I hear a lot about the Elder Scrolls 2...

[Forest Dweller]

But what about the Elder Scrolls 1? Huh? Talk to me.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Wouldn't that be the Elder Scroll?

 

[Ancient]

I didn't like Arena all that much Daggerfall was better

 

[ElectricOtter]

Arena was okay, but not very good. Interactions were limited compared to Daggerfall. Felt like a watered-down UU in my opinion.

EDIT: oh, the weapons animations were actually much smoother than they were in Daggerfall.

 

[Turisas]

oh, the weapons animations were actually much smoother than they were in Daggerfall.

Heh really? Why'd they fuck it up for Daggerfall?

 

[DraQ]

But what about the Elder Scrolls 1? Huh? Talk to me.

Merely a prototype.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I liked Arena a whole lot back when I first played it. It was buggy as hell though.

 

[DalekFlay]

Arena was before my time, sadly. I played it when Bethesda released it for free, but I didn't last long. Compared to Daggerfall and Morrowind it seemed very lacking.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

But what about the Elder Scrolls 1? Huh? Talk to me.

Your trick is geting old, really.

 

[DraQ]

Oblibians could be called Arena 2.

 

[JarlFrank]

It had riddles. I like riddles. But generally it was just Daggerfall without the awesome and all the random, which doesn't make for a very good game.

 

[Luzur]

well, before Daggerfall fleshed things out it was damn awesome with big world and all, but after Daggerfall was released it looked kinda bleak and watered down.

but i played it alot when it was new and exiting.

 

[Fowyr]

I like it simple but fun random dungeons, complex main quest dungeons and outdoor areas full of castles and shit. Arena is not spectacular like Daggefall, but still is fine game.

666th post. Yay!

 

[Ancient]

I like it simple but fun random dungeons, complex main quest dungeons and outdoor areas full of castles and shit. Arena is not spectacular like Daggefall, but still is fine game.

666th post. Yay!

 

[hicksman]

Lots of dungeon crawling, but if i remember correctly it had the start of the character customization that was so cool in Daggerfall. And the dungeon design was rather cool as well.

Good game, but I eventually got sick of dungeons... I think I crapped out 3/4 of the way through. Still on my HD actually.

 

[Sceptic]

Oblibians could be called Arena 2.

No, at least Arena had some nice dungeon design (in the MQ dungeons only of course). Oblivion managed to botch even this.

 

[ElectricOtter]

oh, the weapons animations were actually much smoother than they were in Daggerfall.

Heh really? Why'd they fuck it up for Daggerfall?

Dunno. But it really annoys me when I play Daggerfall.

 

[poocolator]

Oblibians could be called Arena 2.

This is pretty much all I would need to know about Arena.

 

[Konjad]

Arena - shit boring
Daggerfall - awesome huge world but except that it's mediocre
Morrowind - great atmosphere but except that it was mediocre
Oblivion - shit boring

Arena and Oblivion are the games people should ignore while giving a try Morrowind and Daggerfall. MW and DF are mediocre games with some awesome features and if these features hit your taste you'll be playing them for years. If not they will become boring pretty soon. Arena and Oblivion on the other hand are shitty games with mediocre features which will make you play them only for a short period of time. At least if you're not a consoletard.

 

[Andhaira]

Arena was fantastic, and a revolution for its time. IMO it was superior to daggerfall once you consider that daggerfall actually built upon arena, while arena was built from scratch.

 

[Ancient]

Arena was fantastic, and a revolution for its time. IMO it was superior to daggerfall once you consider that daggerfall actually built upon arena, while arena was built from scratch.

so you'd rather eat plain bread instead of a sandwich ?

 

[Konjad]

No, he would eat flour.

I mean if they had food in Pakistan.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Btw, what was the actual geography covered by Arena?

 

[Ancient]

Btw, what was the actual geography covered by Arena?

