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First Impressions. w00t!
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RPGDot Forums > Morrowind - General

Author Thread
Merkin
Head Merchant
Head Merchant




Joined: 01 Dec 2001
Posts: 65
First Impressions. w00t!
   



What...that's not enough info? Well, OK, then it's back to the game.

Manual: Good...small, but well laid out, information dense, and attractive. Also a VERY nice Full-color fold-out map.

Install: FLawless...quick and easy, about 5 min to instal both the game and the construction set.

Performance: Very good. On a 1.2 ghz Athlon, 512 mb PC133 ram, GF2 Ti, I'm able to run pretty well at 1280 x 960, 32 bit, distance slider all the way up. Only thing I'm sacrificing is shadows...they look very good, but a major slow-down.

Graphics: Good, but honestly not what I was hoping for. You guys with GF 3/4's get all the goodies. On my sys it looks better than Wiz 8, for sure, but not a quantum leap better. Water dissapointing on my machine. Spell effects, however, are very, very good. Torches/ligting effects, and the day/night cycle are very good. Sky is wonderful!

Sound: Very good. Environmental/weapon sounds easily the equal of Wiz 8 or Dungeon Siege.

Music: Jeremy Soule. 'Nuff said. Honestly, very, very good so far.

Voice acting: Very good. Voices are interesting, professionally done, and varied. They fit the NPC's very well so far.

Interface: AWSOME! It's going to take some getting used to, but honestly the best I've ever seen in a game. The re-sizable, dockable windows are brilliant!

Controls: Very good, with one exception. Hotkeys are straightforward, and completely re-mappable. Movement is flawless for anyone who's ever played a FPS game. (mouselook and wasd) The exception is the mouse cursor, which I find oddly shaped and balky. Fortunately you don't have to use the cursor much in-game.

Text: Not great. Not the hardest to read I've ever seen, but crikey, I get sick of fancy fonts. And at higher resolutions, it's damn near impossible for me to make out. COnsidering that there's a LOT of reading in this game, this one bugs me.

NPC interactions: Very good. Better than Wiz 8, but similar. A nice touch is the dynamic reaction bar, you always know jsut exactly what they think of you. (don't know if they're telling you the truth, though.

Journal: Decent, could be better. Why don't more games let you add to your journal? NPC's give you a HUGE ammount of info, which is only recorded if it is specifically quest-related. Be ready to take lots of notes. OTOH, keywords in the journal are hyperlinked, to get more info...nice touch.

The world: GREAT....VERY alive....far, far more than either WIz 8 or Dungeon Siege.

Quest system: Only done one little one so far, but it was NOT a "fed-ex". I think these are going to be good.

Combat: Tricky. I'm sure I'll get used to it, and may even end up liking it, but I ain't there yet. I keep wanting to fight like it's an FPS, and it's not, even though it looks like one.

Magic: Spells are cool, system is logical. Pretty standard fare here, not as deep as Wiz, but not bad.

AI: Pretty decent. NPC's definitely react to you as an individual. COmbat AI isn't stunning, but not bad. (course, I haven't been in any tough battles yet, so maybe it'll seem different then)

Alchemy: Don't know yet, haven't played with it.

Levelling/Skill System: Very good. It's different than Wiz 8, but I think it's easily equal in terms of flexibility, fun, and challenge. Using stealth, diplomacy, and barting skills is very easy and intuitive.

Immersiveness: Man, you are THERE from the very first scene.


BUGS:

Yep, there are a couple...here's what I've found so far.

1. If you create a custom character, you are called an adventurer, period, no matter what you try to name him.

2. Trying to take a screenshot locks my system hard. This might be my problem, not the game's, as I know there are a gazzillion screenies out there, and haven't heard of this one.

3. In the second room you come to (in the customs house) DO NOT try to pick up the crab meat off the table. System crashes every time I tried.

4. Changing video resolution in-game works for me sometimes, crashes sometimes.

5. Trying to alt-tab while in-game crashes me every time. Sucks in terms of keeping a journal on the side. To be fair, this is a known issue that's mentioned in the readme.

Fun factor: Oh yeah, baby, in spades! This isn't one like Dungeon Siege where you master the gameplay in 5 minutes. more like Wiz, where you had to suss it out for awhile before the game really started rockin.

I really hope the text is one of the things they fix with the first patch, a lot of us don't have 20 year old eyes, and they should know that. But assuming the bugs don't get any worse, this one is going to obsess me for a very, very long time!


w00t!
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Post Thu May 02, 2002 11:12 pm
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pakaraatzi
Counselor of the King
Counselor of the King




Joined: 27 Dec 2001
Posts: 359
Location: Ontario, Canada
   

Well, I am glad to see that this game is still enjoyable without a top end system. My computers not much different from yours:

1.2g t-bird, 768megs pc-133, Radeon 64meg ddr.

