Arena Adventurings and Daggerfall Dealings, A Characters Update thread Options

[SubRosa]

I realized something about Arena the other day and I'm going to try to explain my thoughts. Back in 1994, a lot of RPG type games were isometric, which means they were viewed from the top down, and usually on an angle. I remember early versions of Gauntlet and Final Fantasy were like this.

One of the characters in that pic looks like Magneto! The fourth one from the left in the Turn Order up top.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 1 2014, 11:34 PM

[Renee]

Oh wow. I had no idea who Magneto is but I did a search and now I see what ya mean. Kind of a super hero.

My Nord just got a little interested

What class is she again?

Warrior, I think. Or Fighter or whatever is in that genre. Interesting how her class does not allow her to use any spells, PERIOD. No spells! I might try to see if it's possible to join whatever Mage's Guild is in this game, anyways, just to see what it says.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Jan 2 2014, 02:31 AM

[mirocu]

You can´t join the Mages Guild in Arena, only visit them to buy things.

So she can´t use any spells at all? Wow, I´d have a hard time accepting that in a TES game My Nord can´t use better armor than leather but I can live with that. Spells are much more important to me. Though for your Nord there´s always the option of using enchanted weaponry of course

[Renee]

Nope, no spells! This game's hardcore. There is a spellbook tab in her character menu, but if I click on it it says "You are not a spellcaster" or some such.

so yeah, pretty hardcore!

[mirocu]

Well, good luck to her!

And please show her without her helmet! I´d like to show you my Nord too, but I´m not as skilled with using a camera for my gaming pixies

[Renee]

I got a pic of RG1 without her helmet, but I'll put it up sometime later. Doing a bit of gaming with her before going to bed. Just running around Dunstad Grove, killing baddies. She also finally found the Mage's Guild and bought a few potions. There are a lot of magic items too, and I'm curious how these work in Arena, but right now Renee hasn't got enough gold to afford any of these.

It's funny how some buildings are so huge inside, yet there will only be one person we can interact with. And also the fact that enemies seem to get so easily stuck on terrain features. RG1 was attacked by a lizard man at one point and all she had to do was get catty-corner around a moat and the lizard could not follow.

I found this bit of text on Wikipedia which is interesting

The game world is very large. Players may explore outside cities into the wild. There they may find inns, farms, small towns, dungeons, and other places of interest. The terrain is randomly generated. It is not possible to reach other cities without using the fast-travel feature. Several hundred towns, dungeons, and NPCs are available.

Ah. So there are dungeons, eh?



This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Jan 8 2014, 02:07 AM

[SubRosa]

Oh wow. I had no idea who Magneto is but I did a search and now I see what ya mean. Kind of a super hero.

You don't know who Magneto is? Get thee to an X-Men movie at once woman! (preferably a Bryan Singer one)

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 8 2014, 02:10 AM

[Renee]

Oh wow. I had no idea who Magneto is but I did a search and now I see what ya mean. Kind of a super hero.

You don't know who Magneto is? Get thee to an X-Men movie at once woman! (preferably a Bryan Singer one)

Ha ha you crack me up. Broad-minded you are: everything from Greco Roman warfare to X-men. Actually now that you say this, Magneto is ringing a bell. I had a friend who was obsessed with X-men, and his kids were too, but this was back in the '90s. I remember he had an X-men video game.

Only name I can remember off-the-bat is Wolverine.

Back on topic: right now I'm playing Arena more often than Oblivion or Skyrim. Imagine that? I will get back into OB more heavily once I figure out all the PC stuff my imagination has been demanding, but for now it's RG1 all the way

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Jan 8 2014, 09:47 PM

[mirocu]

That´s awesome, Renee! I haven´t played in awhile now so we rely on you at this point to keep the thread going!

[Renee]

Here she is without helmet this time.



Not exactly Xena, but she'll do for a Windows 3.1 game.

[mirocu]

She looks great! Though a little bit cold around her chest....

My Nord doesn´t look as good because he has his mouth opened in a grin

[Callidus Thorn]

I'm still trying to figure out what's stopping her from falling out of that top

I'm gonna have to fire up Daggerfall again...

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Jan 11 2014, 07:09 PM

[SubRosa]

I'm still trying to figure out what's stopping her from falling out of that top

Its frozen to her skin!

[Renee]

I'm still trying to figure out what's stopping her from falling out of that top

Yeah, you know? (.)(/\\

It is Hearthfire something or other in the Year 389 of the 3rd Era. Renee Gade I is patrolling the night town of Dunstad Grove. Interesting that RG2's mom was a sort of free-roaming guard. She tries not to get too far from this one inn, this way if she gets beat up really bad she can just duck inside and rest up. So far, she's managed to take down one lizard man.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Jan 19 2014, 05:07 AM

[mirocu]

She takes the same approach as Thor, I see. Clever choice too since you gotta fight to get XP but it´s best to have a safe spot nearby

Although I must warn you, not even the inns are perfectly safe at night as Thor found out one time...

[Renee]

They're not? Ooh, I'll have to remember that.

My Arena session was fun last night (it's morning now in Maryland). Got several more lizard men and one nightblade I think. Despite the crude graphics, I always have a tingling up my spine whenever an enemy suddenly appears at night; this game's kinda spooky! I can't help but imagine what Dunstad Grove would look like in Earth-graphics. Not that I want to change the game's appearance, what I'm saying is this game's primitive graphics always trip my imagination, the way the original Gauntlet or Castlevania or Adventure used to do.

It's interesting quickly RG1 leveled upwards from 1 to 5, but making Level 6 is taking a longer time. I also like the game's music. I usually turn game music off, but with Arena I leave it on partially because there aren't very many sound effects. And also it sounds just like the sort of music we'd hear in an early Nintendo game.

[mirocu]

I only experienced an assault in an inn once, but still it happened. Didn´t think it could.

Yes this is a spooky game, at least in the early levels. I remember walking around Dunstad Grove with the sword ready and always on my tippy-toes. I love it when a game can do that, especially such a "crude" game by today´s standards. I think it´s because it´s that crude in fact. Like you say, imagination kicks in better then plus you really feel vulnerable at lower levels.

Leveling up goes pretty fast early on but the "older" your character gets the more points is needed so it will take more time to level up later. I´ve stopped at 25 and to reach that I had to endure endless fights (breaking into a house and choose the camp option) for several real-life days and now I just don´t want to continue doing that. Thor is strong and more importantly, his spells are strong and those that can have well passed beyond 100% chance of casting success.

[Renee]

Ah, so your character's name is Thor. Interesting. I didn't know that.

Last night RG1 kept hearing that lizard man sound, ya know? They make that sound like a clogged toilet? Anyways, she kept hearing it and it was giving me goosebumps because I couldn't find the damn thing. Then I realized it was standing inside one of those bush 'mazes'. So RG1 starts exploring this mage, trying to find the lizard man, but we couldn't find it. After awhile, it stopped making its gurgling call.

Later on she wound up at that same maze, and we heard the lizard again. So she goes to the entrance of the maze but THIS TIME it was RIGHT THERE coming for her! Damn, I almoist had a heart attack!

[mirocu]

Not sure if I should continue with Arena and do the questline or if I should fire up Daggerfall and give that one a go now...

[Acadian]

So many games, so little time!