Morrowind is, and probably always will be, one of my favorite RPGs, and will probably continue to be for me, for a long time. I will admit to a certain amount of bias right off, in the fact it was probably the first RPG I played that I can think of, but I still think for the reasons I will mention that it was and is a very high quality offering from Bethseda to the RPG genre.
So what makes it good? Plenty. Although the skills system is rather large, and suffers somewhat from too many options to decide from, with several redundant skills here and there (block, spear, medium armor and acrobatics come to mind here....) that really could be left out, or amalgamated as part of the rest of the other skills, but one of the things that makes the game so appealing to me is the monstrous freedom offered. Indeed, what really sets this game apart from nearly any other RPG I played, bettering all others by a wide margin except Gothic 3, is the shear scope. There are 27 skills in all to improve on your character, compared to Fallouts 13. Even discounting the 8 magic skills, there are still many more ways of customising your character in Morrowind than Fallout 3.
The shear flexibility in how you play the game is a motif that is repeated in nearly every aspect of Morrowind. While Morrowind is a larger place than Fallout, one way this really shows is in gameplay. Granted, they are both shameless open-ended RPGs, but each has its stock of "main" quests or plot threads, that most players are likely to complete. Fallout tries to give you some variety in how you face its challenges, by giving you the options of stealth and subterfuge at certain key points, but realisticly, it quite often seems forced to me. When I decide to sneak instead of tanking a dungeon in Fallout, it is nearly always it is the only real choice-without the additional support of guard turrets or a combat robot, I will have signifigant trouble making any progress, at least without losing a lot of life. With Morrowind, many dungeons reward you for sneaking, but not as blatantly, and certainly not to the extent it is necessary for survival. I can only think of one dungeon That really requires you to sneak, and it has the advantage of being advertised as "basically impossible to fight, you should definitely be sneaking in here if you want to have a high chance of survival". A better example was when I completed a dungeon that would have been difficult(and still was quite tricky) because I was very careful with sneaking. In a similar situation in Fallout, I would be forced to use stealth at one point, but if I tried it somewhere else, I would be small pieces of meat on the floor. This made for a much more open ended feel in Morrowind.
While the game design biases me toward Morrowind, the most stunning achievement by the developers by far was the size and scope of the game. For starters, apart from guards and slaves, EVERY humanoid in the game has a unique name. There are no generic "Bandits", "Slavers", or "Bodyguards", as there are in Fallout. While many of them may be somewhat cardboard, and have little real interaction with the player at all, it doesn't diminish in the slightest when being attacked by some bandits, and after killing them you notice that one is the descendant of an ancient noble houses line, and infer from there about his history, his fall into the wrong company and habits, and his unfortunate end at your hands. Fallout does have its great characters, with high quality voice acting that gels well with some especially memorable personages, but it really doesn't hold a candle to some of the detailed development you can find in Morrowind. I once was told to get some books from a very specific bookseller, and found him rather unremarkable. Two unrelated quests later, I found that he was a major figure in an anti slavery movement, and part of a cult that was determined to destroy the main religious body in control of the game, while running an expensive shop, and being a rather nice guy all round. The game is littered, nearly composed, of hundreds of fantastic little Easter eggs. Hearing rumors about an ancient assassin's guild, hidden deep underneath a fighting arena? Believe it, its true, and they arent all bad, and are hiring, if you are so inclined. Hear tell about cults taking residence in the sewers? Grab your trusty weapon, cause the chances are pretty reasonable that they will have some sort of loot. Read a book about famous artifacts of near-godlike magical abilities and power? nearly two thirds of them are in the game, and can be found, if you look hard enough and follow your gut feelings.
One of the things that irks me about Fallout is the "Karma" meter. Do something "good"? Get good karma. Do something "bad"? Get bad Karma. And people react to you based on what level of karma you have. Whether they have any knowledge about what you did to deserve it or not. If you steal something, whether you are caught or not, you lose karma, which makes evil factions more affable towards you, and good folk like you less. In Morrowind, it is simultaneously more clear cut, and more complex. You earn a legal bounty and lose reputation with the organisation you wronged, and if you wrong an organisation another hates, then hey, they might just like you more, whether it was against the law or not.
Morrowind takes place in an alien landscape, that incorporates at least 7 recognizable terrain types. Fallout scenery ranges from gray to....brown. As far as I can tell, forever. Sure, there are a few towns and wrecked city bits to add a bit of flavour, but it just isnt on par with Morrowind's 20+ towns and hundreds of NPC's. Morrowinds breadth and scope are what make it for me, and draw me in, whereas Fallout to me just seems kinda shallow in comparison. Thanks, and see you soon.
