First timer, what's going to make me facepalm?

[Rooker75]

I'll be playing Morrowind for the first time soon. I'm very familiar with Oblivion and Skyrim, but I know basically nothing about Morrowind. I have heard a few times that there are some terrible mechanics that make it frustrating. What kind of facepalm-worthy things can I expect?

 

/edit: Also, I haven't bought it yet. Is there any reason why I wouldn't want to buy the GotY from Amazon? It's cheaper than the Steam version (and I don't like Valve and hate spending money with them). I do intend to mod it, so I won't tolerate a DRM-encrypted version like you'd get from Impulse or Direct2Drive.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Rooker75

[hollaajith]

Basically, the amount of failures. You will fail quite often in tasks, espescially with low fatigue. I've heard people complain noot even able to hit Mudcrab or rats. That indicates, they never got into the game. Just picked a weapon skill and use different weapon than that skill.

 

If you don't have atleast 40 in the weopon skill you are using, and atleast 35 in Agility, you are going to miss much more than hit. What makes it worse is that there is no 'miss' anumation, so it looks like the weapon passes through the enemy and don't do any damage. So, if you are going to ba a fighter, take 'combat' as specialization, pick a race which has a bonus for a weapon and pick that skill as Major. This will help you :)

 

As for magic, don't try to use the stock spells you can buy. There are spellmakers which allow you to make custom spell. Make low cost spells which you are more often succeed in casting and go from there. You will be fragile, with low health. So pick your fight carefully. But I don't recommend to satrt with mages. It takes micromanaging to succeed, espescially at lower levels, with low magicka.

 

And, talk to people. Espescially little secrts, advice. There are really good advice there.

[razorpony]

The leveling will make you facepalm, it's much the same as vanilla Oblivion. Micromanage skill levelups to get attribute boosts. I recommend a leveling mod.

 

As Holla said, you will fail. A lot. Hits will miss, spells will fizzle, and alchemical potions will go poof. Also don't even think about trying to enchant your own gear without being able to fortify your intelligence and enchanting skill to 500 or more. Yeah, you can do that in Morrowind. Everything is unlocked and there is no limit to spells or potions.

 

Finally, animations are awful. Everyone has a broomhandle inserted firmly up their backsides and the beast races... well... you'll see.

 

Beyond that though Morrowind is a really deep and engaging game. It may take a little while for it to 'click' with you but when it does you'll have a blast.

[Rooker75]

Thx for the link, Holla. I'll bookmark it.

 

Yeah, I've read about the action failing thing at the uesp wiki and it sounds like a terrible mechanic. I'm not even going to bother with the vanilla leveling if it's like Oblivion. I was thinking of using this: http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/23676/?. It sounds nearly identical to what I use for Oblivion.

 

From what I can tell, enemies don't level with the player like in Oblivion, right? So it's okay to level up without making myself weaker in comparison the way it is in Oblivion? That'll be a welcome change.

 

Also, there's an unarmored skill, but it requires you to be wearing armor before it takes effect? WTF Bethesda? I can see I'll need to mod the hell out of this game.

[hollaajith]

I never bothered about the level up bonus, but just used the skills as the charachter might. The more you think about level up bonus, the more it takes over the game, just forget its there. You'll be strong as a god by the time you reach 15, anyways. Earlier if you 'micromanage'.

 

Creatures have fixed stats, but you'll meet stronger creatures only at higher levels. So, you don't meet dremoras at lower levels, unless they are placed by hand. Unless you go to Mournhold or Solstheim. Enimies there were designed for higher level charachters, so it'll be tough.

 

The unarmored bug is fixed by Morrowind Code Patch along with many other engine bugs. I recommend you get it, along with Morrowind Patch Project.

[Rooker75]

On that page, under the info for Steam users section, what is the MGE thing it's talking about? "You need to disable the Steam Overlay for MGE to work."

 

I'm not planning to get the Steam version, but I was going to add it to the library as a non-steam game anyway so I could use the overlay. It's the one thing about Steam I don't despise.

Edited March 20, 2015 by Rooker75

[razorpony]

MGE is Morrowind Graphics Extender. It's a very nice tool for enhancing visuals. You can remove the fog, increase your view distance, and add LOD for structures added by mods so they don't just suddenly pop into view when you get close. It's a must have in my book to really get the game looking its best.

[Rooker75]

I have a terrible PC, so that doesn't sound like something I'd use anyway. I'll choose the overlay over that. Being able to read a wiki without tabbing out or exiting it is way too convenient.

 

Hopefully Beth figures out the witchcraft of letting a game alt-tab to desktop without it crashing before they finish Fallout 4.

[hollaajith]

Change

Background Keyboard=0

to

Background Keyboard=1

in Morrowind.ini. This allows you to alt-tab out of the game.

Edited March 22, 2015 by hollaajith

[Rooker75]

Well, I guess I don't need to add it as a non-Steam game after all. It just got here and what's the first thing I see when I open the box? "This is a Steam game." Good work on the bait & switch there, Amazon / Hitbox Gaming.

 

I'd be pretty annoyed right now if I hadn't already planned to use the overlay anyway. If I'd wanted the Steam version, I'd have bought it on Steam.