RPGWatch Feature - Morrowind Revisited

Dhruin

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Part retrospective, part love-letter to the mod community, VoxClamant writes about his recent experiences revisiting Morrowind. Here's a snip:
This piece started out to be a retrospective on Morrowind. But somewhere between the sketch of the ideas and the completed work, it morphed into something a bit different. Yes, it is still mostly about Morrowind. But it also focuses on how mods, in general, have added so much to many of the best games any of us have ever played. Indeed, during the writing a profound conclusion solidified for me -- many of the best games became "best" because of their support for mods.
Read it all here.
More information.
 
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Nice article.

It is really a matter of taste which mods one installs.

A few months ago I used this guide to install some mods.

I mostly installed bug fixes, new models, grass mods.

I also installed some mods I didn't like, such as one that adds thousands of new NPC's and one that added schedules to the NPCs. The mod that adds alot of NPC's I was unable to remove because Morrowind stops working when I remove it. But if I would install again I would not include that one.

I personally would change nothing from the gameplay. For example I'd never use all ports traveling mods, simply because remembering all routes and choosing the quickest route has become a game unto intself for me.

Whenever I was traveling with family, before the advent of navigators, I used to be in charge of the map and directing the driver. Also when we visted New York I was in charge of determing which subway line to use. Being able to navigate through a locale using Signs or using "Public Transport" makes me feel like I'm actually there spatially.

At a time I was so adept at Morrowind travel that I also used AlmSiVi or Divine Intervention scrolls as public transportation. Especially if I was in a remote place, it was the quickest way to get back to society.

Sadly, this type of fasttravel was removed in Oblivion, and it's use in Fallout 3 has probably cemented it in BGS games.

Modding it out of Oblivion is not so easy, since it's not about simply disabeling Oblivion fast travel, but about also providing alternative travel options such as coaches, boats or Mages Guild guide transfer.
 
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He forgot the most important mod (for graphics anyways), Morrowind Graphics Extender which brings the graphics up to Oblivion's level and, in some ways, even beyond that.

He links to TESNexus? He's really missing out, Planet Elder Scrolls has a much, much bigger support from modders.

A link to the official mod forum i would consider the most essential link for anyone who's serious about replaying/modding Morrowind.

Morrowind Code Patch i would consider a must. It fixes many bugs in the code, it even fixes so that rain doesnt go through roofs and such when you stand under it and many, many other things that should have been in the game to begin with. It doesnt just fix bugs, it ADDS stuff to the code, like support for bump mapping. The list of fixes/additions is really impressive.

Morrowind Patch Project is another must have for bugfixes.

Some random screens from the forums (most people use Morrowind Graphics Extender):

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/32210-1-1276199296.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/28552-1-1260048798.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/rm8vua.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/31051-1-1271269595.jpg
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6316/zscreenshot09.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/29341-5-1279370381.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/57416-1268762140.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/iamerik/MW and Oblivion/MGEScreenshot16-2.jpg
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/2053/morrowind20100814164134.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/57416-1279661609.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm207/Midnightrider775/Morrowind2009-12-2103-50-32-06.jpg
http://piclair.com/data/tduzr.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/iamerik/MW and Oblivion/MGEScreenshot21-3.jpg
 
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Argh, stop showing me all the pictures. Makes me want to play Morrowind again. Bad people, bad people :)
 
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It has that effect on people, that's why i always try to spam MGE pics in threads about Morrowind hehehe, it's really worth replaying people! :)
 
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Is there some kind of easy way to install all the essentials?

I'd like to retry Morrowind - but I can't stand the thought of messing with so many mods, and trying to prevent crashes etc.
 
It depends on what you consider the "essentials" i guess.. Installing MGE and different shaders does require a bit of reading, and it can be confusing at first (that's what the official forum is for).

It does take a bit of effort to make it look good and for it to be a smooth experience, i won't lie about that.

Morrowind has a utility called Wrye Mash that automatically fixes the load order and it even gives you suggestions (like recommending an update for a specific mod etc). It's extremely useful.
 
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It isn't really all that difficult to install all of this but I suggest staying away from trying to move landmasses around to get them to work together correctly.
 
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Argh, stop showing me all the pictures. Makes me want to play Morrowind again. Bad people, bad people :)

Laughing my ass off !
But indeed, now i must play it also (again...). so many games so little time.
 
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Love this game, glad I got the whole shebang recently on Steam! Played it vanilla the first go-round, definitely going to experiment w/ the mods this time around.

Like I needed another game going now, but after that article it doesnt appear that I have much choice. Well written, thank you Vox for revisiting this awesome classic
 
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I never liked Morrowind. I didn't even complete it. I became a high priest, and for that I got an empty room and a title that didn't mean anything. I maxed out hand-to-hand, but it could barely make any damage so it took ages to kill a monster with it. Compared to Gothic it felt empty, void of story, void of anything that draw me to the game. The wikipedia style dialogue felt more like accessing a database than talking to people. I cannot remember a single NPC from the entire game, except the one that always had 5000 credits as well as the first guard you meet in the tutorial.
 
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I never liked Morrowind. I didn't even complete it. I became a high priest, and for that I got an empty room and a title that didn't mean anything. I maxed out hand-to-hand, but it could barely make any damage so it took ages to kill a monster with it. Compared to Gothic it felt empty, void of story, void of anything that draw me to the game. The wikipedia style dialogue felt more like accessing a database than talking to people. I cannot remember a single NPC from the entire game, except the one that always had 5000 credits as well as the first guard you meet in the tutorial.

I have to say, I agree with this 100%

The game was simply..... bland - in pretty much every way.
 
Different type of game than Gothic, so that's not really a good comparison imo.

Morrowind was great, especially for its time. It was an explorer's dream for me. I put at least a 100 hours into that game just exploring. One of these days I want to go back and actually finish the main quest + both add-ins.
 
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I don't get that, really…

Exploring Morrowind?

You just came upon one cookie cutter dungeon after another, completely void of unique content. Everything was so "random" in feel, that I basically felt like playing a stream of computer generated content - in a very BROWN world.

Visually stunning, I'll grant you that - but incredibly static and DEAD, at the same time.
 
Oh, to be fair, Morrowind DID have FANTASTIC city designs.

I suppose those were worth seeing, but still...
 
Morrowind's dungeons were absolutely not devoid of unique content. The game you're thinking of was called Oblivion. :)

There were quite a few unique weapons and artifacts scattered throughout Morrowind. Some were found in the cities, or on certain NPCs, but many were also found in dungeons, caverns, tombs, etc.
 
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I liked the landscapes, especially the Ashlands. (And the fact that I could turn on permanent rain.) Like JDR I spent a long time exploring. And I found it's lore and background story to be rich, far exceeding Gothic. I think I read and collected all the books I could get.

BTW, as far as I remember hand 2 hand only caused damage after you had knocked the opposition unconscious. It really wasn't meant to be used for killing opponents.

I agree with the dialogue critizism, however. I never understood the complaint about the dialogue in Oblivion. There were a lot more choices in Morrowind, yes. But most of it was completely useless, just a collection of keywords accumulated by talking.
 
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