This isn't a troll topic nor is it some rant about Morrowind being superior.
i honestly want to know. What made Morrowind great?
What does it have that other TES games don't have ?

The sense of wonder. For many, it was their first Elder Scrolls and Bethesda game, so the rose-colored glasses may have something to do with it also. But mostly, the sense of wonder; wondering whatmay lay in the fog covered valley, wondering why there were so many cliffracers, wondering if you could find something grand in a random tomb, wondering. Edit: Also the great fanbase, the original plot, the many factions and their political struggles, the many quests, the UI, the challenge, and the sense and desire to explore that caused the sense of wonder.

The ability to actually customise your appearance.

Atmosphere, originality, lore. Wide variety of fleshed out factions. Towns that had character. Certainly not the deeply flawed game mechanics.

its not Skyrim is

:confused: Very productive and insightful post.

Lore for sure. Morrowind holds a special place in my heart because it was my introduction into the Elder Scrolls and is the only game I found myself truly lost in. The depth I found in Morrowind is absent in almost every other game I have.

We are loosing what made the elder scrolls great lets compare. Morrowind has bad graphics and no dialogue but. You go into dungeons in morrowind not to just level skills, but to explore and try to get a piece of realy good armor or a really good weapon and dungeons were actually scary . In skyrim Dungeons are more appealing for people to go into, people go for the sake of exploring it. There is no use item hunting because the best gear yo have to make yourself( which is terrible for TES, but good for noobs), you go in for quests but it is not as scary in Morrowind it became to much for appealing to new people. They say "Well I like the new system I don't feel like I am deterred away from dungeons" well guess what when you go into a dungeon it is sapose to be scary you are sapose to feel scared . Why? because it submerges you into the game, it makes you scared for your life, it makes you glade after completing the dungeon you are getting the hell out of there. Political factions in morrowind included the 3 great houses which in my opinion beats out Emp vs Storm. You feel like your apart of the house and are trying to gain superiority over the others, there is no such thing as morality in it,it was just a matter of choice. You could join the legion to help get a stable foothold in an hostile land to the Empire, you could go visit the ashlanders and explore. In Morrowind you could have fun exploring because you only get a general sketch of it. You did not have a 3d map you had exploration to find everything. there was no compass there was directions you had to follow. In Skyrim you choose between Stormcloaks and Empire yes it is a tough choice but those are the only two political factions you can help and they are in open warfare there is no agents there is no closed in warfare like between the great houses. In morrowind you can become a pilgrim for the temple but only if you walk the steps of vivec, you had to go where he went you had to do what he did, you felt something. You were a part of a dynamic interactive world. Graphics wise Skyrim easily beats of Morrowind, but there is alot more to games than just how it looks, the looks take you in but the story keeps you there, you do not look for how much time it occupies you look for "What can I do next. Look at this book, I want to go hunting for these deadric items. Now everything is best if you build it yourself.In Morrowind you were a prisoner nothing else was known, you were a prisoner who was brought to Morrowind from the imperial prison, you could choose by yourself whether you did something horrific, were just stealing bread, or was wrongly blackmailed because you offended someone.In Skyrim you were crossing the border,What race were you? you could go as far as to say why you were crossing the border but it just isn't the same as being arrested.I liked both Morrowind's and Skyrim's main story but Morrowind immersed you in it more. Morrowind DLC you could go to the capital and help 2 main factions and dosens of people, or you can go to Solsteim and help build a Colony of your choosing and explore a yet unexplored island that is barbaric.I dont like the map now you know all the geography you know exactcly were to go , which shortens the quest, in Morrowind it was a matter of following directions . In Morrowind you could be anti or pro slavery. I see why fast travel was added, the map is quite large I dont see the big deal of fast travel being added, but at the least bring back Daggerfall's fast travel system, were you had to choose to travel recklessly or stable, inn or camping, boat,cart or walking. You don't get that whats that over there! I want to explore something that no one foun yet! in Skyrim.
There is much more to tell but I am not trying to trash skyrim they are both good games, but Morrowind was a TRUE Elder Scrolls game. Skyrim sacrificed too much in the name of simplicity, I do think it should be easy to appeal to new people but at least try and keep the old people.

