Review TES: Arena retrospective at RPG Watch

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls: Arena

<a href=http://www.rpgwatch.com>RPG Watch</a> has taken a <a href=http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=28&ref=0&id=180>look</a> at Arena, the game that had started the Elder Scrolls series and put Bethesda on the RPG map.
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<blockquote>Quests are many, but simplistic. Escort my niece, retrieve my book, take this message, about sums them up. Still, early on they are a great way to gather both experience and gold. If you stay outside in the streets at night (as opposed to sleeping in a tavern), then you’ll get the opportunity to practise your swordplay and spellcasting as assorted monsters, thieves and mages roam the streets at night, attacking anyone they find. The artefact quests and the ‘main’ quest are a little different, but I’ll leave you to discover them on your own.</blockquote>It's a decent game, but anyone who's interested in the old classics should play Daggerfall - one of the top 10 RPGs, in my opinion.
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[hiciacit]

It's a decent game, but anyone who's interested in the old classics should play Daggerfall - one of the top 10 RPGs, in my opinion.

Yeah, Daggerfall had it's moments. I never got it to work decently under XP though.

 

[Jasede]

Use Dosbox. [Even with Dosbox it's pretty hard, the CD check is a bitch [And I actually have the original CD]].

Refer back once you tried it with Dosbox and state the nature of your gaming emergency when it fails, which it will.

 

[elander_]

Yeah, Daggerfall had it's moments. I never got it to work decently under XP though.

You can with Dosbox. There's a pinned thread on the Elderscrolls past games forums that explains how to do this.

Arena and Daggerfall are great examples of how games should evolve, but Arena is still a game that pulls you in. The dungeons are very good with their classic Dungeon Master style and there's not much else to it. Guilds, factions and a significant background plot was only developed in Daggerfall.

Morrowind was a great disappointment. They have add some of what the fans expected of a new Elderscrolls game: improved graphics, localized guild quests, a much more interesting wilderness but they also changed the scope of the game completely to use the same model used by the Ultimas but failed in copying their quality.

What makes the difference between great and banal gameplay is very subtle. It takes more effort to fine-tune a game from 80% to 95% than to do the initial 80%. This is the more interesting and critical part of game design.

 

[Volourn]

ES games suck. All of them. There is NO exception to this rule. None whatsoever.

 

[Pink Elephant Floppy Ears]

I agree with Volourn, Arena is awful.

Daggerfall is worth playing but it's not the best game ever. I just found an old DVD with a copy Daggerfall on it and am considering installing it.

 

[JarlFrank]

ES games suck. All of them. There is NO exception to this rule. None whatsoever.

Daggerfall and Morrowind both gave me quite some fun. So they didn't suck.

 

[denizsi]

I agree with Volourn, Arena is awful.

Daggerfall is worth playing but it's not the best game ever. I just found an old DVD with a copy Daggerfall on it and am considering installing it.

How can you agree with Volourn (ES games suck. All of them) and say Daggerfall is worth playing?

Yeah, Daggerfall had it's moments. I never got it to work decently under XP though.

DosBox 0.7 has just been released and I read that Daggerfall works very smoothly on it. You could also try installing a virtual machine with W98.

 

[Volourn]

Denizsi wins. The illogicalness of some people is illogical.

 

[Ahzaruuk]

Denizsi wins. The illogicalness of some people is illogical.

Logic is DEAD! R00fles!

 

[Romanian_Dude2005]

Arena had the best combat and dungeon design of the series. Daggerfall was better at everything else. Morrowind was eqiuvalent to a oversimplified Ultima game, but it was overall a good game. If Oblivion might've expanded the direction that Morrowind was headed then it would've been a step closer to Ultima quality, but instead it tried to go back to Rogue-like gameplay and made a cocktail of design flaws and half implemented gameplay features, however it's not a bad game, the only trouble though is that it's not a good one either.

Logic is DEAD! R00fles!

Is it me or has Rayner adopted the hivemind personality so well that it's hardly even noticeable that he hasn't yet played a decent PC RPG?

BTW how's it going with Fallout Ahzaruuk? Did you find a copy of it?

