Has anyone here actually finished Morrowind?

[Adrian M]

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC and XBOX) is an immensely HUGE game. It would literally take someone years just to do half the miscellaneous side quests, but the main story is pretty involved too.

I've owned MW on the XBOX since about last year when the Platinum Hits version was released and I'd estimate that (with off and on playing) I'm probably about 50% of the way done on the main quest.

 

I can't fathom the how someone could finish the game and then move on to the TWO expansion packs (or the GOTY edition for XBOX)! One would literally have to devote MONTHS of their LIFE to this game! Who has finished it, how long did it take, and was the end result worth all the time and effort spent?

[cryptik76]

I have finished the Main Quest in Morrowind. I didn't rush it, either. I made my way to the top of a few guilds (Fighters Guild and the Imperial Legion, and maybe one or two more that I can't remember offhand), did countless sub-quests, joined the Morag Tong and have done at least a dozen assassinations all over the continent, became a rare book collector (my library in Balmora is pretty big now), and a whole lot of other things. Once I finished the Main Quest, I went on to do more exploring. I'm probably about half-finished Tribunal (Tribunal is TOUGH!), and probably roughly the same amount through Bloodmoon (Bloodmoon is not as tough, but more difficult than Morrowind).

 

I basically followed the Main Quest as loosely as possible, because I wanted to truly savor this game.

[cryptik76]

Oh, and it probably took me about 120 hours, at least, before I finished the Main Quest. I could imagine you could do it in about thirty hours if you didn't stray too far from the story, though.

 

I felt it was well worth the time I invested, and I don't regret a single minute I put into it. But I felt that the stuff I did on the side (the Guilds, the sub-quests, and the numerous other distractions) were more satisfying than the Main Quest, which is good but not the best I've seen.

[Adrian M]

Ah, you've been most helpful!

I know I've put in more than 30 hours into my quest over the course of the year, but man, sometimes its just so easy to get lost in all those little side quests.

 

I think I do have a problem with one of the faction houses (I'm actually stuck)...House of Halau (or whatever it's called)...they gave me a task of meeting somebody by the name of Nimender (a woman I think), as well as some helmet to wear when meeting her. Problem is, I wasn't wearing the helmet when I met this contact and she attacked me, thus prompting me to kill her. Well, now I'm stuck because the leader of the House is insisting that I meet with the now-dead contact, so my prospects for advancement there are basically non-existant.

 

Great game...I get the urge to play it off and on.

So I take it you have the GOTY edition? Did you import your character and are some of the original bugs corrected?

[Adrian M]

Another thing...the level up system in Morrowind is pretty neat. Whereas most RPG's have you slog through battle after mundane battle, in Morrowind, your skills increase during the course of the game (ie: athletics, weapon repair, spells, etc.). Of course, the top tier skills for each particular character are the ones that have the most overwhelming effect on your level progression and whatnot, but it's kind of cool to level up now and then simply by reading a book on a shelf or running through some long hallway.

 

Mr. Cryptik, if you don't mind me asking, which character class did you settle on and what level is/was your character at?

[cryptik76]

I have the PC version, with the two expansion packs.

 

I don't know how to help on the House Hlaahu quest, because unless you can reload an earlier save you may be stuck due to a bug. I haven't joined any of the Great Houses yet. It seems they're not too thrilled about having me join since I finished the main quest.

 

How far along are you on the Main Quest? I can probably estimate how long it would take you to finish it judging from the point where you are now.

 

I've only had one character since I started the game. He's a Redguard Rogue, under the sign of the Thief, and I believe he's something like a level 43 or so. It's been forever since I leveled up, because most of the stats I use the most (all my weapon skills, for instance) are topped out at 100. I don't regret choosing a Redguard Rogue, since my primary and secondary skills are almost all related to either fighting or security (disarming traps, picking locks, pick-pocketing), which is how I like to play. I was thinking about starting over again with a Mage or something once I finish Tribunal and Bloodmoon, but I can't imagine dedicating another 150 hours or so to it, since a lot of the surprise and wonder will be gone.

 

I still play it now, even though I've been playing it since May of 2002. I don't play it as much now, but I pick it up occasionally.

[Adrian M]

 

How far along are you on the Main Quest?  I can probably estimate how long it would take you to finish it judging from the point where you are now.

 

The last time I played it, I remember leaving off on the fifth Blades quest...I was looking for the Urshilaku Burial

Caverns to find some bow in order to prove myself in an initiation right, I believe.

I kept getting slaughtered in the cave (naturally, I was without any meaningful way to heal myself). I'm a level 20-something Imperial, I believe and I'm playing the original XBOX version (platinum hits, not the GOTY edition). I'll fire it up tonight to see exactly where I am and report back!

[cryptik76]

The last time I played it, I remember leaving off on the fifth Blades quest...I was looking for the Urshilaku Burial

Caverns to find some bow in order to prove myself in an initiation right, I believe.  

I kept getting slaughtered in the cave (naturally, I was without any meaningful way to heal myself).

