"Imagine you've just arrived at an island. The locals don't want you here, the cuisine is awful, and the wildlife all seems to want to kill you... What I'm describing might sound like Australia, but this is actually the start of Morrowind" _lmaooooo_

After that 8 hour morrowind review I can watch anything

I remember playing Morrowind as a teenager. I played an "unofficial" version that was just available in English (which is not my first language and in which I wasn't proficient at that age). I wasn't reading internet guides. I remember aimlessly wandering around this foreign world for hours, barely understanding what was going on and impressed by the alien look of environment and characters. I cherish this memory. Now playing Fromsoftware games for the first time generates a similar experience.

"The thing Is , if you wanna know how a relationship failed. You can't just look at the bad. You have to understand why you fell in love in the first place ".... wow just wow

Two hours, you say? Part one, you say? Mmm. Yes please.

as a not native english speaker, i'm kinda happy that i saw a two hour documentary and understood most of it..

who else is here to earn their right to watch episode 3?

I liked in morrowind magic that you didn't have to hit something to raise destruction skills. it makes more logical sense. It's not about your "aim"(that could be another skill honestly), its about actually CASTING the spell, this does not require a target.

College of Winterhold questline: I fetch a necklace for my teacher, I am now the headmaster.

"It may seem like I hate the dungeons in this game ... because I do." every Daggerffall fan's lament.

I love oblivion. The quests, the balloon like sword fighting, the 7 voice actors, all of it. The negatives of the game mean nothing to me

You've gained a subscriber for being the first content creator I've seen talk at length about how The Elder Scrolls franchise has no competition, imitation or spiritual successor. It boggles my mind that no other authors who make video essays around The Elder Scrolls games have produced at least one video about this topic. The truth is that these games are a monumental effort with a relatively strong creative direction. There aren't many, if any, studios that possess the capability to make such games.

41:45 - It goes even deeper than that though. It's the least "purposely designed around the player's wants and needs" game. What makes Daggerfall special is that, out of all the Elder Scrolls games, it's the most interested in "true" simulation/immersion: -If you committed a crime, you would go to court. -While in court, you could use your diplomatic skills(or lying or bribing) to escape punishment. -If imprisoned, your skills(and reputation) would diminish over time. -Gold actually had weight, so you needed to go to banks and exchange it for credit notes. -You could take out a loan from a bank to allow you to afford a house or ship. -After buying a home, you'd have to buy all the furniture yourself. -When going dungeon crawling, you'd bring a horse and carriage with you to carry all the loot since you had a limited carrying capacity. -There was a complete calendar, NPCs would celebrate certain holidays throughout the years and seasons. -Daedric Princes only allowed you to summon them on certain days/occasions. -When you "fast-traveled", it would cost gold factored by the distance of the trip, if you decided to stay at inns or camp out, if you're a vampire, etc... -Time was valuable, quests had deadlines and they would fail if you took too long to complete them(even the main quest!) -If you wanted to travel more efficiently and save time, you'd have to buy a ship to cross the bay. -You had to pass language skill checks in order not to be instantly attacked by certain races or creatures. -Your character didn't automatically know what every item was, so you'd have to visit skilled mages to appraise the value of your magical loot. Daggerfall is literally 2 steps away from having you pay property taxes or needing a hunting license so you don't go to jail for poaching...in a sprawling, epic fantasy world where cursed dungeons, magic, orcs, vampires and dragons exist. It was definitely an interesting concept, like how would the actual systems of a "real" fantasy world function for a common adventurer? I don't think I could put in a better way myself, so I'll leave the best quote I've found on Daggerfall here: "It's hard to quantify it, but if pressed, I'd say that it is an almost comical devotion to immersion. You could (and had to!) use banking services to get on in life, for heaven's sake. It's a rollicking epic fantasy adventure where the sentence "I had to sell away my house I got as a grant from my knightly order to the bank to pay back the loan I took out in order to be able to afford mithril gear I used to kill a mighty Daedra Lord." may be a reasonable description of your last four hours of gameplay. "

What a grand and intoxicating subject for a video.

