I remember the first time I died: trekking from Seyda Neen on foot haphazardly through Vvardenfell. Down from the sky, some flying lizard stabbed me with its tail and I was done.

I've been hooked ever since.

Don't be fooled--- I have thousands of hours invested in this game, having played it on-and-off since I first got it for Christmas in 2003 on xbox; from xbox to pc-cd, then to Steam. It has held up as my favorite game of all time.

Morrowind--- more specifically Vvardenfell--- is a strange and unforgiving world; you will spend many frustrating hours just trying to figure it all out, and many more before the feeling comes that this place is just as much your home as it is theirs.

If you don't know what you're doing, this is the most difficult game you'll find. If you do know what you're doing, it's the easiest--- and still the most fun.

Yes, there are balancing issues, yes there are exploitable features (not counting glitches, but the mechanic itself) and yes there are ways of becoming "overpowered." And I still enjoy myself all these years later finding ways to make myself unstoppable in record time or wealthy beyond measure at level one; or pushing it as far as it can go late game.

The combat has also been criticized (my brothers are always making fun of the corny woosh sound of my weapon "missing" even though it clearly made contact with the enemy). I found the combat logic of Morrowind rewarding with the satisfaction of learning how to use a class of weapon you've been wanting to try out--- especially at a higher level when you think you've seen it all. One moment you've pigeon-holed yourself into sword play, useless with anything else, train your blunt a bit, and suddenly you're knocking enemies to the floor with Veloth's Judgment.

But enough defending what noobs protest--- onto Morrowind's irrefutable triumphs.

The game's story is as beautiful, captivating and imaginative as the world in which it's told. A dark medieval fantasy infused with the steampunk footprint of the long-gone Dwemer, dipped in the mire of orwellian despondency, and injected with lovecraftian nightmares, Morrowind is a serious and brutal world (even though the story's more violent details are tastefully entrusted to suggestion).

There is a prophesy that foretells of a person born of certain conditions who will bring peace to a troubled land. The people of Morrowind took these prophesies seriously. The empire chose to exploit this by finding someone who fit the prophesy to send to Morrowind and act as a spy. You assume the role of the person the empire chose, releasing you from prison into this strange land for this very purpose. Your undertstanding is that you are a spy playing a dummy prophet, pretending to be the reincarnation of an old saint. Then you start to experience dreams and visions: the villain behind the nightmares plaguing Morrowind begins to talk to you as if he knows you.

The Great Houses of Morrowind bring more personality into the backstory and politics of the world. House Telvanni, the bitter geniuses who sit jealously in their towers, as madly hateful of the world as of one another; the noble Redoran, whose corruption-sprinkled house of nobility stands on the brink of elimination by the madness that surrounds them; the deceitful House Hlaalu, whose grip on Morrowind grows stronger through their influence with the controversial imperial presence. In all this, certain characters stick out of course, but the way they all mesh makes each house a riot in their own way.

Vivec and King Helseth rival Robert House and Mike Toreno as some of the best characters in gaming. Their inextricable complexity and seductive mysteriousness take you by the hand and pull you into their world, into their ways of surviving it.

From the moment you step off the boat, you start to taste the flavor of the land. In your starting town of Seyda Neen (wherein I suggest you hang around for the first hour or so), you realize the rivalries and conflicts, the bitterness and xenophobia of a turbulent and backward country.

One "issue" that the modding community was quick to "remedy" was the claustrophobic view distance. It took me some years, but I've come to regard this restriction imposed out of necessity as a complement to the atmosphere.

When exploring the hostile wastelands of Molag Amur and Red Mountain, you cannot see the oceans or the pleasant greenlands in the distance; this not only tricks the mind into making you think you are a lot further from home than you are, but often makes you lose all sense of direction, leaning more on your compass. It makes the world feel bigger.

Straight magicka use in combat is for the most part obsolete, to put it kindly. It's good to know some cure spells and the intervention collection (including Mark and Recall) so as not to have to carry them in potions and items; maybe a few destruction spells for the rats and worms at level one and two when the sparksword you picked off the crazy flying wood elf keeps failing to connect. Enchanting items (or hell, the enchanted items already available) will quickly dispel any habit of fighting with your magicka pool.

To me, Morrowind's only major setback has been the AI. Were that improved to the point where NPCs could do anything the player can do (including jump), and included all the dynamics of Radiant AI, I would have never needed Oblivion or Skyrim.

In a word, Morrowind is the best-written story, most imaginatively-constructed and thought-provoking world, and the best game ever made.