The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Logo from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Studio	Bethesda Softworks
Publisher	Ubisoft
Senior Developer	Todd Howard (Project Leader) Ken Rolston (Lead Designer)
Erstveröffent- lichung	Windows May 1, 2002 May 2, 2002 Xbox June 6, 2002 November 22, 2002
platform	Windows , Xbox
Game engine	Gamebryo
genre	Computer role playing game
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse & keyboard
system advantages preconditions	CPU: Pentium III 800 MHz or comparable RAM: 256 MB VGA: DirectX 8.1 compatible with 32 MB VRAM Hard disk space: 1024 MB ODD: 8x drive
medium	CD-ROM , DVD-ROM , download
language	German , English , French
Current version	1.2.0722 (July 22, 2002) 1.6.1820 (GotY, July 9, 2003)
Age rating	USK PEGI
PEGI content rating

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a computer role-playing game from the US development studio Bethesda Softworks and the third part of the Elder Scrolls main series. The original English language version was published by Bethesda on May 30, 2002 for Windows and Xbox . A fully localized German-language version followed on September 12, 2002 via the French company Ubisoft . This was followed by two expansions, Tribunal on November 28, 2002 and Bloodmoon on June 5, 2003, and at the beginning of 2004 a "Game of the Year" version, which in addition to the main game also contained the two expansions. The construction set attached to the PC version led to the development of many mods and also unofficial patches , which fixed further programming errors in the game after the support from Bethesda ended in 2002.

action

At the beginning of the game, the protagonist of the plot is released from prison for reasons still unknown and taken to the island of Vvardenfell. This island is the scene of the game, which is supplemented in the two expansions by the island of Solstheim and Gramfeste, the capital of the province of Morrowind, which is outside of the city.

As soon as the player has gone through the individual steps of the character setting, which is integrated directly into the game and staged as a kind of bureaucratic registration, he receives a package with mission orders. The player's first task is to deliver this shipment to a certain Caius Cosades in Balmora. Cosades then takes the player in as a student and gives some assignments.

Little by little, more secrets around the disappearance of the Dwemer (deep elves), a mysterious Nerevarine cult that awaits the rebirth of the hero Nerevar, and you learn what really happened in the first era at the Battle of Red Mountain happened. In the further course it is known that the release from prison did not happen accidentally, but was arranged by Uriel Septim VII, the emperor of Tamriel, to which the province of Morrowind also belongs. He is convinced that the threat posed by the living god and antagonist Dagoth Ur can only be eliminated by the reborn Nerevar and that the freedman himself is part of a much larger construct. In contrast, the temple of the tribunal gods (Vivec, Almalexia and Sotha Sil), who are the main religion in Vvardenfell, considers the fulfillment of the Nerevarine prophecy to be heresy.

During the game there are various puzzles to be solved and tasks to be carried out, as well as to pass the seven tests of Nerevar. At the same time, the power of the evil demigod and lord of the sixth house, Dagoth Ur, who waits for the player in his citadel on Red Mountain, a volcano in the middle of the island, grows. Locked in the ghost wall, he hopes that the Nerevarine will help him fulfill his plan.

There are several ways to follow the main quest. As an alternative or supplement, there are memberships in a large number of groups and associations: the warriors' guild, the magicians' guild, the thieves' guild, one of three royal houses (Hlaalu, Redoran, Telvanni), the blades (spy order of the emperor), the imperial legion, the imperial Cult, the temple or the Morag Tong (order of assassins).

In addition to these "fixed" memberships, there is also the possibility to join the "twin torch" (an anti-slavery movement), to make sacrifices to the various Daedra gods (through quests) or to become infected with "vampirism" and then for his clan (warriors, magicians or thieves) to do some quests. It is not easy to belong to all these organizations at the same time, because they not only have different, but later in the game opposing goals (e.g. the leader of the warriors' guild leads a personally motivated campaign against the thieves' guild or the magicians' guild against the Princely House of Telvanni) or influenced by the passage of time (e.g. the temple regards you as a heretic if you already describe yourself as the rebirth of Nerevar). Nevertheless, with a little skill you can become the leader of any of these associations (although membership of more than one royal house is not possible). There are also missions in the free world.

