Thoughts on Battlespire

[Deuce Traveler]

So after a hiatus I decided to take on TES: Battlespire once more. I'm still just at the beginning, but already the game is much different than what I normally expect from the series. Typically I play a dark elf with skills focused upon a bow, long blade, stealth, illusion magic, back stab and restoration magic. I can play a jack-of-all-trades character, because if hurt I can always flee back to civilization and heal up.

But not in Battlespire. The game seems much more combat focused, and because of this I find myself thrown into combat right away against creatures difficult to kill, and with no option to flee to a safe area and try again. Scamps are easy, but everything else is quite a bit tougher. So for the first time I am playing a Redguard with long blade, restoration magic, and missile still being primary skills, but now I have dropped Illusion and Stealth for skills such as Critical Strike and Dodging. I'm hoping that I have not hurt myself in this, but I have also dropped my bonus mana points I had used in Arena and Daggerfall for Regenerative Healing. This last seems to have helped, at least in the short run.

Anyway, I'm not altogether certain what I think of the game just yet, but so far it has been an interesting twist on the series.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

The game seems much more combat focused

I heard somewhere it was originally intended as a dungeon crawl addition to Daggerfall but evolved into a spin-off, so that quote is not surprising.

Anyway, I'm not altogether certain what I think of the game just yet, but so far it has been an interesting twist on the series.

I'll be interested to see what you think of it. I have a boxed copy sitting on my shelf but I've never actually played it (a running theme). If it's just a dungeon crawl with daggerfall combat then I don't think I could take more than five minutes of that. It sounds like the answer to the question of what would happen if you removed the open world from an Elder Scrolls game and let it stand on its RPG foundations.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

It's the best TES game. And it's the best FPS dungeon crawler, I even prefer it to UU.

And it's more like an answer to the question of what would happen if you remove the open world, LARPing, copy-pasted and procedure-generated staff from an Elder Scrolls game, but add awesome handcrafted dungeons.

 

[MWaser]

It's the best TES game. And it's the best FPS dungeon crawler, I even prefer it to UU.

And it's more like an answer to the question of what would happen if you remove the open world, LARPing, copy-pasted and procedure-generated staff from an Elder Scrolls game, but add awesome handcrafted dungeons.

Are the "awesome" hand-crafted dungeon the same type of hand-crafted dungeons you find in Daggerfall?

If so, that sounds awful.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Joined: Nov 22, 2015

Are the "awesome" hand-crafted dungeon the same type of hand-crafted dungeons you find in Daggerfall?

If so, that sounds awful.

remove the open world, LARPing, copy-pasted and procedure-generated staff

 

[MWaser]

the hand-crafted dungeons in Daggerfall were awful too, just because they were less terrible doesn't make them high quality.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

O.........K.

Battlespire's dungeons are much better than plot dungeons from Daggerfall. Maybe they aren't as epic as Wiz7, Dark Heart of Uukrul or Chaos Strikes Back dungeons, but are comparable with ones from UU.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Battlespire's dungeons are pretty fun.

 

[MWaser]

Battlespire's dungeons are much better than plot dungeons from Daggerfall.

Well that's good to hear, then.

 

[Lemming42]

It's fun, but I can't get it to run, it's all janky and fucked up on dosbox. I wish that Daggerfall had Battlespire style dungeons.

 

[markec]

So after a hiatus I decided to take on TES: Battlespire once more. I'm still just at the beginning, but already the game is much different than what I normally expect from the series. Typically I play a dark elf with skills focused upon a bow, long blade, stealth, illusion magic, back stab and restoration magic. I can play a jack-of-all-trades character, because if hurt I can always flee back to civilization and heal up.

But not in Battlespire. The game seems much more combat focused, and because of this I find myself thrown into combat right away against creatures difficult to kill, and with no option to flee to a safe area and try again. Scamps are easy, but everything else is quite a bit tougher. So for the first time I am playing a Redguard with long blade, restoration magic, and missile still being primary skills, but now I have dropped Illusion and Stealth for skills such as Critical Strike and Dodging. I'm hoping that I have not hurt myself in this, but I have also dropped my bonus mana points I had used in Arena and Daggerfall for Regenerative Healing. This last seems to have helped, at least in the short run.

