Morrowind, part 2: Learning to Get Around in Vvardenfell

Morrowind is a game that can be intimidating and inaccessible for new players. There are many ways in which the game challenges its players: combat, character building, and figuring out where to go to complete quests (there are no quest markers hovering on the screen here) are some examples. In this post, I want to focus on a rather specific, and perhaps somewhat controversial, feature in Morrowind – its fast travel system. Morrowind features a drastically different fast travel system to its successors, Oblivion and Skyrim. In the latter two, fast travel was done simply by opening the map and clicking and the location you wanted to go. By contrast, in Morrowind, fast travel is accomplished either by utilizing a number of “public transportation services” available in the world of Vvardenfell, or by magic spells. The difference between the fast travel systems in Morrowind and its successors is that in Morrowind, traveling is an acquired skill, whereas in the successors, traveling is trivial.

Fast Travel Methods in Morrowind

There are multiple methods of fast traveling in Morrowind: Silt Striders, boats, Mages Guild teleports, Propylon Chambers and a few spells and trinkets that teleport you to certain locations. All of the above mentioned “public” methods of transport and their routes are presented in the map below (i.e. no spells).

A map of all the fast travel routes in Morrowind. Image taken from <http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:FullMap_TravelRoutes.png>

Sild Striders are massive flea-like creatures with very long and thin legs. They are a native species of Morrowind that have been harnessed to be used to transport people and goods. The Silt Strider network covers the West and South coasts of Vvardenfell.

A Silt Strider in Seyda Neen

Seeing how the game takes place on an island, boats are a natural means of transportation. There are boat routes to all of the major cities and towns along the coastline, as well as to a fair number of smaller towns also.

A boat in Hla Oad

The Mages Guild operates in five cities in Vvardenfell, mostly concentrated near the Western coast, although they do have a Guild Hall in the Eastern coast as well. In each of the Mages Guild establishments, you will find a Guild Guide, who can teleport you into any of the other four Guild Halls, provided that you are already a member of the Guild.

The Guild Guide in Ald'ruhn

There are ten Propylon Chambers scattered across Vvardenfell, located in ancient Dunmer strongholds (the dunmer are the native race of Dark Elves in Morrowind, and one of the playable races in the Elder Scrolls games). The Propylon Chambers all contain a large contraption that is used to link the strongholds together, forming a fast travel network.

A Propylon Chamber in the Dunmer fortress Marandus

Finally, there are four spells that deal with fast travel: Almsivi Intervention, Divine Intervention, Mark, and Recall. The two Intervention spells are used to teleport the player to the nearest Tribunal Temple or Imperial Cult Shrine, respectively (the two are basically competing religious orders). It takes a little bit of experimentation to figure out which temple you teleport to from various locations in the world. With time, however, using these spells becomes a second nature, and you rarely have to guess where you will end up, regardless of the location you used the spells from – you simply know. Mark and Recall are used in conjunction with one another – casting the Mark marks your position in the game world, and casting Recall instantly returns you to that marked spot. Mark and Recall can be extremely convenient if you have to return to the same location often. Another good use for Mark is placing it to some important location that's awkward to get to, because there are no fast travel options available nearby (hint: Urshilaku Camp).

A Tribunal Temple in Balmora

As I described above, traveling in Vvardenfell is a reasonably involved affair; it involves learning a web of different and independent modes of transportation, and that can certainly prove to be a bit of a headache for new players. In the beginning, simply getting from point A to point B can feel like a daunting task, and that may very well put some people off of the game. Here's the thing, though: I think that the initial headaches are worth it, because Morrowind's fast travel system adds levels of immersion and opportunities for world building that have, at least to some extent, been lost in Oblivion and Skyrim.

