None of them really have problems that can be empathized with, and as a result, the whole story has the wind taken out of it. By the time you’re supposed to actually make a decision on who to align with, you’re not given much to go off of as to who deserves your help. However, all of them are interchangeable and two-dimensional, and none of them plead their case especially well. You interact with multiple factions and you’re obviously expected to gain some sort of attachment to them. It’s not exactly well told, often not providing enough information to be engaging.
You’re not given a whole lot of agency in deciding how things proceed, but it’s perhaps better than the closed loop that Arena was. You’re eventually contacted by people within the nobility of each of the principle cities, along with other key players, each of whom have their own motivations to manipulate you. This winds up happening rather organically, since you’re initially not given much to go on.
This sounds inconsequential at first, but as you dive into the intrigue between the squabbling territories, things snowball until the fate of the world is added to the stakes. The previous King of Daggerfall has risen from the grave, and you’re tasked with finding out why and putting a stop to it. You start as an unknown agent of the Empire, sent by the Emperor himself to address a problem in the eponymous city state of Daggerfall. Daggerfall corrects this in a number of ways, and actually comes out as being a rather interesting narrative.
It also featured a villain straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, so story was hardly a reason to dive into its antiquated mechanics.
The first game in the Elder Scrolls series failed pretty hard to make the world feel like a living place, which is somewhat understandable, considering the fact that it began its life as a simple gladiator game. It’s less than ideal, and it makes it feel as though the world is just big for the sake of being big, rather than to provide an interesting environment to set the game. Instead, you’ll be fast traveling a lot, which provides some degree of interaction, as you choose how quickly you move and whether you camp or stay at inns. There are also no roads or notable landmarks, so actually getting from one town to the next requires a lot of effort and constantly checking the cumbersome map. Though Daggerfall’s land is finite and traversable, it was procedurally created, meaning it’s low-detailed and repetitive. The area between cities and dungeons is just as uninteresting as Arena’s flat terrain. So if you wanted to travel by foot to every location, it’s entirely possible, you insane fool.ĭon’t get too excited, though. Also, unlike Arena, it can all be navigated. And what a portion! The land size is estimated to be 161,600 square kilometers, one of the largest terrestrial game worlds on record. Daggerfall, on the other hand, provides the area of the Illiac Bay a territory that straddles the border of High Rock and Hammerfell, providing a portion of two provinces. That’s the only really interesting part of Arena, since it was an otherwise bland and unexciting game. WEST… TO DAGGERFALLĪrena was pretty interesting in that it provided all nine of the provinces of Tamriel, whereas contemporary Elder Scrolls titles only provide one (not counting Elder Scrolls Online, which only technically provides territory in every province). Because nothing says “fantasy” like a checkerboard apron. I’m also constantly on the watch for ways to increase my snob cred, so it’s time to head to Daggerfall, peasant. Regardless, Arena left me with an itch to scratch, and it didn’t seem right to just skip to Morrowind. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind tends to be the darling of the series, though, perhaps that’s because it was the first to show up on consoles with its original Xbox release. Its sequel, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, on the other hand, I’ve heard come up a few times. It’s unfortunate that The Elder Scrolls: Arena didn’t exactly fill my gravy boat, but then, despite it being the first in a venerable series of games, I’ve never heard anyone refer to it as their favourite title in said series.