Morrowind: how narrative can become the main character
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind has probably the largest fanbase among the TES players. Today, its story is still regarded as one of the most beloved ones in the game industry. People praise Morrowind even considering its negative sides (like the combat system) and blame later games in the series for being less original and appealing. In this article, I will try to answer why that is, and also explore how turning the narrative into the main character can compensate for the lack of immersive gameplay.
What is the Morrowind formula?
Each game has a set of mechanics which are coherently connected by the story. Game designers aim to deliver certain messages by putting the player into a gaming experience that traditionally immerses them in the narrative. So, which experience does Morrowind offer to the player?
The first thing to note here is that Morrowind is an RPG. The player starts as a prisoner, who arrives in the province of Morrowind by boat. No one knows anything about them. You can build your character the way you want by choosing a race, a class, a set of skills, and a birthsign that grants you a special ability. The skills define your ability to use weapons of a certain type, or, for example, how good you are at casting spells of a certain school.
I will talk about the combat system a bit later, but, overall, your choice affects how your character fits into the game world. However, functionally, the way you define yourself influences which narrative options will become available to you.
The story formula of Morrowind revolves around a huge religious conflict that is political at its core. The player finds out they are the reincarnation of the legendary hero of Morrowind, Lord Indoril Nerevar. According to the prophecy, Nerevarine can stop Dagoth Ur, the powerful leader of the Sixth House that draws his power from a forbidden source.
The player unravels the mystery which stands behind Dagoth Ur being an ultimate villain. To do this, the hero should explore the various organizations that control Vvardenfell (part of the Morrowind province where the game takes place). The player’s understanding of the global narrative is shaped by recollecting the information about the Tribunal, the three “gods” which control Morrowind at the moment.
The mainline of Morrowind’s narrative offers the player various ways of understanding the game experience. Nerevarine’s role can be played in many ways, as the game imposes only one activity on you. Morrowind wants you to be an explorer, and many gameplay features which might be considered archaic are designed for this very purpose.
For example, the player has to determine the correct place for a certain quest on their own. No points on the map will be given, and it forces you to read the journal carefully. In this way, Morrowind’s formula can be outlined as “be an adventurer in the world that can survive without you”.
It does not mean that the story about Dagoth Ur, Tribunal, and Nerevarine is not important. You should read it while keeping in mind that nothing coerces the player into doing some things. However, unlike Skyrim or Oblivion, in Morrowind, you cannot simply turn away from the mainline and do something else. The secret is that any side-activity in this game leads you to the mainline story unraveling in one way or another.
Why did this formula work?
The third major Elder Scrolls game definitely focuses the player’s attention on the interconnected questlines (Houses, Guilds, Tribunal, Mainline, and others). In Morrowind, all of them are designed to show that Vvardenfell is a “natural” location with real citizens. Pretty often, the designers of game worlds use plot elements to express their idea, but at the same time turn the world itself into a purely artificial being.
Morrowind is different because the player feels how unfriendly this province is to them. Exploration becomes the only way of playing, and, unlike Skyrim, here you will have to dig deep into the plot. The alternatives are either to rush through the mainline or to forget about the game. Players rarely choose either of them.
It is quite funny, but the poorly designed combat system (like when you cannot deal damage even striking right through the enemy model) and artificial skill cap for raising your status in organizations are also factors that led Morrowind to success.
You cannot avoid fighting in Morrowind. However, you can minimize its frequency in the game by searching for powerful artifacts (or just by using Invisibility spells). The controversial combat system coerced the player to invent new ways of playing the game, which involved creative and original thinking. For example, levitation, another gameplay feature, broadened the possibilities for players to experiment with how they can interact both with space and with other mechanics. I still remember how you could make a spell that combines levitation with increased speed. You could simply “run” to the opposite shore of Vvardenfell in a few minutes. Magic!
The skill cap, on the other hand, is still considered a positive feature overall by many players. Most of them note that in Skyrim, for example, progression in guilds feels too artificial. The requirement to develop Conjuration magic skill to a certain level before advancing to a higher status in a mage-oriented organization totally fits the game world of Morrowind (and TES overall). But becoming an arch-mage after just finishing one questline? Well, the feeling is totally different.
Morrowind effortlessly shows the player that a coherent storyline in an RPG can be both natural and directed without ruining the experience of being present in the world. For sure, there are other factors like a very unusual world and well-developed characters. However, they are also present in other games, and I tried to focus on what makes this game special in particular.
It seems that my point is quite simple. The narrative and the world are the main characters of Morrowind, whereas we are just the observers which can explore them. However, it would be unfair to say that the player does not have any role in it. Morrowind shows that the best experience for the player is the one that erases the boundaries of fictionality. We like the real world because it is unpredictable, and not everything depends on us. Morrowind delivers the same impression using its artificial video game world. And it is probably the main reason why this game is such a powerful source of inspiration for many RPG game designers of the following years.
“Each event is preceded by Prophecy. But without the hero, there is no Event.”
— Zurin Arctus, the Underking
Thank you for reading this article. Morrowind also became my own source of inspiration for the development of Argenta Fervojo. If you want to find out more about the game I’m making with my lovely team at Risus Lupus, have a look at our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lupusrisus) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/argentafervojo/).
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