Not played LOTR, but morrowind is pretty sweet. Ive not really noticed any major glitches that have really affected the game, although you need an awful lot of time to play it (im always to busy and can only devote a few hours to a game, so thats why I suffer at RPG's, but i love them soo much
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I'd still go for Morrowind, its fantasticly huge, Lots of characters and you needn't follow the main plot. It is said to be as non-linear as a pen and paper RPG!