Back again to the land of ash and dice-rolls. I don't have any nostalgia for Morrowind, having never played it until two-three years ago. And even then I never finished it, and only made it a couple of levels. This time I'm determined though, ready with a heavily modded version. I find it interesting how easily I'm immersed in its world. It certainly shows its age, but the sounds and graphics overhaul helps a whole lot. Morrowind Overhaul 3.0.

If you haven't played it, I highly recommend checking out the Video linked in Patricks latest Worth Reading. Tempted to go back or experience for the first time?

I've added some screenshots so you can see good it looks, and it runs at a solid 60 fps. (Edit: For some reason the images are downsized, but check my profile for the 1080p versions).

EDIT: It seems that there are several outdated plugins in the 3.0 overhaul. For fixes and tweaks I recommend this topic.

Wow, that looks amazing. Morrowind was and still is my favourite ES game.

I played with 2.0 a year ago and it was fantastic up until I got into combat then it was the worst thing ever. Still fun to levitate around though.

I first finished morrowind maybe 6 years ago and I started playing again a few days ago. I use the exact same overhaul as you and it doesn't look dated at all. I only modded the graphics and left everything else at its original state to make it feel like I'm playing a completely different game compared to oblivion and skyrim.

Totally enjoyable game even today especially if you mod the graphics and you like the dice roll combat.

Morrowind is a monolith.

The combat is the product of philosophy from another age. But if you can open yourself to those mechanics (or simply mod the experience to better imitate Oblivion/Skyrim-style fisticuffs) you're in for a treat still unmatched by any Elder Scrolls experience.

Motherfucker... *starts humming theme song*

Such good memories. Too bad I somehow screwed the main quest line so I was never able to finish that story but other then that I really enjoyed my time with it.

I don't think the combat in Morrowind is bad. It's just that it stems from a philosophy that's completely different from the later games. Morrowind is a collection interconnected systems that invite you to master them, and when you have all combat basically becomes skippable. Sure, when you begin you are weak, you don't know what's going on or how to survive. But by the end of the game, you are basically a god. you don't have to walk if you wan't to, you can just jump or fly or teleport to get around. You can befriend enemies, or become permanently invisible. You can kill EVERYONE, including the gods themselves.

Compare this to Oblivion and Skyrim, where you basically just go from a pretty powerful dude to a slightly more powerful dude with prettier armor.

My computer couldn't run morrowind when it first came out, so I forgot about it until I played oblivion, read about morrowind in the ingame lore books and got told by people that it predecessor was oh so much better. Then I tried it, got to the combat and never touched it again, the concept of standing face to face with your enemy swinging the sword back and forth and only punching holes in the air was not compelling in 2006.

@selbie It certainly does, the lighting mods really make it!

Gallery

@historyinrust@almostswedish I'm getting more into the combat, so it's not really a problem. It's the world and storytelling that hooks me. It really feels alive with all its little touches.

I still have my copy of Morrowind on disk around here somewhere, but it seems like such a Herculean task to get from my old-ass launch day CD to actually having it updated and working in Windows 7.

It's one of my favorite games of all time, and I'd love to get back in, though. Does anybody have any tips on getting it up and running?

What ever happened to the guys that were making Morrowind in Skyrim?

I'd love to actually play this someday.

It's still a thing. I think It's mentioned in the video in Worth Reading. It's called Skywind.

This is probably the worst, most unhelpful suggestion you'll get, but the game and its expansions are available on Steam for relatively cheap. I think, at this point, that'd be the most painless way to go. Still fully mod-capable, too, so you aren't missing any functionality.

@historyinrust:

That's kind of what I figured would be the easiest way, I was just hoping I could avoid putting in money for a game I already own.

Ah, well. Might be the best option.

Goddamnit. Every time someone mentions Morrowind I want to reinstall it. I have lost hundreds of hours to that game, and I have actually never beaten the main quest. I beat both the expansions though. Morrowind was my first truly moddable game as well. After playing it for close to hundred hours I started installing those. Everything from banks to turning it into an Anne Rice vampire novel...
The things I bet make it hard for people these days are the combat (which is fine after the first five levels or so) and how static the NPCs feel. No voice acting and how most of them stand completely still day and night is odd now. But it is still a masterpiece.

I've tried getting into this game on several occasions, but there are just parts of this game I just can't stomach, like the combat. (I really really can't stand dice rolls in real time combat.)

Hopefully that Skywind fan remake will turn out as good as it looks and I'll be experience the game in a way I can enjoy.

If nothing else it does have one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a WRPG.

@jaqen_hghar: In a way I'm glad I'm experiencing Morrowind for the first time. The downsides upfront was the combat and how some of the game mechanics work, but I've gotten used to a modded Skyrim that's pretty hard, making Morrowind not too punishing. Though at the moment it is really infuriating... since I'm trying to taunt and kill a blacksmith so I can get a set of glass armor. Stupid strong blacksmith.

I played a bunch of this game on the original Xbox years ago, and the terrible combat and draw distance really prevented me from loving it. I didn't fall in love with the series until Oblivion. I would be interested in trying out the 3.0 version.