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How well does Morrowind hold up in 2021?

TLZ

Banned
You said you're playing on a "X". Is that One X or Series X?
On One X, Oblivion and Skyrim are both 30fps titles. Skyrim supports mods and there's a mod that will unlock the framerate. It doesn't reach 60 constantly on One X and I had some tearing, but it was a slightly better experience than vanilla.
On Series X, that Skyrim mod will allow it to hit 60 all the time (don't quote me on that). However, Microsoft's FPS Boost technology is supposed to be applied to a range of Bethesda games (Skyrim was one of those mentioned) in the future, making 60 a lock. No word yet on Oblivion. Probably will remain at 30fps, although it did get an X Enhancement patch, so it runs at native 4k.
Series X mate. Thanks for all the details. I didn't know mods are allowed on consoles!
 

BigBooper

Member
I played it through for the first time three years ago. I liked it a lot. I played it for probably just a few hours many years ago, but put around 70 hours into it three years ago. If you can appreciate or at least tolerate some old game jank, it's still very cool. You will probably be less satisfied with any other game's magic and enchanting systems after playing it.
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
"There's no quest markers or a lot of crap on the map which are telling you where to go and where to find / access everything" "You have to find locations based on what NPCs are telling you" "You need a lot more time to play a game like this now"

I mean, F off, will ya? Morrowind is still the best TES game ever made, people who haven't played it almost 20 years ago and were raised on modern open world crap will never understand why. GFX and combat-wise it's outdated as hell, but everything else is miles and miles better than what you can find in Oblivion, Skyrim and any BGS TES game in the future.
 
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Maddux4164

Member
"There's no quest markers or a lot of crap on the map which are telling you where to go and where to find / access everything" "You have to find locations based on what NPCs are telling you" "You need a lot more time to play a game like this now"

I mean, F off, will ya? Morrowind is still the best TES game ever made, people who haven't played it almost 30 years ago and were raised on modern open world crap will never understand why.
I mean. You’re not wrong. Except for Vivec… fuck that place
 

bbeach123

Member
Shit graphic , shit animation , shit combat ,shitty and repetitive dungeon .

Oblivion is not that much better (except the graphic) , but still aged better .
 
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TransTrender

Gold Member
I didn't think the GotY edition held up in 2005, but maybe adding those years will change the perspective from 'clunky, archaic, broken mess' to some sort of artifact which needs to be observed.
 

sunnysideup

Banned
No game like it existed at the time. Sprawling landscapes in proper 3D like that wasn’t a thing. No. GTA3 wasn’t bigger and even remotely as diverse.
i know. it was beyond and ahead what was meaningful and fecable at the time. the graphics could not keep up with the games ambition.
 
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Maddux4164

Member
i know. it was beyond and ahead what was meaningful and fecable at the time. the graphics could not keep up with the games ambition.
This is true. But it’s why we overlooked it not being “gorgeous” or whatever. Was it’s size and scope. Day/night cycles. The “do whatever you want” ordeal. See a weapon in a shop but don’t want to pay? Steal it. Games didn’t exist like that before.

Felt like almost ANY house/Inn/place you could enter. Visit. Explore. Wasn’t some makeup dressing. You could actually find tiny shacks in the woods way off the beaten path and go in and have a look at what’s inside. That’s what made it amazing
 
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R6Rider

Gold Member
Felt like almost ANY house/Inn/place you could enter. Visit. Explore. Wasn’t some makeup dressing. You could actually find tiny shacks in the woods way off the beaten path and go in and have a look at what’s inside. That’s what made it amazing
This pertains to the loot especially well.

The good starting battleaxe hidden in a random tree trunk near Seyda Neen. The good sword in the Balmora guard tower on one of the dressers/cabinets, and even the individual Daedric armor pieces that were in crazy spots.
 

bitbydeath

Gold Member
Morrowind is fantastic but yes it doesn’t hand hold your hand like Oblivion.

Treasures are really treasures in Morrowind, which gives meaning for exploration.

In Oblivion both treasures and enemies level up with you, meaning you can search the world and everything will only be as good as your current stat level.

But in Morrowind, you’ll be commonly up against fight or flight situations and you could stumble across amazing treasures allowing you to deal one-hit kills yourself.
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
Damn. Be ashamed if any other human has a different experience than you. You’re amazing obviously

guess my own personal experience is now void and meaningless because you didn’t share my view
Parks And Recreation Reaction GIF
 

acm2000

Member
Graphically Bethesda RPGs don't even hold up at launch let alone years later, gameplay wise, well you know exactly what you are getting.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
It's an actual RPG, not an action RPG. People play it after playing Oblivion and expect their sword to hit an enemy every time.
 

TLZ

Banned
I'm playing it and it's ok so far. I haven't reached far and was killed by a giant bat or whatever it was. I couldn't hit it. I think I needed a bow. I also couldn't run. Looks like I'll need to level up to be faster. I feel so slow!
 

FranXico

Member
Absolute nonsense.

The combat is stat based, not player skill based. You have a hit chance ratio and this changes dependant on your characters skill level on various stats and the enemy you're facing. If you approach an enemy and your hits aren't landing GTFO and come back another time, you're not supposed to be there yet. It's not that difficult to understand.
Just do the Soul Trap exploit and buff all your stats. Game becomes fun then.
 
