Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly Awesome
Review: I have waited a long time for this third installment of the Elder Scrolls, and it was worth it! This RPG is incredibly good. Abstain from playing it if you don't want to be glued to your PC 24/7. The construction set included with the game is incredibly entertaining and easy to use, once you get the hang of it. I was able to add a house to the gameworld to suit my character perfectly. (and believe me I am a very technology challenged person) I think I have spent more time on the construction set than on the game itself. It is so much fun to use and is not limited to modifying architecture. With it the player can create new objects, classes, races, npc's, weapons, armor, the options are almost limitless. The official site boards are a wonderful source of information on every aspect of the game. On them, the players themselves enthusiastically share their experiences and answer most questions regarding Morrowind. Finally, fan sites are mushrooming all over the web with everything from tutorials on using the construction set, to solutions to the most obscure quests and puzzles. Leave it to the fans to generously share their creativity. All in all, I will be playing this game for a long time to come. Kudos to Bethesda for another job well done.
Rating:
Summary: Great game
Review: Let me start of by saying the game, for some people, crashes on a regular bases. I have that problem also. Bethesda is making a patch to fix that.
I would give this game 5 stars if it crashed every minute. That is how good it is. The game world is huge. The storyline is great. There are hundreds of quests. Thousands of classes. Great graphics. Ten guilds to join. Comes with a consruction set. Hundreds of mods are already out. Just go buy the game. It is the best rpg in a very long time. If you have crashes the patch will be out in 3 weeks, but the game is still playable
Rating: 
Summary: The mother of all role-playing games!
Review: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (MW) is without a doubt one of the most ambitious role-playing games to date. MW begins with your character arriving as a prisoner on a strange new island. As the opening sequence progresses, your character is slowly asked questions that determine his or her attributes, skills and appearance. The local captain gives you amnesty in return for a favor and the game begins. The entire island is yours to explore: cities, dungeons, mountains, isles or any people that exist on this island known as Vvardenfell. With the exception of online games that require monthly fees such as Everquest and Ultima Online, no PC game has a larger world to explore. The game is open-ended and your character can live as a hero that rescues those in need or you can become a dastardly criminal with a large bounty on your head. The island of Vvardenfell is home to a race of dark elves and as your character explores the island, he or she will learn about the various political powers that control the island. Your character can join a number of factions such as the mage guilds, thief guilds, a local aristocracy, a secret assassins guild, and even a clan of vampires. There are thousands of spells, weapons, armor, clothes, potions and anything else you can think of. That being said, I have a warning about MW. If you have a low-end system (Pentium II, 32MB video card, 128MB RAM or less), do not purchase MW. It says on the box that the game supports some of the specs I just listed but it's not true. Lots of RAM and a great video card are probably the most important things to have in your computer if you expect to play a smooth game. Another warning is if you're not familiar with computers, you're purchasing the wrong game because MW needs every aspect of your computer (drivers, directx, performance tweaks) to be in sync to work properly. ACTION FANS - 2 STARS - While MW plays like a first-person shooter with its viewpoint and weapons system, it is the furthest thing from a fast-paced FPS. If you are a dedicated action gamer, I would hesitate before purchasing MW because the game moves at a slow pace and requires plenty of downloading when traveling. If you have enjoyed role-playing games before, you will probably like MW but I would recommend that others wait for a possible demo. STRATEGY FANS - 3 STARS - The only strategy required in MW is that you remember everything you've been told which can be quite a lot. There are a few quests that require puzzle solving but for the most part, MW is a hack and slash game in the middle of a grand story. If you've enjoyed role-playing games before, MW will probably satisfy you. ADVENTURE/RPG FANS - 5 STARS - The PC gaming market doesn't see many quality RPGs. Since the fan favorite Baldur's Gate II was released, there have been a few quality RPGs but not until MW has an RPG been released that has garnered such universal appeal. MW goes the extra mile and expands on everything you've ever encountered in a role-playing game be it an incredibly large island to explore or even hundreds of books about local lore. Not wishing to reveal too much, if you've ever