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Greetings, dear forum members!
Having discovered the Elder Scrolls section on HW, I decided to start a discussion about the first two parts, especially since I am currently in the process of mastering Daggerfall. This comes after struggling through the tooth-and-nail Arena.
I decided to combine the games into one thread because this section isn't popular—there aren't even separate threads for TES III and TES IV here...
To avoid speaking without evidence, I'll describe my experience with these games. The idea to go through the Elder Scrolls series starting from the 1st part came after I felt a strong urge to get into let's plays (video walkthroughs). How do you come up with a hook for a future channel when the popularity of let's plays is already fading, and on top of that, you have laughable hardware? I decided to make "walkthroughs from scratch of legendary series" one such hook. And, of course, I wanted to start with TES...
I was initially skeptical—only once in my life had I played something even more ancient... (Arena was released in 1994.) Besides the opportunity to get acquainted with the progenitor of one of today's most popular gaming universes, the only other thing that attracted me to Arena was that the action takes place across all of Tamriel, with the ability to visit every corner of it.
And that, perhaps, remained the only thing I liked about this game :D Even then, the merit is quite symbolic, as all locations are very monotonous, albeit vast. Oh, and also the change of seasons and atmospheric messages when visiting taverns and shops during cold times of the year. Like "Pushing through snowdrifts, you stumbled into the Lucky Stump tavern, shaking a layer of snow from your hair and clothes. You immediately felt warmth fill your body upon seeing the innkeeper rushing toward you with a mug of mulled wine..."
The main drawback is the terrible monotony. Both in terms of the game world and the quests. The main plot consists of running around identical provinces performing identical quests: first, reach the end of a 1st multi-level dungeon, bring something back from there, then head to the next dungeon—more extensive, difficult, and tedious—where you'll find a piece of the Staff of Chaos (at the very end, obviously). These dungeons are nerve-wreckers because they are all designed as monotonous mazes, and potentially any monster can finish you off (though, this depends on correct leveling, of course).
In general, I characterized Arena as a "maze and fast travel simulator." The main difficulty, besides the monsters, is finding the right location. Even in cities, it's inconvenient to navigate; the streets also tend to turn into a maze. Speaking of inconvenience—the interface is the same... No hotkeys, you have to select a spell every time through a panel that constantly scrolls past, and the inventory is just complete chaos.
I won't even mention scrolling with the mouse wheel, as in 1994 rodents were still evolving. Arena doesn't even have mouse look! You look left-right with arrow keys, and you can't look up-down at all—we are actually playing as a pig, apparently. Although verticality isn't needed in Arena because there simply aren't any height differences. In general, this game was one of the first to bring the 1st person view to the world; back then, they didn't know how to make it more convenient.
Another drawback is the balance. For example, some spells are completely useless, while others are unimaginably OP. There is an option to create your own; I used one to take down the final boss in one go, not to mention regular mobs. Mobs also range from useless to OP. Especially the magical ones, who can fire same-fireballs with the rate of fire of a machine gun...
Alright, I've gone on a bit too much about the drawbacks—I had no one to complain to about my suffering :D
Now a few words about the walkthrough. I played as an Altmer, deciding to take the character class test. I ended up as a Healer and chose a suitable race. Especially since I've never played as High Elves before. What's interesting is that the starting location—the hero's homeland—depends on the choice of race. Orcs, by the way, were not yet a playable race, and Khajiit and Argonians had human faces. The former, for some reason, are set in Ancient Greece in Arena.
