Day 5: Morroblivion, Enchanting

Looks like I was right about Morroblivion (the fan-made conversion of Morrowind into the Oblivion engine). According to their FAQ:

"Morroblivion is currently in beta and quests and dialogue do not work yet. As of now, you can't do much more than explore the land and cities, and kill creatures and stuff. Quests are scheduled to be added eventually somehow."

Sounds pretty indefinite. It may look beautiful, and is clearly a faithful visual reproduction, but the reason I stopped playing Oblivion was that I had run out of quests! So there's really no point in me dealing with it unless (or until) they add them all. I see there is (or was) an effort to add some of the quests, which is nice, but it's very few of them, and I need a fully functional game. Morroblivion would only be good for me if I had already played the original, and just wanted to explore the place with better graphics, for nostalgia's sake.

Another thing is that there are a lot of gameplay mechanics that are different between the games, and others that exist in Morrowind, but not in Oblivion. In short, Morroblivion is not a game at all right now, and even if they add all the quests and dialogue topics, it won't be the same game without a lot more work on the gameplay mechanics. So, I'm sticking with the genuine Morrowind.

Enchanting

One of the gameplay mechanics I'm still trying to get used to is the much more extensive enchanting system in Morrowind. Mainly that unlike Oblivion, almost any item can be either constant effect, cast when used, or (for weapons) cast on strike, rather than weapons always being cast on strike and clothing always being constant effect. Also, that unlike Oblivion, these items essentially have their own mana pools that slowly regenerate on their own, without the need to recharge them. One thing not mentioned in the Morrowind Guide for Oblivion Players is found on the page for Enchanting. Namely, that paper and notes can be enchanted as well, creating one-use spell scrolls like you find throughout the game. The use for these being that while normal spellcasting can fail depending on your skill or fatigue, enchanted items (including scrolls) are instant-cast and never fail. Though I think rings would be more useful to enchant, since they don't disappear. Perhaps I'll try enchanting a pair of rings with "restore health" and "fortify magicka" spells, so I can keep myself healed and full of mana when I run out during a fight... Might work!