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Morrowind for the first time; char build?

Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
468
Just tried Morrowind and ive gotta say i hated it. I didnt like the design, the inventory screens, the slowness of the character, the combat… I felt like i played an alpha version of Oblivion.

But still many people consider it a very good game. Do you think that because ive played more polished RPGs i became "spoiled"? That my "game taste" for design (its not the graphics, but the design that puts me off) is too high because of what i played?

A lot of the magic of Morrowind is found in the world design and the setting. I don't know if you've played with mods but I really like how the original draw distance has everything appearing from this ever present mist. It really encourages exploration because there seems to be so much to discover. The maximum distance mods and better whatever packs really kill a lot of the morrowind magic. One thing with seeing for miles is there's seldom a surprise like how a city emerges in Morrowind.

Had you played it then I think despite its flaws it would have been able to entrance you with it's world and atmosphere, whereas now after years of making a game yourself you just see a lot of shitty scripts and the ugliest faces since the 'Wear a Picasso Painting Face Mask Day'-rage in the 80's.
 

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
I would recommend galish's, fair magika regen and a few graphic mods like better bodies. Pick a nightblade template class if it is your first playthough and it will be fun. If you decide to creat your first class, have at least one weapon skill and at least destrucción in your primary skills, and athlethics, acrobático, echanting and restoration as your secondary skills. That way you can just play the game and now have to worry about leveling.
Try to raise speed and endurance as fast as you can to make sure you can hit the Wide side of barn and move at a decent speed.
Morrowind is one of those games where comparisons to the newer Beth games is the wrong way to go and you will rage as you swing and swing your weapon but dont hit until you understand the mechanics of the dice roll behind it and to have stamina always.
Morrowind is truly a "state of mind" kind of game which has many many flaws in mechnics and gameplay. But make up with tremendously charming setting, lore, quests and memorable choices and characters...from a point of view you are playing a truly rotten character who is hijaking some prohesies to help the Empire, help keep some self named "god" in power and whack maybe the most rational "bad" guy in the process for wanting to defend his culture, hertiage and society
 
Unwanted

DollarSign

Unwanted
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
102
Race: Breton or Altmer
Specialization: Magic, Willpower and Intelligence
Primary Skills: Destruction, Restoration, Conjuration, Enchantment, Alchemy
Secondary Skills: Mysticism, Alteration, Illusion, Speechcraft, Mercantile
Sign: Atronach

If you're not functionally handicapped, you won't ever find yourself in need of any physical weapons. Enchantment and Alchemy give you the ability to craft some of the most powerful (and overpowered) potions and items, as well as a consistent way to replenish your magicka. Destruction spells are the primary attack, Restoration makes you last longer if you get hit by enemies, Conjuration gives you a nice meat shield to distract the enemies. Speechcraft helps with the annoying diplomacy system, Mercantile gives you better prices with merchants. Atronach sign increases your magicka by a ridiculous amount, and you won't have to waste time resting every time you need magicka restored - just drink potions or absorb enemy spells.

Oh, and don't forget the animal realism mod. It solves all your cliffracer problems by making all animals (including cliffracers) non-hostile unless they are diseased or you attack them first. You will see cliffracers flying around and hear their beautiful call (which is absolutely essential to a Morrowind experience), but only a tiny portion of them will attack you.
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
468
Put that last stuff in a spoiler tag

Morrowind is truly a "state of mind" kind of game which has many many flaws in mechnics and gameplay. But make up with tremendously charming setting, lore, quests and memorable choices and characters..

Exactly
 

Turjan

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
5,047
Pretty much any build is solid in morrowind so long as you pick up a combat ability or two.
Yup. I chose a stock mage class from the choices you have during character creation, and although that is decidedly subpar, I still had lots of fun. Of course, I did lots of non-mage things.

Just the cliffracers, they always stayed with me till the end...

Friends.jpg


That's my first char, the "mage", a pic from 2002.
 
Last edited:

Greatness

Cipher
Joined
Mar 17, 2007
Messages
288
Just tried Morrowind and ive gotta say i hated it. I didnt like the design, the inventory screens, the slowness of the character, the combat… I felt like i played an alpha version of Oblivion.
But still many people consider it a very good game. Do you think that because ive played more polished RPGs i became "spoiled"? That my "game taste" for design (its not the graphics, but the design that puts me off) is too high because of what i played?

What the fuck, all of these years and you just now tried Morrowind?

Anyways, as far as game design goes it's pretty much a disaster. All the mechanics - from combat to NPC interaction to character progression are shit.

What made it stand out is the setting/lore and world design. It's one of the few fantasy settings in gaming that wasn't painfully generic, though you have to really delve into the games literature to appreciate most of it. The game-world itself is also beautifully alien and exploration is actually rewarding.

It's like a shittier Torment in a way (gasp), you overlook its obvious flaws because it excels in some specific area that you really love. Similar to how storyfags love Torment the LARPers love Morrowind.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1061298621

Am i spoiled by Skyrim and Oblivion?

Just tried Morrowind and ive gotta say i hated it.

I didnt like the design, the inventory screens, the slowness of the character, the combat… I felt like i played an alpha version of Oblivion.

But still many people consider it a very good game. Do you think that because ive played more polished RPGs i became "spoiled"? That my "game taste" for design (its not the graphics, but the design that puts me off) is too high because of what i played?

