#That's how you know you're playing Morrowind I guess >.>

[styrmwb]

I Beat The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

You're beaten!

This was definitely a game I kept looking at in my backlog like "I should play you", and finally, I marked it off the list. I really love Elder Scrolls; Oblivion is one of my top 3 favorite games of all time (Skyrim is good but I find myself liking it less as time goes on), so to really feel real I had to get more experience under my belt. Also helps that I wanted to finally completely and fully understand what the fuck those insane people on TrueSTL were talking about (I still don't think i do)

Regardless, this game is incredible.

Gameplay

For the most part, the core of charactering and RPGing is the same as Oblivion. The skills are the same (with some extras!), the stats are the same, the leveling skills for more stats on level up is the same, class building, etc, etc. So I have that background knowledge that eases the possibly jarring feeling of "older RPG that is very grindy" (Did you know FFXI also came out in the same year as Morrowind? I like these games). The differences between Morrowind and Oblivion though (other than those extra skills), are mainly in the combat. This game is completely dice roll. It's ALL math. Yeah, there's some "action" or "skill" in that you don't have to deal with a dice roll if you're not in the place to get hit, but when you hit it's still math. This is... frustrating. In the early game. I'm STABBING you why aren't you dying? But as you get stronger, it exponentially speeds up your ability to grow and feel powerful, and it honestly feels really good to Get Stronger.

Going from there, some of the most fun I had was number go up, trying to level my skills in an optimal way to get the most stat increases on level up, it's such a big dopamine source, though I do feel like I got lost in the math sauce a little bit and did that rather than actually playing the game by doing quests or going to fight and stuff. This wore off obviously once I got to higher levels and didn't have Number to Go Up, and towards the end I was purely focusing on quests.

Beyond leveling and combat, another core part of the game I really really liked was NPCs and dialogue. Oblivion and Skyrim are fully voice acted, and have pretty limited responses in how you can interact with them. Morrowind is all text (other than when you're walking around or occasionally when they speak. So maybe not all text. Mostly text.), which leads to some really cool interactivity. You can click on certain words and phrases in dialogue to unlock more dialogue; it kinda reminds me of FFII's keyword system. I love this. It encourages you to read so much and click everything and because it's all text there's so much range and freedom for the devs to put down whatever. It even extends to making random NPCs feel a little more placed in the world. You can talk to nearly anyone and get a bunch of info and it's awesome. Though after a while when you've read everything people start to get more predictable and less fun.

I think one of the coolest parts of how the game plays is how... sandbox it is. There's a few things that factor into this; spellmaking, enchanting, alchemy, and how the math stacks up. You can loop alchemy into itself by making stronger and stronger potions. You can make stupid strong spells and effects. If you want, of course. You can jump halfway across the map, literally fly around, do stupid fireballs or whatever. It's awesome; with the game's base and... glitches? exploits? you can pretty much do whatever you want. Or you can not, too. I think having those options are really needed. The way I played it was I used alchemy for "temporary cheat potions"; things like "I don't want to walk here's a 40 pt levitate" or "this fight's too hard here's a really good restore hp potion". I also had a 100 pt jump spell that was REALLY handy when I had high enough Acrobatics. The world becomes your oyster.

I guess the last bit I wanna talk about is back on the combat. Less on the dice roll, and more on the actually what you do. Something I thought was really cool was how weapons have different moves you can do based on how you move. Like I used spears mainly so I wanted to go back and forth to use the Thrust for max damage. Or when I used an axe I'd strafe side to side for the swing. It was awesome and really cool. Though right at the end of the game, some enemies became so damage sponge and my gear/potions were enough to keep me alive so it was just forward back forward back stab stab stab for 3000 years and that's not very fun.

Setting/Vibes

Before I get into any story or anything, I HAVE to talk about the world. Morrowind/Vvardenfell is one of the coolest, most unique settings I've EVER seen in any game ever. A volcanic island with mushroom trees everywhere, weird lizard creatures roaming around, cities that look like pyramids made of sewers, buildings that feel right out of Star Wars, nomad tribes that wander the ash wastes; it's so fucking cool dude. I was talking with a friend and we mentioned how it's no wonder some people only play this game, cause there's not another game that feels anything like it.

The visuals are incredible too. From moment on on the title screen, the logo has this strange drawn, sketched look to it. So do the loading screens, showing off enemies that look like they're concept art coming to life. Then you actually get into the world, and you see these paintings that give off the same vibe in that dirty, brown world. The game is very messy, very gritty, and I love it. It adds to that sense of strangeness and the alien nature. The world is so weird, dude; and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I guess if I had to compare it to real life... it felt... Middle Eastern? A little bit? I think it's the text font, with the "desert" location (if the desert was made of volcanic ash), and the buildings in Balmora. But that's even not quite right, cause like, where do you put the mushroom trees, the swamps, the whole city of Vivec? The Ashlanders felt very Mongolian/Hunnic, but not too much that they felt like a direct rip. Just enough for inspiration, but still feeling unique.