I was kinda worrying about how much I would enjoy it with all the settings low. Hope it dont run to crappy on my compter, but sounds like it will be ok. I just hope it will keep me interested for the next 2-3 months untill I can get a new vid card, and play with things higher, and see those nice water effects.
Post Thu May 02, 2002 11:26 pm
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Warchild
Guest






   

Wanted to let ya know you can change your class name, my budyy had a prob with this to. you just have to hit backspace then type it )
Post Fri May 03, 2002 12:06 am
 
Mark242
Guest






   

Morrowind, for the most part is great. BUT, for some odd reason, the word NIGGER flashes on my screen at all times in big white letters. Also, if i try to eject the CD, my PC sends a 900 volt charm into my arm.....odd..... Another problem is that whenever i load a saved game, i am greeted with a picture of Rendelius's mother eating her own shit.
Post Fri May 03, 2002 5:27 am
 
NoMeansNo
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 8
   

Hehe, I registered just so I could reply to this thread.....
I noticed the bugs you listed are ones that I have NOT experienced, even though I've gone through the similar circumstances. Qouting:
quote:
BUGS:

1. If you create a custom character, you are called an adventurer, period, no matter what you try to name him.


Not true. I created a custom character (paladin), and was prompted to enter in the custom character's custom-class. Was actually impressed that it let me do this, in fact.

[qoute]2. Trying to take a screenshot locks my system hard. This might be my problem, not the game's, as I know there are a gazzillion screenies out there, and haven't heard of this one. [/qoute]

Taken two screen shots, with no worries, so yep, it may be your system...

[qoute]3. In the second room you come to (in the customs house) DO NOT try to pick up the crab meat off the table. System crashes every time I tried. [/qoute]

Not sure why you had trouble with this either. The scraps on the table were the first items I picked up, with no troubles.

[qoute]4. Changing video resolution in-game works for me sometimes, crashes sometimes. [/qoute]

I haven't tried changing my reso since I started the game, because I've been pretty happy with what it's currently set at (1200X1600, I think). But, I'm going to try when I get home, and see if I can't crash it too.

[qoute]5. Trying to alt-tab while in-game crashes me every time. Sucks in terms of keeping a journal on the side. To be fair, this is a known issue that's mentioned in the readme. [/qoute]

Yep, mentioned in the README, which i read after I crashed to DT doing alt-tab.

[qoute]Fun factor: Oh yeah, baby, in spades! This isn't one like Dungeon Siege where you master the gameplay in 5 minutes. more like Wiz, where you had to suss it out for awhile before the game really started rockin. [/qoute]

I'm having a blast, and have only had the game crash on me once, due to me alt-tabbing before reading the read-me...
Only ONE complaint ~~ no way to tell how bad off your fighting opponent is while your in the middle of combat. There should be *some* way to tell if they're knocking on death's door, or just getting their second wind. I'm not sure if this was left out by design or not, but when looking at how conversations are handled, with a bar that tells you explicitly how the person you are having the conversation feels about you.....seems some equivelant system could have been devised to let you know how bad off your opponent is after a few swipes of the 'ole broadsword.
But one complaint ain't sinking this ship ~~ most immersive game I think I've played in quite awhile.
NMN
[/quote]
Post Fri May 03, 2002 12:33 pm
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Llama
High Emperor
High Emperor




Joined: 11 Oct 2001
Posts: 509
Location: Earth
   

quote:
1. If you create a custom character, you are called an adventurer, period, no matter what you try to name him.


I second what the guy above me said. I created a custom class and named it a Nomad. All you have to do is press the backspace button, there is no flashing cursor by the "Adventurer" name.
Post Fri May 03, 2002 12:40 pm
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Rendelius
Critical Error
Critical Error




Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 16
Location: Austria
   

Another very subtle part where Morrowind shines: you have SEVERAL ways to determine hwo bad you hit: First of all, have a look at how fast your own health goes down - if it's fast, run . If not, keep hacking. Second: Most of the opponents will have an animation for "hit hard". If you get him or her or it, you can see the effect.

Actually, I am happy that there is no opponent health bar. And it wouldn't make much sense either. Imagine a weakling of a mage with powerful spells - now then a health bar wouldn't be helpful at all. Judge the outcome of a fight on your own health. That's just it, and I like it.
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Post Fri May 03, 2002 12:40 pm
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Guest







   

naa, I disagree Rendelius, you can see in real life if some one is taking a pounding or coping well - hit some one with a sword and they bleed and probably say something like "OW! f**k that hurt!"... you should be able to tell in the game too!

In the absence of funky details like blood pumping from smashed limbs - and more subtle details that human brain picks up on - some other indicator is needed. i.e. a health bar! If you want to be extra detailed you could say that it's accuracy is based on your skill with your current weapon. so if you have no skill you won't actually know if you're really hurting them much.
Post Fri May 03, 2002 1:05 pm
 



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