PDA

View Full Version : For People Who Have Problems in Morrowind



mahalan
06-18-2002, 06:42 PM
For all of you who have never played a Bethsoft game, Morrowind is nothing more than a remedial version of Daggerfall with prettier pictures. If you design your character well and plan out your battles, the game is a piece of cake. If you don't, it can be pretty challenging. I should say if you know how Bethsoft structures their models and design around them, it's a piece of cake.

The game gives you a level for every 10 skill increases in either a major or minor skill. This means you want to select your skills based upon what you can or will use a lot (not what you think is cool or important). This also means you can reach a higher level if you select a race which doesn't have skill bonuses in your major or minor skills. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what type of character you select or what race you choose because all of your stats will be at or near 100 anyway.

What are good skills to select as your major and minor skills? Acrobatics is always good because you can run or jump everywhere and it will go up faster than you can imagine. Armor skills are good because you can equip yourself with armor and just stand in front of something that can barely scratch you and level up. You don't want to select things like Enchant. It's not that it's a bad skill (or unimportant - it's so powerful it breaks the game). It's just not possible to use it enough to level quickly. Alchemy's also a good skill to choose because you can use it to get rich (see below). The trick is to select major/minor skills based upon what you'll use a lot and then leverage this into improving the skills which are important.

The game also does not reward you for using your skills. It only rewards you for SUCCESSFULLY using your skills. This means that you'll seldom add to your skills early but will add to them often later once they're higher. This makes the early game challenging or frustrating and the late game a bit of a bore or fun depending upon how you look at it.

The game's economy is pretty broken. Vendors have little money. They do restock every day, however. You can get around this. When you sell your items for more than they have, have them include the most expensive items they've got (that's less than or equal to the remainder they owe you. You can then take those items to sell elsewhere. Isn't bartering fun?

You can also make a lot of money with alchemy. Alchemists don't run out of ingredients and will buy the potions you make with them. Buy two ingredients. Make a potion. Sell the potion for a profit. Make money and earn levels at the same time.

Using your money for training is another easy way to improve your skills and level up. Most trainers can only train you to level 50. There's ONE trainer for EVERY skill who can train you to level 100, however.

Killing and/or stealing from NPCs can have some unpleasant side effects and is hardly ever necessary. Just taunt them into attacking you. Now you can kill them without any repurcussions and take their stuff afterwards. Taunting a blacksmith can get you a free set of nice armor.

Speaking of killing things, never go into battle without company. Conjure up some help to take the beating and dish out damage. Better yet, conjure up some help from enchanted items so you'll have all your magicka for battle. Also have reserve sets of enchanted items so depleted items can recharge while you're using your backup set. During battle, don't forget the spells calm monster and calm human. Nothing like killing things that stop fighting back.

Wander off the beaten path occassionally. There's a LOT of really nice stuff out there that's unguarded a lot of times. Want a daedric dai-katana? No problem. Keep your eye out for the Robe of St. Roris. You'll be able to get it early on in the game and it makes you nearly invincible (restores 15 hitpoints and 15 fatigue every SECOND).

Now, I hope this helps. If not, you might want to think about selling your Xbox and buying a Gamecube. Their games cater to a less intelligent market.

RadRider
06-19-2002, 02:07 AM
I made the worst possible character ever. Well, not the worst ever, but it is a pretty crappy character. I chose armorer, long blade, axe, heavy armor and medium armor as major skills.
Guess what? I haven't died in the last month of playing. That's not to say I don't like the game, because I do. I think Daggerfall is a better game overall, but Morrowind is still worth every penny I paid.

Dre
06-19-2002, 08:42 AM
Mahalan, alot of stuff I've been reading about the PC version of Morrowind isn't true about the Xbox. I think they might have done some minor balancing issues with the Xbox version.

For example: Azura's star is a reusable gem. PC people claim to trap golden saint souls in it, but I haven't been able to on Xbox. The stone just doesn't hold that powerful of a soul.

I'm not sure, but I think that if you cast a spell and it fails (still takes your magicka away) you will get experience in that school of magic on the xbox. I'm at work so I can't confirm this, but I am pretty sure this is what happens.

I know there are alot more differences but I can't seem to remember them right now. My buddy is the one that told me most of the diffs, I'll speak to him tonight and post more.

azmodan
06-19-2002, 10:56 AM
also they changed the robe of st roris its not constant effect anymore or whatever(im not sure what it does but a few friends have the pc version and said it makes the game TOTALLY easy but they change it on xbox i know that for sure)

sdunlop
06-19-2002, 11:50 AM
This seems to be one of the more helpful posts I've read on Morrowind.

I'd like to follow up on the point "This means you want to select your skills based upon what you can or will use a lot (not what you think is cool or important). This also means you can reach a higher level if you select a race which doesn't have skill bonuses in your major or minor skills."

I am having a miserable time with Morrowind because I feel I can't do squat. I can't steal diamonds cause I'm not sneaky, I can't kill rats because I'm not strong enough. I can't get ruines because I'm always getting killed in the dungeon.

I'm tempted to start all over because I feel my character is so weak. I'm a Dark Elf Rouge that seems to be the biggest loser in all of morrowind. He can't fight, steal, nor defend himself. Am I just using him incorrectly, or should I create a new player based on this advice? And if so, should what should I create if I want to be a good fighter, that can do some "sneaky" stuff? I'm not that big into magic, never have been.

I was thinking of creating a character that was strong with swords and armour, but this seems to contradict the recomendation of picking classes with skill bonuses in the areas that you want to focus on.

What can I do to get my character into a position where I enjoy playing this massive game?

EHWfedPres
06-19-2002, 12:00 PM
Lets get one thing straight. Nobody can make a game like this and make it bug-free. Its nearly impossible, or it would take 10+ years of testing. People can sit there and use a skill over and over and over and over until they raise in a level. Every real rpg is like that. Why do you think the Game Masters in Ultima Online dont allow unattended macroing? I think that between me and a friend of mine, we found out every exploit in Ultima 8 that there was to find. Lighting a flask of oil and running off screen so the town sorcerer dosent come is pretty cheap indeed...but in short, every game like Morrowind will have some sort of bug. The developers dont think like the gamers do. If that was the case, then there would be no free bounty trick.

Dre
06-19-2002, 01:23 PM
sdunlop, all characters are weak in the beginning. Well, almost all characters.. but ya..

Almost every RPG I've played you start off as a guy that couldn't do squat to save his life and as you progress you get stronger and stronger until you become god :) Thats the whole thing with RPG's.. see your guy go from a schmuk that can't even hit a rat to a guy that just looks at one and it falls dead :)

If you want to have fun I suggest you disregard the cheap techniques Mahalan mentioned as they will ultimately destroy your experience with the game.