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OctU
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 24 Jan 2002
Posts: 114
Location: On an island beyond the realm of the Sea Barons |
| What I don't like about Morrowind |
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First, what I DO like about Morrowind: Graphics and construction set stand out the most – simply amazing. Reasonably compelling storyline with political intrigues, plots and moral dilemma choices to anguish over. Non-linear gameplay, decent AI, a big world to explore, lots of side quests to keep you busy.
Now, what I DON'T like about Morrowind:
1) Text based conversations? Are you kidding? This makes the game’s immersion level go way down. Don’t even try to defend this with “well, the necessary wav files would just make the program too large” or some other such nonsense. If the developers can create a world with this kind of detailed 3D graphics, there is no excuse for them not to include similarly rich and comprehensive sound based conversations. Gothic, for instance, had voice based interactions with every single NPC in the game. I wouldn’t even care if some of the voices or conversation lines in Morrowind were identical for different characters, but they all should have been sound based, at the very least.
2) Um, thanks for giving me the ability to play in 3rd person (my favorite perspective), but the game really doesn’t support this perspective too well, does it? Unbelievably, there are no crosshairs in this perspective, which leads to great difficulties in selecting objects and when attacking foes (especially in ranged attacks).
3) The automatic transport of your character to the other side of a door or hatch when they are “opened” is disappointing and breaks the flow of realism to the character’s movement. Was it really THAT difficult to show the character open a door and walk through it real-time? Another feature that Gothic allowed, which I miss.
4) A game’s occasional loading of different content when a character enters entirely different scenery is ok, but having Morrowind pause to load another “exterior” section of the world what seems like every 50 feet when traveling about the countryside is incredibly annoying, and is yet another degradation to the immersion level and break in the flow to the character’s movement.
5) Inability to climb ANYTHING. Your character either has to position themselves to fall from a location above (if location is available at all, which it almost always isn’t), or to jump and jump MANY times in a row from below to get into certain niches, like tree stumps. Your character can walk, run, jump, and swim, but is somehow completely unable to just reach up and climb. This is as frustrating as it is saddening. Again, Gothic allowed climbing, and again I miss this feature.
6) Some creatures look good, but a number of them look a little, um, cartoonish. The detail, color, and textures look great on them, but they would look great on Bugs Bunny, too. It’s not very compelling to fight creatures that look like they took a wrong turn in Toon land.
Funny how much I looked forward to Morrowind all this time, and once arrived, it didn’t have the effect I had hoped for. Gothic is partly to blame for this – I got spoiled on what to expect from an immersive 3D RPG from playing that game. So while I enjoy Morrowind on the whole and will continue to play it, I will have no reservations in dumping it for Gothic II when it gets released. |
Thu May 09, 2002 9:03 pm |
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Guest
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There are supposedly over three full length novels worth of text in Morrowind. If you think a game company with a small budget (compared to Hollywood-style game companies like Electronic Arts) is going to put in full-scale voice acting, you are pretty delusional. Let's be realistic. I'm actually surprised and content with the amount of voice-acting in the game as it is.
And the only other thing I have to say is your post sounds like nothing but a pro-Gothic review so why not post it in the Gothic forums where someone might actually care?
Sorry, dude, but I think you're totally misunderstanding the difference between the two games you compare. It's a shame because I'm playing a game that blows Gothic away. |
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Thu May 09, 2002 9:24 pm |
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Mephisto
Leader of the Senate
Joined: 05 May 2002
Posts: 300
Location: Holland |
One of the lamest posts I've seen so far. And that dialogue stuff was the lamest part of this post. Really, if you know nothing about programming, then dont post crap like that. Really pathetic. |
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Thu May 09, 2002 9:43 pm |
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Stompy
Village Dweller
Joined: 06 May 2002
Posts: 18
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...if they actually DID put in voices for all the NPCs in the game. What would people be saying then?
"Oh my God this voice acting is terrible"
"Well that doesn't sound like a Khajit at all!"
"If I hear her say that one more time I'm going to scream"
"Geez, why the hell does this game have to take up 3 gigs worth of hard drive space? Did they really have to record wav files for ALL the voices in the game?"
Tell you what mate. You've got the construction set at your fingertips. Go ahead & change all the stuff you don't like about this game. Make it exactly the way you want it, then package it as a mod & sell it. In the meantime, I'm going to use my imagination to give all the NPCs a voice (it sounds better that way), I'm not going to try to climb every single object I come across (because it makes me look silly and also because I have the skill and the attributes to jump up onto anything I REALLY need to be on top of), I'm going to kiss the devs for not making me wait 20 seconds every time it needs to load more wilderness, and by the time Gothic II comes out I still probably won't be done with the main story in Morrowind.
