System Requirements

OS: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP CPU: Pentium 500Mhz RAM: 128MB HDD: 1 GB VIDEO: 32MB Direct 3D Direct X 8.1 Compatible SOUND: 16 bit Direct X 8.1 Compatible Age: Teen

With the Bloodmoon expansion you get a whole new island to explore. With the cold weather and forests, Solstheim is clearly Nord territory. All are welcome to explore its beautiful forests, snow mountains, ice caverns, and ancient tombs. A small colony is in the works and disrupting the delicate balance of nature. Will you help them by protecting them from the wolves or become one yourself?

Enemies

You can and will become a werewolf if you follow the main story line. No worries if you beat the original story line and are immune to diseases, you can still become a wolf. This is not an island for new adventurers, the enemies here are tough. They seem smarter too, as they WILL group up on you. And fighting werewolves is not easy. Be sure to equip a silver weapon at all times. Oh yeah, there are no annoying cliff racers on this island! Some new enemies: * Bears * Berserkers * Horkers * Ice minions * Skeleton mages * Spriggins * Werewolves * Wolves

Quests

Unlike Tribunal, this expansion pack is not forced on you. You can simply go to the Island via boat or swim there any time you are ready. Once on the island you can start taking orders from the fort general or take part in starting the new colony. It\'s really neat watching it grow, and, you make some decisions that influence how it\'s built! Like always you have the freedom to explore and do what you will.

The main storyline is optional. With this new island you have many new creatures, cultures and wild life to explore. There are many tombs and caverns with lots of goodies waiting for you. The Nordic armor will please all those medium armor wearing fighters. If you\'re a light armor adventurer you\'ll like the new ice armor. Unfortunately there is no new heavy armor. Mages may enjoy the Mantle of Woe if you can find it. ;) There are some good weapons; my favorites are the mace you get from the Skaal village and the spear from The Hunter. I won't delve into details but needless to say there are some real treats here. Nothing is free though, as many of these items are awarded from quests or hidden quite well. This expansion is full of choices. You get to choose who you take orders from.

As always there are ways to solve problems peacefully and when solved that way you get better rewards. You will get sent on various errands. My least favorite was when you have to deliver a letter to someone in five 'Bloodmoon' hours. Other than that you can help a wife out by killing her husband's lover, put a stop to a crazed drug pusher, bring back artifacts from tombs, and as always you'll wind up escorting some NPC's around. The main storyline quests involve werewolves but I wont go into details or spoil anything. All in all, this expansion will add an additional 30+ hours of game play. Be warned if you own Tribunal, by installing Bloodmoon it will break the main quest. I already beat Tribunal so I was immune to that bug. There is a patch to fix it, so make sure you install it.

Appropriate?

From a Christian perspective this game has violence. You will definitely have to kill various monsters and people. Killing people can usually be avoided and that\'s encouraged. This expansion has a nature theme with restoring the balance. There are various obelisks you have to activate for each nature element. (Beast, Tree, Wind, Water, Sun) Besides those mini gods, the Skaal tribe believes in an All Maker god which is kind of similar to the Christian God. Magic and mages are inevitable.

Overall

This expansion is easy to install and the game continues to be run off of the original Morrowind game CD. The interface is the same with exception of the improved journal which allows you to view by quests. You can view a list of all quests or just completed ones. You can also put notes on the map itself! The graphics are still AMAZING! The new island is very big (roughly 1/3 of the size of Vvardenfell) and detailed. You will experience different weather conditions from fog, to snow storms, night and day, etc. The character and armor detail is great too. The graphics and area loading times are still slow at times. The sound and EAX effects are still good. I am a little disappointed that there are no new music tracks. There are some new voice comments added; some are quite humorous. When you go to someone that gave you a quest they will vocally nag you to complete it. This is a great expansion pack. I was happy to see the mention of an All Maker god but turned off a bit by the multiple nature ones. There seemed to be less swearing in this expansion. For such a cold area it was odd seeing some Nords in furry undergarments attacking you in the forests. Don\'t they get cold?