Newbie Diary

[Satribe]

Entry One:
I wanted to document what it's like as a new player. I've never played Morrowind and on a first playthrough I like to go in without the internet. Explore and fail on my own. ... Day one; "I wonder if the fire in the Seyda Neen light house causes damage?" -hops inside- No damage, but now I'm stuck inside the light house. I did level up my acrobat skills jumping up the chimney. Who was the guy that said; "hey, let's prevent the player from falling into the chimney by placing a collision, but leave the pit open so you can get stuck, but not climb out the chimney. Luckily I'm on PC and learn that I can use TCL to toggle clipping and get out. So much for not using the internet. Well after I found out it works, I loaded my autosave. I'll save the TCL for later problems. That's it for today, but seriously..... The guard ran through the slime and muck to save me from a mudcrab.....but then just stood by and watched as a Dark Brotherhood Assassin chased me in town and killed me right in front of everyone. Silly game. I can't wait to see what else is in store.

[Satribe]

Entry two:
I’m playing the Steam version on a Win 11 laptop using a wired Xbox controller. First I had to learn how to let Steam map the controller for me, but the default option wasn’t working for me. I wanted to try to get as close to original Xbox controls, but decided on the one with the most users (hours?). It worked well, but I had problems with the scroll bars jumping to the top option and not allowing me to select lower options. I made three attempts to just create a character and when I finally made it outside, the option to SAVE was not there. (I actually found a few posts with the same “missing save” option. Maybe something to check out why.) I finally found a suggestion that using the laptop trackpad can cause problems. It’s unfortunate, but that fixed my problem. “Don’t touch the track pad.” Luckily the controller map template works well for me.
Kind of a spoiler, but I found a dead NPC. “Oh No!!” I’m having PTSD Skyrim flashbacks. …Nevermind. They’re supposed to be. (If ya know, ya know.) But this reminded me of my first impressions. Skyrim was my introduction through my kids. I grew up with text adventures and a bit of role playing experience, so Arena was fun and nostalgic for me. I think I expected Morrowind to be like an old version of Skyrim, but actually it felt more like high tech Arena. I apologize to those who cut their teeth on Morrowind. This is not speaking poorly of it, but recognizing some of the features from Arena that get dropped by the time we hit Skyrim. Skyrim is very immersive, but I don’t remember any dates or holidays changing anything in the game. Once you run through a Skyrim NPC’s dialogue that’s it. Okay, so that’s also true in Morrowind. The dialogue is tedious and repetitive, but coming back later to find something changed is somehow rewarding and immersive. Like I found a secret. It’s hard to explain other than to say it is more like conversations in Arena, then it feels like Skyrim.
… Oh… so the guard now chases me down to kill a couple more land critters, but just stands in the water next to the Slaughterfish while they ignore each other. …I was trying to help him get back to town, but he’s followed me way out now. Good luck buddy!

[Satribe]

I think the Guard got tired of helping me kill critters, because he no longer likes me and actually stopped fighting critters. I'm not sure if that was intentional or just glitchy. I'm not sure what I did, but two of the guards have a low view of me now. (I forgot what the reputation bar is called) A few returns to the game and the guard now attacks critters again. It took quite a few different times to try to maneuver critters to follow me to a point that would lead the guard towards town rather than further away. I finally got him to cross into town, but he really wanted to leave. He stood next to the bridge and the sprite went psycho as he couldn't decide whether to leave the city or resume normal guard duties. A couple of returns to the game and all the guards are back to normal; except that a couple of them hate me. And now you know why I have trouble finishing the main quest in a game. I get side-tracked easily.

I'm a little uncomfortable with the combat, especially as a level one character. I keep swinging but only hitting the air. It is difficult to know whether I missed because my "roll" was too low, or I missed because I wasn't in the right position, or too far away. So, for now, I'm a button masher. ...Okay...I'm always a button masher. I think my preference would be a health bar or number or sound that appears each time you attack and there is a chance for damage. This way I know I'm physically aiming correctly. Then if the "roll" is too low, the damage doesn't change. In real life, I might swing my sword at a knight, but he maneuvers so that I do no damage, but I at least hear the clang as my sword glances off his armor.

I had a random encounter that was funny and it reminded me of a very similar encounter in Skyrim. But as I thought about it, that was probably a Skyrim nod back to Morrowind, but I was getting the throwback in reverse. Now there are two dead NPC's, by the way, and I'm still in the starting area. This isn't boding well for me. ...Now that I think about it; Skyrim had dead bodies all over the place, but in Morrowind it seems to hit differently. Why do all the random bad people have names? I didn't dispatch a random bandit; I just killed "Sally". Sally had a mom and dad. Her little sister will be back any minute to find her older sister lying naked in a cave because some "so-called" do-gooder not only stabbed her in the back but also stole all her clothes. Sally wasn't really a bad person, but after her parents died, she did everything she could to provide for her and her baby sister. She sheltered her sister from the crime and sword fights by sending her away on errands when things might get dicey. She didn't want her innocent sister to suffer her own indignity and one day she would have enough to buy a small shack in the village and her little sister could finally have a normal life; the life that was taken from Sally. But now, Sally is laying in a puddle of her remaining life force; her little sister is now truly alone. But she watched her older sister, and as the dirty stinking men approach from a separate bandit raid....she knows what to do to survive.

Perhaps "Sally" wasn't the best Morrowind name. I should try harder.