Editorial Bloodmoon gets the nod for best expansion from RPGDot

[Spazmo]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

<a href="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPGDot</a> have posted the winners for <a href=http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=854>Best Expansion to an RPG</a>. The winner is <a href=http://www.elderscrolls.com>Morrowind: Bloodmoon</a>. <a href=http://www.blizzard.com/war3x>Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne</a> (go figure) and <a href=http://nwn.bioware.com>Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide</a> as runners-up.
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<blockquote>Morrowind: Bloodmoon wasn't an expansion that was made to milk the cow once more. You felt that it was created by people who loved to play Morrowind, and they did their best to add more to an already excellent game. You felt that they actually thought about what they wanted to do. It wasn't just more of the same, but had nice twists and things you didn't expect. It's a pity that Bethesda isn't planning to do another, third expansion (at least they don't encourage us to think they will). Hopefully they are concentrating on a new Elder Scrolls game, and rumors have it that they are. However, the community is still developing fan made addons for Morrowind, and given the quality of some of those, they would deserve an "inofficial expansion of the year" award as well.</blockquote>
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I hope to the RPG gods there won't be another Morrowind expansion. They've inflicted enough of this stuff on us.

 

[Human Shield]

What if the next expansion adds meaningful NPCs and interesting story arcs....... nah.

 

[taks]

yeah right.

of course, if they did that, and got rid of that damnable overhead attacking critter that screams this hideous noise over and over and over... i might be pseudo interested.

mark

 

[Elwro]

yeah right.

of course, if they did that, and got rid of that damnable overhead attacking critter that screams this hideous noise over and over and over...

There's a special plugin for that weighing only a few kilos. A valuable fix.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Here's to hoping that with the next ES game they go for substance and not style. Fuck, go back to the Daggerfall graphics, just give me better than MW.

 

[Volourn]

How 'bout just kill the most overrated RPG series of all times. I'd take the EOTB series over the ES series 'cause at least most everyone knew it sucked..

 

[Azael]

Don't talk shit about Eye of the Beholder you cretin!

 

[Volourn]

Should have known there was at least one EOTB fan...

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

How 'bout just kill the most overrated RPG series of all times. I'd take the EOTB series over the ES series 'cause at least most everyone knew it sucked..

Since when is it the most overrated? Maybe Morrowind is, but that doesn't mean the whole series is. Daggerfall is an awesome game, but show me one gaming site that overrates it. Alot of gaming sites dis the game. Same with Arena. Battlespires sucked severe ass and alot of people agree on that. The only game in the series, other than MW, that got major recognition was Redguard and even it didn't get the recognition it deserved since it was such an awesome game.

And, while the second and third EOTB may have sucked ass, the first one was at least a nice diversion from real-life.

 

[Realbumpbert]

Daggerfall and Morrowind are awesome. To me.

 

[Psilon]

I have to agree. Daggerfall's still one of my all-time favorite RPGs. Bethesda did the series a disservice by abandoning randomized, occasionally obvious cookie-cutter areas for vastly smaller, hand-crafted cookie-cutter areas. (That said, I bought both expansions and felt I got my money's worth.)

As much as I complain (well, second others' complaints) about the overused medieval-Europe fantasy setting, I will make an exception for the following:
Daggerfall, redone in shiny OpenGL, completed (e.g., more shipboard activities, bank robberies, smuggling, etc.), enhanced (better combat, fewer useless skills like Pickpocket and Dragonish, better dungeons, universal mortality), polished (no broken quests, psychosis-inducing invisible items, or major bugs in general) and then stocked with enough building templates and quest scripts to fill an entire DVD. No console port, no translation-imposed word count, and no bloody cliff racers.

Give me this pipe dream, and I will... probably fail out of school within six weeks.

 

[Transcendent One]

I don't like Daggerfall but it's not bad at all, it introduced a whole bunch of fun aspects to the table, if Bethesda actually continued in Daggerfall's steps and used better technology for the random generators Morrowind would've been a step in the right direction.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I don't like Daggerfall but it's not bad at all, it introduced a whole bunch of fun aspects to the table, if Bethesda actually continued in Daggerfall's steps and used better technology for the random generators Morrowind would've been a step in the right direction.

And with this, I will say I totally agree. I understand the smaller universe simply because of the processing power needed for the graphics used. I wish they would have dumbed down the graphics enough to allow for more content though.

