"Massive improvements over Arena, but with new flaws too."

Daggerfall was the second title in the Elder Scrolls series. And like it's sequel, Morrowind, it was the subject of YEARS of delays. And laso like Morrowind, when it finally DID release, it wa everything people expected, but also came with a bucket of glitches.

Gameplay - 10

The gameplay in Daggerfall was like in Arena, but now, you were limited to the land of Highrock, home of the Bretons, and Hammerfell, home of the Redguard. You start in a prison and are forced ot escape. THe story goes that Jaegar Tharn, High Battlemage of Cyrodil, is quite a corrupt man. And it's up to you to stop him. All the origional character developement of the original game is here, and in full force. You'll also have the ability to give your character "penalties" which alot you more points to divide among you skills. And this is where the glitches start. Example, a High Elf, who is naturally immune to Paralysis, can take Weakness to Paralysis and get points for free. Like in Morrowind, exploiting the system is very easy. Though I wish they had kept the penalty system in Morrowind, but without the exploits of course. Once you begin, you'll be able to do quite a few new things, like buy a horse, a wagon, a house and even a ship. The horse is pretty much a must have. Same with the wagon, as you'll need it to carry all of your loot. The ship is totally useless. It only sits there is like a second house. Houses are also pretty much useless. Many of them contain glitches that will cause the game to freeze when you enter, and for the price, they're hardly worth it. But maybe the price is not so bad, which brings us to another flaw. This is not really a glitch, but jsut poor programming. You can go to every bank in every region and borrow up to 100,000 gold, but you never have to pay it back. The only flaw is you'll never be able to borrow from that bank again.

All the usuall guilds are here too. And joining them makes a load of difference. Most guild quests are the same cookie-cutter quests like in Arena though and get old really fast. The story is a bit more evolved here. You'll need to stay out of the city of Daggerfall at night until you can ge rid of the ghost tat haunts it, and many other unique quests. While Daggerfall takes place in only two provinces, it is just as big as Arena in actually areas. It's just a bit more in deapth. You'll get hundreds of hours out of this game if you really try though. And if you can find the patches, you can fix alot of the game's glitches.

Graphics/Sound - 8

It's got alot of the same score from Arena but a little better quality. The sound effects are greatly improved as well. But the biggest improvement aesthetically are the graphics. The game looks leagues better than Arena. And onw, you're in true 3d. You can climb and dive and all the other things you'd expect in a 3d game. You can also move underwater for the first time.

Overall - 9

The game is solid. It would take tomes of writting to describe it all, so this review is mainly meant as a warning for what to expect. It's worth getting if you can find it, and worth playing if you love this series (though if you do you've likely already played it)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/04