Can't say I ever felt bored while playing Morrowind. At least not until I had sunk well over 100 hours into it.

I assume you spent that time in the south and west then. North and east is as barren as a desert. With the possible exception of cliff racers.

Increase view distance, find a mod to increase your movement speed (Speed and Stamina's good), turn down cliff racer aggression, and you're sorted. When you can see distant caves and the towers and spires of the ruins around you it really is much better.

I explored the entire map except for Red Mountain. Honestly, I don't recall those areas being as barren as you describe, especially the east. I remember the east having a ton of tiny islands you could explore with lots of caves and tombs.

This map illustrates the issue:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:FullMap_TravelRoutes.png

Basically, the entire area between Maar Gan, Vos and north of the red circle holds nothing. You might find a grand total of two ruins and a cave there or some such thing, but basically it's just black, ash landscape as far as the eyes can see, and that's a good 25% of the landmass. Also, the area south east of the red circle is quite barren as well, and that's another 15% or something.

So yes, the islands in the east are quite fun, as are the areas south and west, but the massive areas inbetween are borderline empty. You need to know exactly where you're going, most likely by using an online map or some such thing, to find the few points of interest in the empty regions.

I was never bored. I ran the overhaul with the OP's shaders enabled and played the core game and both expansions. I also really enjoyed the main plot because of the lore aspect. I explored every nook of the game and hunted down every piece of daedric lore. Fantastic experience. Every game morning watching the godrays coming over the mountains and through the trees…priceless.

There are no trees in the north or east. The whole region looks like black concrete.

Edit: A few examples:
Falasmaryon, north west: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:MW-place-Falasmaryon.jpg
Indaren tomb, east of Falasmaryon: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:MW-pla…stral_Tomb.jpg

The landscape you see in the pictures is the only landscape visible in the northern region. The only people are a few dunmer camps that offer no quests or anything else except some main quest related info that force you do that lengthy journey into no man's land. There are virtually no animals except cliff racers, and no points of interest except a few tombs.

It's simply put the single most barren place I've ever seen in a game. I would love to see examples of game regions that actually have less content, but I doubt such a thing exists. Maybe some under developed MMO.

Edit 2: I'm sounding like I hate Morrowind. I don't, I think it's great. I just think the northern region (and the one quest related to it) is a complete waste of space and time, and it prevents me from playing it more often. The west and south are great though.

I don't have any issues with those areas.

Are they supposed to make sure there's a certain number of points of interest in every area on the map? That would be quite unrealistic and would actually decrease the immersion for me. Every area can't be content dense.

If a region as big as Gothic contains only birds that you can kill with one hit, I'd say the content density is getting a little extreme.

Like I said, I can't find a single example with lower content density. Not one. Doesn't mean people have to find it boring, as that's a matter of taste, but it does mean the region is fairly empty.

Doesn't the Overhaul mod also take care of the cliff buggers or do you need some other mod to remove them? Which mods are included in the Overhaul BTW, I can't seem to find it.

It's a barren region by description. I think they made the area exactly as it should have been except for maybe having a few more enemies. The game certainly wasn't lacking in content overall, and having a desolate region there fit with the lore.

I'm glad they didn't put more there just for the sake of having it.

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker? :p

I'm with JDR. I never was bored with Morrowind, even if some of the landscape is desolate. They give you enough good content in other areas to enjoy so having a barren area is no big deal really.

Haven't tried it, so it could be similar without me knowing it.

As for the barren region - I wouldn't mind a barren region that I could simply avoid. I know there is one in Two Worlds 1 for example. Unfortunately, the main quest forces the player to visit the region, which means hours of walking through nothing but cliff racers and sandstorms.

I could use a mod or cheat to speed the movement speed, but that would affect every other aspect of the game as well, including combat.

Haha, those screenshots are having the same effect on me, as well of waves of nostalgia. :)

not to mention the underwater areas, grottos, and pearl diving. :)

When I played it, There were plenty of other kinds of attackers in the area, too. Especially around Daedric ruins, and hostile camps. But I know that you like to play games VERY quickly and probably get bored if the pace is slowed down from other areas.

I tried to get a screenshot while using a Scroll of Icarian Flight just for you, Thrasher, but with MGSO it's too much for it to display anything. :p

haha. Once I explored by foot (and by swimming) everywhere (and I really mean everywhere, Todd remembers), I made a constant enchantment ring of levitate and flew around to finish the main quest. MUCH, MUCH, faster. Also, nothing like fighting a trail of cliffracers following you as you fly from one end of Vaardenfell to the other. ;)

Just keep a bound longbow in hotkey for about 10 sec duration. That pretty much takes care of the cliff racer problem!