Morrowind

[Erkki]

I started playing Morrowind again. My first attempt stopped after a couple of hours for some reason, but this time I didn't follow the main objectives that closely and have had lots of fun actually.

It's a lot better than I would have thought, and really gives you the feeling of adventuring in a huge world. And the dryness of the characters doesn't even bother me as much as I thought.

One of the weirdest things also happened to me: I was searching some Dwarven ruins for a "puzzle box" of some sort, but couldn't find it. I had already given up and was heading back to Balmera, when I changed my mind and decided to look again. Right near the entrance I somehow took a wrong step and fell down a long way to a ledge. The fall nearly killed me, but from that ledge was the way to where the artifact was -- I had simply not noticed it before

Now if only I could find a way to deal with some ghost-mages deeper down in the ruins, I could explore it more. My weapons don't have any effect on them.

Luckily, I have lots of other things to do meanwhile.

[MrHoatzin]

Oooh... I've been toying with the idea of starting the game again on my new super rockstar rig that can play all the bells and whistles without hurtin'.

Have I shared that wee secret about the best way to get around the south Morrowind? Well, actually it will help you get around pretty much anywhere you want with but little inconvenience.

You leave a teleport marker in front of the temple in Vivec, preferably right by the moon shrine, that is a part of the deal; you leave a marker there and it is likely that you will find a teleport back ring somewhere, if you don't just get a few scrolls or something cause you will surely be using it a lot... When you teleport yourself to Vivec, buy a shitload of the cheapest levitation potions from the woman that is walking in front of the temple, and then donate them to the shrine of the moon. You get some 200% levitation speed and it lasts for days. I have flown to Sadrith Mora this way, though it is better to fly to the mages guild in Vivec and have yourself teleported to Sadriththgth Mora -- you save the time and have the juice then to levitate pretty much all the way to Dagon Fel.

[manny_c44]

Woah, you sound like a D&D nerd.

[shbazjinkens]

Woah, you sound like a D&D nerd.

Run!

[MrHoatzin]

Woah, you sound like a D&D nerd.

Hmmm.

Only superficially.

I despise all that is universally loved about D&D in the geek circles.

[manny_c44]

I actually know absolutely nothing about DD at all, its just the way you were throwing in the town names like you'd actually been their and fondly remembered them. Almost like a travel guide author...

Speaking of Morrowind, I think its great in its expansive vision and execution, but I will be absolutely gutted if Bethesda makes Fallout 3 anything like it. Which, sadly, is probably unavoidable.

...ughhgh, can you imagine a plodding fiirst person Fallout game? I would weep openly.

[Jaero]

Manny, I dount it will be too similar to Morrowind to stomach. Hopefully they will take the faithful path and remain true to the license, but if they take the high road, they would likely base it more on Oblivion than on Morrowind - which, by the way, made me crap my pants the other day.

[Erkki]

Thanx Kingz. I'll try that later. I haven't really started figuring out the magic system yet.

At the moment, I was teleported to mainland (can't remember the names, the place with the Royal Palace) and I keep getting quests thrown at me, although I'm a bit weak for them. I've managed so far, though.

With lots of reloading, I managed to kill an assasin who wanted to murder me during a play I was acting in and got a "Daedric sword" or something from him. As I've "persuaded" most of the merchants, I could get 34000 for the sword (more than 6 times the money I've ever had), but noone has that kind of cash or items of that value. I really hate when this happens in RPG's

Anyone know where I could sell it? Then I could buy those adamantite armor thingies.

Some of the quests are really awesome. I got to play matchmaker, and replaced an actor on stage who "got sick" or something.

[Roderick]

The Dwemer puzzle box is one of the most notorious items in the game to find

I love Morrowind. I think I also love the dryness of the characters. And I love it exactly because you can pull stuff like that levitation schtick. It's so wonderfully open-ended, you can just find ways to do stuff that even the makers wouldn't have dreamed of. It's not without its flaws, but it's sure as heck one of the most charming games of recent years in my opinion.

[Trithemius]

I despise all that is universally loved about D&D in the geek circles.

Which is what, exactly?

As a person who formerly despised AD&D, and who now tolerates D&D, I am curious about what folks are saying about us.

[Trithemius]

Thanx Kingz. I'll try that later. I haven't really started figuring out the magic system yet.

