The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal (PC Games, 2002)

This game is special to me because it truly veres from the linear gameplay of almost every other RPG to date. Although its outdated in todays standards, the graphics and gameplay still easily compete with the best out there. Its an open ended game with absolutely no rules whatsoever.

Sure there have been games that have had success with open ended games but most of them are MMORPG's (massively multiplayer online role playing game)and as such have a string attached. First of all, any worth indulging in have a monthly price tag involved ranging from $10 to $15 to date. Secondly, to "keep up with the Jones'" per say you have to constantly buy the upgrades via online or at a local game store. If you choose to decline upgrades for long periods of time, you will be missing out on most of the new options the game offers as they clearly are enticing their clients by limiting zones, weapons/armors, monsters, quests and more unless you have the newest expansion. There is a benefit to MMO's and that is the social interaction with other players across the world. This fact alone is the true equalizer and not enough of a factor to sway me.

If you are looking to get ingulfed into a world where you are the character and you can choose to do anything you wish at any time,....then you truly can role play without restriction. If you dont want to do much thinking and want the game to determine your path for you then this may not be the game for you. If you want a game that you can easily invest a few hours a week for years and still not have done everything there is to do then I highly recommend this.

I personally wanted a break from reality, the reality of working 5 to 6 days a week, cleaning up the house, dealing with family issues and not finding anything on TV. This escape truly allows me to venture outside of my world and into a world that I have embelished.

I highly recommend this game. It also has extremely high replay value as there are mods that can be added to alter, extend or change the game all together. It can be a completely different game each time if you so choose.

For those of you who haven't heard of Morrowind before, it's a first person RPG in which players create a character and guide them through a series of quests set on the islands of Vvardenfell and Solstheim, and the city of Mournhold. There is a main quest players can play through, but in addition to the main quest there are hundreds of side quests for players to enjoy. Vvardenfell Island has a lot of ground for players to cover; Mournhold looks small at first but has a fairly large underground area to explore.

I actually bought the Windows version of Morrowind after playing through the Xbox version and thought I'd try starting over using a different path through the game. What I like about Windows Morrowind:

* Like the Xbox game, this game is massive and has a lot of things to do in addition to the game's main quest. Unlike the Xbox version, the Windows version can be modded to include new content, and this is the Windows version's greatest strength.
* The Windows version has a much better journal view than the the view in the Xbox version.
* Did I mention Vvardenfell's huge?
* Overall it's a pretty fun game with many places to see and things to do.

The downsides:
* Characters only learn new skills through success instead of failure. This makes it very difficult to level up some skills (e.g. speechcraft) at low skill levels.
* Even with lots of enhancements to speed, character speed is very slow. (Bethesda fixed this in Oblivion.)
* The Windows version of the game crashes more often (for me, at least) than the Xbox version did.
* Magic does not regenerate and is rather weak, making magicians quite useless. (Another thing fixed in Oblivion.)
* The High Elf class and sign of The Lord are worse than useless. (Fortunately there are alternatives to both.)
* Once players have finished the Tribunal quests, the game becomes quite easy.

None of these problems seriously derailed my enjoyment of the game, though.

I first got this game on the xbox and enjoyed it for a little while. But playing it on the pc is so much better; graphics, control, shorter load times, etc.

This game is epic on quite a few levels: massive world, hundreds of items, so many ways to complete it, story that can get in to (and that's only the main game, the 2 expansions add even more).

There aren't too many downsides to it. I mean, I guess some people don't like how open ended it is. The term 'linear' can't be pinned to this game very well at all. But there is direction if you're smart enough to look for it.

And I also haven't really found any glitches either. You may get stuck in a mountain crevice or 2, but just hop around and you'll find you're way out.

Sometimes the difficulty level may seem a little high, and you may find yourself dying at a very inconvienent time. Generally, this means that you just need to go put some work in and level up, maybe get some better gear. Then you'll be good to go. But my advice to anyone who plays this game: save VERY frequently! Just one button pressed and you save yourself SO much headache...

But anyway, this game is extremely fun overall, and you'll find your time being eaten away like a dog eating a sandwich you left on the counter while you walked away to grab a drink...

Morrowind is an RPG game, turn based, for several platforms. It has been out for about six or seven years. The game itself is very interesting, requiring the player to choose the type of player he wants to be, including characteristics as well as physical form. It plays rather slowly at first, but picks up steam as you go along. I enjoy the requirement to make choices, the inherent puzzles and quests, and the interaction with other, NPC, players.

The game involves you in a series of quests that will take you down different paths, it can be consuming, and most players report they spent 50 to well over 100 hours in the game.

The graphics are somewhat crude, especially of the NPC characters, and there are only so many things you can do or manipulate. It is a thinking person's game, not a shooter, or a puzzle-quest, and it doesn't require great dexterity or timing to be successful, an advantage for me. It is turn based, so you can take as long as you need to do something, also a plus.

The game provides rewards and promotions as you go along. Yet you can play as a Paladin or a Thief or even a Murderer. All can have success, yet play the game quite differently.

I absolutely LOVED the Tribunal expansion for Morrowind. Some fans complained that the expansion was too "quest-orientated" and provided little opportunity to explore the backcountry. Well, I guess I've always loved the quests and hated aimlessly searching the outback for some obscure landmark, so Tribunal's mechanics suited me just fine. Tribunal provides many features to enhance your Elder Scrolls experience. Most notably there is now an enemy lifebar, making gameplay much easier and enjoyable. Also, enemies and quests are generally considerably more difficult, and should be pleasantly challenging to the average player who has completed the original game's main quest. Also, now vendors have more money and you can sell some of your more expensive loot. These are all nice features, but the "killer app" of Tribunal is the same as what set the original game apart from the competition: phenomenal storyline and plot-writing. The plot of the original game was so detailed, immersive, and epic that I often described Morrowind as not a game but a work of fine literature, in the same league as Lord of the Rings. Morrowind's storylines were known for their ingenious and unpredictable plot twists as well generally innovative dramatic development. That said, the plot for the main quest of Tribunal exceeded even that of the original game. If only Hollywood hacks had this kind of creativity and ingenuity; Tribunal is digital poetry. You will be drawn into a web of intrigue that will gradually build in crescendo until an absolutely shocking and thrilling climax that left me speechless, staring at the screen with a gaping jaw. It's similar to the feeling one gets from watching the season finale of your favorite prime-time soap, the kind full of shocking revelations. The surprise appearance and my subsequent killing of a certain end-game character (whom I won't spoil for you) was one of the most thrilling gaming experiences of my life. If all game developers took the same effort to loving craft the plot lines of their games, the movie industry would collapse.