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Click here to listen to the main theme of the game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZhbZEJYm0M)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is, as one could assume, the third installment in the Elder Scrolls game series developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft. The original game was released in early May in 2002, making it a rather old game. Just like in the later installments, it is an open world fantasy action roleplaying game where we will create our own character, choosing from multiple fantasy races and skills. We shall be exploring the volcanic island of Vvardenfell in the province of Morrowind, an area that is quite small compared to many other Elder Scrolls games. However, the entire island has been crafted by hand, meaning there are no randomly generated landscapes and exploring is quite worth it. Loved by many for the unique world and disliked by many for the outdated game mechanics, we are here to make our own judgment. Unfortunately there are no ragdoll physics.
I have not played the game personally, but I am with someone who has. While I will be experiencing many things for the first time and our memory is not perfect, I believe there will be many things I can show to you as you help us go through the game. Obviously, we will be playing the PC version. I would also like to ask you to not post spoilers, especially without spoiler tags. You can definitely suggest and talk about things I might have missed, but when it comes to actual plot points that have yet to happen, please wait until we actually get there.
We will be using both of the expansions, Tribunal and Bloodmoon, which add a lot more content and areas mostly meant to be explored after finishing the main quest. We also will not go in this unmodded. We will be using a mod called Morrowind Enhanced which will fix the rather atrocious combat system of the vanilla game. We will also be using certain mods that make the game look a bit better with plenty of new models, textures and a lot more grass and trees. Better Bodies will be changing all the humanoid NPC models to look a lot better than they did in the original game to avoid nightmares. There are also some other small mods that do not really change the game in any other way except add a bit more life to the world, such as Morrowind Comes Alive, a mod that adds some more random NPCs walking around – some of which are hostile.
We – which includes you, the reader – shall be playing the game together. I will post screenshots of our story and give you the option to affect our next step with votes. There is no set voting time or amount of people that have to vote, as I do not know how many are interested. The votes are not true votes perhaps, as the one with most votes might not actually win every time in case some other option would be more interesting or funnier. For the most part, I won't be making the final choice however. We also might not be finishing the game as it is a very big one, but hopefully we will have some fun as long as it lasts.
Let's get started, then.
Table of Contents
Part 0
Welcome to Morrowind (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3187/#msg3187)
Making a Hero (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3188/#msg3188)
Roar of Thunder (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3207/#msg3207)
Almost there (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3221/#msg3221)
Part 1: Finishing the Tutorial (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3222/#msg3222)
Part 2: Ladies Man (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3234/#msg3234)
Part 3: Yook Thunderbeard, Nord Detective (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3245/#msg3245)
Part 4: On the Trail of the Murderer (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3251/#msg3251)
Part 5: Bloody Justice (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3255/#msg3255)
Part 6: Visiting the Smugglers (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3259/#msg3259)
Part 7: Off to Balmora (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3264/#msg3264)
Part 8: Balmora Trail (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3270/#msg3270)
Part 9: A Series of Unfortunate Events (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3278/#msg3278)
Part 10: Reporting to Caius Cosades (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3288/#msg3288)
Part 11: New Boss (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3296/#msg3296)
Part 12: Poached Eggs (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3302/#msg3302)
Part 13: To Arkngthand (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3339/#msg3339)
Part 14: Hunting Telvanni Agents (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3361/#msg3361)
Part 15: Naked Nord Nonsense (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3377/#msg3377)
Part 16: Reaping the Rewards (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3391/#msg3391)
Part 17: Ace Alchemist (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3401/#msg3401)
Part 18: Grave Robbing (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3434/#msg3434)
Part 19: The Great Houses (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3447/#msg3447)
Part 20: Spooky Scary Specters (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3489/#msg3489)
Part 21: Loose Ends (http://tulpanetwork.com/network/off-topic/let's-experience-morrowind-(with-many-images)/msg3696/#msg3696)
Goddamn it Duke what are you doing with your life Jesus dick.
