Gonna paste a thread of mine from the old forum to show why I love Morrowind so much:
After playing FFXV and realizing that Final Fantasy had added in two of the things I hate most (minimaps and quest markers), I was thinking back to how amazingly Morrowind handled navigation.
See, for you youngins out there, Morrowind was the third Elder Scrolls game (the granddaddy to Skyrim). It was from a time before you needed to be handheld and shown exactly where to go. You have to actually listen and read and search to find your destination.
First, let's address one of the biggest issues with modern Elder Scrolls (and Fallout, by proxy) games. Fast travel. Need to get somewhere? Fast travel. Done with a quest? Just fast travel back. A simple click and you're where you want to go. Now, don't get me wrong, this existed in Morrowind, but that's because the fast travel routes actually existed in the world
Click to expand...
See all those lines? Fast travel routes. You had Silt Striders (giant bugs that you rode around in), boats, and mages guild teleportations. Sometimes it meant taking a boat, then a strider to get to your destination. It actually felt like travelling. You could also use the spells of Divine Intervention (which teleported you to the nearest Imperial outpost) or Almsivi Intervention (which teleported you to the nearest temple). The only way to get modern "fast travel" was to get the spells of mark and recall, but even then you could only mark a single spot and return to it on demand.
It made the world feel cohesive and you actually had to learn how to navigate it. In a way, Dark Souls reminded me of it, because I'd have to learn the world, where the other souls games give you bonfire fast travel right from the start.
Now for minimaps. Yes, Morrowind does have one, but it's the most basic minimap you can have. All it does it give you a tiny overhead view (very, VERY tiny), and show you if there's a door. Other than that it has no compass, no destination marker, no "your quest is inside this circle", nothing else. Let's compare Morrowind's minimap to FFXV:
Morrowind
FFXV
And while Skyim doesn't have an on-screen minimap, it does have a POI compass that shows you everything near and exactly where to go
The big issue I have with minimaps and compasses that point you in the exact direction of where to go is it seems you're supposed to pay more attention to it than the actual main gameplay screen.
But, I digress, let's talk about the big one. Navigation. Let's start with how Morrowind starts. You're dumped off a boat and told to go meet a guy in Balmora to the north.
That's it.
How do you get there? Well, you know it's north, so look at your compass and head that way. Ask questions to people in town. Read street signs. Learn roads. Some quests are actually given to you with references to landmarks so you actually have to search around the beautifully crafted world to find where you need to go. Because of that, it's a great sense of accomplishment. But with newer games, it's basically "Hey, go here. Just follow the point on your map." With that method, it's completely brainless and devoid of any sense of satisfaction that the journey should give you.
"But Transistor, why don't you just mod that stuff out or turn off the HUD"
Because the world is built with these things in mind now. Without any recognizable landmarks or carefully crafted worlds, you would have no idea how to reach your destinations without a POI compass.
Anyways, just venting. Fuck POI compasses, fuck minimaps, fuck quest markers. Give me back my exploration
