Morrowind...aka WTF happened Bethesda

[Metabot]

I've been playing Morrowind more and more lately and I've come to the realization that this is one of the best RPGs ever created. The faction dynamics have real potential. It has magic creation, alchemy, etc. etc. It has choices and consequences. So what the hell happened over at Bethesda?

[Brannart]

I don't know. It was pretty shocking how streamlined Oblivion was after I had enjoyed Morrowind so much. Even the little things like the competing Vampire Clans, something you would never even know if you never became a Vampire, were absent from Oblivion.

[Metabot]

Was it money? Did they lose their vision? Was it a fluke?

[Hurlshort]

We could blame the consoles. But really Skyrim did some pretty amazing things, and Fallout 3 was also pretty fantastic, so I just call Oblivion an anomaly.

[Metabot]

Skyrim is worse than oblivion and fallout 3 sucked so your opinion is null and void.

[Volourn]

MW was/is a horrible game. Then again, it's an ES series game so that is just a given.

[LadyCrimson]

What I remember most about MW was stacking pillows, learning sneak the cheesy way, bouncing around everywhere like a rubber ball to try to get acrobatics up, spending way, way too much time on alchemy and enchanting, getting annoyed at the level scaling, and using the editor to build huge, fancy underground "houses" with NPC's and tons of storage space. It was an obsessive-compulsive tinkering gaming dream, once.

 

What I don't remember is the story/plot. Did it have one?

...I do remember the faction choosing, but I don't think I ever got around to choosing one to progress the main plot terribly far ... tho I do seem to recall getting a mage house as a reward or something. eg, I never finished the game, despite spending a lot of time in it.

 

As to what happened to Beth....who knows. On the very surface, Oblivion and Skyrim still remind me of MW. But the OCD compulsion aspect wasn't there, and I got bored with both in a matter of hours/days.

[BruceVC]

MW was/is a horrible game. Then again, it's an ES series game so that is just a given.

Morrowind is considered one of the greatest RPG of all time for many, so I interested in why you think it is a terrible game?

Edited November 13, 2012 by BruceVC

[Volourn]

No sense of purpose, brown poo passing as graphics, horrible clunky combat, almost non existent writing, what little writing there is is garbage,unmemorable npcs, lame equipment, lame 'learn by doing' system which simply doesn't work in a CRPG environment, mostly uses a terrible1st person view or half heart 3rd person view, etc., etc.

 

I cna't understand how Obsidian fans can like it - espciially sicne there are much more superior 'sandbox' games out there.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Volourn

[Osvir]

I feel bad about Morrowind, I played it for hours and hours and got lost in its world (enjoyed it, much more than Oblivion or Skyrim). Had a less than memorable character though (some generic Dark Elf crap), I got pretty far, he died. Then I left the game. Perma-death. Want to pick up the copy I have and just insert it sensually and carefully (in the CD-Rom Drive! Crazy right!?!?!?!? I hardly remember how to do it!!!) and play that game like a boss now that I'm both a wiser person and a better player.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Osvir

[HoonDing]

Bethseda was nearly bankrupted after Daggerfall and the flops Redguard and Battlespire, so when they were bought by Zenimax they went for the moolah and launched Elder Scrolls on console. That's why Morrowind is such a huge decline after Daggerfall in every way except arguably for unique setting and lore, although Kirkbride's rambling isn't so attractive and mysterious anymore after ten years.

 

The true Bethseda died after Daggerfall when Lefay and Peterson left and Howard and Rolston became project leaders.

[Guest Slinky]

I've been playing Morrowind more and more lately and I've come to the realization that this is one of the best RPGs ever created. The faction dynamics have real potential. It has magic creation, alchemy, etc. etc. It has choices and consequences. So what the hell happened over at Bethesda?

 

They dumbed down their games for bigger audience. Bigger audience = more money.

 

 

MW was/is a horrible game. Then again, it's an ES series game so that is just a given.

Morrowind is considered one of the greatest RPG of all time for many, so I interested in why you think it is a terrible game?

 

It's a FACT in world of Volournia, r00fles. NWN OC is also a good game in the same bizarro world.

[melkathi]

 

What I don't remember is the story/plot. Did it have one?

 

 

The story was pretty forgettable in a way, but the island and its people had interesting characters and dynamics that created a great setting to place this story in. If one paid attention to the main story, then Tribunal's story wasn't bad, building on the lore of the main game. Bloodmoon was a fun expansion, the story though was again forgetable.

 

Neither Oblivion nor Skyrim could hold my attention. The fantasy system seemed more generic but at the same time I was not up for delving into a world as deep and invest as much time as I had with Morrowind.

