GAME PLAY
GETTING STARTED
GRAPHICS
SOUND CHECK
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The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall

By Barry Brenesal

Summary: Daggerfall is an extremely deep, rich fantasy role-playing dream.

The setting is Tamriel, the same pseudo-European medieval backdrop used in Bethesda's earlier Elder Scrolls release, Arena. This time around, you play a young man or woman on a quest to solve the mystery of King Lysandus' continued presence in Daggerfall. Normally, this wouldn't be cause for concern, except for the fact that Lysandus is dead, he continually shouts "Revenge!" and his ghostly followers kill anything that moves outdoors after dark. To say tourist revenues are declining is putting it mildly.

A couple of other smaller quests are intertwined with your overall mission, each with enough plot twists and unpleasant encounters to fill a major release from some less manic game producer. Figure 100-plus hours of gameplay to complete Daggerfall's main quest alone. Whew!

But your character may not live to solve the problems that beset Tamriel, because to do so requires a very powerful hero with formidable skills, enchanted armor and weapons, and lots of potions and spells. That's why Bethesda put another 100-plus hours of gameplay into all the mini-quests that take you through the length and breadth of Tamriel.

So Daggerfall is a big game--but big isn't always beautiful. Players of Arena will recall that its greatest drawback was the vanilla-like sameness of its endless mini-quests: kill the beastie, deliver the item, etc. Thankfully, Daggerfall has a lot more variety. Its mini-quests range from modest to elaborate, and many require decisions that have far-reaching consequences for your character.

For instance, you may be told to retrieve a stolen object only to discover that your employer is a would-be thief, and the current owner is an innocent victim. If you steal it anyway, a third party may offer a considerably greater sum for the object than your original employer.

Perhaps you offer the item to this new bidder, and she turns out to be on the staff of a temple that is very pleased with your choice. But the group you bypassed is a contingent of nobles from another part of the kingdom who intended to use said object in a bid for power. They're rather angry now, as you discover on the note attached to that shiv that's sticking out of your back.

Get the idea? Daggerfall isn't simply a game where you slay things in a static environment. Actions you take determine the way you're regarded by every facet of a very large, multi-layered kingdom. Be a good paladin type, or a thief who breaks into houses after dark and picks pockets by day. Each has its benefits and drawbacks; just be prepared to live with the consequences.

In addition to a greater diversity of quests--there are 200 or so, which you track through your Logbook--you also receive special quests after joining Tamriel's knightly, professional, and temple guilds. Rising in the guilds brings privileges. At higher levels, the Warriors Guild lets you create enchanted armor and weaponry. The Mages Guild lets you design your own spells. The Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood--well, it's best not to speak of them.

Most quests, of course, take you deep into Tamriel's many exotic dungeon sites, which are a must for any traveler. There, you can slash, thrust, hack, cut, cast, jump, crouch, walk, run, and sneak to your fantasy role-playing heart's content--in real time. If you get lost, there are two automap views to help you get your bearings. You'll find many traps, wondrous treasures, and more than 50 monster types roaming the corridors, countryside, and underground lakes. You can swim and fight underwater, too. And if you learn the Levitate spell or have a Levitate-enchanted item, you can even fly the friendlier skies.

The games' monsters are mostly of the typical sort--mummies, orcs, bats, etc.--but the vampires have a unique touch. In most games you kill them or they kill you; if you get bitten by a vampire in Daggerfall, then die, you actually become a vampire. Assuming you don't get a potion to reverse the change soon enough, you continue to play under the influence of extra abilities and weaknesses, such as enhanced strength and a loss of hitpoints if you wander out during the day.

Don't expect details on vampires or werewolves (or many other, similarly esoteric subjects) from Daggerfall's fine manual. Instead, send your character to a particularly good library in one of Tamriel's cities and read a few of the several dozen "books." While you're enjoying the sights, don't forget to exchange those heavy gold coins for a bank draft. And when you have plenty of money to your name, consider buying a house or a ship so you can store all your worldly goods in some place that's perfectly safe.

Daggerfall's considerable attention to detail is illustrated again in character configuration. You can select from 8 races and 18 predefined classes, or customize your own. There are 8 attributes (Agility, Intelligence, Luck, etc.) and 27 skills (Climbing, Blunt Weapons, Thaumaturgy, etc.) that become stronger through use. Want to give your character special advantages, like Immunity to Fire? Select from 11 broadly defined categories of benefits, but note that your character will achieve new levels far more slowly if you do so. To compensate, you may want to assign special disadvantages to your character as well, like an inability to regenerate spell points in the dark.

Visually, Daggerfall is a mingled chime. The design, coloration, and texturing are quite good, particularly in the thousands of cities and smaller sites that cover Tamriel. Skies show the sun's progression (weather patterns permitting). House and shop exteriors are nicely varied, with many shapes, colors, and building materials. The dungeons are excellent, too, and some of the monsters--particularly the Fire Daedra--will leave you gasping in admiration as your character dies a fiery death.

On the other hand, Daggerfall's VGA graphics look less appealing the closer you get to an object: the pixilation becomes obvious, the color palette garished, and the artwork blunted. Also, the objects, aside from animated computer characters and building structures, are all 2D. The inventory/stat screen is particularly dull.

Mark though, me lads, this graphic style has one strong advantage in this Super VGA-spoiled world of ours: it's less filling. Daggerfall's coding--all those cities, dungeons, quests, and objects--take up a mere 50K on your hard drive (minimum configuration), along with a single CD. If it had been Super VGA, multiple CDs would have been required, and screen redraws (particularly in dungeons and town streets) would have slowed down the game considerably.

Daggerfall is the closest thing yet to a fantasy role-player's dream. The large, complex, beautiful world of Tamriel leaves you free to plot your own course and reacts accordingly. If you want depth, variety, replayability, and enough gameplay to make for dozens of marathon play sessions, look no further.