Customer Reviews

The Elder Scrolls: Arena

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, you read that right. This game is free as of last year lol. Just finished downloading the full Arena from www.gamespot.com and decided to look up other Elder Scrolls oldies. Imagine my enthusiasm when I discovered that the 9MB game I just downloaded (LEGALLY) could be purchased for a mere $23.94. Wow, what a deal!

Sure, the game's been released for free by Bethsoft, but the advantage of the CD-ROM is hearing the wonderful voice of Ria Silmane intoning "With you has died our last hope for justice". The Elder Scrolls has consistently remained the best CRPG series out there. It does not run under native Windows XP but can run on Windows 98 or ME with a dual boot, or under the Windows XP compatible Dosbox emulator.

Outdated graphics, but great storyline and puzzles in search of the eight pieces of the Staff of Chaos. Arena's plot set the stage for Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion. Unlike the later games, Arena uses a traditional fantasy game experience points system for level advancement, but many features of the later Elder Scrolls first make their appearance here. Well worth it for the fantasy collector or hardcore fan of the Elder Scrolls.

though I did buy it retail back in '94 or whatever, the download is freely free and it is officially so by the people at Bethesda on Elderscrolls website. If you want the box art, well, you can get that too and print it out. This is what most of us vets played long before Morrowind and Oblivioon. The game that started it all for Elderscrolls. The box art might have been a selling point in some way for some, but the screen shots were spectacular on the back. Arena, like all Elder games is renown for its fantastic vistas and detailed sky work as in the most beleivable environments to date, even this date Oblivion is quite well done in the realm of graphics. RP element is strait foreward here, no messy timing of tediuos skill base to level up like "Dagger Hell" just a number of attributes that influence your character's ability to survivie both combat and magic challenges as well as bargining and perhaps negotiations, though it seems that is a random if someone doesn't even want to talk to you. Nords seem the race at the butt of the barrel, being "barbarous" most inns "won't speak to their kind" and just serve drinks.
You, as with other games, choose from 8 destinct races, Impirials arent' available but all the others are. Redguards and Dark Elves progress in wheapon use at high levels and thier are perks to every race/class but as a whole the main reason to level up here is attribute enhancement. Nords are strong and resist cold, probably best for walking those scenic wintery vistas but other than a few reigon oriented monsters who cast cold, it isn't really useful to resist cold. High elves have a better affinity to magic. They get the imortal paralisys resistance as do the "Knight" class played by any race. Argonians are fun and so are the Kjiiti(if spelled right) they are acrobatic, can jump and run and swim better than any other Kjiiti can climb walls as quickly as if on flat surfaces Argonians can swim respectively at a great speed without loosing stamina for a long time.
The factions/sects or whatever you choose to call them are in this game as in Daggerfall and the others. You can join the Knight's guild warrior's guild, mage guild or the dark brotherhood(good for the Kats and the reptiles). Breton(I hate, probably because they are like dorrian grey very ... they remind me of some neighbors who are.. finkie preps.) Bretons can reisist magic but have a bit less in the way of using it to High elves, also they are wimps in battle. okay that dirogotive raceist remark out of the way... The wood elves are ok but kats and argonians are better at the thief class, though for rp purpose, "woodies" make good rangers and archers, you can back pedal and strafe to get an edge as they are quite fast and accurate. They get a bonus to hit/damage at every 3 or so levels with ranged wheaopns as redguards and dark elves do with the melee wheapons. Other than the range wheapon progression at levels up, "Woodzies" have no edge over the Kats or Argonians at thier favored class, the thief.
the graphics and music are great(Sound Blaster Pro mode/Dosbox .73 EMS enabled memory manager)
for continuity, Jagar Thorne captures the Emporor, Urial Septim, Thorne is referenced in many future games, including Oblivion!
this game revolves around rescuing him and you are instructed via Ria Silmane the main plot, though, as with other elder scrolls games, you decide when to take it, you can go on quests and sub plots long before beginning with "Fang Lair" or any main element!
this game is free roaming, unlike the sucessors, you can travel to every province, including the impirial rigion and even Summerset! You begin in a dungone and are shifted(teleported) to a city in the region of your chosen race. From that point on, you are free to travel anywhere in Tamriel, including roaming the wilderness between cities to find dungeons that aren't "pointed out" by a quest giver as in "Daggerfall".
I personally enjoy this game more than "Daggerfall" as the level ups are more dependable/less tedious and some skills in Daggerfall can't be used in dungoens at all and you cant "Fast travel" witout the "reflection" of gaining skill, if your non combat skills aren't used you won't level up. even if you use it later.. Ettequett/streetsmats/lockpick/swimming ect are not alway sused in a dungeon, you must hoof it to town and it takes HOURS! you. IN this game, you level up based on XP, not using EVERY skill in your "class"!

