You guys are subtle like a lead pipe. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>Yeah, I picked it up today, and I'm of the opinion that this is what TES: Arena should have been like. Muuuuch better execution.<br><br>Bad stuff first:<br><br>Framerate. Egad, this thing needs a beast of a machine to run. I'm gonna get the latest drivers from NVIDIA here, but until I do that, I'm in the 15-20 range outdoors, 40+ indoors. This isn't sooo bad, cause things move slow in Morrowind, but I didn't like having to cut back on the view distance. Losing shadows was no biggie, though.<br><br>Area loads: The overworld map is divvied up into square chunks (you can tell by looking at the world map--areas you've explored show up as detailed squares, while the rest is just vague elevation info) and these chunks take a few seconds to load on my system. Given that I put the game on my 5400 RPM 'storage' drive, though, this isn't something I can really gripe about. I imagine those of you with better drives and less slow stuff on the chain won't have much of a problem with this.<br><br>Aside from the load from interior to exterior venues, the game is pretty well seamless. Travel via insect (YEAH, BABY! GIANT LAND-STRIDING INSECTS! W000000!) isn't seamless, but considering the varied terrain, trying to animate these 4-story behemoths going over the land would be... troublesome.<br><br>Good stuff!<br><br>Plot: Lots and lots of reading required... hell, there's <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> bookstores</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> in the game! Expect to take a few notes outside of the in-game journal if you want to get any info on hard copy.<br><br>Conversation: Only annoying thing here is the 'hail, traveler' voice-cues from the NPCs when you get close. I bumped into a trio of guards and all of them went "Yesssss... traveller? <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> *pause*</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> Whaaat... do you want?" (They were reptilian, btw) Sounded damn creepty in triplicate.<br><br>The dialog options are pretty varied, and there's a hotlist of subjects to inquire about. However, unless something's in your hotlist, asking about a subject in general (rumours, secrets, yaddah yaddah) gets you exactly one secret\\rumour\\story from each NPC. Not so bad, actually... cuts down on the time needed to really interrogate someone.<br><br>One tip for conversations--buy some really nice clothes the minute you can. People treat you better.<br><br>Combat: Since I'm a warrior, I've not messed with any spells aside from 'Adrenaline Rush', which is a native ability for Redguards. (HULK SMAAAASH! <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> *whack!*</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->) Three basic sword swings, and you can either do a specific swing (slash, chop, thrust) or let the computer automagically make the best type of swing for you.<br><br>Shield-blocking is implemented, and so far, the easiest way to block is to hold down the mouse button. This 'charges' your swing (a good thing) and raises your shield. A note about shields--the bigger the shield, the less you can see while holding it up. This was a problem for me when I was trying to find the little bugger chomping at my ankles while I was out swimming in the ocean.<br><br>Travel: You can hoof it (something I recommend, btw) or take travel services. If you're just plain <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> NUTS</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, though, you can recite a Scroll of Icarine Flight. These increase your acrobatics skill by 1000 points and quite literally let you jump a few miles in any particular direction. The first time I used this, I cratered. After a reload, I figured, 'What the hell!' and pointed myself in the general direction of the coast. I gather you can imagine what happened then... I took a long flight out to sea. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Being a nut, I swam back, too.<br><br>Quests: Well, I've done a few of these so far. I've delivered a package for the Emperor (staring quest), scouted the hiding place of a local thief, helped a lady win her true love, and cleaned out a band of slavers from a local cave. Also, not a quest, but I stumbled on a smuggler's cave and had to chop my way out... I'm sure someone wanted a reward for their heads somewhere, but danged if I've found 'em yet.<br><br>Citites: Very unique. Each one I've been to is different, and very good looking. My suggestion for roaming a city is to roam the streets <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> first</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> without going into anything. Once you've covered the area you're interested, bring up the local map and all the doors will have markers telling you exactly what each one is... much easier than going door-to-door like the Avon Lady.<br><br>Interface: Took a while to get used to it (it opens on right-click), but once I did, I had it all set up. Now I've got the world map showing all the time so I can't get lost (hah!). <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> Everything</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> is resizable, so you can adjust to your pleasure.<br><br>I found out the hard way that to use tools like lockpicks, you gotta equip 'em like a sword or any other weapon, then 'attack' the object in question. It's probably in the manual, but as I read that on my lunch-break, I probably skipped it somewhere.<br><br>Overall: A <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> MUCH</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> better buy than Dungeon Siege, and one of the RPG's I'm gonna have fun messing around with for the next year or so. If you've got the horses to run it well (GF3 or better and some kind of T-bird or better), I definitely recommend it if you like <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> really</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> open-ended RPG's. Emphasis on open-ended--you don't have to do anything you don't want to. <br><br>I like it. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p><BR><img src=
http://scribers.midwestmail.com/ambushbug/BugSig.jpg align=LEFT><BR>Member: DTM, XMEN<BR>Professional Tank Driver<BR>Card-carrying Base-Cracker<BR>Ugly Son-Of-A-Gun<BR><BR>Bug's Tank Bumper Sticker:<br>"If you can read this, you're already street pizza."</p><i></i>
