I want to like Daggerfall but.........

[child of Thor]

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/elder-scrolls-daggerfall

static they are pretty grainy - even at the time a fair few people did complain about them.
But the engine it used did do effects quite nicely, night time, fog, rain, snow etc.
Compared to Arena its a very beutifull game, Morrowind is much more detailed - but many people found the game world to alien or weird, Daggerfall is much more 'normal' medieval rpg fare.

Weird - my character pic in that first post of the story has changed overnight into the sunrise pic below it - i even uploaded it again, and it says its now dagpic1 and not sunrise pic - but nothings changed? Anyone else see 2 sunrise screenshots?

[Dis]

yeah I see 2 sunrise screenshots

[child of Thor]

ok we have 'gremlins' in the works - i tried to delete the post and it wouldn't let me. So i'll try here and see if it works(ok it works now).

Diss, what i would say is if you have the correct hardware and the patience then Daggerfall is a superb crpg game, and really once your into it you dont notice the graphics too much.

Compared to Daggerfall, once you've played Morrowind, you slowly become aware that many of the key features of Daggerfall make Morrowind seem a step backwards in many ways bar the graphic detail+and the ability to view your character in third person(which you cant in Daggerfall).

Daggerfall became infamous for its bugs - many of which are addressed in the patch and Andyfall Mod.

[child of Thor]

PART THREE:

Beards, caving and a Nord called Olaf:

The Journey to Brown(not Black or Blue!) Rock village had taken three days; working out it was the place he’d wanted to go to had taken about the same.

The bookshop was the only public store in the village so it wasn’t too hard to locate. Still Olaf had to spend another night on the tiles – a frosty night but at least his cape kept the bite out. The stars had been bright and clear, and after his meal he had settled down with a warm broth and sat back just taking in the glorious view of the night sky.

As the warmth of the dawn and the sounds of bird song awoke him, Olaf busied himself with a quick wash in the local pond, the book store would be open now, but he needed to wash the journey of his skin and clothes.

His packhorse Bessie made use of the water to have a wade and a drink, she would be needing some fodder before he left Brown Rock.

At 9 am Olaf knocked on the door of the book shop, and opened the door.

“Werewolves”, Adrin Tolmor said again. He peered up from his book and over the top of his glasses at Olaf.

“Yes this particular one has been plaguing our village for some time, at first sheep and cattle went missing but now we’ve started to loose our children”, he leafed through a couple of the pages of the book and waved the nord over to have a look.

“Here we are, they have a frightening reputation but can be killed with silver weapons or even with some of the elder race metals it says here, not entirely sure about that though – stick with silver I would say.” He gestured to the short sword that lay on the desk.

“I’ll give you that weapon, its called moon-frost and has killed over a dozen lycanthropes, so can be trusted.”
Olaf had picked it up and was admiring the workmanship,
“What was the place called again, this werewolf’s lair?”

“Aryanik, its full name is the dungeon of Aryanik, far on the northern coast from here. Its quite a journey to get there and you may want to visit a bigger town than Brown Rock to provision yourself for the trip. I’d try Ulfstanwood, about a days ride north east from here.”

A Dungeon, Olaf sighed, he hated dungeons almost as much as he hated werewolves.

[child of Thor]

The Dungeon of the werewolf:

[Dis]

it's interesting that you note morrowind was a step down from daggerfall in gameplay.

I have the feeling Oblivion will be a step down from Morrowind in gameplay.

[General Ludd]

I'm going to give this game another whirl because of this thread. It's been ages since I last played.



Any suggestions for a warrior-mage? I don't want anything uber, but I forget how powerful the magic is in this game. Could I concievable use magic to protect myself instead of armour, and swing a sword for offense?

[child of Thor]

Overlords!

I'm meeting far too many of them.

Anyway @ Ludd,

I'm a relative daggerfall newbie, and the only spell i've ever been able to cast is bouancy(sp? - water walking basicaly). But looking at how damn powerfull these overlords are, and the fact it seems to be down to powerfull magic(+loads of hitpoints!) - i would say yes, if you correctly create the right type of character you could indeed rely on magic to see you through. There is a whole heap of advice for such things on the UESP website.

Sadly i have to count on a strong sword arm, which had seemed to be doing ok untill last nights adventures

And Diss,

Well i'm hoping Oblivion will reverse the situation, and try to reinstate some of the detail that was left out in Morrowind, while keeping the good points(like being able to see your character in third person, being able to really decorate your home in detail etc).
Still lets see, and if it all goes pete tong then atleast we have a few people around to try to help others get into a mighty fine crpg(Daggerfall) when they get bored/finish Morrowind

PART FOUR:

Beards, caving and a Nord called Olaf:

He’d got used to the stink of the place eventually. It had been four days now, and at least the werewolf was dead. He wearily climbed the rough hewn steps to the dungeon exit for the umpteenth time, his back creaking under the weight of loot he had gathered from his last sortie into the depths of Aryanik.

Olaf still didn’t like werewolves and he still wasn’t keen on dungeons, but he had to admit as he looked at the pile of valuables in his cart, that they could make you rich.

He discovered that he liked skeleton warriors even less than either of the other two, the maniac screams they made always sent a shiver of fear down his spine, and those unnatural burning reds eye sockets seemed to pierce right to the soul with unspoken hatred.

Yes animated undead were much worse than either werewolves or dungeons in his book, especially when combined with a cave system. The one in the dungeon of Aryanik was a hellish place full of Skeletons and fiendish to navigate.

The initial view had been impressive, emerging from a typical dungeon rock walled corridor into that huge cavern with a rope bridge spanning its maw. The climb down had been dicey, and he’d fallen after slipping on some stinking slime, hurting his right arm in the process.

