Judalene Cheetham
Elder Scrolls Online has been around since 2014 and with it there have been various updates and downloadable content added but ZeniMax Online Studios have now created for us a serious bit of content to get excited about, Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind. Morrowind is a whole new section to play in with new quest lines and story arcs. It can be played from scratch with a new character, as there is a new class, Warden, to experience or with previous characters built up in ESO.
Vvardenfell is the main island of which this new section of game is set, the home of the dunmer. One of my favourite races is that of the dark elves. So, I was particularly happy to see them fill out the land of Morrowind. It was nice to play as a dark elf and almost feel at home in the environment.
Vvardenfell offers quite a beautiful environment to explore. It is wonderfully colourful and full of interesting landscapes and places to discover. The wild life has similar tones to ESO but there is still some unique creatures and scenery to appreciate. The music is as amazing as ever. Though I never played the original Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind I certainly listened to and found great appreciation for the music (so much so that I walked down the aisle to the Morrowind theme song) and this version does it justice and provides an enchanting audio for ESO: Morrowind.
I sadly did not experience the original Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and so can’t make too much of a comparison, though this Morrowind is by no means a remake or re-imagining. This era of Morrowind is set roughly 700 years before the events of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
As far as Elder Scroll beginnings go (when starting a new character) ESO: Morrowind is the least tedious to date and though still starting off as a prisoner of sorts it was a simple and almost interesting starting scenario. After the whole prisoner section, it follows Vvardenfell’s deity guardian and warrior-poet Vivec, who is plagued by a mysterious ailment that is draining his power and so as the outlander and all-important adventure it is up to you uncover the mystery and reveal the truth.
The new class, Warden, is a magic based class that has a focus on nature. Like all the other classes, it still has several options in the way of upgrading and special skills to learn. The most impressive is a War Bear that charges into battle along-side you.
The combat and most aspects continue to remain in style with the regular ESO mechanisms. The tone here is very much the same. Something new I did try with ESO: Morrowind is the gamepad support. Playing on the PC, I was happy to find it was quite reasonably well implemented. There had been some complaints but it doesn’t feel too different from the console version setup and so I easily adjusted and enjoyed playing with gamepad support.
One aspect that screams to me is that this game is not a single player game. It can very much be played solo but there comes point when companions are somewhat necessary, especially if you have a chosen a more support or squishy class type.
The community sadly keeps mostly to itself, there are forums and what not but it is hard to obtain friends in this, diminishing the whole online part of the game. Having a group of regular players is a key aspect to experience the full potential and fun that this game has to offer.
ESO: Morrowind is a beautiful game in both a visual and audio perspective and provides players with a new and engaging world. It provides a couple of new aspects to the ESO franchise and is easily gotten into. As an online game, it is definitely played and enjoyed better with companions. I still enjoyed this on my lonesome but couldn’t fully appreciate its offerings playing solo. The new story is interesting and the voice acting continues to improve. If you were already enjoying ESO or possibly looking for an excuse to get back into it, ESO: Morrowind is a wonderful addition to the franchise.
Released: May 2017
Rating: M15+
Platforms: PC (Windows 10)
Genre: MMORPG
Developer: Bethesda
Publisher: Bethesda</p