Funny enough, I've played about 30 hours of Morrowind and am somehow just now learning that I could have rested at any time. And you know what, whilst I would have preferred not to have needed to murder an Ashlander to sleep in his bed when I learned the settlement I'd spent an hour trekking to without enough potions or a recall spell didn't seem to offer me any other way to recharge, I have to say my gameplay experience is probably better for it. Morrowind is the first RPG I've played in which my potions aren't all stashed away "in case I need them later" but a worthwhile use of my gold and my currently rather limited carry weight

My Morrowind was Oblivion.... 💚 Growing up I had a reading disability so I was afraid to pick up Morrowind because I heard there was no voice acting. But I do remember that magical feeling when you first get out of the prison and you look out into the horizon. You realize how much freedom you have. It's a wild feeling! 💚 Love these games so much.

Another great thing about Morrowind's world building is why the dark elves sound different in Vvarfenfell. It's because all the ash in the air is harsh on their throats and so they sound like a 50 year long smoker. I just think that's such a great touch, I love hearing them talk every time!

It's been far too long since I last watched a several-hours-long TES retrospective mainly focused on Morrowind.

I could say a thousand different things about the last two hours of my life that I spent glued to your video but mostly I just wanted to thank you for putting all the time and effort you clearly spent creating this series. You’ve managed to articulate exactly what makes me hold the Elders Scrolls series in such high regard despite its obvious flaws. I’ve never been able to explain what I meant about the exploration being an integral part of what makes these games so unique and you’ve given me not only the words but a really enjoyable…haha…exploration into the series and games as a whole. Just wanted to say my thanks☺️🙏🏼 P.S. Why are the newer comments on this video so harsh and/or irrelevant to what the video discusses?! Not what I expected to see on such a quality video doc.

I had the same experience with Morrowind that you described, back when I played it in 2003 in my 2nd year of high school. My mind imagined various possibilities such games like it could bring in the future. Alas, many open world games later -- I haven't experienced anything quite like it.

Everybody: completes Skyrim in 100 hours NeverKnowsBest: completes a 100 hour video about completing Skyrim

This man's voice is a medium for peace to enter the world.

KZfaq's algorithm has gone from 10+ minutes to 100+ minutes. I'm not mad.

I also like the signposts. They're also a subtle reminder, through the origin of the names, that there are places for foreigners and places for natives.

This happened for me when I played Oblivion. That moment when I was being careless as to where I slept and a vampire fed on me. At that point I didn't even know Vampires were a thing in Elder's Scrolls. I love the little unexpected mis-adventures that The Elder's Scrolls works into their games. "Expect the unexpected".

Currently replaying Skyrim for the first time in forever, and I remember exactly why it's so successful. You just walk in a direction and find something fun to do.

I'm 46 yrs old, my 22 yr old daughter called me to get a walk through on Skyrim thieves guild quest...... I was so proud that she picked her dad's favorite game of all time, and easily helped her possess the Crown of Barenziah. I wish Bethesda would return to single player massive world RPG , but we shall see.

It`s sad that not many people especially from USA recognize german series named GOTHIC. Im from Poland and that game was something different. Story, dialogue options and immersion in these games was sth different. First two games are from 2001 and 2002 so they are pretty old. These games got so much love in Poland, that 10 days ago a biggest fanmod (with full professional recored audio was recorded) was released. I recommend you check that title or any infovideo on YT about it.

And so it was, that NeverKnows spoke thusly to his children: "Yea, that I will bless those who believe in me with the video essay you've always wanted on a day when you're having a really shitty day at work." And he granted it.

Morrowind was sooooo good. I'm afraid we'll never have a game quite like it again

Oblivion and Skyrim will always be my top favorite RPGs. I love the expansive worlds and how you can basically create adventures for yourself however limited. It's also why Breath of the Wild is also so fun

Never-Knows -Best is a very believable name for an Argonian

2 hours neverknowsbest? Yes, straight into my veins please.