 

[Pink Elephant Floppy Ears]

How can you agree with Volourn (ES games suck. All of them) and say Daggerfall is worth playing?

I agree with Volourn that the subject of this thread, Arena, sucks. Actually I agree with him three quarters (since three out of four ES games suck) and I disagree with him on only one game.

Learn some English before lecturing me again, idiot.

 

[mister lamat]

it's been a constant with bethesda, lots of really innovative and interesting ideas that wind up being really underdeveloped or poorly utilized. it's funny, they use some of the best 'good coding practices' of any game developer out there, and it's been on the rise since arena, yet resulting product has declined from a gaming standpoint at the same ratio.

 

[Ahzaruuk]

Is it me or has Rayner adopted the hivemind personality so well that it's hardly even noticeable that he hasn't yet played a decent PC RPG?

BTW how's it going with Fallout Ahzaruuk? Did you find a copy of it?

I adapt quite quickly if I simply observe for a while

I haven't gotten to try Fallout yet. My acess to older games is heavly restricted, as I can't order off the internet, and the chances of finding anything in a store is practically nil.

I'll just wait for AoD. Anything before 2004 is hard as hell to find for PC. Unless it's Diablo or Starcraft

 

[Hazelnut]

it's been a constant with bethesda, lots of really innovative and interesting ideas that wind up being really underdeveloped or poorly utilized. it's funny, they use some of the best 'good coding practices' of any game developer out there, and it's been on the rise since arena, yet resulting product has declined from a gaming standpoint at the same ratio.

So, how did you come to that opinion mr. l?

 

[Bradylama]

I'll just wait for AoD.

Unless things have changed since NMA interviewed VD, it's purely digital distribution.

 

[Jora]

I'll just wait for AoD.

Unless things have changed since NMA interviewed VD, it's purely digital distribution.

VD says there'll be an option to buy a full package:

AoD's mail edition will include everything you expect from a retail package - a nice, shiny box, color manual, nice jewel case, etc. We can easily afford the best with small orders.

http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic ... 634#334634

 

[Jasede]

Is it me or has Rayner adopted the hivemind personality so well that it's hardly even noticeable that he hasn't yet played a decent PC RPG?

BTW how's it going with Fallout Ahzaruuk? Did you find a copy of it?

I adapt quite quickly if I simply observe for a while

I haven't gotten to try Fallout yet. My acess to older games is heavly restricted, as I can't order off the internet, and the chances of finding anything in a store is practically nil.

I'll just wait for AoD. Anything before 2004 is hard as hell to find for PC. Unless it's Diablo or Starcraft

Then get Starcraft BW from the strategy gaming thread and play it with the boys at #Fallout, fag. It'll be worth your whiiiiiile.

 

[tunguska]

If you haven't played the game, and I mean, played it when it was new, you won't be able to rate the game fairly. Yes, it had a poor, thin, clichéd story. Yes, it had mostly fed-ex quests (although the were usually optional) Yes the fighting was RT or maybe RTwP (can't remember). But the game had a certain je ne sais quoi. An atmosphere. I mean, we now take all the bethesda game characteristics for granted, but back then, the pickpocketing and stealing seemed very cool. As was the fighting with different attacks with different weapons based on how you moved the mouse. Those shiny long swords swinging into the shoulder of a guard and seeing a spurt of blood. Very nice. There was also a beat the clock aspect to it. The arch-villian would come visit you (when you were sleeping?) to tell you that he can feel your progress and that you will never succeed, haha. The mosnters were pretty good in general and you could even be poisoned. The dungeons were as square as office buildings but that allowed and effective use of Passwall, which would dissapear 1 block on the game map. although it didn't always work. There were occassionaly some riddles in the game which could sometimes be just a little bit difficult but nothing compared to serious adventure games.As thin as the story was it did at least keep me going right to the end. I only did a few side quests when they seemed interesting and offered a powerful artifact that might might allow a more interesting gameplay.

