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While hardly the first open-world game of its kind, the third numbered entry in Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series cemented a formula and a set of expectations that are still alive and well today in games like Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3. It was an artistic and technical leap forward for mainstream role-playing games in the summer of 2002, and, for many, a beautiful and novel experience. A vast ashen landscape teeming with psychedelic flora and fauna — equal parts Jim Henson and George Lucas, with a dash of Tolkien — here was a game that resembled no other.
For the people who made it, Morrowind was the product of tough crunch, a pressure-cooker basement environment, and constant uncertainty about the company they worked for — which many felt could have shut down any day. But the island of Vvardenfell, and its unique pantheon of gods and demons, seemed to exist independent of the concerns upstairs.
Whatever the company's fate, it seemed the game was destined to find an audience. In the darkest of moments, when it seemed the writing was on the wall for Bethesda, project leader Todd Howard took the team to a nearby hotel for a private meeting. There, Howard rallied the developers' spirits, handed out personalized business cards, and assured them it would all work out, as long as they were willing to keep going.
That speech, one source says, probably saved the company.
Over the last year, we tracked down 10 former Morrowind team members, including Howard, concept artist Michael Kirkbride, and lead designer Ken Rolston. We discussed the very conception of Vvardenfell, the strangest bits of Elder Scrolls lore and the "shits-and-giggles" philosophy that informed them, and what it means to build a game world that withstands the test of time.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
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(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday March 29 2019, @01:06PM (1 child)
This really super surprised me, as well as this article/headline on Soylent here...
I had purchased the Anthology back in 2013 or so, and never installed it. On the 25th (of this March), I cut open the plastic and installed Morrowind and Oblivion; I've played Oblivion and Skyrim, but none of the preceding titles in the series.
Apparently, I decided to play my purchase on the day they released it for free. I only had to wait six years after my purchase to break the shrinkwrap and defeat the CD protection in order to find the game was released. For free. By the developer. With no real strings attached.
I had no idea the anniversary was coming up or any of that. I also wouldn't have thought millenials into RPGs would have cut their teeth on this title; I guess I don't know what I expected would replace them if the Ultima and Bards Tale and Wizardry and Phantasy and Leisure Suit Larry series are where I cut mine (well.. .ok maybe he isn't applicable, and I wasn't supposed to be playing it, but it rhymed with Phantasy and worked as a pun.. right?)
(A fun fact; I built a new computer to play Oblivion at the highest settings when the game came out; 1920x1200 with every feature enabled. I saw the screenshots and decided that I was due for an upgrade anyway, so I saved and saved and built something that I've reused the parts from many times over the years... anyway, I cringe when I read about hardcore gamers complaining a video card 12 years newer not rendering 1920x1080 quickly enough, but I guess it's another thing I don't understand about millenials. I can understand people that cling to nostolgia; I can't understand people that demand 1920x1080 to be better... considering it's an inferior resolution to begin with, made for TVs! That's not elitist, that's just me pointing out that just like video tapes, the superior solution isn't the cheapest one...)
For the record, so far so good in Morrowind. It took a little getting used to, and resisting the ancient wikis and faqs, but so far my Dunmer custom adventurer class is doing fine despite not using much of any of the skills I chose as my major ones... once I found a Daedric Katana, I decided that my focus on blunt weapons had come to an end. It weighs so much less than that sixth house bell ringing mallet I found...I'm only level 11 or 12, so both had proven to be quite the boon to my inappropriate playstyle.)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday March 29 2019, @08:16PM
I had zero interest in the offer because it apparently required the "Bethesda launcher", sure to be some annoyance attached. I've got copies floating around and would probably use OpenMW if I felt like playing the game again, except OpenMW hasn't implemented all features AFAIK.
Originally they planned to offer it free for 1 day only, but there was so much demand that it broke their website all day long and it looks like they extended the offer in response.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]