The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind is largely considered one of the best role-playing games ever made. You could hardly improve it if you tried. That is, unless, of course, you try to make it more like Square Enix’s most impressive MMO. That’s right: Final Fantasy 11. As it turns out, there are mods that do exactly that.
As one user highlighted on Bluesky, two major mods give players the ability to transform Morrowind into something that evokes Final Fantasy 11. “The FF-HUD for OpenMW” mod was first released in May 2025 and changes in-game interface elements such as the cursor to replicate the Square Enix MMO. “FF11 Style Menu BG and Button Replacer” was first uploaded in August 2025 and, as the name may suggest, replaces the game’s main menu with new assets that evoke the iconic start screen for Final Fantasy 11. The mods are available for download on Nexus Mods, though curious users should be aware that they are designed to work with the OpenMW project. They may not work as intended on vanilla installs of the game.
The melding of the two games isn’t as odd as it may first seem, as both have many aesthetic and design elements in common. Morrowind and Final Fantasy 11 were released in 2002 and embrace an experience focused on methodic exploration. FF-HUD for OpenMW uploader Hayakawadono puts it well in the mod’s description section, writing:
Morrowind and FF11 somewhat always felt to me like if they were some kind of half-siblings, really. And not only because of their render distance. But because of how they feel, I guess, both being released in the same year in fact. Art direction, those early 3D graphics, similar RPG mechanics being hybrid of turn-based and real-time, and both being a cult classic for their respective franchises, if I might add. So maybe because of this, I kind of find it fun to bring them just this much closer together, in a good way. It just feels right, I guess. Like hearth, like home.
Contrary to how many MMOs and RPGs of the modern day embrace a theme-park design that seeks to shepherd players from one exciting encounter to another, Morrowind and Final Fantasy 11 feel more like living, breathing digital worlds. Many design elements can be seen as outdated and even needlessly frustrating. Final Fantasy 11 includes systems that make players grind enemies for loot that might disappear before collection. Perhaps most famously, players can lose experience and even go down a level upon death. One of Morrowind‘s most universally hated features is its journal, which in the game’s original release logged information that could not be organized in any helpful way to the player.
These all sound like systems that only add friction to the experiences of Final Fantasy 11 and Morrowind but are, in reality, essential for making both games feel as expansive and responsive as they are. Over two decades post-release, these instances of meaningful friction and complexity are exactly what has earned both titles active fan bases. Even with the existence of Final Fantasy 14, Square Enix continues to develop and operate Final Fantasy 11. Bringing Morrowind‘s interface more in line with Final Fantasy 11 just makes sense because of these similarities. It also shows that every game can learn something from both titles.
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