Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition interview Wednesday, September 17th, 2003
We recently had a chance to ask Ashley Cheng, producer of Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition, questions about the upcoming Xbox exclusive RPG title.
How will Morrowind GOTY differ from the original Morrowind?
Morrowind GOTY includes all the content from Tribunal and Bloodmoon, our expansion packs that were previously released on the PC. It also includes new fan-requested features like the enemy health bar and the difficulty slider.
More importantly, GOTY lets you use your saved games from the original Morrowind, so that you can continue to play the new content with your original character.
For those new to Morrowind, how is the game different from other RPG's available currently on the market?
Morrowind is anended RPG that allows you to play whatever character you want to be. We’ve created a huge world full of characters, books, lore, weapons, armor, cities, creatures – you can pick anything up, you can kill anyone or anything (or at least, try). You can follow the main quest storyline, work your way to the head of a faction, or just randomly travel around the world.
How many people are on the development team and how long has the game currently been in development?
We have around 40 developers total. Morrowind was in development for about 3 years. We started on the expansion packs last year right after finishing Morrowind – it took us about a year to make both expansions.
Will Morrowind GOTY feature any updated visuals?
Tribunal adds a brand new city, Mournhold, which is the capital city of the province of Morrowind. It features the biggest dungeons you’ll find anywhere in the game. Bloodmoon features a brand new island Solstheim, which is full of forests, frozen tundras, and two new weather types – snow and blizzards.
Will Xbox LIVE play any role in Morrowind for maybe online play or even just downloadable goodies?
We’re really interested in Xbox LIVE and think it’s a great feature on the Xbox. We spent a lot of time looking into how we could incorporate it into GOTY but in the end, we decided to devote our resources to polishing new features and content for GOTY.
Are there going to be additional gameplay options included other than whats in the expansions?
This is a tough question considering Morrowind is soended that you can play it however you want. One feature of note is the difficulty slider, which fans really wanted to make the game more challenging, especially for high level characters. Plus, Bloodmoon offers the ability to play as a werewolf, which really up a whole new style of play. As long as nobody sees you changes back and forth from human to werewolf, you can live a “normal” life during the day, and play as a werewolf at night.
What new weapons will be featured in the game?
For GOTY, we’ve added about 6 new weapon sets total including Nordic Mail, Huntsman, and Adamantium. On Solstheim, a special armorer will craft you unique Ice weapons. We also have special unique blades and maces, which I won’t spoil for you, that you can find in the world.
What are some of the new creatures added to the game?
There are close to 20 new creatures in GOTY. In Mournhold, you’ll find two types of goblins, new Fabricant creatures (mechanized creatures made by Sotha Sil), durzogs, and sphere centurions. On Solstheim, packs of wolves roam the forests and large bears are everywhere. We brought back spriggans from Daggerfall – huge tree-like creatures that you actually have to kill three times before they’ll stay dead.
Other new creatures include rieklings, who inhabit the northern coasts of Solstheim, and their tusked bristlebacks. Depending on which quests you decide to embark on, you may encounter unique creatures as well. I won’t spoil the surprise for you as to what those are, but they are some of the best creatures we’ve ever done.
What about spells? Can players cast new spells?
Because the magic system in Morrowind allows you to pretty much make your own spells, we didn’t spend too much time trying to add new ones. However, we did create several new enchanted weapons and items. Many of those are available via quests but you’ll find a few just out in the world as well. We did add new summon spells which allow you to summon some of the new creatures like fabricants and bears.
Will there be any exclusive material not featured in the PC expansion pack?
The Xbox GOTY version has exactly the same quests, creatures, etc. as if you installed Morrowind, Tribunal and Bloodmoon on the PC. Our main goal was to give Xbox gamers the same experience and content that our PC fans have had this past year.
How many hours of gameplay should gamers expect from this edition? How does that compare to the original Morrowind?
Tribunal and Bloodmoon add another 80-100 hours of gameplay, or more, to the original Morrowind. While that may seem like a lot, there are lots of people out there STILL playing the original Morrowind. I would estimate both expansion packs are about roughly 1/3 of the original in terms of hours of gameplay.
How do you feel about the reaction of Xbox owners to Morrowind?
Our Xbox fans are among are best and most dedicated around. This was our first Elder Scrolls title for a console and it has been a great experience. More than anything, I think the success of Morrowind shows that Xbox owners can appreciate a more sophisticated kind of game. The fact that it’s still one of the top 10 selling Xbox game – over a year after its release – only shows that there are a LOT of Xbox gamers looking for something different.
Will you guys release more Morrowind games in the near future? If yes, do you think they will they support Xbox LIVE in any fashion?
We don’t have any plans for any additional expansions for Morrowind, and at this time we aren’t talking about any of our future projects or plans. Stay tuned.
Special thanks to Ashley Cheng and our friends at Bethsoft!