All the games have their charm, so I'm not going to say Morrowind is the "best." But I can tell you why I liked it so much. For starters, it was the first Elder Scrolls game I played and I absolutely fell in love with the setting. Second: location, location, location! The bizarre alien environments of Vvardenfell really made the game stand out. This avoided a lot of fantasy setting tropes that I tend to find boring. Third, the main quest, while it had its flaws (seriously, how many people need to sign and stamp my Chosen One application before I get accepted?!), there was cool ambiguity involved. Are you really Nerevar Reborn or just a poser (and if the imitation is accurate enough, is there really a difference)? Who really killed Nerevar and why? There are answers if you know where to look, or you can bask in the mystery for a while and ponder til your heart's content. In contrast to Alduin or Mehrunes Dagon, I didn't see Dagoth Ur as a Omnicidal Maniac super villain. He was an extremist, yes, but depending on your point of view, perhaps a well-intentioned one. I wish we had the option to join forces with him or try to talk him over to our side (but I guess he was too far gone into crazy-town like a certain other person...). Given the backstory of the Tribunal, Dagoth Ur, and Nerevar, the PC had a personal interest in the events that unfolded.

All these things combined to hook me and drag me into the world of the game.

I think Morrowind is better then the rest because it has complexity, customization and a sense of wonder. I have yet to find those things in oblivion or Skyrim.

The biggest thing that Morrowind did, and no other game has been able to do - was personally effect me!

Now I might sound like a wussy to say this, but Morrowind scared me...
I cringe to think about starting a new character and joining the Telvanni, for the sole reason of having to work up the bravery to go into that scholars creepy house in Gnisis.
Just thinking about it now makes me nervous.

And you remember those weird Sixth House strongholds with the teleportation rooms? I forget what they are called, but those places terrified me!
I don't know how to explain it, but I seriously can't play at night if I'm all alone, it just freaks me out.


Not to mention the community for Morrowind was EPIC!!!

The style, the look of the characters and the world. The art direction. I was confused and disappointed when I first saw how goofy and bad the character models in Oblivion looked. Also the amazing writing and story that rivals any award winning fantasy novel. There must have been some key people who left Bethesda Softworks between Morrowind and Oblivion. Oblivion and Skyrim are amazing games that build off of what was started with Morrowind (Fallout 3 and NV are also spiritual successors of Morrowind), but something has been lost in translation... it's hard to put your finger on it. Morrowind feels and looks like a more serious game.

Here is one of the many reasons Morrowind is the best TES in the series:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Elone%27s_Directions_to_Balmora

There was no quest hand-holding. You had to find your way in the world, not just point towards a magical quest marker and hold W. That first trek to Balmora was an epic journey in and of itself.

I'm fine with the quest marker, really, but only if we're given more dialogue choices, ask more questions and catalog our findings in a real quest journal, not a clipboard that only says "Find the magic sword.", accompanied by nothing but a quest marker, to ensure that I don't have to put too much effort into finding this item. We need to be able to gather a reasonable amount of information through dialogue so that if we want to play the game without the quest marker, we have a realistic chance of finishing the quest.

In Morrowind, quests felt like quests - not just pushing buttons in between cut scenes. I still remember quests I did in Morrowind, almost 8 years ago. I can't remember half the [censored] I did in Skyrim last night.

I fell in love with Morrowind due to it's...



