The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Bloodmoon has a completely different feel and tone than Morrowind (or for you folks who worry about these kinds of things, the island of Vvardenfell in the Morrowind Province), which is extremely refreshing after hours spent in the tribal wastelands and swampy coasts. After the fanciful culture and creatures in Vvardenfell, Solstheim's real animals and realistic area and buildings hit closer to home. Home being this world we live in. Taking you character from a make believe world into something so real (and I'm not talking graphics) makes what you do seem more important and the enemies more menacing and the people deeper, even though they really aren't.

I won't give any spoilers, but take my word that even the bosses are better because they are their own characters. They aren't just a stronger version of the same things all around them. They have motives for what they do that you learn through the quests and encounters with them, and are not just told that they are smugglers that need to be killed or an outlaw that has killed a friend of your employer or an evil deadra. Morrowind only has one of these kinds of bosses, whereas Bloodmoon has many.

The new weapons and armor are truly awesome. Powerful weapons and armor can be found there. Relatively great armor can be bought without questing, and the weapons you quest for are some of the best in the game.

Quests are difficult and they aren't all just going out and killing someone or retrieving an item or escorting an NPC.

My favorite part of what Bloodmoon and Tribunal both offer that I am willing to tell you so as not to spoil anything is that you are able to participate in a few battles. Not all one on one or one on multiple, you can fight alongside many friends against a great many foes that you would not defeat alone. This is a truly great expansion that is worth more than it costs.

"The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind" is, in my mind, the best RPG that's been produced to date. It is the only completely open-ended RPG that I've seen. With virtually no limitations placed on where you can go or what you can do, it propels itself into a whole new level of RPG. In fact, this game allows almost too much freedom. At times it can be overwhelming and exhausting, but those things are also what make it refreshing. There are numerous factions and outfits that you can join completely at your own discretion. The game also has a unique system of remembering what you've done. Like I said, you're free to do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it. You can kill anyone, rob anyone, fight anyone, etc., and there are several ways that you can do each. There is a thin storyline that drives the game forward, which you are free to pursue or not at your leisure.

Never before has anyone been able to craft an RPG of such exquisiteness and depth. I picked it up 3 years ago, and after first playing it, I was not the same person, and it continues to waste weeks of my life time and time again. No wonder I haven't been laid.

The game is completely open-ended. You could avoid the main quest entirely if you wanted, racking up wealth and treasures in the countless sidequests featured. When creating your character, you can pick your gender, pick out of 10 races to play as, your class, and your birthsign. Their are dozens of skills to choose, all representing either Combat, Magic, or Stealth. But the way you level up is especially interesting. Instead of gaining experience points, you develop your character by actually developing their skills, similar to Final Fantasy II. If your fight with a Long Sword, your Long Sword skill will increase. When enough skills have increased, you level up, and raise attributes. You could conceivably create a dagger-wielding berserker with an arsenal of stealth spells, or exactly the opposite. It makes the most sense out of any role-playing system I've ever experienced, and it allows you to create any type of character you want.

While playing, you can really become immersed into the game world and your character. I often make up backstories in my head and play out scenarios and ramble dialog to myself, truly playing the role of my character.

But enough about character development. I haven't even gotten started on the game world itself. It is 8 square miles big, and so richly detailed you can feel like your in it. According to many sources, the developers would hire "clutter monkeys" to decorate the interior spaces with useless junk, like plates, cups, bottles, torches, vases, and thousands of other different types of clutter, all of which can be freely manipulated. The terrain is varied, with mountains, rocks, trees, and towns with unique architecture dotting the landscape, all rendered in beautiful graphics. The towns are populated with NPCs, most of them uninteresting, but sometimes you come across unique characters and unique oddities.

Obviously, there is an endless variety of equipment to be found. Weapons range from basic weaponry like Spears and Steel Daggers, to exotic weaponry like Glass Longswords and Ebony Warhammers, all free to use at any level you wish (good luck finding stuff like that at level 1 though).

There are several different factions and guilds to join, including the Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Thieve's Guild, 3 vampire factions, and 3 great houses, House Hlaalu, House Redoran, or House Telvanni (you can only join one house at a time).

But what really makes Morrowind have endless replay value is it's customizability. Shipped with Morrowind is the Elder Scrolls Construction Set, which lets you modify just about any aspect of the game you wish. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to use. There exists an immense modding community, with mods fitting just about any purpose. The mods are THE reason to buy the PC version and not the Xbox version.

The game is not perfect. The combat can sometimes be boring, and unless you have the Tribunal expansion, your journal will become an unorganized mess. Some reviewers noted that the graphics can slow the game down, but I never had a problem, so I cant complain. These errors are in general overshadowed by all the positive aspects of the game itself.

As I'm sure you'll understand by now, Morrowind is possibly the greatest game in recent memory. Even if you don't like games like this, Morrowind will draw you win like a black hole and never let you out.

if you are bored of those shooter ups like halo and Doom. then i would definitely recommend this! this is perhaps the best game ever that i have played! although sometimes it can get a bit boring, but the plot is excellent and there's always something exciting happening in Morrowind! you could become a bounty hunter and hunt outlaws! or hunt the local and dangerous wildlife and demons! or even become an outlaw yourself! game play 10/10 plot 10/10 graphics 9.9/10! this is better than Halo and all of those. i've always thought that halo was a bit boring because you do the same thing over and over again. but in Morrowind you can do the main plot thousands of times and never get bored! get the game of the year version though it's better!

The guys at Bethesda have always had great story lines and Bloodmoon is no exception. Unlike Tribunal, Bloodmoon's plot does not involve game impairing ninja's around every turn. It adds another dimension to the game, werewolves. Werewolves have more too them than vampires did. They have their own movie when you transform, they can jump high, and attack well. Another bonus are the new movies. The original Morrowind had about 3 movies. Bloodmoon has a movie for about every quest. Bloodmoon opens up a whole new region with new opportunities. The only problem I noticed was how hard it was to get there. You can not take the standard silt strider and there is only 1 boat to get there. Along with the travel problems, with the exception of Raven Rock there is not Inter island transport, which means that you must walk every where. Then again, this give you more opportunities to explore the beautiful, fulfilling Bloodmoon experience.