 

Wow, you've got quite a ways to go, then.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD:

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The quest to find the bow in the Urshilaku Burial Caverns is just the beginning of the Seven Trials quests, which is the bulk of the Main Quest. You've got quite a bit of gaming ahead of you. It's good stuff, though. The Urshilaku Burial Caverns is one of the most beautiful indoor locations in Morrowind, IMO.

[cryptik76]

Oh, and as far as hours left, I'd say you'd have at least another fifteen to twenty hours ahead of you, if you didn't stop to do other things, like do guild quests and things like that. But if you're like me you will, so I couldn't even guesstimate.

 

Have you ever played Arx Fatalis for Xbox? If not, you might want to check that out if you like Morrowind. It's not as long, but it's very good.

[Hydian]

I got about 20 hours into it and had to quit because my eyes were bleeding from the incredibly slow travel. "run" was like running in a swimming pool except less fun.

 

It's a shame too...Daggerfall is my all time favorite game in the genre.

[cryptik76]

I got about 20 hours into it and had to quit because my eyes were bleeding from the incredibly slow travel.  "run" was like running in a swimming pool except less fun.

 

Yeah, sometimes travel can be a drag. The whole "zones" thing (where it pauses every 30 seconds of travel to load a new zone) was irritating. It was nice in Gothic 2 where it loads pretty much the entire world in one lump sum, so there are no load times. Dungeon Siege does the same thing.

 

POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD: After you complete the main quest, you get a nifty little item that makes it so you pretty much never have to stop and let your stamina recharge. That's made travel a little smoother for me.

[tyranthraxus]

I played Daggerfall a lot back in the day. Turning into a wereboar was one

of my favorite game moments ever! I think it took me almost 3 months

to beat the game.

 

I havn't played Morrowind yet, I always thought travel in Daggerfall was

a pain. So its worse in MW?

[PuddWakkr]

Played it and beat it as well. Now playing through the GOTY edition with new character. Took over 3 months of solid playing and I have no idea how many hours. Enjoyed every second of it ( except where it would freeze up ). Have'nt had the GOTY edition freeze up yet though.

[Adrian M]

Oh, and as far as hours left, I'd say you'd have at least another fifteen to twenty hours ahead of you, if you didn't stop to do other things, like do guild quests and things like that.  But if you're like me you will, so I couldn't even guesstimate.

 

Have you ever played Arx Fatalis for Xbox?  If not, you might want to check that out if you like Morrowind.  It's not as long, but it's very good.

 

Looks like I have some gaming ahead of me! Gotta love the non-linear nature of the quest though...getting off course is part of the fun!

Guess I found myself entrenched in the various guild quests which consumed the bulk of my gameplay time.

[Adrian M]

The last time I played it, I remember leaving off on the fifth Blades quest...I was looking for the Urshilaku Burial

Caverns to find some bow in order to prove myself in an initiation right, I believe.  

I kept getting slaughtered in the cave (naturally, I was without any meaningful way to heal myself).

 

Wow, you've got quite a ways to go, then.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD:

.

.

.

.

.

.

The quest to find the bow in the Urshilaku Burial Caverns is just the beginning of the Seven Trials quests, which is the bulk of the Main Quest. You've got quite a bit of gaming ahead of you. It's good stuff, though. The Urshilaku Burial Caverns is one of the most beautiful indoor locations in Morrowind, IMO.

 

Good news! I sat down and played Morrowind last night for a few hours and made my way through the Urshilaku Burial Caverns. The Bone Biter bow was rather easy to obtain...even the wraith that guards it was nothing compared to those damn skeletal champion warriors. But still, I got it, made my way to the village, talked to Sal Matuul and then the wise old lady. I then spoke to Cassius over in Balmora and got my next assignement....cleaning out some Sixth House located near Ald Ruhn! The game is starting to get fun again!!

[Dragonforce-Europe]

i completed might and magic VII for blood and honour. and it took me 6 months full time of my spare time!. thats a half year! and i only completed the good side . So now it will take me another 6 months to play it on the dark side if am ever going to play it again

[Adrian M]

Made lots of progress over the last few weeks.

Joined the Mages Guild and reached the title of Conjurer.

Finished numerous unrelated side quests.

Progressed all the way to the Korughun dungeon in the main quest (the first of the lost prophecies quests). Levelled my character up to Level 23 and have been focusing on developing my magicka and security skills.

 

Great game! I went out and bought the XBOX Game of the Year edition to I can have the Tribunal and BLoodmoon expansions available once I finish the main Morrowind quests. One important addition all XBOX owners should know about that I feel is well worth the upgrade price (over the standard Morrowind edition) is teh fact that the GOY main game now has enemy lifebars! Doesn't sound like much of an addition, but trust me, it comes in handy during some of the more intense combat sequences!

 

I will continue to focus on this wonderful game. SHame that I'm only just now getting back into it, but regardless a great game nonetheless!

[Adrian M]

A few more observations from me regarding the XBOX Game of the Year edition. (in case anyone either doesn't own Morrowind for XBOX or is debating whether it's worth the $30 price).

