Morrowind

[madda]

I purchased Morrowind about 3-4 weeks ago, on a recommendation from a friend that it was a great game, and I have heard alot of people raving about it.

However, i think this game is too non-linear. Even on the storyline it seems to purposely get the character involved with everyone, and everything, across the worldmap. This seems grosely unrealistic.

If a character came to a new world, why would he automatically be sent all over to do things, why would he do that??

As it is so non-linear it doesnt tie the player into the game, it just makes you feel like you are playing a game which is not the point of RPGs. RPGs are mainly liked by people who enjoy escapism, so let them escape into the game, and make them not realise they are in a game.

Also the game seems to run very badly on my PC, which is a 2ghz, 768MB RAM, Geforce Ti 4600 (128mb), 120GB drive, Audigy etc. It stutters all the time and is not very fluid at all. Games that are designed today, are expected to run smoothly on a PC like this. Even though I didnt have the res set too high, just on 1024x768 and still staggery !!!!!!! No background tasks, and I even defragged the computer just to see if that would do anything. But nothing seemed to cure that problem.

Now my rant is over, can anyone prove to me why this isnt an awful game or an i actually correct? I want to give this game a chance, but its just soooo dull! :)

[ghiop]

Hmm. It seems I disagree with nearly all of your points. I love that the game isn't on a rail. I love the fact that I could get to level 50 before even starting the main quest. That's realistic. Instead of being constrained the entire time, not being able to visit some areas, because that might ruin the story, you can go anywhere. I like the idea, and I wish more games would do it.

And, the player gets sent everywhere, because he's an agent of the Emperor, and he's being tested. That's why.

And there's a thread on here about performance issues. One little thing will take your performance up another 20%.

So, maybe you've just had a bad experience. I don't know. I doubt I can prove that it's a good game. I'll go on knowing it is, though.

[coppernaut]

I gotta agree with ghiop. No other RPG has the scope of Morrowind. I realized this right away. Just look around at all the detail. The fact alone that these developers went the extra mile to even create dozens of different kinds of plates, pottery, spoons, cups, and candles shows some initiative on their part. That's just the subtle stuff to make you feel as if you've stepped into another world. I'm still collecting all the exotic plants and herbs that are growing all over the place. The no-restraints gameplay is the highlight of this game. My favorite part about first picking it up was going off on my own and raiding doungens until I couldn't carry anymore.

It has it's flaws. It can be buggy at times. Remember though, this game was 6 years in the making. A couple generations of video upgrades might have given it problems while they were trying to keep up with technology and gameplay elements, yet still rounds out as the most open-ended, most entertaining (FPS) RPG I've ever played. Patches and expansions help with bugs, load times, and graphic issues. Like that winged blue woman thing that I'd meet every now and then at a Deadric Ruin that would insanely drop my frame rate to 4 frames per second! The Tribunal expansion patched that up. Which is weird, because the Tribunal patch is a higher number than the latest Morrowind patch... Either way, the expansions add alot of necessary touches the world of Morrowind.

Ghiop is right about the framerate issue though. All you have to do is be a little conservative towards graphics in the options menu. Turning up the shadows all the way will make your game spit and sputter, most noteably when you have the draw distance cranked. I eventually turned off the shadow all together (don't even notice them being gone) and cranked my draw distance to the max with all effects on. No problems running the game at all now.

I'm so addicted to this game right now it's sickening. I'm still looking for a Scroll of Get My Life Back. Nowhere.

[ghiop]

Tee-hee. Maybe that only came with the Deluxe Edition. :)