I don't mean to flame you (or anyone else who feels the same way) but for crying out loud, the game has only been out for a week and people are flooding the boards talking about how they're taking it back & they've beaten it and they found a way to cheat and all this stuff. For the most part they're, well, missing the point of the game. This game is easily game of the year material, if not at least RPG of the year, and yet people are so quick to dismiss it. And no, I'm not a fanboy. In fact, the first few times I read about it in PCGamer I didn't even pay any attention to it. But then I started to think about Daggerfall, a game I played for all of about 30 minutes before uninstalling it. And the more I thought about those 30 minutes, the more I knew I NEEDED Morrowind. It IS the heir to the throne, and it's worth every single penny. I've never played a game this deep, this open, this engaging, and this GOOD. I mean, pretty graphics are one thing, but STORY is something completely different. Most of the time it's either one or the other. This one has both, and beyond that, they are the BEST graphics & the BEST story I've ever seen/read. |
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Thu May 09, 2002 9:46 pm |
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DzD
Unknown
Joined: 12 Mar 2002
Posts: 7140
Location: Sweden |
Everyone has his/hers own oppinion. Don´t flame him/her for that.
_________________
There once was a youngster, DzD
Whose avatars numbered infinity
But I must admit
His latest, a hit
Cuz the Little One's a mystery to me
Written by - dteowner |
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Thu May 09, 2002 10:23 pm |
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Hyperion
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 07 May 2002
Posts: 122
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quote:
Originally posted by Mephisto
One of the lamest posts I've seen so far. And that dialogue stuff was the lamest part of this post. Really, if you know nothing about programming, then dont post crap like that. Really pathetic.
This game wasn't deveoped with programmer in mind, his comments are perfectly valid. Just because someone doesn't like the game you love, doesn't mean you have to go on the defensive and insult his opinions. |
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Thu May 09, 2002 10:41 pm |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
quote:
Originally posted by Hyperion
quote:
Originally posted by Mephisto
One of the lamest posts I've seen so far. And that dialogue stuff was the lamest part of this post. Really, if you know nothing about programming, then dont post crap like that. Really pathetic.
This game wasn't deveoped with programmer in mind, his comments are perfectly valid. Just because someone doesn't like the game you love, doesn't mean you have to go on the defensive and insult his opinions.
Yes, exactly.
So follow this wise opinion. |
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Thu May 09, 2002 10:44 pm |
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Hyperion
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 07 May 2002
Posts: 122
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Yes, Yes. A bit hypocritical of me, I know. You can't help but slip up at times. |
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Thu May 09, 2002 10:47 pm |
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Fantasm
Guest
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I disagree, that first point was basically a slam on the developers, claiming that there was no excuse for not including total voice-acting. Well, there are SEVERAL excuses for not doing so, and all are damn good ones.
Personally, I have no problem with people not liking the game, but when they turn that around and make uninformed comments about how things "should" be, with absolutely no knowledge of the technical feasibility (or more importantly, how focusing efforts in that area may take away from other facets of the game), they deserve to get flamed.
In the original poster's defense, he did have a couple valid points (just a couple though)...the 3rd person view is basically there for pure marketing (not very functional except in certain situations, and the character modelling looks horrible), but I just take the time to ask myself whether I would rather have the developers spend time to make my guy look cool while he's jumping (or going through a door), or add another quest dungeon or two...guess which answer wins every time?
(Now if you want to talk about legitimate gameplay issues, like the journal implementation, having the option of filtering out all dialog options whose response is already in your journal, or the slow-as-molasses menu mouse pointer when anti-aliasing is enabled, then let's talk...these are things worth debating about, because they're conscious design choices and not techincal issues, and there's a remote chance that something could be done about them at some point).
Enough rambling, I gotta get back to work (not that I will...damn I can't stop thinking about this game! =) |
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Thu May 09, 2002 11:12 pm |
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Hyperion
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 07 May 2002
Posts: 122
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quote:
Originally posted by Fantasm
I disagree, that first point was basically a slam on the developers, claiming that there was no excuse for not including total voice-acting. Well, there are SEVERAL excuses for not doing so, and all are damn good ones.
