INVENTORY.
Most of this is explained in the
booklet that comes with the game.
But, as with most new things, reading
it is a lot to take in at once, so this is
the minimalist's guide, just
what you need to keep you alive, the rest you learn as you go.
First chance you get, take a good
look around inside your inventory .
There's a screen with a picture
of you.
Above it are some numbers.
They show the weight of what
you're carrying on you, versus how
much you can carry.
If you pick up too much, you get
an 'over-encumbered' message.
How much you can carry goes up with
your levels and is reliant
on your 'strength'.
On the right are icons of all the
things you have with you.
Magical items are highlighted, mundane
articles are not.
If you click ('a') on an item, you
will 'equip' it, making it ready for use.
When you leave your inventory ('b'
button) you can use the selected
item by pressing 'x' and, if it's
a weapon, the right trigger.
(PC uses keyboard commands)
If you press 'a' while still in
inventory, you can eat or drink
something you're carrying, press
'x' to drop it.
The next screen you may see is the
one you filled in when you arrived.
It shows your stats.
Your race, factions and Guilds you
might have joined and your rank
within them. It shows your
health, your magicka, your fatigue.
Pressing 'y' gives details, such
as requirements for advancement
in your Guild, or how long to your
next level-up.
At the very top are those tiny icons
you also see on your playing screen.
You can press 'y' for those too
and see what they are.
Play with it all.
Your map
is
fairly self-explanatory. It shows only the places
you've been as you explore.
If you find and chat with a scout,
they will fill in
other places on your map.
If you read the book 'Pilgrim's
Path' it will fill in even more.
The magic
screen
shows the gifts you were born with, the spells
you have purchased from those who
sell spells and lists the magical
items in your inventory.
To find out more about them, highlight
them and press
that 'y' button again.
To cast a spell or use a magical
item, highlight it, leave inventory
and cast the spell by pressing 'y'
to raise your hands
and the right trigger to cast.
To the right of each spell are two
numbers, cost and charge.
They show you the chances you have
of successfully casting that spell.
18/100 is good. 156/0 is not.
If your magic skills are poor, you
will not be able to cast spells
with any degree of success.
Use them instead to enchant
an item or article of clothing
or find a trainer and 'improve'
your chances.
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DOING STUFF
You can look inside a crate
by pressing 'a'. You can take what
you're looking at by pressing it
again.
In Balmora, no one says anything
if you do this.
Elsewhere it is a different story.
If you want to steal it, be sneaky.
Don't do it in stores.
If you see something on a shelf
in a store and you
want to buy it, don't pick it up.
That's stealing.
Talk to the shopkeeper and 'barter'
to get it.
Dicker over the price a little;
it's good for your mercantile skill
and for your speechcraft.
You can pick up a book
however, if it's not on some shopkeeper's shelf.
Open it, you might learn something
interesting but make
sure you press 'b' and put it back!
(Unless no-one is watching of course,
and it's worth a bit.)
If you get caught stealing
you
have options.
You can go to jail, watch your skills
go downhill and lose all
your stolen loot or you can find
the local Thieves Guild and join.
(even if you don't do any of their
quests)
Thieves Guild has 'fixers'.
Get in trouble with the law and
you can run over there
and get the price taken off your
head for half-cost.
And you get to keep your stuff!
An alternative is to be 'quick'.
If you know you're gonna get nicked
for thieving by the local constabulary,
drop everything
you've got except
for your gold (they don't take that)
pay the fine and then
pick it all up again.
Your choice. How fast is your
finger?
Weapons
are easy.
Simply choose the one you want to
use, equip it using 'a' from your
inventory then 'x' to bring it out
and swing away with the right trigger.
Mind you, it gets a bit tedious,
having to go into inventory when you're
being attacked by a pack of nix-hounds
or a maddened kagouti.
Tip
Hold down the 'x' button and scroll
through your
available weapons using the triggers.
Works for magic too, using the 'y'.
Be aware that, if you scroll
this way through magical items,
clothing, amulets and rings will
be put on as you scroll, so watch it.
You can wear two rings and one amulet
at a time as well as
a robe over the top of your other
clothes and pants under a skirt.
These things should be equipped
and unequipped through
the inventory screen.
(Unless you like the layered
look.)
The icons at the bottom left of the
playing screen show
the weapon and the magic item you
have equipped.
There's a tiny red line beneath
each one which indicates how
much charge they have left.
Keep an eye on it.
Sleeping will re-charge most
magical items overnight.
Keep your weapons, boots etc in good
repair by visiting
an armourer or smith
regularly.
If you don't, something will fall
off you in the middle of a battle.
Nasty.
When it comes to bows and arrows,
they must be equipped separately;
the arrows will stay equipped even
if you switch to a sword.
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RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
IF
I EAT THIS . . . ?
You don't have to eat at all.
You do have to sleep in order
to level-up and you do have
to repair, but eating or consuming
beverages is optional.
Most food will do nothing to you.
It might poison you but it
won't kill you.
Beverages are different.
Just as in real life, indulging
in alcoholic, magical drinkies will
do things to you.
Sujamma, for example, will
give you a temporary boost
of extra strength; but it also makes
you stupid for a while.
D-oh!
Same with matze etc.
Telvanni Bug Musk makes you
irresistible.
(pumps up your personality)
Handy if you're trying to woo someone.
