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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition Review - Xbox

11th March 2004 by
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GameBiz reviewers Jason and David have been caught up in Vvardenfell for quite some time now. Hundreds of hours have been spent travelling the many lands of Morrowind to bring you a considerably in-depth review of the Game of the Year edition of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. This edition comes with the original Morrowind set on the massive island of Vvardenfell, and also the two expansions Bloodmoon (Set on the small island Solstheim, which is only small compared to Vvardenfell, but is actually quite large uncompared) and Tribunal (set in a huge city on the mainland, Mournhold - the clockwork city of Sotha Sil). Don't worry though, there's a poster that comes with the game that has maps of all 3 parts of the game, so you can study up on what's new and refresh your memory of Vvardenfell.

Gameplay

You are a convict. Arriving in a small town called Seyda Neen you soon find yourself being asked several questions by a wise man, who decides what star sign you were born under. Manually or automatically choosing a class and a race, you set off on one of the biggest gaming adventures ever with little more than rags on your back. If you ask anyone who's played Morrowind what you do in the game, the most likely answer that you'll receive is "whatever you want to do" - and that's exactly right. Do you want to travel the land helping town residents by performing small tasks for them? Do you want to join the Thieves Guild, stealing rare items from noble citizens for your masters? Or do you want to travel the uncharted lands far from the towns, searching tombs and ruins for treasures? The possibilities are endless. The meat of the game, however, is the quests. There are literally hundreds of quests, and they're sorted into three basic categories: the main quest, faction and guild quests and personal quests. The main quest is the quest that propels the storyline more forcefully; the faction and guild quests are quests carried out for certain establishments such as the Thieves Guild and House Telvanni; and personal quests are those that are carried out as favours for characters in the game. Almost every quest yields a reward, whether that be in the form of special weapons, potions, or more commonly, gold.

As soon as you emerge into the centre of Seyda Neen at the beginning of the game you're given directions to a man named Caius Cosades, who dishes out all of the orders for Morrowind GotY Edition's main quest. Here is where it gets interesting - you don't even have to visit him or even do the main quest at all! Undertaking other quests is as simple as talking to the characters that hold them. Every quest in the game can be completed at a leisurely pace, elaborating upon the control of freedom within the game. The two expansion packs built into Morrowind GotY Edition, Bloodmoon and Tribunal, ... (continued next page)

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