The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Water! I loved that my beautiful 3DFX map could show water where the surface actually moved when you walked through it. It was very classy. Overall, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was a completely new experience when I played it at the beginning of the new millennium. I was not as good at English as I became after six years of school, majoring in the subject, so I had a hard time keeping up. However, the world was great to explore and I loved the strange island of Vvardenfell. I eventually managed to get through the long story and loved most of the game, even though the mechanics were hard to understand and the graphics, even then, were somewhat lacking. Today, it is still considered one of Bethesda’s absolute classics and will always have a place in my heart. But the question remains how it would feel to start it today if you’ve never played it before.

For the sake of transparency, I will just say that I played Morrowind with many mods, and I did this to make it a little easier to approach, which Bethesda games usually lack in the original version. This is also how I would recommend others approach Morrowind.

The story in Morrowind is not that easy for a modern game to follow. There is a lot of reading in conversation menus that don’t quite make sense. It’s just as opaque as it was back then. There are several mods that address this, but I still find the system very unmanageable and it still hinders my positive experience with the game. There are fan-made mods coming to the game that I am really looking forward to, as the conversations will be voiced much more than in the original, which will make the game more accessible.

As you dig through the many conversation boxes, a fascinating story lies beneath the surface. You play as an unknown prisoner who arrives in the city of Seyda Neen, where you are told to contact Caius Cossades after the emperor releases you on suspicion of being the legendary Nerevarine. He is in Balomora, a large city in southern Morrowind. He then sets out to tell you about the evil Dagoth Ur and his plan to infect the island with the Corprus disease. There is much more to the story and, in my opinion, it is the best story of all five Elder Scrolls games. It is mysterious, exciting and you really feel that there are important things at stake. The story is just as exciting now as it was then, even though it was quite difficult to navigate, but just like in the early 00s, it was worth it. In addition to the main story, there are also two very large expansions for the game called Tribunal and Bloodmoon, so there is plenty to get your hands on if you want to experience stories at Bethesda’s best.

The greatest strength of The Elder Scroll III: Morrowind, however, like all Bethesda games, is its open world. Morrowind is a strange place with giant mushrooms, interesting architecture and creatures you won’t see anywhere else in the Elder Scrolls world. The island has barren areas that feel lonely, but chaotic at the same time because there is always something to do. There is always a ruin that looks intriguing, a cave where a mystery needs to be solved, or the very mysterious Dwemer who have disappeared and left behind robots that are very enigmatic and quite violent. I love Morrowind in terms of exploration, and I do in all of Bethesda’s role-playing games. Morrowind is just something special, especially because it is so unpolished and different from its sequels, which gives the game a very special feeling that is disappearing more and more as the series and Bethesda’s games become more streamlined. I hope Starfield captures some of this madness, because it’s new uncharted territory for Bethesda. It’s going to be exciting.

When I say unpolished, I mean it. Morrowind is ugly! It always has been. The characters look angular and awkward, the cities are brown and dull, and many of the areas are not particularly lush, consisting of black rocks and gray soil. Some areas have sandstorms, which are brown carpets that reduce visibility. It’s all a bit boring, but it also makes the colors that are there stand out more. However, there are also areas that are more lush and where you meet these blue jellyfish-like creatures called Netch’s and they still look great. So there are ups and downs when traveling around volcanic land.

If, like me, you choose to go to Nexus Mods to update the graphics, you can greatly change the look of the game. There are thousands of mods that have been made in the 20 years the game has been around. I found a total conversion that added 200 mods and made the game more colorful and softer to look at. However, the game is still 20 years old and you can’t polish off some of the mess, but it can change the feel of the game quite a bit. I did not use these mods, but rather went for modifications that made the game less edgy, and these can fix many things that irritated me. For example, the magic system is not easy, and mods make it a little more manageable. Enchanting and Alchemy can also be made a little easier with mods, and all the things I personally struggled with I streamlined, and it makes the game better for me, with the enjoyment of the game’s strengths more in focus.

One of the best things about Morrowind is the music, which was composed by Jeremy Soule. There is not much music in the game and as you run through the world, the music will be very minimalistic, but also very atmospheric. Then there is the theme for Morrowind, of which you can find versions in the following games in the series, and Morrowind has the best version in my opinion. I love the game’s quiet and later bombastic intro, which is just fantastic, but there are also many compositions in the game that stay with you after playing Morrowind. 20 years later, I still love running around with these pieces of music in my ears.

So does Morrowind hold up? Yes, I think so. The game is showing its age and has some really sharp edges, but if you give it time, it will open up and become the legendary game that it is. Mods can then be added to sand off those edges a bit.