Help With Morrowind

[Eli]

I wanted to play some RPG game for a long while now, and after seeing the thread here I decided to get the newest one. Morrowind.

This the first RPG game I play(2 M&M6 hours dont count), and I have no idea what to do.
Since I dont want to learn all the magic stuff in my first games, I prefer a warrior charachter, but which one?

Any basic tips for the newbie RPG gamer will be appreciated.

[Eli]

Ok, I started playing and left the first building.

From some reason I decided to swim in the nearby lake. By the time I figured that i'm not stabbing the fish who attacked me, but his shadow, I already drowned.

Oh, can I somehow change the mouse speed?

[Eli]

Am I supposed to remember all the stuff people tell me?

[Scouse Gits]

The joys of RPG...
You will quickly get used to it ...
then immersed in it ...
then addicted to it ...

Be warned

SG[1] - who hasn't got Morrowind yet ""

[loinburger]

Don't try swimming too much unless you have Water Breathing (f'rinstance, if you're an Argonian, or if you have the spell Water Breathing). An alternative is to get Water Walking (only available as a spell), or else to only go into water that isn't over your head (there are quite a few ponds that fit this description). At low levels, I prefer the latter (I don't play Argonians).

I recommend that you go to Options (Esc key, or whatever you Isrealis use, then Options, then Preferences), and click "always use best attack." I'm a "veteran" of the "swing your mouse around" combat system from Elder Scrolls 1 and 2, but I prefer this new system they've got--it greatly simplifies matters.

What is your class (or what are your major/minor skills, specialties, etc.)? Your gaming style will vary considerably from class (skill-set) to class (skill-set). F'rinstance, right now I'm primarily a magic-user with low Strength/Endurance/Speed/Agility but with high Intelligence/Willpower/Personality, so my requirements are much different from El Tanko.

I suggest that your class be a Warrior if you're a newbie. Mages tend to suck at early levels (not enough spells to start out), as do thieves ("sneaking" doesn't do much good when your first attack is too weak to kill). Move on to the more advanced classes later, for now you've just got to get a feeling for the game etc.

[loinburger]

Okay, here's something else to keep in mind when selecting your skills:

High quality light armor (glass armor) is actually better than high quality medium armor, so if you're selecting your armor skill specialties with only your final skills in mind (i.e. the skills that your character will require when equipped with its ideal set of armor) you should (if you're only specializing in one type of armor, like me) either pick Unarmored, Light, or Heavy. Don't even bother with Medium. I suggest Light, since Light armor can be enchanted while No armor cannot (and light armor is, well, light, so you won't have an encumbrance problem even early in the game) or, if you're hard-core, Heavy (although non-warrior types will find that their early set of Heavy armor will weigh them down horribly, so I'd recommend Heavy only if you really need a good set of armor early (e.g. if you're a warrior)).

[Eli]

Level - 1
Race - Redsomething
Class - Warrior

In the first town, I found the ring for Fargoth(ot whatever his name was) and I found Fargoth's hiding place for the guy on the second floor in Arriles' place.
I was told that there are bandits somewhere near the lighthouse, but I couldnt find them.

Now i'm in Barnola/Bargola, I joined the Fighters guild and I need to kill some rats. And to find the guy in the Southern Wall(?).

How the hell am I supposed to remember the names of all those places and people?

[loinburger]

Most of the names get recorded in your Journal. Hit J (or whatever the Isreali equivalent is) to see the journal, and you'll get a recording of your assigned quests.

The bandits are there alright, they're on the road to Balmora right near the first town (after the first fork in the road). Check out the doors on the sides of the road, that's where the dungeons often are. (Especially in the Newbie zones, I've noticed some of the more advanced dungeons being off the beaten track a bit).

A lot of the names don't really matter, you can just find them out again by talking to people. F'rinstance, maybe you've forgotten where you're supposed to kill the smugglers in the first town? Then just wander around asking people about rumors, secrets, etc. until somebody tells you. Unless everybody suddenly decides to stop liking you (which they probably won't do, unless you start robbing or murdering people) then they'll tell you the same information as before. I walked all the way to Balmora (save some cash and get some experience while I'm at it), and all I did was read the road signs. If I forgot the name of my destination ("Was I going to Balmora or Ebonheart?") I'd check my journal.

Also, almost all quests in Daggerfall were untimed. I assume that it's the same deal in Morrowind.

[Eli]

I'll try walking to the next city I'll have to visit.
Do I actualy need to sleep or rest once in a while? I slept once just to check what happens and apparently nothing changed.

And I have exactly the same keyboard you have.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Eli
I'll try walking to the next city I'll have to visit.

Try it, that's the best way to find random dungeons--most of them are scattered around the wilderness. In Daggerfall you'd rarely find a dungeon in a town, the dungeons would always be off the beaten path a bit. So far Morrowind seems to be the same way.

