Gaming Thread

[Det Som Engang Var]

As far as I know, it takes place between Oblivion and Skyrim, and will be out sometime in the later part of the year. Skyrim is set 200 years after Oblivion.

And yeah, I'm the only lore buff here, heh. The Dark Elves did live in Morrowind, but not so much anymore. You probably wont want to read this, but in case you do I'll explain.

Shortly after the events in Oblivion, The Ministry of Truth (floating island above Vivec you visit during the mainquest) falls after Vivec disappears (see "The Trial of Vivec"). Vivec used his magic to keep it up there, so when the magic was gone, it resumed falling with it's original velocity. The impact caused Red Mountain (the place you fight Dagoth Ur) to erupt, destroying Vvardenfell (the part of Morrowind you play in), and some of mainland Morrowind.

As I mentioned, the survivors were either killed by invading Nords and Orcs, enslaved by Argonians who now control southern Morrowind, or fled to Solstheim (The Bloodmoon expansion) or Winterhold (which will be in Skyrim) Vivec, is now a pile of rubble in the middle of the lake, which is boiling hot and now called "The Scathing Bay".

I have a strong feeling there will be an expansion/DLC in Skyrim you get to through Windhelm tunnel (we know the Imperial Guards control this), that leads into Western Morrowind, and the city of Black Light. Bethesda likes their expansions to be in a different setting than the main games, and fanboys like me demand retribution, so I'm willing to stake money on this.

Here is a map

http://i52.tinypic.com/14ta7u8.jpg

The top middle part is where the actual game Morrowind takes place. It's assumed The Telvanni Magelords still hold the east, as they're some of the most powerful characters in the world. If I could visit one city in Tamriel, it would be the glowing purple city of Necrom, to the east. Where the dead are buried underground and walk. Kirkbride mentioned Nerevar is actually down there, in bonewalker form.

 

[Liverslapper]

That sounds extremely bad ass. I never did get into the lore. I was more immersed in the game play aspect of it all.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

The most interesting part of the lore (imo) is what happened 2000 years ago at Red Mountain, when Nerevar was murdered by his wife and generals, who obtained godhood from the heart of Lorkhan, at the same time the Dwarves disappeared completely. (To this day no one knows where, the game gives you various accounts to decide for yourself) That's when Azura cursed the Chimer into Dunmer. Vivec felt guilty about it. Those 36 books scattered around Morrowind, "The 36 Sermons of Vivec" has a hidden message throughout them. "FOUL MURDER". Though in the game Vivec denies the accusation, saying that he isn't the same man he was after obtaining god-hood. And yet he is.

That's the whole premise of Morrowind. Nerevar has been reincarnated for generations by the temple while they hunt him down. When they lose power, Azura uses his last reincarnation to extract her revenge on the false gods.

But you can read for hours about the line of Imperial Kings and all the shit they did. Alright guys, I got it out of my system. I'm drunk and going to bed now.

 

[Enemy242]

damn dude, thats a lot of crazy stuff and actually is really interesting haha, i'm so out of the lore that i don't even know the order of the games (i know skyrim is after oblivion but don't know where morrowind fits) and can't really remember morrowind story or aspects other than getting off the boat, fighting the last boss (just parts of it) and the cities. i think i might actually play the real morrowind for the real experience as theres so much more text than i can imagine morroblivion having in all the character dialogues and it was just such a different style that i'd be better off doing the original as now that i'm not 12-14 (when i originally played it for 100 hours) i'm sure i can absorb the lore/story/other aspects and not have an issue. after that i'll play morroblivion but yeah i think going in the old style with all the reading and delving into a more pure roleplaying game would be good. thanks for posting that stuff.

theres so much stuff in the elder scrolls lore its amazing, and what you described would be cool for an expansion. since they mentioned a more expansion pack type dlc that'd be very cool but we'll see; hopefully by playing morrowind and oblivion and trying to actually really read the stuff i can get way into the lore around mid august - mid october in between deus ex human revolution and rage plays so that by the time skyrim comes out i'm even more into it (once i invest time into things i really do get into them wayyy more) and have enough of a break for it all to feel fresh. now i'm getting even more excited about the game again, damn haha

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

You can mod the original game to look even better than Oblivion. Not sure if you need the two expansions.

http://knotstheinane.blogspot.com/p/morrowind-modding-guide.html

It's gonna be real inaccessible after Oblivion, though, man. I wouldn't even bother with the guilds. It's easy to get lost, and you have to pay close attention to directions. The combat is boring, and unfortunately, there's no dependable mod for that. I'd make some form of warrior, also. A mage can be hardmode if you don't know how to build him, and a stealth type just plain isn't viable in this game. And if the mainquest ever becomes too tedious, just look up the "backpath", and you can skip most of it completely.

I had to do that on my last playthrough because the mainquest can be very slow and tedious near the end. The quest in the expansions are much less of a pain in the ass.

 

[Liverslapper]

I am going to be honest with you. I could never get through Morrowind. I felt like it lacked gameplay. I also spent so much time running around that it got really repetitive. I still have Elder Scrolls III and the add-ons, but could not get through it.

 

[El Stormo]

Strength was never an elves forte. They would find a way to out-smart you. Elves are also better in bed. This is fact.

Well, I have one big advantage over Elves. I exist and they don't.

