OpenMW open-source game engine for Morrowind
I've never played a single Elder Scrolls game before, and I figured I'd start at the "beginning", or at least reasonably close to the beginning. An open-world action-RPG released by Bethesda in 2002, the first 3D game in the franchise, the classic, you all know it.
After a while, yes. The combat "system" (system might be a loose term for this? Just standing there spam-clicking a rat until RNG decides you're able to hit it...) took getting used to. If I hadn't chosen Short Blade as a major skill and hadn't gotten all those daggers with Paralysis, I'd have no idea how to even begin approaching this. But damn the world is far too interesting. The scope and mystery of the world, the sense that the inhabitants of this world have actual belief systems; that those beliefs have contradictions and very human biases on one hand and intricate metaphysics on the other hand; that you're not just learning about these worldviews but actively engage with them and shape them with your actions - no wonder people geek out about Morrowind to this day. The setting kept me going through some of the earlier grindier parts, and all the way towards the endgame with my God-killing powers. IDK maybe I'm just gushing because I haven't played too many good RPGs, but dang this game is well-made.
How can you resist these im*pecc*able graphics?
Morrowind is old (though still one year younger than me) which means it has "old game quirks", but aside from a slow start the game is excellently balanced (I'm playing Oblivion right now and Morrowind's leveling is a god-send compared to that). Besides, many of these "old game quirks" are charming and cool in their own way. I'm glad that there's an exploit which lets you drink an Intelligence potion to get more Intelligence to make a better Intelligence potion to get more Intelligence until you get exponentially smarter and can make game-breaking ultra-potions. More games should be breakable like this. Anyway, Morrowind is a *9/10* for me.
I played Morrowind using OpenMW, an open-source game engine that reimplements the engine of Morrowind. The goal of the project is to fix bugs, expand modding capabilities, and add support for Linux, macOS and even Android. Keep in mind that this is my first time playing anything Elder Scrolls-related so I did not mess with mods. As for bugs, it seems like the old Morrowind engine has a reputation for being very glitchy (as a Bethesda product), but OpenMW has been rock-solid for me on Linux. The only issues I encountered were minor errors in some quest scripts, but OpenMW does not fix those since all the scripts, data and assets are supplied from a purchased copy of Morrowind and come as-is.
gardenapple - 2023-04-20
Game finished 2022-12-10
