When you think of the role-playing genre on the PC, you think of a short single player game, combined with an over-the-top multiplayer experience. While these types of games are catching to anyone wanting to go off into adventures with other people, the character development and bond that you get from a good single-player game isn't always available from these types of games. Well, Bethesda looks to redefine the genre with the third installment of the Elder Scrolls saga, Morrowind. And while the game has some bugs here and there, as well as a few gameplay issues, Morrowind is without a doubt one of the best looking, most exciting RPG's to grace the PC in a long time. In fact, this is without question a game that every RPG fan should have.

The story of Morrowind is pretty big, which we covered in our preview, but the strength of Morrowind lies in the many, many quests that are available in the game. And the fact that most of the side quests do not need to be completed before you can complete the game makes it all the more worthwhile. It's like a kid walking into an ice cream shop, and no matter how many different toppings they want on their sundae, the price of the sundae won't change. But for those that choose to follow the main storyline, prepared to be immersed in a complex but comprehensible storyline, that has an interesting climax and a satisfactory resolution.

Gameplay:

Right from the beginning, Bethesda makes sure that your transition into the world of Morrowind is as painless as possible. While the NPC's are interacting with you, you are also given instruction on how to properly follow their commands. They don't cover all of the functions, but the ones that are covered will be used heavily in the game.

Once you have covered your basic commands, then it's time to create your character. And I must say that they have pulled all stops when it comes to customizing the character to your liking. But here's where it starts to get interesting. Because of the twenty plus classes for a player to choose from, some might get confused and worried on selecting the right class. So to help, they have provided ten questions, which the answers will select the class that best suits your needs. And if you think those twenty don't help, then create your own!

The character that you choose is not only diverse by the class that you choose, but he/she is also diverse in how your character can develop. Your character is equipped with several major and minor skills that need to be increased to make you a more powerful character as the game goes on. Skills like heavy armor or long blade will increase your ability to wear heavy armor and increase your skills with the swords. But other skills such as strength will allow you to carry more items, and increasing your acrobatics will allow you to jump from higher distances without the risk of injury. Many of these skills can be increased just by jumping a lot, or by doing a lot of fighting. Understanding how to increase your skills will help you better train your character to a style that is to your liking.

Once you have created your character, its time, to head out into the world of Morrowind. Because you are an outsider and lack any experience with the townspeople, the locals will be very unwilling to help you during your travels. It's going to take some butt kissing and some major sucking up, but sooner or later, you will get a different reaction from the people you encounter. How a NPC will react in the future will be based on your position in one of the various guilds. If you are a successful member of the law-enforcing guild, then people will give you the respect that you deserve. But if you decide to live a life of crime, then people will not be as friendly. Getting caught stealing or attacking someone without cause will result in a bounty being placed on your head. Once that happens, you have the choice of paying the fine, going to jail, or take your chances as a criminal on the run. Taking the jail time or fine option will seem a bit difficult because it is very hard to find someone who will administer those choices to you. But that's not saying that running from the law is any easier. For some strange reason, once you have been recognized as a law-breaker, every town seems to gain " that information simultaneously. Local guards are on alert, and will attack you if spotted. There is also a third option, the way of the Vampire. That's right, should you get turned into vampire and survive, you will have to live as one of them. That means no more traveling in the daytime without damage from the light. Almost all of the townspeople will not service you, and you will become somewhat of an outcast (which you were before you became an vampire). But once it is nighttime, you get a significant boost in stats, making you a deadly opponent to anyone that wants to take you on. It's an extreme lifestyle, but if vampires can do it, why can't you?

But the life of a Morrowind outlander doesn't have to be a mercenary lifestyle. With the ability to join guilds, you can take on guild exclusive quests, as well as have access to weapons, items, armor that only accessible to guild members. The more tasks that you complete with a guild, the higher you can advance within the guild. But should you steal or attack your guild members, you run the risk of being expelled, with no guarantee of being reinstated.

Alas, all is not great within the world of Morrowind. For there is something oddly wrong with the NPCs that you need to escort. For some reason, if you have a decent amount of distance between you and the NPC you are following, and happen to start a fight with a monster, the NPC will come up to help. But not only does he/she attack you from time to time, but once the creature has been defeated, the NPC will run all the way back to the point to its exact position when you first engaged the enemy. The first couple of times, it was pretty funny and shocking to see them take off, but after a while, it just became downright annoying. Another issue revolves around the combat system. Like some other recent games, Morrowind binds the attacks to the movement controls. So if you wish to perform a horizontal slash, then you actually need to move your character left or right in order to complete the action. While is was a noble attempt to offer more flexibility for the melee fighting, it ends up being more of an obvious flaw to an otherwise rock-solid combat system.

Graphics:

Without question, Morrowind is one of the most gorgeous RPGs to date. The character models are well rounded, and feature an impressive amount of detail. However, the models' limbs appear to be disjointed from the rest of the body. The creatures that you will encounter are extremely large, including the rats. Even the flying creatures looks as if the came straight from the prehistoric age. But as impressive as they are, the environments are what steal the show. The plants and trees are huge, and the terrain displays an impressive amount of color. Each part of the island is very distinctive, so you always are aware of where you are. I should also point out that the cities are also amazing in design and detail. Most of the buildings that you will encounter can be entered, revealing even more NPCs and objects that you can encounter.

