# Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind w/ enhanced graphics and new content



## QuantumCybin (Mar 22, 2015)

So, it started when I was eight years old. I remember borrowing a copy of Morrowind for the original Xbox from my friend and being completely blown away by the pure scale and epic scope of the game; never did my puny child brain think something like this was possible. As time went on and I got older and played Oblivion and Skyrim, I definitely put a lot of hours into them, but something about Morrowind always had a place in my memory as being special. I think ultimately it comes down to the sense of exploration. With no quest markers and a (in my opinion) stronger storyline than the sequels, the game was more punishing yet ultimately more rewarding. The satisfaction from the whole adventuring aspect was awesome.

The modding community is pretty ridiculous for a 13 year old game. I have recently started playing Morrowind again thanks to two mods. MGSO, which is a graphics and sound overhaul mod, and Morrowind Rebirth, which adds a ton of new items, NPCs, and regions/town additions to the game. It has breathed new life into the game for me, and I highly recommend checking it out if you're wanting to take a trip down memory lane or experience Morrowind for the first time. I'll attach some pictures to show MGSO at work and how they've added modern shadows, lighting, and water (plus more) effects to the game. Definitely check it out 















































Those were all taken right in the first twenty minutes of my new game. The landscape of Morrowind was always more interesting and varied to me than Cyrodiil or Skyrim. Anyone else here a fan of Morrowind over the two more recent releases? Let's nerd out


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## myrtorp (Mar 22, 2015)

Nice!
I have the pc version with all the expansions, which was old already when I bought it. I have played alot of Oblivion and Skyrim but it doesnt beat Morrowind in my opinion. I must admit I have never finished the game. 

I might just have to install it again and get these mods


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## matt till (Mar 22, 2015)

Man I'm about halfway in the Tribunal bit. Decided to get some mods and stuff that require me to uninstall and reinstall morrowind and I've just been procrastinating hardcore on that cuz Tribunal is soooo lame in my opinion heh. MIGHT AS WELL GET TO IT THEN I GUESS


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## Chokey Chicken (Mar 22, 2015)

Morrowind was my jam way back when. Lots of fun stories revolving around it, and it helped shape my childhood. Me and my friend played it legit for 24 hours straight one day. We also took to playing hide and seek with items. We'd drop items around and have the other go looking for said items. His brother got pissed because we overwrote his save with a file where we hid his daedric axe mostly in a wall with just the tip of the handle sticking out. We caved and finally told him where it was, which was on top of a mine entrance south of (I think) Balmora. It wasn't there anymore and he freaked on us. Good times. 

I tried going back to it, but the gameplay didn't hold up to me. I hated the ashlands, and the dice rolling combat was not so fun in my opinion. I actually like the feel of daggerfall more than morrowind. I actually played through both of them recently, and managed a mod that mode the combat more akin to skyrim/morrowind where you always hit people, but your skill determines the damage. Way more tolerable in my opinion.

I still love morrowind regardless, and our other guitarist threw together an extra song for our ep last Christmas based on Uncle Sweetshare from the blood moon expansion, which is probably my favorite song from it even though it had zero input from me.


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## Winspear (Mar 22, 2015)

Hey! I've played Skyrim heavily modded for a while now and decided to check out Morrowind because I'd heard great things about it. I installed it with Ornicopters Morrowind Overhaul. These are what that pack includes
Credits - Morrowind Overhaul Wiki

I thought that was the goto but is that something different you have?
I booted it up after setting it all up and in all honesty couldn't bring myself to get past the first quest. I only killed one mob! I just found it to have aged incredibly badly and was really awkward. 
I want to give it another shot, but want to know first whether you think I should change my overhaul package?


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## QuantumCybin (Mar 22, 2015)

Yeah, such good memories come from this game for me haha. I heard about that mod that makes combat similar to Oblivion and Skyrim; I'll look into downloading it and see how I like it. I don't really mind the dice roll combat too much because by the time you're a higher skill level in your weapon(s) of choice you'll end up hitting successfully most of the time anyway.


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## QuantumCybin (Mar 22, 2015)

EtherealEntity said:


> Hey! I've played Skyrim heavily modded for a while now and decided to check out Morrowind because I'd heard great things about it. I installed it with Ornicopters Morrowind Overhaul. These are what that pack includes
> Credits - Morrowind Overhaul Wiki
> 
> I thought that was the goto but is that something different you have?
> ...




That overhaul pack from Ornicopter is MGSO, the same mod I have. It's definitely not as fast paced as Oblivion or Skyrim, both in terms of combat or navigation. When you're a fresh level 1, the game is pretty hard especially if you've never played Morrowind before. As mentioned before, the combat is a dice roll system so it doesn't necessarily matter if you're right in that rat's face spamming attack, if you're using a weapon in which you have a skill level of 5, you're not gonna hit them that often. You'll also probably notice how slow you run and jump. That is tied directly into your speed and acrobatics skills. On this new character I just made I'm going the stealth route, and I picked the Steed as my sign, so I started with 75 speed. Definitely a nice bonus.

