Hello, fellow gamers!

I thought I´d throw this one out there for those who want to share what their characters are up to in both Arena and Daggerfall. Maybe I´ll be the only one posting though, we´ll see

As it is all my updates are regarding Arena. Haven´t installed Daggerfall yet but if I do I´ll make it clear which game I talk about.

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As of now, my Nord battlemage Thor is running laps around a block in Neugrad Watch at night. He´s hunting for experience in battle to strengthen himself before he heads out of town to explore caves. He´s currently lvl 6 and at lvl 5 he made quite a strong shield spell which has saved his life more than once.

What is described above is basically what he will be doing for the next few levels. I don´t want to head out before he´s much stronger and can afford ten or more health potions as well as some disease potions.

A slight change of plans, as it happens. Thor did not stay much longer in Neugrad Watch since last report. He has recently started to look for jobs (much like his master !) which consists of running errands around town. When he visited the Lord of Neugrad though, he got a quest of helping a relative of his to the town of Dunstad Grove which lies ten days north-west of Neugrad.

I had hoped for Thor to become a little stronger before going to unknown towns but I think the curiosity got the better of him. And me. When arriving in Dunstad it was nighttime and not knowing where the closest inn was, Thor decided it was best to stay put till dawn. Running around attracting monsters and killers isn´t the best thing to do when escorting someone. Even so, no less than three Rangers sent by Necromancers attacked but despite being low on Magicka and potions, Thor bested all of them!

And I think he´s found his new favorite place. Dunstad Grove is a beautiful place and all the snow does wonder for any Nord!

A Nord Battlemage named Thor?

Please tell me his only weapon is a hammer, with a handle that is a bit short.

I wish!

No, he uses a Steel Longsword but recently upgraded to a katana. Haven´t found a hammer anywhere. Maybe there´s a mod.....?

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New strategy: break into people´s homes at any time of day, stand in a corner and bring forth enemies to fight by selecting the camp option. Regarding experience points that´s much more effective than running around town waiting for something to show up

Money comes fast now too except they also vanish fast because I constantly need to buy different potions and they are expensive!

Anyway, level 9 now Unfortunately I get so few points to level up with so I´m still not that strong.

So, level 13 and still going strong! Thor is right now in his third town in Skyrim; Markarth Side.

I´ve kept the same formula; going into people´s homes (actually the same home) and help them get rid of various monsters and bandits. And as I level up, so do my spells and I might add, very rapidly! My shield spell is already very strong and my other spells are close behind. Resist/Absorb Magicka are the slowest ones to grow.

There was a quest I was sure I´d miss out on because I was simply too weak back then but now I think I actually might have a shot at it. We´ll see. Having 50.000+ gold at least grants me many Health and Restore Power potions!

mirocu, I'm so glad you're enjoying Arena! I never played it but am following along and enjoying your observations.

Glad you like them

It is a good game and I even like the combat system, believe it or not. Swinging the sword instead of just clicking actually makes it more fun. The magic system is a little bit worse, especially when you need to use a spell fast and can´t afford to dilly-dally. I have come up with a system that works pretty well though

You can´t see how much you have left of a shield effect and that´s too bad. Also you can get a full inventory even if you´re no way near to be encumbered, but these things are just nitpicking

Spells level up in Arena?

Now that's cool.

Yes, when making a spell you have a choice of having it becoming stronger by X points per level or every other level. This makes for interesting planning as you can make a spell that does 1 Damage Health (very cheap to cast) but grows stronger by 50 points per level!

Now, when you make it increase per level that does cost more Magicka, but it´s not by so much and at higher levels it´s more than well worth it!

Holy [censored]!

I wish we had that in Oblivion. Or Morrowind.

Same in Daggerfall. When you make them, the formula is m->n points base, plus p->q points per level, and you get to choose all the values. Higher values cost more, as does a higher chance of a good boost. So 5->7 per level might cost more than 1->10.