Building Immersion

Morrowind's fast travel system is, in my opinion, one of the most immersive ways I've seen the issue handled in any game I've played. In Morrowind, you are never pulled “out of the game” to travel like you are in systems where you open up your map and click a location on it. More importantly, though, Morrowind's fast travel system is based on becoming increasingly involved with the game world and learning how it works. In the beginning of the game, when you first step out of the Census Office in Seyda Neen, you start of as an alien; an ignorant outlander, who has stumbled on a strange land he or she does not understand. At this point in the game, merely traveling in the game world is a challenge. As you play the game, you will kill monsters and complete quests, earning you both experience and better gear. As a result, your character will steadily grow stronger. Even more importantly, though, YOU, the player, will also become more knowledgeable about the various systems and rules of the game world, such as alchemy recipes, spell effects, and, indeed, the travel networks. Whereas in the beginning, it may have taken you a better part of an hour to get from Balmora to Molag Mar, eventually it should only take you a few minutes.

Molag Mar is easily accessible with Almsivi Intervention,
and it also has Silt Strider and boat connections

It's very empowering to realize that something that used to require lots of effort in the past has become practically effortless now, and that is something that I don't think really happens as much in the newer TES games. Morrowind, however, offers this opportunity with its travel system (as well as certain other aspects of the game, but those are topics for another time). In a sense, while your character levels up and becomes better at using a sword, you also gradually become more proficient at navigating through the game world. It's almost as if you were gradually becoming an inhabitant of Vvardenfell – a part of the game world.

Building the World

The fast travel mechanic is used as a world building tool in Morrowind in a couple of cool ways. First, it is integrated seamlessly into the world, and helps make the game world overall more believable. The different travel routes form (at least mostly) a coherent web between the various establishments in Vvardenfell. Silt Striders are like the buss network of Vvardenfell (I wonder how come no enterprising mage has figured out how to build a combustion engine), while boats can naturally be found on the coastline. None of the transportation methods seem out-of-place, but rather they make perfect sense. In the bigger cities, the Silt Strider stops are small empty platforms, while in mining towns they depart from larger cargo loading platforms, indicating that they also haul cargo (most likely to the big cities that are nearby) in addition to just people.

A Silt Strider cargo loading platform in Gnisis

Another well-thought-out feature of Morrowind's fast travel system is that transportation options are not equally available across all regions in Vvardenfell. Rather, certain areas have an abundance of travel routes, while others have hardly any. The differences between the regions are easily explained by geographical and ethnographical considerations, and, in fact, help to further characterize the different regions.

The Western and Southern regions have a relative abundance of fast travel routes, and hence traveling there is quite easy. This makes sense, because these regions are reasonably densely populated, and have some of the biggest cities in Vvardenfell, as well as quite a few smaller towns and other establishments. The West and South are also the most “civilized” areas of Vvardenfell, and hence have good infrastructure to support them.

Ald'ruhn ravaged by a sand storm (pls no dudududu)

In the Eastern regions, there are considerably fewer options for transportation. What is more, the few options there are are largely concentrated along the coastline. The Eastern regions are controlled by ancient Telvanni wizards, who are native to Vvardenfell. They are very xenophobic, and generally not a very sociable bunch. Furthermore, the Eastern region is made up of many small islands, making traveling there quite difficult (unless you happen to know a water walking spell). As such, there are no Silt Striders (They can't walk on water), and available fast travel options are largely limited to a few boat routes.

Surely one of the strangest sights in Vvardenfell: a Telvanni mushroom tower

In the Northern regions, the accessibility of fast travel is even more scarce than in the East; in fact, there is a sizable piece of land with absolutely no fast travel options whatsoever. The North is the perhaps the most rural region in Vvardenfell, and also very sparsely populated. The only people you will find in the North are Vvardenfell's nomadic Dunmer, who tend to be very wary of strangers. The nomads do not live in cities or towns, but rather in temporary camps. As such, there are no cities or towns in the Northern region, which explains why there are also no transportation services.

Urshilaku Camp: the settling of one of the traditional Dunmer Ashlander tribes

Finally, the central area of the island is dominated by the Red Mountain. The mountain is permanently surrounded by dangerous ash storms, and various monsters roam around there freely. The solution to these problems was to isolate the area from the rest of the island by building the Ghostfence, which is basically a magical barrier, around it to keep all the bad stuff inside the Red Mountain region. The area is extremely hostile, and unsurprisingly, there are no fast travel routes that connect there.

