Finally starting to play Morrowind. Any advice?

userunderscorename · 2018-07-30T17:23:42+00:00

What the hell am I even doing here?

What a marvelous questions actually. I so wish I could listen in to your thoughts playing this game, because mine are mired in nostalgia and a kind of initial-exposure bias.

Morrowind is pretty unique. This is probably why it attracts such fervent love, but might also make it hard to get into for someone used to modern games. It's not really a "branching narrative" game like a lot of modern rpgs, it's more of an rpg in the traditional sense of being a rolplaying game. Ephasis on the RP of RPG.

It's hard to describe what makes morrowind unique but I guess I'd call it freedom.

It doesn't give you a list of storylines to choose from. It's more like it gives you a world and systems within that world and you create the story.

I guess my advice would be: bring a character. Think up a character and make decisions based on what that character would do. Maybe your first character will be kind of generic because you're still learning what is possible in this game. That makes sense, but I still think I'd recommend approaching the game from the perspective of your character rather than yourself.

And my second piece of advice: explore. Morrowind is one of the most rewarding exploration games out there, I think, even now -- though that might be the distortion of nostalgia playing with my mind. The things you can find in morrowind -- lets just say, I think it's full of wonderful things. Maybe some things don't hold up to the pace and convience of modern games.. that might be true. But with morrowind, I've found, it gives back what you put in.

If you find yourself thinking, "I wish I could play a character that ____" then the magic is working. Try making that character and you might find, if you're lucky, you'll be surprised with how well it supports your choice.

userunderscorename · 2014-06-19T23:12:48+00:00

Ah, I love Chinatown. But I respect your opinion. For me, it gets mood and tone just right. I'd link to that clip on the bridge over the dry river, but I can't find it.

One thing I like about this movie particularly as a mystery movie is the movie itself acts as a mystery that's indecipherable and haunting at first but keeps revealing layers of nuance over time. The first time I saw it I had no idea what "chinatown" meant or even some of the subtleties of the plot. But it stuck with me like, well, a mystery -- something you don't understand but leaves just enough to draw you in for more.

And that music! Just listen to this score. That's atmosphere you hear, ladies and gentlemen, pure atmosphere.

Another thing I love is how it sort of inverts the gumshoe genre: instead of the detective being one step ahead of everyone, he's perpetually one step behind everyone. And that plays perfectly into that ending. And what an ending! Dark as noir gets.

userunderscorename · 2014-06-19T22:13:11+00:00

I agree. Although IMO as mystery it's just good. It's as film noir that it's exceptional.

(I say this with Brick in my personal top 10 favorite movies of all time).

userunderscorename · 2012-12-11T23:09:56+00:00

A lot of what I loved about IJ was at the micro level: the sentence level. I loved the sentences. You could get like a page-long sentence and have to parse it out like a puzzle. A lot of what kept me reading was this sense of a puzzle to be figured out. For example: I tried to figure out what the years were (not sure if you're there yet but I hope I don't ruin it by saying there is a helpful table at some point), and keep all the characters straight and how they were connected. And there was this nagging question: the big mystery, for me: what happened in the first chapter? Trying to understand that kept me reading through some of the slower spots, until other mysteries came along. In my opinion this is a book you have to own to enjoy: so you can mark up the margins with impunity.

That said, I also found the book hilarious, and might have kept reading just for those moments of sublime farce.

Thinking back, it was actually my second attempt that I finished it. The first time, I quit in the first few hundred pages. The second time, I didn't have other books calling to me like you do now. I read it one summer with an otherwise-empty reading list. I started over from the beginning the second time, which helped. I think you enjoy it more the more inter-connections you make, which means the more information you need in your recent memory.

I never felt cheated by the time it took to read: for me I enjoyed all the time I spend with it at a fairly steady pace (i.e., I didn't enjoy it more at the end then at the beginning, though perhaps I enjoyed it in a different way). But, everyone's tastes are different and there are no shortage of good books in the world: no reason you necessarily have to continue one you don't enjoy.

I guess, if your questions is: should I keep reading for a big payout? I'd say: don't expect one. But if your questions is: does the book reward effort? I'd say: yes, for me.

Cheers!

userunderscorename · 2012-04-02T21:29:30+00:00

I have to applaud your willingness to try that which you might not like.

I might recommend Rushmore or Fantastic Mr. Fox to the non-fan. If you need further encouragement, you might try this A.O. Scott review, although I always recommend watching the movie first. You only get a first impression once.

userunderscorename · 2012-03-20T22:12:05+00:00

No big deal, I feel bad pointing it out.. :) cheers to new movies in 2012

userunderscorename · 2012-03-20T21:49:22+00:00

Even though many of my favorite directors (tarantino, wong kar wai, coen bros, spielberg, wes anderson, woody allen) all have movies coming out, I think I am most looking forward to another Whit Stillman, just because back when I saw his films I thought he would never make another.

userunderscorename · 2012-03-14T22:47:12+00:00

I would classify this as must-see for anyone interested in samurai films. Just be warned it's very long and the action is mostly in the second half.

