UPDATED FOR 2011 - I first wrote this review when cRPGs and sandbox games were a new thing to me. Since then I have become quite involved in the gaming community and cannot consider my interest in cRPGs to be even remotely casual. While I have played a number of phenomenal games since Morrowind arrived on my doorstep, I still consider this to be the best game I have ever played. I continue to play it on and off and I (like a number of others) consider it to be the gold standard by which all other sandbox RPGs are judged. Any flaws this game has quickly disappear once you get into the game itself. This game proved to be a "gateway drug" of sorts when I bought it in 2006, and with TES V:Skyrim on the horizon there really could not be a better time to pick up Morrowind and familiarize yourself with The Elder Scrolls series. Despite its success on the market, TES IV: Oblivion cannot hold a candle to its predecessor and you really do owe it to yourself to give this gem of a game a try.---------------------------ORIGINAL REVIEW 2007 - I am what I would consider a non-gamer, or a casual gamer. I have an old GameBoy I tote around to fool around with, I play KOTOR II on and off as well as SIMS 2 depending on the mood. I have a hard time with beginning games all enthusiastic and then just dropping them a month later - only to return to them a year later. This is one reason that Morrowind sounded so appealing to me. There is a main quest but there are a gazillion different side quests, and one can just wander the expansive countryside (by design or usually b/c they are lost lol) for hours. Mods from sites like Planet Elder Scrolls add everything from entire new quests to clothing stores you can operate yourself. There is simply so much to do - no matter what you interest that it is hard to get bored. If you are a hack and slash type person there are tones of opportunities to be that person and advance in a guild's ranks at the same time. If you are more of a non-combatant you can chose to be a monk or a pilgrim - while you WILL have to fight, it is not the focus of your character's life. If you are horrible with dying at every turn there is also a game difficulty slider (0-100 scale) that effectively makes your life easier so that you can better appreciate the game without constantly worrying about how you will make it out of this one!The game does have a few cons though, but nothing too earth shattering.1) For someone whose experience with CRPGs was confined to point-and-click adventures the world of Morrowind was overwhelming at first. I felt like I was faced with a massive learning curve - just thrust into a world not knowing what the heck I was supposed to be doing. This really is not much of a con though b/c the expansiveness of the game is what makes it fantastic. Once you figure out what you are doing you can really get into it and enjoy it for what it is.2) The BIGGEST con that anyone you talk to will point out, is that this game is riddled with bugs and glitches - even with the patches installed. For me this is a huge con, and I quickly learned to quicksave the game after I'd done anything of import so I wouldn't have to go back and do it again if my game crashed on me. The thing with this though, is it is only a con if you make it one. That game is so unique in many ways that while people complain to no end about the crashes and bugs, love of the game reigns supreme and you just live with it. You adapt your gaming style to it and move on. Please do not pass the game up just because you don't want to deal with the bugs - in the end they aren't as overwhelming as one would like to have you believe.Trust me, this is one of the best 20 gaming dollars you will ever spend but be forewarned ... it is HIGHLY addictive. Once you catch the Morrowind bug there is no turning back :)The game is most deffinetly very big, and very open ended. You can choose 10 different races, twentysomthing classes, and more things to make the way you play uniuqe. You can just wander around for hours without even thinking about the main story, or sit back and read one of the many in-game books. You can be evil and commit crimes at random, a overall nice guy who helps people solve problems, a silent but deadly assasin, an archer who attacks foes from affar, a mage who casts spells to summon skelotons and shoot fire, a theif who uses skill rather then violence to steal, an acrobat who uses jumping to escape enemys, the list goes on and on. And in a game that is this massive, there is lots of incentive to be who you want to be. Because there are so many ways to play, you will most likly want to play through a few times and have very different experience. The graphics, while certantly not as important as the gameplay, are not quiet as detailed as most modern games, but that dosent change the fact that they are mindblowing for somthing made in 2002. The soundtrack, while very good and well crafted, does not fit the game as well as you might expect. The opening titel theme is awesome, but other then that most things dont fit too well. You coul be walking through a town, for example, and hear threatening adventure music, or be walking through a cavern full of orcs and nords trying to kill you, and hear a upbeat tune. While all the music is fantastic, it just will not allways fit in the situation. The combat can take on a different degree of fun depending on how you play. On one hand, sneaking around and looting a dungeon undetected is a lot of fun, or sneaking up on enemys for and using a marksman attack for high damage makes you feel awesome, but the vast majority of the time you will be hitting the same mouse button again and again until you kill the enemy. I can excuse that, however, because of how fun the other gameplay elements. The atmosphere in this game is very, very good. From the momment you turn it on you know you are going to have an adventure. I always can't wait to go looking for loots, raiding a dungeon, or stealing a key to free a slave. Everything retains the amount of mass you would expect from an RPG, and then some. Yeah, there are lots of bugs, but in a 3d inviornment that takes up several square miles, with tons of content, how can't there be some problems? You could say the story is repetitive in the tasks you have to do, but in that case, don't do what you do in story mode. The game dosen't force you to follow the main quest, so you don't have to if you don't want to. Overall, the game is awesome. I would recomend it and both expansion packs to anyone with enough time to invest in this epic fantasy RPG.Great item! Much better than I was expecting. The box is solid and very very pretty. The contents were all there and looks great on my self. Thank you very much!Seriously, this game is like the Final Fantasy VII of PC games (yes I am aware that FF7 is available on PC, but it was made for PS). Just Mod it. Mod it until your computer crashes around it, you'll love it. This is the second time I bought this game (I blame my brother for stealing it back from me) and I definitely do not regret the money spent even though I originally played it over 10 years ago. Morrowind is a classic in RPG history and if you found yourself liking ES5 (Skyrim) or even the new ESO (Elder Scrolls Online), play this game.I have found this game somewhat difficult to get into. Maybe that is because I usually stick to console games, having played Oblivion and Skyrim on the Playstation 3. But regardless of platform, it is too difficult to keep track of your quests. Do not expect the awesomely well organized quest log of Oblivion. Instead, you get a journal which records everything you do in chronological order! You will have to keep flipping pages in order to remind yourself what you are supposed to be doing and for whom you are supposed to be doing it, especially if you have returned to the game after leaving it alone for awhile. Also, you cannot fast travel like you can in subsequent installments, so expect to be running around a lot (you can at least teleport from one Mage's Guild hall to another). Nevertheless, the game is not all bad! There are fun weapons not found in Oblivion and Skyrim such as spears and throwing stars. Also, there are not just two armor skills, but three: light, medium, and heavy. I thought that was a nice touch. Who knows? Maybe you will take to the game more than I have. I still intend to return to it, myself.Out of any game I've ever played, this one has taken the most hours out of my life! It's nostalgic just thinking about the great times I've had playing it. If you're that person who's only played Oblivion or Skyrim, but missed out on this classic... I strongly strongly suggest you play this. I still think this game is better than the newer Elderscrolls by a long shot.Great game you won't regret getting it!Great game but I did have a lot of trouble installing it, having to do it by downloading from the net instead. I couldn't access any of it via the CD sent to me but managed to install packages and updates using its key. Annoyingly frustrating but great gaming followed in the end.