Speaking of cities, I love them all. Balmora was definitely my main hub home for convenience, but I just loved the small city vibe it had near the river. Vivec is stupid huge but an amazing concept with the cantons, as well as that meteor hanging over. Ald'ruhn having a giant, live in crab with HUGE manors inside is the sickest shit ever. I also really like Gnisis, the temple in the center and all the shacks around it makes it feel like a religious city. Then there's Sadrith Mora and all the other Telvanni towers; giant mushroom and vine towers made for mages that swirl and curl around. It's so unique and cool.

Story/Lore

Kind of a continuation of the last section. When I say visually the game is very grimy, the lore feels just as much as well.

Morrowind is a newly integrated province of the Empire. You walk into a culture full of Dark Elves/Dunmer upset about their culture being overwritten by the Empire (and others not so but that's what makes a realistic world). The Dunmer culture is full of Saint/Daedra worship, Slavery is commonplace, the Great Houses rule over the land with shrewd business sense, traditional warrior culture, or "fuck off let me be an asshole" wizards in their towers. The people of Vvardenfell hate "outlanders" and will let you know constantly (this game calls you slurs before online CoD lobbies ever did!). Society has officially sanctioned murders that people are used to. Most important of all is the worship of the Tribunal, 3 living gods; mortals with godlike power that lead their people. It's not at all what you would see in Cyrodiil/Oblivion. Beyond main civilization are the Ashlanders; nomadic tribes that pray for the return of the Nerevarine to cast down the Tribunal as false gods, drive the outlanders out, and to unite the Dunmer once more. You're thrown into this land that fucking hates you. Yet you're sent to investigate and save it regardless.

It's such a raw world to explore. I don't think I've ever played a game that feels so... oppressive? Sure, you make friends. You eventually become beloved. But there's just something about how everything is presented that never makes you feel welcome, and I think that's awesome.

The story of your journey itself is really cool. The Emperor himself sends you, a nameless prisoner, to this island, cause he believes you match the Nerevarine Prophecies; someone that is the reincarnation of Lord Indoril Nerevar, the greatest hero the Dunmer ever known, and close friend of the gods of the Tribunal themselves. During the main story, you learn of the coming threat of Dagoth Ur and the Sixth House, another former friend of Nerevar, outcast, rejected, and betrayed by his comrades, now returning in a twisted way to corrupt and take over Morrowind.

I feel like I can't really do a plot summary justice without making it the size of the whole blog post. But the journey is incredible. So much of it is learning about the past, and about the culture of the land. It feels like a big part of the story is learning about the mystery of what happened to Nerevar, what happened to the Dwarves/Dwemer that disappeared during the Battle of Red Mountain, how the Tribunal got their powers, and why Dagoth Ur ended up the way he did. You find out how all of these bits are connected, and even though you literally talk to primary sources, even they are biased to where you're never QUITE sure about what really happened that day. One of my favorite quests is when you're first learning about the Nerevarine Prophecy in detail, learning from an Ashlander Wise Woman. It's just a shit ton of reading and text and seeing what your character matches, what you can still do to meet those prophecies. It was amazing. The final boss scene against Dagoth Ur might be my favorite compared to Oblivion's siege of Imperial City and Skyrim's Alduin in Sovngarde. You have a full conversation with this man, as he asks you questions of who might be his once beloved friend ("friend"), and you ask what this madman is planning; before you fight near the giant corpse-looking artifical god robot Dagoth is building out of the heart that the Dwemer used to ALSO try to make an artificial god robot that eventually disappeared them from the whole world. It's one of the most unique things I've ever seen. Sure, the gameplay itself might not be super exciting (though hitting the Heart of Lorkhan with Sunder and Keening was really cool, and how Dagoth can fall off the bridge afterwards is neat), but conceptually, with a bit of imagination, it's amazing.

Also, not a built in narrative, but my character was an Argonian (I always play Argonians they're #1). The concept, or the narrative, or whatever, of the reincarnation of this great war hero, this man that's supposed to drive the outlanders out, instead being this woman from low class, a member of the race they use for slavery, someone that HATES how this culture treats others, being their final salvation? I dunno man, it's something special. Argonian Nerevarine is canon, I don't care what people say it works the best

Again. I can't do a summary justice. It's something you really have to play to fully understand and appreciate. But it's something magical for sure. There's nothing like it.

Side Quests/Guilds

It's an Elder Scrolls game. The main story is like, 2% of the game. I did as many of the factions as I possibly could. But something neat about this game is you CAN'T join everything, some of them are mutually exclusive. I guess I'll just go one by one.

Mages Guild - The first one I started with, since my character was primarily magic at the start. This one was probably my favorite? The questgivers you deal with all have their own flavor of tasks; Ranis in Balmora is very brutal, Edwinna in Ald'ruhn is focused on learning no matter the cost, Skink in Sadrith Mora feels like a more moral mix of both. Then you deal with Trebonius, the incompetent Arch Mage who just casually asks you to figure out where the Dwemer went cause he's an idiot. The Mages Guild is full of memorable characters.

Fighters Guild - I mean, it's the Fighters Guild. The quests aren't very memorable (except for the pillow lady that was hilarious). What is cool though is the war with the Thieves Guild that's involved. Those two are mutually exclusive, and you find out that the Fighters Guild is in the pocket of the Camonna Tong, the local crime guild of Morrowind; and you can choose to go along with it, or take the corruption out by force (which is what I did). Super cool, lot of choice involved.

