You guys MUST play The Elder Scrolls: Arena

[Wyrmlord]

Well, both Arena and Daggerfall are from the pre-hiking simulator era.

Which - I must admit - kinda justifies the smaller dungeons. Yes, the dungeons are smaller, but these tiny tombs crater all over a vast landscape. They are merely a small part of the larger process of exploring the world of the game.

A game can be either an outdoor game or an indoor game, but not be great at both. It's why Skyrim also compensated small indoor dungeons with vast outdoor enemy camps, which I think were better than the indoor dungeons. The indoor dungeons also functioned as conduits between two outdoor areas. It works nicely.

 

[nihil]

Is Arena procedurally generated like Daggerfall?

 

[Luzur]

Is Arena procedurally generated like Daggerfall?

except the main dungeons, i think, cant really remember anymore.

 

[Nomask Alt]

Also:
Cool, I didn't know even after all this time that item location in stores is fixed!

Yes, it surprised me as well. There are, what, ten thousand items at least in this game, once you total all the stores in each town and then in each province? They painstaking placed each of them manually. Scary. .

I would think they generated the item lists randomly once, then put them into the game and left them fixed.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I can't do anything to the Ice golems. I looked online, and it said you needed to have weapons that are of elven weapon grade, or better. I got a sword and a bow of pretty high grade, but every time I attack them it misses.

 

[Wyrmlord]

I can't do anything to the Ice golems. I looked online, and it said you needed to have weapons that are of elven weapon grade, or better. I got a sword and a bow of pretty high grade, but every time I attack them it misses.

Ice golems? You have had a very slow progress with this game. That is just the third level, right?

You might do the Artifact Quest for the Ebony Blade in the Imperial City.

 

[DraQ]

Well, both Arena and Daggerfall are from the pre-hiking simulator era.

Which - I must admit - kinda justifies the smaller dungeons. Yes, the dungeons are smaller, but these tiny tombs crater all over a vast landscape. They are merely a small part of the larger process of exploring the world of the game.

A game can be either an outdoor game or an indoor game, but not be great at both. It's why Skyrim also compensated small indoor dungeons with vast outdoor enemy camps, which I think were better than the indoor dungeons. The indoor dungeons also functioned as conduits between two outdoor areas. It works nicely.

Well phrased, because despite being distinct from each other and having some nice eyecandy sections the dungeons in Skyrim are mostly linear like piece of fucking wire and either loop on themselves or exit via different, if you're lucky merely concealed or hard to reach, if not, outright barred from inside, opening.

Exterior camps, OTOH can be pretty impressive.

Still, what's the point of Daggerfall's vast overland area if there is literally nothing there? Well, you could theoretically find unmarked locations but chances are almost nil given their size and spread and RT travel times prohibitive so it isn't a valid playstyle.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I can't do anything to the Ice golems. I looked online, and it said you needed to have weapons that are of elven weapon grade, or better. I got a sword and a bow of pretty high grade, but every time I attack them it misses.

Ice golems? You have had a very slow progress with this game. That is just the third level, right?

You might do the Artifact Quest for the Ebony Blade in the Imperial City.

Yeah, extremely slow. I have been very busy in these last few weeks, in fact I'm still in Toronto until the rest of the month, and living in a hotel room.

I bought a sword of paralysis for 10000 gold coins, but even that couldn't do anything to them.

This is the one thing that nags me about the game, I'm afraid of missing interesting side quests like these, and reading up about them would spoil the sense of mystery of the game. And there are so many cities, and it's so random/long that you'll stumble upon an NPC that will finally tell you about one.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

This is the one thing that nags me about the game, I'm afraid of missing interesting side quests like these, and reading up about them would spoil the sense of mystery of the game. And there are so many cities, and it's so random/long that you'll stumble upon an NPC that will finally tell you about one.

There are only like 5 random quest templates in the whole game. If you want to do sidequests just ask people about rumors and work until something crops up.

 

[abnaxus]

Well phrased, because despite being distinct from each other and having some nice eyecandy sections the dungeons in Skyrim are mostly linear like piece of fucking wire and either loop on themselves or exit via different, if you're lucky merely concealed or hard to reach, if not, outright barred from inside, opening.

Exterior camps, OTOH can be pretty impressive.