Anyway, I'm not altogether certain what I think of the game just yet, but so far it has been an interesting twist on the series.

For me Battlespire stands with Morrowind as my favorite TES game, now here are few advices.

I personally like to play with simple fighter so my tips come with that build.

When creating a character drop points in attributes your class dont need and build up those you do need. In my case I made Luck, Personality, Willpower and Intelligence a dump stat (luck and personality are a dump stat no matter what class you make). Use excess of points to get advantages of immunity to different spell effects, and disadvantage of no regen of spell points for extra points. Only take a best possible weapon for starting equipment since you will find lots of armor at first level.

At first level rush for blue crystals room, they heal you completely and restore after loading a game (this only works at first map) this will make completing first level a breeze. While playing gather and keep potions and items that restore health. Even if you take poison immunity dont throw away cure poison potions, you will need them later (atlest I did but that might have been a bug with one enemy type near the end). Always have a spare weapon and keep your heavily damaged best weapon since almost every level has a item restoration chest. Gather every arrow you can find and save them only for toughest enemies, in late game some monsters are extremely hard to beat in close combat.

It's fun, but I can't get it to run, it's all janky and fucked up on dosbox. I wish that Daggerfall had Battlespire style dungeons.

Did you try GOG version, it works like a charm for me.

 

[MWaser]

So after a hiatus I decided to take on TES: Battlespire once more. I'm still just at the beginning, but already the game is much different than what I normally expect from the series. Typically I play a dark elf with skills focused upon a bow, long blade, stealth, illusion magic, back stab and restoration magic. I can play a jack-of-all-trades character, because if hurt I can always flee back to civilization and heal up.

But not in Battlespire. The game seems much more combat focused, and because of this I find myself thrown into combat right away against creatures difficult to kill, and with no option to flee to a safe area and try again. Scamps are easy, but everything else is quite a bit tougher. So for the first time I am playing a Redguard with long blade, restoration magic, and missile still being primary skills, but now I have dropped Illusion and Stealth for skills such as Critical Strike and Dodging. I'm hoping that I have not hurt myself in this, but I have also dropped my bonus mana points I had used in Arena and Daggerfall for Regenerative Healing. This last seems to have helped, at least in the short run.

Anyway, I'm not altogether certain what I think of the game just yet, but so far it has been an interesting twist on the series.

For me Battlespire stands with Morrowind as my favorite TES game, now here are few advices.

I personally like to play with simple fighter so my tips come with that build.

When creating a character drop points in attributes your class dont need and build up those you do need. In my case I made Luck, Personality, Willpower and Intelligence a dump stat (luck and personality are a dump stat no matter what class you make). Use excess of points to get advantages of immunity to different spell effects, and disadvantage of no regen of spell points for extra points. Only take a best possible weapon for starting equipment since you will find lots of armor at first level.

At first level rush for blue crystals room, they heal you completely and restore after loading a game (this only works at first map) this will make completing first level a breeze. While playing gather and keep potions and items that restore health. Even if you take poison immunity dont throw away cure poison potions, you will need them later (atlest I did but that might have been a bug with one enemy type near the end). Always have a spare weapon and keep your heavily damaged best weapon since almost every level has a item restoration chest. Gather every arrow you can find and save them only for toughest enemies, in late game some monsters are extremely hard to beat in close combat.

Reading this actually really makes me want to try out Battlespire someday

 

[Deuce Traveler]

So I took awhile to get out of the first dungeon, and had to cheat a bit by looking at a walkthrough in order to find a final missing cog I had a hell of a time locating. It was behind a secret door I kept passing, which is funny since I found just about every other hidden door, including one hiding a helpful mage. You level up every time you complete a dungeon, so this is not the kind of game in which you reach an ungodly high level. Which means I'm going to have to plan out my attribute increases ahead of time. I think I might get either Strength and Agility up to about 100 and keep everything else around 50-60 points, or I might try to increase Strength, Agility and Endurance to 80. I'm enjoying the game for its dungeon design, but it suffers from some notable handicaps.