It was one of the single best gaming experiences of my life. But I probably will never play it ever again.

Similar to FFXI for me. Just takes too much time investment to scour the obscure journal entries. At the time though, it sure was amazing.

I still listen to the OST frequently.
 
No game like it existed at the time. Sprawling landscapes in proper 3D like that wasn’t a thing. No. GTA3 wasn’t bigger and even remotely as diverse.
I started it up on my original Xbox and marveled at the strange intro. I couldn't believe I could steal anything, and promptly took a bunch of plates to sell for cash.

I then accidentally sold my pants I was wearing.

Then I got killed by a rat outside.

One of my favorite games of all time lol. I would love to see modern gamers try and wrap their head around it. The endgame malarkey you can get up to with constant effect magic rings is still unmatched to this day lol.
 
With a few mods and unofficial patch it still holds up well enough, Don't need a barnstorming PC to play it either. I guess if you're playing on Xbox it might be a different story as you can't do any of those things, but it's still worth a shot.

Funnily enough the whole quest marker & fast travel stuff passes me by. Even when I played Oblivion I spent around 95% of my time not following the marker and just heading up that hill over yonder to see if there's any villages or dungeons to add to my map. Exploration & discovery has always been the best aspect of Elder Scrolls games for me (Skyrim seemed lacking in that sense which is probably why I've not got on with it really) and Morrowind is a worthy adventure in that regard.
 
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Andodalf

Banned
This pertains to the loot especially well.

The good starting battleaxe hidden in a random tree trunk near Seyda Neen. The good sword in the Balmora guard tower on one of the dressers/cabinets, and even the individual Daedric armor pieces that were in crazy spots.

The knife under the pillow in the inn!
 

Daymos

Member
I think it's still fine if you love WRPGs. Very playable if you're into older games. Much easier to play than baldur's gate, Diablo 1/2, and Neverwinter nights anyways.
 
With mods it's mostly a fine experience. Still kinda clunky and obtuse by today's standards, but I don't consider things like a lack of quest markers or fast travel to be a problem.

Edit: And by mods, I mean everything from tiny little fixes to big-honkin' overhauls, such as OpenMW.

 
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Too old school for some to get into. Dice roll combat, quests with no markers and didn't even have much in the way of voice acting. But if role-playing games were your thing in the 80s and 90s then it was a homecoming.
 

WizeVibez

Banned
If Bethesda would stop stripping freedom from players with each new elder scrolls game, we wouldn't need to keep going back to Morrowind. Since I doubt they will change their ways, Morrowind will remain my favorite due to the breadth of play styles available and the more genuine sense of adventure the limited navigation tools offer.
I think when people get their hands on Skywind, the doubters will see why Morrowind was so special when we first played it.
 

GloveSlap

Member
I'm in the same boat as i've been waiting for them to add it to game pass. I'm sad that i never played it back then even though i was really into og Xbox at the time and ended up being blown away by Oblivion.

Some good info in this thread so far. Gonna give it fair shot.
 

fatmarco

Member
Fundamentally the biggest issue with the game is the awful journal system. Good luck trying to play this game by not completing individual quests as soon as you get them because it is an absolute nightmare to come back to a save game and try and figure out what the hell you were even supposed to be doing.

Also the fact that you almost have to ensure that you invest heavily in anything relating to movement speed to make it feel like anything less than a chore moving from location to location is a major problem. Like I get no fast travel and markers but its that in combination with the slowest movement you'll ever experience plus that journal system.

That being said I'm going to go play it now as its still good in spite of these issues, in the same way euro jank games are often still good.
 

Arachnid

Member
I played it for the first time in 2020. With some graphical mods, I think it holds up great. The writing and world were more interesting than Skyrim IMO, and navigation was AMAZING.
 

Sakura

Member
The only thing that doesn't really hold up are the visuals.
It's a much better game than Oblivion and Skyrim, as they are basically just dumbed down versions of Morrowind.
 

JSoup

Banned
No one every talks about this, but you can just not use fast travel points in Skyrim. It does the same thing Morrowind and Oblivion does, fills the roads will piles of stuff to see and events/quests to stumble on. The only real difference is Skyrim respects the players time more, if you will. Very much allows for pick up, finish something, come back later.
 
Go for Morrowind only if you have taste for retro games. Its best bethesda game if adjusted for generations, but will sure feel janky today.

especially melee combat. Bethesda always had sub par combat and this one is worst cause of being older.

Personally would recommend Dishonoured. Its non decisive excellent game.
 
Why not just, I dunno, play the game yourself and see if it clicks rather than ask other people their opinions? You already know coming in any thread like this is going to be a mixture of people who shit on it or worship it with relatively few realistic takes. Give it a whirl and see what YOU think. That's the only thing that matters (for the record, my opinion is vanilla Morrowind hasn't aged well graphically and it has its quirks but it's still a brilliant game. Mods can take the PC version to new heights. It's beloved for a reason).
 
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Skifi28

Member
It's great....but I can't imagine somebody playing it for the first time now not being completely put off by the combat, especially if they're used to more modern versions of the series.
 
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