Opinions please? Morrowind after Oblivion

madscientist_ny · #1 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 12:14 PM

Hope this is okay to post here. Oblivion is the first ES game I have played (should be called Elder Crack...can't stop playing) What do people think about trying Morrowind having played Oblivion first?

Siberys · #2 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 12:58 PM

Personally, I played morrowind first, and then oblivion, but I have to say morrowind is easily ten times better than oblivion.

Though this depends on your desired type of gameplay. If you like a pretty picture of a forest with the ease of fighting the same enemy over and over again, occasionally getting a quest that is simplistic enough for a four year old to understand, then oblivion is for you.

If you like twisting and turning complex quests with near endless character opportunities dozens of ways to complete the game, conflict between various guilds, differentiated scenery including a snowy field, a barren wasteland, a grassy plain, a vocanic mountain, and a thick tree filled jungle, the thrill of danger in exploring an area with incredibly tough enemies, and an economy that doesn't allow you to buy the uber-god weapon simply because you're high level, then Morrowind and it's two expansions are for you.

Lemmus · #3 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 01:30 PM

The one thing that you may want to consider is to download a texture pack. You'll find all sorts of links to mod pages in Morrowind's forum stickies, or by searching online. There's also a nice comparison of several popular packs at : Thepal's Amazing, Wonderful and Spectacular Morrowind Texture Pack Comparison Page (note that the page has about 120 thumbnails).

The reason that I suggest this is that while Morrowind is definitely the superior game, from the point of view of depth and complexity, it is several years older. Having played Oblivion extensively, you may find yourself put off by the inferior graphics of Morrowind. Texture packs help to compensate by replacing the original textures with higher resolution ones.

dragon wench · #4 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 02:37 PM

There are also all kinds of amazingly good player-made plug-ins for Morrowind, these are well worth checking out. Many are referenced in some of the MW Forum sticky threads.

madscientist_ny · #5 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 03:22 PM

Thanks for the responses...sounds good so far, I should have mentioned I am playing on the ps3. I know it would actually be a ps2 game so not sure if any expansions exist for it.

Siberys · #6 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madscientist_ny

Thanks for the responses...sounds good so far, I should have mentioned I am playing on the ps3. I know it would actually be a ps2 game so not sure if any expansions exist for it.

Umm...morrowind isn't a PS2 game. It's an Xbox and PC game, and expansions exist for both versions.

Arok2092 · #7 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 07:26 PM

Here's my opinion on Morrowind. I first played it when I heard about Oblivion and before Oblivion was released I decided to try it on my Xbox so I would know if I would know if I want Oblivion or not.

My first opinion of Morrowind was woah! this game lets you do anything! But later on I realized how deeply...unsatisfying the combat system was and how boring and confusing a lot of quests were. Granted I didn't try very hard to understand them as I got caught up in looting. Eventually I liked the game less and less. I also had other quirks with the game like how the map was pretty undetailed and how your fatigue would go down as you run. Of course that makes sense but it made traveling anywhere a big pain in the you know where.

Heck, honestly though, the games cheap and it shouldn't matter anyway what our opinions of it are. Just borrow the game or buy it and then return it if you don't like it.

But like Siberys says, there is no copy of Morrowind on the PS2. GOTY version for the Xbox does have both the expansions but you can't download any user-mods...Alas, the cursed Xbox which I have to use to play Oblivion

madscientist_ny · #8 (**permalink**) 04-04-2008, 10:01 AM

Oops on the ps2 part... I forgot that we had an xbox when my hubby played it a few years ago. I was stuck in KOTOR land at the time and didn't even try morrowind. I know it's cheap to get I was just curious what other people had to say about it...

fable · #9 (**permalink**) 04-04-2008, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madscientist_ny

Oops on the ps2 part... I forgot that we had an xbox when my hubby played it a few years ago. I was stuck in KOTOR land at the time and didn't even try morrowind. I know it's cheap to get I was just curious what other people had to say about it...

