The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind it needs no introduction. It is always difficult to start reviewing a title that is part of a long tradition of video games. Not even many words would be needed because the title would already say everything, but you have to go into the maze of the video game to be able to dissect its strengths and weaknesses. Actually, in this case, the merits outweigh the defects far too much and we could close this review directly with this sentence.
Who, in fact, does not know the series The Elder Scrolls? We have all played at least one title from this hugely popular series in our life. Among us there are those who certainly started from Oblivion, a real watershed in the history of video games, and then there are those who started directly on the snow-capped mountains of Skyrim. But there is another type of player: the old (mold) who even played the previous chapter to Oblivion: Morrowind. Morrowind is the subject of the expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online that brings the fanatics and nostalgics of the series back to the dawn of life as gamers. Morrowind was only the third video game in the series after that The Elder Scrolls: Arena e The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall, but it is also the one that was most appreciated, so much so that it earned acclaim and awards after twenty years.
With this expansion Bethesda takes us back many years but at the same time creates one Morrowind in step with the times and with what modern technologies make available. Let's say right away that, although the game is in effect a MMORPG, this feature is not noticeable too much and almost never affects the development of the plot thanks to a wise and highly perfected use of NPCs, who, despite the presence on the screen of other human players, will have eyes only for us.
The land of Morrowind, Furthermore, it was beautifully rendered and we are probably facing the best graphics ever seen in an MMORPG. The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind does not compromise and is equipped with excellent and at the same time light textures (if you have the right computing power and a medium-high-end video card), with architectural and landscape elements I created with care, with diversified sounds and with the right shallow depth of field.
The swamps are full of rushes that bend in the wind, the villages full of farmyard animals that run around and of NPCs that carry out the most varied daily activities, such as keeping the threshold of their home clean with a broom or putting the " hens ”(the Guar, small reptiles kept by the inhabitants as nice hens). The pyramidal constructions of the capital and of the entire island in the center of the region are masterful. The ambient occlusion even evokes the blur given by the heat that raises water vapor. In short: it seems perfect, but you know, perfection hides something.
In this case, the ostentatious beauty must hide some dust under the carpet. Although The Elder Scroll Online: Morrowind has managed to free himself from the glitch problems that plague his peers there is still something to improve regarding the solidity of the polygons and the fact that some environmental objects can be literally traversed as if we were ghosts.
Another disturbing element is the crowding of other human players on the screen. In areas where there is a rather important NPC and to which he visits quite often, there is such a gathering of human characters that it does not allow interaction with the AI-controlled character.
At the level of the plot we all know very well that you cannot expect much from a MMORPG e The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind in this respect it is committed but could do much more. Unfortunately the assumptions of the plot, namely the loss of divinity by the God-King of the dark elves Vivec, they are not the best.
From the beginning the story has no bite and it is understood all too well that this was written for the sole purpose of spinning the player like a top in a world so well done graphically. A praise must however be given to the perfect and stimulating English dubbing and to the NPC models: made in a sublime way e sometimes sexy.
Fights suffer, albeit rarely, from frame drops e sudden disconnections, while the immense and immeasurable game world is reduced to the island of Vvanderfell, which, despite being huge, is also full of dangers around every corner, making free exploration almost impossible in the early stages of the game. The result is a game that wants to keep the player on well-defined tracks so as not to tire him with the excessive size of the map. The result is good, but some might also get tired of not being able to leave the paths at will because only a few meters away is a gigantic golem ...
The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind remains one of the best MMORPGs (if we really don't want to say “the best”) of all time and proves it with solid mechanics, flawless graphics and a vast and intriguing game world, suitable for adventurous souls. Too bad for that not very incisive plot. Too bad indeed.
