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.
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.