Bethesda asked previewers to not give away details about character generation or quests. Although a few sites have broken this agreement, we will of course stick to it, mainly because we firmly believe that a preview should not spoil your fun. So all we want to say about character generation is: it is extremely well done, woven into the game and lets you, within the boundaries set for beginning characters, create an avatar that reflects the role you want to play. Good news for those who really want to develop their characters: it is possible to bring ALL 27 skills to 100 by playing the game - so you can attempt to build a jack of all trades (even more so as you can train skills with trainers).

Your beginning stats and skills are depending on your race (10 of them), your class (as many as you like, because you can custom build it) and on your birthsign (giving you either stats boosts or certain abilities). Depending on which role you'd like to play, you'll either have a character specialised in a few skills or someone who has some knowledge of many things. However, you will always be a weakling in the beginning. Apart from some experiments with predefined classes, we, for example, built a custom class we called "explorer" and made him a fighter with some magic abilities and alchemy, as well as above par abilities in picking locks. We think that not all combinations will work out equally well, because skills are related to stats (endurance, strength, willpower and so on), and you have to choose two of them getting the most boost during levelling, so if the skills you choose are spread over a wide variety of stats, some will not develop as well as others.

Morrowind gives you more freedom to actually "live" your character than any other game yet. This is because of the countless things you can do, and second because of the rather unique character advancement scheme. Unlike most other RPGs, you don't earn experience points which allow you to level and distribute points to stats. Well, you level up from time to time, and you can raise stats there, but most of the time you will raise your skills, not your stats. Skills raise by practicing them. Imagine this: You fight with a bandit for your life. During the fight, you successfully block some blows with your small shield. Inmidst the fight, you are informed that your blocking skill raised. You kill him with one devastating blow (fighting slowly raises your weapon skill), heal yourself with a spell (this raises your restoration skill), take the loot, run to the next town (during this, your athletics skill will raise), barter with the trader to get more money for your stuff (this raises the merchandise skill). As you can see, your actions are the way your skills are enhanced. So if you start out as a fighter and then want to switch to magic - you can do. There will be no class change, since a class only describes your starting stats and skills. You level up when a certain amount of your major and minor skills have risen. This is where you can actively change things with your character.

Which trades are there to learn? Well, all in all, there are 27 skills for you to fool around with, but they can be certainly divided in some groups. There are fighting related skills (like armor skills, weapon skills and blocking), magic related skills (six schools of magic), thief related skills (security, the ability to open locks, stealth and such) and skills related to social interaction (merchandise, persuasion). They do not stand isolated, but are related to stats like strength, willpower, agility and others.

To further enhance your roleplaying pleasures, Morrowind allows you to wear different kinds of clothing, from skirts to robes, from cheap to expensive, in different shapes and colours. This isn't just a visual treat, NPCs will actually react to the way you are dressed. Try going naked into a palace, you will see what we mean. Apart from that, NPCs react to deseases, and they have a general attitude towards you, based on your fame and deeds. Some will not even talk to you, others might become aggressive. But make friends, and they have stories, secrets and cheap merchandise for you. This system is partly known from Baldur's Gate, but never has it been implemented so nicely.

No RPG without a main storyline, none without quests. While you don't have to follow the main storyline in Morrowind, and you may pick it up any time later, there are quests in abundance. You'll get most of them by joining factions like the fighters guild or one of the houses of Morrowind (powerful elven families), by joining a temple or the imperial guards. So far, we have discovered seven factions to join, but there might be more. They will give you quests, offer you services (useful ones, indeed) and you may raise in rank within these factions. As far we can tell, you are not limited to join just one faction, although some will have you to have certain stats levels to allow you to gain ranks - so again, you have lots of opportunity to roleplay there.

We won't give away details about the quests we have encountered so far, but they range from simple to twisted. The fabulous thing about Morrowind is that nearly everything is woven into an interesting lore of the island, and you never have the feeling that something is just there to allow a quest. You will learn something about the monsters you hunt, about the population, about the history. It pays off to visit a bookstore and to read the books offered there, since some of them even raise your skills. Where ever you go, you have the feeling to be in a living, breathing world.

There are many secrets hidden in Morrowind. Deadra summoning, for example, obscure temples, even the possibility to become a vampire. You'll encounter shipwrecks, crypts, hidden dungeons and much more. We think that it will take a VERY long time before you have the feeling that you have seen it all, and even then you might be wrong. And then there is an effect we noticed when playing: sometimes you just load the game for "being there", without having a certain goal. You just walk around in known territory because you just enjoy being around. Could you think of a greater compliment you could make to a game?

To sum it up: Morrowind will offer a deep roleplaying experience, deeper than any other RPG so far. Morrowind encourages you to play the chosen role, and it will support you doing this. It is impossible to touch every aspect we have encountered, and it really hurts to have a limited amount of time to tell you what is in and what you can expect. But on the other hand: a lot of fun in Morrowind comes out of discovering things, be it locations, be it the simple fact that increasing fatigue will weaken defences, yours and the one of your opponent. Be prepared for a journey into the unknown - but with a very pleasant outcome.

In the fourth and last part of our preview, we will have a closer look at the editor - tell you what is possible and what not. Until then, have fun.