The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Review

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Lastly, Morrowind uses an interesting punishment method. If you decide to play as an evil character, and kill everything, you'll be presented with three different choices. You may pay a fine, serve time, or resist arrest, each of which has its downsides. Serving time will dull your skills, while paying a fine will force you to hand over a handsome sum of money, and any stolen goods. Resisting arrest will often result in your death. Also, the people don't just forgive and forget. If you kill enough people, or commit enough crimes, you will eventually become black listed, and have a bounty placed on your head. While there are methods of removing a bounty, they are few and far between, making it all the more interesting. Eventually, guards will begin to attack you on sight, and many people won't even talk to you, making it one of the most realistic NPC interactions around.

Because of the open-endedness of the game, Morrowind seems to be the type of world people will return to again and again. The freedom and richness of the land will keep players immersed in the game, and leave them wanting more. Also, the large amount of quests included in the game offers over 100 hours of gameplay, and that is without including the aspect of creating your quests using the included construction set CD. Morrowind will leave gamers wanting more, and most definitely returning for more.

While visually stunning, and amazingly well designed, the game does have its own bugs and issues to deal with. While they are nothing too annoying, they can cause frustration if a player steps into a glitch or experiences a slight freeze. Even on high-end computers, Morrowind tends to become jumpy when loading up new areas. The only major bug I've noticed has been a slight issue with the clipping in some areas. I have found myself stuck in places that I have been unable to work my way out of, but this can simply be fixed by opening the console and typing (fix me). As long as you keep your eyes open for areas such as these, though, players should be fine.

One of the finest aspects of Morrowind is its construction kit, which is included with the game. This kit opens up the entire game to people, allowing them to customize every aspect of it. They can add new NPCs and areas, create new equipment, and even add in their own quests. Bethesda created Morrowind in an infinite expanse of ocean, so you even have the ability to create a whole new continent to explore, if you so wish. This feature will surely keep the game fresh and exciting for players. They can either create their own plug-ins for the game to keep themselves going, or they can download one of the many plug-ins (both official and user-made) from the internet.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is both a graphic feast and gaming joy. The time and dedication spent on Morrowind will surely be reflected in the hours spent playing it. It is a must-have for any fan of the RPG genre, and I highly recommend it to gamers of any kind. Its unique features and freedom will have players continuously coming back for more, and will always be able to hook new players. If you haven't added this game to your collection yet, I strongly urge you to do so.