For an extremely long time, this is one of those games I've wanted to check out but have no intention of beating. It has a massive world filled with dungeons and land mass that it takes forever to not use the faster traveling options. Yet as expected I found it kind of empty.

Daggerfall is an extremely old RPG that has one of the biggest maps ever. You could fit other Elder Scrolls game maps into it and still have loads of room left over. That however comes at a bit of a cost one that games are more focused on not having these days. Lots of empty space between locations.

I knew going into it this game was going to be a bit of a challenge. That should be expected from any old-school game. Even more so with how in-depth certain parts of the game are. There is no denying most modern-day games don’t even come close to this masterpiece. They were doing things right back then that they simply struggle in today's world to come close to doing right.

One such system is helping to guide the player towards a class to start with. I don’t know how many times over the years I'd just shake my head at the lack of information games provide when trying to work out exactly what class, stats, or even starting gear, you want.

Despite how old the game is I found it refreshing being able to go with a short quiz that creates a bit of some back lore for my character while also working out how I want my starting character to be.

Yes, there was quite a lot of reading and I have a feeling that just would not work in modern days. The average player spams through every piece of text and just wants it all now and faster.

No shock to me after finishing the first part I was told Barbarian. It even gave me a bit of a description of what one was and the kind of weapons and traits of being one. While this should not by any means be a big deal it is sadly missing from so many modern-day games that it ended up being something nice to encounter.

I was then given a second quiz to work out some finer details about my backstory. Before giving me the option of fine-tuning any stats that I wanted. By then the game added enough information I had a decent understanding of where I wanted to put my extra stat points.

It was then time for my first dungeon. The game would not only give me the basics but also remind me this is an old-school world game. There was going to be suffering followed by more suffering inside of this dungeon.

Yes, the combat and controls in this game as expected were bulky. Even worse trying to loot a corpse in this game downright requires you to dance around, get into the crouching position, and hope this time you were able to loot the corpse.

I then had my first of many deaths trying to learn the game in the starter dungeon. I was faced with the fact that since I had yet to save the game. I’d have to start over with making a character. That kind of sucked but the second time around I already knew everything I wanted stat-wise.

Some deaths felt like the game cheated in a way. I’d get attacked at range from say something stuck in a cage I could not hit. I even found enemies in the first dungeon that the weapons I had access to could not even damage no matter how many times I tried.

Nothing like a game making you wonder if the next door you opened or corner you took would be yet another death screen. Even as I picked up the combat system in this game and survived more and more encounters. Sometimes I just could not find a place to rest or run into the bad luck of getting attacked and defeated yet again while trying to rest.

This game will not hold back. It will do very little hand-holding despite how kind it showcased early in helping you pick some starts stats. Once it tells you a couple of basic things good luck.

At one point I was starting to wonder if I'd even make it out of the first dungeon. Kind of sad if I could not even do that. I also realized after checking out how much hate this game gets from those with very little play time in the game. Just getting out of the first dungeon is an achievement that most modern-day gamers will fail over and over again.

This first dungeon also felt like a maze. I feel that was more from the 3D map than anything else. I was both shocked the game would even let you have a map let alone the amount of detail on it. It was however like a double-edged sword I felt in some places I'd end up lost wondering around I was better off not knowing what maze of a place I now found myself trapped and lost in.

Slowly I looted a few items. They were not massive upgrades by any means. It however would be enough. Along with getting a few levels up in different skills. This first dungeon was starting to feel not so bad.

After a while, I'd even realize where I was. I slowly found the way out. It was quite a struggle. At least once knew once I escaped the first dungeon that one of the biggest challenges of breaking into this game would be over.

I now felt like I had a fighting chance. That was until I opened up the map to go looking for a town to trade in. Every single little dot on the map was a location. This was just one of many regions in the game.

While there is a lot of empty and boring space between locations. I got to give it to Daggerfall for the pure insanity of just how many locations there are in the game. I spent quite some time just hovering over each location. Thankfully they are color-coded for different kinds of sites.

Sure, there was a lot of copying and pasting all over the place to make this game as massive as it was. I’d soon be entering some massive towns to the many dungeons and after a while get tired of it. Thankfully that would take some time.

Final Thoughts

I always love it when a zone rests after you have left it for some time. I found out that dungeons in this game reset instantly. This would end up creating some fun farming entertainment for me since I went through learning the layout of the first dungeon. I’d also quickly find out there were some nasty surprises that would end my gameplay a couple of times over.

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall.