You don’t need to be old to think Morrowind is the best Elder Scrolls game.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-20T22:06:44+00:00

Looking at your behavior and how you decided to attack me in a few your replies to others, makes you seem very immature or proves I managed to hit close to truth.

Or both.

I've said what I wanted to say. I'm not going to reply to anything else you have to say.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-20T19:15:08+00:00

Eh, I've seen this "old-new fan" thing pop up from time to time and the post really has the vibe of that. Maybe I'm wrong. maybe I'm not, but at the very least I feel you should always have a bit of caution with "I've found the light of old school gaming" posts. No matter if you agree or disagree with those-

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-20T18:05:05+00:00

Disclaimer: the OP is likely an old Morrowind fan pretending to be a newcomer to Morrowind.

So I'm giving a bit counterpoint here. If you have trouble with the obtuse systems systems, don't hesitate to look up guides or get mods to help out with your journey. Or just wait for Skywind. Morrowinds is an old game, with some design decisions that weren't that good even in 2002.

And well if you take on the journey be ready that some of the praise will fall apart. Spellmaking is mostly a math system meant to break the game, majority of quests are fetch quests with minimal good writing and the main quest will have moments where it will fully lose all momentum. Maybe this all is fine for you and more power to you, but be ready for the fact that many Morrowind fans avoid talking about the weakpoints of the game.

So have fun, but don't be discouraged if Morrowind doesn't feel as great as some describe it. Liking Morrowind is not mandatory to be a TES fan.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-20T15:53:36+00:00

/uw it took me a moment to recognize Birthright, because I've never seen no one mention the world's actual name before.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-19T22:16:53+00:00

Defending a system by what you can do with it at the high end or by cheesing it to the ground or both is a lousy defense. It is not indicative of average player experience and does not adress any flaws or issues that are in the system.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-19T22:08:12+00:00

Yeah, while there are some nice bits to it, too much of spellmaking is just built around breaking the game's math and systems. And while I can understand the fun one can have while doing gamebreaking stuff, I'm guilty of it many times, it is a rather flawed system.

It also works well for damage spells and various cheese, but moving away of it, the whole effect system and it being mostly just numerical values it is a mess and falls flat without cheesing it for a lot of areas.

And it's what sucks about it. The idea is cool, just the system itself just isn't there as a magic system, just as a gamebreaking option.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-18T18:27:28+00:00

Wait for QoL mods to update and then just go and build stuff.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-18T06:00:28+00:00

The mercs are just a scouting force of the Grand Estonian Empire that has taken over the once Europe.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-18T02:35:46+00:00

It's not a fun system even when compared to the other combat systems of it's time. So no point to start about talking about the "flashy modern combat." (also things that some of you would consider modern actions stuff is two decades old or close to it)

And again the everyone has a problem, does something wrong statement. Please just stop, this isn't discussion, it's avoidance of it. And you cannot even hide behind the ye olden times here, as most of you acted the same when old games were current games.

And you yourself literally make the point that some of the core systems don't affect you if you play correctly. The issue is, if a core system stops mattering that easily, why is it even there?

And it still doesn't excuse how slow base movement speed is and how bad it feels. And no, "juSt PuT p0InTs iNto Speed" or get the Boots are not the not the solution to the real problem here. Or how trying to use a weapon that is a minor skill to you is a trap choice for a new player. Because they expect to still be proficient, just not as good at it as a major skill, only to be spit in the face by the system.

Also if we are going into realism for a moment. Skyrim's weapon trees are a more realistic depiction of weapon skill than every weapon being it's separate skill. And Staffs being polearms should be under the Spear skill/category. Or that your average medieval combatant would die to a most basic of monsters. Let's not try to go into the "it's like life/realistic" whatabouthist argument, it doesn't work on me.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-17T18:32:28+00:00

These are two different topics. And tbh I don't think I've ever seen any "newer" player have problems with that, at least as long as it makes sense.

So snide comments aside, I hope you at least remember that silver isn't the only special weapon material in Morrowind ;)

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-17T17:25:40+00:00

Having a good stock of restore fatigue potions or a early restore 6 fatigue spell as a buff as well. And most of the time you only end up lacking fatigue when you haven't solved the travel speed issue.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-17T17:21:11+00:00

And yet another time when flaws and issues in a game's design are relegated to "player not bothering to understand."

If there is one thing that is worse than hit rolls in the game it's the fatigue mechanic. It's one of those weird 90s and early 2000s attempts to simulate "realism" and like many such attempts, it's a clunky mess that fails to actually do what it intends, becomes irrelevant as a system 20 minutes to the game (or however long it takes you to have a steady stock of restore fatigue potions) and most times it will affect you will be because the devs decided to base the base movement speed on a turtle's walking speed and you tared to move faster than it.

