ugly NPC faces, the boring sound,
>> the too simplistic archer equipment, the too limited thieving/bardic
>> skill(s), and finally the absence of real crafting skills. I was
>> delighted to find player-created mods for all of these issues -- so, I
>> pulled my feline thief/bard out of the box and have spent the evening
>> playing. The game in this "enhanced" version is much better. There are
>> more mods that I was tempted to install, but I didn't want to overdo it.
>>
>> I still wonder about this game and why it didn't "grab" me
>> immediately, yet keeps motivating me to give it another go. The
>> open-ended design, with its almost MMPORPG-like touch (it's the only
>> SP game that seems to offer it), is very much like what I had always
>> hoped for, yet I ended up playing NWN much more frequently, even
>> though the latter is far more restrictive and less compatible with my
>> ideas of a perfect RPG. I think the main problem was that while
>> Morrowind offered a real world, it lacked a sense of being "alive".
>> The mods I installed fix this to some degree.
>>
>> And I hope that Oblivion will learn from Morrowind's shortcomings, as
>> subjective as they may be.
>>
>> M.
>
>
> Indeed, Morrowind takes my breath away every time I play it, naturally
> there are things that I wish could be done, e.g. the well over stated
> desire to play co-op with friends (I tried to get my hands on the NIF
> file structure for reasons close to this ) in fact on some occasions
> I wish I could move to Vvardenfell, I was recently able to appreciate it
> more as I got a Radeon 9800 Pro that supports Pixel Shading so I can
> see the cool water effects, another thing is I wish I had Surround sound
> speakers, tried it at my friends house with surround sound and you can
> hear where the people walking, *Swoon* now all they need to do is create
> a version that supports full VR so we can totally forget about real life
>
> ~Cameron
Already at the last part. Buy some VR glasses, and supposedly you see
everything in out-at-you 3D. Haven't tried them myself, of course, as
they're kinda expensive.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

chainbreaker wrote:

> Well, let us know how it turns out, and whether therapy sessions, etc. are
> required or not.

Ah, see, my expectations to a "perfect" SP RPG are heavily tainted by my
1997 Ultima Online experiences. I have a good idea of what I want (a
skill system that is based on what the character actually does), but I
realise that this isn't necessarily what the mainstream audience wants
from a game.

M.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

Michael Vondung wrote:
> chainbreaker wrote:
>
>> Well, let us know how it turns out, and whether therapy sessions,
>> etc. are required or not.
>
> Ah, see, my expectations to a "perfect" SP RPG are heavily tainted by
> my 1997 Ultima Online experiences. I have a good idea of what I want
> (a skill system that is based on what the character actually does), but I
> realise that this isn't necessarily what the mainstream audience wants
> from a game.
>
> M.


My total MW playing time probably totals less than 6 hours. I know that's
probably not enough time to really give it a fair shake, but if a game's not
grabbed me by then I doubt that it's going to.

Heh, even Sacred did more for me than MW ever has.

Seriously, if you manage as much as 20 hours or so in it, I'd really like a
recap of mods, if any, you used and the character, in-game travels, etc.

Maybe I was just going about it the wrong way, lol.

--
chainbreaker

If you need to email, then chainbreaker (naturally) at comcast dot
net--that's "net" not "com"--should do it.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 00:37:32 +0200, Michael Vondung <mvondung@gmail.com>
wrote:

> [...] I have a good idea of what I want (a skill system that is based on
> what the character actually does), [...]

You can have that in Morrowind. Just install the levelling mod
http://www.thelys.org/mods.php?a=Balor#Levelling
and your character will become much more specialized.
Thanks to Peter Strempel for the tip.

Bjoern

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

chainbreaker wrote:

> Seriously, if you manage as much as 20 hours or so in it, I'd really like a
> recap of mods, if any, you used and the character, in-game travels, etc.

Five down, fifteen to go! It actually pulls me a bit right now, but I
have to finish some work.

> Maybe I was just going about it the wrong way, lol.