Teleportation magic in Morrowind involves about four spells. Two of them, ALMSIVI Intervention and Divine Intervention, have fixed, but flexible, destinations - they transport you to the nearest Tribunal Temple or Imperial Cult Altar respectively. The other two are Mark and Recall, which operate in much the same was as in the Ultima games, except that there is no need to 'mark' a particular item and you can only maintain one 'marked' location at a time.

Other, more versatile, teleportational artifacts exist, but are extremely rare or tricky to use (and might constitute spoilers to some people?).

At the moment, I was teleported to mainland (can't remember the names, the place with the Royal Palace) and I keep getting quests thrown at me, although I'm a bit weak for them. I've managed so far, though.

With lots of reloading, I managed to kill an assasin who wanted to murder me during a play I was acting in and got a "Daedric sword" or something from him. As I've "persuaded" most of the merchants, I could get 34000 for the sword (more than 6 times the money I've ever had), but noone has that kind of cash or items of that value. I really hate when this happens in RPG's

It's a real pain in the arse.

Anyone know where I could sell it? Then I could buy those adamantite armor thingies.

Mournhold (where you seem to be now) has pretty good vendors, by comparison to Vvardenfell - however there are a couple of strange vendors around the place. I don't know if they are easter egg vendors, but they are quite strange. They always purchase for the listed price (or less if you are so inclined) regardless of your Mercantile skill and have reasonable reserves of cash. Alas, they still cannot afford to pay tens of thousands for the daedric items.

Only people who are prepared to learn about these (potential, I suppose) spoilers should make use of the following links:

The first unusual merchant - courtesy of Hannah's Whereizit Morrowind

The second unusual merchant - courtesy of Hannah's Whereizit Morrowind

Some of the quests are really awesome. I got to play matchmaker, and replaced an actor on stage who "got sick" or something.

Morrowind has some truly interesting quests, although more complex political machinations would be good (admittedly, I normally say this sort of thing about games). It makes me wonder if people who complain about the 'wooden NPCs' have actually played it very far - probably they gave up because Iolo was not there to personally greet then when they arrived on the docks.

N.B. Hope this is not too long and dull for you all.

[Erkki]

I actually managed to sell it. The price had somewhy gotten even higher, more than 35,000. But I traded for it everything the smith in Gods?????? had and his stuff & cash only came about 4,000 short. I decided it was worth it and made two trips to the other merchants, having bought two packrats before. Are there any larger pack-animals available somewhere? I know there's a mod that adds one, but I prefer not to install any unofficial mods.

Anyway, by then the quests in Mournhold got really tough for me so I went back to Ebon?????? (can't I remember a single name?) and went to Vivec to find a book seller, but found a complete set of adamantite armor instead. Yay!

PS. Speaking of mods, I installed all the official ones and an error message pops up every time I start the game, telling to see warnings.txt which has these warnings:

One of the files that "EBQ_Artifact.esp" is dependent on has changed since the last save.
This may result in errors. Saving again will clear this message
but not necessarily fix any errors.
One of the files that "LeilaQuest.esp" is dependent on has changed since the last save.
This may result in errors. Saving again will clear this message
but not necessarily fix any errors.
One of the files that "AreaEffectArrows.esp" is dependent on has changed since the last save.
This may result in errors. Saving again will clear this message
but not necessarily fix any errors.
One of the files that "bcsounds.esp" is dependent on has changed since the last save.
This may result in errors. Saving again will clear this message
but not necessarily fix any errors.
One of the files that "master_index.esp" is dependent on has changed since the last save.
This may result in errors. Saving again will clear this message
but not necessarily fix any errors.
One or more plugins could not find the correct versions of the master files they depend on. Errors may occur during load or game play. Check the "Warnings.txt" file for more information.

I deleted all the save games I'd made before installing the mods, how do I make this message go away. I briefly searched for this problem in a Morrowind forum somewhere, but didn't find any help.

[MrHoatzin]

I hated the fact that there is no one who can buy the awesome, expensive things considering that looting and pillaging is my favourite way to get money in RPGs. I ended up leaving all the cool stuff in my house and selling the medium awesome things to the gimp in Caldera and the turtle/crab north-east of Vivec.

I hate the mechanics of tabletop RPGs and the fact that much of the said mechanics have made their way to computer RPGs when they really shouldn't be there. BioWare is criminal in that regard. I don't like the fact that most D&D games are about all these awesome things your characters can do, rather than the story that they're in. It is a geek-empowering trip of no aesthetic value.

[loonyboi]

The creeper can buy anything you want, no matter how expensive. It's just a matter of figuring out how to exploit him properly.