Playing video games.
Part 11: New Boss
We decided to see what kind of a job Caius is offering us.
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Morrowind OST – Peaceful Waters (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvRoL3xW7Kc)
And right away, we have become a member of the Imperial Blades. They are spies for the Emperor.
Caius Cosades knows we are new and he offers us a lot of information. We also now have access to the Blades trainers that live in Vvardenfell, so it should help us a bit. He's a good source of information for the guilds and factions and as we haven't heard a lot from the Great Houses from others, I asked him about them.
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Morag Tong isn't one of the three Houses we can join, but they are legal assassins and we could actually join them. House Hlaalu could be said to have a Stealth specialization, if you remember those from back when we were creating our custom class. They prefer those kinds of skills, being stealthy, agile and good talkers. House Redoran fits the Combat specialization the best, being traditional fighters with strong ties to the Temple. House Telvanni is made of wizards and Magic specialization works for them. They're a strange bunch.
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Asking about some other factions he mentioned, Camonna Tong's connection to House Hlaalu is confirmed by Caius. He's also right about us not being able to join it.
But enough talking about those. It is time for us to see what kind of a job he has for us.
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He offers us gold for our troubles. I'm not entirely sure why he called us a pilgrim, as that is not our class name and it isn't our rank in any faction, either. Strange.
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We are sent to get information out of Hasphat Antabolis, a person who actually stays at the Fighters Guild. Caius wants information out of the Nerevarine cult and the Sixth House, though he warns us that the information most likely won't be free. We heard of this Nerevarine before, but this Sixth House sounds new.
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Right. We were heading to the Fighters Guild in any case, so we could go talk to the person we should easily. It's not out of the way.
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After being congratulated for a good job, we are given a new order to stop egg poachers. Should we handle the egg poachers?
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Morrowind is a game that lacks the compass that points you to your destination. The only thing we get are these written directions. Sometimes they are vague and difficult, sometimes even wrong, but actually finding your target can be a fun exercise.
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Our man is in the training room in the basement.
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We are going to have to do him a favor to get any information out of him. He wants us to go to nearby Dwemer ruins to get him a specific artifact. Should we go dungeon crawling?
As this would be a very short update otherwise, I went to explore our neighbors, the Mages Guild.
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The upper section is very much like the Fighters Guild.
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They have a supply chest as well with some more useful items in it, teleportation scrolls and potions.
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Upstairs, there is an enchanter. They cannot fail unlike player characters, but they will ask for a lot of money. On the desk, there is a very tempting, valuable soul gem. It's up to you if you wish to steal these, as there is a catch: every single soul gem of the type you steal cannot be used with Balmora's enchanter anymore, as she will accuse you of stealing even if it isn't the same soul gem you actually stole from her. If you don't need her services, then you won't have to worry about it.
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The basement is very different from Fighters Guild. Instead of a narrow hallway, a training room and the small room with beds, there is this large room instead. There are some small rooms separated from the rest with room dividers.
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We can also buy spells from them. If we were a part of the Guild, we would be given discounts.
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We can also create custom spells. We can only choose from the spell effects we actually know, so right now we could only use the Restore Health effect our Hearth Heal spell gives us.
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We can change its range and how effective it is, making it easier or harder to cast as well as balance the Magicka cost. Sometimes the spells the NPCs sell are actually worse that they would be if you had made your own spell, costing more Magicka than they should. It is a fun little system to play with.
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Another nice thing the Mages Guild offers us is the guild guide. They can teleport us to any other Mages Guild in Vvardenfell for a small fee. It will be instant, so no time is wasted on travel.
Now, please pick one of the choices as the quests are starting to get longer and doing more than one in one update will be a bit too much.
Should we go to the Dwemer ruins to get the information for Caius?
Shall we rather work for Fighters Guild and take care of the egg poachers?
I haven't gone to get our reward for the last jobs yet, but should we ask Larrius Varro if he has another job for us?
Or do something else?