The AI is complete shit, but the monsters are tough enough that you have to take advantage of your opponents mental deficiencies in order to survive. If you run, monsters only pursue so far before giving up, which allows my character with the rapid healing advantage to run away, heal up, and come back ready to stab again like some kind of fantasy Wolverine. At one point I was surrounded by three Vermais and I swung my sword at them, hitting each on every swing, then when I took too much damage I ran around the large room until I slowly healed up, turned and killed them. Rapid healing has been worth every point I used to purchase it. I have also killed off a bunch of Dremora spellcasters by having them waste all of their mana trying to kill me with spells, running away to heal, then finishing them off in melee combat. The Dremora lord named Methats was the most helpful, as he killed off his Vermais guards who kept running in his magical crossfire, while I plucked him from afar with arrows. After I ran out of munitions, I went back down to the ground floor and finished him off with my greatsword. He hit harder than the others, but a combination of hit and run tactics helped me win the day.

The greatsword has been awesome. Sometimes when I get jumped by multiple enemies, I can swing it and hit them all in the same attack, so I am dishing out damage at the same rate I am taking it. I'm fighting the spider daedra now on the second dungeon, and getting my butt kicked, but they can't walk through the entranceway to the first room. So I stab them a few times until I'm too hurt, then run into the room and watch as the bounce around the entrance until I am healed up, and wade in to slice them up again. I've been lucky enough not to run out of weapons and armor so far. Anyway, a neat game due to the dungeon design, but somewhat flawed.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Such degenerate gameplay.

Sounds like you're having fun though!

 

[markec]

I do hope you are talking with everyone you encounter since you can get some interesting information, bits of lore or even influence enemies to help you or run away.

As an example, on the first level if you kill Methats you can take and equip his pauldrons, then trough dialog you can convince Vermais not to attack you.

Dremoras are the most fun to talk to, they openly mock you and consider you nothing but a hunters prey which sometimes can bite back.

The game is a flawed gem but gem nevertheless.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

My Christmas present to myself was finishing this game. Just did it a few minutes ago. I don't think you can defeat most of the enemies at the last two dungeon levels with just hack and slash unless you are really, really good at fast twitch reactions using a mouse. I had to depend on ambush and flight tactics for the weaker opponents, and missile weapons for the more difficult. Luckily for me I had the foresight to keep daedric arrows I collected for the final confrontation, so I had more than 100 such arrows in the last level and they came in quite handy. The game throws tons of the hardest creatures at you at the end of the game, which should be a problem, except that they get stuck on the edge of walls and become vulnerable. Anyway, this is the last sexually edgy Elder Scrolls game, I think, with the way your hot female friend is left for you to move in and rescue her... and with how the seducers are half-clothed and drain your life force if you engage with them. At least I got some titillation from the last parts of the game. I need to get my notes together and do a proper write-up in the coming weeks.

 

[Luzur]

Well Battlespire would have been my favorite Dungeoncrawl Elder Scrolls, if it hadnt been more buggier then Daggerfall.

It was one hell of a beast to get working, and when i got it working it would randomly crash anyway.

 

[Atlantico]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y0g4isr06A

Battlespire game review by LGR. I approve of the gratuitous nudity but the game relaunching every time you die will get tired fast.

 

[markec]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y0g4isr06A

Battlespire game review by LGR. I approve of the gratuitous nudity but the game relaunching every time you die will get tired fast.

Shit review is shit.

Pretty much boils down to this aint like Daggerfall and its hard so it sucks.

But here are some points I will comment.

1. Every time you die the game restarts.

You dont need to restart the game every time you die. When you die you open the menu and load a save.