"no more relationship comparissons" 24:26 "its not just the size, it how you use that size" :D

dungeons scared tf out of me in Daggerfall as a kid. Especially the one you start in, because you can often hear higher level monsters making sounds down the *other* corridors which you're not required to go down in order to get out. I always knew that death was RIGHT around the corner, even from the getgo.

Well over 26 centuries ago, an epic poem was written about a great hero who went on a series of quests given to him by a king. All of the quests were "kill this" or "fetch that." It's good to keep the Labors of Heracles in mind when looking at quests in a modern adventure story or game. They don't make for interesting stories you want to tell your friends because the call to adventure was unique and engaging. The stories are good because of the challenges Heracles faced, and how he overcame them.

Me, after watching 8 hour Morrowind analysis: "I guess that's the most in depth breakdown we can get as TES community." This video:"What a grand and intoxicating innocence!"

I really wanted Cyberpunk to be an RPG that competed with Bethesda.

Clicked on Episode Three and was told that I didn't deserve to begin at Episode Three, so here I am at Episode One :)

I know this is an old video; but I still have to complement you. You are one of the worlds few great storytellers. Listening to your content is an adventure among itself. In someways it's a similar or even rivaling experience to actually playing the game. Thank you, and your work is greatly appreciated❤

"Skyrim was the highest selling RPG of all time" So Bethesda decided not to release another game for 15-20 years...

10:17 that cut to leaving the Imperial City Sewers, while your talking about the Elder Scrolls innate ability to tap in to our natural childhood wonder. So nostalgic and so damn true, there is something special about them. Fucking chills man, I love it, absolutely top-tier video like always!

Thank you so much for this video. I remember how I was blown away by this game when it came out in 2002 - the openness of the world, how you could pick up almost any object etc. It wasn't until much later that I actually started paying attention to the lore and quests and played through the main story, and I came away even more impressed. You touch on how lore, world design, and the main quest are interwoven, and how much of the world's history is left ambiguous between the various traditions of the various groups which I absolutely loved and kept me hooked, trying to learn more. Another thing that Morrowind managed to do that the following games (and most RPGs) failed at was balancing the freedom to go anywhere and do anything with the main quest. In Oblivion and Skyrim the story creates a hurried sense of urgency that is in stark contrast with the freedom the games offer. In Morrowind, however, the main quests adds interruptions at various times to give players time to go and explore. Caius Cossades is the first character to do so, right after you hand him the letter. He tells you to maybe join a guild and start learning about your new home and to come back later when you're more familiar with things. This happens several times throughout the main story (including before the climactic confrontation with Dagoth-Ur) where players are pushed to go do something else for a bit, find gear and become more experienced, and come back later.

I will say though as someone who grew up at a very young age right at the birth of MMOs this was one hell of a trip down memory lane. Your narration was 11/10. Thank you.

To this day I still suffer PTSD from those friggin Cliff Racers....

I, too, thought: I can't wait for more games like Morrowind to be made! And then even the Elder Scrolls sequels weren't anything like Morrowind :(

Watching the Daggerfall section after playing Starfield is pretty crazy. Both games have the same issues with procedurally generated content, just 27 years apart.

I just discovered your channel, and I’m so glad I did. I love that you approach this analysis from an earnest point of view free from jaded cynicism. I’ve subscribed, and can’t wait to explore all your content. 👍

Seeing all these elder scrolls videos pop up really inspires me to make my own.

2:47 "10 games like Skyrim that'll satisfy your need for adventure. #1 TES IV: Oblivion" lmao

It would be mind blowing to bump into an NPC dressed out in full armor randomly in a dungeon, who just a few hours ago was walking about in normal clothes. For the keenly aware you could catch them training and going to the weaponsmith in town more and more as the game goes on before you bump into them to add a sense of you not being the only adventurer.

I found you some days ago and i can't stop watching your excellent videos!

Your pov obviously is based on just the American market. In Europe, specifically in Germany, Poland and Russia, the Gothic RPG series, started in 2001, still has a lot of fans. Back then Gothic 2 (2002) was the hardest competitor to Morrowind and always started heated debates among the fans. It has remained so popular, that a remaster of Gothic 1 is in the pipeline.