This game is a classic that should be played by every RPG fan... This is the game that spawned the mega hits Morrowind & Oblivion... The sheer vastness of the game back in 1994 was incredible... How they got everything to work so smoothly on an old 486 computer back in the day was also a wonder... It was the first game I bought that accomplished surround sound, and I remember the first time I heard a monster sneaking up on me and it sounded like it was RIGHT behind me. It actually made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end... It was incredible! I'm not sure if the "freeware version" Bethesda released in 2004 is exactly the same as the retail version but I suspect it isn't... I would highly recommend purchasing a retail copy and getting the FULL experience.

While I was playing Oblivion for the PS3. I started thinking, 'How did this all start' Guess you may say I love history. Did some research and stumbled upon the first game of the series. And it happens to be FREE, so very cool. Good times! I play Oblivion at the house, then at work (since I work in the IT Department) I play Arena. My co-worker from 2nd shift already told me he'll let me have Daggerfall as well. So basically I'll own 3 out of the 4 The Elder Scrolls games. I wonder if Daggerfall will also fit on my USB also.... ahem back to the review! I give Arena 5 stars, one for being FREE and two for starting this awesome series.

Well time has not been gentle to this classic, plus Bethseda Softworks released this game as freeware and can be downloaded on their website. Allthough the version they released is not the full version and alot of the cinematic scenes were taken out. I suggest you download the free version before you purchase this "enhanced" version, and decide if it's for you.

I didnt down load this illegally but Ive downloaded it and Ive gotten to the shift gate (for those who have played you should know what that is) but since I dont have the manual for it I cant progress any further that the dungeons. Ill really appreciate the help here, its fun already and ive only been playing for 20 minutes!

A lot has already been said about this game, so I'll try to add some things that haven't been brought up yet. First, this game is huge (granted, I really didn't see much of it, but one doesn't have to see much to know how vast the game is). Making spells and customizing your character is always fun, so I can't fault the game for that. Bottom line, this game should have been amazing.

Only problem is, the technology of the time wasn't strong enough to really make this game work. I'm not talking about the graphics, since I can still play and enjoy games that are even older than this one. The problem lies in the random nature of the game. I once went to the menu in a room devoid of enemies after exploring the entire floor. When I returned from the menu, a monster was suddenly standing directly in front of me. After climbing the stairs back to the floor above me (also cleared of enemies) I found that all the treasure had respawned and there were more baddies to fight. The enemies are quite random, and sometimes one dungeon can contain enemies that you can take out in one hit along with enemies that will easily best your low level fighter. This is especially annoying in towns. I can understand thieves and the like attacking, but when your player has just arrived in the first town, confused by the massive city, and is still looking for shops to equip their fresh character, it really takes the fun out to be attacked out of the blue by a monster who might one-hit you.

Bottom line, it might be good to give this game a try to see where the series began. Heck, you might enjoy all the randomness of the game play. But IMO, Might and Magic 3-5, the Eye of the Beholder Trilogy, and other, similar games from the early to mid-nineties are much better.