only the last 15 levels (the last mission) or so are actually any good along with a few in the middle. Most levels suck.

As for length, most are short some are medium, overall the game's a standard time fare experience. 

Took me 42hrs to play through first time, damn amazing game. I highly recommend it. Just full of stuff to do and all the missions are good, rather than the boring "fetch quests" that most rpg/adventure games use to extend playing time. 

...but I've notched up something like 150 hours on Project Gotham 2, and still haven't completed the damn thing (12 cone challenges left). This is possibly more down to having the hand-eye coordination of an 80 year old rather than any particular quality of the game, though. 

I had originally tried Morrowind over a year ago and I didn�t have/use any expansions and mods. Even tho I consider myself a fan of the genre, I was very quickly overwhelmed by the _HUGE_ size of the game world and gave up.

A few days ago I had found a nice guide on starting Morrowind and picked up the game along with both expansions again. I had also installed the Atmospheric Sound Effects (+ updates), Visual Pack (+ update), LeFemma Armor and RheddHeads mods. All I can say is WOW. I can�t believe I had missed out on such an incredible game. The only thing that scares me is that I keep hearing that it took 6-8 months to complete the main quest of Morrowind, let alone both of the expansions. This game is going to eat my life.

For some nice Morrowind MODs, check out: http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=149175&ck= 

Must... resist... temptation... 

Once you get to installing all the enhancement packs and creature packs, new items, new places, and etc., and THEN finish rebuilding levelled lists...You've already invested 10 hours. But take my word for it: It is WORTH EVERY MINUTE. Morrowind was huge and deep before...after you mod it up, it's beautiful. The new graphics that the community has released, and the new items, make it so much more fun. 

you think morrowind is big?

look what these guys are trying to do:
http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/?image=g/maps/map_mw_full.jpg&p=modding_data/maps

you can see the main morrowind island you remember from the game, as well as the smaller second expansion pack island up at the north west.

everything else is supposed to be made and quite a bit of work has already been done for it now.

i doubt it will ever be really finished, and the final product won't have a consistent level of quality due to the large amount of people contributing, but it's still a really cool thing. :) 

How long did it take anyone to complete the campaign? (witout expansions)? 

took me about 30 or so hours. it's the rest of the game/side quests and trying to level up that takes time, but that's part of what makes it fun. 

i ended up getting the plain original edition with no add-on packs because it was there in the store and cost �10 instead of �30, leaving me �20 to purchase my own bodyweight in sherbet.

I'd appreciate any 'getting started' advise, i've had a quick look around and it seems nice, but i'd rather not get started a proper game and then realize i've chosen a total loser character class, etc. 

i'm still playing through the dungeon siege
and i started it..uh... somewhere the end of april.. and i play almost every evening.
dungeon siege is rather long and nice game :) 

You are ought to read the beginners guide spanned across the first few posts in the following thread on Ars Technica: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=39309975&m=454005222631 

Pure fighter is a viable class. Pick your weapon and armour styles to suit; also Block if you're wielding one-handed weapons - shields can save your ass in combat.
The various magics are very useful, but often not immediately - also they tend to fail randomly unless you're very high level. Still, ignore it at your peril.
Thieving (the Sneak skill) is useful, very nearly without exception - people tend to get antsy if they notice you taking their stuff, unlike most other RPGs in existence (don't try to sell it back to them, either :).
I'm a personal fan of Enchanting, but it's bloody hard to level up unless you find some help.

</morrowindGeek>

Mmm, sherbet... 

about that guide,

i disagree with one thing, and that is picking acrobatics as a major or minor skill. maybe it's because i play quake, but the first time i played and had acrobatics as a minor, i found i was leveling up way to quickly, thus facing more powerful monsters before i had gotten my skills up. i ended up ditching that char at 15... 

You're an obsessive-compulsive bunnyhopper too? I'm glad to see I'm not the only one whose acrobatics level got WAY too high. 

i noticed ingame that jumping imparted a faster forward speed than running alone, and at the start, you run really slow, and walk like molasses.

actually, i became so pissed at the slow movement rate, i haxored an item into the game which continuously replenished my fatigue level so that i could run all the time without getting tired.

:P 

Something funny happened to my lvl 3 character today. I went to explore some areas north of Caldera and eventually ventured into Ashlands. I was immidiately greeted by a goblin-like creature that attacked me. Seeing as my sword could not damage the creature at all, I decided to retreat. I ran and jumped my way through some pretty ridiculously high mountains, BUT THE DAMN THING FOLLOWED ME RIGHT INTO CALDERA :o

I got it into a fight with 4 city guards and watched the fight for a bit. Apparently the guards didnt seem to be able to hurt the damn thing either as after a 3 minute fight it�s health didn�t reduce one bit. I saw it was best for my safety to leave Caldera altogether. I guess I will be back when I get a better long blade. I wonder what will be the state of the city by then? All city guards dead and the goblinoid running around? 

I think he may have been bugged...Never had that happen to me before. 

Bugged in what way? My long blade does only physical damage and afaik there are many creatures in the game that can completely resist it and your weapon must have magic properties in otder to kill them. The standard "your weapon has no effect" (or something similar) message also comes up at the bottom of the screen when I try attacking the creature. 

As we�re getting very OT, I suggest that after this post we move the discussion into the GA. Check the following screenshot to see how damn good Morrowind can look: http://members.arstechnica.com/subscriptors/x/enigmatik_one/MyrandeeBalmora.jpg 

at least a silver blade.

deadric, glass and ebony also work as well as dwemer weapons. likewise, normal arrows won't work, but deadric arrows, glass ebony and silver will. (as well as magic, of course) 

I never actually completed with main campaign because me and brother got totally addicted to the multiplayer side of things.

We had a mini-lan (just our 2 pc's) and we could play it all day :) It really is brilliant playing the co-op missions against the A.I. And its one of the 1st mp games I've played where every time you attempt a mission things play out differently, the ai will react differently, tanks and platoons will show up at different times and in different places etc, it was superb fun!

The easy to use mission editor adds hours of fun to the mp side as well, in 5 minutes u can create a huge skirmish and then play it again and again. Very recommended if u have a small home lan... 

have any LAN =\ 

I finally qualified for Advanced Marksman, 36 out of 40 targets. Only I clicked REPLAY instead of CONTINUE and now I have to start over... it was hard X( 

and saved, but it didn't unlock Advanced Marksmanship.. bah!