Dynafire has 132 chronicles

1. The Morrowind Challenge - complete!
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Aug 21 2008

   It is done. I completed my little challenge. The end boss was freaking tough, but using about 30 restore health potions I was able to barely stay alive. It feels really satisfying to have accomplished this. That's about it. I'm going to start another challenge soon, but probably won't chronicle it, just because the next challenge will be insanely difficult, and will take a while to complete.
   
   
   Some of you might have seen the Morrowind challenge thread I made in the forums not that long ago here - http://www.gatheringofgamers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=970
   
   I have just started playing it with all the restrictions listed in the thread.
   
   Ten minutes in, I can tell that this is going to be incredibly fun and challenging. First of all, I'm trying my darndest to figure out where I'm going to get my equipment, since I could be killed by just about anything. (I went and got the glass jinkblade under ebonheart, and a single rat took half of my HP :/) I'm currently heading up to the farms North of Vivec to try to find some marshmerrow and saltrice, then it's off to Balmora to buy alchemy stuff to actually make the potions. (Which will hardly be of any help right now - I can probably only afford a basic mortar and pastel.)
   
   Gold is going to be another big issue for a while. At low levels, not doing quests, or selling anything, gold really is becoming a precious commodity.
   
   I'm finding that I'm looking around the landscape a lot more than I have before, mainly to try to find plants to make potions with. I've also been weaving my way around enemies instead of charging and killing them. Without a ready supply of healing potions, it's just too risky at this point. It's definitely not how I'm used to playing.
   
   Anyway, if anyone wants to try their hand at this, check out the link to the thread above. I'll keep this updated weekly.
   
   EDIT (8/5/08): Well, things are finally starting to get a bit easier, and I'm actually thinking this will be done by the end of the week. Here's an update of what happened during the last few days.
   
   Saturday:
   Started the challenge, and played for a good chunk of time (around 6 hours on and off during the day). During this time I think I died roughly 10 times, which sucks because this game takes about 5 minutes to re-load from a save. I only managed to gain 1 freaking level during that time, but did manage to snag some decent equipment - the glass jinkblade, which can be a lifesaver, the fireblade from one part of the main quest, and velothian helm which is essentially my life support. The healing potions I was making at this point were practically useless for combat - restore health 3 pts for 7 secs. Yeah. They were that bad.
   
   Sunday
   I don't remember a whole lot about Sunday, other than finding out that anything packing a bow and arrows WILL kill me. I also managed to run down to into illunibi and grab the fists of randagulf and pair of glass boots, effectively tripling my Armor rating. I barely escaped the dungeon with my life, though.
   
   Monday
   This is where things take a turn for the better. I started tackling most of the main quest, and ended up with some pretty good armor for my efforts. I also gained 2 more levels, and barely killed the guy toting the Lord's Mail. The LM doubled my Armor rating again, and I'm now sitting around 70-75 or so.
   
   I'm kind of torn about this though - I said I wouldn't perform any quests outside of the main storyline, and the Lord's Mail is kind of a pseudo-quest. You only really learn about it through a rumor, and can't turn it in to anyone or receive any other kind of reward when you get it - if anyone thinks I shouldn't be allowed to equip it, let me know!
   
   Edit (8/11)
   
   I didn't get to play a whole lot during this last week, but I finally got to level 10, and started getting utterly destroyed by daedra. Even with the awesome equipment I'm packing, a single flame/frost atronarch can kill me rather quickly. Thankfully, I now have about 100 restore health potions that are restore 8 pts for 14 secs or something like that, so I can just pop a few before fighting anything tough, and usually come out alive. The only problem with this is that I'm burning through these pretty fast, so they aren't going to last forever.
   
   I also advanced in the main quest a bit. I think I'm a little less than halfway done with it, maybe less, as the next part of the quest I'm about to take on takes a very long time to do.
   
   I also had to cheat a little. I forgot about the wizard towers that require levitation to be able to navigate. So the new restriction is I can only levitate in wizard towers, or when I get stuck somewhere in the landscape. (It's happened a couple of times so far.)
   
   Also had a strange glitch happen to me. While going back to balmora, part of the ground in one section of the city wasn't solid, and I'd fall through it. Loading the game back up fixed it, but it was still kind of weird and annoying. This isn't nearly as severe as one glitch I experienced a while back - half of one of Vivec's cantons failed to load, and all I could see were doors floating in nothingness. It was pretty cool, but again, really annoying.
   
   EDIT (8/19)
   
   Last week was pretty much a blur, and again, I don't remember much. I played for a while on Saturday and Sunday and managed to reach level 15. I have approximately 200 restore health potions I'm carrying around, so I'm fairly confident that I cannot be killed by any normal creatures or characters.
   
   I'm pretty far in the main quest now, and have pretty good equipment, so from here on out, I'm going to try to beat the game as fast as I can. I am officially flat broke now. I had to bribe virtually everyone during the 4th/5th trials, and using the rest of my money to get places quicker has left me flat broke. It's not that big of a deal though. There isn't anything I can buy that will be of tremendous help anyway.
   
   The last update will probably be when I beat the game. (as soon as tonight, maybe.)
   
   In the meantime though, I have a few pointers for anyone who wants to try their hand at this.
   
   1.) Stock up on every single Marshmerrow, Saltrice, and Wickwheat plant you can find. Wickwheat is EVERYWHERE in the grazelands (NE part of the continent), and will be the primary ingredient you will use to make restore health potions. Marshmerrow and Saltrice can be found in abundance in the same region, but along the eastern coastlines and the islands dotting the Eastern sea.
   
   2.) Completely ignore magic. I only used magic a few times at the start of the game, and haven't had the need for it since. If anything though, at least buy Almsivi or Divine Intervention.
   
   3.) Get that glass jinkblade I was talking about earlier. (There is a door underwater near the Northwest side of Ebonheart. When you go in there, head to the right when the tunnel comes to an intersection - it's laying in a mushroom patch.) It will allow you to attack stronger enemies without fear of getting attacked for a period of time. If you find that you can't kill your target, you can use that time to escape instead. For this weapon to be most effective though, you have to switch to something different after the paralysis takes effect, or the jinkblade will run out of magic really fast.
   
   4.) There are a ton of great items up around Dagon Fel, that you may be able to get early on with a bit of luck. I can't for the life of me remember where, but I got a full set of Master's Alchemy equipment up there, and that would have helped tremendously early in the game. Specifically, you want to go to the east of Dagon Fel, to Sorkvild's tower. There are some tough enemies in here (4 to be exact), but if you kill them, you end up with one of the best helms in the game, a complete set of medium or light armor, an enchanted ebony shortsword, a daedric dagger, and an amulet of Divine Intervention. There's also some Journeyman's alchemy equipment in there.
   
   I could give plenty more tips, but I fear that I'm stretching this chronicle to its limits, and those 4 things are probably the most important anyway.

   
   

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Dynafire has 1 comment on this chronicle.

1. BEN
   Posted On Aug 03 2008

   Very nice and great dedication to stick to your plan so well. Hopefully you can continue the fun throughout the entire game!