Imperial Cult - Probably the worst faction in the game. Full of not very fun quests such as Literally begging for money, and not really any cool story. I did like Kaye's Shrine Sergeant quests though.

Imperial Legion - MUCH more interesting. There's not much of an overarching story here, but there are interesting individual quests that lead to some cool worldbuilding, and they're more varied than the Fighters Guild. I really liked Darius's quests in Gnisis.

Tribunal Temple - A really cool worldbuilding questline that gives you more information on Dunmer culture, and has a wider variety of quest types. I also like how it melds with the Main Story, as the Nerevarine is shunned by the Temple, so of course if you progress in a certain order they'll hate you.

Morag Tong - Your basic "dark brotherhood go kill people" type questline. Not interesting in that sense, but it's cool lorewise how this is an officially sanctioned murder group, and the secret base in Vivec is really cool. I love the reactions that NPCs near the murder have. There's one where everyone was expecting you to come, and the vibe is very somber.

Great House Hlaalu - One of the 3 Great Houses, next to Redoran and Telvanni. I joined this one cause I was roleplaying my character as an abolitionist type who did not care for Morrowind's native culture of slavery and hating outlanders, so she joined up with the furthest from that (fuck the Telvanni lol). This one is another one filled with memorable characters, from the writer of the Lusty Argonian Maid, Crassius Curio himself, to the whole Dren family and the conflicts between them. A lot of reading based quests, which I really appreciated.

Twin Lamps - Not a real questline, nor a joinable faction, but something I have to mention. Having an actual group of people, and a sort of reward for freeing slaves across the island is SO cool, and I'm really glad it exists. Perfect for giving the world more depth, and it lets me help my lizard brothers and sisters.

Overall, I do think I like Oblivion's guild quests more, but Morrowind's were really cool, and for the most part they all offered something different and unique (Imperial Cult is the exception that one stunk)

Tribunal

I also did the DLCs before I considered the game "complete". They're... fine. Not the best. Tribunal, the first one (which I thought was the second one but I guess not?) is like, the Rise of the Zilart. It's an expansion that's like a direct main story continuation. It takes place in Mournhold, a city on Morrowind's mainland, away from Vvardenfell, and you deal with Almalexia, one of the Tribunal. Mournhold is... very small. Claustrophobic, even. And half of the DLC takes place in underground sewers and caves which just felt like one big dungeon I kept having to go into and it was exhausting and I didn't like it. It did have good side quests though, I think; and the final set piece of fighting Almalexia near the rotting corpse of Sotha Sil in his clockwork city was really cool. Probably my least favorite part of the game. I do think it was really cool to meet Barenziah though, a lore figure I've read about in books for years now.

Bloodmoon

Bloodmoon on the other hand, is not connected to the main story, is not claustrophobic, and I liked it a little more. It takes place on Solstheim, the same place as Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC, and you deal with the Empire landing on this island, as well as its Nord native inhabitants and their Bloodmoon Prophecy, all leading up to a confrontation with the Daedric Prince Hircine. Having the freedom of an open island I could jump around was really refreshing. While I didn't care for the main quest, maybe cause I was starting to get burnt out, but I don't feel like it transitioned into Hircine well enough. I did really like the East Empire/Raven Rock storyline though. Another questline where choices actually matter, I went for the one that lets it succeed. It was cool to see it slowly built. Similar to Tribunal, seeing the origins of stuff we see later, and the origins of how this island came to be in the modern times was awesome.

This is the end of you, S'wit!

The thing about big games is they have big posts. Morrowind is a very big game. There were still something I didn't do, but that's ok; I was ready to move on when I was at the DLCs.

Doesn't change the fact that this game is incredible. It's old, it's janky, there's Cliff Racers everywhere, but it's magical. It's game that is truly fully unique, a world you can get completely lost in.

Final note on something that I didn't mention before but I wanted to talk about (and couldn't figure out where to put it): Bethesda games are notorious for being crashy glitchfests. I played this game with no unofficial patch, and honestly? It was pretty stable. It did crash a couple times, but the absolute worst bug I ran into was whenever you enter a cell, NPCs shift slightly more and more until they're way out of place, and I had to use a command to reset them. But that's honestly nothing.

I think I still like Oblivion more, but I would attribute a good chunk of that to nostalgia. This is absolutely a world you should try to immerse yourself in though, and if you're not a fan of story and reading? Well, then there's still joy in making stupidly broken potions and blasting all of Vvardenfell's denizens with lasers and fireballs and shit as you LITERALLY fly around.

9.5/10. One of, if not the most, unique world I've ever played through in my life, with a really fun sandbox to play with on top of it. It's old and a little janky, but that doesn't cancel its wonder.

