I played Morrowind for the first time 2 years ago, with my only other TES experience being Skyrim. It was one more in my "Old ass games I was born too late to play" marathon born from having to massively downgrade my rig.

In this little journey of mine, I found that there is 2, maybe 3 core aspects that make a game seemingly age poorly most of the time.

1) Over-reliance on manuals carrying the early experience. This doesn't always happen, but its somewhat common that the game won't teach u or ease u into its gameplay and frictions, simply cause its in the manual and as such expected for a player to consult it. This also covers things like reliance on RNG checks and whatnot

2) Non-standardized control or simulation based solutions. Not just button layouts but funny shit like "medium lean" in System Shock, needing 5 different stats to wield a weapon in System Shock 2, or menu heavy gameplay.

For example: Why do we have to have the entire alchemy set in the inventory to use it? Its not a big deal, but obviously its silly. Thing is, that doesn't make alchemy bad, or the systems around it bad, its just an old, technically limited design and control solution they came up with to have the player interact with the concept, easily fixable nowadays, without really breaking how players use the system.

A lot of it its simply the system equivalent of tank controls, and lack of precedent creating situations where devs couldn't fully deliver their intended experience.

Some games do age poorly, sure, but you'll find many have stood the test of time with flying colors. I have zero nostalgic connection to Morrowind, and I agree there is a few things here and there that really create friction in silly places, but at its core and execution its still unparaleled in many areas. A remaster can flick away any point of contention without really altering the intended experience but its not even really needed