Do I actualy need to sleep or rest once in a while?

You've got to sleep in order to level up (you'll get a message like "You should meditate on what you've learned," which means that you should sleep ASAP), but otherwise sleep is only necessary for regaining health/fatigue/magic points (you won't get "tired" or whatever, since fatigue points regenerate on their own). Right now I've got spells that restore my Health and Fatigue points, and I've got a magic item that automatically regenerates my Magic points, so unless I level up I never actually have to sleep.

And I have exactly the same keyboard you have.

What's the fun of being an Isreali, then?

[loinburger]

A note on walking to cities: I have a map that came with my game that shows the relative locations of all of the cities in the game. Hopefully you have the same map. Before you walk from one city to another, check the map to make sure that the cities are relatively close to one another. You don't necessarily want to find yourself walking across the entire map.

[Eli]

Ok, thanks.

I'll continue with Barmola(? I'll never remember this name) tommorow.

[Tuberski]

Are there any "cheats" yet? Like in Daggerfall where you took the High Elf for the immunity to paralysis, and then took the Critical Weakness- Paralysis?

Just curious of course?

[loinburger]

They've done a much better job of preventing "cheats" like in Daggerfall (my favorite was to give myself weaknesses like "Cannot wear leather armor" or "Cannot wear chain mail" to balance my "Regeneration" attributes)--you no longer have quite as much flexibility when designing your class (you specify race, skills, and specialization, but cannot specify things like magic multiplier or weaknesses/resistances except as determined by your race/birth sign).

However, there is a powerful editor that comes with Morrowind, so you can design your own race/class/birth sign and tweak it as much as you want. I tried it out, and gave myself a Daedric breastplate that gives +50 to all of my stats, as well as a Daedric helm that gives me 100% resistance to fire, cold, shock, poison, paralyzation, disease, and magicka. I'm not using them (I'm trying to beat the game legitimately first), but if you want to cheat (be it a little or a lot) the editor certainly lets you--you just have to work a little bit harder than you did in Daggerfall (at least you do for the moment, but pretty soon people will probably have their cheat files available online for anybody to plug into their game).

[Tuberski]

I wouldn't want to start out that way, but the Paralysis loophole was just too good to ignore.

[Eli]

Where's the ****ing Dwemer puzzle box? I've searched the agsomethingverylonghere place for more than an hour.

[loinburger]

No idea, nobody's asked me to find a Dwemer puzzle box yet. I've just been sent to pick fights and kill poachers.

[Eli]

Never mind. I found it.

I also killed that Rasomething trader in Balmora to get his money and weapons, finished the first 3 Fighters Guild quests and now I'm planning to finish couple of the magic guild quests, kill the 5 guys I need to kill to get that "present" from the Emperor and leave on foot to Casomething city.

I'm still level 1, but my progress is 7/10.

[Eli]

Originally posted by loinburger
No idea, nobody's asked me to find a Dwemer puzzle box yet. I've just been sent to pick fights and kill poachers.

The guy you was sent to find, Casius(?) something will send you to get info from some guy in the fighters guild, and he will send you to find the puzzle box.

[loinburger]

Ah. I haven't done much on the main quest (I talked to Casius, but I didn't meet any of his contacts). The "present" is pretty good, but the five thieves are very tough to kill (especially at level 1 ), especially since you'll go to jail if you just attack them without provocation. Might want to wait awhile on that quest.

[Eli]

Originally posted by loinburger
The "present" is pretty good, but the five thieves are very tough to kill (especially at level 1 ),

I couldnt even kill one.

On what level are you?

Anyway, I got two quests in the Magic guild, one to find the flowers in the Bitter Coast and another to get the skull of some guy from his tomb near that city whose name starts with P. I went on foot to that city, and now i'm in the entrance. On the way I met one women that wanted to me escort her to some place for 150 gold. I got the gold using the easy way.

[loinburger]

I'm level 3, but my character also seemed to be tailor made for the job. My Speechcraft and Personality are both very high, so I was able to Taunt them into attacking me (no murder rap for me). Then I'd Invisible myself, sneak, hit for a critical, repeat process (critical hits with a Claymore do a helluva lot of damage). I was born under the sign of the Golem, so if I needed a mana recharge I'd just let them cast spells at me before I went Invisible again.

If you're a no-frills Warrior class, then you'll probably want to wait until at least level 4 or 5 before you try to take on the thieves. You need much better equipment than what you've probably got at the moment--mages are crap without good spells, warriors are crap without good equipment. Somehow you've also got to get the thieves angry enough with you so that they attack you, not the other way around (unless you don't mind going to jail for murder), and that means that you'll need a good Enrage scroll (I doubt that your Speechcraft would be good enough to Taunt them if you're a Warrior).

[Eli]

Originally posted by loinburger
I'm level 3, but my character also seemed to be tailor made for the job.