At least there's usually a little backstory or sometimes even random quest tied to dungeons. That is very rare in Morrowind.

 

[DraQ]

Well phrased, because despite being distinct from each other and having some nice eyecandy sections the dungeons in Skyrim are mostly linear like piece of fucking wire and either loop on themselves or exit via different, if you're lucky merely concealed or hard to reach, if not, outright barred from inside, opening.

Exterior camps, OTOH can be pretty impressive.

At least there's usually a little backstory or sometimes even random quest tied to dungeons. That is very rare in Morrowind.

I wouldn't call it rare, because there tends to be at least some environmental storytelling, but yeah, Skyrim does this pretty well.

 

[JarlFrank]

I went through Labyrinthian recently.

I guess it was too much to expect it to actually live up to its name. Last time I checked, labyrinths were not linear.

 

[Lunac]

Skyrim does this pretty well.

Skyrim does this pretty well.

Skyrim does this pretty well.

Skyrim does this pretty well.

...
..
.

 

[JarlFrank]

Yeah, Skyrim is not complete shit and does some things rather well. Doesn't mean it's flawless. What was your point again?

 

[Humanity has risen!]

This is the one thing that nags me about the game, I'm afraid of missing interesting side quests like these, and reading up about them would spoil the sense of mystery of the game. And there are so many cities, and it's so random/long that you'll stumble upon an NPC that will finally tell you about one.

There are only like 5 random quest templates in the whole game. If you want to do sidequests just ask people about rumors and work until something crops up.

I know that, but I'm talking about unique, more substantial sidequests that aren't randomly generated, like Wyrmlord alludes to.

 

[Wyrmlord]

This is the one thing that nags me about the game, I'm afraid of missing interesting side quests like these, and reading up about them would spoil the sense of mystery of the game. And there are so many cities, and it's so random/long that you'll stumble upon an NPC that will finally tell you about one.

There are only like 5 random quest templates in the whole game. If you want to do sidequests just ask people about rumors and work until something crops up.

I know that, but I'm talking about unique, more substantial sidequests that aren't randomly generated, like Wyrmlord alludes to.

Artifact quests are not unique.

They just show up under General Rumours. All artifact quests are the same, but the artifact reward is different. It is a more difficult version of a generic side quest.

 

[abnaxus]

If you play as a spellcasting class, artifacts aren't necessary though.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I'm seriously about to give up on this, I tried for 3-4 hours to trigger an artifact quest, I spent so much time in Tamriel asking in all the inns, but I never get an encounter with the location of an artifact. I still can't touch the ice golems. I don't feel like grinding for hours doing random fetch quests, or trying to enter outside dungeons or steal houses for incredibly small rewards.

Incredibly fascinating game, but I don't have that much time to lose anymore. And the randomness/genericness wears down on you after a while.

 

[Sceptic]

There's really only one way to play Arena without giving up with the tedium: play a spellcaster (Battlemage is a good one), make your own spells, and don't do ANY quest that isn't part of the MQ. TBH while I can see while some people (IIRC Wyrmlord and nomask in particular) like it, as the design of some MQ dungeons is really quite excellent, the procedural generation is much worse than in Daggerfall. And even the dungeon design is severely hurt by everything respawning when you change levels (as opposed to DF where things only respawn when you exit the dungeon completely)

 

[Humanity has risen!]

So do I have any way of playing the game with my rogue if I'm unable to trigger any of these elusive artifact quests? Can I buy a magic item that would help me? Is there a shop in a particular town that has a powerful enough weapon?

In spite of its limitations, it's pretty amazing for its time. Think about it, in the same year, Squaresoft was releasing Final Fantasy VI, just another variation on the classic JRPG formula with extended in-game cutscenes and minigames.

And then there was this monster, with so many endless possibilities that it constantly floors you. The ambition was simply phenomenal.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

http://www.gameskyrim.com/arena-how-beat-ice-golems-t64124.html

I believe items of fire magic should do more harm to the Ice golems... During the game you will come across a lot of magic items that you must equip (marks, bracers, rings and crystals). u can t ry them out to see what they do or go to a mages guild to identify them.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/11146-13-arena-questions

> Similarly, I'm having difficulties with ice golems. Do weapons damage
> these? I killed my first one with only a weapon, but it was the

Ice golems need fire to die

There's a few Marks, Crystals etc lying
around with
Flame throwing spells (forget the name). 2, max 3 of these and your ice
golem's a nice puddle

Tried this already?