[sasquach-scratches]

Unfortunately that poll of "Your Most Hated TES Game" has got me thinking again about my level of disgust across the series and tbh i kinda need to update that so I guess I'll use this to organize my thoughts lmao

For the record, though, I haven't played EVERY TES game out there and those I did weren't finished half the time

Anyways let's get into it

Arena-Actually, lemme separate them into categories cause can you REALLY compare them all equally given how different they are

The Eldest of Scrolls

Arena: Probably the only one of the old-school games I actually finished. Big ol dungeon crawler. Magic goes boom. Hard to really "hate" the game cause I don't feel too strongly about it which is funny cause it's technically the first TES game I played (I waited a month for Oblivion to arrive in the mail)

Daggerfall: Never finished it. As I understand, though, it's Arena but More. I think this is one I'd have stronger feelings about had i actually stuck to playing it till the end

Battlespire: Arena but More but Without the Extra Roleplay. Probably more polarizing but again, barely got an hour or so in lol

Dawnstar/Shadowkey/Stormhold: Never played, but want to (especially Shadowkey) I hear they're all full of jank tho so who knows if i'd enjoy it

The Modern Scrolls

Redguard: Never played.

Morrowind: Played a full game and got through half of another, but given how hogwild I go with the modern TES games it doesn't feel like it's enough to deserve that "Worlds Biggest Hater" energy from me. I do think the "combat sucks" thing is overblown, though. Not saying it's perfect but maybe y'all are too used to the actionized games and/or using the wrong weapon for your skillset. Do not like how easy it is to get lost cause if you don't have Mark/Recall or an Intervention spell you can't just jump to a familiar location.

Oblivion: In short, it's the first TES game I truly played. So I love it for that but also hate it for its shitass levelling and whitewashing of lore/the Empire in more ways than one. I love it more now because of how streamlined Skyrim is. I hate it more now cause it was definitely a low point for Bethesda's worldbuilding. LOVE the CC and I remember spending over an hour creating my first character then immediately rerolling cause oops I overdid it. It's my problematic fave

Skyrim: Love the OCs and the adventures I made for it. Hate the fandom it grew. Love the art direction in comparison to Oblivion. Hate the "gritty" filter put over it. Hate its shitass writing and quests. Love the addition of skill trees but hate their implementation. Absolutely LOATHE the downgrade to magic (idc if it's "story integration" it still sucks) Heavily dislike how little choice you get at CC as far as your skills go. 50/50 on the cosmetic side of CC cause on one hand you can't go ham on face creation but on the other you can change things like weight and nose/eye types but on the other other hand weight is just muscle mass unless you're using the fem body where it's SLIGHTLY thicker

Spinoff Scrolls 2: Finger on the Monkey's Paw Curls

Elder Scrolls Online: This one's...complicated just by virtue of being an MMO that's STILL updating. When I first played it, it was a breath of fresh air over the previous entries not just cause of different gameplay but because having multiple characters was an actual tangible thing in-game. I'm an OC whore okay. The story of the base game felt a LOT tighter, too, given it was actually linear. 'Course, the writing always felt really good or really bad and rarely was it in-between. Either way I got very, VERY invested in it in a way I knew I would never be able to experience again and I will never forget that. The CC is Phenomenal and easily the best one in any TES game so far. (Boob and ass slider? FOR MEN TOO???)

Lore also was hit or miss, with me being VERY appreciative of them touching things that Bethesda never bothered with if it wasn't for killing (i.e. types of food, clothing, toys, etc) but also while the lore team did consult with Bethesda there were and still are some glaring oversights that feel like they shouldn't have happened (especially earlier in the game's life) Given there's still some hiccups I'm guessing the Bethesda team doesn't actually consider it very important (makes sense, the main games also bend lore for the sake of gameplay/Todd's whims A LOT, just look at Oblivion lmao) I also love love love that they touch on the weirder topics, even if sometimes it's done in a way that feels too...on the nose? idk how to explain it

Recent ESO, though? Writing got more and more bland, with some standout sidequests. Lore still hit or miss so that's whatever. I stopped caring for the gameplay after...Orsinium?...when I gave up on relearning how to play with the regular changes to combat. Gave up trying to fit my OCs stories into the new content too, even with new characters (helps that they're not as developed lol) Still play out of habit but I defo think it fell off and this recent change to the yearly content doesn't seem to be helping but then I haven't touched new content since High Isle lmao

Legends: Seemed interesting but never played it much lmao, lore/story seems to follow ESO's example of being hit or miss from what I saw

Blades: It was okay I guess. Another game I developed a habit for then promptly dropped after I finished building and upgrading my town. It's a mobile game so idk what I expected, annoying ads begging for money abounded. I did all of it without paying a single cent on my Switch and it was a slog but I did it. Pretty meh about it tbh

Castles: Looks cute. Never played it and probably never will.

[dead-generations]

please drop your Morrowind mod list if you're willing, because I keep getting overwhelmed every time I try to pick out mods myself. (I have no idea why, given that I mod half the games I play extensively. I guess I can't get far enough into vanilla Morrowind to know how to adjust it, which really cuts into my cred as an old game enjoyer)

Vanillawind sucks. not the Game as in the world and writing and experience, but as in the engine and animation and so forth. I totally get it and so does the community. Luckily they've got you covered, someone made a video for you exactly!

look, I am currently working on my own new modlist (a lot of incredible stuff has come out recently that has changed the game) so I'll post that probably after the weekend. But if you want to play Morrowind and have it be as shrimple as possible, have it stay true to itself but Just Work, the only thing you need is OpenMW. (you should also download the expansion delay mod, every fucking time, it's mandatory imho).

it's a continuously updating open source ENGINE on which Morrowind can run, and it integrates a boatload of blink and youll miss it "vanilla+" style mods. weapons appearing on the body when put away, animation smoothing, the ability to look into the distance without all being fog! and best of all it makes Morrowind much more stable and system friendly (allegedly it can be used to run Morrowind on androids but I haven't seen it myself).