2. Game is linear and not open like Daggerfall.

No shit, the game is a dungeon crawler and not sandbox game.

3. Game has lots of bugs.

Yeah unlike other Bethesda games especially Daggerfall.

4. Combat is atrocious.

Combat is better then any other TES game.

5. Keys are confusing.

Only if you dont read their names.

6. You dont know what magical items do.

You can know what each item does by finding libraries that have scrolls with lists of magical properties.

7. Levels are dark and confusing.

Its called atmosphere and they are only confusing if you find the map confusing.

8. Map is confusing.

This guy is an idiot.

9. Game runs badly.

I never had this problem not when I played it when the game was released nor today.

10. Game is not optimized for all builds also you dont have conventional level up but very limited one.

The horror, you mean you actually have to plan your build.

11. You cant rest to heal.

The horror, you mean you actually have to plan your tactics.

12. He used cheats.

Did I mention he is an idiot.

 

[Atlantico]

Shit review is shit.

Oh man, did you actually claim that bugs are a part of the TES experience? Ahhahah yes, just go play your Fallout 4 derp Bethestard. If Bethesda releases a buggy mess then fuck them. There is no excuse for it.

Having said that, no review is perfect, but damn boy you're trying too hard, in the end you come out as the idiot.

1. You dont need to restart the game every time you die. When you die you open the menu and load a save.

- Here's some info for you then:

Each time my character dies the game boots me to the dosbox prompt and proceeds to reload itself. Is there anyway I can stop this from happening and, upon death, return to the in-game menu instead?
http://af.gog.com/forum/elder_scrolls_series/battlespire_problems?as=1649904300

Unfortunately the game quits and restarts automatically every time your character's health drops to zero, or in other words, when you are defeated. This behavior of the game cannot be changed. As soon as the game quits to DOS and the latest save is loaded
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Battlespire:Bugs

2. No shit, the game is a dungeon crawler and not sandbox game.
- quote the review: "this was clearly designed to be a dungeon crawler fantasy adventure inspired by Ultima Underworld and the Wizardry series", so it seems you and the reviewer are on the same page there. You just seem to have selective hearing.

4 Combat is better then any other TES game.
-

5. Only if you dont read their names.

- Yes, if you don't individually inspect every sigil .. and that's busywork. Which was the point. The items look the same when you pass them in the game.

6. You can know what each item does by finding libraries that have scrolls with lists of magical properties.

- That's not a good thing.

7+8. Its called atmosphere and they are only confusing if you find the map confusing.

- I don't mind the map, it's fine for its purposes, but viewdistance is pathetic and you know it and the game suffers from long unnecessarily convoluted empty corridors and mazes like most all early 3D games.

9. I never had this problem not when I played it when the game was released nor today.

- Of course not, a Bethestard who plays their games to enjoy the bugs would never experience poor performance. That's just the performance a Bethestard expects.

10. The horror, you mean you actually have to plan your build.

- Which in turn is impossible when you're playing through the game for the first time.

11. The horror, you mean you actually have to plan your tactics.

- Planning your tactics in a poorly performing, buggy, save-game fuck-upping game isn't quite the pleasure you present it as.

12. He used cheats.

- Yes he did. Clearly he should have restarted the game when he realized that his build just didn't work and "planned his build". Because that's not a waste of time.

 

[markec]

Oh man, did you actually claim that bugs are a part of the TES experience? Ahhahah yes, just go play your Fallout 4 derp Bethestard. If Bethesda releases a buggy mess then fuck them. There is no excuse for it.

Having said that, no review is perfect, but damn boy you're trying too hard, in the end you come out as the idiot.

Either you are the reviewer or a his big fanboy since its the only way to explain you being so butthurt.
Where did I claim that bugs are part of the experience? What does Fallout 4 has to to with anything? Well butthurt people often do write nonsensical stuff.