I'm having a hard time figuring out where this loyalty to the developers comes from. He wants more voice acting. He shouldn't want that? Can you help what you want? Probably not.
quote:
Personally, I have no problem with people not liking the game, but when they turn that around and make uninformed comments about how things "should" be, with absolutely no knowledge of the technical feasibility (or more importantly, how focusing efforts in that area may take away from other facets of the game), they deserve to get flamed.
Do they? So, pretty much everyone on this forum does not have a right to critize the game? Or I suppose it would only be those that know that C is not just a letter in the alphabet that should be allowed to express their opinions on the game? No , of course not. Most of us don't know what needs to be done to make a movie, or an album, or software. But, that doesn't mean that we can't critique such things, form opinions about them, and discuss how we think it should be. That's part of being human, and being an individual. We have our opinions, and on a public foum, we're allowed to express them.
quote:
...but I just take the time to ask myself whether I would rather have the developers spend time to make my guy look cool while he's jumping (or going through a door), or add another quest dungeon or two...guess which answer wins every time?
You got to ask youself, are your opinions so important to the world that the rest of us should think exactly as you? What answer wins then?
quote:
(Now if you want to talk about legitimate gameplay issues, like the journal implementation, having the option of filtering out all dialog options whose response is already in your journal, or the slow-as-molasses menu mouse pointer when anti-aliasing is enabled, then let's talk...these are things worth debating about, because they're conscious design choices and not techincal issues, and there's a remote chance that something could be done about them at some point).
And of course, those are the only "legitimate gameplay issues." After all, you couldn't possibly have a problem with the inablitity to climb since Fantasm wouldn't consider that a ligitimate game play issue. Oh, oh...did I just find another subject that might be different for different people. Can't have that. And how is a slow mouse cursor necessarily a design issue? It sounds to me that it might be more technical in nature. Your statement also seems to suggest that technical issues are not important or at least they can't be resolved. That would be a rather inaccurate statement.
Last edited by Hyperion on Fri May 10, 2002 12:35 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Thu May 09, 2002 11:54 pm |
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Loth
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 10
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Too funny. I think some people are forgetting the WRITTEN TEXT is part of the interface and how you interact with the text is how you actually play the damn game.
A pretty much scripted RPG like Baldur's Gate II was released on, what, four CDs? Now let's think. A scripted RPG is going to be linear and that means you won't be required to swap CDs too often. I'm thinking Morrowind could have taken up multiple DVDs, not CDs, had they decided to voice act the entire collection of spoken text. You may want it but every business has to make a decision about what they're going to tackle and Bethesda I'm sure went through this and made their decision.
C'mon, I know HDs are cheaper nowadays and most people have the space, but a game accessing all those GBs of data is probably going to bring the game to its knees on the average gamer's hardware. And people are moaning about FPS and too much drive access with the way the game is NOW! With all that...(blasphemy!)...TEXT!
Frankly my two cents is worth less than two cents. Then again all I really care about is personally having a blast with this game and so far I'm doing just that. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 12:13 am |
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Guest
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May be if the developers added less than 3000 NPCs(which you dont need that many) they could have put in at least some voice acting. GOTHIC RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally on par(if not better) than Morrowind(which is fun 90% of the time) |
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Fri May 10, 2002 12:36 am |
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Hyperion
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 07 May 2002
Posts: 122
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How many NPCs do you need then? |
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Fri May 10, 2002 12:47 am |
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Plextor
Guest
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I'm glad I downloaded Morrowind (There wasn's a demo to try..!), it disapointed me and now I can return to play Daggerfall!.- |
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Fri May 10, 2002 7:51 am |
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Mephisto
Leader of the Senate
Joined: 05 May 2002
Posts: 300
Location: Holland |
Ok Hyperion, let me explain. The OP was attacking the devs because they had not given all npc's a voice. In order to do this, and please the OP, they should have:
given all npcs a unique voice (or he would complain about that)
let the npc pronounce your unique name
let them have different tones depending on each attitude.
And ofcourse, he would want this for the same ammount of money, and it shouldnt be delayed. I am not slamming him because I dont like his opinions, I flame him because he attacks persons for invalid reasons, while at the same time blatantly showing his huge lack of knowledge.
And as to the insane ammount of support for the devs, most of us are very pleased with the insane ammount of love that went into this game. It are all the little extras that make the game so much fun. Making anything like MW is no easy task, and I support anyone who can bring me anything like this for a measily 50$ |
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Fri May 10, 2002 8:16 am |
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