"this may sound like Australia" that's gonna be a like from me

"A bitter after taste of disappointment for being the fool that was so easily tricked" It's like he KNOWS me.

Finally a legitimate analysis. Thank you, this video was very well done with proper critique and praise. Most other “analysis” videos should be more properly labeled as “quest summaries with no added commentary”

"afterall in the real world, buildings have interiors." well how do we know? what if some buildings *DON'T* have interiors?

When Assassin's Creed eliminated the *lethal* assassination mechanic from the game, I wrote a post on Reddit mentioning: "Why don't you just name it Warrior's Creed and we can call it a day!" When standards fall down for business' sake, art is lost in the process; impacting the entire industry... But what do I know!

What a fantastic channel, I'm super impressed with the quality and presentation of your work.

i had a really bad eye injury today and im lying down and trying to rest my face after getting home from the ER, and youtube recommended me this from the algorithm. thank you so much for making these videos, ur calm and intelligent commentary is genuinely making me feel better despite how sore and tired i am.

"It's not levels that the player lacks, it's knowledge." I think you unintentionally hit the nail on the head in terms of what makes the games appealing, or more specific the appeal of Exploration. People often have trouble defining Exploration because they don't understand what it is. Exploration is about discovery and the pursuit of the unknown. People may often hope for different results form their exploration, one seeks fame & fortune, one seeks ancient knowledge, another seeks adventure, and so on. But the drive that they might find what their looking for just over the next hill is the appeal of Exploration. Where as earlier in the video you mention that having every building be enter-able was not needed and neither was the level of simulation, though it being there does help the world feel like it doesn't revolve around the player. I'd have to disagree in that it being there is very much required or else the whole thing falls apart. You need to have mundane places to make the special ones stand out. This is something that seems to get lost a lot in modern design as everything has to be special which ends up making the special itself mundane and everything else even less than that. Just like not marking important NPCs over generic ones it adds to the sense of exploration as you need to go around discovering who is who and if they might have something that interest you rather than them turning into background noise you ignore. To help better illustrate what I'm talking about I'm going to make a comparison to a mechanic that I Loathe because it draws on the same psychological hook as exploration, the infamous Loot Boxes. While mechanically they are fairly different as in ES the rewards are pre-set in locations by the devs but from the player's perspective it's not yet know. Basically the player is given a bunch of doors/boxes to choose from and they don't know what's in any of them. Unlike loot boxes though the player pays with their time and while not always finding the reward they were hoping for sometimes they find something unexpected but often times the journey itself was rewarding. Where as loot boxes it's over in an instant and you usually are poorer and fell unsatisfied. But the thing that drives both is the same, that sort of risk and uncertainty just expressed in a different way. This is why I think no other games really have the same feel or appeal. They are gated theme parks with everything designed to service the player and the developer mindset of, if it isn't going to be used by the player than don't put it in. The result is a world where there is a reward for the player behind every door so opening them all seems like a requirement as there are big attention grabbing pointers for all the attractions. And at the end of the day you feel like you've rode all the rides and had a good time. There is rarely a lingering doubt of what might have been behind some unopened door or path not taken so you put it away and move on. But with ES games there is often that lingering what was over that hill I never check, or hearing tales from other players stories of places you never saw making you wonder what other mysteries still lay undiscovered, and so on which keep people coming back. Basically other games are places you visit for vacation but ES games are places you live in. As for why there have not been any spin off type games I don't think it's because of the difficulty in doing it as a big budget studio could if they really wanted to. I think it's a typical case of corporate suits meddling in the industry they don't understand. Curtain genres getting written off by the mainstream as too niche and unpopular so they don't get as wide spread support even when a breakout hit does really well. RTS games like SC2 made huge sales numbers but I don't really recall a bunch of new RTS games hitting the markets from AAA studios looking the cash in. And there are plenty of other examples of them not jumping on the bandwagon just as their are examples of when they did. Though I do think the difficulty is enough to keep smaller developers from trying, though in some cases it seems like why should they try to make a new game when they have skyrim mods? There are tons of content mods including total conversions into whole new worlds and settings to the point it might as well be a different game. So rather than waste years trying to make an engine these people are just using the mod system which in turn helps promote more sales for Skyrim. Even today on Steam the average player count for Skyrim is higher than a lot of newer and supposedly popular titles. I like the creator of the video grew up on these older games and seeing the worlds continue to expand and grow thought it was the future of games. While their have been some improvements over the years the recent tread down the micro-transaction and loot box path has shown that many studios only care about making a quick buck. Since it takes time and money to create a massive world like ES they aren't interested in trying. Instead they would rather just make something cheap and milk it for all they can. This lack of quality form the supposed AAA industry is in part what is allowing the indie market to flourish as they have little to no competition. Indies have always been around as I recall getting quite a few small studio games at my local EB Games, later known as gamestop. Now however with the creation of digital distribution it's even easier for these developers to reach their audience.