 

[Chromatose]

The new Left 4 Dead 2 campaign Steam is plugging is really really terrible. Sure, they're calling it "beta" still, but ugh

 

[El Stormo]

The Cold Stream one?

 

[Chromatose]

Yeah, it just seem so poorly made compared to all the others, just as far as level design goes, ignoring obvious unfinished things like missing textures and voices.

 

[El Stormo]

That, and it's got some seriously lame things, like getting stuck into objects, that tank at the waterfall spawning right as a horde attacks which means you're sitting ducks with the limited space you have (AND you're knee deep in water!), the game literally shitting specials near the end, far too many narrow walkways with the horde coming from all directions etc.. Yeah, it's a pretty crappy campaign. At least they ditched the insanely lame slo-mo event.

 

[Chromatose]

ughhh, that endless horde as you have to walk down the tunnels and stairs, I was sure I was going the wrong way because that was pretty much impossible and barely made any sense but I couldn't find anywhere else to go each time I restarted it so I eventually just pushed through. Terrible design.

 

[Enemy242]

You can mod the original game to look even better than Oblivion. Not sure if you need the two expansions.

http://knotstheinane.blogspot.com/p/morrowind-modding-guide.html

It's gonna be real inaccessible after Oblivion, though, man. I wouldn't even bother with the guilds. It's easy to get lost, and you have to pay close attention to directions. The combat is boring, and unfortunately, there's no dependable mod for that. I'd make some form of warrior, also. A mage can be hardmode if you don't know how to build him, and a stealth type just plain isn't viable in this game. And if the mainquest ever becomes too tedious, just look up the "backpath", and you can skip most of it completely.

I had to do that on my last playthrough because the mainquest can be very slow and tedious near the end. The quest in the expansions are much less of a pain in the ass.

damn, thanks. between the lore and game advice, you're officially my go to elder scrolls man haha! i just got my old disc of bloodmoon, tribunal and morrowind so i'm thinking after i beat the witcher 2 the second time (getting pretty far i think and man i think i'm liking this more than the blue stripes side) i might try getting morrowind working with mods/graphics extender etc before i start on deus ex 1 and 2 again as i'm really looking forward to going all out on them. so many games to play: alpha protocol (still wanna play it but i know it sucks), dx1/2, witcher 2, stalker, half life 2 ep 1 2 (never got to 2), portal 2, hitman blood money (never finished it and played on console as a shoot em up so pretty much wasted it).

one last thing is if you could recommend me specific mods for morrowind to simply enhance the gameplay/graphics that are essential i'd really appreciate it. nothing out of this world, just things that really make it a better game such as the graphics extender or things that modify it to make it more playable yet not too ridiculous or individual specific; i've got a machine that can handle whatever (3.0 i5 intel, 8 gb ram, 2gb ati) so any performance stuff isn't an issue.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

Morrowind Comes Alive is really good, it addes NPC's that come and go to every town that use "Better Heads" (you don't have to have it installed though), while leaving the original NPC faces alone. Some of them also come with new armors and clothes. The other good thing about this mod is you will have the new faces right off the bat at character creation.

PirateLord makes quality mods. His "creatures" mod adds new monsters to the game that don't feel too out of place. The last time I tried to use it I got some errors, though. Dunno what's up with that. His Economy Fix is also good if you want it to be harder to make money.

Better bodies will make the bodies look less blocky but use much less pixels, I personally don't like it. But a lot of people do.

Windowlights is really cool, it adds a lot of atmosphere to the cities at night.

As far as companion mods, this will change the way the main quest feels, adding it's own story to it, so I dunno if you'll want to do it or not, but the "Julan Ashlander" mod is the most well done companion mod I've ever seen in a game.

Make sure you grab the latest patch of course...

Magicka regen is good if you decide to make a magic character. (The Telvaani Mages are undoubtedly the most interesting guild, but again if you go magic make sure you build him right)

Morrowind is prone to crashes so it's usually best to just pick a few of these.

And finally for building your character, if you decide to go melee, I recommend taking long sword, because the best weapons in the game are longswords. Unlike Oblivion, there's hardly any level scaling, so it's actually good to pick skills that you intend on using. Hell, even if you make a mage, it's good to have a weapon skill because you'll definitely need it at some point.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

Alright, I'm going to give Bioware the benefit of the doubt here.

http://kotaku.com/5819150/the-first-major-dragon-age-ii-expansion-seems-like-an-apology

It better be damn cheap though, because if they were truly sorry it would be free.

 

[El Stormo]

Bioware falls under EA now, so free ain't gonna happen.

 

[Liverslapper]

I still have not played DA II. I am afraid to play it. DA was so good!

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

You'll go flaccid in the first five minutes.

 

[El Stormo]

Bollocks. DAII was dumbed down, yes, but it was still a good game. Not the best ever, but it's certainly entertaining to play through.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

I am going to be honest with you. I could never get through Morrowind. I felt like it lacked gameplay. I also spent so much time running around that it got really repetitive. I still have Elder Scrolls III and the add-ons, but could not get through it.

Same here. It's weird, because I love Oblivion and I was soooo intrigued about Morrowwind. The thing I cannot get over, no matter how hard I try (and I've tried, believe me), is the lack of spoken dialogue. I played MW after Oblivion, and it's such a step backwards to have to read all the conversations. It takes so much time and makes the whole game feel antiquated. If I could get past that, there's undoubtedly a solid game to be played.