However, if you stick with it for a bit and still find that it's just too clunky or awkward for you, you might just legitimately not like the game, which is understandable. There's just a big nostalgic feeling I get from it which probably contributes to my fanboy-ism


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## ferret (Mar 22, 2015)

I started TES in earnest with Oblivion. About a year or two ago, I did what you did. Got Morrowind all patched and modded up with HD textures and renders.

I had two issues. The first, minor, is that updating textures does nothing for geometry in some cases. There's a lot of weird flat ground to my eye. But that's minor.

The interface, and I understand the age of the game now, was just very awkward.

I understood from the get go that Morrowind is a harder more punishing game, but although I didn't INTEND to walk away entirely, I never came back to it after I got everything set up, step like 20 feet out of town into a cave where I was immediately slaughtered. I was done for that day, planned to come back later, and didn't.

Maybe I'll give it another spin.


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## loqtrall (Mar 22, 2015)

Hm. Have any of you heard of Skywind or the TES Renewal Project? It seems very official. They're essentially rebuilding Morrowind from the ground up in the Skyrim Engine. They have an entire development team of volunteers and are looking for and accepting more applicants. Can't wait for them to be done with it.

They have a YouTube channel chock full of videos you can watch of their progress.


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## UnderTheSign (Mar 22, 2015)

I refuse to play Morrowind. Wee me got lost after wandering from the starting town too far and got murdered by bandits in some cave, then fled to a city in some weird swamp. Never again


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## QuantumCybin (Mar 22, 2015)

loqtrall said:


> Hm. Have any of you heard of Skywind or the TES Renewal Project? It seems very official. They're essentially rebuilding Morrowind from the ground up in the Skyrim Engine. They have an entire development team of volunteers and are looking for and accepting more applicants. Can't wait for them to be done with it.
> 
> They have a YouTube channel chock full of videos you can watch of their progress.





That looks amazing haha. I'll have to follow that. What's the ETA on that?


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## loqtrall (Mar 22, 2015)

I'm not sure when it's release will even initially be, but they've been working on it for a few years and seem to be making amazing progress. They say the longest and most grueling part of development is rebuilding the world, so that's what they're working on first. They even have voice-over actors, animators, scripters, etc. etc.

They're trying to make it as close to the original game as possible.


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## QuantumCybin (Mar 22, 2015)

Gotta love community projects. Looks awesome!


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## pylyo (Mar 22, 2015)

Can't wait for this.
Also, the soundtracks for this is just to die for...


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## Chokey Chicken (Mar 22, 2015)

I never have high hopes for community projects like that. I always get my hopes up,and it never comes to be. Looks cool though, and if it's ever released I'll play the .... out of it. I'd still prefer a modernized daggerfall, but morrowind is cool too. Especially considering it was the first tes game I did more than just wander aimlessly.


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## QuantumCybin (Mar 22, 2015)

Chokey Chicken said:


> I never have high hopes for community projects like that. I always get my hopes up,and it never comes to be. Looks cool though, and if it's ever released I'll play the .... out of it. I'd still prefer a modernized daggerfall, but morrowind is cool too. Especially considering it was the first tes game I did more than just wander aimlessly.



I typically don't either, but if you ever played Star Wars Galaxies years ago before it died, there is a ridiculously dedicated group of people who are coming very close to bringing back the old SWG, pre combat upgrade. They basically rebuilt the game from scratch and it's nearly identical to the original it's scary. SWGEmu is one of the few big community undertakings I've seen flourish. So perhaps this one will work out too, considering the huge following Morrowind still has.


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## loqtrall (Mar 23, 2015)

I'd have faith in this community project/team. They've been at this for years, and still have regular updates. The latest video was posted two days ago, so they're definitely still at work on it. They have a rather large team considering it's being independently done.

Also, considering what they've showed off and that they already have a build of some zones that look very playable, I'd say they're being pretty serious about what they're doing. Their Exploration Gameplay video is giving me high hopes.


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## SeaBeast (Mar 23, 2015)

Skywind looks absolutely incredible. They have put SO much work into it that I feel it will be finished. I've been waiting patiently haha.


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## pink freud (Mar 23, 2015)

I miss the granularity of the leveling, items and spellcrafting that Morrowind had. Skyrim was way too simple in comparison.


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## Varcolac (Mar 24, 2015)

Speak quickly, outlander, or go away.

Game wasted far too much of my youth. Tried to get in to it again with the overhaul mods last year, but my computer wasn't up to scratch. New one now, might try again.

I preferred its look and storyline to Skyrim and Oblivion. Those were quite obvious in their influences - Skyrim's the land of the pseudo-Vikings, Cyrodiil's the land of the Roman Empire/medieval Europe dudes - but Morrowind was just... _weird._ Cities grown like mushrooms, madcap dunmer racism, a true feeling of baroque unknowable unknowns. Next to the whole "build a god-golem in a mountain out of tech made by the disappeared dwarves and the heart of a god oh and ash vampires by the way you're the reincarnation of Nerevar" thing, demon invasions and dragon souls were a bit weaksauce in the weirdness scales.

