The Elder Scrolls 3: Tribunal Review

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            The Elder Scrolls 3: Tribunal

Review by SteerpikeJanuary 2003

Oh, It’s a Complete Level Editor

Most people who experienced The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind were instantly enchanted.  CRPGs have been lumbering along since Fallout, neither bad nor good (for the most part) and rarely introducing much in the way of nonlinearity or new ideas to the genre. With Morrowind, a real sense of openness and character-driven narrative evolution was achieved. Even better, the folks at Bethesda included the reasonably easy-to-use Elder Scrolls Construction Kit with the game, allowing players to develop and release little plug-ins and even entirely new adventures using the engine. Most plug-ins are very small—a new weapon here, a house in the town of Balmora there—and for the most part they integrate seamlessly with the rest of the game.

Tribunal, the first official expansion pack to Morrowind (which means, I hope, that there will be more), is in fact just a gigantic plug-in, built with the very same tools available to all gamers. This is not a bad thing; though not nearly so colossal as Morrowind itself, Tribunal is expected to supply most gamers with a good twenty hours or so of gaming fun (compared to Morrowind’s 200-plus)—and at only $29.99 retail (plus the original game), that’s nothing to complain about.

In broad watercolored strokes, Tribunal expands on the story of religious and political conflict at the heart of Morrowind.  A new Dunmer king has arisen and all his thought and focus is bent upon dislodging the nation of Morrowind from its sad position underneath the Imperial thumb. Meanwhile, the tribunal of Living Gods—Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil—remain at the heart of the story. The problem with being a Living God is that after a while you get pretty darn old, and pretty darn tired, and then grouchy, but you’re a God so you can’t just slink off and die quietly; you have to stick around and be worshiped and do impressive things or else people will stop liking you. While that’s great for a few thousand years, you still possess mortal weaknesses (like sanity) and after a while they begin to fray. Those who had the pleasure of meeting the once-mighty Vivec in Morrowind may sympathize.

Almalexia and Sotha Sil finally turn up in Tribunal. Both have their own goals, opinions on Vivec and Lord Dagoth, and positions on the Nerevarine Conspiracy going on in Vvardenfell. If that last sentence makes no sense to you, either you’ve never played Morrowind or you ignored the main plot of the game. While it’s not necessary to have done so to enjoy Tribunal, I do recommend it; ultimately Tribunal is more of the same, so if you didn’t like the one you’re not going to like the other.

Geographically, if you know nothing about Tamriel (the larger empire in which Morrowind/Tribunal take place) you may not realize that the province of Morrowind is shaped like a doughnut and Vvardenfell is an island where the hole would be. The rest of the province is wrapped around it, and Morrowind’s capital city, Mournhold, is in that area. While early press statements about Tribunal indicated that it would expand Morrowind to include “the entire nation of the Dunmer,” the actual truth is more along the lines of “will expand Morrowind to include Mournhold and one or two other places.” Don’t feel cheated, though; Bethesda’s “bigger is better” attitude is once again at play here so it’s not like you won’t have lots of new places to explore.

RPG Rule #1: Goblins Are Not, Repeat Not, Difficult Foes

Rather than taking my 52nd-level character through Tribunal, I decided to start over as a new class and have all the fun again. That was kind of a mistake, so take heed: though the box says that Tribunal is okay for characters of all levels, don’t be fooled. Be at least fourth or fifth level before you even install Tribunal. The plug-in lies dormant but activates at some point when your character rests, at which time the new adventure begins and you find yourself attacked by a foe who would be peanuts to a high-level character, but who killed me about nineteen times when I was starting out. Shortly thereafter the intrigue of Tribunal is added to the game, integrating as smoothly as any other plug-in.

Naturally, once the quest began I sent my new character straight to Mournhold—a more difficult and irritating proposition than it really needed to be—to check out the new area; once there I realized that I was in no way prepared to deal with the foes and intrigues that awaited me. Specifically, I was killed by a goblin.  A goblin, the lowest of the low, the snail’s trail of fantasy beasts, a creature normally so base and pathetic that first-level D&D characters starting out as ignorant farmhands with pitchforks are able to defeat entire goblin hordes attacking their once-peaceful community. The goblin is lower than the orc. The goblin is lower than the gnoll. The goblin was, is, and shall always be the most insignificant of all creatures, and under no circumstances should even a very well-trained and armed ninja goblin with exceptionally high morale possibly stand a chance against a character higher than second level. I thought everyone knew that rule.

