Feature By

Dale Weir

Chances are that if you were to take the average PC gamer aside and asked him or her to name the role-playing game (RPG) that defines its genre, you’ll probably hear names like Ultima, Might & Magic, and The Elder’s Scrolls. Walk up to the average console gamer and ask the same question, you will get responses with Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior at the top of the lists. Each of these games falls under the classification of an RPG, but it is the degree to which they can be called an RPG that is often a subject of debate. Console RPGs are often viewed as a bastardization of the genre, weakened by both linearity and a lessened emphasis on character customizability and development, designed to make them more palpable to the fickle young gamers of yesteryear. Sadly, as the gaming generation has grown, its RPGs have not. Aside from updated graphics and other aesthetic upgrades, the genre is still as simple and restrictive as the day the first console RPG, Dragon Warrior, was released.

That makes the release of The Elder’s Scroll III: Morrowind on the Xbox a very significant release. In the PC industry, RPG fans salivate as they await the opportunity to play this RPG. In the console industry, where the Xbox is looking for a more solid foothold, this franchise is very much a mystery. On the one hand, Microsoft can count on some Xbox-owning PC gamers happily picking up this version, but since the Xbox is a console, that would mean Microsoft and Bethesda have to convince gamers who hear RPG and immediately think Square and Final Fantasy.

Morrowind is an RPG in the truest sense of the word. The game has a large encompassing story, but it allows an unprecedented amount of freedom. Players are given the option of selecting their character, his or her major traits, and then go off exploring the world completing missions at their leisure. There is, of course, an underlying epic storyline with a beginning, middle, and conclusion, but players are free to shift focus from the main story to any of the many side missions available. The invisible hand of the developer is gone as players decide how they will advance. The story is progressed mainly by communicating with the thousands of non-playable characters (NPCs) in the game and through character customization. As an example, Morrowind begins with your character as a prisoner. You must complete a series of small (training) missions in exchange for your freedom. Even here, you have control over your fate. You can do the missions or try to concoct your own escape. This is a far cry from the handholding, cut-scene laden, "interactive" stories that have passed for RPGs on consoles these many years.

It has been over 5 years since the last The Elder’s Scrolls release [The Elder’s Scrolls: Arena (1993) and The Elder’s Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996)] and PC gamers are chomping at the bit for this new release. Should console gamers be as excited? We’ll find out as we go through the features of the game in the accompanying pages.