It has plenty of options native to it, and the most important is that you go into visuals, find the cells and set that baby to 10! (you could even go higher) think of it like Minecraft chunks.

Now, Warlockracy is a bit of a ledge in the morrowboomer evangelism sphere, and he JUST put out a video where he walks you through his "Morrowind remastered" modlist. Its actually what inspried me to get proactive and do more cool shit with mods. watch it and then check his (unpinned but high up) comment for a strong list of mods for those exactly like yourself, who want to play Morrowind but bounce off the jank. (that is also me tbh)

in the meantime, I will leave you with this. firstly, we now are in a world where there are hundreds of hours of high quality Morrowind gaming content available via mod. Tamriel Rebuilt is simply, in my opinion, the most impressive modding project in gaming. they are slowly working to release the entirety of the Morrowind mainland, and each update adds a massive chunk of the world and a huge amount of content. the most recent update, Grasping Fortune, added a massive urban environment which is jaw dropping and what amounts to multiple playthroughs worth of content. over at Project Tamriel, they also have a Cyrodill and a Skyrim zone you can travel to, Cyrodill being Anvil and the ocean and Skyrim being 2/3rds of the Reach (hopefully all of the reach within the next year or so).

[zachsgamejournal]

COMPLETED: Fable: The Lost Chapters

Fable is like DreamWorks's take on Game of Thrones. I enjoyed playing it, so am saddened that it wasn't something better. It's got two sequels, so maybe they'll deliver in this game's promises.

Complaint i left off which is still valid, the popin is so annoying. This is a 360 game. There shouldn't be noticeable popin. I remember playing the Motorstorm demo on PS3 kiosks in Walmart. One of the things that struck me was how many little shrubs of vegetation were spread across the track. Dozens of individual sprites populated the environment, while there were up to 12 detailed vehicles on screen, all with animations and realistic damage. Plus you could see 3d mountains and terrain in the distance. Yet the popin wasn't noticable. To guess, the draw distance was at least 100 feet.

Yet on Fable, little plants were popping in at a mere 12 feet. Like these levels were designed for an xbox. They're not very big and the backgrounds aren't highly detailed. I can't imagine there's any reason to have a single object popin. Not like the game is trying to hide load screens or anything. It's blatantly poor optimization that ruins the experience and immersion of the world.

Moving on...O can't believe how close to beating this game I was back in the day. I stopped just short of saving the mother (whom I thought was dead). Maybe it was because I had focused on strength and fighting the summoned dudes was annoying. If only I understood the magic spells.

See, generally I like to play games and figure them out for myself. How well a game teaches the player is one of my criticisms. I don't think Fable really dissuaded me from magic, but I didn't feel inspired to try it. Turns out I wasn't inspired to use my biw either cause it wasn't till fighting the undead that I remember trying to build up my skills. I think I wanted to unlock steal, but the steal mechanic reminded me of how restrictive Fable js compared to Morrowind and others. I probably just lost interest. Had I leaned into magic I would have finished it.

Magic is OP in Fable. And I'm thankful for that. I've heard magic can be OP in Morrowind, but you gotta know what you're doing. True, Fable has a lot of trash spells. And once you get enflame all other spells are useless IMO.

I've always shies from magic in games because it tends to depend on Mana, a finite resource. And to me, if you can win with physical attacks, then you're just not ready. I'm changing my perspective, especially when I see how it disrupts my enjoyment of things. In Fable, Magic potions are cheap. I had about 200 stored up by the end of the game. And with enflame, you can hit as many enemies that are within range, so getting surrounded by 5 foes is a welcomed opportunity to save on mana and boost xp earned. Plus, you don't take damage while using enflame. So I was killing everything while remaining mostly invincible. It made the game way easy. Sometimes I'd switch to sword or arrows for the fuck of it, but it was never better.

So anyway, I go to save the mom. Kinda dumb as a mission. You find her and try to escape to only be cut off by Jack of Blades, or whatever his name is. Then you go to prison where you have to win a race to get invited to a poetry reading, where you steal a key and escape again. I failed the key stealing the first time. So I had to watch a cutscene and redo the race. Booooo. Then I escaped down the same hall we got stopped at last time. But for some reason Jack wasn't watching. I mean, he could have stopped me so easily. Ah well, plotholes.

The prison sequence was disappointingly boring. When I failed the poetry thing, I half expected a few skills to get reduced as punishment. But nope. Just a note that I was tortured. This could have been more interesting. Maybe force the player into a routine: sit in your cell, get food, walk the yard for exercise, go back to the cell. But have the player make connections with guards and cell mates until they can plot an escape. Punish the player with reduced skills or xp, which immerses the player into the harshness prison life, creating a fear that without escape they'd lose all they have. (You can give apl back later). This could be a more interesting prison escape. Instead, we get a boring foot race and dumb stealth mission. If anything, it felt like the game was trying to extend play time without putting in too many resources. I mean, having to deal with moral decisions while in prison was a great opportunity.