read The Wheel of Time book series, you already have an idea what the story in MW is like. BUGS - 2 STARS - This is the one bad thing about MW and a huge problem. No matter how hi-tech your computer is, MW is full of bugs. Many games these days are released before they are ready and MW appears to fall in that category. If you are a gamer that is easily frustrated with crashes, I would wait a few months before buying MW. Not only has my game crashed to the desktop several times but I have encountered numerous freezes. There are plenty of glitches such as broken quests and environments that you character can get physically stuck in. While a game this advanced needs a quality system to run smoothly, there is probably a memory leak as it shouldn't have this many problems on high-end systems. Maybe after several patches, the game will run better but be prepared for frustration. REPLAY VALUE - 4 STARS - MW was shipped with a comprehensive construction set that allows you to edit almost any aspect of the game. You can change races, building locations, create new islands and quests - almost anything! You'll need an expensive software program called 3D Studio Max if you intend to make new models but you can use any art program on the available meshes and you can move or recreate anything in the game into a file called a plug-in. Before you start the game, you can select which plug-ins you would like to use. Because of this great feature, you'll never alter the game's essential files and the only problems you will encounter are if you try to take out plug-ins that your character was using in the latest save game file. Already there are tons of plug-ins available for download on the internet. The tutorial included in the construction set is terrible and I would recommend searching MW fan websites as many generous gamers have written easy-to-follow tutorials for all features of the construction set. One negative aspect about the replay value in MW is through all the plug-ins, the game still depends on a quest system. To advance in power and rank affiliations, your character needs to complete quests for the group he or she belongs to. If at any time you as a gamer become bored with this quest system, you'll quickly become bored with the game. In all fairness, I've played RPGs with better stories than MW but it still can hold its own to most of the great RPGs to hit the PC.
Rating: 
Summary: Like running through Jello
Review: I like this series so much I still play the old Daggerfall on my p2 450, but Bethesda seems to have dropped the ball on the latest installment for the Elder Scrolls. Running this on my fastest computer (which is well above specs for this game), anything other than the absolute lowest resolution is so frame-rate poor it is impossible to even navigate the user interface. At this resolution, the interface does not scale, so the GUI becomes very hard to use. They also took it upon themselves to neuter my favorite class, the monk, by making them do fatigue damage now instead of physical damage.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent CRPG (i.e. Not for the Diablo/Dungeon Siege gamer)
Review: I would like to first start by saying that if you like your roleplaying games to have a straight-forward clear path to follow, this is not your game. Additionally, if you like the simple gameplay aspects of Diablo or Dungeon Siege, do not bother purchasing Morrowind. The best example I can come up with is this:
It's a beautiful, one-person EverQuest, except with interesting quests and gameplay. I say this because the game is more of a virtual environment that allows you to go where you wish and accomplish quests in your own way. There is a "general" direction given for the main quest, but it is very easy to get into the quests from the various guilds in the game. This can be a little intimidating for those used to being "led" with specific directions. At first, I was overwhelmed with the sheer number of things I wished to accomplish. [...]
Rating:
Summary: great game...but a few gripes.
Review: the playablity in MW is excellent, but there are a few problems. even the highest end machines will have slow frame rates and choking issues (my current graphics card is a ti4400 geforce4 and my machine still stutters). also, the hand to hand aspect of the game is a disappointment. it is ridiculously better to be a sword totting oaf than a speeding monk. finally, if you like to play as a majic user you will find the spell system to be delightfully flexible. however, you have to rest in order to regain your magicka; this means mages are more prone to nap than a 3 month old child. yet, the sheer size and freedom offered in morrowind is a fresh breath of air. you can do almost anything and become almost anyone. the options are truly mind boggling. i don't know of many games that will let you continue to play even after you have ruined the plot, but MW does (MW will promptly notify you of the doomed state of the universe and then ask you if you would like to continue to play in your now lost world). this game is well worth the money, just be warned that it still has some minor draw backs.