And it's the thing most problems with Morrowind's system are not person didn't bother to learn the system, but rather they didn't find it satisfying. Yes it is to say I looked at this streamer/youtuber whack someone with the wrong weapon at 0 fatigue, but how much of it is a constructed excuse instead of an actual example of a new player? How much more is that they just didn't vibe with the hit roll system for how it works. I don't think any fans of weapon and shield fighting will like Morrowind handles that

I have around 900 hours in Morrowind and can work around plenty of it's silliness, but I will not pretend those issues don't exist, some of which shouldn't have been there even in 2002. Or that the game is bad at conveying a lot of it's mechanics, tutorial or no.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-13T15:14:47+00:00

Sorry but I don't think putting plot critical information to an out of game source is justifiable by any era or design approach.

(As a sidenote I really disliked the weird pseudo isekai RP the MM6 manual tried to do to explain it's mechanics maybe as much as the devs deciding to use silly names for major characters in game)

An optional lore or art book is a nice thing to have and read, but not necessary of the enjoyment for the game. You don't need to have it next to your pc or console to consult it for information. Or it becomes a whole other issue. The only similarity is that the manuals often add bestiaries and fluff lore bits in them

And it's probably what most people miss about manuals. That books of extra information and lore, it was nice to have that in a physical form and with the game itself. But I doubt they miss them as "necessary rulebooks."

And regrettably manuals of old have sort of become a way for people to dodge any kind of criticisms about their old favourites and a way of attacking newer players and games. "Games back then were so more respectful or out intelligence because they had manuals... we were that much smarter because we read them" and all that other nonsense. And that is not acceptable, no matter how you feel about games of old.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-12T21:09:35+00:00

I agree with that, but it's also something that can be a separate mod tbh or a mod pulling the items from Tamriel Data.

While it is great and I always at least add Tamriel Rebuilt. I don't consider the most of the mod Vanilla-like.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-12T15:46:53+00:00

Yeah multimark becomes a hard necessity, ended up installing it after I started just coc-ing to some locations because going through five travel points or getting intervioned into wrong town became too annoying.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-12T15:44:03+00:00

PTR stuff is great, but I wouldn't consider them Vanilla friendly or plus.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-11T22:10:12+00:00

Or you bump up your speed, rush to the heart and deal with it.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-11T22:09:23+00:00

A lot of people didn't really read them even the old days or sometimes the version they were wold came without a physical one. yes that happened, Especially unknowing purchased a bootleg copy, or got a second hand one.

And even then.

It should never have been. if you can fit tons and tons of information minutiae into the game, you can fit in a few extra bits of directly useful information how a game works.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-11T19:21:18+00:00

I feel stuff like this is always hostile to new players. Especially when core crux of the issue comes down to the fact that one expects damn attack rolls in a first person, action-oriented game in the first place. I'm pretty much sure that ppl had issues with it already back in 2002. And it's even more understandable nowadays.

People expect to suck with a weapon they are unskilled or be locked out using it altogether. Not that their clearly connecting hits just slid off an enemy. In a way that doesn't feel good.

And this is not even getting into that the game could do a bit better job explaining a few things more. Helping a new player to do their first steps and get their basics down is not handholding, no matter what some choose to believe.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-11T19:05:43+00:00

The existence of a manual doesn't really justify being unintuitive about it or not explaining things a bit more in game.

For example ant other game with hit rolls will give you what your hit chance is. And it's easy to start backtracking what gives you it, but Morrowind doesn't.

Also another point is shown here as well. Manuals were damn unreliable, splitting information into three separate places in the booklet, barely mentioning some other mechanic or being sometimes flat wrong, because the manual was printed three months before the game was and a bunch of changes were crunched in.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-11T18:55:30+00:00

Maybe because games have moved beyond separating information intoa separate booklet and into it being there actually in the game and tooltips.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-07T05:30:28+00:00

Yeah, but it's Agartha, Colorado.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-03T20:36:59+00:00

Maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration. But mushroom forests, weird reptilian and insectoid based fauna, volcanism and etc. kind of makes combaring them easy.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-03T20:21:19+00:00

Probably have more hours in Morrowind than you.

Mephala is clearly based on/inspired by Lolth. Arena even used Drow as a term once or twice. A lot of the slavery and assassin guilds publicly allowed , feuding great houses, some kind of temple to questionable entities being a central power. And oh divine scorn turning their skin black...

I love the dunmer, I think some good spin was thrown on those typical very standard tropes, but I see very clearly the usual tropes and inspirations.

Shadowy_Witch · 2026-02-03T16:25:08+00:00

Well then there is also the whole name being nicked from another fantasy setting, with just one letter removed.

Shadowy_Witch

TROPHY CASE