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ARENA and Daggerfall - Thoughts


LeopoldCrank

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Do people only dislike ARENA and Daggerfall because of the graphics, or do you think it is more to do with the vast array of bugs and the over-reliance on randomly generated content? Because hardly anyone has played them, but heaps have played both Morrowind and Oblivion. The other thing that prompted me to say this was because people still play Morrowind, and it has become quite bad graphics-wise without mods.
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Do people only dislike ARENA and Daggerfall because of the graphics, or do you think it is more to do with the vast array of bugs and the over-reliance on randomly generated content? Because hardly anyone has played them, but heaps have played both Morrowind and Oblivion. The other thing that prompted me to say this was because people still play Morrowind, and it has become quite bad graphics-wise without mods.

I would say that in general, the reason why these games aren't more often played is because movement in both is clunky at best, if your mouse even works with DOSBox. The dated graphics don't help much, but I would say that the biggest hurdle with these games is just in getting them to run properly and being able to do anything other than stand there while a rat kills you.

 

In many ways also, both Arena and Daggerfall were vastly more complicated than Morrowind since you pretty much had to know or figure out right quick how to play the game and what you were supposed to do. But, this was typical of RPGs at the time, and forced players to actually think about what they were doing and when. I would say that this sort of complexity is a bit more daunting than most younger gamers are willing to deal with. Arena was released about the same time as Ultima: Underworld (a game that was actually an inspiration for TES games to follow), and Darklands, a RPG which had not only a complex character and combat system, but also had elements which changed from one playthrough to the next. Old school RPGs didn't need a manual so much as a thick book and countless charts to play ( Baulders Gate had 156, + 3 pages for notes + map and reference guide, Baulders Gate II had just over 260 counting index and notes pages + map and reference guide)... Compared to newer ones which usually have a manual of about 20-40 pages (Fallout NV had 26, Dragonage had about 50). This movement away from bookdepth is something that even a mainstay like D&D has slowly been moving towards with recent additions being much trimmed down compared to 2nd edition rules (which were in excess of 500 pages for standard rules and abilities, with scenerio rulesets usually being a book unto themselves). Most players simply, don't want to spend the weeks or months reading how to play a game and how to best build their character, and generally just want to be able to play it... Go figure.

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There's also the fact that not that many people (at least around my age) even know they exist. Oblivion is known to them as just that-Oblivion. Many of them haven't considered the Elder Scrolls title tacked on the box. Less have played Morrowind and barely any know that Arena and Daggerfall exist. A lot of younger people definitely don't get the same feeling from playing older games like these as some of us, they game for the rush that they get from it rather than for a sense of adventure and awe.

 

I got Arena to work fine and loved it. I have yet to beat it, but I've messed around with a few characters long enough to become proficient at it. Daggerfall on the other hand is emulated slowely and I forgot how to change emulation speed...

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Indeed. When I was younger, I only knew of a "cool 3D game for DOS" known as Daggerfall. I was somewhere around 5-6 back then, so beyond wandering around Daggerfall City, and stealing myself a fortune by resting in stores, and having nightmares about the ghost that would chant "Vengeance!" and guards yelling "Halt!" I didn't do too much in the game. But it was still one of my favorite games as a kid for whatever reason.

 

Later I heard about Oblivion, and for whatever reason, Oblivion sounded a lot like that old game I used to play so I was going to buy it. Turns out, through the magic of Google and Wikipedia, Oblivion is actually a sequel to that game, and there was another game between them and a game before Daggerfall I didn't even know about. Most mind blown moment in my life.

 

I've tried playing Daggerfall since then. Turns out I still play it the same way I did as a 5-6 year old though. :(

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There was just something magical about those games. Don't get me wrong, I love the new titles as well, but for a different reason. The original two are just fun. In many respects, there is a hell of a lot less to do, but it still felt free-er (not a word is it? Drat!) in some weird way.

 

There's also the fact that not that many people (at least around my age) even know they exist. Oblivion is known to them as just that-Oblivion. Many of them haven't considered the Elder Scrolls title tacked on the box. Less have played Morrowind and barely any know that Arena and Daggerfall exist. A lot of younger people definitely don't get the same feeling from playing older games like these as some of us, they game for the rush that they get from it rather than for a sense of adventure and awe.

 

I got Arena to work fine and loved it. I have yet to beat it, but I've messed around with a few characters long enough to become proficient at it. Daggerfall on the other hand is emulated slowely and I forgot how to change emulation speed...

 

crtl-F12 my friend.

 

Your welcome, now go play :D

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I don't know if this is supposed to be considered (old) but here's my view:

 

I enjoyed obilvion, then I tried morrowind, though I didn't feel anything for it, though I liked the art style better, and morrowind made me want to explore more...

Later I tried daggerfall, it seemed ok, and when I tried it I really liked it! The bad thing about it was that a lot of it was -- computer generated... it felt like the computer did 25% of the work, maybe even more!

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I like graphics but that doesn’t stop me from playing old games if I had a old comp I would be playing Arena and Daggerfall, I use to play might and magic 1 back in the day another good old game. I like Morrowind as much as I do oblivion I think I actually play oblivion more.
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