Most of the spells I made were the cheapest possible ones for training up levels, as I used the magical skills just to level up and get the attribute boosts. Weapon trainers (paid for training) provided the extra help for the skills actually used. The only spells I used much were levitation (required to reach some places) water breathing/walking (also needed in some dungeons) and mark/recall to get back out of the mazes that were every dungeon in the game. Offensive spells just drained too much magic for most classes. Healing spells were a useful backup, but spamming a low-cost spell was more productive than making a higher-cost one, as it helped level up.

ghastley, about using spells to get bonuses. That doesn´t apply to Arena, does it? Or what controls how many points you get there?

Gah! All this talk of Daggerfall and Arena is making me want to fire Daggerfall up again. Mostly since I was trying a Sorcerer type and that magic just sounds too tempting.

Experience for casting spells has pretty much stayed the same from Arena to Skyrim - you cast a lot of spells, you gain a lot of XP, and the spell strength didn't matter. So creating a magic-cheap spell that you can cast a lot helps you gain the XP you need to level up.

I don't remember how the skills interacted in Arena, but it was probably similar to the later games, and levelling your major skills counted more than the lesser ones (if they contributed at all). Having a spammable spell that counted towards levels gave you control over levelling. If your magic skills were all in the miscellaneous - doesn't count for levels - category, then it wouldn't do anything for you, other than possibly opening up another spell that was useful.

I think in the early games you could attack a wall with destruction spells and get credit, but they added checks for legitimate targets later in the series. The major/minor thing had more tiers in earlier games, until Skyrim lost the distinction completely. At the same time, more complex level perks came in to replace it, and even in the early games, it was present in loot scaling - no Daedric stuff until you level up enough.

Even in Skyrim, there was a simple count versus value/damage thing being adjusted in the patches. Smithing used to give experience based on items made, so we all made nails. Then it was switched to take value into account, and we make full armor these days.

So I'd assume Arena is at the "simple count" end, and you can cast weak fireballs at the ground for levels.

@Callidus - Then fire up Daggerfall again! I´m looking ridiculous here being the only one providing updates!

@ghastley - Thanks, that´s very interesting info But in Arena you don´t have major/minor skills, at least not in the same way as the later games (except for Skyrim, then...) At least I haven´t found anything that tells me what skills I have. All I see is the attributes, hit percentage and such.

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The quest is done! I had serious doubts that I could find the Acrobat in question in that dungeon and hand him in in time, but I did it! And to think, I never even needed to use all those 35 Health Potions I brought with me, and I only used a couple Restore Power potions!

Being lost in a dungeon, not knowing where to look for him or how to open certain doors and with no Mark/Recall ability to bring me back to town instantly if things go wrong I felt like even this minor quest was way over my head. But all my training in that house had payed off, Thor was much stronger now and I was much more confident using magic this time around which I wasn´t first time I tried that dungeon.

So now Thor is back in Dunstad Grove, the second town in Skyrim he´s been to and I think it´s time for him to get a better sword now. Mithril or higher, preferrably

And considering the title of the thread somebody needs to represent Daggerfall.

Maybe I'll take another crack at that Dunmer Sorcerer...

Yes! We need a Daggerfall representitive


Now thass what I´m talkin´ ´bout!

Or another character, if that strikes your fanny fancy

Trey the Breton is on a mission for the Emperor- well, actually TWO missions, but one of them is of a personal nature, regarding a certain indiscreet letter...

He got out of Privateer's Hold, thanks to his Shock spell and his native ability to resist magic (take THAT, stupid imp!)

Once in Daggerfall (city) he sold off some items and purchased a cart in hopes of having more Very Soon ™. That done, Trey joined the Fighters and Mages Guilds and began doing quests and getting training and making spells.

During this time, a note was delivered to him from a mysterious noblewoman (probably a Blades representative) asking him to meet to discuss his missions.

He has since visited the royal courts of Daggerfall, Wayrest, and Sentinel. Additionally, he has been (TWICE) to see the King of Worms- and survived so far...

He has also joined the Temple of Kynareth and is mulling over signing on with a Knightly Order...

Trey went to the Odd Blades in Daggerfall (City) and found his (first EVER!) Daedric sword- it was over 20000 gold but well worth it. And he has the gold to spare.