I immediately took up the main quest because any side quest is "bring this from there" or vice versa, "kill that person." There's not much to do besides the main quest. There is also the possibility of searching for great artifacts like the Star of Azura, the Necromancer's Amulet, etc. I was actually offered to obtain the latter, but after clearing the dungeon, I didn't find it on site. Either a bug or a feature of this artifact. In the end, I gave up on artifacts entirely. Traveling the world on foot also doesn't make much sense because you won't find anything unique anyway. And getting from point A to B is unrealistic because the scale of the game world is 1:1. I actually doubt the devs even considered such an option :D
But in the end, a feeling of traveling through Tamriel still remains. For example, while in High Rock, when you choose Summerset as point B, the game reports "given the distance and weather conditions, it will take you 60 days." And you're like—oh, great, the character will have time to catch scurvy by then)
In the end, you can imagine what "delight" I was in during this walkthrough, but I powered through to the end! And now I can confidently call myself old-school and hardcore :D
And from this point on, I was pleasantly surprised! I had previously read about Daggerfall out of the corner of my eye—they said everything had been improved. And indeed, the devs stepped up EVERYTHING! From the graphics, which pleased me at first glance—a kind of mix of 2D and 3D (here, compared to the flat and rectangular Arena, concepts like terrain relief appeared; stairs you can go up/down; landscape inside dungeons, etc.); to the leveling system (skill division appeared for the first time in the series) and the plot (now quests, including side ones, have become more diverse; guilds and knightly orders appeared).
And although the game world this time was limited to parts of High Rock and Hammerfell, the number of locations increased significantly. This is actually a drawback, as it became inconvenient to find the necessary location and navigate the world in general. After getting out of the first dungeon, I couldn't figure out where I was for a long time :D
Daggerfall was made generally more pleasant, interesting, and diverse. Though, I feel that in terms of location diversity, I'll quickly get bored again) In terms of the actual size of the game world, Daggerfall is the leader of the entire series, but diversity is sacrificed proportionally to such volumes. On the other hand, there is much more diversity in other aspects of the game. The ability to create magical weapons appeared, books appeared for the first time, the inventory became more functional, etc.
In general, it's interesting to play so far! At the time of writing this post, I haven't progressed far—only to the first settlement—but I have high hopes for TES 2! They say there are many bugs, but I haven't noticed anything serious yet.
Everything written above is accurately reflected in my video walkthroughs. I'm leaving the first parts of both games:
So, I have laid out my impressions of these games quite exhaustively and informatively; now the question is for you, dear forum members—if you are familiar with TES 1 or TES 2, what are your impressions and thoughts about them? In general, anything you have to say about them.
Having discovered the Elder Scrolls section on HW, I decided to start a discussion about the first two parts, especially since I am currently in the process of mastering Daggerfall. This comes after struggling through the tooth-and-nail Arena.
I decided to combine the games into one thread because this section isn't popular—there aren't even separate threads for TES III and TES IV here...
To avoid speaking without evidence, I'll describe my experience with these games. The idea to go through the Elder Scrolls series starting from the 1st part came after I felt a strong urge to get into let's plays (video walkthroughs). How do you come up with a hook for a future channel when the popularity of let's plays is already fading, and on top of that, you have laughable hardware? I decided to make "walkthroughs from scratch of legendary series" one such hook. And, of course, I wanted to start with TES...
The Elder Scrolls I: Arena
I was initially skeptical—only once in my life had I played something even more ancient... (Arena was released in 1994.) Besides the opportunity to get acquainted with the progenitor of one of today's most popular gaming universes, the only other thing that attracted me to Arena was that the action takes place across all of Tamriel, with the ability to visit every corner of it.
And that, perhaps, remained the only thing I liked about this game :D Even then, the merit is quite symbolic, as all locations are very monotonous, albeit vast. Oh, and also the change of seasons and atmospheric messages when visiting taverns and shops during cold times of the year. Like "Pushing through snowdrifts, you stumbled into the Lucky Stump tavern, shaking a layer of snow from your hair and clothes. You immediately felt warmth fill your body upon seeing the innkeeper rushing toward you with a mug of mulled wine..."
The main drawback is the terrible monotony. Both in terms of the game world and the quests. The main plot consists of running around identical provinces performing identical quests: first, reach the end of a 1st multi-level dungeon, bring something back from there, then head to the next dungeon—more extensive, difficult, and tedious—where you'll find a piece of the Staff of Chaos (at the very end, obviously). These dungeons are nerve-wreckers because they are all designed as monotonous mazes, and potentially any monster can finish you off (though, this depends on correct leveling, of course).
