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Sliding in to say I've started Morrowind for the first time and, uh, this game slaps hard. Unironically loving all the reading, navigation via directions from locals, and worldbuilding. I can't stop playing.
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Apr 23, 2024 02:43
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 15:40 |
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I'm trying to stay completely unspoiled so I'm not looking at this thread too closely. In Skyrim all the dunmer are refugees from the Red Mountain exploding which I assume is the result of this game, but that is as far as I know. Plotwise I just delivered the lost prophecies to the ashlanders and now I'm doing some sort of warrior trial for the ashkahn.
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Apr 23, 2024 03:46
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I'm not, don't worry. I'm 40 hours in and I do a lot wandering around and faction advancement. I had to bail on a Fighters Guild quest to kill some gangers up north because they were kicking my rear end.
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Apr 23, 2024 04:02
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This particular quest was to take out an outlaw in Sargon, way up north. When I traveled there the first time the outlaws in there chewed me up and spit me out. That was a while ago and I went back there recently with my newly minted 100 long blade skill and cleaned up the cave. I'm a Warder now and my adventuring here and elsewhere has made my martial prowess pretty formidable. While heading to this quest to prove myself for the ashkhan I came across a dead ordinator fully kitted out in armor. Sick, this set is a cut above the hodgepodge of steel and orcish I'm wearing. To my surprise, the actual ordinators seem to take offense to this. The first one I talked to in town attacked me for the insult. Welp, I'm not taking it off so the locals will just have to deal. Caius was recalled to the mainland but not before making me the highest ranking Blade in the region. With this freedom I've lightened up the main quest in lieu of some freelance adventuring. I'm enjoying just walking the island and going into places. I have a bad habit of sallying forth without being adequately supplied. I got close enough to Red Mountain to encounter the ghost fence. For some reason I didn't think it was a literal magic fence surrounding the mountain. That's pretty awesome.
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Apr 23, 2024 14:28
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You're telling me! Also I'm also considering training Marksman so I can snipe these goddamn cliff racers out of the air. After some more questing for the Fighters Guild I was contracted by the steward of Aldruhn's chapter to take out the guildmaster and his cronies on the grounds of corruption. So I did! Now I'm guildmaster. Nice. The fights weren't too tough, and I feel pretty confident about my battles going forward, assuming I prepare adequately against magic. I regret a bit throwing my hat in with House Hlaalu. The local knowledge said of the three they were the most tolerant of the outlanders, but their underhanded mercantile schtick better suited thievery. I did not understand the value of a faction's favored skills until it became an issue here. I'm a warrior, and this House's favorite skills are all misc for me, so they are lightly trained, which makes advancement more work. I ended up paying for training but this is only going to get me so far. Also my sponsor in Vivec is a huge creep???? Politics, man.
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Apr 24, 2024 00:53
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Ol Maxim the Imperial Warrior (born under The Lady) is enjoying his adventures on Vvardenfell. He leads the Fighters Guild, is currently abandoning his post as Spearman in the Legion, and is paying local dunmer for speech lessons to conduct more Hlaalu business. His newest hobby is eliminating the ordinators who won't leave him alone and selling their gear.  I like to jump around quests and adventuring so I returned to the my goal of trying to figure out if I'm the Nerevarine. It has been a fascinating journey so far. I am really enjoying learning the history of Nerevar and how there are several conflicting accounts about what actually went down in the First Council War. Anyway, the wise women says I meet the first two trials, being born in a certain way and being immune to corpus, so it's time for the third. Solving the riddle and following the directions leads to the Cave of the Incarnate, hidden within dawn and dusk, and within the hands of a statue of Azura is Nerevar's ring, the Moon-and-Star. I remember the accounts of this artifact: it is enchanted so that only Nerevar can wear it, and it enhanced his force of personality. Turns out I can wear it, and it boosts personality and speechcraft. I guess I really am the Incarnate. A bunch of ghosts of failed versions of me gave me their things. These are good magic items, including one that casts levitate(!!). Next up is to I suppose go down the rest of the 7 trials in order. That mean uniting the people of Vvardenfell behind my banner. All 4 ashland tribes and the 3 Houses must recognize me as the Nerevarine. That seems like a tall, tall order. Everyone hates each other and the Tribune religion views the Nerevarines as heretical (presumably since their existence will reveal the truth of the source of the Tribunal's immortality). The ashland tribe that helped me names me Nerevarine without question, so I move on to trying to sway Hlaalu. This leads back to Crassius Curio (god I hate this man!!!) who says if the council unanimously agrees, they will name me Hortator, effectively the war leader against the Sixth House. I have to find each councilor myself and so far I have found half of them. So far they get my vote via bribes. They don't seem to mind the metaphysical implications of the Incarnate currently existing. Jack B Nimble posted:For real; I can never play this game for the first time again, but rest assured we've all been there and we're loving these accounts. I've got a smattering a magic items from adventuring. Armor is entirely mundane, and if there's explicit magical armor (outside of rings/shirts/belts etc) I haven't found any yet. I'm mostly wearing ordinator gear, but I found an ebony helm during a Fighters Guild quest, and while I was down in Kogoruhn proving myself to the ashlanders I found a pair of daedric gauntlets (and also an exit into Red Mountain bypassing the ghost fence  ). While the spirits of the failed incarnates gave me some really good magic gear I am really lacking a decent long blade. I use an old steel sparksword.
SettingSun fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Apr 24, 2024 |
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Apr 24, 2024 18:32
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I do wonder if there is a vendor that could actually pay out the entire worth of the ebony maces I keep liberating from the ordinators. I have not delved into the magical arts of this game except tangentially. I fully intend to play a second time as a mage and go nuts on that half. If there's one thing I fully know of this game it's that you can make truly busted magic spells.
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Apr 24, 2024 20:51
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Quick update: A duel with the arch magister of House Redoran has named me their Hortator. But that's secondary to the fact that guy was kitted out in full ebony gear with a deadric daikatana. With it I can fell an ordinator in 4-5 hits. I shall be unstoppable!
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Apr 24, 2024 22:13
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Well, I wonder if I did a little sequence breaking. I'm advancing in the ranks of House Hlaalu (slowly, as I get speechcraft training) and they offer to build me a stronghold. I talk to the Duke to get permission and talking about the Cammona Tong has him admit that as Hortator, I should be named Hlaalu grandmaster?? Great, I think I outrank the councilors I had to bribe earlier. This feels like nepotism! Getting that stronghold build at least, and I don't need to level speechcraft anymore.
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Apr 26, 2024 00:34
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I found M’aiq the Liar while swimming to Dagon Fel. 
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Apr 26, 2024 05:51
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Okay all 3 great houses named me Hortator. This was easier than I imagined, as Hlaalu councilors just needed to be bribed, doing a favor for a Redoran councilor swayed all but the archmagister whom I dueled to the death, and some honeyed words convinced all the Telvanni councilors but their archmagister whom I had to eliminate. I'm really shaking up this island's government. Started swaying the ashlander tribes with Ahemmusa Tribe. Their demands suck. They're in a bad way needing a new place to live so I was asked to clear out a daedra shrine, return to report my success, then escort the wise woman there to prove it, in that order. This place is across the archipelago! Using 2002 escort mechanics! It's like she knows she has all the power here. Whatever, I have their tribe's acknowledgement now.
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Apr 26, 2024 18:38
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She says specifically that she can water walk. This other tribe quest, which has me buy a slave to pass her off as a Telvanni noble and marry her to the ashkahn for their quest, has an escort without such magical gifts. Weird quest!
