If I ever seem overly cynical about a genre of game I am generally only half serious.
Truth be told I don't really play many open world games because I find the premise unapproachable. On another level I'm just basically disappointed that neither Oblivion nor Skyrim were Morrowind but better.
Those kinds of games are difficult to adjust to. I barely played Oblivion when I first got it because of Morrowind, but after playing Oblivion for long enough Morrowind was nearly unplayable. Both of the subsequent games improved on Morrowind in most (Morrowind had by far the most imaginative world- such a shame that the game's aesthetic was so bad, and the variety of weaponry was great) ways, it's just difficult to see at first.
anyway, I put a lot of hours into Oblivion before realizing I wasn't having any fun with it. I've had similar experiences elsewhere with open world games. Generally, in that kind of game I prefer the world to be much smaller and all of the plot-relevant bits in a fairly easy to determine path. At that point you just have an RPG.
There are also a lot of games I was eventually just done with. There are people who have played Minecraft since it was called Cave Game that aren't sick of it and I will never understand that.
The color choice was atrocious. It didn't look bleak, it just looked kind of ugly. If it weren't for the game's lack of colors outside the brown spectrum the game's aesthetic would have been great.
I don't know what you did in those two hundred-ish hours, but the only place I would call the game ugly would be the large wasteland areas and I sort of get the impression that they were supposed to look that way. Everywhere else--especially the cities and dungeons where one would realistically have spent most of their time--looked fantastic from an artistic point of view. That's without getting into the enemy designs, which were great.
I don't know what you did in those two hundred-ish hours, but the only place I would call the game ugly would be the large wasteland areas and I sort of get the impression that they were supposed to look that way.
Obviously a wasteland isn't supposed to look appealing, but those areas just ended up looking kind of bland.
Everywhere else--especially the cities and dungeons where one would realistically have spent most of their time--looked fantastic from an artistic point of view. That's without getting into the enemy designs, which were great.
The more Imperial cities tended to be less fantastic in design and as a result not as good. All of the Dunmer cities were very well designed, however. Overall I felt like even at its best, the game was a few shades too dark. Except for the dungeons, which were excellent.
The more Imperial cities tended to be less fantastic in design and as a result not as good. All of the Dunmer cities were very well designed, however. Overall I felt like even at its best, the game was a few shades too dark. Except for the dungeons, which were excellent.
"Too dark" is a problem most RPGs have. The first Diablo had exactly three colors in its level design palette. While it is an issue, it's not one specific to this title, and I feel that it really didn't detract from the game in any meaningful sense.
edit: a thousand raging furies upon Vanilla's quote system.
I don't know what you did in those two hundred-ish hours, but the only place I would call the game ugly would be the large wasteland areas and I sort of get the impression that they were supposed to look that way.
Obviously a wasteland isn't supposed to look appealing, but those areas just ended up looking kind of bland.
that's what a wasteland looks like, man.
Not really. Think about how Fallout looks. That's an example of a wasteland done right.
Actually, looking through pictures of the environments online, I think I found the problem. The game's strengths were in its odder designs, but they're surprisingly sparse. Most of the game's environments looked quite homogeneous.
Actually, looking through pictures of the environments online, I think I found the problem. The game's strengths were in its odder designs, but they're surprisingly sparse. Most of the game's environments looked quite homogeneous.
Not really. Oblivion varied greatly between its central, northern, and southern areas. The swamps around Leyawiin and Bravil look very distinct from the forests in Colovia, which looked very distinct from the northern mountains. Skyrim really only has two kinds of environments, but they look very distinct, and even within them theres quite a bit of variety.
in Morrowind you could go to the ocean floor and see a good deal of variety from place to place, and you're going to try to tell me that Skyrim is better than that because the snow in some areas is a slightly more cream white.
Morrowind's biggest aesthetic problem was its color choice, that's what I'm getting at. The world itself was a lot better and more creative than the others, but the lack of color variety really made it feel like the environments lacked variety. There was a much greater sense of place in Skyrim and Oblivion.
whoever put that compilation together deliberately chose the worst and best possible areas to screenshot for this particular argument.
It is surprisingly difficult to find good Morrowind screenshots.
While the southern and northern areas in Morrowind should presumably have a night and day difference, they still end up looking just a little bit too similar.
Admittedly, a lot of this is due to hardware, but just a small change of color choice could have helped greatly. It doesn't help that traveling is so slow and difficult, so you inevitably end up staring at the same areas for a long time.
Admittedly, a lot of this is due to hardware, but just a small change of color choice could have helped greatly. It doesn't help that traveling is so slow and difficult, so you inevitably end up staring at the same areas for a long time.
I feel like Morrowind should get a remake. Maybe it was just a bit too ambitious? A world like Skyrim or Cyrodiil probably would have looked much better than one like Vvardenfell on the original Xbox.
Comments
If I ever seem overly cynical about a genre of game I am generally only half serious.
Truth be told I don't really play many open world games because I find the premise unapproachable. On another level I'm just basically disappointed that neither Oblivion nor Skyrim were Morrowind but better.
Morrowind's aesthetics were not bad.
anyway, I put a lot of hours into Oblivion before realizing I wasn't having any fun with it. I've had similar experiences elsewhere with open world games. Generally, in that kind of game I prefer the world to be much smaller and all of the plot-relevant bits in a fairly easy to determine path. At that point you just have an RPG.
There are also a lot of games I was eventually just done with. There are people who have played Minecraft since it was called Cave Game that aren't sick of it and I will never understand that.
OK.
I don't know what you did in those two hundred-ish hours, but the only place I would call the game ugly would be the large wasteland areas and I sort of get the impression that they were supposed to look that way. Everywhere else--especially the cities and dungeons where one would realistically have spent most of their time--looked fantastic from an artistic point of view. That's without getting into the enemy designs, which were great.
The more Imperial cities tended to be less fantastic in design and as a result not as good. All of the Dunmer cities were very well designed, however. Overall I felt like even at its best, the game was a few shades too dark. Except for the dungeons, which were excellent.
that's what a wasteland looks like, man.
"Too dark" is a problem most RPGs have. The first Diablo had exactly three colors in its level design palette. While it is an issue, it's not one specific to this title, and I feel that it really didn't detract from the game in any meaningful sense.edit: a thousand raging furies upon Vanilla's quote system.
that's what a wasteland looks like, man.
Not really. Think about how Fallout looks. That's an example of a wasteland done right.Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Hrmm.
well that's not quite what I meant. this is a problem most open world games have.
actual Skyrim screenshot
man
in Morrowind you could go to the ocean floor and see a good deal of variety from place to place, and you're going to try to tell me that Skyrim is better than that because the snow in some areas is a slightly more cream white.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
You know what should have been released on DLC by now? A better Civil War.
dat soft glow
is it terrain or a picture of a hollywood actress we may never know
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
You know what's the worst part of sandbox games? When you have enough high-end equipment that dungeon delving becomes kind of pointless.
whoever put that compilation together deliberately chose the worst and best possible areas to screenshot for this particular argument.
even then, there are only two more major colors in the second set of screenshots than the first.
flight boots.
or the fast travels even.