In general, I characterized Arena as a "maze and fast travel simulator." The main difficulty, besides the monsters, is finding the right location. Even in cities, it's inconvenient to navigate; the streets also tend to turn into a maze. Speaking of inconvenience—the interface is the same... No hotkeys, you have to select a spell every time through a panel that constantly scrolls past, and the inventory is just complete chaos.
I won't even mention scrolling with the mouse wheel, as in 1994 rodents were still evolving. Arena doesn't even have mouse look! You look left-right with arrow keys, and you can't look up-down at all—we are actually playing as a pig, apparently. Although verticality isn't needed in Arena because there simply aren't any height differences. In general, this game was one of the first to bring the 1st person view to the world; back then, they didn't know how to make it more convenient.
Another drawback is the balance. For example, some spells are completely useless, while others are unimaginably OP. There is an option to create your own; I used one to take down the final boss in one go, not to mention regular mobs. Mobs also range from useless to OP. Especially the magical ones, who can fire same-fireballs with the rate of fire of a machine gun...
Alright, I've gone on a bit too much about the drawbacks—I had no one to complain to about my suffering :D
Now a few words about the walkthrough. I played as an Altmer, deciding to take the character class test. I ended up as a Healer and chose a suitable race. Especially since I've never played as High Elves before. What's interesting is that the starting location—the hero's homeland—depends on the choice of race. Orcs, by the way, were not yet a playable race, and Khajiit and Argonians had human faces. The former, for some reason, are set in Ancient Greece in Arena.
I immediately took up the main quest because any side quest is "bring this from there" or vice versa, "kill that person." There's not much to do besides the main quest. There is also the possibility of searching for great artifacts like the Star of Azura, the Necromancer's Amulet, etc. I was actually offered to obtain the latter, but after clearing the dungeon, I didn't find it on site. Either a bug or a feature of this artifact. In the end, I gave up on artifacts entirely. Traveling the world on foot also doesn't make much sense because you won't find anything unique anyway. And getting from point A to B is unrealistic because the scale of the game world is 1:1. I actually doubt the devs even considered such an option :D
But in the end, a feeling of traveling through Tamriel still remains. For example, while in High Rock, when you choose Summerset as point B, the game reports "given the distance and weather conditions, it will take you 60 days." And you're like—oh, great, the character will have time to catch scurvy by then)
In the end, you can imagine what "delight" I was in during this walkthrough, but I powered through to the end! And now I can confidently call myself old-school and hardcore :D
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.
And from this point on, I was pleasantly surprised! I had previously read about Daggerfall out of the corner of my eye—they said everything had been improved. And indeed, the devs stepped up EVERYTHING! From the graphics, which pleased me at first glance—a kind of mix of 2D and 3D (here, compared to the flat and rectangular Arena, concepts like terrain relief appeared; stairs you can go up/down; landscape inside dungeons, etc.); to the leveling system (skill division appeared for the first time in the series) and the plot (now quests, including side ones, have become more diverse; guilds and knightly orders appeared).
And although the game world this time was limited to parts of High Rock and Hammerfell, the number of locations increased significantly. This is actually a drawback, as it became inconvenient to find the necessary location and navigate the world in general. After getting out of the first dungeon, I couldn't figure out where I was for a long time :D
Daggerfall was made generally more pleasant, interesting, and diverse. Though, I feel that in terms of location diversity, I'll quickly get bored again) In terms of the actual size of the game world, Daggerfall is the leader of the entire series, but diversity is sacrificed proportionally to such volumes. On the other hand, there is much more diversity in other aspects of the game. The ability to create magical weapons appeared, books appeared for the first time, the inventory became more functional, etc.
In general, it's interesting to play so far! At the time of writing this post, I haven't progressed far—only to the first settlement—but I have high hopes for TES 2! They say there are many bugs, but I haven't noticed anything serious yet.
Everything written above is accurately reflected in my video walkthroughs. I'm leaving the first parts of both games:
So, I have laid out my impressions of these games quite exhaustively and informatively; now the question is for you, dear forum members—if you are familiar with TES 1 or TES 2, what are your impressions and thoughts about them? In general, anything you have to say about them.
