Review by Mandy Kinson

Name:         Daggerfall
Publisher:    Bethesda Softworks
Format:       PC CD-ROM
Available:    Now

Requires:

O/S:          Dos 6.0 and above
Processor:    486DX2/66
RAM:          8Mb
Graphics:     256 colour VGA
CD-Rom:       Double-speed
Soundcard:    Required

Tested on:

O/S:          Win95
Processor:    Pentium P90
RAM:          48Mb
Graphics:     Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM
CD-ROM:       Sony Quad-speed
Soundcard:    SB 16
Controls:     Mouse

Daggerfall

Oh Boyohboyohboy!! I've been waiting to get my sticky little hands on this game for AGES! Ever since I discovered Arena in fact. I can't say I finished it, but up until a couple of weeks ago when my Hard-drive crashed, I still had Arena loaded, and still went Orc-bashing occasionally! Now that's what I call value for money:-).

Since not everyone played Arena (and you don't need to have!) I'll start from the beginning.

Daggerfall is a full-blown RPG, set in a world called Tamriel, with all the traditional sword-and sorcery trappings. So, the first thing you have to do, is create a character - you can even create them a little life-history, or take the one the game generates. It's nice to know why you are who you are:-).

You can pick a race from nine peoples, each with different innate skills -eg archery, swimming, climbing etc. Then you select from one of many 'classes' (eg. thief, spellsword, rogue, and so-on) or you can create a 'custom' class of your own. There are tons of options which you can tweak so as to create a character to your own satisfaction. You can't however create yourself an invulnerable super-hero type; each strength is balanced out by associated weakness in other areas.

Now comes the odd bit - there's not really a story to the game. Oh yes, you start off with a quest, but that's just to give you a really excellent excuse for going off and getting into a few good scraps. YOU decide what you're going to do! This game is not in the least bit linear. You can go and get odd jobs -mini quests- to earn some quick cash, you can steal, or you can wander off and explore the countryside, finding caves and castles to explore and pillage. All the while you'll be accumulating experience points - and treasure, I love it:-).

You don't have to be a goody-two-shoes hero if you don't want. You are just travelling around in a world, interacting with the people there, trying not to get into *too* much trouble with the law - but hey, you can always skip the country:).The whole point is that you don't have to be the perfect hero, so you don't have to keep restoring the game if something doesn't quite turn out right - play on, you never know where it may take you! You do of course have to restore after a complete catastrophe - like getting killed, so don't forget to save the game at intervals!

Unlike some RPGs, the skill points you accumulate directly relate to what you've been doing. So, if you've been sneakily picking everyone's pockets on the sly, then your pick-pocketing skill will go rocketing up, or if you've single-handedly axed to death a pack of ravening wolves, then your axe-weaponry skill will go up. Everything depends on practise!

The installation has 4 size options, small - 37Mb, medium - 95Mb, large - 213Mb, and huge, 450Mb!! I tried it at 37 Mb and found it a bit too chunky for my liking, and my CD-Rom drive was that little bit too slow; so, I installed the 450Mb option and it runs like a dream, with full detail on the graphics.

Ah yes, the graphics! You have the choice of a full screen, or a menu bar at the bottom of the screen. I prefer the former, I found the bar got in the way a bit. The scenery is quite detailed, even down to the view bobbing a bit when you walk - that can be switched off by the way, if you find you don't like it. Close up , things are a little bit blocky, but when you look around, especially out-of-doors, you get a real feeling of being in the place. There are even little touches like dogs to pat, and flowers in the fields, and that combined with the sound-effects get you quite immersed in the world of Tamriel. The sound effects are good, with nice little touches like dripping water in the dungeons or tweeting birds and crickets in the countryside. I find the background music a bit irritating, but then I do on most games. Its no great trouble to turn it down or off though.

Well, with all these options available you'll need quite a comprehensive manual. You get one, 90 pages of it. Its well laid out, and clearly written, with plenty of illustrations to get the point across. You'll need it to hand probably - especially at the beginning of the game, until you get to know the controls. Its best to use a combination of keyboard and mouse to control the game. I liked to use the keys for moving about, and looking up and down, and the mouse cursor for 'doing' - fighting, or stealing etc.

A bit of a warning - you'll need to apply a patch if you get version 1.0 of the game. When you put an item in for repair, among other things, the game crashed. I have to admit I didn't notice because my old hard-drive was on its way out, and crashed everything, so I assumed that that was the reason. Anyway, the patch is called DAG179.exe, and is available for download in the Gamers forum on Compuserve.

Daggerfall is very much more of 'Arena' - I'm not complaining, I loved that game, and more is just fine by me!! After waiting for so long, I fully expected to be a bit disappointed, but I wasn't in the least! I'll give it 9 out of 10, I think you should all rush out and buy it yourselves for Xmas!

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Rating: 9/10 (Classic - Must Buy!)
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