Things this iteration of Trey has been reminded of:

Daggerfall is quite large, although there is not necessarily variation to go with that size.

Gold adds encumbrance- keep up with your banking! (Or store gold in your cart).

Purchase a horse as soon as possible- it speeds land travel considerably.

Purchase/make a Cure Disease spell- mummies, rats, other beasties carry lots of diseases, including Plague. If you are infected, trying to Fast Travel from your most recent dungeon conquest may lead to death before you can reach a Temple.

If you want to do some relatively easy offensive magic/combat skills leveling, plus gathering loot, open up the Fast Travel map and filter out all locations except Dungeons. Look for the dark red markers, which should be graveyards. (The name will provide a hint... "vaults," "graves," "crypt"). Move the cursor to the nearest one, and Fast Travel there. These are mostly simple dungeons with a few rats/bats/skeletons plus random loot lying about.

Archery is frustrating if your initial skill is not above 40 or 50.

Yay! Welcome, treydog!! Finally we have a Daggerfall representitive!

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Thor is visiting every major town in Skyrim now in search for a good weapon and enchanted jewelry. He´s find a couple silver swords which are good against vampires but what he really wants is a longsword made of Adamantium. Maybe he should find Wolverine and ask if he has some scrap?

Right now he´s up to 75.000+ gold. Geez, it feels like it was yesterday he only had a couple hundred!

Ugh, fired up Daggerfall, tried to continue with my previous character. I realized that the city of Daggerfall is insanely huge, and I'm unable to find anything, even when asking for directions. I honestly don't see how those are remotely helpful.

So I deleted my saves and restarted.

And what happens? The game crashed as I was saving, after having killed the first rat, bat, and imp with ease. I had two ebony daggers.

This game's a cast iron bitch.

Sorry to hear the game´s acting up on you, Callidus

-If at first you don´t succeed, mr Kidd...

-Try and try again, mr Wint

Sorry to hear it is giving you difficulties, Callidus.

Here are some tips- not being insulting- just that I actually own the original game...

Use the "M" command when in the city to get an overhead view.

Stores are orange, inns green, guilds blue. Houses (and the palace for some reason) are gray. The layout of Daggerfall city is NOT random, so you may be able to find a map online to use as a reference (ALT-TAB is your friend). Here- in fact

While walking around, switch your mode to "Information (F3 in the default keyboard map). When you "activate" a building, it will give you the name and (if a guild or store) the hours it is open. If a locale is not open, you can "Loiter" for up to 3 hours at a time with no penalty.

Asking directions can be frustrating- "Just keep going southwest". However, someone will eventually say-"Let me mark it on your map."

That said, the only locations in Daggerfall city you HAVE to know are the Guilds, the Palace, and possibly a store or two. You may get "go exterminate the critters" quests directing you to specific houses or inns, at which point you do the "ask directions from lots of people" thing.

You SHOULD also locate The Odd Blades (most likely to have high-level weapons, even early in the game), a pawn shop (buys those high-value, strange items), and the Bank of Daggerfall (several locations).

Once a character has identified a building (either from information mode OR entering it), the label will always be on that character's map. Then you can take advantage of either running or riding your horse to get around the city faster.

Once you get a quest, it will show up in your log, including the name of the place and/or person involved.
Open up the world map (W key by default) and type in the quest location, then click on "Find". It will ask if you want to fast-travel there and offer options on how to do so.

A note on travel methods- you can chose "camp out" to save gold, but should always use "cautiously" when going to cities to ensure arrival when the gates are open. That matters mostly in Daggerfall, where Lysandus' ghost is a problem after dark. If you get "trapped" on the streets at night, just go to the nearest inn and either rent a room (if you are seriously roleplaying) or loiter the night away 3 hours at a time. Another option is to set your Teleport locus inside a guild and zap to it...

I have had one crash with this version running in DOSBox, which is MUCH fewer than the common Crash-to-Desktop issue that happened in the original game.

If you have questions, please ask- I will do my best to come up with a good (and possibly even CORRECT) answer.