Rating:
Summary: Best game this year
Review: I love this game. It is a huge richly textured world. With more flexibility then I would have thought possible. Almost every aspect of this game seems well thought out and enjoyible. That said, it didn't start out so great for me. I too started out frustrated by the crashing of this game, but downloading a new video driver for my NVIDIA video card fixed the problem. This game can be resource hog. But if you have a computer that meets the requirements on the box and you make sure your drivers are current you shouldn't have any problems. You can download the latest drivers off the web fairly easy, even if you have a slow connection like mine. It is worth the all bother. I spent almost 5 hours trying to figure out why it crashed whenever I tried to get off the boat in the first sequence but when I finally fixed it I encountered the most breathtaking and beautiful world. The graphics are exceptional. Everywhere you look is a detailed and unique vista. Even the sound is pretty good. The music isn't overwhelming or annoying. But the reason this game is truely exceptional is the gameplay. This game is truely open ended. You can play this game any way you want. You can shape your character to be a master thief, a warrior, a mage, or a monk, just to name a few of the possibilities. Your skills are built when you use them instead of being assigned whenever you kill a certain number of creatures. In fact it is possible (although not easy) to play this game without any violence if that is what you prefer. You can follow the main plot of the game or wander around exploring and going on other quests or both. I've heard there are more then 500 quests in this game and just from 15 hours of playing I believe it. The world Bethesda created seems detailed and exotic enough to intrest me for a long long time.
Pros: Lavish graphics
Openended and non-linear gaming
Huge number of quests
Decent sound
Very flexible in shaping your character and how you want to play the game Cons:
Need a fairly good computer
Need latest drivers
Will suck hours out of your life and may make you late for work All in all this is the best game I have seen in years. It sets a new standard for role playing games.
Rating:
Summary: Disgraceful for this to have been released
Review: Want to waste days trying to get the software to work. Reinstall several times, update drivers, replace boards, spend hours on hold - then this is the game for you. This is one of the worst pieces of software I have owned. Was never able to get more than 5 minutes into the game without one type or crash or another. I tried three different graphics cards - all claimed as supported - a tnt2, a geforce4 mx, and a geforce3 ti 200 - all had _different_ but still terminal problems. I am on a standard PIII configuration using run of the mill popular hardware and software. I've updated all the drivers, and played with the settings as suggested. It should have worked on my system, I have many other 3D accelerated games which run just fine on the same configurations. It didn't even come close. I'd have to say that it had never been tested on my config which says little for their testing process. Take a look at the various message boards for this game before you buy it and you will see that _many_ people are having similar problems. It is an absolute disgrace for this to have been released in the state it is in.
Rating: 
Summary: Wait at least a month to purchase
Review: I agree with everyone with 1-2 stars....this game was not ready to be released. It runs slow on 80% of all the game systems out there..no matter how powerful. It's a code issue that Bethesda is working on, in the form of a patch due about 3 weeks from today (5/20/02). The tough thing is that this game has some great potential- but even with a 1.7 Ghz processor, 20 GB of hard drive, 256 Ram, and a 64 MB video card the game is unplayable as is. Be aware of this if you decide to purchase!
Rating:
Summary: A colossal, horrific failure- DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.
Review: I will echo the words of so many others who have made the mistake of purchasing this "game." My system exceeds the "recommended requirements" printed on the box, and yet the game, when it runs, runs horrificly. for example: 1: every time you enter a new region in the game, gameplay stops for solid minutes while the new region loads. 2: Every time I approach an NPC to interact, the game locks up for at least 60 seconds, while it loads whatever snippet of info the NPC has associated with it. 3: The game will sporadically lock up for 2-3 minutes, for no apparent reason. 4: Loading a game takes around 5 minutes. 5: support is horrible. Beyond the standard, weak advice to "load the most recent graphic card drivers and re-install direct X 8.1", there is zero- I repeat- ZERO customer support available. 6: the ingame graphic engine causes my geforce 2 to lock up, even when the game is played at 640X480. Geez- I could go on- but I think the above 6 examples (which- trust me- are the very tip of the iceberg of faults that this game comprises) are reason enough to avoid this. Playing this game is neither fun, enjoyable, or even tolerable. Furthermore- after un-installing this game, my copy of CREATURE ISLE no longer plays properly. It's rare that a game comes along that actually does DAMAGE to your system...
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