The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (aka Morrowind) is a computer role-playing game by Bethesda Softworks, and the third in The Elder Scrolls series of games. Morrowind was initially released for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox.

Similar to previous installments of the series, the player begins as a nobody with virtually no resources. The story takes place on Vvardenfell, an island in the province of Morrowind. Deep within the heart of the volcano at the center of the island, a menace seeks to gain power and break Morrowind free from imperial reign. The player may choose to fight this menace or ignore it and pursue glory elsewhere.

Gameplay

The game environment of Morrowind is huge and richly detailed, with real-time weather effects and a landscape in which most areas are accessible. Gameplay is exceptionally open-ended, allowing the player to roam, steal, quest and explore. This includes, but is not limited to

• Making or buying custom spells, and weapons with unique effects.
• Harming or killing major characters, even friendly characters (although it is possible to break the main plot of the game by doing so).
• Stealing from and breaking into houses. Also, the ability to live in a house if the owner is not there, if the player kills the owner of that home, or if the player engages in a quest to construct a stronghold.
• Finding random characters who assign mini-quests.
• Completely ignoring the 'main story' of the game and playing free form.

This gameplay style (sometimes called sandbox style gameplay) is liberating and exciting, but shrewd players can find ways to unbalance the game and produce either weapons or abilities that can make the game's tasks easier to complete.

The storyline progresses exclusively through the decisions of the character; it is non-linear and can be discontinued at will. This type of open-ended role-playing gameplay is one of the hallmarks of The Elder Scrolls series and is the main basis of the game.

Along with graphical improvements, one of the most obvious differences between Morrowind and the older games is that Morrowind takes place only in the Vvardenfell district of Morrowind (a province in the land of Tamriel), whereas Arena in particular had given the player the opportunity to visit any province, at the expense of much less detail. However, the mainland town of Mournhold is accessible as a separate area by teleportation, but only if the Tribunal expansion is installed, and the separate island of Solstheim became available in The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon.

Bethesda Softworks, the developer of Morrowind, offers gamers the ability to recreate the world with a variety of mod making tools, such as The Elder Scrolls Construction Set, which allows the modder to edit the game in an easy-to-use, nearly codeless environment.

Mods

Morrowind is well known for its ability to be changed by plugins (called mods by users) using the Elder Scrolls Construction Set (comes with the PC version of the game.) These plugins are easy to install and can change almost everything in the game. Plugins can include new creatures, weapons, armor, quests, people, easter eggs, stores, cities, and even introduce new plotlines. Some plugins have added entirely new aspects to the game such as some stores closing and locking up at night, abolitionist and slave-trading factions warring over the area's slave trade, and ridable, breedable horses. Others were designed by "cheap" players that put "god items" in an easily accessible early in the game so they can win the game in a day or two. Some examples of these "god items" are swords that do 5,000 damage points in one hit and fortifies your long blade skill by 50 and rings and amulets with constant fortify speed/strength, invisibility, levitation, reflect, etc.

Some of the fans have attempted to create many immense mods which change the entire game.

Expansions

There have been two expansions:

• The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal (November 2002)
  • This puts the character in a self-contained walled city, and drastically increased the number and complexity of dungeons and caves (one of the criticisms of the original game was its paucity of such). The new city was not connected to the original Morrowind land mass, and you simply started the game by being transferred to the new city from Morrowind. The storyline continued the story of the Tribunal deities.
• The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon (June 3, 2003)
  • This was a much more complete expansion than Tribunal, with a large island (Solstheim) that had a sub-arctic climate that was included into the original Morrowind land area (i.e., you could seamlessly move from Morrowind to this island, by boat or other method).

In 2003, Bethesda released a Game of the Year edition for both PC and Xbox, which included the original game with both expansions. This is notable because beforehand, neither expansion was available for the Xbox. Reviewers note differences between the PC and Xbox versions.

Note: Bethesda Softworks will not release a multiplayer version for Morrowind, although many fans have asked for it. Bethesda Softworks has claimed that putting their focus on a single player campaign allows them to create a better single player experience. Bethesda Softworks fears that adding a multiplayer mode could degrade the performance and quality of the game overall.

Trivia

• The international language Esperanto made an appearance in Morrowind in the form of a book called N'Gasta! Kvata! Kvakis!.

• Morrowind's musical soundtrack, composed by Jeremy Soule, draws extensively in theme and style from The Planets by Gustav Holst.

Changes from Daggerfall

Morrowind changed many aspects from Daggerfall, its predecessor. Changes include:

• You can no longer ride horses and carriages
• You can no longer search or travel via the map
• Khajiits appear more feline-like, as opposed to the elven ones of Daggerfall
• Daedra and Dremora now wear armor, covering their human features
• Dreughs now wear a shell
• Holidays and language skills are removed
• Nudity from both the player portrait and creatures has been removed
• Ability to wield dual weapons has been removed

See also

• Morrowind (province) Information about Morrowind
• Dagoth Ur the god opposing the Tribunal
• Fargoth (Redirects to Minor Characters in Morrowind where the info is further down the page)
• Tamriel Major PlugIn
• Vvardenfell Information about the map Vvardenfell in Morrowind
• Talking Mudcrab (Redirect to Minor Characters in Morrowind where the info is further down the page)
• Kagouti Info about the creature Kagouti
• Morrowind Architecture Architecture of Morrowind
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Info about the next game in the series
• Guar Info about the creature Guar

External links

• The Elder Scrolls (official site)
• Morrowind at MobyGames
• Morrowind Summit
• Gamers Roam (Currently Down)
• Morrowind Mods - At the Mod DB
• Rethan Manor/Elder Scrolls Central Keeps a listing of mods (with links) and hosts the work of several modders, as well as discussion forums.
• Morrowind Online A fansite with links and mods (this site is being moved to the DarkRise TC site)
• Unforgotten Realms Huge site with a Morrowind section for downloads and Morrowind forum.
• Psycho Dog Studios Authors of the popular Better Bodies and Better Heads mods.
• The Imperial Library Comprehensive fansite containing all in game literature and lots of informations about the games' universe.
• The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Page Very comprehensive site devoted to the Elder Scrolls games. (Currently Down)
• The Elder Vaults A site with mods, links, forums, and information about all of the Elder Scrolls games. (Some sections require registration)
• Wiwiland Huge Elder Scrolls website in French, hosts an a French equivalent to TIL, a large collection of mods, and discussion forums.

External Links Last Checked 12-10-05

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