Anyways, we got out, met up with the sister and bear Jack.

Who the fuck is Jack, anyway? I don't think he appeared until the Arena mission, which is like 60% thru the game. Lame time to introduce an antagonist. I think he was the shithead that burns the village at the beginning, but he wasn't seen. How great would it be to see Jack strike down the father and take the women, only to hear about his evil exploits while being raised in the guild. This would have created a personal revenge story worth remembering.

I mean the first 10 or so guild/story missions are unconnected, random events: hornet queens and helpless farmers. Why not make Jack behind it all: releasing hornets werewolves to distract ppl while he makes his moves. That could be a cool mission tree, where did these hornets come from? We tracked them to this cave. Huh, Jack's bandits are breeding them and sending them out in sabotaged supply barrels. What's his plan?

So after the very basic ending of killing the bad guy that wants power, there's an extra 2 hrs tacked on. It's not in the original game, and you can tell. The game has a decent plot of rising action, climax, and resolution. So to then add two more hours of gameplay and pretend it was part of the plan along felt wrong. I remember thinking, "We killed Jack, why are we still doing things?" Turns out Jack became a dragon and had to be defeated again. But most of the main characters from the original game aren't present, so it feels more like a fan game than an official expansion.

Actually it would have made a good sequel. After Jack is defeated you get reports of strange going ons and slowly learn Jack is gaining power as a dragon. A lot could be done with that. Or you could just poop out a half baked 2 hr expansion.

Oh, and Maze's betrayal. It was a surprise, but I didn't care. He mostly died with honor. But what if his betrayal was really about helping prepare you to be strong enough to defeat Jack. So like, by working with Jack, he had enough influence to ensure you were never outmatched but grew enough to win. Basically like how game designers treat gamers. It's a mix of Infamous and Metal Gear Solid 3.

Ultimately the game is very ok. It's mostly playable, though the sword play is a bit annoying. The characters aren't particularly memorable and the plot is pretty standard. But it has a certain charm and is fun. I'm interested to see what 2 and 3 are like.

[emoshep]

i guess i'll elaborate on where that's coming from

the short version: recent video from a very opinionated youtuber with fun ideas about urban planning, a lot of negative things to say about elongated muskrat (both are good points), and some odd takes about the russo-ukrainian war because of course, most youtubers seem to think paradox games are enough to make you an expert on how wars work

anyway none of this is about that, this is just about their essay about how much they hate fallout 4, more so my reaction to it

for a few years i shared a similar attitude as this creator toward a lot of what you might call "low-brow" entertainment. you like call of duty? you're fucking stupid. you derive enjoyment from skyrim? you fucking sheeple, morrowind is so much more intelligent. you watched game of thrones on tv and enjoyed it? you moron, go read 6000 pages in a series that will never be finished (okay but c'mon you know it's true). you're ambivalent toward things like reality tv because seriously who the fuck cares? you are literally satan incarnate. you played fallout 3 over a weekend and had a fun time? how fucking dare you, i'm personally offended by this, something something van buren?

recently i find myself increasingly in the camp of "pick up a thing, enjoy it for what it is. if you don't like it for reason a, find a reason b or just move to the next thing." thinking about it, i think this shift may have to do with me being a little bit older (late 20s) and now working full time with a minimum 40 minute commute. i can't hold this type of attitude anymore because literally no longer have the time and energy to. and as time goes on, i find myself less sympathetic toward folks holding it and more... not hostile but, like, annoyed? to me it just comes across, and i promise i don't mean to insult but, like some weird nerd ranting about how special and unique their tastes in entertainment are and how everyone else is stupid for not sharing them. a thing i was very much guilty of in my earlier years

more and more i genuinely do not vibe with this air of "this thing isn't as good for very specific purposes as this other thing that i like for very specific reasons, therefore it's the worst thing ever conceived by humans and everyone who likes it is less than, i'm going to ruin my mood talking about it for an extended period of time instead of doing something i actually enjoy." cool story bud, anyway i got shit to do you have fun with that

idk, perhaps i'm a fool with no taste but i just like fun things that are fun and funny. and if it makes me smile for an evening, i think there's value in that. okay i'm done

look, i too like fallout new vegas better than fallout 4

but, chief, friend, pal

if your chief beef with fallout 4 is "it's not fallout new vegas," idk bud, just play fallout new vegas lol why are you doing this to yourself

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Wah this is a little embarrassing to write down but could I get an obey me match up? I’m super obsessed w Nightbringer atm haha

I go by they/them, I’m 5’10 and I tend to dress mostly feminine but I’m also super hairy LMAO (shaving is too much work), I’m not too confident about my appearance but yknow it’s whateves as long as I get to wear bright and sparkly stuff looool

I’m a capricorn? Dunno much about zodiac stuff, but I would describe myself as a cheery optimistic person!! I like joking around and being silly and I’m described as childish quite a bit 🤷 I can be a bit shy and nervous though so it’s not like I’m SUPER extroverted, I actually tend to be a bit of a hermit sometimes since I don’t like to go out much (ya boy also can’t DRIVE LMAOO) parties and stuff are super overwhelming and I kinda have a hard time making friends ☠️ but I do like talking to people!!! Especially about my interests, I’m super into games and cosplaying rn (currently on my 5th morrowind playthrough, playing all the mainline persona games, working on climbing in ranked league of legends, etc) but I also love to read comics and books as well as write occasionally!! Poetry mostly but I also roleplay online if that counts, plus I do DnD,, I love my character creation 🤧 Tangentially related but psychology is also one of my main interests I absolutely love learning about it!!!

