The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II - Daggerfall

The Good
For some time now, big softwarehouses are offering old titles for free, just for the fans. This is the case of Elder Scrolls 2, an epic game that mixes elements of first person with the essence of RPG in a masterly way. The game's release date of August 31, 1996, so the essential elements, such as graphics, sound and gameplay are relevant to their time.

The game has all the elements of style taken very seriously, combining all the first person in an environment very similar to the classics of the era, such as Doom. Initially, you can choose the origin of your character, your class, attributes, physical characteristics and appearance, and many other data. Finally, you can start the tutorial with some tips for you to do well during the game.

Within the in-game tutorial, you learn your basic commands that can be modified or accessed at any time through its main menu, accessed by the button click Esc Interestingly, even the commands for changing the current standard of games in the first person with the keys W, a, S and D moving the character. The movements are performed with weapons with the mouse, which should be moved in different directions while the right button is pressed. So you can strike blows at their opponents, eliminating them more easily.

As in any good RPG, it is important to always focus on the scenario and all he can offer to help you. Scour every detail within the phases seeking new items and possibilities. In addition, larger opponents generally have many interesting objects for you to collect and better equipped for battle.

Freedom is a feature that is always present when one hears about Elder Scrolls. In Daggerfall is no different, and your character can travel across the continent in the game, facing challenges in various locations.

There are even cities full of people, the (in)famous NPCs, willing to help you or not, depending on their conduct within the game. Talk to everyone and find new challenges within the game, which makes it even more fun. There are six different endings, depending on your actions within the game.

The Bad
The game has graphics, sound and gameplay for its time (1996), so do not expect the same technical level of today's games. If you want to play this fantastic game today, unfortunately it is necessary to install DOSBox, a free software that emulates the archaic MS-DOS.

The Bottom Line
The Elder Scrolls series is one of the most renowned of the genre, mixing with mastery, elements in the first person RPGs with the famous classic, full of possibilities for development and evolution.

In Daggerfall, you will experience one of the classics of his time, a very well designed game, you must create your character, taking him to the most unusual challenges and feared by a vast continent.

The Good
Daggerfall is a massive, open game; anyone who has played it will tell you that. The land you can explore is twice the size of the UK, the dungeons are as of yet unrivaled in size in any other game, and the towns are pleasantly life-sized.

The premise of the game is that you can make your own adventure. In this, it succeeds; Daggerfall is the epitome of non-linear. This is obvious from the character generation, where you have the option to make your own class-- the class-making system is an amazingly fun part of the game which includes the options to add special advantages and disadvantages such as phobias, resistances, and specialties.

The non-linearity isn't just in the character generation process, however; it lasts throughout the game. There are a number of guilds to join-- assortments of temples and knightly orders that vary from country to country add to the normal selection of Thieves, Warriors, and Mages (and Assassins!) guilds-- each of which offer their own 'quests'. These quests are the building blocks of the game. They vary greatly, although about 45% are dungeon-hack quests.

The world around you feels alive, to a certain extent. The NPCs feel far from lifelike-- more on that in the downsides section-- but the intricacies and details of the world of Tamriel that the game is set in are a great help to the level of immersion. There are simulated weather effects, very rare for when the game was made, including snow and rain. When winter comes, the buildings, ground and trees are covered with snow.

The music is very good for the time, especially if you set up your sound the right way. Sound effects are decent; not impressive technicly speaking, but they work really well in-game. Monsters each have their own distinct sound, and when you hear something new in a dungeon, like a mummy's low, mourning cry or the horrific scream of a Lich, you're likely to be scared out of your wits. And if you are an arachaphobic, like me...

Shudder.

As for the game mechanics, they are generally excellent. The game does not use the typical 'experience points equals a level' system; instead, the skills you use are the ones that increase. This system is so much better then the normal one, it's really hard to explain. The spell system is interesting; you can buy default spells, or make new ones in the Mages Guild. This is not nearly as refined as in Morrowind, but it is still fun and interesting.

I could go on for a long time about how you can collect ingredients to make potions, enchant your own items, collect various pieces of the different armor the game offers, get a horse and/or cart, buy your own house, buy your own ship, etc, but that would make this review far too long. Instead, I'll move on the 'main quest'.

The main quest sneaks up on the player in the form of an innocent letter regarding the topics of the quest the Emperor sent you to this part of Tamriel for, which are explained to you in the introductory movie. From here, the quest branches into many directions. It's always more complex then you think, and in the end when you've figured it all out and solved both halves of the main quest, you'll have made your way through a spellbinding story of deception, intrigue, and betrayal. And the game doesn't end there-- you are welcome to continue exploring. Your adventure goes on for as long as you want.

