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After 22 years I finally MANAGED TO ENJOY Morrowind!

How can you not like Morrowind you ask?
2002 also was the release of Gothic 2, which I had played before Morrowind and it profoundly shaped my understanding of what an RPG has to be. Then I played Morrowind and I was like...seriously?
Why do herbs and mushrooms not disappear when I pick them?
Why is nothing of the dialogue voiced?
Why don’t I hit when I clearly hit?
Why do guilds accept strangers into their ranks just by asking?
Why can I join multiple guilds?
Why do I have a map by default?
Why can I carry so little?
Why is there so much shitty loot?
What is wrong with this game…

I played for, a couple of days. I liked the visuals, the exploring, the different races and all that, took many nice screenshots, but the rest never really clicked for me. Same story with Oblivion (but here I only endured like 30 minutes). When Skyrim was released, it finally felt like a good game, without the jankiness and weirdness of the former titles. From time to time I wanted to give Morrowind another shot, but never made it past Balmora, it felt all so alien.
But over the years I became more and more sceptical about newer games and started to play indie and old games, even turn-based and cRPGs which I used to loathe. Obviously Morrowind had become a cult classic by now and you can’t overhear the voices screaming “Morrowind is the BEST Elder Scrolls”. I heard what they have to say, and thus decided I give it another try.

Its 2024 and I’m determined to play this game til I like it. They say the magic system is superb, so I start a mage. I choose a Breton and fail to learn any spells. Instead I bought a couple of scrolls, thinking these are my weapons, wasting my money. I join the mages guild, where when not here can I acquire me some spells? Can’t find it. I end up stabbing worms with a dagger, which, surprise surprise, I can’t hit but it’s the only defense I have atm. Ok, screw the mage. I’ll be a thief instead.

Once again I see Jiub’s familiar face. I watch some tutorials and start the thieves’ quests. I managed to steal the diamond, but only because of my zoadiacal invisibility. How are you supposed to do that without invisibility I wonder (today's me says: how about a potion? lol). Luck’s on me though. Second quest getting the key. Can’t find it. I google how to pickpocket. I try. I fail. I google how to do the quest. In the forums they say yeah, this quest is a bit awkward, you need a high skill to successfully steal it. Wait, what? I’m just starting out, it’s the 2nd quest. How can I have high thieving skills? Weird. You are supposed to bribe. 400 Draken poorer the guy out of the blue offers me the key. How should I have known that? But ok. Next quest. Loot a chest that is guarded by two guys that never look away. Doesn’t work. I google. Yeah, that quest is kinda hard they say. I thought Morrowind offers so much freedom and build versatility, but apparently the only way is to kill everyone… but I don’t wanna do that. Pretty annoyed I leave it be, find a cave where I’m asked to escort a hostage to Balmora. Ffs, and I thought the escorting in Gothic was bad. The hostage keeps going in wrong directions, gets stuck at stones and fences, can’t climb a hill, seems to disappear etc. I literally have to walk slo-mo in order for it to keep up with me. Very tedious. But I made it. In Balmora the door is locked. I try different daytimes to see if he opens his door. He does not. Well, then I’ll pick the lock. The owner attacks the hostage, I help him. He says thank you, pays me, quest finished, I click ok. Then he attacks me. Wtf! How am I supposed to do this quest? I lost it at that moment. I curse these quests! What a bad design. I need a break. I call it "the shitty game" from now on.

But the raging is what kept me going. I had fun not having fun, if that makes sense.
Next day I break in again, hit the hostage on the head, get payed, quest completed, AND… he doesn’t attack me this time. What did I do different? I don’t get it. But I progressed. Carry on I do. I find a big mazy dungeon, at the end there’s a ritual room with bells and a hammer. Obviously they want me to strike a combination on the bells. I hit, and...nothing. No sound, no animation, I just hit through air. Really? Even the biggest Morrowind nerd has to admit that this is weak. 30 minutes or more lurking through the dungeon and at the fancy room there is nothing to do? Well, it might be triggered by a quest. Still, big disappointment.

I got attacked by an assassin. I managed to kill him and wear his armor now. It seems very OP. It helps a lot but I take it with a grain of salt. Its useless now to check other armors, compared they are all ridicously bad. A bittersweet find. But the sword with stunning charges is great. Still use it. I wonder why I can’t find better weapons, they all have damage like 6-12 or so. But eventually I’ll learn that it is your skills that bring more damage, not the weapons. A blade is a blade. It makes little sense having one blade with 5 damage and another with 300, like I know it from every other game. I have to give Morrowind that, it adds a layer of realism.

And then in between, I have to admit, all starts falling into place, starting to make sense. The landscapes are amazing. My short blade skill developed and I can hit now. I do some other quests and read dialogues, even some lore. Wow, that is pretty deep I must say. I watch more tutorials and start to see these old obscure mechanics as unique and cool. And not only that. They are actually pretty similar to the mechanics I planned for my own game which I hope to make someday. And finally my running speed is somewhat ok, and my jump can even be called a jump, I can walk over rough terrain without getting stuck like a jerk. It slowly starts to feel smooth.
A friend on discord asks me to press F1 - the quickslot menu, hallelujah!

I start the main quest, looking for a Dwemer puzzle box. Completed the dungeon, no box in sight. Where the hell is it? It must be at the end somewhere, doesn’t it? Well, who said that? It was my modern gaming instincts that told me so. Turned out it was pretty much at the start. Quite unorthodox, but you could say one is required to think outside the box ;)

And then came the big turning point. I realized that you are not supposed to talk to every NPC or visit every house or learn every corner of the map by heart. You only go where you have business at. Like IRL. Same with loot. You don’t pick up every loose thing. Only what is worth selling and what you can carry. There’s a heavy armor at the end of the dungeon, alleged reward? Nope, the weight/value-ratio is too bad, but thats ok, I make money nevertheless somehow. You don’t even have to accept every quest, there are plenty of it! A naked Nord looking for help in the wilderness? Well FU, I’m busy! Quite the revelation for me. From here on it started being real fun and step by step I got soaked into the charm of Morrowind. I’m now ~40 hours in, captain of the thieves guild and crave to make a mage and a warrior, but I keep playing my thief. I want to explore the main quest and become a living legend. Hell yeah, folks even starting to call me that in the guild and they admire my fancy clothes. Feels good.

Sometimes I still can’t find stuff and have to look it up, rather than stray around for hours. But the missing quest markers was one of the incentives to play this game, therefore the good outweighs the bad.

The questions I had 22 years ago have all been answered. I learnt, once again, not to compare one game to another, but rather stay open minded and go with the flow. I get it now. This is a fantastic game and I’m baffled they were able to accomplish such in 2002. But the start can be pretty tough nowadays, especially if you’re coming from another type of RPG.

Thanks for reading my rant/loveletter to Morrowind :)