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Recently, and for the first time in her career LYNDA CARTER did voice-over works for animated characters, in this case for a PC game known as "THE ELDER SCROLLS III: MORROWIND". The game is a follow-up to two successful predecessors, and undoubtedly will bring Lynda closer to younger audiences. In the game Lynda gives life to the voices of all female characters of the Nord race. Using the ultimate in 3-D technology, "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind" takes the RPGs games to another level and garanteeds a different game each time you play it. Check below for details.
A.K.A.: Morrowind.
The first of the series was Arena. Taking place in the world of Tamriel, Arena showcased full character generation and over 18 unique character classes, it was praised for its ambitious scope and innovative design. Daggerfall, the second in the series, debuted in 1996. This time around, players got to explore only two of Tamriel's eight provinces. It took the foundation that Arena had built and continued the series signature non-linear gameplay on an epic scale. In their latest game, players are limited to one province -- Morrowind.
3,000 NPCs. Six novels' worth of text. Over 300 dungeons. More than 500 basic spells. 480 billion different characters to create and play as. 300,000+ hand-placed objects. 1.89 empty bottles per capita. Players can choose to follow the intriguing main storyline, or set off to explore the huge province of Morrowind and the many interesting people and exotic locations it contains. Every race you encounter has a fully fleshed-out culture with values, beliefs, and even creation mythologies. The towns you run across echo the values of their inhabitants in their architecture. Furthermore, a tangled thread of political intrigue winds throughout the land, with several Great Houses and factions in competition for power.
Morrowind is in the province of Dunmer also known as dark elves. A significant portion of Morrowind is on a large island continent called Vvardenfell -- where the bulk of the game takes place. From a gameplay standpoint, the island is enormous and possesses many different terrains. "There are nine different races in Morrowind," explains Lead Designer Ken Rolston, "we've taken the time to create these races and give them their own unique characteristics and storyline, always keeping in mind the great level of detail we've maintained from the other games." For example, in the early history of Tamriel, being separated from the island and the mainland by the volcano of Dagoth-Ur, allowed the Dunmer to develop separate from the other Tamriel races. "Each character has a disposition," explains Rolston, "and early on in the game they all don't like you because you're a stranger in a strange land, so a lot of the gameplay is unlocking the individual characters to get topics or friendship quests. So it means that your ability to speak well is very significant."
You have lots of freedom to explore the intricate world as you learn the cause of "The Blight" that spreads from the central volcano. Unique choices that you make through conversations and interactions with characters will determine your personality, skills and abilities as well as how other characters you will interact with you in the future.
Utilizing the graphic power of Xbox, Morrowind features hyper-realistic textures and polygon counts, real-time shadows, vast landscapes, skeletal based animation, and a dynamic weather system. Bethesda Softworks immediately started working on Morrowind right after Daggerfall. But just as other big games in production, things change and dates keep getting pushed back. "1999 was mainly spent on pre-production," explains Project Lead Todd Howard, "2000 was mainly spent on the actual technology and production and 2001 was all about content, world building and AI. We've spent a lot of time creating our own unique tool set and making sure it worked properly and to the level we wanted to achieve. We have that now. Now its time to create the world." Howard says there are over 24 people on the team including himself, 7 programmers, 5 designers and 11 artists. "We're confident that fans of the series will be pleased with Morrowind. It's slowly coming together quite nicely." After checking out the game in person, we concur while grinning from ear to ear.
As with most RPGs, players can create any character they'd like in Morrowind. "The amount of customization is the same high level that players expect from our series," says Rolston, "if you want a fighter of course you increase his fighting skills. If you have a stealthy character, then you would probably want to concentrate on talking to butter people up to convince them to do what you want them to do." Each character will have eight attributes -- Strength, Intelligence, Will Power, Agility, Speed, Endurance, Personality, and Luck -- players can fine-tune these to their liking and in turn will effect how other characters in the game view you. "When you speak to a character this colored bar will give you an indication of how much he likes you or not," explains Rolston.
"With respect to our interface, one thing we wanted to do is never take you out of the game," states Howard, "so all the menus are little windows that pop up. You can rescale them any way you want. So if you want to play the game with big inventory screen you can, or you can shrink it down so you only see what you want to see. As you increase the size of your interface, the game will automatically shift things around and put it in their proper order."
The three Dunmer Great Houses that have settled Vvardenfell have distinctive architectures and lifestyles. Aristocratic, warlike Great House Redoran favors a spacious, irregular, organic building style. Great House Hlaalu, an aggressive mercantile culture, strongly admiring and influenced by Imperial culture, prefers simpler, more modern, more densely populated settlements, while bizarre wizard towers dominate mushroom-hut villages of the Great House Telvanni sorcerer-lords. A fourth Great House style, the Velothi or Temple style, is evident in the monumental architecture, bridges, buttresses, and grand canals of the ancient religious center of Vivec City.
The greatest opportunities of Vardenfell lie in its untapped wealth, its rich mines and ancient treasures, its unexplored and
unclaimed lands. And even its threats represent limitless opportunity to any bold adventurer determined enough to fight and scheme his way to distinction, earning the attention of the great lords and wizards of Morrowind.
THE ELDER SCROLLS III: MORROWIND
wind offers players a rich fantasy world to explore and a fully customizable interactive adventure.
Carter has signed on to provide the voices for the female Nords, one of the races that populate this expansive game.
"We are thrilled to have Lynda Carter join the project," says Todd Howard, Morrowind's Project Leader who has won numerous awards for his previous work. "Adding her talent and personality to some of our characters is a huge addition for Morrowind. And of course, I've been a fan since childhood."
“After working for so many years in the entertainment industry, I was delighted to do something new and become involved creatively with the development of this game,” said Carter. “I really enjoyed the experience and believe Morrowind is something that the gaming public is going to be excited about.”
Morrowind also features the creative talent of award-winning musician Jeremy Soule, who will be responsible for composing and producing the music for the third chapter in the award-winning Elder Scrolls series. Soule, who has been called Gaming’s Greatest Musician, recently completed the score for the blockbuster videogame Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
The design for Morrowind is being led by Ken Rolston, who won the coveted H.G. Wells Award for Best Role-Playing Game in 1985 and has created numerous award-winning games throughout his career. He is generally considered to be one of the godfathers of role-playing games (RPGs).
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