Morrowind Elder Scrolls 3 Xbox ( 2002 )

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Published on March 31, 2023 4:00:38 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJNqklEgkHs

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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)

Duration: 17:23

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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is an open-world action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the third installment in the Elder Scrolls series, following 1996's The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, and was released in 2002 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox. The main story takes place on Vvardenfell, an island in the Dunmer (Dark Elf) province of Morrowind, part of the continent of Tamriel. The central quests concern the demigod Dagoth Ur, housed within the volcanic Red Mountain, who seeks to gain power and break Morrowind free from Imperial reign.[1][2][3]

Although it is primarily a fantasy game, with many gameplay elements and Western medieval and fantasy fiction tropes inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and previous RPGs, Morrowind also features some steampunk elements, and drew much inspiration from Middle Eastern and East Asian art, architecture and cultures. Morrowind was designed with an open-ended, freeform style of gameplay in mind, with less of an emphasis on the main plot than its predecessors. This choice received mixed reactions, though such feelings were tempered by reviewers' appreciation of Morrowind's expansive, detailed game world.

Morrowind achieved critical and commercial success, winning various awards including Game of the Year and selling over four million copies worldwide by 2005.[4] It has since been considered one of the best video games ever made. The game spawned two expansion packs: Tribunal and Bloodmoon. Both were repackaged into a full set (along with several minor add-ons) and titled Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition, which was released in October 2003.[5] The open-source, free software alternative game engine OpenMW permits users of Linux and macOS, as well as Windows, to play the game natively, and with support for optional higher-end graphics than the original Bethesda engine. It requires an installation of the original game, as it uses the Bethesda game data files, and supports many third-party mods. Morrowind's Xbox release also runs as a backwards compatible title on the Xbox One and Series X/S consoles. Morrowind was followed by The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006.

While Morrowind contains many quests and storylines, the central plot revolves around The Tribunal, a triumvirate of god-like beings ruling over Morrowind, and their struggle against a former ally, the demigod Dagoth Ur and his Sixth House – a cult of followers stretching out from Red Mountain, the volcanic center of Vvardenfell, the island on which the game is set. Dagoth Ur has used the Heart of Lorkhan, an artifact of great power, to make himself immortal and now seeks to drive the Imperial Legion occupiers from Morrowind using his network of spies, as well as Akulakhan, an enormous mechanical golem powered by the Heart of Lorkhan.[3][28]

After a storm and a strange dream vision, the player character (PC) begins in a town called Seyda Neen, fresh off a boat from a mainland prison, freed by the string-pulling of the current ruler of the Tamrielic Empire, Emperor Uriel Septim VII. The PC is given the task of meeting Caius Cosades, a member of the Blades, a secret group of spies and agents working for the Emperor and the Empire.[10]

Cosades inducts the player into the Blades on the Emperor's orders and sets the player on various quests to uncover the mysterious disappearances and revelations that the citizens of Vvardenfell have experienced, particularly the Sixth House and the Ashlander prophecies of the Nerevarine. It is later revealed that the induction under Cosades, and the player's release from prison, was due to the Emperor's suspicion that the player might be the Nerevarine – a reincarnation of the legendary Dunmer hero Indoril Nerevar – or at least someone who would make a convincing impostor to use for political gain. The PC is tasked with uncovering the prophecies regarding the Nerevarine and to fulfill them to finally defeat Dagoth Ur and his Sixth House cult.

Prophecies from the nomadic Dunmer people living in the Ashlands, the Ashlanders, predict that Nerevar's incarnate will fulfill a set of seven prophecies. The first two prophecies are that the Nerevarine will be born on a certain day to uncertain parents, and will be immune to Corprus disease, a Divine disease created by Dagoth Ur. The player has already fulfilled the first, and hence was chosen for the task. The player becomes immune to Corprus by contracting the disease and surviving an experimental cure. Fulfilling these, the player seeks to complete the third prophecy, a test to find the Moon-and-Star (also called One-Clan-Under-Moon-And-Star), the symbolic ring originally worn by Nerevar, which has the power to instantly kill anyone, apart from himself (and by extension, the Nerevarine), who tries to wear it.