Here's how it works:

Sell him lots of medium-value items. His gold purse refreshes daily, so sell him stuff, sleep for a day and sell some more.

Once he's got all that stuff, buy it back, thus giving him an assload of money.

Then sell the *really* high-value stuff to him.

Poof! You're rich in no time.

[loonyboi]

If you're too lazy to do that, download Zed, the user-created shop keeper who stands in the streets in Balmora and has huge sums of wealth to purchase things from you.

[Jayel]

seeing as how almost every crpg is inspired by D&D rulesets in one way or another, it's hard to imagine what crpg landscape would be like today if there were no D&D at all.

As for story taking a backseat to character stats - isn't that totally up to the developer? In any case, I think D&D ruleset is very modest when it comes to character abilities, compared to other RPGs with their own rules. If geek-empowering experience is what I'm looking for, I'd be playing Diablo. "upto 99 levels?? I'm there!!!"

Personally I love AD&D.

[MrHoatzin]

I haven't really played any tabletop RPGs, ever, but I have been helping a friend of mine make a cohesive world of his own in which to run games. He is using a D&D 3 rules for his basis, so I am marginally familiar with them... and now that I think about it, I have also played Neverwinter Nights so technically I am fairly familiar with the rules. And the game is set up in a very power-centric fashion.

On the other end of the player power/story spectrum lies the Legend of the Five Rings tabletop. I can see myself creating a character with unfavourable stats because I can anticipate how those can have some interesting story implications, whereas having unfavourable stats in D&D pretty much literally retards you and has no positive bearing on the story.

[pj-]

I hated the fact that there is no one who can buy the awesome, expensive things considering that looting and pillaging is my favourite way to get money in RPGs. I ended up leaving all the cool stuff in my house and selling the medium awesome things to the gimp in Caldera and the turtle/crab north-east of Vivec.

I didn't really hate it, but it's probably the main reason why I kept everything I ever picked up..

P.S. Spoilers warning for my link

[MrHoatzin]

Dear mother of Santa Claus!

[Trithemius]

I know there's a mod that adds one, but I prefer not to install any unofficial mods.

I encourage you to try the 'clean' user-created mods - they really add to the game.

Handy site with a few good ones

I especially reccommend Wakim's Game Improvements for some smart changes.

[Trithemius]

I hate the mechanics of tabletop RPGs and the fact that much of the said mechanics have made their way to computer RPGs when they really shouldn't be there. BioWare is criminal in that regard. I don't like the fact that most D&D games are about all these awesome things your characters can do, rather than the story that they're in. It is a geek-empowering trip of no aesthetic value.

Vicarious power-tripping is part of 'conventional' roleplaying for some people, but its certainly not the only thing going on. I think that CRPGs have managed to capture the disappointing elements of RPGs, but have yet to figure out who to incorporate the best aspects of them.

[Trithemius]

On the other end of the player power/story spectrum lies the Legend of the Five Rings tabletop. I can see myself creating a character with unfavourable stats because I can anticipate how those can have some interesting story implications, whereas having unfavourable stats in D&D pretty much literally retards you and has no positive bearing on the story.

Good choice for an example!

I have to say though, that I know too many nutcase power-gamers who do a really good job at exploiting the L5R system too. This kind of thing is not a systemic thing (although systems can encourage it) but a matter of attitude about gameplay.

[Erkki]

Isn't there any real estate you can buy/own in Morrowin? I'd like to keep some of my things "safe" but not carry them all the time.

One time I thought I could have the shack in Hla Oad (where I killed the Cammona Tong guys or whoever they were), but I went back there and some new people were already there...

Umm... wait, no. I think the slaughter in the shack was in Gnaar Mok. But that place is too distant at the moment to go there often.

[MrHoatzin]

Join one of the three local houses. You finish some missions and get a place to call your own. They actually build you a house in the wilderness. If you join the Rosomethingorother your house would be southwest of Balmora on the Odai Plateau, if you join the crazy wizards out east you get an awesome mushroom house somewhere close to Uvirith's Grave, and if you join the noble xenophobes that rule the crab's shell in Ald-Ruhn your house will be somewhere in the ashlands on the road between Maar Gan and Ald-Ruhn.

In addition to having a house of my own, I held some of my awesome shit in a pile by the shrine of the moon in Vivec...

[Roderick]

I can barely withhold myself from showing my absolute nerdism and correct some of the errors you made there, Kingz