Whole Tamriel

 

[Rufus_T_Firefly]

I just started playing it, since in a twist of fate I find myself with the entire elder scrolls series (excluding redguard) so I figure I might as well start at the beginning. Turns out I played it when I was a kid, so theres a bit of nostalgia there.

Anyway, it's really more of a 3d roguelike than anything else. The world is huge, with lots of random towns and houses and the controls are shitty. Theres no skills, you just kinda level up and get better at hitting stuff. It uses an experience based system and you get a random amount of stat points every level to distribute. theres no custom classes, but each class has their own special ability, like fighters can repair stuff, rangers get their level added to hit and damage rolls, sorcerers absorb magic attacks ect. Interestingly allot of the special abilities would go on to become skills or birthsigns later in the series. Also only plate armor can be enchanted, so unless your a warrior, ranger or knight no +10 agility boots for you. Overall it feels much more D&D inspired than the later entries, having negative armor class and to hit modifiers and whatnot.

Some weird stuff: Lockpicking is useless, you can bash down doors by hitting them and treasure is just left on piles on the floor. When you break into a house it's treated like a dungeon, meaning all the houses are filled with lizardmen and minotaurs. The bigger fancier houses do have better treasure and tougher guards, which is pretty cool. There's no crime system, say your standing in the town square, wailing on some chumps door with an axe. 2 or 3 guards may show up but after you kill them your good to go. Or you can just keep bashing the door, once you enter and exit the house the guards will be gone and no one will be the wiser. the outdoor areas are filled with townspeople and I rarely get attacked out on the road.

If anyone decides to play it, here is the single best tip I can give you: If you right click on the door to a shop/inn/mage guild its automatically labeled on the automap. Makes everything allot easier. If anyone wants to know anything else let me know, I'm a never-ending fountain of knowledge on shitty games.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Btw, what was the actual geography covered by Arena?

A randomly-generated map that doesn't actually have anything on it.

As in, you can start at the town, leave, keep walking, and the only thing you'll ever reach is the town again when you cross the entire world.

I wasn't too fond of Arena, really. It's not terrible, but for the reasons others have listed, I don't see any reason to play it over Daggerfall - I think nomask loved it, so I say this at the risk of him running in screaming that I hate Beethoven, but there you have it. If you have played Daggerfall and enjoy it, it's worth a try - hell, they're both free from Bethesda's site anyway - but I wouldn't bother with it first.

 

[DraQ]

Oblibians could be called Arena 2.

This is pretty much all I would need to know about Arena.

Well, the lore is pretty much nonexistant in both games. Both use simple as fuck, unambiguous plot - in case of Arena it's "collect seven pieces of macguffin hidden in dungeons spread around whole continent to defeat the evil foozle", both seem more or less generically DnDish. Arena has some actual dungeons and randomly generated, unlimited worldspace, albeit discontinuous one. OTOH it has next to none customization options TES is so famous for, no factions and mechanics ripped off nearly verbatim from DnD.

Arena was fantastic, and a revolution for its time. IMO it was superior to daggerfall once you consider that daggerfall actually built upon arena, while arena was built from scratch.

so you'd rather eat plain bread instead of a sandwich ?

Arena - shit boring
Daggerfall - awesome huge world but except that it's mediocre
Morrowind - great atmosphere but except that it was mediocre
Oblivion - shit boring

Arena and Oblivion are the games people should ignore while giving a try Morrowind and Daggerfall. MW and DF are mediocre games with some awesome features and if these features hit your taste you'll be playing them for years. If not they will become boring pretty soon. Arena and Oblivion on the other hand are shitty games with mediocre features which will make you play them only for a short period of time. At least if you're not a consoletard.

I'd say that DF and MW are awesome games but riddled with "what is it i dont even" caliber flaws. Arena and Oblivion would be mediocre games, but they are also riddled with same amount of equally crippling flaws. At least Arena has an excuse, being series' prototype.