 

1. Enemy lifebar (aside from the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansion content, this is a HUGE enhancement)

 

2. Performance: I am noticing that this version is a bit choppier on my particular XBOX console. What do I mean by choppy? Well, sometimes there's a bit more disk access when you access the various map and item screens. Bug-wise, the game has frozen on me only once, which is about the same as the standard edition. Many have bitched about the game freezing often, but this is generally nonsense from people who have given up on the game.

 

3. Saving games is slightly faster.

 

4. Loading games, on the other hand, is agonizingly long. Longer than before. I'm not sure why either, but then, I'm using a character that was created in the previous version. Perhaps if one starts a new character from within the GOY edition and works his/her way up that way (not importing) perhaps that would solve the problem.

 

5. Included documentation is top notch. You get a new overworld map poster with Solstheim and Mournhold. The game manual is well-done, only slight edits from the previous manual, but what's there is very good. Read it carefully...many of the little obscure bits (creating potions, trapping souls, etc) are explained in less than obvious places.

 

6. Any weirdness when using an imported character? Not really...I mean, for what they're accomplishing here (continuing while using a character made in a previous game...sort of unheard of in the console world) works EXTREMELY well. Just load up an old save and you're ready to go. The only thing I noticed, though it may just be due to my on again-off again relationship with the game in the past is duplicate journal entries. IE: talk to some characters and they may give you a journal entry that you already received way back. I rechecked some of the previous journal entries and it does appear that the new entries that I think are duplicate are actually slightly different....a couple of words differing here and there. Your mileage may vary.

 

Overall, the Xbox GOY edition is well worth the $30 asking price. The overall package is well produced and you're getting an insane amount of gameplay and the game just really progresses and draws you in perfectly. Learning the art of trapping souls and mixing your own potions via alchemy can literally develop into hours of gameplay and experimentation as you seek out ingredients and monsters to try out your new found skills. Elder Scrolls 4 would be a wonderful addition to the upcoming XBOX2...let's keep our fingers crossed!

[Adrian M]

One other thing to add is that the GOY edition has a Difficulty Slider built in. You can tone down or increase the difficulty if the going gets too tough for you.

 

Personally, I leave it at the default level (middle, 0).

[PuddWakkr]

A  

 Many have bitched about the game freezing often, but this is generally nonsense from people who have given up on the game.  

 

 

I played the game for months. Completed all of the main quests and gave up on nothing. The freezing bug is not nonsense at all. I lost count of all of the freeze ups I encountered. Somethings that do help out on the freeze ups...

 

Sleep for three days straight - this lets all of the monsters decompose.

Try and close all the doors you open.

If playing for a really long time save your game and then clear the cache files on your HD - ( modded xbox just delete everything on the X,Y and Z partitions, non-modded just pop in three different Xbox games in a row).

 

If you have'nt encountered alot of freeze ups then your either very lucky or not very far into the game.

 

That said Morrowind is still the best RPG I've ever played on a console. GOTY Edition is worth every penny if you've played through the original.

[Adrian M]

A  

 Many have bitched about the game freezing often, but this is generally nonsense from people who have given up on the game.  

 

 

I played the game for months. Completed all of the main quests and gave up on nothing. The freezing bug is not nonsense at all. I lost count of all of the freeze ups I encountered. Somethings that do help out on the freeze ups...

 

Sleep for three days straight - this lets all of the monsters decompose.

Try and close all the doors you open.

If playing for a really long time save your game and then clear the cache files on your HD - ( modded xbox just delete everything on the X,Y and Z partitions, non-modded just pop in three different Xbox games in a row).

 

If you have'nt encountered alot of freeze ups then your either very lucky or not very far into the game.

 

That said Morrowind is still the best RPG I've ever played on a console. GOTY Edition is worth every penny if you've played through the original.

 

I recently came across some of the steps you can take to clear up some of the performance issues on Bethesda's website. Pretty much what you listed (has to do with some games fragmenting the XBOX's RAM...odd if you ask me). They say to dispose of corpse on all monsters/enemies, do not pick up and drop minor objects haphazardly, constantly use NEW save slots...don't overwrite existing ones. Do the sleep 3 times in a row trick BUT immediately load up a new save slot, and so on.

 

I tried some of these and it does seem to make the disc drive churn a bit less, but there are still areas where the game may freeze for like a second while switching to subscreens, etc, where the standard version never did (for me anyway). Still, given the massive scope of the game, this is all understandable and forgiven.

[PuddWakkr]

Actually I've found the game runs much smoother if you have it copied to your HD rather than running it from the disc. Loading times are cut down alot and framerate is much better.

[Adrian M]

Actually I've found the game runs much smoother if you have it copied to your HD rather than running it from the disc. Loading times are cut down alot and framerate is much better.

 

Well, that may be, but I don't own a modded XBOX system and as such, I have no legit way of copying the game to my hard drive.

[Adrian M]

I went ahead and followed some additional steps that Bethesda recommends (removing all traces of the original Morrowind game, save files and all) and that seems to have helped the loading a bit and I think the disc access issue is a bit better now.

 

The cache clearout (inserting 3 or more games, letting them load to the title screen, repeat with another game) was the next step, but that didn't seem to have any effect on my game.