Havish v1.1 (Created by JOG) - Reviewed by Zenogias - Updated 3/4/04

It's time to review Havish. Read on for details, potential issues and screenshots, but hopefully no spoilers.

 

Synopsis
Havish adds a new landmass to the west of Vvardenfell, which contains a large city with Fighters, Mages and Thieves Guilds with many quests, a main plotline, and misc quests. It requires both Tribunal and Bloodmoon.

Design
Old, old, old school!
If you played Daggerfall, you will feel at home here right away. The size, the layout, and many other aspects of the city of Havish are very reminiscient of the cities of Daggerfall. The map is medium-sized, but fits a large number of buildings into the space it uses.

After exploring the city, the first thing I noticed was that the streets were a little.. empty. The square was fine, but throughout many of the streets I felt like calling out "Helloooooooooooo, anyone?" I'm guessing the amount of wandering NPCs had to be cut down for performance issues caused by the size and detail of the city as a whole.

Another thing I noticed right away was that most of the buildings did not have names. "Havish: Abode". "Havish: House" "Havish: Estate", and even "Havish: Building" adorns most of the houses. This did not bother me too much (once again because it is like Daggerfall), but it just doesn't seem to mesh with how the rest of the game works in that regard. Most of the houses have people in them with names, so it would be nice to be able to see, both on the map and by looking at the door, who lives where.

There are many shops in Havish, and it can be quite complicated remembering who sells what. But fortunately, JOG has used some excellent unique signposts! Take a look at these, for example. This makes getting around during your shopping easier, and in-game they blend and fit in very well.

NPCs don't all stand around the same place 24 hours a day in Havish. There are plenty who follow schedules, which is interesting both for quests, and aesthetic: It is nice seeing different patrons at inns and other establishments at different times of day. Here is an example at the moon-sugar smoke-inhalation kind of room at The House of Pleasures:

At 3:00pm
At 10:00pm

Quests
This is where the mod truly shines, for me at least. I won't give any spoilers, but suffice to say that many new types of quests, where you can do something really different to quests you've done before, are found in all of the guilds. Also, the fact that all three guilds are present means that all kinds of characters will have something to do in Havish.

A few notes: The Fighters and Mages Guilds have 8 quests each. They work as an expansion of the existing Fighter's and Mages Guilds in Morrowind. The Thieves Guild in Havish however, is a completely different guild, seperate from the normal Thieves Guild. It has 20 quests, and you start out as a Toad no matter what your rank in Vvardenfell's guild.

The final thing I have to say about the quests is that many utilize amazing scripts. Prepare to see things you have never seen before, even things you never thought possible in Morrowind's engine. Hell, even just walking around the city you'll see some amazing (and bizarre) things happen.

Bugs/Errors/Oversights
Here's what I've noticed so far:

  1. In the house of Pleasures, the feet of most of the NPCs, on all floors, are below the floor. (Update: According to the mod creator, this is to simulate a thick plush carpet, therefore is not a bug.)
  2. Possible oversight: Isn't Masalinie Merian the Breton Guild Guide at the Balmora Mages Guild? I've listed this as only 'possible' because it is quite possible for two people to have the same name after all.

Conflicts
Another strong point. Havish is highly compatible, having very few known conflicts. I have tested it with the following land-adding quest mods with zero conflicts:

  • Beyond YsGramor
  • Black Queen Chronicles
  • Trade Routes
  • Sorefoot Enterprises
  • Siege at Firemoth.

I have neither Silgrad Tower or Blacklight, but I have been told that Havish is not compatible with Blacklight. It is apparently compatible with the current version of Silgrad Tower, though future versions of Silgrad (50% larger landmass?) may conflict.

Overall
The Good:

  • Excellent quests
  • Excellent design and architecture
  • NPC schedules
  • Unique signposts
  • Amazing scripted events!
  • Old-school Daggerfall style
  • Balanced: No unbalanced items, merchants etc
  • Clean
  • Highly compatible

The Bad:

  • Some dialogue errors (spelling, punctuation etc)
  • Lonely streets
  • The majority of the houses having generic names (though this wouldn't bother everyone)
  • A few small errors/oversights (mentioned above)
What I think
The best landmass-adding mod available by far. Tight. Well designed, detailed and everything that happens there is in some way interesting, different and fun.

Misc Screenshots

Burning warehouse
The Order of Arkay and bridge to Havish
Downtown
The Palace (right) and City Watch Headquarters (left)

Additional screenshots and download link
JOG's Havish Page
Be sure to get both the mod and the 1.1 update. Also, It is essential that you read both readme files! There are two ways of applying the update and the readme will tell you which one you will need to use.

Have fun!

 

 

- All images from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Copyright Bethesda Softworks -

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