Oh I’m also currently studying art, my skills are mostly in traditional drawing and painting but lately I’ve tried pottery+ceramics and I’m slowly cracking away at digital art too!! My goal is to one day be able to write and illustrate my own stories someday ✨🌈 My favorite genres are fantasy, mystery, romance, and horror!!!

I rlly love spooky stuff teehee, I tend to be a lil thrill seeking, mostly just for stuff like roller coasters, horror movies and games, haunted houses, escape rooms, etc, I find it SO fun I love Halloween sooo much

I guess my love language would be words of affirmation? Sometimes I’m not too big on physical touch but I do like being told stuff lmao

As for things I don’t like, I’m a super picky eater ig? Oh and bugs they give me the icks lmao (I’m so sorry Beel it’s not personal) I also don’t like when things are super chaotic, messy, or out of my control, I function best with at least some semblance of structure in my life 😭

Anyway uhhh I hope this is enough? I’m not rlly sure how these things work lol but I’d love to hear who you think would suit me best!! God knows I’m terrible at picking my men ☠️☠️☠️☠️

Hello Anon! You put a great amount of information! I'm trying to finish the original Obey Me game before I get too into Nightbringer, but with me only being up to Lesson 18, it could take a while. Hope you like your matchup!

In Obey Me, I match you with...

Okay, I know what your thinking! You're a picky eater and I pair you with the one character that canonically can't cook? But hear me out!

If you can cook, you'd be able to make things you know you'll like, and you won't have to worry about dying from Solomon's attempts at cooking.

If you can't cook, either the brothers or Barbatos would be more than happy to help you out, making dishes for you while also teaching you how to make them yourself.

Solomon loves spooky stuff so he's right there with you in haunted houses, cinemas to watch the latest horror movie, on rollercoasters...you name it, Solomon's up to the challenge!

He also loves sitting down with you and trying to copy whatever you're drawing or painting. He's probably not as good as you but he tries his best. He can always just use a bit of magic while you're not watching to make his scribbles look a bit better.

Solomon loves that you have the desire to write and illustrate your own books. He'd feel honoured if you would share your progress with him. But he's also happy to wait until the final product is finished. It just means more anticipation and surprise when he finally gets to see your work.

Solomon playing D&D would be an experience. He's got so many stories from his years of life that all of his characters are probably just him from different eras. I really want to write a fanfic about the Obey Me character playing D&D now...

Because Solomon's been around so long, he's also a ready reference for a lot of psychology questions you have. He's seen so many people and how they think so there are very few questions you could ask that he wouldn't be able to answer.

[retphienix]

So last night I played for a short few minutes and was annoyed that I couldn't find the quest in my book, I'd just as soon guess it didn't have a 'main' entry and that I'd have to scroll through my entire journal to find it -.-

So today I just went back to Caius and it turns out that was where my objective was, so we're back on track :P

Speaking of that though, this was really neat to me. Talking with the Dagoth Ur priest gives such a cool tone to all this, like Dagoth's entire view and realm of influence is that he's already won- he's god- and he's offering forgiveness for our betrayal, and yeah, that's all morrowind 101, but just how it's written, how it's phrased with them falling into the flesh to grasp his mysteries etc- the writing is sick I love it.

Potentially more importantly, I got some SICK new gloves that even beat out my daedric enchanted gear!

oh and I have magic cancer, oops, I can't pretend to be too concerned since I know it gets cured and I stop aging because of it lol, even if I didn't know that every person you talk to in this quest line is like "Yeah corpus is hell! So we're gonna figure out a cure while you're out" which is like the opposite of building tension lol

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Quake 2

I've been weaning myself off of violent video games (thank you indie games) but admittedly there is something stupidly fun about Quake 2's murder simulation. 

STORY TIME? -- Yes.

After my mother stole my penny collection to pay for gas. She overcompensated with an apology by letting buy a game. I chose Quake 2. Not sure why, but I did. But this was the PS1 version. So however graphically challenged the PC version might have been, the PS1 version was worse. And while I never beat it, nor did I find it playable after switching to Medal of Honor (PS1), I still enjoyed the time I had with it. The aesthetic and atmosphere in particular stuck with me. And that's really making this experience enjoyable now.

PRESENT DAY

After Hades pissed me off for being itself, I needed a cleanse. Something less punishing, less strategic, something that I could pick up and drop without much consideration. Right on cue, Quake 2 Remaster appears in Game Pass. Having found memories of the aesthetic I decide to give it a try. To my surprise I found myself moving pretty quickly through levels. So when I first thought this should just be a cleanse, I've now decided to commit to beating it.

