Morrowind + Me

I think I finally clicked with the Elder Scrolls this weekend. I also played a shitload of Mass Effect 3, which you can get caught up on via my Road to Andromeda series below.



For someone that's never finished an Elder Scrolls game, I have an absurd number of hours sunk into Morrowind, according to Steam. Maybe 80 or so.

I think I've written about it here before, but on paper, the Elder Scrolls and I look a match made in heaven. Deep stats, deep lore, freedom of choice, loads of exploration, and on and on.

Yet, we've never quite clicked. I'll start a game in Morrowind, Oblivion, or Skyrim, and I just never quite feel comfortable. I got really deep into Morrowind once, but even then, it was never something in which I felt terribly at-home or like I was really loving it.

I felt that way about (Bethesda) Fallout for a long time. Up until maybe early 2015, at which point, I burned through Fallout 3 + all DLC, Fallout: New Vegas + all DLC (holy shit, I loved that game), and then Fallout 4, once it hit.

In the case of Fallout, I believe I had to dial back my need to have constant and rapid progression through the story. Both Bethesda Fallout and Elder Scrolls are very loose in their story structure, and I was really off-put by that for a long time, despite really enjoying the Wasteland setting in the Fallout games.

I wonder if part of my issue with Elder Scrolls is that I'm just not a big fantasy guy, at least high fantasy, but I dunno. I'm nuts about Dragon Age and The Witcher, both of which are more low fantasy. Hmm.

Part of it, I know, is my need to play things in order (though I did talk myself out of Arena + Daggerfall), and the journal system in Morrowind is utter shit. It's an active inhibition to my enjoyment of the game.

So, yesterday, I finally caved and decided to finally push forward on a new character that I'd been writing in my head for a while, AND I decided I'd use Microsoft OneNote on my iPhone to act as a journal and note-taker for my high-level objectives. This changed everything for me.

I know about the Nerevarine and all that in the game, so I decided my guy would be a Dunmer, raised in the Empire, who was coming to his true home, Vvardenfell, for the first time, with which he would fall madly in love. He'd throw himself head-first into being a Dunmer, joining the Temple, the Morag Tong, and despite not being a magic user, House Telvanni, which he regards as the most truly Dunmer of the great houses. He'd turn on his Imperial masters at just the right moment.

He'd also use the filthy Khajiit to make himself rich, making money hand over first off of their moon sugar and skooma addictions.

I got through Seyda Neen recently, and started rounding out all the quest-gathering in and around Balmora. It sucks that there's no way to join the Camonna Tong, but oh well ... I wasn't going to join the Thieves Guild or Fighers Guild, but changed my mind. It's a good chance to earn XP and some of the quests are fun.

My goal is to ascend to become ruler of Morrowind and to drive the Imperial dogs out of my lands. We'll do that via leveraging groups like the Temple, the Great Houses (though Hlaalu might be a problem), the Ashlanders, the Morag Tong, and the Dunmer themselves.

I'm using OneNote to jot down anything I uncover that will help me in that process, and I'm finding that's been a relief in terms of keeping myself organized.

Also, of note - I'm using all the official add-ons from Bethesda, as well as the Morrowind Overhaul mod, which is amazeballs.

Last thing about this. Part of what's helped is that I am NOT streaming any part of this. I'm keeping it all for myself, and taking it at my pace, which has been really nice. I'll go 20-25 minutes without really moving the plot forward, just by talking to folks and taking notes on my phone. It's pretty fucking great, honestly.

And a side note - I've enjoyed ESO for a long time, though that's a fairly different beast from the main Elder Scrolls games.

And, as a side side note, I'm pretty sure Bethesda and ZOS are announcing a Morrowind expansion for ESO tomorrow at 1300 central time. Can't wait!

So, any chance any of you have a game or series with which you should've clicked, but haven't yet? Or maybe you had to make an adjustment to your normal approach, and then it clicked? Is there a game or series that you really wish you liked? Tell me about it!

Also, if you wanna watch me stream, I'll be on tomorrow at 1630 central. Not sure what game yet. Maybe ME3. Lemme know if you have any requests. Maybe ESO?

-Blaine

Videos & Heroes

Hey All,

I wanted to share some super coolness that came out this week. Some of my favorite people and franchises popped up on YouTube and I just gotta share.

First, Sven Vincke and Chris Avellone were on the PC Gamer Show, talking about the latest news, as well as Prey and Divinity: Original Sin 2.

I'm a huge fan of both both guys, and I LOVE that they're working together. I totally fanboyed out when I saw that they were going to be appearing together on the show. And it doesn't disappoint.

Next, THAT TRAILER hit Thursday night ...

Then, last night, Josh Sawyer showed up on Fallout: Off the Record. Again, I totally fanboyed out. Give it a look.

Very cool stuff.

Also, I jumped back into my Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut playthrough last night, and I had a fun stream. Here's the playlist.



And that's it for now. I'll try to get my Star Trek Convention Megapost up tomorrow.

Thanks, and lemme know if there's anything else you wanna see me stream. And is there anyone from the old-school RPG scene of whom you're a big fan?

-Blaine

RPGoodness

Something I've been mulling over lately is a recent streak, dating back to November of last year, in which my 'core franchises' have each delivered a new entry in the series. Dragon Age Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity, and Witcher 3 all released in a quick, six-month succession, and it's been kinda crazy.

Yeah, Pillars is a new franchise, but it also hearkens back to a different time, when the term 'cRPG' was still a thing, and imagination still colored in a lot of the experience.

In any case, it's been this really weird time in which I've gone from mega-huge game to mega-huge game, when I usually have some down time between monster releases. Given that I almost exclusively play RPGs, and big damn ones at that, I tend to have several months at a time in which I'm spending most of my gaming hours in the backlog, or in an MMO or two.

Instead, I played through Dragon Age (November) up to about the time Pillars hit (March), jumped right into that, then put down Pillars for a bit to play through Witcher 3 (May), which I finished over last weekend, and then I jumped back into Pillars, which it turns out, I'm almost done with anyway.

Of note, I grew up with most RPGs being in the 40-60 hour range, but each of those has been around 100 hours. Granted, I'm much more a completionist now than I was when I was younger, but still ... that's a lotta bang for my buck. And, shit, I was a day-one backer for Pillars, so that was about $20 for me (though I sunk in more later for some more goodies.)

And I expect to finish Pillars this week(end). After that, it'll be the first time since before Thanksgiving 2014 that I'm not committed to a new game. After that, the next new one will be Sword Coast Legends, from the great Dan Tudge, he of Dragon Age: Origins fame.

Oh, and The White March is hitting ... soon? And Witcher is getting a couple expansions, too. And DAI is supposed to get one more real DLC. It would be kinda neat if they all landed in a row.

Anywho, that's all for now. That's been rattling around in my brain for a bit, and I now wonder how long until something like this happens again? Mass Effect Andromeda is next year. Torment will come out some day. And I still have Divinity: Original Sin and Wasteland 2 unfinished ... and New Vegas. And shit, Fallout 4 this winter. OK. ENOUGH. I really do gotta go. I'll holler later tonight.