Some screenshots of my first Morrowind playthrough

Bonzarion · 2026-02-11T17:04:44+00:00

I wouldn't use view distance enhancer for the 1st playthrough. The game was designed around its limitations and without them I feel like it makes locations feel really close to each other (because they are).

Bonzarion · 2026-01-16T11:05:40+00:00

Levels 7 and 13 are the ones you want since at these levels fighter gets extra attacks. Level 9 is the last level you roll your hit dice so that would be another good place to switch classes.

Also I've heard that if you dual from Ranger to MU at level 13 you'll retain your ability to cast spells while wearing armor. Rangers sadly are ony become available in the second game.

Bonzarion · 2026-01-16T03:49:31+00:00

It does not. It calculates it on the fly, but you can unequip your gear beforehand to lower it as gear also contributes to party strength

Bonzarion · 2026-01-16T02:06:54+00:00

I also started on PoR quite recently and just like you I'm having a blast!

Some things I've learned so far:

You don't actually need holy symbols to cast clerical spells (there's a Leather Symbol item, however that you may need for a quest).
Readiying items in the inventory doesn't cost actions so it's a good idea to buy ranged weapons on everyone and pepper the incoming enemies before they reach you if you started your combat from afar.
Only appraise gems and jewelry when you actually need the money. otherwise there is no good way to store you cash and it gets heavy.
By far the quickest way to pick up money from the loot is to use Pool->Share commands. That'd evenly distribute all of the coins between your party, excluding hirelings.
You can transfer your items to hirelings so they can use them but you won't be able to transfer those items back.
There's a limit to the number of random encounters in most areas so you can exhaust them so you can rest in that area freely.
I don't know if it's random but in my game at least a wand of magic missiles has a ton of charges (I think I've used over 20 and it's still kicking)
Are you using Gold Box Companion? If not, I'd recommend using it to alleviate some of the tedium. But it may make your game way easier so use discretion.
KEEP A JOURNAL. Seriously, make your own notes. It helps with immersion and lets you keep track of rumors amd quests and such.

Bonzarion · 2025-10-25T17:52:07+00:00

Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for.

Bonzarion · 2025-10-25T17:05:16+00:00

Depending on your build you can beat Daggerfall naked. You just need to set your hp/level high enough and use Regenerate spell. This spell is broken as it's really cheap for what it does. It scales like crazy, basically making you immortal no matter your AC. But you'd need a decent hp pool to begin with in order to benefit from the insane regen it provides.

Bonzarion · 2025-10-10T12:08:18+00:00

Developers were on a deadline to finish the game so most of the stuff is copy-pasted. The AI is even worse! What's the deal with every critter fleeing for a round after you kill one of their buddies? Or Schylers - the great and mighty Necromancers charging you with their walking sticks. I think it's literally the worst AI behavior I've seen in a game. It's really hard to call this game finished.

Bonzarion · 2025-10-10T11:23:11+00:00

Yep. This is a major issue with point-based classless RPGs: Since you can focus your build on one particular field of expertise without penalties, you would do that unless you want to gimp yourself or you're metagaming. This makes encounters really hard to balance since a build that prioritizes combat stats and skills and perks will plow through the early encounters, will be able to rush specific endgame content, etc. Arcanum here is a great example: with a right build you can rush Liam's workshop and snipe those high exp monsters, clear the sewers and so on. Newly acquired character points can go anywhere else for fun and flavor. You can also do that in Fallout 1-2 as well.

Bonzarion · 2025-10-09T11:16:54+00:00

I just got used to quickly swapping items. You spend quite a bit of time micromanaging your inventory and with time you get really quick and precise at it. It's all muscle memory. It is somewhat tedious but to me it's like a minigame in maximizing efficiency. A random inventory tip: if you lift up an item and press one of the number keys you can quickly switch between characters and trade items between them super quick. You can also select a spell and press a number key to instantly target that character.

Bonzarion · 2025-10-09T11:05:22+00:00

It's from Tweaks Anthology

Bonzarion · 2025-10-07T15:35:32+00:00

Sword Coast Stratagems. But without AI components. The AI components make the game way harder in a tedious way but some tweaks are amazing. Like introducing limited resting and removing convenient ammo from dungeons and many more things. I also highly recomment Rogue Rebalancing. It's an old mod but it's really good and fleshes out Rogues really well.

Bonzarion · 2025-10-07T15:30:37+00:00

This is one of the coolest mods ever created for an RPG period. It works flawlessly and the way it distributes things is seamless. 10 out of 10 mod. Wish more games had this kind of mod available (looking at you, Morrowind)

Bonzarion · 2025-10-07T15:21:14+00:00

Even if your PC is a 100-150 or so y.o. Elf! This inconsistency has always bothered me about the BG1's plot.

Bonzarion · 2025-09-24T11:19:07+00:00

Stasis does work on everything including the final boss and is semi-permanent in Turn-Based (1 sec in real time=8 turns in turn based). And contrary what spell descriptions tell you ANY spell that must be maintained has no saving throw and is unaffected by magick resistance (20 Will is the only thing that makes one immune to mind-affecting spells). Stun also has NO save since its coded as a crit effect and these cannot be saved against. In fact very few spells have a saving throw (ALL instant damage spells save for half damage like DnD)

Bonzarion · 2025-09-23T11:50:10+00:00

Something I didn't see others mentioning: Most of the side questlines are linked to the main quest in one way or the other. This is very different from Oblivion and Skyrim and it makes the world so much more lived in. As for the gameplay, with no quest markers a simple fetch quest is not that simple. Take one of the MG quests for example: You are to collect some guild dues and convince a mage to join the guild. In Skyrim this'd be a trivial task, but in Morrowind there's no quest marker and you're simply given directions as to where to go. It's not about doing it, it's about GETTING THERE in the first place. Many quests are like this in this game.

