So, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind is out. Following in the footsteps of TES: Arena and TES: Daggerfall was never thought to be an easy task. According to some, the epic, single-player-only, first person RPG is dead. As a stone. Has Bethesda done the impossible in this multi-player focused day and age, and not only created an RPG that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls legacy, but which can also capture modern gamers now used to constant action? Not really, but bear in mind, I did said it was impossible. The game is immersive, if you have the attention span for it. It's not a game with action at every corner. In fact, later in the game, the small monsters spread all around the world, especially the flying cliffracers, become a nuisance. And it is entirely possible to play through the game without killing each and every creature you see. Because, like Daggerfall, this game isn't based around the classic concept of "experience points" gotten for killing things. If you use a skill, it increases. If that certain skill is one that is important to your "character class", you will after a certain number of increases gain a level. "Character class" is arbitrary here, because your class is defined by the skills you choose, and which attributes are important to you. You have five minor skills, and five major skills. This makes up for ten skill slots, and you have 27 to choose from, each and every one of which is useful in the game. As should be obvious, choosing ten out of these 27 isn't easy. Also, you choose two (out of eight) attributes that are important to your character class, which you get a boost in at the start of the game. There are a lot of pre-made classes available, but there’s also the option of creating your own custom class. All this makes for an immersive, but often long-winded character creation. Luckily, Bethesdas in-game character creation system that is also a tutorial on how to play making the process more interesting, and less like "work". What race you choose is also important regarding gameplay. There are ten races, which vary widely in skill boosts, starting ability scores, special powers, and looks. In addition, when you talk to other people in the land of Morrowind, they will like you a little better if you’re of the same race and vice versa if you’re not. Also, some NPCs have specific reactions to specific races, which can be fun if you know some of the history (and sometimes even physiology) towards the different races. Yes, this world is deep and involved. It has history, and it even has different accounts of the same historic events (much like in what we call the real world). Some of these accounts can be found in all the different books spread about the island of Vvardenfell. Books can give skill boosts, and most of them are definitively worth reading. They often have a humorous ending, and often with an unexpected twist. Books can naturally also give clues to hidden treasure, plots, or quests. Quests are central to the game. It is through quests you progress in the main storyline, and through the guilds. Quests given by common people can prove to have connections to other quests, or just to be an unrelated little story with a reward at the end. Also, you can choose not to perform quest in their original manner. Like if someone asks you to bring some wares to a merchant, you can run away and sell the wares somewhere else if you want to. This will sometimes give a more substantial reward than actually completing the quest, and sometimes not. There are multiple ways of solving most quests, even though the quest giver often points to only one. Some quests have different outcomes depending on how you solve them. Every single NPC in the game is killable. There are some NPCs whose death will render the game unwinnable, but you will get a warning before actually committing the act in these cases. They are pretty rare, and Bethesda has stated that with one exception, you can still win the game after killing a "story-central" NPC, it will only get really really hard. Not that the game is easy. There are numerous challenges awaiting in the nooks and crannies of Vvardenfell. Some people do think the game is easy, which could be true, if you know exactly what numbers to tweak for making the perfect combat machine. For instance, for such a fighting character, combat is always easy. But getting hold of well-protected items might still prove to be difficult, whereas a character specialising in thieving would have a comparatively easy time getting hold of it. And a character specialising in talking would find that far fewer situations requires combat. The morale: specialise, and you become good at what you do. Makes sense? Yeah, I thought so too. One major point about this game is that it's big. It's huge. I've seen questions like "how long does it take to walk from one end of the gameworld to the other?". That's a very hard question to answer, as it depends on your character - the character's speed, athletics skill, and how much stuff the character is carrying. Also, it depends on whether you walk east-west or north-south. And what mountains are in the way. The short answer is that there is no short answer, and that you'd grow way frustrated on the way, because you'd be sure to pass by dozens of cave entrances, small camps, and other interesting places. Not to mention meeting a horde of cliffracers, some cute scribs, and some not-so-cute rats. The world is filled with creatures, and here's my first complaint. There are too many cliffracers. After you've progressed a little in combat abilities, they become nothing more than an annoyance. An annoyance that is not easily ignored, since they fly faster than you run, and they sometimes carry diseases. So, even if you could handle the damage they deal, you would want to kill them ASAP, because diseases are B.A.D. One rather uncommon disease that's included in the game is vampirism. Vampires on Tamriel (the continent where the province Morrowind, and thus the island Vvardenfell is located) aren't like "traditional" vampires, considering they don't need to drain their victim of blood to spread their condition, they merely carry the disease "vampirism" on their skin, in their saliva, in every pore. So each time you're hit by one there's a chance that you will get infected. And yes, there are quests when you're a vampire. There are difficulties and there are positive aspects. You can't finish the main quest, since no one will talk to you - vampires on Vvardenfell are unable to pass as human. You can, however, do