Daggerfall is one of my all time favorite games. I still play it (via Daggerfall Unity these days) and LOVE it.

best Elder Scrolls game

Well done. You are succinct yet explain when details are needed. Your effort is appreciated! Most of all, thank you

I just a want a Morrowind remake. Literally had so much more than Skyrim, the only thing holding it back are the graphics and potentially voice. Probably the biggest elder scrolls game in scope. I think its responsible for like 80-90% of the wiki lore found in books in the games. If only it released this year

The end of this one hit hard. "There was no other game I had looked forward to more than its sequel" "With this, the series would be changed forever..." It's with tears that I write this, because I was so excited for sequel to the one game that filled my childhood with so much fear, confusion, and wonder. I 100%'ed Oblivion but it never filled the hole left behind. I fear nothing ever will.

I stumbled onto your channel looking for information on MMOs and I have already finished both of your MMO videos from last year and you do not disappoint. I am very appreciative of your hard work and research that went into your videos. I will be binging the rest, this being the third installment. You definitely have a new subscriber. ❤🎉

I was looking for this kind of video for ages, TES is literally my childhood and I really appreciated your analysis, so I just wanted to thank you for the amazing content❤

Any video about Morrowind is never long enough, great video!

I've absorbed so many video essays on games that two hours passes like nothing.

Video game essay critiquers have brought me more joy. than I think video games themselves have. I think I'm more into the concept of a video game. then I am playing it. How mechanics work, how they interact with each other and so on I find so fascinating. It's just crazy cuz I'm literally played thousands upon thousands of hours of video games from various genres. Seen worlds, completed stories, loved and grieved over fictional characters. It amazes me that none of those things. Bring me nearly as much joy. as just talking about how these things work in concept.

1:27:30 an "open" world feeling like a virtual theme park is the best description of Elder scrolls online I've ever heard.

I sort of disagree about no Morrowind-like games. Kingdom Come: Deliverance was my the most Morrowind-like experience since the Morrowind itself. The way the skills work. The way the exploration works. The way the world around you exists. The only non-Morrowind parts in it outside of the setting were how friendly the local population was and the lack of the gamebreaking craft freedom, but even then the Alchemy there was a pure joy. I still like Morrowind far more, but god bless you, Henri, for existing.

For all the people mentioning it, NeverKnowsBest did a review of Kingdom Come: Deliverance a year ago

Thank you for existing, you make the world a better place!

It's 2023 and I'm STILL waiting for a worthy follow up to Morrowind. Sadly, I doubt it will ever come.

I'm going to be lollygaggin’ here for a while

I can't even describe how much I relate to how excited you were for the idea to be able to enter every single building in a game. When i dreamed of my perfect game as a kid this was always part of it. Today I feel this came from a place which didn't realy consider what actually makes an enjoyable gaming experience but it still holds some value - as you described it - in feeling that the world exists indepented from the player which promises a deeper immersion on some levels. A game, that exists without the player feels like more of a real, other world you visit than one that was designed for the player.

Just found your account a few days ago and i am in love with your videos, especially the history of rpgs and of games. First youtuber i´ve seen that I relate my feeling and experiences in games to. I remember my first time playing skyrim back in 2014 and just running around and exploring the world. And for the record i do not like exploring in games. Awesome video man never stop.

