Daggerfall released for free download

[Stormwaltz]

Bethesda celebrates its 15th anniversary.

[Threash]

This download is being problematic.

[schild]

This download is being problematic.

Daggerfall was buggy too

[rk47]

I doubt it's even playable in current OS. Go torrent a win XP patched Daggerfall version.

[NiX]

Daggerfall is not fully compatible with the NTVDM used to emulate DOS under Windows NT (XP/Vista) so an alternative DOS emulator should be used.

[Modern Angel]

Correct me if I'm wrong but those free downloads aren't new. I remember downloading them years ago from Bethesda. Unless that was for the tenth anniversary.

[Stormwaltz]

They released Arena for the 10th anniversary. Daggerfall is new.

[Xuri]

My memories of Daggerfall claim that it is one of the best AND one of the worst games I've ever played.

[Yegolev]

If they didn't actually fix anything, I'd not recommend it.

[Lantyssa]

My memories of Daggerfall claim that it is one of the best AND one of the worst games I've ever played.

Mine are the same.  Also a lot of climbing and running around as a werewolf.

[proudft]

My memories of Daggerfall claim that it is one of the best AND one of the worst games I've ever played.

Mine are the same.  Also a lot of climbing and running around as a werewolf.

I remember having guards attack me when I was a werewolf, discovering they dropped some fairly-expensive armor, and went on a new career path of guard-slaughtering.  I didn't get very far down the "plot", but damn, I was rich.

[Sky]

I tried playing it a couple years ago and, well, you never realize how much you get used to incremental innovations like mouselook, scroll wheels, etc. It was just too funky to interface with.

[rk47]

The music was top notch. Ugly graphics aside, town sizes vary from capital city to a small hamlet. I still remember the name of the town I always made my home base, Westhead Moor. I'm surprised they never recycled the music from Daggerfall for their new game. It's quite memorable. And getting lost in the dungeon because I forgot to set a Mark & Recall spell? Priceless. Spent a few hours in a dungeon hunting for the goddamn bear, killing it and then realized there's no mark spell to recall to? Oh yeah, I'm fucked.

[Yegolev]

There's some key that will teleport you to points like The Treasure and The Exit, I think it is ] and maybe [.  I don't recall if you have to enable cheats to do it, but it can save some tedium.

[Dtrain]

VENGEANCE!

[Xuri]

Daggerfall music on YouTube (enhanced version, or something)

Some of the melodies in this game are real gems, no matter if you listen to them in ancient midi or something more recent. Not all original ones are included in that playlist, btw.

[NiX]

So, is it worth playing? Some of you make it sound like hell if they didn't fix the issues.

[Kail]

So, is it worth playing? Some of you make it sound like hell if they didn't fix the issues.

For free?  No question.  Yeah, it's worth playing (if you can get it to run on Dosbox).  It's not guaranteed instant love, or anything.  Graphics are pretty bad, and the controls are awkward, and there's the bugs and so on.  But regardless of how it's aged, there's really been nothing like it since, so you may as well check it out.

[ajax34i]

Main quest is somewhat convoluted.

The skill system is along the same lines as Morrowind and Oblivion, but I don't think there's a console or SDK that can let you cheat and level up (I remember having to repeatedly cast spells over and over in order to increase my skills - for like 3 days).

Dungeons are randomly generated out of bricks (hallways, corners, corridors, stairs, etc.), and are rather huge, which is why you need to set up your teleportation and mark of recall spells correctly.  You can get lost easily.  If your only savepoints are outside, when you reload and re-enter the dungeon, it will be randomly different.

There are bugs - most common are falling through the floor in a dungeon, getting stuck in the floor or walls, and CTD's.  Save often.

But, despite all this, I liked the game at the time.  Quite a bit.

[Yegolev]

So, is it worth playing? Some of you make it sound like hell if they didn't fix the issues.

If you think Morrowind was better than Oblivion, you might like this.  There are, unfortunately, some hurdles.

1. Last time I tried to play, my shiny new character popped into the world and I jumped over the fallen treetrunk in front of me instead of going around.  This immediately pushed me through the roof of the dungeon.  I walked around for a bit trying to see if I could manage to fall back into the dungeon, but I slipped off and fell into the Void.  You fall into the Void a lot, so be careful hugging walls.
2. If you are one of those bent motherfuckers who think games require balance (THANKS MMOS) or if you think gamebreaking combos make Oblivion bad, stay away.  Hell just becoming a werewolf is a breaker since you can't be hurt except with silver weapons, and hardly anyone has those.
3. Dungeons are all randomly generated, except maybe the first one.  You may or may not like this, as they can get very ridiculous.  Also, watch out for the Void.
4. Controls.  No mouselook, no WASD.  Worse than Gothic.  You will have to unlearn a lot and relearn a control scheme from Ye Olde Dayes.

If you don't mind that shit, it's a fantastic game, in particular for the spell making.

[Quinton]

This 4KB/s download makes me really appreciate the fact that I usually get 300KB/s, which people scoff at as "slow" by today's standards.  It's kinda nostalgic, and after going all night, it should finish in only another 45 minutes.

[schild]

This 4KB/s download makes me really appreciate the fact that I usually get 300KB/s, which people scoff at as "slow" by today's standards.  It's kinda nostalgic, and after going all night, it should finish in only another 45 minutes.

Yea, I get the same feeling when I'm getting about 800KB/s instead of my normal ~2MB/s. 

[raydeen]

I hope for their 20th anniversary we get Redguard  and not Battlespire. 

[Salizar]

Pretty cool game, I'm playing it *again*. With the Dosbox filters, it doesn't burn my eyes.

Also, you can use WASD, and you can mouselook. It's in the options menu.

[Leathersoup]

For anyone who wants some help getting it to work.  There's a nice set of instructions up on Shacknews for using Daggerfall with Dosbox.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/59477

[Quinton]

Slightly more readable in the original form: http://static.bethsoft.com/downloads/games/daggerfall_legal_and_installation.pdf

[rk47]

Pretty cool game, I'm playing it *again*. With the Dosbox filters, it doesn't burn my eyes.

Also, you can use WASD, and you can mouselook. It's in the options menu.

Buy an 'open' spell from mage guild. Cast it on shop doors at night. 

[Raging Turtle]

I know, I know, different game.

[Rasix]

Pretty cool game, I'm playing it *again*. With the Dosbox filters, it doesn't burn my eyes.

Also, you can use WASD, and you can mouselook. It's in the options menu.

Buy an 'open' spell from mage guild. Cast it on shop doors at night. 

 

[Zion]

Also, you can use WASD, and you can mouselook. It's in the options menu.

I believe, my dear Watson, that you are not aware of the existence of something called controls option menu.

[Dtrain]

Pretty cool game, I'm playing it *again*. With the Dosbox filters, it doesn't burn my eyes.

Also, you can use WASD, and you can mouselook. It's in the options menu.

Buy an 'open' spell from mage guild. Cast it on shop doors at night. 

Or you can just wait in the shop until it closes and then take everything. 

[Sky]

Also, you can use WASD, and you can mouselook. It's in the options menu.

I believe, my dear Watson, that you are not aware of the existence of something called controls option menu.

Smashing first post, bonus points for the necro.

[Zion]

-10 points for me cause i was reading "can't" instead of "can".