quite well for yourself within vampire ranks, and you get a significant boost to your abilities. Other things that boost your abilities in the game are potions and spells. Spells, you learn to cast either by buying them or buying spell effects. You can then use these effects to create your own spells out of the effects you already know. Potions are a different matter. They are mixed from ingredients found in the gameworld. Bushes, flowers, animals, minerals - these can all be ingredients in potions. Ingredients have up to four effects, and you make potions by mixing ingredients with similar effects. The finished potion is much more effective than the ingredients by themselves (Why does this suddenly feel like a cooking show?). Also, equipment helps you make good potions, as well as a good Alchemy skill. The alchemy skill also helps you see what effects different plants and other ingredients have on you when consumed, thus increases the chance that ingredients will have an effect on you simply from eating it. There are, of course, other spells as well besides those that boost your abilities. Bethesda has stated that there are over 200 pre-made spells in the game, and you can make an almost infinite amount of new ones. You can make your own enchanted items too. However, if you decide to delve into the esoteric mysteries of the Elder Scrolls Construction Set, there is almost no limit to what you can make. The construction set is the very same software the developers of the game used to create all the content in the game. When you change something in the game world, add something or delete something, the changes are saved to a plugin file which can be distributed to your friends, or on the internet. Thus, the game is constantly growing, changing, and you can at any time change to whatever plugin you want to. None of them will permanently "ruin" your game, as you can decide not to load them the next time you play, and your savegames will still be valid (even if you saved in a dungeon which now does not exist any more because you removed it). These plugins are exceedingly small. A plugin with a house for the player, containing lots of shelves, candles, a bed, dressers, tapestries, and more, took only 23 kilobytes. This is because plugins nominally use the artwork from the game, and all that needs to be saved is the position of the objects. Of course, you can make your own artwork as well, but you'll have to include it with your own plugin if you want to distribute it. The story the developers have built is epic, captivating, and interesting. I won't say much about it, since it would spoil the game for many, but this at least is common knowledge: There is a blight upon the land of Vvardenfell. This blight is a disease, with many strains, that disfigures people and creatures it infects. It has other effects, as well. The rest you have to discover for yourself. The story, and the world, does in no way resemble AD&D or any other game system I am aware of. Sure, there are elves, but they are different. There is no "good" and "evil", only different morals all around. The different cultures, and thus different races, of Morrowind have different ideas about what is right and what is wrong. The game's over 3000 NPCs do feel a little generic; none of them are mere place markers though, and many of them have unique personalities to make conversation more fun. Talking is accomplished with a "hyperlink" system. You click on subjects to acquire more information, and sometimes this also leads to the NPC asking if you would like to take on a quest. Your characters speechcraft skill and personality score, along with any faction allegiances, decide how much the person likes you, and thus how much information that NPC is willing to share with you. Faction allegiances can work both ways, if you're a member of the same faction as the NPC, the NPC will like you better, but if you are a member of an opposing or competing faction, the NPC will, naturally, be less willing to share information. This system is simple, elegant and effective. Graphically, the game is a treat! Locations are varied, as are creatures. There are almost no "cookie cutter fantasy CRPG creatures" (the rat being the only exception) and all the creatures behave believably. The dumb creatures are truly dumb, while the smarter creatures tend to use sound tactics. NPCs vary too, but over a narrower scale. Still they use some surprising tactics at times. For instance, an NPC I was fighting (the NPC used a warhammer) suddenly decided to holster his warhammer and administer a few hand-to-hand punches. Hand-to-hand lowers an opponents fatigue, so these are sound tactics that can make an enemy fall prone and lay helpless. The NPCs, by the way, look great - individual pieces of armour can be worn, and are visible on the character model. If you kill that character, you can pick up the armour. The same goes for clothing and weapons. Weapons in the game are varied, as are armours. You have several different materials, each with advantages and disadvantages. Heavy armour is heavy (obviously), and thus you move slowly wearing it. Still, it offers better protection than light or medium armour. Long blades are slower than short blades, but deal more damage per hit. Blades are not the only weapon type; you have axes, staffs, clubs, spears, halberds, bows, crossbows, throwing daggers, and more. All in all a very varied selection of weapons, and armour, is present in the world of Morrowind. The weapons also come in different materials. A steel longsword is obviously better than an iron one, and there are a number of fantastic materials in addition to the classical ones. Ebony, glass, daedric, orcish, nordic, and more. The sound in the game is great. Especially the music, created by acclaimed composer Jeremy Soule. The music changes according to the situation, with enough different "battle themes" so as not to become tedious whenever you go into battle, and without being so pronounced that all you notice is the music. The voices are done very well, but the greetings everyone throw your way becomes repetitive after a while (thus the not-quite-so-high score in this department). With all its good points and its few bad points, the thing that impresses me most about Morrowind is its scope. It's huge, and I don't think any player will see all there is to be seen in the world of Morrowind. Terje S. Bø, ToTheGame Graphics: 95 Sound: 90 Gameplay: 98 Total impression: 97 - Click here for more Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind info - Click here for mainpage