The Ghostgate: the gateway to the Red Mountain region

Summary: The Benefits of Morrowind's Fast Travel System

To summarize the most essential points made in this post, Morrowind's fast travel system may initially appear cumbersome, but I think that it actually has a number of benefits when compared to a more modern take on fast travel. First, it makes traveling efficiently in the world a skill. Secondly, it helps immerse players fully in the game world. Thirdly, the availability or unavailability of transportation options is used to further flesh out the game world in a realistic and logical manner.

Morrowind, part 1: The Barriers to Entry

I suppose a good way to start this blog is to talk about one of my favorite game series, Bethesda Game Studio's The Elder Scrolls. More specifically, I’ll talk about the third game in the series, Morrowind. Morrowind was the first Elder Scrolls game I played, but it wasn’t the one that really got me into the series – that one would be the following title, TES IV: Oblivion. In this post, I'll discuss Morrowind from the point of view of a new player, who has no prior experience with any other TES titles.

The Lighthouse in Seyda Neen

Early Experiences

I tried to get into Morrowind a couple of times; I would create a new character, go through the few introductory quests in Seyda Neen, and take the silt strider to Balmora to go and talk to Caius Cosades, as I was instructed. Once I reach grandpa Caius, however, he decides to throw me a curveball by telling me to just go and explore the world for a little while, and return to him later to continue the main quest. I found this sudden freedom to be quite daunting; I had barely figured out the basics of the game, when I was dropped straight into the deep end and left to fend off for myself. I was alone and lost in a strange world, inhibited by strange people, who mostly did not seem to like me very much. I didn't know what to do, or where to begin my adventure. This is where my first crack at the game ended. On my second attempt, I wasn't able to get much further.

That's one buff middle-aged motherfucker right there.

Technical Limitations

By modern standards, Morrowind offers a remarkably inhospitable experience for new players. Part of what makes Morrowind difficult to appreciate certainly stems from the technical limitations of the game: its an old game, and, quite frankly, tends to look like ass. Fortunately, the excellent art design and the intriguing setting help to alleviate this problem quite a bit, as do myriads of mods aimed to improve the game’s visuals.

Suran, one of the comfiest town in Vvardenfell

The dated visuals are not, however, the biggest hurdle an aspiring adventurer has to overcome to get immersed in the fascinating world of Morrowind. The game was developed at a time when spoken dialogue in games was still not very common. Couple this with the fact that one of the main activities in the game is talking to people, and you will quickly find out that a significant portion of your time with the game is spend simply reading lines after lines after lines of dialogue. In order to enjoy the game – hell, in order to even play it at all – the player has to be willing to put in the effort to read a lot of text. Now, I ain't gonna lie – after being spoiled with fully spoken dialogue in modern games, going back to reading walls of tiny text on screen can feel like a chore.

Prepare to do A LOT of reading in this game

Gameplay Features

In addition to the technical limitations of the game, its gameplay is also rather... old-school in many regards. Some challenges that a new player must learn to overcome include excruciatingly slow movement speed; non-regening magicka (i.e. mana); a somewhat confusing leveling system; a fairly involved, web-like fast travel system (there are multiple modes of transportation, all of which connect to different locations); and, infamously, the melee combat, with its inherent missmissmiss nature. Admittedly, all of the above issues can be modded to be more accessible, but I think it's unreasonable to expect a new player to bother with modding the game merely to make it “enjoyable”. In addition, I don't think that the slightly complicated nature of the fast travel system is an actual problem, but rather an interesting design choice. That, however, is the topic for my next post, and will thus not be discussed further here.

