Morrowind has everything you could want in an rpg... except equipment variety.
The graphics at the time of release, were some of the best id ever seen, and they still are decent, if a little dated. Although the game did have some issues with draw distance the graphics and art direction did an excellent job of making you feel as though you were inside this fantasy world, the cities all have different feels to them to coincide with the various races, even the land (which you can freely traverse at any time on foot, although this can take more than a few minuets...) has subtle and sometimes not so subtle nuances that make you feel as though your no longer behind your computer screen, but inside the lush, expansive world.
Aside from the main story quests, Morrowind has any amount of various side quests to embark on, as well as different factions to join and dungeons to plunder. The side quests can get a little dry at times with run of the mill tasks, e.g. "give x item to y person", but a lot of them have running themes and a certain degree of humor, which make you want to continue onto the next. The main story line will take you somewhere in the region of 20 - 40 hours, but with the inclusion of the side quests, fully exploring this game can take up to 100 or more.
The dungeons are actually worth looting too(unlike Morrowind's older brother Oblivion). This is because the beasts and npcs in the world are the same level no matter what level the player is at, as are the items they have. So instead of only finding low level items because you are at a low level yourself, you could wander into a cave hiding a high level monster, and if you manage to make it out alive you could have yourself a powerful sword or chest plate at even an early stage in the game, which makes it more exiting and interesting to venture into the cracks and crevasses of the world.
The only real problem I have with the game is the lack of variety in armor and weapons. They ones they do have are great, there just aren't that many, which when your going to want to play the game for a long time, makes it frustrating because at some point your going to want something more. In the gamespot review, GregK commented on the Combat system being a bit clumsy and even comical and although i can see where hes coming from, the combat didn't bother me at all. Unlike its Newer counterpart, Oblivion, Morrowind has hardly any spoken dialog(god forbid someone might actually have to read), which although slightly disappointing, doesn't take away from the games overall immersion.
The Sound in the game has its highs and lows, while some of the sound effects sound like they've been dug up from the first royalty-free effects database Bethesda could find, the ambient and orchestral music that plays in the background of your adventure is really inspiring and will give you that tingling feeling as you journey through the beautiful world. My only gripe with it is that theres only 2 - 3 of these tracks that play through the entire game and after awhile, they will start to grind on you.
In short, Morrowind is an excellent first person rpg, with plenty replayabitlity, a deep storyline, good graphics and decent sound. Although it has quite a few conventional rpg elements, it pushed the boundaries of what i thought an rpg could be to make a game thats truly worth experiencing.
- Wes.