I recently downloaded the version of Daggerfall that does all the installation work itself, so I don't have to deal with jumping through all the hoops in DosBox to get it to work correctly (Daggerfall being a freeware since 2009.) I own a physical copy of the game, but I haven't been able to get it to work. I also have a copy of Arena somewhere; never got that one to work properly, even in like '98.

Anyhoo, I didn't remember this game being this addictive. Sure, everything in it literally looks the same, from the people, to the dungeons, to the cities, to the outside world (about the only things that had much variety were the inventory items and the monsters.) Still, I find myself really enjoying the dungeon crawling and killing monsters. Also, the story and some of the nobility are more interesting than I remember them being. Also, the game has a much darker tone, with more "mature" themes involved. I like the scarier skeletons, ghosts, and Daedra. They're a lot more threatening looking and sounding to me than they are in later games. I had a thread a while back about "most intimidating, non-boss enemies in a game," and the liches ancient vampires etc. would've made it on my list if I'd remembered them. (They have a chance to spawn early in the game and kill you in one hit, if you sleep in a dungeon.)

Also, the sounds. The music is pretty epic in this game. Too bad it's all midi. Then there's the matter of the enemies using the same sound effects over and over... I kinda find it amusing in some cases though. Like the guards yelling "HALT!" Hearing some of them again remind me of the stupid things I decided they were saying. For example: Zombies = "How RUDE! How rude!"Werewolves = "NORELCO!" Mummies = "Helloooo~" Ancient Vampires = "Zooooohhhh...!" (Last one's not really a word, but it's amusing to me all the same.)

Anyone else play this back in the day? Like I said, it's free, so you could potentially play it now. How does it stack up to the other games in the series? Well... Morrowind became my favorite in the series when I first played it, and that spot hasn't been usurped by either Oblivion or Skyrim. However, a couple years ago I got it again and it didn't exactly age well. This, however, has the feel of an old school game. So it kinda has that nostalgic/retro classic feeling going for it. 15 years old. Man. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom