Review Bloodmoon gushed over at Games Domain

Tags: Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon

<a href="http://www.gamesdomain.com/">GamesDomain</a> has posted their <A href="http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/zones/reviews/pc/jun03/Elder_Scolls3.html">review</a> of <A href="http:/www.morrowind.com">Morrowind: Bloodmoon</a>, which they seemed to really like, though they thought the price might be a bit high for just an expansion pack. <b>$30</b>. Here's a taste of it:
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<blockquote>The Empire is running a mining operation in the area, and there are a number of missions to take associated with the development of the mine, and the smooth running of the Imperial garrison on the island. The new NPCs have a better range of vocal clips than Morrowind did, which is a nice touch. When you stray a little further from home, you'll discover there's a lot more to do; as you might expect, not all is well on Solstheim, and the inhabitants have curiously chosen you to sort out their problems for them. You'll know the drill by now, but the plot is advanced interestingly enough to keep you playing. </blockquote>
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Big new island, new plot, werewolves, and lots of hype. Who's not up for that?
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Spotted this at <A href="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</a>

 

*Raises hand*

 

I am with Spazmo on that one. Morrowind falls under category "You've seen one, you've seen 'em all", 'cause other then looking at pretty stuff, there is not much else to do as the dumbed down character development system, combat, and dialogues suck all the fun out of the game. Regardless, if somebody here thinks differently and believes that I missed something important, I would like to hear their opinions.

 

I divide good CRPGs into roughly two types.
If I want to play a game with a rich plot, good dialogues and interesting quests, I play mainly Fallouts, Arcanum or PS:T. On the other hand, if the key feature I'm pursuing at the given moment is the possibility of exploration and feeling of being 'inside' the world, Morrowind is the one I play (occasionally Daggerfall). I cannot wholeheartedly compare FO with Morrowind and judge which one is better. [well, I'm not sure; FO is THE game of all time] FO's plot is better then M's by any standards. Dialogues too. But only in M I can for example spot a mountain on the horizon, become curious about what is on top of it and begin my journey; on my way there I can encounter a rift with some old ruins (which aren't as repetitive as I've heard some people say). When I climb up, the storm can suddenly begin, forcing me to retreat down. After that I can cast 'fly' only to find that there were some unlucky climbers before me and they left some stuff near their decaying corpses (which of course be the same after 7 years of gameplay ).
What I wrote was probably pathetic, but I just wanted to emphasize that M is great if what you want in the game is a huge world with plenty of interesting places for an explorer. So I'm waiting for Bloodmon, but I'm almost 100% sure I won't pay 30 bucks for it (nor a Polish equivalent).

But of course there's always ADOM waiting for me if there's nothing to play...

 

Yeah, that sounds cool, Elwro, but I prefer games with more focus like Fallout.

 

I pretty much second what Elwro said above, but I think "more focus" vs. "less focus" in Morrowind is a matter of personal play style.

 

Thank you for your opinion, Elwro, and I agree that Morrowind is a great exploration game. But let me ask you a question, would you become curious about another mountain after you've been to one or two? Would you even care to explore some old ruins if you can easily guess what's inside, who's inside, and what loot would they drop after you kill them? That's what I meant when I said "you've seen one, you've seen them all".

 

Well, actually Morrowind managed to keep me playing for about 45 days straight (what was remarkable, I think, is that it was also during my exam session and I passed all my exams). And I still like to play it, though I don't do often. But in response to your question, I think it's not "Hey, there's a nice looking mountain! Let's look at what's there! But hey, there's ANOTHER mountain! I wonder if I could..." but more "Let's look at this mountain. Gee, what a nice dungeon entrance we have here. Let's go inside. /after half an hour/ My goodness, a secret exit. I've never been here. What's on this island? Isn't there a city in the water down below? etc...". I found the exploring experiences quite unrepetitive, actually. I didn't spend my time running from one mountain to another; it's just that on course of my journeys I almost always found something NEW, even if it was one of those lame NPCs with "lead me to x" quests.
Of course, I have to admit: there ARE patterns in M's dungeons, e.g. the shrines. But there are plenty of unique places too.

 

I don't agree on Morrowind's story being worse than Fallout. It's MUCH more comprehensive, and does some clever things... the problem is it just isn't presented in the right context for people to realize this without thinking about it.

 

The problem with Morrowind is that it's too big, so you won't even know what the hell is going on for the first 20 hours of play. After that, it's immersive as hell.

 

I'm probably going to start playing Morrowind

as I like to explore

as I like to explore

[oh I really do - promise]

and it seems it got just that.

 

did anyone mention it's very nice to explore it?

Seriously, it's a game that I have started numerous times, and never went past the first couple of quests in Balmora. I *like* the game, but it just sits there while I look at it with no energy to make the effort. Kinda like Arcanum did until this weekend. I'll have to try it sometime. The question is: Will I buy Bloodmoon? Tribunal was worth it for the patch alone. the additional world was a nice plus. But bloodmoon does no other changes AFAIK...

Astro

 

I also tried MW several times before I 'got in the groove', but then played for almost 4 months.
I finally got a bit burned out on it and have explored just about every nook and cranny, so I will probably purchase Bloodmoon...if just for the new areas to explore..but not until it goes down in price.
The Tribunal expansion was pretty dissapointing to me, btw.
Too damn linear(along with other issues).

 

I agree with this. Morrowind makes it very easy for you to just blow by the story. To give one example that hopefully isn't too spoilerish, I just ran into the orc that hides outside of Caldera again. He gives you a little quest that can be solves through two brief fed-ex trips, and I'd completed it before with an earlier character, but this time I slowed down and tried looking around to see just why this orc was hiding, and sure enough the game rewards you by opening up a dirty little piece of the town's internal workings. I'd go so far as to say that Morrowind has the BEST story of any recent crpg, but its greatest weakness is that the story is not at all dynamic or interactive - but then that is the universal failing of all computer games. The real crpg of the future (if we ever get to see it) will be one in which the story changes based on the character's actions.