 

[Psilon]

Not really. With judicious selection of view distances, occluding terrain (e.g., hills and mountains), and a decent caching strategy, processing power won't be the bottleneck for universe size. It'll be disk space and manpower instead. Any cells that are guaranteed not to affect the simulation can be swapped to disk and suspended. Just keep track of inflicted damage, reaction meters, and active quest flags. If the distance threshold is high enough, players won't be able to catch a recalculated NPC location.

Terrain is dependent only on storage capacity. Bows should not have such high range that an arrow shot arcs through more than (maybe) half a dozen cells. Furthermore, there aren't really any earth-moving spells. You don't even have to store craters left from the previous Fireball or Meteor Swarm. (Yes, I know the latter is from D&D.)

As for objects, that's again a function of data storage. You could even respawn the silverware in inhabited buildings after, say, two weeks of game time.

Seriously, disk space and designer manpower are the size-limiting factors with a game like Morrowind. Note that the game doesn't really slow down appreciably with the extra area provided by Mournhold and Solstheim.

Population density, now, that's another story. I don't think Morrowind's capable of running a Daggerfall-type metropolis will all those NPC civilians walking about.

 

[Volourn]

See, what i mean. overrated. The only thing about the ES series that i really like and that they do better than other games is that they are huge. That's it. That's it that's all. Like I said, overrated.

 

[DrattedTin]

Sweet jesus, Volourn, how do you expect us to take you seriously when you can't be bothered to spell 'like'?

I won't go over the insulting means by which you reiterate your opinion as a fact without giving any supporting evidence. Oh, whoops, I just did.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

See, waht i mean. overrated. The only thing about the ES series that i really like and that they do better than other games is that they are huge. That's it. That's it that's all. Liek i said, overrated.

Just because we are having a discussion about the game engine makes it overrated? OMG!!! That means almost EVERY game out there is overrated!

 

[Volourn]

Who are you?

And, actually, i ahve 'defended" my opinion on this manner. Ask Otaku as we've had discussions about this before. But, just for you, stranger, I'll list 'em again.

- repetive: the npcs basically say the same thing; the caves are usually all the same

- npcs have no personality as in characters from DS has more personality

- combat is way too easy & the game overall is very much unbalanced

Need I go on?


As for not stating it as an opinion. I'm sorry; but I would think anyone with common s ense would know when something is over/underrated is their opinion. Should we all write down in our posts "this is an opinion" just to clarify it each time? Hmm..

 

[Realbumpbert]

It's true. The only reason I enjoy Morrowind is the whopping twelve square miles of walking-space it provides.

Nah. There's more to it than that! You may not enjoy the same things I do, but there's a lot I like about Bethesda's work.

 

[Volourn]

Otaku: Huh? No, it's because I *knew* you'd come to defend your precious DF. That's cool.

Bumpert: I'm sure there is. Actually, I'd expect there to ebr easons why people like it just like there are reasons for people to dislike it.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Otaku: Huh? No, it's because I *knew* you'd come to defend your precious DF. That's cool.

Yesssss....... my one.... my own...... my preciousssssss..........

But seriously, yes, I love the game with all my heart and soul. I could give two shakes of a llama's ass less if anyone else doesn't. They have that right and I'm not gonna deny them that. What I am trying to get at though, is the fact that the series is NOT overrated. Just Morrowind.

Hell, I even loved Arena.

 

[DrattedTin]

Who are you?

And, actually, i ahve 'defended" my opinion on this manner. Ask Otaku as we've had discussions about this before. But, just for you, stranger, I'll list 'em again.

- repetive: the npcs basically say the same thing; the caves are usually all the same

- npcs have no personality as in characters from DS has more personality

- combat is way too easy & the game overall is very much unbalanced

Need I go on?


As for not stating it as an opinion. I'm sorry; but I would think anyone with common s ense would know when something is over/underrated is their opinion. Should we all write down in our posts "this is an opinion" just to clarify it each time? Hmm..

It seems pretty obvious to me that you've never really plumbed any of the more challenging dungeons in Daggerfall. While Daggerfall definitely had ways to create godly characters, it was far superior to Morrowind in that regard... and just about any other regard. I can take Morrowind being overrated, as it was in many ways, but Daggerfall is unique.

 

[Anonymous]

Bloodmoon was only fun because I like snow alot. RPGs in artic locations are nifty except certain notable ones

 

[DrattedTin]

I agree totally. The blizzards and other atmospheric effects of Bloodmoon were incredible, but the content itself sucked.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Morrowind: Bloodmoon wasn't an expansion that was made to milk the cow once more.

Sure it wasn't.

I agree totally. The blizzards and other atmospheric effects of Bloodmoon were incredible, but the content itself sucked.

I always liked how the PC and NPCs tried to cover their eyes in ash storms.