Many of the groupings also offer special advantages and opportunities in that the player actively helps shape the world of Morrowind. So z. B. the royal houses building their own house, which can be expanded to a heavily guarded fortress.

Gameplay

The three-dimensional game world of Morrowind can be explored largely freely by the player from the first person perspective , whereby all outdoor areas can be roamed on foot without loading times ( Open World ). Charging indicators are only displayed when traveling quickly over long distances and when entering indoor areas.

As usual in The Elder Scrolls and in contrast to many other role-playing games, there are no definitive character classes. Instead, the player can opt for multiple primary and secondary skills. The more often a skill is used in the game, the better the character becomes at it. After a certain number of uses, the character reaches a new skill level. After any ten skill increases, the character's level increases, which gives him the opportunity to upgrade his primary attributes (strength, intelligence, etc.). Attributes are preferred that are related to the skills that led to the level up. So the player, if he z. B. had ten sword fighting increases in value, awarded a particularly high number of points on strength when leveling up. This makes it possible to take on and combine different adventure roles, for example as a sword-wielding magician. However, you have to train both sorcery and sword fighting separately.

As with character creation, the player can put together individual spells. Even weapons and armor can be enchanted with their own effects.

development

When Bethesda began developing Morrowind , the company was in serious financial trouble. While the predecessor Daggerfall from 1996 still sold well, the successes in the following developments - including the offshoots Battlespire and Redguard - did not materialize. Bethesda became part of Zenimax and the team had been reduced to just six people. With this in mind, Project Manager Todd Howard described Morrowind's development as an “ all in ”, the failure of which could have meant the end of the company. The Gamebryo engine was used as the engine, which Bethesda also used for its subsequent games. The culture of Morrowind and the Dunmer ("dark elves") was inspired by East Asian cultures , especially by Chinese culture and early Japan , but also by cultures in the Middle East .

Add-ons

In the add-on Tribunal , an assassin association, the "Dark Brotherhood", tries to kill the character. Their track takes the player into the new city Mournhold (ger .: Mournhold ), the capital city of Morrowind, where he is involved in the power struggle between King Helseth and the goddess Almalexia. The city itself is not built directly into the main world of the game. It can only be reached by teleporter and is surrounded by an insurmountable wall. In addition to the city, new enemies, armor, weapons and materials will also be introduced.

In the course of the second add-on Bloodmoon , the character arrives on the island of Solstheim, northwest of the main world Vvardenfell. There werewolves are up to mischief and in the course of the game you have to choose whether to fight them or to transform yourself into one and continue the game in this form. Regardless of the decision, Hircine, the god of the hunt, feels like a worthy opponent and interesting prey and has to defeat him in one of three incarnations. A second line of action is working for a trade guild and revolves around the establishment and design of a mining colony. Here you can also decide how the colony will be built; either by the power-hungry imperial people, who can be found at the ice butterfly fortress, or you support your chief clerk, who lives in the colony. There are also a number of new side quests. Similar to the Tribunal expansion, new enemies, armor, weapons and raw materials are also introduced here. However, due to its size, the island of Solstheim offers much more scope for spontaneous exploration and discovery tours.

reception

reviews publication Rating Windows Xbox 4players 88% 87% Edge 6/10 k. A. Game Informer 9.0 / 10 k. A. GamePro 5/5 k. A. GameSpot 8.7 / 10 8.5 / 10 GameSpy 89/100 k. A. IGN 9.4 / 10 k. A. PC Gamer US 90/100 k. A. Meta-ratings GameRankings 89.19% 86.97% Metacritic 89/100 87/100

Morrowind received mostly positive reviews ( Metacritic : 89 out of 100 (Win) / 87 (Xbox)).

However, in September 2003 the US magazine GameSpy put it on number 21 of the 25 most overrated games because of its “ buggy, repetitive, and dull gameplay ” (German: “ buggy , repetitive and bland game principle”). At the beginning of the year the magazine had named the game RPG of the year.