The Bad
Bugs! That is the main downside you'll hear about Daggerfall. Bugs. The game is pretty buggy even with the latest 2.13 patch, and even when you've learned to avoid things that bug the game. It is bearable, however.

Another bad thing is the NPCs. NPCs you see wandering around towns are not just cookie-cutter-NPCs-- they are generated on the spot, and they change when you enter the town again! The other NPCs you will meet that are important to quests or plots are static, but feel unlifelike. They are represented by a single pixilated picture that is occasionally animated, and they don't fight. Things that fight, you can't interact with. This is a big failure of the game and, in my opinion, its primary shortcoming.

Other issues include how many quests are hell to solve, because you have to hack through a dungeon that, as you'll swear up and down when you finally get out, spanned all of Tamriel underground. The game isn't balanced; it's painfully easy to use various exploits, and powergamers will soon tire of how pathetically easy everything becomes after 10th level.

There are so many little issues that pester the game. A totally bugged logbook is one of them; you can record about 5 things people said in conversations before it resets itself. Another is the Automap; it's a great idea, having a 3d Automap you can view from different angles and navigate easily, but it just doesn't work like it should, and it's barely any help in the nightmarishly maze-like dungeons you will oft encounter.

The Bottom Line
Daggerfall remains one of the best RPGs of all time. I personally think that only Morrowind, the very recent sequel, is a superior game (and of course it is, given the time difference! Here's to hoping TES 4 will be better then Daggerfall and Morrowind both). It is truly a masterpiece, a classic; it should live on forever in the memories of gamers. It is flawed, of course, and perhaps had the developers not been so extremely ambitious in planning it, it would have turned out a much better, more solid game. But its massiveness is what makes it so captivating, what sets it apart from all the rest. If you like RPGs, this is a must-have game.

The Good
This game is big. Really, really big. Perhaps a little too big...

There appears to be infinite possibilities in this game. The only problem is that there is just not enough time to explore more than a fraction of what goes on here. A complete world is mapped before you, and you can go anywhere. A dozen countries each with a culture of their own, hundreds of towns and villages and spralling cities. Dungeons, tombs, crypts and castles litter the countryside. So many, you are spolied for choice.

The game's character system is easily the best around. There is a huge scope for character creation. including the inclusion of negative and positive character aspects which allows for the closest thing to real role-playing you'll find in a game. Any character you can imagine can be created. The skills-based system is wonderful. For the first time a game dares to break the level-based mold, and it does it so well. Practice a skill and you will get better at it. Want to be better runner? Run everywhere you go. Practice your climbing on nearby buildings, and jump around alot - you're skills will increase. Brilliant.

There are some wonderful touches. Buy yourself a cart, park it outside a dungeon. Everytime your inventory is full in your sweep through the dungeon, take it back to the entrance and dump it in the cart. When your cart is full, take it back to town and sell the contents for a fortune. Enough to buy a house, perhaps? Go ahead. Buy a house. You can if you want to. You could also buy a ship to sail around the lands.

I would like to comment on the creative and compelling storyline, but I didn't actually see it much. There is a deeper purpose to the game, but with so many side-quests and exploring to do, it's very easy to forget that this game actually has a purpose.

The Bad
It is bugged. Badly, badly bugged. But, there are always patches...

The worst parts of this game are the dungeons. They're horrible. I was always told that any dungeons should have a purpose - why is it here? who built it?. In this game, all the dungeons are obviously built by a complete psycho intent on ruining your day, and spoiling a damn fine game. The corridors appear endless, a myriad of twists and turns leading nowhere. And don't say "Ah... a labyrinth." Are you trying to tell me that every single dungeon is a labyrinth? Every single one? I don't think so! Additionally, all the dungeons look the same. There are whole sections which are just dropped in, duplicated across mnay seperate dungeons.

The game is perhaps a little too large, with little cohesion. It is very easy to lose the main plot of the story and find yourself on a personal quest for fame and fortune. Not a bad thing in its own right, but it doesn't take long before you realise that the main game has gone, and you are in a situation with no apparent ending. A bit like real life, I guess.

There's something which amuses me. With a horse and cart it is still possible to climb walls, hence you can be ride along city walls and rooftops with your cart behind you. Let's call it a 'feature', shall we?

This game is magnificent in so many ways, but I just got bored and frustated with it too quickly.

The Bottom Line
As a game, this is magnificent. A huge, rolling adventure allied to the best RPG system available. It's just a little too serious to be fun.