Now to explain to you in a more simpler way, my point was that all Bethesda games are buggy as fuck. While games like Daggerfall and Morrowind got official and fan made patches that make them far more stable and bug free for modern audience Battlespire had no such luck. The bugs I encountered in Battlespire are no different to those I experienced in Daggerfall and in neither of those games did bugs made them unplayable, also in my opinion Battlespire shouldnt be singled out for bugs.

1. You dont need to restart the game every time you die. When you die you open the menu and load a save.

- Here's some info for you then:

Each time my character dies the game boots me to the dosbox prompt and proceeds to reload itself. Is there anyway I can stop this from happening and, upon death, return to the in-game menu instead?
http://af.gog.com/forum/elder_scrolls_series/battlespire_problems?as=1649904300

Unfortunately the game quits and restarts automatically every time your character's health drops to zero, or in other words, when you are defeated. This behavior of the game cannot be changed. As soon as the game quits to DOS and the latest save is loaded
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Battlespire:Bugs

To be fair it long time ago since I played the game, but in my memory you can open menu and load the game before the death animation starts. If im wrong then I accept that Im wrong.

2. No shit, the game is a dungeon crawler and not sandbox game.
- quote the review: "this was clearly designed to be a dungeon crawler fantasy adventure inspired by Ultima Underworld and the Wizardry series", so it seems you and the reviewer are on the same page there. You just seem to have selective hearing.

And he continues to list all of the things that are present in Daggerfall and not in Battlespire from open world to lack of gold. If you establish that the game does not even try to be like its predecessor why compare them then?

4 Combat is better then any other TES game.
-

How about actually making an example how Im wrong?

5. Only if you dont read their names.

- Yes, if you don't individually inspect every sigil .. and that's busywork. Which was the point. The items look the same when you pass them in the game.

Not all enemies drop sigil, there are many different designs and it takes one click to see its name.

6. You can know what each item does by finding libraries that have scrolls with lists of magical properties.

- That's not a good thing.

Matter of opinion, I think its a good thing.

7+8. Its called atmosphere and they are only confusing if you find the map confusing.

- I don't mind the map, it's fine for its purposes, but viewdistance is pathetic and you know it and the game suffers from long unnecessarily convoluted empty corridors and mazes like most all early 3D games.

Do you think that view distance in Silent Hill is also bad?

9. I never had this problem not when I played it when the game was released nor today.

- Of course not, a Bethestard who plays their games to enjoy the bugs would never experience poor performance. That's just the performance a Bethestard expects.

Eternal butthurt of a idiotic mind.

10. The horror, you mean you actually have to plan your build.

- Which in turn is impossible when you're playing through the game for the first time.

So you quit and start again if you dont have common sense of making a logical build.

11. The horror, you mean you actually have to plan your tactics.

- Planning your tactics in a poorly performing, buggy, save-game fuck-upping game isn't quite the pleasure you present it as.

Speak for yourself even when I was a kid I had a blast with the game.

12. He used cheats.

- Yes he did. Clearly he should have restarted the game when he realized that his build just didn't work and "planned his build". Because that's not a waste of time.

Make a shit build, find the game is too hard, blame it on everything but his incompetence, makes sense.

Since when did we come to the point in RPGs where any kind of build you make needs to be successful?

You make a build, you try it, you see it doesnt work, you restart and make a new one, makes sense to me.

 

[abnaxus]

 

[pippin]

It's so funny how older Beth games had tons of nudity yet these days Beth won't even show a pair of tits, let alone allow you to have actual sex.
M rating means shit these days.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

It's so funny how older Beth games had tons of nudity yet these days Beth won't even show a pair of tits, let alone allow you to have actual sex.
M rating means shit these days.

Modders will fix it.

http://www.loverslab.com/

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

It's so funny how older Beth games had tons of nudity yet these days Beth won't even show a pair of tits, let alone allow you to have actual sex.
M rating means shit these days.

You kidding, the lore had sex cults and shit once upon a time. Cyrodiil had all kinds of crazy groups infesting their jungle capital.



Now it's temperate forests and the occasional generic chapel. *Sigh*