Xbox: GameSpot Morrowind Review

I\'m loving every min of this game!  This is the most open adventure game I\'ve ever played!  WOOOO!! I\'m a Dark Elf, Warrior class with a birthsign of Mage.  Got some cool armor and weapons now.   Anyone pick it up?    

Morrowind for the Xbox represents an unprecedented accomplishment. It\'s simply one of the biggest video games ever released. It exists today only because it\'s been in development for years, long before the Xbox system was ever unveiled. As the third installment in an ambitious and long-running computer role-playing series, Morrowind always promised to be a game of epic proportions. You\'d be able to play it however you wanted to: go anywhere, do anything. You\'d choose your own adventure and see everything through the eyes of the character you created. Make no mistake, Morrowind has next to nothing in common with Japanese RPGs like the Final Fantasy series, in which you\'re more of a spectator than an active participant in the storyline.

There\'s a very different approach here. Open-ended gameplay is the lofty goal that many computer RPGs strive for yet unsurprisingly fall short of. But Morrowind doesn\'t fall short. Upon its release in May, the highly anticipated PC version received widespread acclaim from gamers and critics alike, who seemed to come up for air just long enough to sing its praises before delving back in. And the newly released Xbox version is identical for all intents and purposes. It\'s the first RPG for the system, and it\'s absolutely huge, which is both the most amazing thing about it and also the thing that means it\'s not the game for everybody.

For the most part, Morrowind successfully brings many of the proudest traditions of computer role-playing to the Xbox, with all the slick production values you\'d hope to see in a first-rate game. If you\'ve ever played a classic fantasy role-playing game for the PC, then you\'ll find yourself in familiar territory here, at least figuratively speaking. The actual world of Morrowind is original, and no experience with the Elder Scrolls series is required. The game\'s main plot, though it\'s presented mostly in writing, is quite engaging, and it involves first uncovering why your emperor has ordered you to the island province of Morrowind and then fulfilling your destiny there. The hundreds or even thousands of characters you\'ll meet along the way aren\'t all completely unique, but there\'s enough difference between them that they help give you a distinct sense of the setting and even the culture of Morrowind. It\'s a place with a surprising amount of political intrigue and a long history, and that history is described thoroughly in the dozens of different books you can pick up and read in the game. You\'re on your own through most of Morrowind, which makes you feel adventurous, but sometimes lonely. That\'s also in part because interacting with characters is a pretty detached process that boils down to scrolling through a list of available topics of conversation. You\'ll also notice how nonplayer characters in Morrowind generally just stand there, doing nothing. Even when you come visit them in a pub or in their homes, you\'ll never see them engaging in any activities whatsoever, which makes the world seem less alive than it could be. Some hidden gags provide a refreshing bit of comic relief, but these moments are perhaps too few and far between.

The characters you meet will respond to you differently depending on who you are, and who you are is entirely up to you thanks to the great deal of flexibility you get in creating your own persona. There are more than 20 different character classes to choose from, including choices like barbarian, spellsword, and assassin. You can either pick one of these, or, in a nod to the classic Ultima series, you can answer a series of moral questions, and the game will choose a class for you based on your decisions. The third option is to create your own class, and that\'s the best of the three. After all, the premade classes are really just templates rather than truly distinctive character types.

They\'re examples of what can be done with Morrowind\'s character generation system, in which each character class has five major skills, five secondary skills, and a core specialization: combat, magic, or stealth. Your specialization determines which skills your character will initially be strongest in and can improve in the fastest. There are nearly 30 different skills overall, and even those that don\'t fall under your major or secondary skills are still available to you, though your character will be slower to hone them.

More here:

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/reviews/0,10867,2870473,00.html

Hey pstwo how are you doing today?  I picked up morrowind and I"m loving it as well there so much to do in this game its like unlimited replay value and i powered up my sword really good.  I have the thief thats who I"m using now.

Cool rastalant!  Got to make some spells and magic\'s.  

welp, i think i\'ve bashed this sloppy game enough, so i\'ll let you guys enjoy yer deceivement

but you guys look so cute as a couple

Heh I had it for the Xbox, but wanted more so I took it back for the PC version.  Gotta say this is a great RPG, especially for people who like FP RPG\'s like EQ.  I too am a Dark Elf, but I am a Battle Mage.  I finally got the Telvanni Stronghold to boot!!!  It is so cool to have your own tower where you can stash all your loot!

Originally posted by pstwo
Cool rastalant!  Got to make some spells and magic\'s.  

Cool i got some healing spells and a few more i need to make more spells and magic too as well.  Upgrade my character even more.

Originally posted by GigaShadow
Heh I had it for the Xbox, but wanted more so I took it back for the PC version.  Gotta say this is a great RPG, especially for people who like FP RPG\'s like EQ.  I too am a Dark Elf, but I am a Battle Mage.  I finally got the Telvanni Stronghold to boot!!!  It is so cool to have your own tower where you can stash all your loot!

Cool I"m glad you like it.  Is the pc version any different than the xbox version?:thepimp:

The frame rate is a little better - but its still ok on the Xbox.  Also on the PC version you download plugins which enhance the game.  Basically you have a construction kit that comes with the PC game that allows you to create or modify anything in the game.  Some users have created new quests and enhanced certain things like merchants having more money.  That is one thing I HATE!  I get like a 20000 gp weapon and the most money any given merchant has is around 900 gp.  

The main reason I went with the PC version is that you do a lot more and fix stuff on your own without having to wait for an official patch.  For example if you join the Telvanni House and get a stronghold its out in the middle of nowhere and getting back and forth takes forever.  However with a mod I downloaded, the Stronghold now has a Silt Strider right in front of it so getting around is so easy now.

Originally posted by rastalant


Cool I"m glad you like it.  Is the pc version any different than the xbox version?:thepimp:

yeah its quicker and you don\'t have to use that GOD AWFUL CONTROLLER

[BizioEE]

Originally posted by ooseven


yeah its quicker and you don\'t have to use that GOD AWFUL CONTROLLER

and I hate playing in front of a little monitor!

I\'ll get this one for the XBox obviously!

Originally posted by BizioEE
and I hate playing in front of a little monitor!

I\'ll get this one for the XBox obviously!

Yeah, I hate 1600x1200 on a 21" monitor as well. :eek:

[BizioEE]

Originally posted by Samwise
Yeah, I hate 1600x1200 on a 21" monitor as well. :eek:

it\'s always small compared to my Sony 36:laughing: ...and I play 3 meters away on a comfortable sofa,plus 5.1 surround sound with pop-corn on the left and coca-cola on the right:eek:

no thanks...I prefer to play my XBox!  any problems?

Originally posted by BizioEE


it\'s always small compared to my Sony 36:laughing: ...and I play 3 meters away on a comfortable sofa,plus 5.1 surround sound with pop-corn on the left and coca-cola on the right:eek:

no thanks...I prefer to play my XBox!  any problems?

Yes, the framerate problems, pop-up, more fogging than the PC version..
I heard its sub-30fps..

mm better stay away from this or his eyes will pop!

oh, i already played it

its utter craptastic

the PC version looks cool, but is still craptastic

PC > X-Box

PC Morrowind > XB Morrowind

PC + Morrowind > X-Box + Morrowind

PC vs. XB -> Framerates, PC: Few and far between, XB: Like walking through a mine field.

PC vs. XB ->Replay, PC: Plugins can be downloaded from the internet, XB: Sorry, not yet.

PC vs. XB ->Controls, PC: ASDF works like a charm, XB: that brick M$ calls a controller can\'t win here.

BizioEE, do you prefer better resolution and graphics, or does size mean much more to you?