While Morrowind is fun on the Xbox, you don't get the advantage of running dozens (or even hundreds, out of 8000+) of mods simultaneously, as you do on the PC. These can add hundreds of quests, new shops, companions, weapons, graphics improvements, and tweaking to the the rules set. I personally wouldn't play without them.

BlueSky · #10 (**permalink**) 04-04-2008, 11:07 AM

What with all the mods available, its like playing a new game each time....
This time through I'm playing with over 50 or so mods running, one has added a land mass larger than the original with quests...and am using every city expansion that is available...
and with each install, I try a new texture mod, so the looks change each time.

I highly recommend getting the PC version....to take advantage of the modding community...

dragon wench · #11 (**permalink**) 04-04-2008, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueSky

What with all the mods available, its like playing a new game each time....
This time through I'm playing with over 50 or so mods running, one has added a land mass larger than the original with quests...and am using every city expansion that is available...
and with each install, I try a new texture mod, so the looks change each time.

I highly recommend getting the PC version....to take advantage of the modding community...

Seconded!
Do yourself a huge favour and pick up the Game of the Year Edition for PC. It should be pretty cheap these days. Just the vanilla version alone includes the original game plus both expansions. Those expansions are needed for a lot of the better mods...
What you will get, once you include the freely available many mods, are hundreds and hundreds of hours of content...for, I'm guessing, around $15 or $20, at the absolute most.

Not to mention that a lot of the player-made mods tweak the game so that it becomes far more interesting and/or challenging. Vanilla Morrowind is a decent, solid game... but with mods it becomes very good...

Siberys · #12 (**permalink**) 04-04-2008, 11:55 AM

BTW, if you're worried about it not running on your computer, don't worry about that. It's old enough that it's hard to find a computer it WON'T run on, as most standard VGA cards (meaning the Piece of crap video cards a PC will come with) can run Morrowind, Tribunal, and Bloodmoon. It's nowhere near the graphics heavy game oblivion is.

dragon wench · #13 (**permalink**) 04-04-2008, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Siberys

BTW, if you're worried about it not running on your computer, don't worry about that. It's old enough that it's hard to find a computer it WON'T run on, as most standard VGA cards (meaning the Piece of crap video cards a PC will come with) can run Morrowind, Tribunal, and Bloodmoon. It's nowhere near the graphics heavy game oblivion is.

Reading this, it is weird how time flies in the tech world...
When Morrowind first came out the actual system requirements far exceeded those that were recommended on the box..
My old computer ran BG2, NWN etc. flawlessly. Morrowind was a continual struggle, however, and it didn't come out a whole lot later than aforementioned titles.

I really should get around to trying out MW on my new rig one of these days..

Siberys · #14 (**permalink**) 04-04-2008, 12:04 PM

Heh, well if you have even a semi-new rig, the only thing that'll slow morrowind down are the load points. Nothing else within.

Belthan · #15 (**permalink**) 04-04-2008, 04:30 PM

Definitely worth it. I got the Morrowind GOTY edition a few months ago (after having played Oblivion for a couple years) and I'm loving it. The main quest storyline in Morrowind is very intriguing and cool. Storylines, actually, since GOTY includes the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions, each with their own detailed backdrop and quest lines.

In fact, although the graphics (and in some ways the gameplay) aren't as advanced because of the hardware that was available at the time, there are some things I actually like better about Morrowind. Dialog with NPCs is deeper than Oblivion because there isn't voice acting for every single line of conversation. You can levitate/fly. And leveling up actually has tangible benefits. Plus there are a ton of in-jokes and references in Oblivion that I didn't get until I picked up the backstory from Morrowind.

Things that are different and take some getting used to but aren't necessarily better or worse: chance of magic/alchemy/enchanting/combat failure in Morrowind is based on your character's skill level, while in Oblivion when there is any chance of failure it's based on the player's skill with the controls. And Umbra's a dude.

Of course, there are some things that I don't like: journal is a pain, no fast travel, and CLIFF RACERS!@#! (I swear I will never again complain about how many random wolves or minotaurs I encounter in TES IV).