Awards

• GameSpy
  • PC RPG of the year 2002
• IGN
  • PC role-playing game of the year 2002 (jury and readers' choice)
  • Best storyline (PC, readers' choice)
• RPG Vault
  • Game of the year 2002

In addition, Morrowind was nominated for Best Music and Computer RPG of the Year at the 2003 Interactive Achievement Awards .

Open source implementation

The free game engine OpenMW allows users of the originally unsupported Linux and MacOS operating systems to run the game. In addition, the new implementation allows more modern graphics settings than the original version for all operating systems. Either an original installation of the game or the original media is required to install required Bethesda game files. It also supports numerous mods from third party developers.

Web links

• Official website
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind at MobyGames (English)
• OpenMW

Individual evidence

1. ↑ BTB: BTB's Morrowind Mod List ( English ) btb2.free.fr. July 8, 2011. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 7, 2012. 
2. ^ Stuart: Restore Classics With These Unofficial Patches . fileplanet.com. January 5th, 2011. Archived from the original on August 3rd, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 25, 2011: “ The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Unofficial v6.3b Patch by Thepal: For its time, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind offered one of the biggest worlds to explore but also contained some of the biggest bugs. Bethesda was aware of these problems and lack of content, but they weren't able to fix everything, so The Unofficial Morrowind Patch was released, or UMP as it is commonly referred to. " 
3. ↑ Hrnchamd / Psyringe: Morrowind Code Patch version 2.1 ( English ) nexusmods.com. July 29, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2013: “ Morrowind is a game of great depth, a huge world, incredibly extensible and with a thriving community. Unfortunately it's also full of bugs. This is our attempt at defeating the worst bugs in the game, including save corruption "
4. ↑ http://kotaku.com/bethesda-might-have-gone-out-of-business-if-not-for-mor-1587098880
5. ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spielinfonews/GBA/3933/2041498/Allgemein-Gamebryo_Steht_zum_Verkauf.html
6. ↑ Interview With Morrowind's Developers | The Imperial Library. Retrieved May 12, 2020 . 
7. ↑ The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC) . GameRankings . Retrieved September 20, 2006.
8. ↑ The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Xbox) . GameRankings . Retrieved September 20, 2006.
9. ↑ ^{a b} The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC) . Metacritic . Retrieved September 20, 2006.
10. ↑ ^{a b} The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Xbox) . Metacritic . Retrieved September 20, 2006.
11. ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/dispbericht/PC-CDROM/Test/826/1179/0/The_Elder_Scrolls_3_Morrowind.html
12. ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/dispbericht/XBox/Test/826/1602/0/The_Elder_Scrolls_3_Morrowind.html
13. ^ Edge staff: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind review . In: Edge . No. 112, July 2002, pp. 94-95.
14. ↑ Barry Brenesal: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review, page 5 . IGN. May 15, 2002. Retrieved September 20, 2006.
15. ↑ Kristian Brogger: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind review at Game Informer . In: Game Informer . Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
16. ↑ Dunjinmaster: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review . In: GamePro . May 29, 2002. Archived from the original on October 17, 2002. Retrieved September 20, 2006.
17. ^ Greg Kasavin , The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review, page 3 . GameSpot . May 10, 2002. Retrieved September 20, 2006.
18. ^ Greg Kasavin , The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review, page 3 . GameSpot . June 12, 2002. Retrieved September 20, 2006.
19. ^ William Abner: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review, page 3 . GameSpy . May 15, 2002. Retrieved September 20, 2006.
20. ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/the-elder-scrolls-3-morrowind-/test/morrowind,33835,1338163.html
21. ↑ Steve Klett (July 2002): "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind". PC Gamer US , pp. 76-77.
22. ↑ Morrowind (PC / Xbox) Bethesda . In: 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time . GameSpy . September 15, 2003. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
23. ↑ ^{a b} GameSpy's PC RPG Game of the Year . In: GameSpy . 2003. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
24. ↑ Best of 2002: Roleplaying . IGN. 2003. Archived from the original on June 21, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
25. ↑ Best of 2002: Story . IGN. 2003. Archived from the original on June 21, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
26. ↑ 2002 RPG Vault Awards . In: IGN . 2003. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
27. ^ The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2007.