GAAAAH! Cliff racers!
 

So.. I recently replayed Morrowind for the first time in quite a few years. Had a blast overall, though I had forgotten how annoying the cliff racers actually are! Don't get me wrong, I remembered it was bad, but my goodness. Trying to cross the ashlands is so frustrating I had to get a mod to reduce cliff racer spawn rates.

Here's a quick example. Oh yes, and the best part is: They'll slowly come down one by one, making an annoying screeching sound the entire time:
http://i.imgur.com/d5FNISQ.jpg

Moved a few meters, hearing the music switch to combat music. Looking up reveals:
http://i.imgur.com/fpwT3LZ.jpg

A few solo or duo encounters later..
http://i.imgur.com/MOWWs2c.jpg

A bit further along, after a few more solo encounters..
http://i.imgur.com/1eYvS8J.jpg

Here we go again!
http://i.imgur.com/u662QWl.jpg

Keep in mind, I only took screenshots when there were three or more cliff racers. I didn't even list all the solo encounters, and there were loads. I don't think I've ever seen such annoying respawns. It's worse than the kobolds of Firewine in BG1.

At any rate, I strongly recommend using some mod that lowers their spawn rate. It's fine while exploring more or less civilized areas, but the ashlands.. sheesh.

Ahh, Morrowind. I upgraded to a Geforce 3 to run it and it still didn't run well. Then I was sure it would run well on my Geforce 4. Nope!

I guess OpenMW has fixed the performance? You playing openMW?

Nope! I actually started out without a single mod. I've since added three mods:
- Morrowind Code Patch
- Morrowind Patch Project (only the patch that actually fixes stuff, not the ones that also make balancing changes).
- Some sort of cliff racer reducer mod. Can't remember the name (can always find it if it's interesting).

I prefer it that way, as it keeps it as close as possible to the experience I had back in the days. Nostalgia makes it enjoyable.

Surprised you didn't install the Morrowind Overhaul Maylander. I highly recommend it. You can pick and choose everything you want from it and it makes the game look excellent.

Yeah, but it also changes the look and feel of it. Right now, the main reason Morrowind works for me is nostalgia. That's why I started out without any mods at all, and simply added a few mods later on that only removed bugs (I had forgotten just how buggy it was). Oh yes, and a mod to reduce cliff racer spawn rates.

You might consider playing the Arktwend total conversion (from the makers of Nehrim and Enderal) if you still want more in the Morrrowind engine. I enjoyed it…

I'm trying to get my 10 year old to play Morrowind, but he finds it too scary, so he just tries to steal stuff in town. He's afraid to go out into the wilderness, and I think the cliff racers might be why. He mentioned about being attacked from the air.

Nostalgia isn't enough for me to ever play vanilla Morrowind again. That is one game that did not age well at all. :)

I remember cursing at those cliff racers many times. I never installed any mods to change them though. Getting your Marksman skill to 100 helps a lot as you can one-shot them with a decent bow.

Yeah, you'll get used to them.

Yeah, I never lowered their spawn rates before this either. I find that my patience for frustrating stuff in games is not what it used to be..

This will only grow worse as you get older….

I think I had a mod from one of the devs that made them unaggressive. Wish I would have kept it. Modding wasn't real big back then…

I haven't played Morrowind in a long, long time. Never did complete the main quest in that one.

Surprised you never finished the main quest, 'nut. It's worth going back sometime. Mod it a lot and in some ways it will be like a brand new game. :D

I got a little tired of Skyrim (it just lacks the depth somehow) and decided to give Morrowind a go again! I gave up on Morrowind after playing only couple of hours a few years back. I'm hoping this time I will feel different since I got used to TES series via Skyrim. Wish me luck :X

Good luck, blobby! :D

I would recommend building your character thoughtfully to start the game. A lot of the early-game combat issues can be avoided if you make sure you have a decent attack skill (whether weapon or magic), and sufficient stats to use it. I.e. you probably wouldn't want to start with something like a High Elf Mage who uses an Axe primarily. Not that it's impossible or anything, but that would be for more advanced/seasoned Morrowind players. In other words, you have to match your character's attributes/stats to their skill set early on. The game will be easier at the start for you that way. :)

Hope you like it. ^_^

Its a great game, but I recommand downloading few essential quality of life mods like a magica regeneration mod.

Magicka regen? Bah! Part of the fun is being stuck in a dangerous area, low on Magicka and health, out of potions and barely able to crawl your way back to town alive. Or, at least crawl to a spot on the map where you can safely rest without being interrupted. :P

From what I rememember, Morrowind has no shortage of mana potions or mana potion ingredients, so odds for that to happen were slim at best. Besides in the mod I was using magica regenerated very slowly. I think the the speed of regeneration was based on player's willpower or something and it required certain birth sign. So you still needed potions while in combat. It just removed a bit of grinding.

But we all have our preferences. One of the best aspects of Morrowind is that its really easy to changes rules and gameplay via mods.

My last character I played as was a High Elf Battlemage and I didn't really have any problems with Magicka. You get scrolls and magical items as well, and resting regenerates it as well. Unless you use The Atronach birth sign, which is always fun. :P

There was a mod called "Non-aggressive wildlife" and modding for Morrowind was bigger than you seems to imply…

Yeah, this is the reason why I actually managed to get into it this time - usually the weird combo of rolls + player input combat just makes me cringe (you decide when and where to swing a sword, but whether or not it connects is still roll based, unlike BG which is entirely roll based or Gothic, Skyrim etc which is entirely player based).

This time, however, I went with a Redguard with light armor and long blades, which allows you to start with a very high long blade skill (and decent armor), meaning that hits will usually connect, so it feels more like Skyrim than some weird hybrid.

