by Igor - July 29, 2003

Bloodmoon is the second expansion to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, with Tribunal being the first. Yet again, you return to Vvardenfell, but this time all the action takes place in Solstheim, a big island northwest of Morrowind. Whether you swim there, or take a boat there, the Nordic island will leave you with a lasting memory as soon as you arrive on it. Snow, Christmas trees, wolves, bears, it�s like being on a totally different continent; and that�s just the beginning.

Gameplay

Gameplay The new expansion pack takes places in Solstheim. Unlike Tribunal, you can access Solstheim as soon as the game is installed (it is all too easy to notice on the world map) � just take a boat there. Upon arrival, you are greeted with Ft. Frostmoth, an Imperial Legion fort seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. But a few minutes later, do you realize that a company from Ebonheart is building a colony at Solstheim. The reason: lots of raw Ebony.

The island itself is full of new, never before seen things. There are wolves, bears, mythical creatures, new undead, and of course werewolves. While the animals will only attack you if you get close enough, the werewolves will hunt you down like the little rat that you are. But give them no mercy, because they will give you none (in fact, the only thing they do give you is a disease � but maybe that�s a good thing).

Should the disease acquired from the werewolves be unhealed, you will shortly turn into a werewolf. As a werewolf, one may not use his inventory, magic, or weaponry of any kind. Your only weapon? Claws and sheer strength.

As an official werewolf, you will only take the form during the night. Moon, or no moon, you will transform into a werewolf whenever darkness falls. Should anyone see you transform, you will be branded as an outcast for life (telepathically no doubt), if not, nobody will suspect a thing. Upon transforming, you must feed at least on one NPC or you will start losing health (until you are very weak).

Being a werewolf is not the only new feature, there is also a host of new armor (such as the armor the island�s Nords may be seen wearing) and weaponry � one must note that Silver will actually do more damage to the werewolves as folklore goes.

Also featured are numerous new quests: the two main quests are defending from the werewolf attacks (in which you get a chance to experience it shortly.. or for the whole ride), and building up the mining colony (you actually see buildings being constructed each time you go back there).

Nothing new in the graphics arena

Unfortunately, there is nothing new graphics-wise. While Morrowind�s graphics are pretty stunning, they have become dated over the years � Bloodmoon does nothing to change this (but then again, we never really did expect this from expansions) but instead capitalizes on existing features.

An example could be the new terrain in Solstheim, there is grass and snow (falling snow too!) everywhere. Go one way, you see Christmas trees, go another way, you see frozen ice. Is that good? Definitely.

NPCs� talk actually has relevance now!

While there is no new sound per se in Bloodmoon (they didn�t go and replace all the sounds, or go and add some EAX support), the NPCs will now do something remarkable � when they talk (out loud) their comments will usually be something pertinent and meaningful. Doing a quest? Then that might be the topic of the day.

Fun

Solstheim is an island about one fifth the size of Vvardenfell, and it is actually completely new (it wasn�t featured in earlier The Elder Scrolls games) � the only other island in Morrowind was supposed to be Firewatch (on the east side of Vvardenfell). But maybe they are still planning to do the other island, or preferably, the rest of Morrowind.

Unlike Tribunal, Bloodmoon takes place mostly outside (like I said earlier, there are forests everywhere) � that means Levitation! You can levitate across the island without a fear of being attacked. But should your mana run out, you will be in a heap of trouble. Fun? I thought avoiding beasties definitely was.

So why am I still treated like a nobody?

By now I am a Grandmaster of House Telvanni, and I�ve killed a god. Shouldn�t I get a little more respect then being talked to like trash and/or being ignored by the guards? Or maybe they have trouble seeing my glowing swords and glass armor? Surely a feature where you are given respect by the time you are a high level couldn�t be that hard to code.

Another pet peeve of mine, is that while Solstheim was supposed to be for �high level characters,� I found it quite easy. All I had was some glass armor, and of course, Trueflame and Goldbrand. But you get the former as part of the Tribunal quest, so shouldn�t it be a little harder to use? Either way, I found that I could kill most of the creatures on the island with just a few hits and very little damage done to me.

In a nutshell

I recommend buying Bloodmoon right away, even if you haven�t finished Morrowind yet (but only if you�re not too low of a level!). The new armor and weapons it features (not to mention the ability of being a werewolf) is more than enough to lure in fresh characters. As for those with more experience with the world, this is definitely packs the action they have been looking for � unique quests, unique creatures, everything they need. So what are you waiting for? If you�ve already bought Morrowind (and you should be ashamed if you�re an RPG fan and you haven�t), you should definitely get this expansion pack � the best in a while.