Tail firmly between my legs, I crept back to Vvardenfell where nice normal creatures lived, and worked on improving my character a bit before returning. Things were significantly more balanced once I was 12th level and above, so new players take note. Meanwhile, I was able to appreciate some of the technical and gameplay improvements that Tribunal makes (it’s a patch as well as an expansion pack).

The journal system, widely reviled as inadequate in Morrowind, is improved to include sorting by quest, entry, and more. Frankly, however, it’s still nowhere near as good as it needs to be in a game this complex; there’s still no way to make your own notes in the journal and the general interface is lacking. In the next expansion pack, I want to see more powerful cross-referencing, the ability to export your journal to Word or Excel, sort entries manually, add personal notes, switch between game time and real time dates, apply priority levels to notes, and so forth.

Another new feature is the ability to add notes to the automap on both the world and local level. This is a nice addition, and there’s not much that can be said about it (other than that it should have been included with the original game). The automap in general, however, remains unimproved, and while it’s not nearly so lacking as the journal, some tweaking here and there—such as more accurate representation of elevations—would have been nice.

A few merchants in Mournhold have unusually large amounts of cash on hand. This is a big improvement—anyone who finished Morrowind almost certainly wound up with a room, house, or stronghold full of loot so valuable that no one on the island could afford to buy it from him/her for more than a fraction of its worth. The Glass Staff, for example, a not terribly uncommon item, is worth 50,000 gold. A “Seller Max” button is also a nice blessing to traders who are willing to pass along items worth more cash in toto than the merchant has; just offer the items and click the button rather than messing with the slow plus/minus keys.

Meanwhile, adventurers also have the ability to purchase a pack Guar to carry the loot from all their travels. These animals, which resemble friendly bipedal goanas with the mouths of sperm whales, can be found all over the province doing the combined work of mules, oxen, donkeys, horses, and cows. The drawback to the pack Guar is that Tribunal doesn’t improve 3D pathing very much and if you don’t keep an eye on your beast, it’s going to get stuck on a rock and you’ll inadvertently leave it behind. This would be especially vexing if you don’t know where to start looking for it and it happened to be carrying a fortune in loot on its back.

Overall stability is increased in Tribunal as well, and though Morrowind was not a really unstable game to begin with, each little incremental improvement helps. I still find myself crashing out to Windows without warning now and then, but the event is rare and, compared to some of Bethesda’s other offerings, nothing I take too seriously.

Dungeons Deeper than Daggerfall’s

You’ll have the opportunity to explore, among other locations, the vast sewer-cum-lost-city complex underneath Mournhold, and if dungeon crawlers have been sad that Morrowind’s underground adventures were too short or simple, they can stop their braying now. This underworld is immense and home to several mysteries of its own, sporting fantastic new creatures and exciting treasure to be had. In order to fully explore the area you should expect to spend probably six to ten of your twenty hours down there, and it’s here especially that being able to annotate the automap is necessary.

Other quests range from simple ten-minute operations to more complex citywide excursions, and as usual you’re free to take them or leave them as you see fit. Just as in all of the Elder Scrolls titles, you’re under no obligation to do anything that isn’t part of the overall story arc, but if you ignore all of the corollary material you’re likely to miss out on a lot of fun and charm. Gamers who allow Tribunal to take them forty hours are more likely to be pleased with it than those who only allow it to take twenty.

One note of irritation is that though Tribunal integrates comfortably with Morrowind from a technical standpoint, there is a great in-game sense of disconnection between the two places.  Actually getting to Mournhold requires a ridiculous expenditure of effort every time—the only point of access is through the fortress of Ebonheart, and a less conveniently placed locale to make your base of operations there never has been—then getting back can also be a chore. Those employing magic will probably use the Mark and Recall spells to some effect, but you can (stupidly) only set one mark. Most players I know place a mark at whatever house, structure, or town they’ve chosen as their “home base,” and they are loath to change it. In a way this all goes back to the fact that your character walks too slowly, that Bethesda or some enterprising fan never created a plug-in for horses, and that there are more fun ways to spend your time than walking from Balmora to Ebonheart day after day.

The result of this is that while Tribunal is meant to slide right in beside Morrowind on a logical level, it’s incredibly jarring to move back and forth between them. Since you’re not expected to have finished Morrowind before you start Tribunal, you constantly feel like you’re moving from the game to the expansion pack. I might have preferred a much higher-level expansion for those who’d nearly finished Morrowind—much like the Baldur’s Gate series expands its games—but of course that would have excluded newcomers to the series.

