Morning, campers…
After having a sly day off yesterday, and spending an enjoyable afternoon in the pub, I thought I’d bore you all to tears with what I got up to. 
There was a successful trip to Static for some Call of Cthulhu stuff, Forbidden Planet for the monthly comic buy, Game for Schism II (for the missus) and Morrowind (for me). All good stuff. So good, in fact, that more comic reviews should be on their way, you lucky people.
But first… to Morrowind.
I installed it last night and Ruth had a hard time dragging me away from the computer. At first glance, and being an old pro at all kinds of role-playing game (both PC-based and book&paper), I was impressed. I’m still trying to work through the manual (something I rarely do for any game) just because there seems to so much to it.
The game starts with your arrival on the an island where quests abound. I know this is prettty vague but I’m guessing that hours/days will pass and I still won’t know most of the story. Anyway, when your ship arrives at the small port you get to assign your race and then your class. Unlike most RPG’s I’ve played the character generation system in Morrowind is different/cool. After your choice of race is made (again, slightly different to your typical fantasy RPG) you are bundled in to the Customs and Excise office where you choose your class/career.
Now the customs guy gives you three choices: Answer questions so that he knows what career to assign you, you can pick one yourself or, thirdly, you can choose every skill individually. Cool.
After that you’re bundled out into the world to quest away to your heart’s content.
One thing I’ve noticed (quite happily) about the game, given the brief time I’ve had to play so far, is its “open” nature. Instead of concentrating on the main quest, I’ve beeen wandering around taking stock of the world and the characters I meet.
The graphic quality is impressive but I’m hampered at the moment by a system that isn’t particularly “ninja”. As a result it’s running at the lowest resolution but it still looks good. The ambient sound and background music is well done and doesn’t clash at all. So much so that sometimes I hardly notice the music at all.
Gameplay is straight forward and the open feeling of the game means you can take as long as you want to get used to it.
So far, so good. I’ll see how it stands up after a week or two, after Ruth gets fed up with my every waking moment spent on the pc. I thought she’d be glad of the peace and quiet…
BigAl