Fallout 3 had the advantage of a very atmospheric setting which benefited greatly from Bethesda's open world approach and allowed for a lot of small scale writting. When it came to the overarching story they did not do so well. And there are only so many bugs you can take before atmosphere and imersion go out the window.

[Lorfean]

I'm indifferent about Morrowind, dislike Oblivion and Fallout 3, and really enjoyed Skyrim.

 

Safe to say Bethesda's catalog is a mixed bag and people's opinions about and experiences with their games differ greatly.

[Humanoid]

I'm indifferent about Morrowind, dislike Oblivion and Fallout 3, and really enjoyed Skyrim.

 

Safe to say Bethesda's catalog is a mixed bag and people's opinions about and experiences with their games differ greatly.

 

More or less my position, except that I would remove the word 'really' from before 'enjoyed Skyrim' and insert it before 'dislike Oblivion'.

 

Oblivion has the distinction of being the worst game I've purchased specifically (the ones ranked below it would be mostly random inclusions in bundles either with other games that I actually did want or with hardware). Not even the mighty ME3 could topple it. Morrowind on the other hand, were I to rank all such things in order, would be more or less smack bang in the middle.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I feel Morrowind is a poor game too (after 25+ hours spent in it). The story was weak and painfully slow to start, the aren't any characters (even through the game is full of people), the quests are mostly trivial, the dungeons are similar and visually, the game is just ugly. Also, many of the mechanics are broken - its too easy to become too powerful and rich quickly.

 

Its a make your own adventure type of game, without a compelling hook in it, just miles and miles of muddy brown terrain..

 

It was much the same experience I've gotten from Oblivion except Oblivion was mostly pretty to look at. Although it had the annoying level scaling, and somehow felt even deader than Morrowind.

 

Fallout 3 felt even worse, a jumbled mess of poorly related ideas and concepts thrown into the game world.

 

Of all their games that I've played, Morrowind was the best and considering how I feel of Morrowind that just says it all.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Drowsy Emperor

[Lorfean]

You haven't played Skyrim then?

 

I consider it their best -- mostly because it's their only game that didn't have me roll my eyes and uninstall it after a few hours of playing. It's good for what it is -- a visually impressive sandbox / dungeon crawler with a simple (but adequate) RPG ruleset and a ton of content that, unlike some (most?) of their other titles, actually kinda makes sense and fits within the context of the world.

[Drowsy Emperor]

You haven't played Skyrim then?

 

I consider it their best -- mostly because it's their only game that didn't have me roll my eyes and uninstall it after a few hours of playing. It's good for what it is -- a visually impressive sandbox / dungeon crawler with a simple (but adequate) RPG ruleset and a ton of content that, unlike some (most?) of their other titles, actually kinda makes sense and fits within the context of the world.

 

I haven't, my graphics card is half dead so I'm not likely to play it any time soon.

[Metabot]

I've played skyrim for hundreds of hours. Morrowind blows it out of the water.

[Gorgon]

The dialogue is quite abhorrent in Morrowind, a lot of improvements there in Oblivion and Skyrim, but NPC interaction is still a Bethesda weakness. Morrowind was about seeing what was on the other side of the hill. Once you got tired of that the main quest was more or less an afterthought. It didn't feel like every other game though, great art direction instead of the 'safe' default 1200 ct Europe fantasy setting you always get.

 

I do agree that Skyrim would have been much better without so much hand holding of the PC. Let people figure it out themselves. The automap for instance had you zapping between locations and there was a notation for every little hovel. The fun of getting there was taken out of it way too soon. Your journal automatically got filled up with quests, you didn't even have to do anything other than kill stuff you met on the way.

[melkathi]

Didn't like the Skyrim tutorial. The whole beauty of the previous games was that you explored the world and got involved with factions at your leasure. And while you couldn't wear a suit, you could call your character Larry. With Skyrim they yanked that away: here are two factions. One just tried to chop your head off, the other you couldn't care less about. Please join one of the two to proceed and play the game.

Eh, no thanks.

Prefered Morrowind: so you learned to walk out of a boat and onto a pier? Good for you! Now go play the game.

[Lorfean]

Yeah, I barely paid attention to the two main factions... Never even went and talked with their leaders, I think, until the main quest required it when those greybeards invited all the Important People to a tea party at their castle. I joined the Thieves' Guild instead, and had a blast helping them reach their former "glory". Most of those jarls were jerks anyway. Jarl schmarl.

[Metabot]

You had a blast forging ledgers all over the countryside?

 

Anyways, thread derailed lol.

[melkathi]

 

 

Anyways, thread derailed lol.

 

That's what threads are for.

[Lorfean]

You had a blast forging ledgers all over the countryside?

There was a bit more to it than that, mr. grumpy pants. Edited November 13, 2012 by Lorfean