RPGs with good ideas that fell short

Morrowind definitely had better graphics than Gothic, it's not really even close.

On the other hand, I thought the creature animation was definitely better in Gothic, besides the fact that Gothic overall was a lot more fun to play.

Originally Posted by Squeek
If you go to Morrowind's official forums, you'll see plenty of people asking for help, trying to get the game to run smoothly even on today's computers. But now that the average system exceeds the recommended specs by factors, it's become clear that Morrowind's engine just isn't very good. In fact, die-hard Morrowind fans are petitioning right now to try to get Bethesda to release an engine update (and it would be very cool if they did).

Games like Gothic and KOTOR, that I'd played prior, sort of ruined Morrowind for me in terms of graphical simulation. They were fluid, and Morrowind wasn't. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game and has a beautiful game world. But you struggle with the game engine, and that's the truth.

I disagree about today's average system having issues with Morrowind. What would you call average? In 2003 I ran Morrowind on a 1.2GHZ PIII with 512mb of memory and a Radeon 9600 Pro and had no issues. Some occasional slow down but that's about it.

Today I'm running it with the Graphics Extender program, 4X AA, 16x Aniso, shadows on and it runs super fluidly on my 2.4ghz P4 (possibly below average system today) - I have 1.5 Gigs of ram which is probably average nowadays. The only thing (slightly) above average is my Geforce 7800GS video card.

I do recall people with better systems than my 2003 rig having issues so I'm not saying the engine was technically great (it could have used more optimization, that's for sure) but on a "modern" system you should have no trouble running Morrowind. Those MW fans on Bethesda's forums want it re-released because the Oblivion engine just LOOKS so much better - and of course the combat system is much improved and that phsysics system was put in.

And Gothic's engine was decent but KOTOR's was rather bland. It looked plain, bare-bones at release. Sure, some outdoor areas looked nice but most of the game looked dull, especially the interiors. Not sure if it looked any better than Wizardry 8, hehe. And navigation was smooth enough but during combat I experienced more slow down on my older system than with Morrowind.

And I agree with JDR 13 - figure animation was a sore point in Morrowind and foliage looked more detailed in Gothic but overall Gothic doesn't even come close.

In 2002 most reviewers gushed over how beautiful Morrowind looked and how amazing the graphics were. I don't recall anyone making a big deal over Gothic's graphics.

And I apologize to all for going way off topic, hehe.
/Bow

Originally Posted by Relayer
I disagree about today's average system having issues with Morrowind.

Fine. All I can say is that the posts are there at Morrowind's forums; mods like The Graphics Extender are hugely popular, and the fans are petitioning for an improved game engine. Come to whatever conclusions you want.

I think there's a lot to like about Morrowind, and its graphics are beautiful. The game engine isn't so hot.

Originally Posted by Squeek
Fine. All I can say is that the posts are there at Morrowind's forums; mods like The Graphics Extender are hugely popular, and the fans are petitioning for an improved game engine. Come to whatever conclusions you want.

They're just dissappointed that Oblivion looks so good but is half the game Morrowind was

Believe me, I visit those forums too (though I rarely post) - they're so blown away by Oblivion's engine but want to play Morrowind instead (a lot of posts about playing Oblivion for a bit and then returning to Morrowind).

I don't blame them - I stopped playing Morrowind in late 2005 and only did one quest line, the main quest and some random quests. Also finished some Tribunal quests and some of Bloodmoon but never finished either and getting the itch to return, I reinstalled it recently.

You just can't beat the ambience, the atmosphere in Morrowind is just so unique, Oblivion doesn't even come close. But after playing Oblivion you can't help but imagine at what Morrowind would look like with that engine (I guess no need to wonder now with the SI expansion pack since it looks reminiscent from what I've seen/read).

But anyway, I do agree the engine isn't so great technically - but this whole "side discussion" was about which had better grahics, Morrowind or Gothic and I still say Morrowind. But I can see Gothic's appeal too.

Anyway, to keep this post "on topic", I'll add: Arcanum was a fanstatic concept, it had some great roleplaying opportunities, lots of good ideas but the combat system was horrendous!

Now that's a remake I would LOVE to see…maybe with the TOEE engine