Because the world of Morrowind is in real-time, players are also treated to some of the best weather conditions ever implemented into a game. A good example of this is when you are traveling at daybreak, and visibility is almost zero because of the dense morning fog. You might even be able to catch some rain within that same day. The different times of the day is also reflected by the sun and the moonlight. Playing the game during dusk/dawn really shows the time and effort put into making this game come to life. The dynamic lighting is equally impressive, especially if you are highly involved in the art of magic. In fact, you may find yourself performing magic spells just because they look so cool when they are performed. They're some clipping and collision detection problems, most notably in the multi-tiered caves and dungeons, as well as heavily-armored models. Several times I would turn a corner, only to find myself falling through the ground, having to restart from a level or two below.

But as good as the graphics are in Morrowind, they come at the price of performance. The first system that we tried to play the game on was a P3 1Ghz/512 MB/ Radeon 8500 combo. At 1024*768, the performance was very good, as long as the shadows and music were turned down, and the viewing distance was reduced to a third. Now when I tried the game on my P4 2.26 Ghz/384 MB/Radeon 8500 combo, the game was smooth sailing with everything turned up to the max. I did however notice some surprises while testing the game on the two machines. A weather effect such as rain usually slows the game down to the single digits (If you have played GTA3, then you know what I am talking about.), but in the case of Morrowind, the effects didn't have as big of an impact on performance as I would have expected. Though the effects combined with many NPCs on screen would cause some slowdown. This game is also one of the first games to take full advantage of pixel shading and DirectX 8.1. Taking advantage of the advance pixel shaders is apparent whenever you look at the water. It is without a doubt some of the most realistic water that you will ever see. My mouth is just watering thinking about it. However, you can only see this game at its true potential if you card supports programmable pixel shaders. So users with a graphics card less than a Geforce 2 are sol.

Well the sound is very intriguing, as it not enhances the environment that you are traveling, but it also becomes a important enhancement in gameplay. A perfect example is your interaction with the NPCs in the game. As I mentioned previously, the overall attitude towards outsiders is very harsh. However, if you just approach a character without actually initiating dialogue, the NPC will speak to you first. Listening to the tone of their voice, and what they are saying, you can determine the current mood of a character. This will let you know if it is worth conversing with them or if you should try again at a later time. When engaged in combat, the NPCs will actually taunt you with some arrogant remarks, despite them being on the brink of death. But that is as far as it goes when it comes to NPCs speaking. Though I should point out that with as many NPCs as there are in Morrowind, I was surprised to see the diversity in voice actors available in the game. Because nothing would be worse than to have a hundred or more NPCs all sounding like Gary Coleman (Note: Gary Coleman is not featured in the game).

But the sound effects are what put the icing on the cake in this department. All of the creatures have their own distinct sounds, and the weather also is dead on. If you have ever had by the sound of thunder, then prepare to be shaken again in Morrowind. Whenever the wind or rain storms come, you never fell as though you are in a 3rd person, because the environmental sounds makes you fell as though you were right there. It truly is something that I have yet to see in a role-playing game. If there were any quirks that I had, it would be the weapon sound effects. For some strange reason, they all sound the same no matter how you are swinging, or what you are hitting. Other than that minor annoyance, the sound is excellent.

Replay Value /Devices:

What's this? A PC RPG with no multiplayer mode? Well, if you have been following the development of Morrowind, you know that this game was designed as a single player game from the start. Nevertheless, the replay value would not have been as great if the community wasn't given the tools to expand or modify the world of Morrowind. Enter the Elder Scrolls Construction Kit. This powerful tool will allow gamers with an extensive imagination to take their vision and integrate them into the world of Morrowind. If you think a dungeon needs to be widened, then widen it. Want more enemies or quests to conquer? Add them. The world of Morrowind is at your creative disposal with this construction kit. And what's even better is that there is a fail safe mechanism within Morrowind, so if your modifications come into conflict with the core elements of the game, an error will appear, describing what exactly is causing the error. You then have the option to continue or exit the game to try to fix the problem.

When it comes to using devices, Morrowind is one of those games where you are better off if you have one. Using the Game Commander 2, the game was much easier to control, especially if I needed to perform quick spells and other mundane tasks such as resting, healing, etc. Now if you want to bind different combat attacks to a particular button, then the Nostromo n50 or Claw USB may be the device for you.

The Wrap-up:

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is one of those games that you know will be good, but once you play it, the game manages to exceed all of your expectations. Despite some minor gameplay issues and bugs, Morrowind is one of the best-structured, and best-looking games to grace the PC in a long time. One of the best RPG's in 2002? Hell yeah! And you can be sure that Morrowind gets my vote as one of the best games of the year. This is one game that will definitely give you your money's worth.