I think my earlier mistake was that I tried to play it like D2, wanting
action and thrill over adventure and story. This time around I thought
about my character, wrote down a few notes concerning his ambitions, and
what I would like him to be able to do eventually. He's a kitty, and my
goal for him is to live the life of a carefree, bardic individual who
travels as lightly as possible, and is as independent of "stuff" as
possible (ideally he'll just run around with an enchanted bow and some
potions). But well, so far he's a packrat, wearing mismatched armour and
picking up whatever he finds (actually doing some deep-sea diving for
pearls). I see this as his training phase, before he later specialises,
though he may change his mind later on, depending on what awaits him in
the world. I guess you could say that I really roleplay him (ignore the
fact that I make notes about skill increases to calculate the
muliplayers at next level-up ), and at least for me that's the only
way to enjoy the game. It doesn't offer enough in the way of action.
(Not up to level 10 anyway, never played longer than that.)

M.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

Bjoern Liffers wrote:

> You can have that in Morrowind. Just install the levelling mod
> http://www.thelys.org/mods.php?a=Balor#Levelling
> and your character will become much more specialized.

Yes, this mod is quite excellent, I played one char until ~level 30 with
it, which was pretty interesting. Unfortunately it's quite incompatible
with other mods that temporary fiddle with stats.

other mod temporary lowers stat for whatever reason
skill increase kicks in -> levelmod raises stat
other mod effect expires -> stat back to value before the skill increase

Probably too much of: set oldskill to getstrength / setstrength to
something_else / setstrength to oldskill


Peter

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

Michael Vondung <mvondung@gmail.com> wrote in message news:<2t017bF1q8hmgU1@uni-berlin.de>...
> My relationship with Morrowind is truly a curious one. I bought the game
> and both expansions when they came out. I even bought a new computer
> chiefly because of Morrowind back in summer of 2002. While the game
> really offers everything I expect from a SP title (particularly the
> flexible skill system), I never really managed to get into the game,
> even though I tried a number of times. Normally, I would have banned a
> game that fails to attract me on the shelf, but this one keeps making me
> want to give it yet another chance.
>

This is my experience also. I played all the Elder Scrolls games,
Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind. Technology advances aside, each game
had certain desireable aspects that were lost in the next sequel. I
felt that Daggerfall was the most frustrating game of the series,
mainly due to the dreaded "X-engine" and the sheer size of everything,
just to be huge. But also Daggerfall, suffered from many perplexing
inconsistancies. How could they get so many things right, and make so
many seemingly dumb choices, like those immense dungeons? Rats,
carrying photos of their mothers? That crazy horse that climbed up
walls with you and looked up at the sky when you did? Rain inside of
stores? Transporting guards that arrested you for looking at a flower
in your room? etc, etc.

But, all that aside, of the three games, I found Daggerfall to be, by
far, the most compelling of the three games. I really got into my role
in that game and played DF twice through, once as a mage and once as a
vampire only to quit when the quest apparently timed out and there
wasn't anything to do.

To me, Morrowind is technically incredible and nearly perfect in the
execution of the user interface. It tries to offer all the aspects
that I could want in a single-player RPG. I agree that the character
artwork is awful, but the extensibility built into the game has
allowed others to fix that and many other things.

BUT... the story line of MW leaves me cold. I just can't get into
politics and trade agreements. Its way too obscure and complicated --
too much like reality! Kind of reminds me of the premise behind Star
Wars episode I. I just don't feel motivated to accomplish anything
for the ruling factions in the Morrowind world. There also don't seem
to be any great advantages to joining any particular faction or guild.
And like most RPG's it's nearly impossible to complete the game
without magic. I played MW once through, largely ignoring the story
and after a long hiatus, have come back to it with another character.
The most compelling thing for me in MW was exploring the unique areas
and tracking down rumors.

There's just something *sterile* about the Morrowind world. I can't
quite put my finger on it, maybe it's the boring storyline, all I know
is that I have a hard time getting into that game the way I got into
Daggerfall. But I'm trying hard to get back into the game. There
just isn't anything else out there right now. And I have absolutely
no use for online gaming, although a co-op MW experience might be kind
of cool.

I didn't like Tribunal at all...politics again. I found Bloodmoon to
be more interesting. But the difficulty levels in those places
apparently do not scale and I found you can't activate them until the
main quest is done, or those pesky assassins will get you every time.