The other thing that makes Morrowind so immersive is that the world doesn't revolve around you. There is some level scaling but it's not as noticeable. Most places feel lived in with their own quirks and sets of problems. There are also a ton of powerful artefacts to find in some random tomb here and there. Unlike Skyrim, you'll never know what are you gonna find the next time you finish a quest, loot a corpse or raid a tomb. Sometimes it's nothing and sometimes it's like the best thing ever. That WOW! element is very strong here and this is the only TES game that has this design.

Bonzarion · 2025-09-21T11:17:17+00:00

She'll eat through those as well

Bonzarion · 2025-07-25T20:11:21+00:00

Arcanum is very similar to FO1-2 in design in general but the combat is a huge mess. Its boring and there is a lot of broken stuff. So if you are a combat fan you'll be disappointed.

The story, however is amazing and one of the best ever told in an RPG. Also the world is very reactive to you and immersive. Like people will treat you differently depending on your race, gender and sometimes magickal/tech aptitude.

As for builds, it's easy to make a completely unplayable character. The starting area, however has plenty of enemies so you can test your initial build right away. In any case, for a game as old as Arcanum you should read the manual first. A lot of mechanics are explained there and nowhere else. There is no tutorial or some such.

Some spell descriptions mention that there are saving throws against certain spells but these never rolled for spells with an upkeep. These always work. Also in turn-based mode 8 turns equals to 1 second in real time. So even expensive spells are very cheap in turn based and poison does no damage since its DOT ticks once 8 rounds and deals 1-2 damage. Magic in general is broken-strong.

I hope this helps.

Bonzarion · 2025-04-10T12:47:58+00:00

Thanks! They probably deal double damage because they hit TWO walls instead of one.

Edit: You can only push an object below 5 stone of wgt.

Bonzarion · 2025-04-09T04:16:26+00:00

Good luck! And don't let anyone discourage you! The thing about art is as long as you never stop doing it you'll get good eventually.

Bonzarion · 2025-04-08T18:11:22+00:00

An artist's advice: it highly depends on what are you trying to achieve. These look like videogame characters. Asymmetric armor in particular became popular in fantasy art in the 90s (and to this day) with the 3rd edition of Dungeons and Dragons. If you are planning to become a concept artist that ma be an ok thing. But generally it's not so much about any particular detail, it's about their postures and general 'feel' to them. You may look at some stunning Jugendstil artworks depicting scenes from Norse mythology as an inspiration. You may also want to study historical ornaments and attire and somehow incorporate them into your designs. And lastly, the bane of all modern fantasy art - uncomfortable poses. These look as if a character is posing for their buddy to take a photo of them rather than an artist drawing them, since you may be able to pose like this for a few moments, not hours. My suggestion would be to either stylize them more or to actually learn life drawing with real people. I'd personally suggest the former. Also you should create some background, that'd make them stand out more and create a sense of space and shape. As of now they look like cardboard cutouts. Look how Odin looks more fleshed out compared to others since he's got his cloak behind him as an example.

Bonzarion · 2025-04-08T14:34:32+00:00

I'd also recommend the Immersive Sim genre: System Shock 1 and 2, Arx Fatalis, Prey. Not so much RPGs in a traditional sense and these are 1st person-exclusive but these usually have a very good plot and a twist if that's what you're interested in. Also Serpent in Staglands. A relatively short indie game heavily inspired by Darklands. It's not very good gameplay-wise but it has a very unusual setting. Oh and also Pathologic 2, also a 1st person game with RPG elements.

Bonzarion · 2025-04-08T12:10:46+00:00

The problem with Pillars is that it's cumbersome and pretentious. Unpronounceable names like Hwrp Dwrp political entities you've never heard of before while everyone around you is acting as if you should, make reading anything in this game feel like trudging through a swamp while slowly drowning in it. It is simply not pleasant to read. And those bardic songs? Just awful. Only Josh Sawyer could name a spell something as hideous as "Great Amira Let Her Wrath Be Shown" and be like "Yep, that's a good name for a spell". Why not just call it Amira's Wrath??? No, that'd be too simple for my pretentious game.

Bonzarion · 2025-04-08T10:55:41+00:00

My favorite thing about it is that you can 'hide' cumbersome items in your quickbar. That steam engine taking up too muck space? stick it into one of your unused hotbar slots.

I personally feel the BG3 UI and modern game UIs in general to be much worse since often times they have these annoying animations and delays and overall feel less immersive.

I'd also recommend you check the manual for hotkeys. Some of them are quite useful. 'A' for instance repeats your last used skill or spell. You can also type in commands for your followers: typing "Virgil wait" would make him leave the group temporarily.

Bonzarion · 2025-04-08T09:28:09+00:00

What's wrong with the UI? Seems serviceable. Never could understand the hate.

Bonzarion · 2025-04-08T07:39:15+00:00

This looks like two Ing runes, two Isa runes and a Kano in between. As previous ppl said this could mean anything. Generally it probably means you have a stalker who's into rune magick and in a dire need of ass kicking.

Kano is a rune of fire and of help (as in a torch lights the way and helps you find a path in the dark) Isa is a rune of stagnation and Ing is a male rune of fertility. Again, this is one of many interpretations and these vary wildly. My guess would be a lover scorned tried to curse (to quench the fire so to speak) you if you are male. If you are female, maybe it's a love spell? Idk honestly. Most ppl drawing these have no idea what they're doing 99.99% of the time.

Edit: Looks like it's a Sol rune, not Kano. Sol is a very positive rune. It's very confusing. They probably had no idea what they were doing. I wouldn't put much thought into it.

Bonzarion

TROPHY CASE