Page: 1 2

Still Only the 17th May...

Still I sit here Morrowind-less and forlorn. The UK flounders as ever in the Doldrums of the gaming wind lanes, while the US revels in it's gaming Davis Cup! But like the Murphy's ... I'm Not Bitter. I come and read the forum at lunchtime, doing my best to experience the game vicariously through the collective musings of the great Morrowind unwashed.

Which is how I came upon a fantastic screen shot of a little cove. The view gently eases its way out to sea, the sun of early dawn, dancing playfully over the ripples in the water. We can see the axe of the adventurer taking in this view and we wonder what it is that he does next after the screenshot was taken. Maybe he wanders along the shore for a little way. Maybe, he wades out to sea in search of some sunken treasure.

Anyway, my clumsy point is that this is a fantastic water effect, as of course many of you have already pointed out. Sooooo... imagine my surprise, when I took this amazing panorama and turned it into wallpaper for my desktop. Then gleefully brought it to the attention of my colleagues, (admittedly NON games players) to be greeted by......... apathy!

"So what?" they exclaimed.
"Well" I started, "If you put aside for a moment the fact that the shoreline is a little unnaturally level, and forget that there is a rather large axe rearing up from the bottom left hand corner of the picture... surely you can see that it's more or less like looking at a real body of water?!"

Despite this impassioned plea, my workmates remained unmoved. The general consensus of opinion seemed to be that in this day and age, they would damn well hope that a decent computer could recreate a water effect, that you would hardly be able to tell from the real thing.

I thought that this attitude was quite interesting and it made me think about the way in which we tend to view technological advance in the world around us. The way that we often take for granted the leaps made in Medical Science over the last few years for example. Or dismiss as commonplace the various devices that make out lives easier on a daily basis.
Heart transplant? Well of course we can... what else is new?
Flying at multiples of the speed of sound? Sure... what of it?

I remember falling into this trap a few weeks ago while watching a documentary on television, which suggested that man has actually never really set foot on the moon. Adding meat to the long held conspiracy theory that it was all faked by the US government, it explored various arguments for and against the theory. One fellow said that it would be simple enough to prove that we had never been there. The fact was that if we simply pointed a powerful enough telescope at the moon, we should be able to see the remains of the lunar modules left behind. His theory of course being that we wouldn't see any, because there is nothing there to see and the only Lunar Module remains you are likely to find, would be on a movie set somewhere in the depths of Area 51.
Nasa's response to this was simple. There is no such device as a telescope powerful enough to see the surface of the moon in that kind of detail! Well, I found myself thinking... Eh? We don't have a telescope powerful enough to do that? Why not??!!

I guess that we are all brainwashed to a degree, by the technology we appear to see on Television. The fantastic email delivery systems for example that you see in some movies, the like of which I never saw on any real life system. The apparent superhuman speed with which information is retrieved from the Internet, when we all know finding anything specific can still be a nightmare.

Whew...... water in Morrowind eh? It makes you think doesn't it?

Badger.

*

Good for your Elf

Well, I 've finally landed in Vvardenfell and I would have to say that so far the wait has definitely been worth it. Proof, if proof were needed, being the fact that I am typing this at 12:30am, and have been playing since mid evening. That's rare for the Badger.

emembering that in Daggerfall I played a "Spellsword", I quite fancied an Archer this time round. A man with a bow who wasn't afraid to use it. A man perhaps who also dabbled in the odd spell, but had a sword for those close up encounters, when only Mr Pointy will do. A man of honour, who would earn his living without resorting to thievery.

Hmmmm well that Aspect at least went out the window within the first hours play. But more on that in a minute. My Wood Elf (for he was such a creature) arrived of the boat in Seyda Neen after a rough voyage. His mattress had been lumpy, the first class cabins were double booked so he ended up in the hold. The all night disco on deck kept him awake and to top it all off, when he eventually did get to sleep he had the strangest dream...... It had involved eating a Furry Chicken, but he woke in the morning to find that he was chewing a Rat which had crawled into his mouth while he slept. We are NOT talking a good voyage.

The customs office made him feel quite at home on landing by bombarding him with strange questions.
Hmmmm, we don't seem to have on this form, which race you are... Forms is very important you know.. So they is.. So, what is it then?"
"What is what to be?" Enquires WoodElf.
"Which race would that be then?" repeats customs, as to a small and particularly slow to grasp the concept child.
Wood Elf considers the man for a moment and then slowly runs his hands up the side of his face, to the tip of his pointed Wood Elf Ears...
"WoodElf" He announces.
"I'll just put WoodElf if that's ok" mutters customs and wanders off to sharpen his pencil.

As I moved away from the dock, I finally got to see the water effects, that to date I have only seen in stills. Rather good aren't they! So I'm given a task to take a package to Balmora and pointed in the direction of the local transport, called a Silt Rider, which is basically a giant Flea with a hollowed out shell, that people ride in. Apparently, the driver steers the beast by touching the ends of raw and exposed nerves!! What the...... that is so sick. Animal rights are not going to be happy about this, let me tell you.

till, despite the package burning a hole in my pocket, I decide to hang around town for a bit. Talk to some people, see the local colour and kill some of the local wildlife. Well I'm glad I did! Because although Seyda Neen is only a two horse town, there is certainly plenty going on.

In the VERY shot time I have been playing, I have already
Cleared out a cave of some Bandits and a Nasty old Magician type, who were keeping slaves. Also found some interesting places to swim in there for extra kudos and readies.
# Read some very interesting books, including one that raised my bartering skills and another History volume in which my Character from the last game is mentioned (Nice touch).
# Helped a heavy collect his due, from a weasely Elf who was hiding his stash. (Elves like that give us all a bad name frankly).
# Solved the murder of the local tax collector and brought his killer to justice. (On the end of three feet of my steel... Natch).

All of the above sounds pretty honourable. So how did I fall from grace?

Well, I stole a key in the customs house, just to see if I could. It was a key to the warehouse next door which had soooooo much loot in it, that I had to make three trips to the store to sell it all! The proceeds of which, added to all my endeavours above and coupled with a another cool hundred that I ....er.... liberated from a nice lady upstairs in the warehouse (by going invisible actually....fantastic!).

Mean that I am now kitted out in some economy medium armour type threads, and ... if anyone should ask me what I've got in my pocketses.... Well I've got over 1000 gp, thank you Mr Gollum.

ang your head in shame Mr WoodElf! But look up long enough not to bump into the door of the bank on your way in eh? Wa-hey!

ll in all, very impressed. I have no doubt I will be up early in the morning to have another crack at it. Great Stuff!

Badger.

Page: 1 2