How did you manage to become level 3 in Balmora? I became level 2 only on my way to Pegrain(is there something interesting to do there at all?) after finding and "cleaning" the tomb with the skull and three more dungeons?

Then I'd Invisible myself, sneak, hit for a critical, repeat process (critical hits with a Claymore do a helluva lot of damage). I was born under the sign of the Golem, so if I needed a mana recharge I'd just let them cast spells at me before I went Invisible again.

If you're a no-frills Warrior class, then you'll probably want to wait until at least level 4 or 5 before you try to take on the thieves. You need much better equipment than what you've probably got at the moment--mages are crap without good spells, warriors are crap without good equipment.

Somehow you've also got to get the thieves angry enough with you so that they attack you, not the other way around (unless you don't mind going to jail for murder), and that means that you'll need a good Enrage scroll (I doubt that your Speechcraft would be good enough to Taunt them if you're a Warrior).

You can also attack them and pay the fine. That's what I did with Ra'Vill(?), the trader from Balmora.

------

What are those soul gems? And am I supposed to carry tens of potions and scrolls with me?

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Eli
How did you manage to become level 3 in Balmora? I became level 2 only on my way to Pegrain(is there something interesting to do there at all?) after finding and "cleaning" the tomb with the skull and three more dungeons?

I spent a fortune on training. I also have a mix of skills that get pretty evenly worked, whereas a Warrior tends to only have one or two skills get exercised at a time (the skill associated with your equipped weapon, and the skill associated with your equipped armor).

If you hit when undetected (when sneaking), then you do x4 damage. Obviously, it's a lot easier to sneak when you're invisible.

What Birth sign did you pick? I was born under the Atronach (golem), so I've got a helluva lot of magic points but can't regenerate them naturally--however, if somebody casts a spell at me, there's a chance that the spell will be harmless and I'll just absorb the magic points from it. That's why when I'm low on magic I'll pick a fight with a magic-user.

What are those soul gems? And am I supposed to carry tens of potions and scrolls with me?

Soul gems are used to hold the souls of creatures that you kill--you then use the souls to enchant or recharge items. You won't need them for awhile (since I assume that you can't cast Soul Trap, that you have lousy Enchant skill, and that you're not a high enough level in the Mage's Guild to use their Enchanter), so just sell them until you have a use for them.

I don't carry any potions or scrolls with me, but I also have high magic skills and a lot of spells. You don't, so carry some healing, cure poison, and cure disease potions with you. Scrolls aren't as necessary--you won't be using offensive magic much as a Warrior, so only carry scrolls if you're going to need to go Invisible or Levitate, or if you need to magically open a door (or possibly if you need a boost in combat, but potions can also help you out with this). In general, try to use potions instead of scrolls, since you need to unequip your weapon to use a scroll.

[Eli]

I spent a fortune on training. I also have a mix of skills that get pretty evenly worked, whereas a Warrior tends to only have one or two skills get exercised at a time (the skill associated with your equipped weapon, and the skill associated with your equipped armor).

Yeah. The only skills that get increased are Heavy Armor, Longsword and Athletics.
How does the level advancment mechanism works? How much do my skills need to increase for the level to increase?
And where did you get a "fortune"? I robbed a whole shop and all I have is ~2,000. Training one major skill costs 300-500 gold, so even that wont help much.

If you hit when undetected (when sneaking), then you do x4 damage. Obviously, it's a lot easier to sneak when you're invisible.

How do I sneak on someone?

What Birth sign did you pick? I was born under the Atronach (golem), so I've got a helluva lot of magic points but can't regenerate them naturally--however, if somebody casts a spell at me, there's a chance that the spell will be harmless and I'll just absorb the magic points from it. That's why when I'm low on magic I'll pick a fight with a magic-user.

Warrior, I think. I chose the most agressive charachteristics.

Soul gems are used to hold the souls of creatures that you kill--you then use the souls to enchant or recharge items. You won't need them for awhile (since I assume that you can't cast Soul Trap, that you have lousy Enchant skill, and that you're not a high enough level in the Mage's Guild to use their Enchanter), so just sell them until you have a use for them.

I have a few scrolls that say something about trapping souls.

I don't carry any potions or scrolls with me, but I also have high magic skills and a lot of spells. You don't, so carry some healing, cure poison, and cure disease potions with you. Scrolls aren't as necessary--you won't be using offensive magic much as a Warrior, so only carry scrolls if you're going to need to go Invisible or Levitate, or if you need to magically open a door (or possibly if you need a boost in combat, but potions can also help you out with this). In general, try to use potions instead of scrolls, since you need to unequip your weapon to use a scroll.

But where can I store all the stuff I dont carry? I have plenty of weird potions with weird names.