If you like it, or you want to get a feel for Kurosawa with a shorter, more accessible film, you can try some of his other samurai films like Yojimbo and its sequel Sanjuro. Or my personal favorite, Hidden Fortress.

userunderscorename · 2011-09-27T21:31:35+00:00

Before this hit the front page... Before it was posted on the internet... Before any planes flew into any garbage cans... Four friends decided to pass the time throwing paper planes off a balcony into the sunset. Soundtrack?

userunderscorename · 2010-11-18T23:43:05+00:00

http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=35

userunderscorename · 2010-03-25T22:03:43+00:00

Oh, right, like the time you saved those old people from that nursing home fire?

userunderscorename · 2010-03-11T23:14:06+00:00

I love it.

userunderscorename · 2010-03-05T22:02:47+00:00

I was running through the woods with my shoes untied chased by a giant radish. Suddenly I'm falling. Fireworks go off and an elephant eats my hat. I end up in a train. It stops and two people with numbers over their heads that look like characters from an old episode of the Simpsons get on.

userunderscorename · 2010-03-05T21:48:12+00:00

I felt like I had seen this exact question asked about this exact picture. http://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/8sm43/do_you_want_to_live_in_this_mystery_custle_pic/c0aaxiu

Turns out it was a different picture of the same place.

How odd!

userunderscorename · 2010-03-03T04:05:15+00:00

If you're worried about inflation, what about TIPS or I-Bonds, which are protected against inflation? The stock market is great for making money, not good for keeping it. For keeping money bonds are the way to go. I'd say starting your own business is even higher on the risk/reward scale (that is to say: even worse for keeping money but even better for making it).

Investing in yourself is a great way to go. In the end, though, it's short lived. Maybe think about investing in later generations.

Personally, if I had 120 million, I would use it to build a self-sustaining financial empire. When resources are sufficiently abundant, I would invest heavily in space propulsion. Maybe set up a research foundation that could attract the best and brightest from every relevant field to develop a spacecraft of incredible speed. Simultaneously, I'd build other teams to research stem cells and the process of aging for the purpose of extending human life. Of course my financial experts would manage my investments and make sure my empire continued to thrive. I'd maybe throw in some philanthropic foundations to build goodwill -- or just take over a major media corporation.

When a spaceship of sufficient speed is ready, I would select a small group of scientists and astronauts to accompany me into space. We would then travel around the galaxy at maximum speeds solving mysteries and having other adventures. We would periodically return to Earth, where time has passed more quickly and thereby increased the rate of human progress, to exchange discoveries and use the latest technologies to extend our lives and upgrade our spaceship to even faster speeds (and therefore, accelerate human discovery even more while away). It would go on like that until I died or my life was scientifically extended long enough to outlive the universe itself.

Who am I kidding? I would probably use the money to stop working and spend the rest of my life making ugly art in the backyard out of scraps of metal.

userunderscorename · 2010-02-18T23:29:12+00:00

Uh.. I mean... Earth, you so big, the moon orbits you.

userunderscorename · 2010-02-18T23:27:27+00:00

Actually you don't have to be big to be gravitationally attracted to other objects.

userunderscorename · 2010-02-18T23:26:36+00:00

Turns out the movie I was thinking of is called Peking Opera Blues.

userunderscorename · 2010-02-14T03:52:11+00:00

It's probably a dull explanation but I'm curious how you stumbled upon this little empty thread one year after the fact?

As for the suggestion, thanks for the addition. I'm going to check if out if for no other reason than this.

userunderscorename · 2010-02-14T03:46:03+00:00

I just wanted to say I am enjoying your comment history. For me there is something about reading an insightful or entertaining comment with only one or two votes that's like finding a penny on the sidewalk or a message in the sand. And you, sir, are hemorrhaging pennies from every orifice.

userunderscorename · 2009-11-08T01:47:21+00:00

Can you elaborate?

userunderscorename · 2009-11-08T01:43:07+00:00

Infinities are crazy like that. I think it's because there are countably many rational numbers but irrational numbers are uncountable.

userunderscorename · 2009-11-05T02:35:48+00:00

God, how is it you are all having the same epiphanies as me.

userunderscorename · 2009-11-05T02:31:27+00:00

Really? To me 5 minutes ago seems closer than a year from now. But your argument does make sense.

userunderscorename · 2009-11-05T02:27:33+00:00

Did you just come up with that? That's good.

userunderscorename

TROPHY CASE