The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

"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.

It has been joked that during every Elder Scrolls game produced by Bethesda Softworks, they've never repeated the same mistake twice in games - they've invented *new* mistakes with each one. Before Bloodmoon, there was Morrowind - considered an excellent game, despite serious performance issues. Before Morrowind, there was Battlespire, a game considered good, despite an aging engine that should have been replaced. Before Battlespire, there was Daggerfall - commended but considered the buggiest games in history.

Bloodmoon, the second expansion of Morrowind, continues this trend.

Like most Bethesda games, Bloodmoon hits on so many positive notes, you want to love it. Essentially, Bloodmoon is more like Morrowind than Tribunal was. Whereas Tribunal consisted of essentially a series of small indoor buildings (even the 'open air' areas are indoor areas), Bloodmoon consists of a fully-designed island, off the shore of the main island.

In Tribunal, you feel you're being lead from Room A to Room B to Room C. In Bloodmoon, you're given an entire island to play with. A player can choose to do the Plot Quest, or aid the construction of a mining town - which takes roughly as long as the Plot Quest to accomplish. If none of those strike your fancy, there's enough non-plot quests to keep a player far busier than they were in Tribunal.

All this is great, but (as I alluded to) Bloodmoon continues Bethesda's history with their games. Bloodmoon amplifies the already-shaky performance issues with Morrowind. For some, the myriad of trees on the Bloodmoon island will lower performance. For others, the snowstorm effect will do it. Many others have reported that even installing Bloodmoon has lowered performance significantly.

Overall, Bloodmoon is like most of the Elder Scrolls games - the execution of a very good idea hampers the playability and enjoyment of the game.

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.

This game for me is one of the most addicting singleplayer-games I have played. This installment of The Elder Scrolls has a particular fantasy-realm setting that will immediately draw you into the world from the minute you hear the epic theme-song. And the best part is: you can do whatever the hell you want. Want to explore dungeons and raid them for gold and treasures? Go ahead. Want to increase your magicka by learning new spells? Go ahead. Or do you want to follow quests in the main story line? Why not. The possibilities in this game even to this day are astounding, and the large environment is always fun to explore.

Unfortunately, this game does have a few flaws though, and a few of them have been addressed a lot by critics over the years. The game is hard to get into if you are not familiar with Roleplaying games (especially since the first-person perspective can fool you into thinking its a hack & slash type of game at first), but once you spent some time figuring out the game you will have everything under control. The fighting in this game is weird, although you get used to it. Depending on your character's progress, you will either hit or miss the enemy with your weapon even when you are standing right in front of him/her. Obviously "behind the scenes" the game 'rolls the dice' to see if you hit or miss, but its still weird. When you level up you will obviously hit much more though. Some people also complained about having to read so much, but I never had any problem with that.

The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind is a game that shows how epic RPG's should be. If you can look past the glitches and bugs then you have a classic game that can easily entertain you for weeks, months even.