Elder Scrools II: daggerfall is free

[nickfil]

http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/d ... _games.htm



great box art. They don't make em like this anymore.

on bethesta's website they recommend you use dosbox to run it. I played it back in 96 and really loved it. I actually didn't make the connection until just today that daggerfall and oblivion were the same world i guess? At least the same type of game. Admittedly it has been a while since i've thought at all about daggerfall. It makes me want to go back and give oblivion another shot seeing as i played it for all of an hour before deciding to pack it up... heh.

Still- if memory serves this is a pretty fantastic game set in a HUGE open world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_MY0ihuJZc&NR=1

and you know- free.

[Mozgus]

Meh, from everything I've heard, its even larger than Morrowind was, which is a huge problem for me. I always enjoy Bethesda's games right up until you leave the first town and then realize the complete lack of excitement the full world has to offer.

[MrPopo]

So Arena is set across the entire continent of Tamriel, Daggerfall is in the bay between High Rock and Hammerfell, Morrowind is on the island of Vvardenfell in Morrowind, and Oblivion is in Cyrodiil. Daggerfall, though, is rediculously huge. The land area is approximately 40,000,000 acres, with Morrowind and Oblivion being about 0.01% of that. It was all procedurally generated, which let them essentially run a script to generate the rediculous amount of content. As a result there is less diversity. It's definately a case of "bigger is not better".

[Ack]

So Arena is set across the entire continent of Tamriel, Daggerfall is in the bay between High Rock and Hammerfell, Morrowind is on the island of Vvardenfell in Morrowind, and Oblivion is in Cyrodiil. Daggerfall, though, is rediculously huge. The land area is approximately 40,000,000 acres, with Morrowind and Oblivion being about 0.01% of that. It was all procedurally generated, which let them essentially run a script to generate the rediculous amount of content. As a result there is less diversity. It's definately a case of "bigger is not better".

Now if they could build it today and it look like Oblivion, that would be pretty epic. I really hope they can do that, as I've always liked getting lost in their world. Even though Morrowind was smaller, it felt easier to do that than it did in Oblivion since I could see that bloody Imperial Tower from just about everywhere. It just kept reminding me of how small the world actually was. That, and the quick teleporting map.

[Peffico]

I dunno. I think there's a problem when it literally takes 2 days to walk from one side of the map to the other. Well I think I will give it a dl, since ya know, it is free.

[The Apprentice]

Tried to download just now. I got a 1.5 meg corrupted zip file. I e-mailed them telling them there was a problem (but also thanked them for generously allowing the game to be downloaded) and then waited about an hour. Then I right clicked the link and said save target as, and I think its working now, no wait. Same problem. I'll let you guys know when it works for me.

[Dakinggamer87]

Sweet!! Thank you Bethesda for free download..

[Ivo]

Daggerfall was an amazing game for its time, and probably still is a very good game.

(If you do get to the absolutely crazy last story dungeon though, after you finish it by consulting some guide, I'd like to know if you think you would ever be able to complete it without one - I consider that a design flaw).

The game was huge in several ways - including having huge bugs and flaws. I often got trapped between the walls in dungeons (in the sense that I was now walking along the black void "outside" the dungeon, able to look in on the overall map) and had to reload. Many of the large number of non-story dungeons (created procedurally) were impossible to really "complete" with parts that were unreachable.

But despite all that, it was the first experience I had with a game that let you create your own class (I loved playing a mix of Mage and Sorcerer, which could get back mana by resting and also by absorbing other spells), create your own spells, really create your own artifacts and so on.

I have very memorable experiences, from simple stuff like arriving to a city at night (gates closed) and just flying over the walls, or getting a genuine spook the first time I was in a specific city at night (trying not to spoil it for you guys, maybe you can experience it as well).

Arena (which I unfortunately haven't been able to play due to chronic lack of time) was set in a larger area, but I'm guessing Daggerfall really gave the game a better sense of hugeness. Morrowind was in a smaller area, but certainly had huge improvements in attention to detail (and more content than anyone will normally be able to "exhaust") - even then as you are sort of actually able to traverse the whole island in some hours it doesn't give off the same vibe. It is probably a better game overall, but I guess it didn't give me as many memorable moments.
I haven't played Oblivion yet.

But I know that not everyone fancies this sort of game, so I can't honestly say something like "You should all go and play it". But I really think those that haven't actually tried it should have a go at it - as Mozgus hints, you will probably be able to get a feel for it and quit playing if it doesn't appeal to you without "wasting" too much time.

[Daniel Primed]

I tried the original when they first made it available for free. Would like to test this out too, but since it's free fodder which'll run on my laptop, I guess I'll save it until I go overseas next. I wish more developers would offer freebie old games. It's surprising though why they didn't just offer to it the folks at Good Ol' Games, slap a $5 price tag and make some cash.

[The Apprentice]

Holy Jesus, I knew this game was big, but I had no idea. This is epic. There is no way I could explore this whole game. I don't even know how far I'll ge in the main quest, it's a bit overwhelming.