Too bad the reviewer never played the game when it was released. Then he might have written a fair review. And he mentions the fedex-quests which is a moot point since all the rest of the Elder Scroll series has em too. And if anything have become even more dependent on you running errands to finish the game. In short, yes, I think this was the best cRPG BethSoft has ever produced and will ever produce. Daggerfall is pretty good too, but was a step down from Arena in most aspects except fighting and graphics. And better sound fx, music, and voice acting as well. But anyone who plays daggerfall, should play arena first.

 

[Lumpy]

Is it me or has Rayner adopted the hivemind personality so well that it's hardly even noticeable that he hasn't yet played a decent PC RPG?

BTW how's it going with Fallout Ahzaruuk? Did you find a copy of it?

I adapt quite quickly if I simply observe for a while

I haven't gotten to try Fallout yet. My acess to older games is heavly restricted, as I can't order off the internet, and the chances of finding anything in a store is practically nil.

Why don't you download it?

 

[stargelman]

I agree with Tunguska concerning Arena. It had an atmosphere to it that no other TES game ever managed to achieve, a real feeling of impending doom, despair, desolation and many other fancy words starting with the letter d.

Yes, as far as RPG elements go, it's very limited. I don't even think it's physically possible to finish this game with a thief class character (it would be way too hard), but I still loved it intensely.

Incidentally, I am playing it again right now. I'm on my way to the bottom of the Crypt of Hearts right now, a place that always kind of gave me a feeling of claustrophobia - again something no other TES game has ever achieved.

 

[JarlFrank]

I agree with Tunguska concerning Arena. It had an atmosphere to it that no other TES game ever managed to achieve, a real feeling of impending doom, despair, desolation and many other fancy words starting with the letter d.

Yes, as far as RPG elements go, it's very limited. I don't even think it's physically possible to finish this game with a thief class character (it would be way too hard), but I still loved it intensely.

Incidentally, I am playing it again right now. I'm on my way to the bottom of the Crypt of Hearts right now, a place that always kind of gave me a feeling of claustrophobia - again something no other TES game has ever achieved.

Well, I liked the riddles. It was the only TES game with riddles. And riddles are good, well, at least I like them.

And that with the athmosphere is true, it really feels claustrophopic at most places. And the athmosphere is generally more sinister than in the other ES games.

Although Daggerfall's dungeons also often gave me some feeling of being lost in a huge dungeon. Maybe because they were huge and you could get lost.

 

[Ahzaruuk]

Is it me or has Rayner adopted the hivemind personality so well that it's hardly even noticeable that he hasn't yet played a decent PC RPG?

BTW how's it going with Fallout Ahzaruuk? Did you find a copy of it?

I adapt quite quickly if I simply observe for a while

I haven't gotten to try Fallout yet. My acess to older games is heavly restricted, as I can't order off the internet, and the chances of finding anything in a store is practically nil.

Why don't you download it?

Y'know, that thought never really occured to me.

 

[mister lamat]

So, how did you come to that opinion mr. l?

if you look at what they do release of it, it's clean and uniform. the rest just relies on having a metric fucktonne of cash where you can do things like pair coding (working with a partner to catch your mistakes early) and testing. that's all there is to the term. they're not brilliant or innovative just really 'professional' about it, for lack of a better term.

 

[elander_]

And that with the athmosphere is true, it really feels claustrophopic at most places. And the athmosphere is generally more sinister than in the other ES games.

I have to agree with this. Arena had roads, temples and taverns outside cities near the roads. It was more frequent to be attacked at night by robers when the stores were closed and it had prostitutes on the street. You could pay a prostitute and sometimes you would get sifilis. Whoo hoo i'm a real man now. :twisted: But really while Arena used the same blocks and procedural generation techniques the world was more alive.

I don't agree about quests. The background plot was the best of the series, full of political intrigue and backstabbing. Commoners quests were very good. Some of the thieves quests were also very good giving you insights on the lore and Daggerfall society.

Both Arena and Daggerfall follow a model similar to Darklands but in Daggerfall you get more chances to roleplay non-fighter characters and you get some opportunities to influence the political scenarion (not just at the end of the game) and to play the political factions to your liking, but sadly it missed dialog rp.