Immersive and immense, Morrowind is a fantastic RPG.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a port of the huge, open ended RPG for the PC. The game is played from a first-person perspective, with combat being in real-time. You'll find that many aspects of the average RPG are present. You'll fight monsters with swords and magic, collect money, level up, get better equipment, carry out quests for NPC's, and eventually get wrapped up in saving the world. However, Morrowind offers you the ability to explore everything right off the bat, and lets you decide how the game will unfold. It's easy to get lost at first, but once you get a feel for this world, you'll call Morrowind home.
Morrowind is the most immersive game that I have ever played. From minute one, you feel like a denizen of Morrowind. This is partially due to the first person perspective, but it's mostly because everything in the game is presented to you as if you are there. For example, creating your character is a process that's done in-game via registering with the local government. Like real life, the entire game is totally wide open to you right at the outset. You can wander right out of the first town and head to any area of the game. You'll probably get wiped out within 5 minutes of trying it, but you're free to do what you wish regardless. This does have its disadvantages, if you're not paying attention. I know people who have killed the wrong person and ended the main storyline, or have dropped a key item somewhere and could never recover it. Your choices have consequences in this world. I look at this as a huge positive. I had to approach every conversation and every area carefully to keep from ending my own quest. I also found myself saving compulsively, lest I do the wrong thing and ruin my game.
You'll power up considerably during your travels. In a nice twist, skills advance based upon how often you use them. Want to level up your jump skill? Just jump a lot. Want to level up your enchantment skill? Enchant something. You'll find yourself crafting potions, jumping, trading, and persuading just for the fun of it and to level up your skills. Provided that you don't go to jail, your skills won't ever decrease, so you'll have an uber-character by the end of the game. This is a mixed blessing, as you'll be able to walk all over anything that you come across by the end of the game. However, it also added a lot of incentive for me to keep playing, even after I beat most of the quests in the game. There are a ton of skills beyond simple combat and magic, adding a variety of things for you to level up.
The graphics are wonderful in terms of scale, if not great in terms of detail. Character models and enemies don't look that great, but the sheer size of the world is amazing. As you wander across the continent, you'll be in awe of just how big the world is, and how much there is to see. This includes many familiar RPG elements. Fantastical settings, "steampunk" temples, and medieval castles are found throughout. Each city is vast, and easy to get lost in at first. In a nice touch, the different races all have their own architectural styles, and Bethesda put a lot of love into each.
In addition, the available Game of the Year Edition adds loads of new content, as well as a couple of major changes to the game. The two expansion packs, Tribunal and Bloodmoon add new areas to explore. Tribunal follows the main storyline from Morrowind. You'll head to some new locations and get some more powerful items. Bloodmoon is more of a standalone expansion pack, and is set in the northern arctic reaches of the continent. The second of the expansion packs, it offers much tougher enemies and the ability to turn into a werewolf. Some minor changes to the graphics have been introduced. You'll notice that the water and sandstorms look a lot better than they did in Morrowind. Also, your enemies now have a health bar, so you can tell how much damage you're dealing to them. This is a mixed bag, as you'll be able to better gauge when you need to attack and when you need to run. I found that took some of the fun out of combat. Ultimately, the change here is in value. However, Morrowind's value was already so high that there was no way for me to go over 10.
Morrowind will blow you away with its sheer scale and how open-endedness. There's a main narrative to tie everything together, but the really interesting stuff is hidden away in the nooks and crannies of the map. If you enjoy diving into unknown dungeons, wandering off the beaten path, and exploring every aspect of the game world, Morrowind is your game.
