Man alive, I am overwhelmed with cRPG nerdiness.

Toonces · January 15, 2015, 02:27:32 AM

So I finished Skyrim a while back, twice for the main quest and Dawnguard, and then also the Dragonborn DLC. I backtracked and did some of Oblivion, but the storyline keeps losing my interest. Therefore, about 6 months ago I decided that I was going to sit down and finish Morrowind, lauded by many hardcore cRPG'ers as the best of the series. I installed the Morrowind Complete Overhaul which combines a bunch of the best mods into one package making the game not only more visually appealing, but fixing a lot of the vanilla's original issues.

I'll admit it took me a while to get into Morrowind. Once you cross some barrier though, a few hours in, the main quest opens up a bit and the game gets more interesting. I have to say that I'm sort of curious where it all goes.

But I'm not getting to the point of this thread. I decided tonight that enough was enough with the Cliff Racers and I went online to look for a mod to remove them. Following the bouncing ball on the mod Nexus I stumbled upon a team that is working on expanding the world of Morrowind onto the mainland, effectively doubling+ the size of the game. And it's a pretty long game as it is. And then, continuing down this mod rabbit hole, I came across another team that has done complete overhauls to both Morrowind and Oblivion! Making them essentially new games. Wow.

I'm sitting here, staring at these mods that will add hundreds of hours to already lengthy games. And then I start looking at my increasingly large backlog of cRPGs from GoG and Steam- Baldur's Gate series, Neverwinter series, Gothic series, Wizardry, Ultima, Might and Magic...

It occurs to me that I am never, ever, ever going to finish all of the games. Honestly, I remember playing Adventure on the Atari 2600, eventually getting and Intellivision to play Dungeons and Dragons, and now I look at where I am and I just don't know. There is enough RPG to last a person a lifetime.

This is just crazy. What a night. Things would be a lot better if I had knocked out these retro games when they came out!

Anyway, a quick link to some of the mods I discussed:

Arktwend for Morrowind: https://morrowind2009.wordpress.com/total-conversion-arktwend-english/

Tamriel Rebuilt: http://tamriel-rebuilt.tumblr.com/post/92199012959/announcing-a-major-change-in-our-release-structure

Nehrim for Oblivion: http://www.moddb.com/mods/nehrim-at-fates-edge

Gusington · January 15, 2015, 08:35:10 AM

Awesome stuff...makes me want to go back and play Morrowind and Oblivion. Until I remember that I am now fully invested in Dragon Age: Inquisition, which is a suitable rival to the Elder Scrolls games.

Sir Slash · January 15, 2015, 10:21:42 AM

And... Pillars of Eternity is coming in March. It looks very Baldur's Gate-ish. If I win the lottery, I'm going to hire someone to finish all my old games for me.

Gusington · January 15, 2015, 10:25:33 AM

That sounds like a great job. I'll do it. Was briefly looking over Pillars of Eternity last night too.

Sir Slash · January 15, 2015, 11:16:07 PM

OK Gus. Got my numbers ready. You'll know if I win. You'll be able to hear me in N.Y.

Gusington · January 16, 2015, 08:37:01 AM

I'm listening...don't hear anything yet.

Sir Slash · January 16, 2015, 02:47:11 PM

Sat. night. 11Pm EST. 5 Million. That's enough to buy 2 Matrix games.

JasonPratt · January 16, 2015, 03:53:59 PM

^^ With printed manuals! O0

Nefaro · January 16, 2015, 07:45:16 PM

gameleaper · January 16, 2015, 11:14:10 PM

Toonces I never got into RPGs until I read D&D3.5 books a few years ago, then the floodgates opened, wow. I still played rpgs like HoMM and Bolurs gate and games like that, but I never realy understood them until I got into real world RPG mechanics. I searched and searched RPG games and books looking for the next best thrill, I loved skyrim, and I have oblivion and morrowind, but I was drawn to turn-based games because of the books I read. I stumbled upon the best RPG you will ever experience, the game is endless the charactors are infinite , the world is rich and full of unexplored areas, your wondering what it is :) its world of Warcraft, but buy a mount to explore because hikeing around dosnt show you the vast world well, and I didn't follow any quest I just expored and fought who I wanted and did whatever I felt like. I swear Toonces I looked and looked for an RPG that truly felt like a real life tabletop RPG and now I don't need to look anymore

PS: you can sign up online and do the free version, no gametime purchase ever, but If you buy a paid account you will keep have to pay for game time, but Im glad I bought gametime and a mount and levelled up to 90 and got the addon areas like Pandora etc...

Toonces · January 20, 2015, 01:28:13 AM

^ Sadly I haven't tried WoW yet. I didn't know there was a free version. I'll have to look into that. I have tried LotRO and Neverwinter, and some other free RPG that was highly rated, but I think to really get into MMOs you need to join a like-minded guild and I'm not sure I'm ready to make that jump. I think I would like LotRO if I gave it a chance...getting it to update has been troublesome.

Toonces · January 20, 2015, 01:33:44 AM

I'm still trying hard to finish Morrowind. I've gotten into the game and story enough that I can see me finishing it, but man alive is it old school. I was following the main quest which took me on a long trek up to the northern part of the island where I was sent to a burial chamber. Then when I got to the chamber, I realized I didn't have any torches and the damn dungeon was so dark that I couldn't see anything.

The solution to this involved a very long, involved, treacherous trek back to a main center of civilization (Balmora) to buy torches and lanterns and such. This really took longer than it should have with no fast-travel. I thought I had outfitted myself pretty well and headed back north. After a few minor detours I got back to where I left off (we're talking about 2 hours of real-time at this point). I'm in the dungeon and then I get to this part where it's filled with water. I'm burning through my torches, but I have 15 so I'm not too worried. But then I realize that in order to proceed I need levitation potions. Fuck, of course I only had one of those (which I used already to get into the main part of the dungeon). Now I'm looking at having to back track AGAIN to equip myself properly with levitation potions and spells.

I certainly enjoy the game, but damn it's frustrating to have to keep backtracking because I'm not properly equipped for dungeoneering!

<Sigh> But I'm gonna stick with it.

Shelldrake · January 20, 2015, 07:06:41 AM

Toonces, you have inspired me to give Morrowind another try. I never finished the game on my Xbox but now that I have the PC version and have downloaded the code patch and MSGO 3.0 I am ready to give it another chance!

BanzaiCat · January 20, 2015, 09:14:05 AM

I recently got Oblivion (during the holidays) - I had played it once a long time ago and can't remember if I finished it or not, which is either sad or telling (or both). Still, I'm willing to give it another try, and I might look into these mods, so thanks for that, Toonces.

I never was able to get into Morrowind - that's the one where you start as a prisoner on a boat, right? I tried MANY times but I never reached that threshold you're talking about, Toonces...if it's only a few hours in I might take a look at it too.

I have played through Skyrim at least twice, though...love that game. Tried a couple of mods with it but not a lot.

Edit: yeah, Morrowind is $20 on Steam, so screw that until it goes on sale.

Sir Slash · January 20, 2015, 12:37:39 PM

I tried Oblivion too but couldn't get past the life or death fights with everything all the time or repairing my weapons frequently and such stuff. But it was a beautiful game.