I dont say its a bad game. Im just saying that i cant bring myself to play it, even though iv been able to do so with much earlier RPGs like PS:T, and SoulBringer.
 

Mastermind

Cognito Elite Material
Patron
Bethestard
Joined
Apr 15, 2010
Messages
21,144
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Just tried Morrowind and ive gotta say i hated it. I didnt like the design, the inventory screens, the slowness of the character, the combat… I felt like i played an alpha version of Oblivion.

But still many people consider it a very good game. Do you think that because ive played more polished RPGs i became "spoiled"? That my "game taste" for design (its not the graphics, but the design that puts me off) is too high because of what i played?

The basic gameplay is shit. Character advancement is shit. Using weapons and spells feels awkward as fuck. The character models did not age well, though the armor design is decent enough. The slowness of the character can be remedied, though a newb wouldn't know how to grab the boots of blinding speed or deal with their side-effect early in the game. The world and the volume of spell effects and the things that you can do with them are what propels the game into my #1 though. In terms of exploration (both of the gameplay and the world) there is no other game that even remotely matches it. If tinkering with shit or exploration isn't your thing you probbaly won't be willing to put up with the shitty gameplay (which, in its defence, felt a lot better when it was released than it does now), which is a genuine pity, as its brilliance requires a considerable amount of time investment before it becomes obvious to the player.
 

Snorkack

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Messages
2,975
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Lower Bavaria
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
There is one metagame-thingy I do recommend: Check out some guide about how to acquire boots of blinding speed and how to actually use them. It doesn't make the game easier (unless you now run away from every encounter like a little sissy), it just makes the game more... bearable.

I redact: just check out how to get them. Figuring out how to make use of them is a nice little challenge in itself.
 

Mastermind

Cognito Elite Material
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Bethestard
Joined
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Messages
21,144
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
You have to build your chair in specific way to be able to walk (at decent speed).

You don't.

Grab the Boots of Blinding speed. Make a spell that resists magicka for 1 second (100% preferable) then while it's active throw the boots on. Speed problem solved.

The only mistake* you can make in morrowind character building is not getting the x5 endurance modifier every level ASAP. Since health/level is based on endurance and not retroactive getting endurance to 100 as fast as possible ensures you have the maximum amount of health.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
As touched on Morrowind has a shit character system. There's some leveling mod/character system I used last time I played... can't recall the name of it but it makes it less moronic. Other than that, yes, the appeal of the game lies in the world and setting. Honestly Skyrim has a better character system... which says a lot.
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
Morrowind is basically built for a spellsword type character. Use a one-handed weapon and a decent amount of magic, but don't go pure either way. Avoid bows and stealth, they suck balls in Morrowind (but are good in Skyrim).
 

Mastermind

Cognito Elite Material
Patron
Bethestard
Joined
Apr 15, 2010
Messages
21,144
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Morrowind is basically built for a spellsword type character. Use a one-handed weapon and a decent amount of magic, but don't go pure either way. Avoid bows and stealth, they suck balls in Morrowind (but are good in Skyrim).

Ignore the last part, I played a Morrowind archer with no significant system abuse and she was one of the more fun builds I tried.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
Yup. I chose a stock mage class from the choices you have during character creation, and although that is decidedly subpar, I still had lots of fun. Of course, I did lots of non-mage things.

Just the cliffracers, they always stayed with me till the end...

Friends.jpg


That's my first char, the "mage", a pic from 2002.

You know what' wrong with this build, this game?

You should have chosen females.

Mod a better body.

Mod a few lingerie or see through dresses.

It will improve your experience immensely.

Even though the game still feel like a vapid girl with nothing worth listening to, at least it's easy on the eyes.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Ignore the last part, I played a Morrowind archer with no significant system abuse and she was one of the more fun builds I tried.

Someone's easily amused. Morrowind archery - and combat in general - is a snoozefest. Games with good archery are Dark Souls and Warband.
 

Shadenuat

Arcane
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
11,955
Location
Russia
I don't usually play Morrowind, but when I do I always roll with High Elf, Apprentice, pure spellcaster. It gives you second largest mana pool in the game with option to rest and replenish it (Atronach basically means you will get into alchemy cheese right away) but you are also a glasscannon against anything, unless you use your protecting potions, spells and items right.
If you're a new player you can skip some of the magic skills for a dagger skill and maybe even athletics.
And of course you must join the most monocled house as a mage - House Telvanni +M
 

miles teg

Scholar
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
130
While it's true that Morrowind is WAY too easy (and it relies on the player not abusing some mechanics) I wouldn't go as far as suggesting to not use Alchemy. Yes, it is broken but it's hard to notice on the first playthrough: let's not forget you need master level tools in order to sell those expensive potions which are not exactly easy to get, unless you are using a house mod that makes that staff available since level 1.
Personally, I always found Morrowind combat mechanics the weakest of the serie, so I've never understood people playing this game with melee or even ranged characters as opposed to magic. I mean, what's better that crafing a ranged absorb health spell? :D Another broken mechanic I guess, but it's only viable end game, given the amount of mana it consumes.

What I really don't like is enchantment mechanic: it requires you to drink tons of INT potions just to have the slightest chance of success.

That said, I think the OP's biggest enemy won't be the dated graphics, but the walking speed. I liked it because it added to the whole "lost in a big world" exploration feeling. I still like it, since I'm used to it. But I can definitely see a "modern" player dropping the game after the first hour, because off that.
 

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