...and the weapon and magic customization. The weapon variety was nice, and you could do whatever style you pleased. The magic customization, armor choices and the fact that they actually wear and tear which makes the game seem more realistic. To be honest even though I liked armor health I'm indifferent with it gone. I guess I'm happy with the armor crafting.
Anyways, it was the first of it's kind to truly allow you to do whatever the hell you wanted and be whatever the hell you wanted when you wanted to. Another game that I won't mention went for the same thing and it turned out to be completely different...and it turned out to be arguably my all time favorite game of all time. Can't say the same for the series. Tes is still going strong.

most people like it the most because its the first truly 3d TES and most likely the first they played. there were a lot of good things about the game, but skyrim feels better. if they remade morrowind though i wouldnt complain.

Well i believe Morrowinds story was great, it had a great twist, backstory, conflicting reports and it almost made you question who the bad guy was.

You could decorate you're house (i'm still hurt this was overlooked in Skyrim).

You could find artifacts without having to do a quest to get it.

You could find things while exploring that blew you're mind, like being a complete noob and finding a unique sword worth 30,000 gold.

More weapons (spears, crossbows, short blade) and spells (levitation!!!!).

So really it's fundamental things that makes MW great, not huge mistakes or anything from Bethesda. I still find OB and SK great games and a lot of fun though.

The depth and immersion of Morrowind was what made the game great for me.
In Morrowind I would actually take time to decorate my houses to make it seem like I lived there, often roleplaying as a Telvanni Mage.



Not to mention so much to do, you could alter your speed and jump, and no regenerating health.

'Nuff said.

It was the first one they played. Nostalgia kicks in and they start attributing it qualities it never had.

By "rest" I assume you mean Oblivion and Skyrim.

Well, I enjoyed the freedom, the rewarding exploration, the sense of mystery (Red Mountain, the blight disease, the Sixth House, ... what are these things?), the lore, the alien environment, the political intrigue and the tension between the various factions (Empire vs. Dunmer, the three Great Houses, ...), the music, the scary dungeons, the long questlines, the sense of advancement, the many character-customization options... just to mention a few things.

All of these elements have either been completely removed or dumbed down in TES 4 & 5.


Edit:


Oh, give me a [censored] break... I'm getting really sick of this stupid, baseless "it's just nostalgia" argument that's being used mostly by people who haven't actually played Morrowind. It is most definitely NOT nostalgia that makes us feel that TES 4 & 5 aren't as good. In fact, I'm playing Morrowind right now and I'm still enjoying the heck out of it, and I find it superior to TES 4 & 5 in so many ways. And there have been various posts (not in this thread, but elsewhere) made by people who've only started playing Morrowind relatively recently that concur with our "nostalgia-blinded" opinions.

Oh and FYI, Morrowind wasn't my "first" TES game either.

Depth and immersion.

Two things Skyrim lacks thanks to:

Streamlining and hand-holding.

Aye that's an awfully ignorant approach. So hard to believe people actually enjoyed Morrowind for what it was and find it better than the others? New game doesn't equal improvement by a long shot. Case and point, Kessen III was horrible.

Hash infidel! You'll get bashed for your arrogance, for no one on the internet is not fully rational about their factual opinions!

I agree about the nostalgia excuse. IT IS NOT NOSTALGIA it is due to the fact Morrowind is better than 4 and 5.

I would say Morrowind was special tailored for me and my tastes:

An adventurous, immersive, pondering, mysterious, exciting, exotic, mature, taxing, and challenging game who treated me as an advlt player who has the mind power to be able to manage on my own, and gave me a lot of choices and their appropriate consequences.

It was completely non-linear in every aspect of the game, and gave me total freedom in my choices, and even let me screw my game up royally if I wanted or failed in my choices.

I really loved it.

Oblivion failed in most of the aspects that was important to me, but Skyrim regained my faith in BGS, and improved in a lot of those aspects, and even surpassed Morrowind in some of them.

But barriers like fully voice acted dialogs, and the general taste and mental abilities of the current run of the mill gamers, and bad decisions/time constraint problems, kept it from becoming perfect in my opinion.

But hopefully most of the problems can be fixed with mods, and I really hope some modders add a lot of good directions for quest targets in the quest notes to help us safely remove the quest target markers from the compass.