While I grew up a huge fan of Mortal Kombat and any game with blood, guts, and gore--I don't like it anymore. To much time and energy is focused on how to kill people. On the one hand it's disturbing, and on the other is boring. Grand Theft Auto was great because it went beyond the murder simulation (though there was a lot of murder). You could be a taxi cab driver, put out fires, look for stunts--and the games expanded to the point now you can do yoga. Don't know why you would want to, but you can. Point is, I don't think players just wanted to kill things. That was just easy gameplay and easy satisfaction. By the early 2000s, games were starting to expand beyond their core mechanics. 

Consider Final Fantasy 7, it was filled with mini games like snow boarding, Chocobo Breeding and Racing, a Submarine combat adventure, and other things. It was as much fun to live in Final Fantasy as it was to battle large bosses. Actually, I preferred the living to battling. And as we saw more open world games appear on the market, we started to see gameplay that existed outside of just shooting. And games like Morrowind and Metal Gear Solid often offered non-violent alternatives to mission completion. For me in particular, games that limited your choices and abilities to violence were ages behind the curve, singular, and boring. 

So why is Quake 2 so much fun in 2023? Firstly, it comes from an age where game companies struggled to get basic gameplay elements working to satisfaction. Not that they sucked at their jobs, but 3D games were new and computers were weak. Today you can copy-paste FPS blue prints to Unreal Engine and you're 90% of the way there. It took a lot of work to get games to run well, look decent, and be fun. Because Q2 is so focused on the base shoot'em up gameplay, it's not overly concerned with stepping outside its wheelhouse. You run around pushing buttons until the exit opens and shoot any baddies that get in the way: simple, sweet, and fun.

Comparatively, today's shooters have to tell a story. Good, I like story, but usually their storytelling isn't competent because they're just checking a gamer expectation box, or their storytelling isn't congruent with the story. Kind of like Black and Battlefield 3. You have levels of action intercut with scenes that take place in an interrogation. there's no meaningful attempt to marry the two. Most games can be this way, but these were obvious cheats. Q2 says fuck that, there's a war and you're fighting in it. 

And because the story is light, you get two unintentional advantages that many games suffer from today: the gameplay isn't constantly interrupted to "tell story" or explain mechanics, and there's no unnecessary filler: "Oh, I guess we owe them a cut-scene here..." Explaining mechanics is important. Late 90s and early 00s it seemed every game contained a tutorial level. Usually some sort of training camp before sending you out there. Fine.  But it prevents you from playing the game, especially when mandated. Later, games included the tutorials in early levels, so while there was usually story and plot infused into the game--you were still being trained. It was clear that you were not to be unleashed until much later. It's not a bad idea, but when you're replaying the game or playing sequels and you have to be "retaught" it can be boring.

Mario Bros. for NES taught the player as they played. Through trial and error you learn what's bad and what's good. You learn the layout and rhythm of the levels. And since the game is bombarding you with cut scenes, you can immediately restart the level and get caught up. Having recently played NES's Zelda, I was overwhelmed by the difficulty but impressed with how the game allowed you to explore it and figure it out at your own pace. The harder dungeons are blocked by necessary items and since you get to keep items and money upon death, you're never truly starting over. That's how Quake 2 works. Figuring the game out is the game. Games trying to be cinematic and overly story driven are so dedicated to guiding you down the "right path" you feel out of control. I don't think this was a sincere design choice, it's just how games were made at this time. And it's fun.

So...to further explain: this game is really about exploration. The levels are interestingly designed with branching paths and secrets. You're also able to move forward and back through levels--sometimes having to perform a few objectives in one map then the other. I love exploration games and Q2 doesn't disappoint. Checking every hall, jumping on top of every box, shooting barrels and finding secrets constantly reward you with more ammo or health. And you need those to survive. The shooting, on the other hand, isn't really what the game is about. It just makes exploring the levels more interesting.

I also appreciate how simple the controls are. You move, aim, jump, and shoot. Need to open a door, walk up to it. Need to push a button, walk into. Need to activate an elevator, stand on it. It makes action buttons in more modern shooters seem superfluous. I appreciate this. It makes me think of how Sea of Thieves works so well because your player controls are simple and everything is based on context. Unlike Assassin's Creed 4, you don't need to remember a million button combinations to work the ship. Need to raise/lower the sales, walk over to the rope that controls it. I could go on, but the point is that game keeps it simple which keeps it fun and intuitive.

Also, shooting things is fun. I hate myself a little for it, but as Portal and Metroid Prime get--shooting anything for any purpose is fun, you don't have to kill stuff. In truth, shooting is fun because you get to see an immediate result: I pull a trigger, something gets hit. The feedback is immediate and rewarding. Since I was a kid, I've shot tons of windows, walls, and water--especially water. It's always fun to see how the environment responds to bullets, grenades, lasers, and whatever. It's just fun to shoot things.

I'm very much against killing.

But what's really keeping me here is the aesthetic, and a little the music. I was just getting into metal when I first started playing Quake 2. Sadly, I also got sick and was suffering from a headache. I was in denial that the guitar riffing soundtrack was at fault. Since I've routinely listened to the sound track while doing chores and suffered zero headaches, I know it's not the OST's fault. But the design is peak 90's industrial. Lots of browns and greys. It's so dreary and oppressive, but also interesting. It almost feels lived in. Anyway, I'm moving along and having fun. I even faced my first boss. We'll see if I can keep up the pace.