Also, the theme tune from Morrowind and subsequent Elder Scrolls games is disturbingly similar to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. Morrowind was 2002, Pirates was 2003. Sixteen-year-old me was very confused.


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## Murdstone (Mar 27, 2015)

Man I was a Morrowind encyclopedia back in the day. I played on console so I had no access to the modding community but that didn't stop me from putting weeks of my life into this game.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Mar 28, 2015)

I enjoy TES lore and stories enough to have played through the main questline in Morrowind, but honestly the game's just too damned tedious to make me want to play it any more than that. I've played through the story three times now with three different characters, and I didn't bother doing any additional sidequests or guilds with any of them. The story is interesting, but the game itself just isn't fun. 

Maybe I'd enjoy it more if I had played it before I played Oblivion, but I didn't. For as much as some people complain about Oblivion, for all its quirks, bugs and wonkiness, I think it was just a more enjoyable experience from a gameplay perspective. Better controls, better combat, better physics, better graphics (obviously), just... a better time had all around.

I do think a Morrowind remake could be awesome, since I like the story and varied landscapes of TES3 more than TES4 or 5, but it'd take the gameplay of 4 or 5 to make me want to play 3 for any extended periods of time.


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## loqtrall (Mar 28, 2015)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> Maybe I'd enjoy it more if I had played it before I played Oblivion, but I didn't. For as much as some people complain about Oblivion, for all its quirks, bugs and wonkiness, I think it was just a more enjoyable experience from a gameplay perspective. Better controls, better combat, better physics, better graphics (obviously), just... a better time had all around.





This. 

Oblivion is my be-all-end-all (so far) of all of the TES games. I absolutely love it, over 1000 hours just in one of my characters.

Nothing better than achieving a legitimate 130 in Acrobatics on Xbox 360 and being able to jump around like a Jedi in Star Wars Battlefront. Found a way to get out of every single city on the map  (Key: Don't fast travel, and constantly jump everywhere you go, literally everywhere)

Oblivion is love, Oblivion is life.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Mar 28, 2015)

loqtrall said:


> This.
> 
> Oblivion is my be-all-end-all (so far) of all of the TES games. I absolutely love it, over 1000 hours just in one of my characters.
> 
> ...



In a pinch, it's probably my favorite game ever. I've certainly spent more time playing it than any other game. I have it on 360, PS3, and PC, and I've done every quest/achievement/trophy/whatever on all three of them .

If I spent as much time practicing guitar or bass as I did playing Elder Scrolls games, I'd be able to play Vai under the table.


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## ferret (Mar 29, 2015)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> If I spent as much time practicing guitar or bass as I did playing Elder Scrolls games, I'd be able to play Vai under the table.



TES is up there for me, but WoW is my true poison. If I could replace my WoW time with Guitar practice.... my god.....


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## QuantumCybin (Apr 1, 2015)

I recently gave Elder Scrolls Online another shot considering they dropped the monthly subscription. The last time I played it was right at launch, and it just didn't hold my interest but they've made a lot of changes to it and to me, it feels a lot better and more like an Elder Scrolls game. Had a buddy convert me into a vampire which is cool, as you get a whole separate skill tree and stuff. Some of the places I've gone to (I'm only level 18) remind me a lot of the art direction of Morrowind. The home of the Wood Elves, for example. Crazy architecture with homes built in the trees and pretty awesome scenery.


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## leftyguitarjoe (Apr 3, 2015)

To this day, I have never logged as much time in a game as I did in Morrowind. I played that game on ONE save for 5 or 6 years. He was a beast of a Nord. Dragonbone cuirass, Helm of Oryn Bearclaw, swinging an enchanted daedric battle axe around one shotting everything. This was on xbox too.

I played Morroblivion, the Morrowing recreated in Oblivion mod. It is really well done and totally free. I cant wait for Skywind to come out.


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## QuantumCybin (Apr 6, 2015)

leftyguitarjoe said:


> To this day, I have never logged as much time in a game as I did in Morrowind. I played that game on ONE save for 5 or 6 years. He was a beast of a Nord. Dragonbone cuirass, Helm of Oryn Bearclaw, swinging an enchanted daedric battle axe around one shotting everything. This was on xbox too.
> 
> I played Morroblivion, the Morrowing recreated in Oblivion mod. It is really well done and totally free. I cant wait for Skywind to come out.



I downloaded Morroblivion and started playing that, too. So crazy, in a good way. Never thought I'd see Morrowind like that haha.


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## QuantumCybin (Apr 8, 2015)

Have to double post on this, just to show a couple pictures of Morroblivion. You weren't kidding about them doing a stellar job, man. For anyone who's curious, here's a super small taste. This is just Balmora and the immediate area around it.



























Insane


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