Still Looking Good, Baby

Morrowind, at only six months old, is still one of the prettiest games out there—especially among RPGs, where only Arx Fatalis can hope to equal it—so Tribunal doesn’t need to add big technology to the graphics. It’s just as good-looking as ever, and I was pleased to see that designers flexed their creative muscles by making Mournhold and surrounding regions visually different from Vvardenfell without making it seem like you were in another country or something. The province of Morrowind is a grim, bleak place filled with cranky people, but Vvardenfell is more gloomy than the mainland.

While on the subject of graphics, one thing I neglected to mention in my Morrowind review but will mention now is that the game doesn’t run on a proprietary engine—Morrowind, like Star Trek Bridge Commander, Freedom Force, and Dark Age of Camelot all licensed NetImmerse engine technology from NDL—a testament to the tremendous breadth and versatility of that game engine, considering how different those four titles are.

By the way, GeForce owners would be well advised to crank nVidia’s proprietary “Digital Vibrancy” control as high as they can stand. Morrowind and Tribunal, gorgeous as they are, look even better with this set high; digital vibrancy makes subtle gradations of color more obvious to the human eye and, though it may be annoying while using the Windows desktop, it really adds to most games.

Sadly, no new orchestrations came with Tribunal to complement the game’s already breathtaking score; composing and recording such would probably have taken too long and interfered with the timely release of the expansion. I know people who have downloaded Morrowind’s music to play while they work or prowl around their homes—it is incredibly good, and my only complaint is that they weren’t able to get more of it.

Balance: More than the Art of Not Falling Over

The one standard complaint about Morrowind carries over into its expansion pack. The game is not adequately balanced for later levels. Once you reach the 25th level or so, your character is essentially so tough that even the most powerful creatures pose little threat. Even the mightiest Daedroth, the chilling Golden Saints and horrifying Winged Twilights are nonetheless just a sword-flick away from the afterlife once a powerful character comes upon them.

While it’s better to be skewed in favor of a highly powerful character than it is to be too hard when the character is just starting out, I know plenty of people who grew bored with the game and either quit or will not play through again just because they know that the challenge would end around the halfway point of the game. I suspect the solution to this is a new expansion pack that adds creatures capable of dealing with high-level characters and scatters them not only through “new” areas, but through Vvardenfell as well.

Also, I note that it is still difficult to locate really fancy items of certain sorts. Glass, Ebony, and Daedric items are easily found when you’re high-level, but they tend to be swords or spears rather than more exotic weapons. This doesn’t encourage players to expand their horizons by playing an expert in the mace or tanto.  I know the above statement contradicts an earlier remark from my Morrowind review, but it is true and only a lot of playing made it clear. I propose that the next expansion add more item compositions to go along with the standard Dwemer, Daedric, Ebony, Glass, Iron, Orcish, Steel, and so forth; also, perhaps an algorithm in the code to determine the player’s highest primary weapon score and offer powerful weapons based on it.

City of Light, City of Magic

Generally speaking Tribunal is a great expansion pack. It fixes bugs, adds new places to explore, enhances the capabilities of the game, and is very well written and designed. Though the plot is fairly straightforward compared to some of the more devious story arcs that Bethesda writers are known for, it nonetheless kept my attention throughout and was deeply enjoyable to play.

Sadly, it does little to correct the underlying complaints about Morrowind. Make no mistake, those complaints are few and for the most part quite paltry, but I would love to have seen them addressed here. Also, I would rather Tribunal had been cleanly integrated into the world of Morrowind rather than seeming like an expansion pack due simply to the amount of effort involved in physically getting to the new locations. Next time I want horses, carts, better journal controls, balance for high-level players, and more accessible exotic weapons. When all that is provided, we may well have the near-perfect CRPG. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Bethesda Publisher: Bethesda Release Date: November 2002

Available for: Windows

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System Requirements

Windows 98/ME with 128 MB RAM Windows 00/XP with 256 MB RAM 500 MHz Intel Pentium III, Celeron, or AMD Athlon processor (800 MHz PIII or AMD recommended) 8X CD-ROM drive 1 GB free hard disk space DirectX 8.1 32 MB Direct3D compatible video card with 32-bit color support and DirectX 8.1 compatible driver (Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS or ATI Radeon 7500 recommended) DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card

Where to Find It

Gogamer 24.90

Prices/links current as of 01/07/03Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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