Despite the fact that The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind is closing in on its 20th anniversary, it still has a dedicated fanbase thanks to its continued support of third-party mods and rich narrative with detailed lore. While fans are waiting for more news of The Elder Scrolls 6, some will inevitably be drawn towards The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, especially if they’ve never played it before.
Though its graphics are dated and many of its mechanics have aged poorly through the years, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind can still offer a fun experience if players understand what they are getting into. While it can be a intimidating for fans of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim to adjust to, its free-form style of gameplay allows for endless possibilities.
For players who originally got into The Elder Scrolls series with Skyrim, the first thing they’ll notice is how different Morrowind feels and plays. For example, the combat in Morrowind is heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons where players must roll a dice to see if a weapon skill hits or misses. Although this mechanic by itself isn’t a deal breaker, the scaling is skewed poorly and beginner players can easily get frustrated while missing a majority of their attacks. As a result, players need to dedicate more time exploring the world around them and grinding their skills until they become consistently reliable.
Another frustrating mechanic is the lack of quest pointers and general direction for new players. Getting lost in Morrowind is common because the only information players have about quests are usually from NPCs using landmarks as a guide. Moreover, the movement speed can be sluggish especially when compared to Skyrim and this can easily turn off many players. There’s a learning curve to Morrowind that requires a lot of experimentation, and new players will likely have to spend time adjusting to its dated mechanics. Thankfully, many of these issues can be mitigated or overcome through the use of mods which is why Morrowind is best played on PC in 2021.
Although the old-school mechanics can be intimidating, it also enables Morrowind to shine with its open-ended design. Morrowind places almost no restrictions on the player at any stage of the game, allowing them to explore the world without following the main quest at all. The strongest aspect of Morrowind is its storytelling and worldbuilding, which players slowly uncover as they stumble through the world. Whereas Skyrim’s Radiant Quests often suffered from ending up as fetch quests, Morrowind’s variety and freedom allow players to complete their tasks in whatever manner they see fit.
The modding community behind Morrowind remains active to this day as they continually improve mechanics and fix bugs to make it easier for newcomers to enjoy. Overwhelming mechanics such as the dice rolling or grinding can be modded out, while other mods offer the addition of new monsters, NPCs, cities, equipment, and more. Much like the design philosophy behind Morrowind, the third-party mods gives players the freedom to create the experience they are looking for.
There are also some remaster projects from fan communities in the works such as Skywind, a recreation of Morrowind in Skyrim’s engine that players can look forward to if they find Morrowind too outdated. Ultimately, Morrowind is still a fantastic game in 2021 as long as players understand that it’s a completely different experience from other Elder Scrolls games, and are willing to be patient with its retrospective faults.
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind is available now on PC and on Xbox consoles via backward compatibility.
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