And then the skeletons had attacked, he must have killed about a dozen in those cave systems. Still they had led to the room were the werewolf had its lair, so it was all part of the journey.

Checking all the straps were secure he climbed up onto his cart and gave Bessie a flick of the reins,
“Come on girl were going home now, gee up!”
Olaf just hoped that the bites and scratches he had received from the werewolf were not more than they seemed.

[child of Thor]

Arrrgghhh! stop that evil noise dammit!

[General Ludd]

Actually, I couldn't get the game to work. I loaded it in DoSbox but it went too slow... and now I can't even get it to start in dosbox for some reason.

[DrSpike]

I keep an old machine just for such eventualities.

[child of Thor]

Ah yes XP and old games, a dangerous cocktail
Still i remember reading some threads about getting Daggerfall running under Dosbox in the past games section of the elderscrolls forums, so i'd go their to check it out

As you can see from my first post, getting it to work in Win98se isn't the most intuitive thing either. Daggerall was basicaly made to run in native Dos mode, and it seems like during the long(and probably most delayed release ever!) developement they added a Win95 compatability mode. At least that what it feels like often

And i've had my first game crash - not bad based on my previous experience. Still i've learn't to save often so no big problem as yet

Ok the final part of my story coming up.

PART FIN:

Beards, caving and a Nord called Olaf:

Exactly two months after taking the quest, Olaf now sat in one of the bars of his local pub, the White Boar in Northmoor.Luckily he hadn't woken up covered in thick hair with a desire for raw meat.

He’d just finished reciting his tale to another eager listener when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“So we can have that drink now cant we”, said a seductive voice.
Olaf held back his surprise and turned to look at Julia Eberston with a fresh appraisal – she hadn’t forgotten at all.

“I’ll go one better than that”, he grinned’ “hey! Bard! Play us a dancing song would ya!”.
As the tune picked up its rhythm so did the nord, scooping Julia up in his arms he led her around the floor to roars of approval from the regulars.

“You’re an amazing dancer!” Julia gasped between deep breaths, “I would never have thought you’d like dancing.”, she laughed.

Olaf just grinned and winked at her as he led them of into another flurry of moves. Maybe he’d tell her it might have something to do with the purple cloak of dancing he had found on his recent adventure, maybe later – he didn’t want to spoil the evening just yet.

He suddenly felt an intching sensation on the plams of his hands, which grew in intensity and the smell of the women in his arms grew overpowering; the skin on her neck inviteing him closer. If Julia had seen the glint of hunger in Olaf's eyes she would have read it as meaning something else.

[child of Thor]

What a cheesy ending A dancing tough guy Nord - hah!
Still it was a cloak of nimbleness(in game) so i had to think of something to fit

CHARACTER CREATION:

A few little things i've found usefull:

Choose to make a custom character - you have complete control over what type you'll end up with then.

When you see the choice go for 'ebony dagger' - one of the most usefull starting items to help you survive the initial dungeon.

I usualy make a character that has as a special ability:
'regenerate in darkness' - you will need to give your character a penalty choice if you do this, i went with 'forbiden armour Orcish' for my current character.

Without using magic, or having easy access to potions(not easy in the beginning), i find it very hard to survive dungeons without the regenerate health in darkness(usefull in dungeons) option.

When fighting its a good idea to move around a lot. I try to move into the enemy when striking(hopefuly pushing them backwards with my blows), then move backwards to try to avoid the incoming blows, you need a bit of space for this.

[Grumbold]

Its certainly possible to make a powerful character, especially when you know what sorts of equipment you won't need so you can take being forbidden it as a disadvantage. If you want to be cheesy you can be a sorceror type with terrific spell absorbtion powers, stand near a wall and practice fireball. You absorb back your own spell and can keep practicing forever .... or maybe they fixed that "feature" eventually

[child of Thor]

Yes i read somewhere about that particular feature

What i'm likeing about daggerfall most is how it is
retaining its challange for me. I don't know the cheesy methods too well, and keep away from walkthrough/spoiler advice as much as possible.

My biggest problem with Morrowind was that i found it too easy keeping to the regular progression path of quests you got in relation to your character development. After lv6 i had little to worry about, all random encounter monsters being easy to dispatch and mission enemies not proving too tricky, even with the difficulty cranked up to +80.

I had to develope the most crazy anti-power playing style to get what i wanted from the game, and Morrowind is for me one of the better games of the last few years or so.

Recently in my Daggerfall game(now lv7), i was thinking the same thing might be happening. Then i got an interesting quest, and met my first Overlord(loads of them!) and changed my mind - decided 'sod the mission' and got the hell out of a leathal + nasty dungeon.

I was feeling scared to go around each corner in the dungeon, just in case! Something i never really got from Morrowind.

Still Daggerfall isn't perfect, it is a bit bland in terms of the characters you meet(there seems to be about 20-30 different people types to populate the whole huge game world), and of course you have the bugs/getting it working issues. And its old looking running in 640x480(256 colours mode).

Still its alot of fun for those who dont mind putting the effort in. And i only need another 250,000 or so to afford my first house, thats going to take me another 30hrs or so of playing

You do get used to the size of the dungeons after you've been in a few, and i dont mind them at all now. Its where the good money is after all

My last mission(the one where i've been meeting those Overlord blokes), was interesting. After trying to stay in the dungeon for two gaming sessions(over two real days) and getting my ass handed to me on a plate by the monsters i was finding; i eventualy decided to give up.

As soon as i left the dungeon i had someone run up to me and give me a note(these type of events are described in a text box) which told me that my origonal mission had been a hoax and if i wanted to find out more i had to go and meet with someone else in another location.

I'm sure you must eventualy get board of all the mission types, but for now i'm having much fun with the variety of them, and the twists and turns, and the serious gaming challange