;-)
People sell potions.
Potions of Light and Night-Eye
enable you to see in the dark for a while.
How long, depends on whether you
bought cheap, bargain or exclusive.
Potion of Jump sends you miles
into the air when you leap.
Sounds good, but ...what goes up,
must come down.
Without Slowfall, you'll
hit the earth hard. Dead.
Need to get up into the top of a
Telvanni Wizard's Tower?
You need a potion of Rising Force,
or two.
Dispel
dissolves any magic being thrown
at you by an enemy;
Reflect
bounces it back at them and
Sanctuary
makes hitting you with a weapon
almost impossible.
Cure, Fortify and Resist
Potions are self-explanatory.
Morrowind has diseases that you
can catch from animals.
Carry potions or spells/scrolls
of healing with you.
Scribs and Alits can paralyse
and poison, so can Kwama Foragers.
As the box says, "Vvardenfell
is a dangerous place. Save often."
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Nasty Critters
The animals and other creatures that
you'll meet outside the cities
are level-specific, in most
cases.
If you're a Level 1, on your first
trip along a country lane, you're not
going to meet any of those nasty
looking things you see
on the splash screens
But, if you wander into the cave
of a rogue wizard, there might be
a Storm Atronach waiting for you.
Either run or prepare to face your
doom! You soon learn.
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Invisibility
versus
Chameleon.
A scroll/spell or potion of invisibility
is handy, especially if you
need to run through an area awash
with unfriendlies.
However, if you touch or open something,
you're instantly visible.
For that reason, I'd go with chameleon
any time; the best you can afford.
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The Benefits of Luck.
Very under-rated as a level-up option,
is poor ole luck.
Folk ignore it in favour of increasing
their strength or willpower
and luck is the only listing on
the level-up menu that never, ever
has a multiple increase as an option.
But luck influences everything.
From your chances of survival to
your chances of getting good loot
in a tomb.
YOur success at life (and game)
are greatly influenced by luck.
Don't ignore it.
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Enchanting
If the question were;
"Should I or shouldn't I try to
enchant things myself?"
my answer would have to be a resounding,
"No!"
It's not worth it for most people.
To successfully enchant an item,
you need an astounding intelligence,
a massive enchant skill and lots
and lots of spare, filled soul gems
because, nine times out of ten
you're going to fail and your gem
will be destroyed.
Much better then to rake in loads
of cash, trap a soul in a gem,
buy a spell and take all that to
an enchanter along with the item
you wish to enchant and let them
do it.
100% guarantee.
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Soultrapping.
Petty soul gems are for . . . petty
souls. Rats, kwama, etc.
Grand Soul gems are for Golden Saints
and Ascended Sleeper.
And all things in-between. . .
There are a limited number of already
full gems in the game so learning
to fill your own is almost essential.
There are swords in this game that
will do most of the hard work
for you, but I'm describing the
plebs way of doing it, okay?
Buy a spell of soultrap and make
sure you can cast it.
Have gem. Have sharp, pointy
weapon. Have target in mind.
Remembering to have correct size
gem
in your inventory.
Aim your fingers at the beastie
and cast soultrap.
A mist forms around the target if
you did it right.
Now . . . easy bit . . . kill it!
Before the mist goes away!
The dead soul will automatically
go into the lowest size gem it can fit
into in your inventory. Done.
Note: Golden Saints can cast 'Dispel'.
If you see one put away her
weapon and raise her hands, that's
what she's trying to do.
Stop her.
Pound at her with your weapon until
she thinks twice
and resumes the battle.
If she succeeds in dispelling, you
have to cast again.
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Dirty Disc
Error Message.
It's not really dirty, okay.
Get over it.
It's a known bug that plagues Morrowind
on XBox.
There is no way to stop it, but
it can be reduced.
This tip also includes reducing
the incidence of 'freeze' that will
happen as your game gets longer
and longer.
Firstly, go to your
Options menu on the Start Screen and turn
OFF autosave and shadows.
That's the dirty disc problem half-solved.
Not to mention the fact that you
won't have to wait forever for
an autosave to finish every time
you sleep.
But . . . save, save, save!
It's now up to you to keep your own
back-ups with the autosave turned
off!
Secondly, don't try
and do too much at once when
your game gets lengthy. By
this I mean;
1] Don't levitate at high
speed while wearing the Boots of Blinding Speed,
battling a cliff racer and checking
directions from your
inventory map at the same time!
I'd freeze too, if someone did that
to me!
2] Don't drop stuff all over
the place. The hard-drive is forced to
remember where it is forever;
if you don't want it, drop it in a crate
or sell it to a trader.
3] Don't move people around
un-necessarily. Sure, it can be fun
to 'command' people onto
rooftops or such, but again, the game has
to remember what you've done.
4] Bury your dead! Not
literally, use the 'dispose of corpse' option
as much as you can. Yes, I
know
the game cleans up after you, but in the
three game days it takes for that
to happen, a lot of folk can wind up
dead, their goods and their bodies
cluttering up your save
like seagulls at a picnic basket.
Be tidy with the dearly departed.
At least once every game day, save
your game as a 'new save'.
This helps reset characters that
have moved and tidy up your leftovers.
Exit via Start Screen and start
again, deleting old game before you load.
For more advice check www.elderscrolls.com.
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