TITLE
Morrowind: An oral history
AUTHOR
Alex Kane
PUBLICATION
Polygon
YEAR
2019
ARTICLE TYPE
Interview
FROM THE ARTICLE
You never forget a place like Morrowind. It’s like something out of a dream, only you’ve actually been there. Maybe you used a mouse and keyboard, or the Xbox “Duke” controller, to visit it. But that doesn’t make it any less real.While hardly the first open-world game of its kind, the third numbered entry in Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series cemented a formula and a set of expectations that are still alive and well today in games like Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3. It was an artistic and technical leap forward for mainstream role-playing games in the summer of 2002, and, for many, a beautiful and novel experience. A vast ashen landscape teeming with psychedelic flora and fauna — equal parts Jim Henson and George Lucas, with a dash of Tolkien — here was a game that resembled no other.
[…]
Over the last year, we tracked down 10 former Morrowind team members, including Howard, concept artist Michael Kirkbride, and lead designer Ken Rolston. We discussed the very conception of Vvardenfell, the strangest bits of Elder Scrolls lore and the “shits-and-giggles” philosophy that informed them, and what it means to build a game world that withstands the test of time.
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Bethesda Softworks
GAMES MENTIONED
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Noah Berry
Mark Bullock
Matt Carofano
Ashley Cheng
Pete Hines
Todd Howard
Michael Kirkbride
Mark Nelson
Erik Parker
Ken Rolston