Just created a character: Need help!

[Fardaa]

Hey,

I've just spent a lot of time creating my first Morrowind character and saved just as I've left the office. I've come here for some help as I am quite daunted by a lot of things in this game. I would be really thankful if someone could answer some questions I have with this game:

 

1. What is "Perfect Levelling" and if I don't do it how will it impact me?
2. What are some (Spoiler free!) things I should know now that if I don't know could lead me to regret something later on?
3. Is it possible to max out all the attributes?

Many thanks,

Dan

[Tchos]

I'll assume "perfect leveling" is referring to a particular thing about the way you level in this game. Due to the fact that enemies level up with you (by which I mean that more powerful enemies/creature types start appearing as you increase in level), if you're leveling up without raising your effectiveness in things like damage or defense, then the higher level you get, the more difficult the game will be. That's pretty much the opposite of other games, where as you level up, you can defeat enemies more easily. Some people avoid this by delaying the leveling up process by not sleeping.

 

Also, as you use your skills, the game keeps track of which ones you're using most, and when it comes time to level up, it will offer you bonuses if you increase those particular skills. They won't always be ones that you actually wanted or needed to increase. Some people like to influence this by intentionally "practicing" the skills that they want to increase most, by doing them over and over.

 

You can play it successfully without paying particular attention to the leveling up process, in my experience. The first levels will be hard, though, until you level up your fighting skills enough so that you can actually hit things.

 

The spoiler free thing to keep in mind is that the game doesn't care if you shoot yourself in the foot. But as long as you don't go around killing people for no reason, you should be fine.

 

Also, reputation matters. Helping out one faction will make certain other factions not like you. Choose your friends and enemies.

 

You can only join one of the three Great Houses (unless you cheat). The first one you're likely to find is House Hlaalu because it's in the closest main town. The 3 houses roughly correspond to the three general types of play -- fighters, thieves, and mages. Pick whichever you like.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Tchos

[MorielAtta]

Hi Dan!

 

The first thing that comes to my mind to tell you about is to beware of owned containers. You see, if you store any of your stuff in a chest, crate, or other container that the game marks as owned by an NPC, then when you take your stuff back out it too will be owned by that NPC and the game now regards it as a stolen item. Mostly this has no effect, but if a guard ever arrests you then this "stolen" item will be taken away from you. This can be really frustrating!

 

To avoid it you need to know who owns a container, and if you are playing on a PC then you can find out like this:

 

Open the console by pressing the ~ key and enter this command: tfh. That's the ToggleFullHelp command. The name is a bit misleading, because all it really does is add two lines to the pop-up box you see when an item is under the crosshair or mouse cursor: the name of the script on that item, and the name of the owner of the item. Knowing the script isn't very useful, but knowing the owner can help you avoid accidently losing your things! (Knowing the owner of a bed can also help you avoid the "crime" of sleeping in a bed that you don't have permission for. I recently got arrested for trying to sleep in an Imperial Legion bed that I thought was an Imperial Cult bed.)

 

Enjoy the game, Morrowind is my favorite of the Elder Scrolls games, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

[Fardaa]

Thanks for the help, both of you! I've got a day off work today and I can't wait to get started with this game :)

[Tchos]

Enjoy! I think you'll find a lot of things in there that you wish they hadn't removed from the later games.

 

If you like it, and you can deal with Minecraft-looking graphics, try out the first two games at some point, too. I just finished playing Elder Scrolls 1: Arena, myself, and now I'm a few days into Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, and having a good time in those, too.

[Spirithawke]

A quick note on knowing if something is owned. If you wish to know this information, AND are running either MGE or MGE XE, you might be interested in Ownership Indicator by Yacoby.