Morrowind Teaser Peek

The hotdogs at Bethesda Softworks allowed Gamecenter into their offices recently to take a look at what must be the most exquisitely beautiful RPG in development. Notice I didn’t have the three letters MMO before the RPG. It’s single player only, and it’s called The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, the sequel to the famous (or infamous depending who you are… which makes it even MORE famous, because it’s IN-famous…) game Daggerfall. CNET’s Gamecenter recounted what it was like to wander the halls of the Bethesda offices, giving their preview of the game in its current state. For some pre-previewing pleasure, here’s a share:

During our visit, Howard’s main job was to give us a visual tour of Morrowind–at least, of what has been created thus far. There will be roughly 30 towns and villages to explore, and–unlike Daggerfall, in which every town was nearly identical–each will have an architectural style reflecting not only which kind of town it is, but also what its prevalent faction is. We were shown an Imperial town, with medieval castle structures and Tudor-style buildings. We also saw three distinct Dark Elven towns differentiated by the Great House in control there: the curved shell buildings of the Redoran faction; the square, adobe-style structures of the Hlaalu house; and the strange tree houses of the magical Telvanni. We saw the inside of a Redoran council chamber, made from the same shell as other Redoran buildings. And the shell isn’t just an architectural style–we spotted the creature these shells come from: a gigantic, long-legged, buglike Silt Strider used by the Dark Elves as both transportation and habitation. And we got a rare glimpse of the Ashlands, which look appropriately gray and desolate, as well as some of the strange creatures inhabiting the area–including the Ash Slave, Ash Ghoul, and Ash Zombie.