I agree on the point about how interesting fetch quests can be, possibly my favorite quest chain in any video game ever is in Planescape Torment where an old witch sends you to run a series of incredibly menial seeming errands while simultaneously using these tasks as teaching tools so that you learn about magic and the the nature of the plains, and your also getting the materials to make your spell-book. Basic fetch quests, with amazing writing.

Cheers to the mad lad who walked across Daggerfall for 69 and a half hours

I found some solace in Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Kingdoms of Amalur.

Holy shit new content. Going to watch all your videos this week. Thank you again.

I just took a 3 hour nap with your videos on auto play and it was one of the best naps I've ever taken lol I appreciate this a ton for how calm you're speaking

TES has almost 30 years of existence, the lore is gigantic. It's the most robust universe in the history of gaming. Not even Blizzard can compete with it.

For me, the problem with bethesda games is that they never really 'grew' over time. Witcher 1 is miles behind witcher 3, whereas the good aspects of skyrim/fallout 4 effectively go all the way back to morrowind. Like: hearing an NPC talk about the death of the emperor in shock horror, only to then ask about the local mudcrab population is funny, but if two games/8 years on you still hear it in the sequel, its just stupid.

That was a very comprehensive and well thought out take on one of my favorite games. I still go back to ES3 just to “explore” and ask the question of why. Everything feels like it has a story in the game, from each common house is set up to each faction fighting one another. It never feels the same as with ES 4 and 5.

I like role playing games with a capitol R. I think it was Daggerfall that went one step too far, because you could just abandon the story and live as a citizen (I actually like that freedom, but I'm very aware I'm an outlier in this). Morrowind was the perfect balance. Oblivion was a step down in game, a step up in polish. Good game, yes, but everything that made Morrowind one if my favourite games to this day was watered down. I was sold on the idea that Bethesda had learned from their mistakes and made the next installment the best of all the previous titles rolled into one. Expectations for me were through the roof, I had faith. Because of this, I was disappointed with Skyrim. That doesn't mean I didn't like the game. It just wasn't what I was sold. Believe me, I played the hell out of Skyrim, and loved it... but every criticism I've heard so far stands.

In Oblivion when you finish the Shivering Isles, you can either send troops or go with the troops to handle crime, that gave me the best feeling of leadership in the ES games to date

Multiple hour long Elder Scrolls reviews are my favorite genre of youtube video

Amazing video. I fully agree. There is way too much to say here, but you truly put your heart and soul into both playing Morrowind (and the rest of The Elder Scrolls) like I have, as well as putting into words how great and unique this game truly was and is. Although every era has its own charm and meaning, there have been few games that withstood the test of time despite limitations developers had to deal with, which makes them truly legandary and memorable. These are times that will never return, and I'm happy I was lucky enough to have been part of it, as it seems you are as well. Thanks for making this video, this was well worth a watch.

YT actually recommended me one of your vids...and now I am CONSUMING them. You earned a sub sir :D

Just started my first playthrough ever a few days ago.. cant believe how good this game is. Happy to have waited to play

I can already tell this is going to be my favourite KZfaq series of all time. I *live* for these videos.

Such a great analysis. So checking out part 2.

Ringing in the new year watching these. Video Essays. Great work.

Finally, my request came true

I 100% agree with everything you've said, this is one of the best analysis' of the elder scrolls and the actual roots of peoples problems with it. 14:50 The ex lover idea and players falling in love with the idea of the games is so true. It's so easy to sink endless hours into modern Bethesda games but once you've seen everything, the games feel hollow but that's only because you've seen everything. Which is a flaw in their design, as opposed to games like New Vegas where replay ability is prioritised. You can still see everything in New Vegas but being able to re see it in a different light and see it in a different sequence of events helps makes the game feel fuller despite having less content. I still believe Bethesda makes the best open worlds in games but their not RPG's anymore. They've become primarily exploration games with rpg elements.

Wow 😮 that was a fantastic trip down memory lane! Thanks.

I haven’t played elder scrolls but I’m already 30 minutes into this video because you’ve engaged me so well into your discussion.