STEALING EVERY MUG IN THE EMPIRE

In Part I, we left off in the late 90′s as technology began to offer larger worlds. As time went by, the open-world game continued to develop, and each successive iteration brought new elements, improvements, and occasionally, missteps.  The first game I encountered that truly felt like it contained pure exploration for exploration’s sake was The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind (let it be noted here that I did not play Daggerfall, the prior installment, until after Morrowind).  Released in 2002, Morrowind put you in the role of a prisoner shipped off to the outskirts of the kingdom of Tamriel.  Once you finish the character creation process, you are given a simple quest and, beyond that, complete freedom to do whatever you wanted.  Vradenfall was a large, open place, with an estimated 6 square miles of terrain to explore.  Within the bounds of the island were plenty of caves, ruins, and points of interest of all types.  On top of that, Morrowind was styled in the Ultima mold, with individual locations being incredibly detailed; searching almost any home would quickly show you that you could pick up most anything (whether they were useful or not), and poke your nose into every nook and cranny that you so pleased (until the home’s residents noticed you…).

Continue Reading…