A Short Guide to Morrowind's Combat: M1M1M1M1M1M1M1M1

The gameplay experience of Morrowind consists largely of three main components: talking to people, exploring the world, and fighting. Melee combat in Morrowind is a very simple affair: you have one button for swinging your weapon, and that's it. In theory, there are three different types of attacks: a horizontal swing, a vertical swing and a thrust. Each weapon deals different amounts of damage with these attacks (for example, spears are meant for thrusting, while swords are meant for swinging). In practice, however, there is an option which can be enabled in the game's settings that makes the player always use the best type of an attack for each weapon, hence making the different ways of attacking pointless. You can also equip a shield, but your character uses it automatically, provided that your blocking stat is high enough. In other words, shields add no gameplay whatsoever.

You will grow intimately familiar with you Mouse 1 button

The melee combat system in Morrowind has roots in tabletop RPGs, which is clearly demonstrated in the way the game determines whether or not attacks hit their targets. Instead of determining hits spatially (i.e. by looking at whether the model of the weapon connects with the model of the target), à la basically every action video game ever, Morrowind determines hits by looking at the attacker's and defender's stats and rolling a virtual die to see what happens. In effect, the player can repeatedly swing his or her sword straight through the enemy's character model, and the game will tell the player with a straight face that the attacks missed. Hence, Morrowind's combat boils down to standing in front of your enemy and spamming the attack button until either you or your enemy dies. It is, admittedly, very much an RPG flavored combat system, but it is simply not very satisfying for the player.

Memorable Enemy Encounters

Morrowind pits you against a multitude of different enemies, ranging from local wildlife to mad cultists and undead abominations. Some of the foes you face end up being more memorable than others, for varying reasons. I would venture a guess that the most well-known enemy in Morrowind is the Cliff Racer. Cliff Racers basically look like flying lizards, and they are one of many Vvardenfell's indigenous wildlife species. They are also an outright meme among the fan base. Although Cliff Racers aren't particularly dangerous, they are, quite simply, obnoxious as fuck. They are everywhere, they attack in packs, they can come from any direction, they have a tendency to sneak up on you if you are not paying attention, it’s generally impossible to outrun them, and their “SKREEEEEEEE” cry is undoubtedly one of the most annoying sounds in the game.

Excuse me, good sir, but do you have a moment to hear
the gospel of our Lord and Savior SKREE SKREE SKREE

Another particularly treacherous foe you are bound to encounter is the Bonewalker, or worse yet, the Greater Bonewalker. I vividly remember entering a random ancestral tomb (one of the most common types of dungeons in Morrowind), only to find myself facing a Greater Bonewalker. Naturally, I attacked the monstrosity with righteous fury. It was a rough battle, but eventually I came out on top, and the fiend was slayed. The victory proved to be short-lived, however, as I found out that I was now unable to move. A message displayed on the top-left corner of the screen: “You are over-encumbered”. “What the hell”, I wondered and opened up the stats screen, only to find out that all of my character's strength had strangely disappeared. As it turned out, Greater Bonewalkers cast a spell that drains their opponent's strength, consequently reducing the amount of weight they are able to carry. After the Bonewalker encounter, my character had all the strength of a newborn kitten. Hence, I was stuck in a cave, unable to move under the burden of my gear and other random loot I had picked up along the way. Seeing how I was still new to the game, I had no idea how to restore my strength back to normal. I had choice but to drop everything I carried right there, on the floor of a random tomb, go back to the nearest town to look for a cure, and then come back to pick up all the gear and loot I left behind. Instead of doing this, however, I opted for solution number two: I abandoned the game. Again.

These guys have a nasty surprise in store for anyone
foolish enough to fight them. Picture taken from
<http://social.bioware.com/uploads_user/1880000/
1879525/42743.jpg>

There Is Light at the End of the Tunnel

As you may have figured out by now, Morrowind can initially be a tough nut to crack. In fact, I was only able to overcome Morrowind's initial barrier of entry years after my first go at it. It would take me even longer to truly get comfortable with the game. I would say that I only really got into Morrowind after more or less completing Skyrim. In the end, though, I finally started to understand why the game still had an active modding community and a die-hard fan base. In this post, I’ve mainly established that Morrowind can be a difficult game to get into. In my next posts, however, I’ll go ahead and shift my focus to some of the more positive aspects of the game, which I think make Morrowind a remarkable game even today.