I carry on myself only my heavy armor(the whole set, gauntlets, boots, etc), one long sword with 9000 value that has 55 "mana"(it casts protection from fire, and something with longsword/longblade in it), another stronger sword(two hands) that casts 3-7 point of fire when it hits, a steel bow with 150 normal arrows and 8 steel ones and a shield for the cases in which I use the 9000 value sword. And a robe, because I look like a bee without it.
All the rest are scrolls, potions, ~15 petty soul gems, 1 poor(? whatever comes after petty) and ~15 books(Do I need them? Some are pretty expensive).
Out of the 315 whatever I can carry, I use 312. Which doesnt leave me much choice when I find stuff on the roads between cities, when you cant sell them.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Eli
How does the level advancment mechanism works? How much do my skills need to increase for the level to increase?

You have to have 10 points of skill increase in order to gain a level (the skills need to be Major or Minor, I'm not sure if Misc. skills contribute at all, but if they do then they're not very significant). So, f'rinstance, you need to increase Longsword by 10, or Longsword by 6 and Heavy Armor by 4, etc.

And where did you get a "fortune"? I robbed a whole shop and all I have is ~2,000. Training one major skill costs 300-500 gold, so even that wont help much.

I'm popular. My Speechcraft is very high, as is my Personality, so I can "admire" people until my reputation with them is 100. If people like you, then they'll sell you things (or provide services like training) for much cheaper, and they'll offer you more for your stuff.

How do I sneak on someone

The default is the cntl key. A symbol will appear next to your "equipped" icons (on the bottom left of your screen) when you're successfully sneaking.

Warrior, I think. I chose the most agressive charachteristics.

Warrior's a decent one for tanks.

I have a few scrolls that say something about trapping souls.

How much can you sell them for? If you can sell them for more than 200 gold, then sell your scrolls and empty soul gems. If not, then use them (cast the scroll, and kill the monster before the spell times out) with a soul gem, and then sell the soul gem with a soul trapped in it (it's worth a lot more). That's a lot of trouble, though, so I'd suggest you just sell the scrolls and gems.

But where can I store all the stuff I dont carry? I have plenty of weird potions with weird names.

In Daggerfall you could eventually buy a house, but I'm not sure if you can in Morrowind. You certainly can't at your current level.

I carry on myself only my heavy armor(the whole set, gauntlets, boots, etc)...

1. Don't carry redundant weapons. In other words, sell either the long sword and the shield, or sell the two-handed sword. Don't carry both.

2. Sell your books, there's no point to carrying them around. Read them first, though, since some of them will give you skill boosts.

3. Don't carry so many arrows. Unless you specialize in archery (and you probably don't with the quality of swords that you have) then you won't need more than 30 or 40 at most--the enemy is going to close too fast, and then you're right back to your sword.

4. Sell your soul gems.

[Eli]

I finished the Bitter Coast quest, for the magic guild and i'm back in Balmora now. I jumped to Vivec for a few hours, got a headache only from trying to find the exit of one of the buildings there.

So I'll sell my books, the soul gems and the soul trap scrolls(except one, for emergencies)... Many of the potions too, I'll rather buy more health potions instead of all the weird ones I have. I already sold the shield, but I really dont want to sell the 9000 value sword.
Also, more investment in training. I want those 5 guys in Barmola dead.

[loinburger]

Soul trap is not an "emergency" type spell. It does no damage, and it doesn't help you kill your target. The only thing that a Soul Trap spell does is that it traps the soul of your target in a soul gem if you have an empty soul gem of suitable quality and kill your target before the spell expires.

If you can't find anybody who can afford your sword, then hang onto it until you do. F'rinstance, right now I've got a soul gem with a 60000 value, but nobody in the backwater towns I'm running quests in can afford to pay that.

I'm planning on going on a run to Ebonheart/Vivec to see if anybody can prizes there.

[Eli]

Originally posted by loinburger
Soul trap is not an "emergency" type spell. It does no damage, and it doesn't help you kill your target. The only thing that a Soul Trap spell does is that it traps the soul of your target in a soul gem if you have an empty soul gem of suitable quality and kill your target before the spell expires.

Ok. I'll still leave a couple to try this out.

If you can't find anybody who can afford your sword, then hang onto it until you do. F'rinstance, right now I've got a soul gem with a 60000 value, but nobody in the backwater towns I'm running quests in can afford to pay that.

In what towns have you been by now?

I'm planning on going on a run to Ebonheart/Vivec to see if anybody can prizes there.

Let me know if you find who is the armorer in Vivec. Searching the city is a real waste of time.

[Eli]

Help, Help, Help.

I opened two trapped chests in some dungeon and my Strength and Endurance had fallen by 16 and 10 respectively. The numbers are now shown in red. I tried to rest for 10 hours, I tried dispel and cure common disease potions and nothing changed.

Btw, trapping souls is fun. I got 100 gold for some rat.