My first priority was updating the graphics engine so that it would play nicely with my gaming monitor.
Through a small selection of easily downloaded mods, I was able to modernize my experience in the game without detracting from the elements that made it special. I never cease to be amazed at the dedication and creativity that unpaid fans bring to their favorite PC games. Honestly, mods remain one of my favorite parts of gaming on the PC. Vanilla Morrowind is still an engaging experience in 2021, but it’s the incredible efforts of the modding community that truly give this game life even after all these years.
Maybe it’s more work than following a glowing line on the ground to the next bad guy, but it’s also more connected to storytelling roots of fantasy role-playing. Quests in Morrowind require me to invest in the story, explore a little bit, and let myself live in this fantasy world. After years of RPGs that use overlays, arrows, and glowing outlines to lead me unerringly from one objective to the next, it was honestly refreshing to play a game that scorns the idea of holding my hand. It may not have as much voice acting as the later entrants in the series, but the well-written dialogue is just as compelling and immersive as ever. Those oddities aside, this game holds up surprisingly well for a nearly twenty-year-old title. I’ve definitely gotten used to NPCs with higher polygon counts, and it was bizarre to be reminded that jump was bound to E and interact to the space bar by default. I changed all that in an awful hurry. I can’t even remember the last time I played a game at 1280x960.
The game lacks widescreen monitor support, for one. It’s been quite a while since I last ventured onto the island of Vvardenfell, so my first reaction to loading up the game was to reflect on just how much has changed in fantasy RPGs in the years since Morrowind released in 2002. As a longtime fan of the studio's output, I was giddy with excitement over the wealth of games that had suddenly dropped into my lap. It was only natural that I downloaded Morrowind first. Morrowind recently showed up on my radar again when Xbox Game Pass added a treasure trove of Bethesda games to its catalog. I played each in turn obsessively, and I eagerly await the promised sixth addition to the series. The only games to truly break the spell of Morrowind for me were its ambitious sequels. Coming out onto the deck under the blinding light of day, I was transfixed by the fully realized fantasy world, the looming silt strider hovering over the river, and the unique characters that not only populated the small coastal town but inhabited it. I’ll never forget those first moments when my character was released from bondage in the hold of a ship. For me, there’ll never be another game quite like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
0 kommentar(er)
