The game begins not with the usual RPG convention of building a character, but with the Emperor granting the player (a prisoner) a reprieve with conditions: The character is ferried off to the isle of Vvardenfell and met by a census-taker. Here’s where the character generation begins, and it’s handled fairly well. The player is given three choices when it comes to class: Pick outright, answer a series of moral questions a la Origin’s Ultima RPG series or completely build a unique class from a long, long list of skills.

Take note of that third option: That’s just how detailed this game gets. It’s also a first sign that the casual gamers are tolerated but not really catered to. In other words, this ain’t no Diablo — here, numbers and patient stat-building are everything.

As for the second option (the moral questions), they just don’t work. The same questions are asked each time, so I tried to tailor my answers toward a do-gooder paladin type. No dice; the first time, I was inexplicably assigned Rogue and the second I got closer with Healer, but not close enough. Fortunately, you’re allowed to reject the decision and try out other methods. I just went in and picked Knight.

Class type determines major, minor and miscellaneous skills. That’s quite important, because leveling up depends not on experience points but by frequency of skill use. The character gains a level for every 10 major or minor skill advancements; skills advance by how often they’re successfully used. In short, use a longsword most of the time, and your long blades skill increases. The player adds three points to the character’s statistics — strength, intelligence, speed, luck and so on — at each level-up. The subclass of the skills advanced adds a bonus to these awarded points. So, if five of your skill advancements for that level came through combat, you’ll get a multiplier to the point added to strength.

Geez, have I beat it into y’all how detailed and stat-heavy Morrowind is? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

As I wrote earlier, the character is plopped down on the island with minimal instruction: Meet a certain person in a nearby city. It turns out said person is the Emperor’s head spy on the island: An ancient evil is imprisoned in the nearby volcano, a local barbarian tribe thinks a long-dead hero will be reincarnated to take care of business, and the Emperor wants to find out more about both. Veteran RPG players will immediately see the character’s role in all of this, which is unfortunately about as formulaic as the genre gets.

That said, the player can choose to totally ignore this storyline and go solo. Guilds, Houses and other quest-giving entities abound; heck, just wandering around the (huge) island will provide more than a few mini-stories. Some are exclusive, especially the three Houses — you can only join one — but otherwise the world is wide open.

That means walking. A lot. Sure, there are faster modes of transportation between cities, but there’s so much off the beaten path that hoofing it is inevitable. Walking is a slow process, and will immediately weed out the players who crave non-stop thrills. I wish there was an autopilot system integrated with the otherwise excellent mapping feature. Again, only patient gamers need apply.

I have some other quibbles, especially with combat — a frustrating exercise, especially on XBox. Basically, it involves mashing the attack button until the bad guy keels over. Which won’t happen fast. Even at level 7, my Knight has lots of trouble sending baddies to their eternal reward. On XBox, the right thumbstick is used to aim, but I can’t count the times in the heat of battle I accidentally pushed down on it, sending the view into third-person mode.

Also, the quest journal doesn’t allow for sorting. It relies purely on a timeline, which means flipping through multiple pages of entries (usually completed quests) to find information.

All that aside, Morrowind is absolutely immersive. There are a few rich stories going on — and we’re not even counting the information found in in-game books, which is written exceedingly well for a CRPG.

The graphics and sound are simply stunning. I spent almost as much time just watching the sun come up or reveling in really heavy thunderstorms as I did actually following the story. The landscape changes around the island, from giant mushroom-trees to rocky deserts to forested hills. The folks at Bethesda truly created a living world from the ground up.

If you’re the kind of gamer who loves character micromanagement or an immersive world, get Morrowind. This is a statistic-heavy RPG that demands close attention and patience. It’s a wide open world, total freedom from linear rail-plots. Great stuff, if you’re willing to invest lots of time.

(Quick note: Many thanks to Bethesda, who also sent along a strategy guide with the review materials. This is absolutely essential for folks who want to see all the sights — and reviewers on deadline.)