Regarding artifact quests, doesn't seem like you need to actually do random quests ad nauseam to trigger those:

10. I have an artifact. I cannot seem to get another artifact
quest. Why?
While you are holding one artifact, you cannot get another
artifact quest. Go to a shop and leave your artifact for
repair. If you are told it does not need repair, use it and
then immediately leave it for repair. Then go out into the
street and get another artifact quest. Once the quest is
noted in your log, you can go back and pick up the repaired
artifact(s) and go on the quest.

11. How do I get an artifact quest?
By asking for a general rumor in the street. Pick a NPC and
ask 10-20 times. If after 3 or 4 requests you get 'I know
nothing' type replies, go to another NPC. Eventually you
will get something like "X is at Inn Y trying to sell a map
to find artifact Z'... Go to the Inn, click on the innkeeper
and negotiate with character X. Either pay the fee asked or
forget that artifact, and try for a different artifact quest
out in the street. Incidently, if you do not want the particular
artifact named, just keep asking the NPC that gave you this
artifact seller's location. Ask until you are given the name
of an artifact you really want. Eventually all of the artifacts
you do not currently possess will be named, if you do not go to
the named tavern to get the location of the map for one of them.

12. When I have an artifact, do I get to keep it forever?
Yes, if you never use it magically; for example, only use it
as a regular weapon or wear it as a ring (but there is one
exception). No otherwise. The higher your character's
level, the more times you can use its magic/spells, but
eventually you will use it up, UNLESS you get it repaired
before it disappears. When you repair an item, it is
restored to its original value and starts as if it were new.

13. If I lose an artifact, can I get it back?
It goes back into the pool of 16 artifacts, less those you
already hold, and can become a quest again.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Ask only in the Imperial City. Don't ask elsewhere.

Don't ask in the inns about artifacts.

Ask in the streets.

Don't ask under Work.

Ask under General.

Don't ask non-talkative people. Ask talkative people who talk about everything from the latest plague to the newest royal gossip.

When you find a talkative person, ask him ten to twenty times under Rumours -> General before moving on to the next talkative person you find.

This process takes me maximum five minutes to generate an Artifact quest.

 

[Wyrmlord]

So do I have any way of playing the game with my rogue if I'm unable to trigger any of these elusive artifact quests? Can I buy a magic item that would help me? Is there a shop in a particular town that has a powerful enough weapon?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

All the locations of good items are fixed.

Here is a quick checklist for your rogue.

Ebony Katana (8-21 damage) in The Village Sundries, Shadymarch, Hammerfell (one-handed, if you want to use a shield)

Ebony Daikatana (8-26 damage) in The Practical Gear Store, Corten Mont, Hammerfell (two-handed, if you don't want to use a shield)

Ebony Longbow (7-17 damage) in The Village Sundries, Shadymarch, Hammerfell

Ebony Kite Shield ( -7 AC to four parts of your body each) in The Practical Supply Store, Hegathe, Hammerfell (if you use a katana)

Ebony Amulet ( -7 AC to whole body) in Mages Guild of Old Falls, Summerset Isles

Ebony Belt ( -7 AC to whole body) in Mages Guild of Rockpark, Blackmarsh

Ebony Bracelet ( -7 AC to whole body) in Mages Guild of Alinor, Summerset Isles

Ebony Torc ( -7 AC to whole body) in Mages Guild of Vulkhel Guard, Summerset Isles

While you are deep enough in the MQ to have some decent amount of money, you probably won't be able to afford more than two of these items. After each dungeon, you may get enough loot and money to buy another one or two of the above. If not, you could repeat the same dungeons over and over until you do.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

The ice golems finally go down with the ebony katana.

I had some fire bracers, but for some reason they didn't do anything, even after casting 15 fire spells in a row.

 

[eric__s]

Passwall is the coolest spell in any game and the biggest travesty isn't the loss of procedurally generated content and character depth in future iterations of the series, but passwall. Man, Arena was Red Faction 7 years before Red Faction.