Magic also works like that, but I still don't recommend being a pure mage from the start. It has certain challenges, and works better either as a 2nd run or as a change of style later on (when you can afford to just buy skills all the way to 100). Some knowledge of spell crafting and enchanting, for example, is recommended in my opinion.

Thanks, Fluent!

I'm having great time playing Morrowind although I must admit it's really the house decoration bit I'm loving the most. Got myself a small cottage named "Cozy House" in Pelagiad. I'm just taking it easy, exploring the nearby regions and returning to my cozy house at nightfall - I must admit, I'm really enjoying freedom of this game. I used to only enjoy RPGs that were more linear with interesting quest lines without much freedom.

I am playing custom class named "Battle Mage", specialising in fire spells + long sword without armour. And yes, I am using Mana Regen mod (nothing wrong with a little bit of help from the mod) :kitty:

Good stuff, blobby! :)

Battlemages are fun. I like the prospect of flinging spells while also wearing heavy armor. :P If you are interested in a fun series of quests that are designed for magic-users, you can eventually check out House Telvanni. They also offer some cool things aimed at magic-users and the like. :)

Poor Cliff Racers, get such a bad rep when they just want to be your friend, they just get a little over excited like a dog that's caught a cat and eats it alive.

I liked the Cliff Racers, it's one of the things that I remember most clearly about the first time I played Morrowind. Being in an area I shouldn't be, to week and ill equipped to fight them all off so I ran away. Of course I ran into another and another while the ones pursuing didn't give up, now low on health and out of arrows I run into a random cave, which turned out to be a crypt with impossible enemies in it. Hiding at the door between the fire and the pan, cowering, dying, loving every moment.

I miss those guys lol.

Only two Cliff Racer mods I remember ever using was one for better textures and one that upgraded them, loads. Think it gave them different kinds and ranks depending on the player level, eventually the higher rank ones would shoot fireballs or poison stuff at you depending on their type :) (think there may also have been one kind that could paralyse you for extra joy because I seem to remember being frozen while hearing that armour hitting sound accompanied by their screaming, like one of those dreams where you can't run fast enough)

I don't understand why they get so much hate.





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http://i.imgur.com/0MPYoFK.gif

Hehe, that one accurately describes how I felt at times..

Here's something that may help
https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42200/

I recommend you combine it with this one
https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43503/

:)

These won't help at all:
https://youtu.be/YECdOTzZOZc
https://youtu.be/aUx_kYh-hhs?t=11s
https://youtu.be/rWiDp2D0mXc?t=48s

I think I played this game too late. The magic system is amusing, and the game is pretty enough. But the wiki dialogue and minimal narrative kind of sucked the enjoyment out of it for me. [Grammar?] Also, cliff racers!

I'm not sure it's about playing it too late, maybe it's just not to your liking. I'm replaying it now, in earnest, after very many years and having lots of fun.

I really like the dialogue system and consider it a positive. It's a good way of showing keywords that the player can get more information on while also making them stand out to help the player remember them. This extends to the journal where you can review given quest, what's been said and so on.

I'd say it's also more natural than the common, or typical, system where games put words in your mouth, with a selection of a few poorly worded truncated sentences that often don't mean what they should and where despite the number of options presented they all point to basically saying one of two things while poorly pretending there's more.

This feels more like I'm picking topics out of what someone says and they then react/reply, while the game almost never puts any words in my mouth.


Would have to disagree about there being minimal narrative, though NPCs don't force all of the information on you they can reveal a decent amount and then there's loads of books and scrolls informing you about what's going on and then far more about what's happened in the past. Not only from multiple perspectives but also some accounts which are propaganda and some candid secret truth (again from a perspective).


I have little problem with Cliff Racers and often wonder if it's just a trend to complain about them more than actual hatred, their A.I movement can be annoying if you have no ranged attack no denying that but I've never had issue with them and raise an eyebrow to those that genuinely do more so since we now have a much greater view distance than in the "vanilla" game.

Especially in a game that has Slaughterfish, seriously anyone wants an enemy to hate on or complain about in any game look no further. They can smell you a mile away the moment you enter the water and swarm like flying jaws towards your face and anus, out of the darkness stunning you with every hit while you try to scamper out of the vision limiting water, meanwhile the game is warning you that you're drowning, the joys (gets even better in dark underwater caves with not water surface). Seriously in a game that has Slaughterfish I'm more likely to roll my eyes at someone complaining about Cliff Racers. Hope I don't sound hostile, I'm having a laugh though also sincere.

Morrowind has far more worthwhile things to complain about than the Cliff Racers, seriously it has some ridiculous flaws, in an otherwise wonderful game.

I played it with all expansions about two years ago. I really enjoy retro gaming and Morrowind’s quirks are pretty charming overall. But the lore and history and atmosphere is nearly unrivaled in gaming. To me the graphics (with extender) are pretty fantastic. Animations no so much but acceptable. But it’s amazing as a package. I think I read every book.

I too liked the dialogue system in Morrowind. I think it's a hell of a lot better than the choose response A, B, or C that Bethesda has used in every game since.

The combat is abysmal though, and so are the animations, although I think the animations are pretty bad in all of Bethesda's games anyways.

I agree about the atmosphere though, and I loved exploring Vvardenfell. :)

Finding a Dwemer ruin in a Blight storm. That's atmosphere!

One of the things which morrowind in my opinion seriously needs is more intresting monster/animal variety in the wilderness and then making wildlife act more naturally and not just always attack player. There were couple of remarkable mods which enchanted these aspects really well.

While I'm at it. There was this mod which made npcs act more naturally. Morrowind comes alive or something like that. Hugely immersive. I haven't followed the morrowind modding scene for quite some time, so there are probably even better mods than this.