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Apr 27, 2024 01:05
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Well well well, I got to meet Vivec, the living god, and get the mother of all info dumps. And I am here for it. Getting deep in the lore is one of my favorite parts of this game and its complexity is so satisfying to me. So, it falls to me to ultimately defeat Dagoth Ur, doing what Vivec and and the Tribunal could not. Vivec is also very progressive and willing to upend the entire religion to support me and my campaign. Or perhaps he knows his back is to the wall. He gives me his gauntlet Wraithguard, a 500,000 value artifact, and tells me to find the rest of Kagrenac's tools to take out the heart. The final hour is close at hand so I putter around for a bit. Finish my stronghold, do some local quests, poke around tombs so more, advance the Legion. I get anxious though and eventually set for the Red Mountain. Lots of potions and scrolls. The place feels a bit like Mordor which is neat. My martial prowess is great so I carve my way through the fortresses and find the other two missing tools, Sunder and Keening. Everything is set, and I descend into the caldera and down into the depths. It's a nice touch that as I descend Dagoth Ur talks to me. I find him and I get a bit of his story. Vivec said I could attempt guile to get close to the heart but that's not my style. I tell him I'm the Nerevarine and I'm here to kill him. We fight, he's tough but I'm tougher, and he retreats to the heart. The heart is here. I dodge Dagoth Ur and levitate to the heart itself (after dying by trying the long way the first time). Hit it with Sunder, then slice it up with Keening. Dagoth Ur is mortal (as are the tribunal) and I finish him off for good. The god thing he was making collapses and I escape, to be welcomed by Azura. I did it. I fulfilled the prophecy. I get rewarded with a sick ring and I emerge the hero. I return to Vivec to get the debrief. Morrowind is my land to defend now. I'm the hero that did what the (formerly) living gods could not. I earned this. The ordinators still want me dead though. In all, this game is *excellent* and I'm so glad I developed the urge to play it. The depth of story and lore is unparalleled. I truly feel like I earned what I accomplished in the story. You can ascend to directly lead the factions you join (at least of the region) though mechanically I think that's more of a formality. Exploring and talking to people is compelling. It has flaws, but none so bad that the game is unplayable (as long as you in general can tolerate playing a 22 year old game). I also didn't mention this when I started these writeups but I played wholly unmodded. Just straight Steam release. I had to finagle it so it would save settings changes I made but it still reset my sound settings. And it crashed a few times. Blessed F5 key. I'm debating whether or not to just restart outright right now and get a move on a more magically inclined character and join some of the factions I left in this play. But I also want to do the dlcs. Decisions, decisions... I found out this game released on my 11th birthday. Very apt.
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Apr 27, 2024 17:04
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The question of whether or not I'm Nerevar reborn is really fascinating to me. The prophecy is built on deeds and effort, except for one fine point: the Moon-and-Star. If the myth is accurate--which shown in the game myth is malleable, changing, and sometimes false -- then only Nerevar can wear it. To me that is incontrovertible proof. It's enough for the Urshilaku tribe, and enough for me. Of course that alone doesn't make a hero. I built that legend with my hands. I think back to the conflicting accounts of the Red Mountain battle. Even Vivec, who himself was there, says it's up to me which story to believe if any, and it doesn't change what I need to do now. The whole game is a long lesson on what personal interpretations of history and legend does to culture.
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Apr 28, 2024 01:32
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You see, that speaks to the depth and quality of the story for that to be a legitimate argument to be made. Moon-and-Star *was* given that enchantment by Azura, huh...
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Apr 28, 2024 03:46
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I would consider that a bug, similar to the weirdness of vendors equipping anything you give them like the sacred Indoril ordinator armor. Or maybe it is a clue. I love the possibilities of open interpretation. I'm at it again with a new character. Argonian nightblade, so I can double dip agility/stealth with some magic so I can join Telvanni. Also Argonians can't equip helms or boots? That might be a problem down the line but I'm into it. 2002 thievery seems a bit on the archaic side but I'm working with it. Training stealth naturally seems tough. The second thieves guild quest wants me to pickpocket a key off a noble or his servant -- a guy who hangs out in the Camonna Tong bar surrounded by people. I think I need more training first.
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Apr 29, 2024 16:18
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fwiw I just played the game the first time 100% straight up and it was fine if a bit janky and prone to crash sometimes. I haven't even begun to look at mods lol
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Apr 29, 2024 21:51
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I would consider modding if there is one that allows me to squeeze by npcs who stubbornly stand in narrow halls and prevent me from getting around them
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Apr 30, 2024 16:25
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While I'm thinking about it, is it practical to train mercantile naturally? I assume to do so you fudge the numbers around while bartering but the vendors never accept even a single gold difference.
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Apr 30, 2024 17:04
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 15:40 |
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I kinda really liked the mundane faction quests. "Go find the pro security guy hiding in town somewhere" and you do some realistic local investigation until you find him. The one thing I didn't really like was your faction rank is mostly a title and nothing really meaningfully changes even if you head the organization. I did like that you can't lead the Blades but since your boss leaves you're the senior officer on the island (though you have no subordinates as all the existing Blades go around you for their business).
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May 7, 2024 14:40
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