ETA- Now playing "Trey the Reset." Because I picked the WRONG Temple to join! He has been lugging around a wagon-load of ingredients, waiting to get access to the Potion-maker- except Kynareth is one of the TWO Temples that does not HAVE one! So- Trey the Reset is now a worshipper of Stendarr. Which is cool, because you get a percentage chance per level of not being killed (except by drowning) whenever your character dies.

Yeah, I know how to get the map, and the colours of the important buildings, but without any useful directions or markers I've no idea where anything I'm looking for is actually located.

Thanks for the link to the map, that should help a lot.

Managed to get a game to save after four or five restarts. It seems that any start that gives me duplicate items, for instance a pair of iron cuirasses and ebony blades, made it want to crash. Weird.


So, now on my seventh iteration of Callidus the Dunmer Sorcerer, custom class of course.

Something else that I do not know to be absolutely true- but testing may prove or disprove....

It appears that when you are asking directions to a locale of which there are a large number (taverns, stores, etc) the list is in descending order from closest to furthest from your current location.

So- if the Black Wolf Tavern is near the top of the list, it is probably fairly close by...

Maybe.

Thor has been visiting every major town in Skyrim except Riften for stronger weapons and round shield and as always he found what he searched for in the last place he looked. He hasn´t found the ultimate round shield or belt though, but he has a couple Ebony longswords, a Dwarven saber and one Adamantium longsword so he´ll be able to deal some damage to foes resistant to mundane weapons He´s also got a round shield that fortifies his Strength by ten points!

Right now he´s back on his old training grounds; Markath Side. He´s about to go into the same house as before to fight off monsters and this time, he´s prepared!


Edit: Level 15 now and I still only get 4 bonus points! What am I supposed to do with that!??
Anyway, thanks to the spells getting stronger by the level, Thor can withstand much abuse now. Though he died once because lets face it, four Wraiths at the same time is a little much for someone with only +2 in Magic Defense.

Thor has reached lvl 20 and finally his Reflect and Absorb spells are getting useful being at 90% chance of casting success and lasting for 90 secs while also being cheaper to cast. Now it´s possible to save many Restore Power potions as well as Health potions. Not that it matters financially, he´s got about 120.000 gold pieces. But still, saves me the trouble of going to the Mages Guild and buy them all the time

It also makes the fights so much easier as one spell hit no longer drains 80% of his health and it doesn´t wear out the shield spell either.

I will join you in your ridiculousness. I've got Arena now on disc, with ES Anthology. There's a chance I might not like it, but I think I will. Only question: can I use my wired controller to move my character around?

I might (try to) start Arena tonight. Playing Skyrim right now and played OB earlier today, so it'll be a culture shock going from one game to the other!

Yay! Another Arena gamer!!

It´s good that you use the Anthology version, that way we can see if there´s any problem going on with it that´s not with the downloaded version. A cross reference, if you will

I have no idea about the controller, you just have to try. But I´d be surprised if it works with a game that old and my guess is that you still have to use the keyboard for hotkeying (instead of the Icons next to your character).

Keep us posted!

I will. I managed to find a webpage on Nexusmods where the dude talks about getting a controller working for Arena, and although I was too tired to game last night, I did notice the controller seems to be operational. I was watching the menu and noticed that if I press a button this makes the menu jump ahead. From what I understand, I'll still need to use my wireless keyboard to do certain things (like pull up a map) but I am fine with this. As long as the actual gameplay works, I'll be set.

Installing from disc was weird. Like, when playing a game on Xbox, or even when playing Sims 3 on PC all I have to do is click on an icon to get the game installed, and another icon to get it started. Well the way Beth did it on disc, there are no instructions! Even the 'online guide' or whatever it's called hasn't got any install instrux. Long story longer, I had to actually look at all the different files listed under Arena and finally found one which has the word 'install' on it. COOL! Right-clicked on that sucker, and finally (after ages went by) got the game installed.

That's weird. I have no idea why they did it that way, why there isn't a more obvious 'install' icon, or why I can't just right-click on the Arena disc itself and get an install option that way? Perhaps it's because PC gaming is for more 'advanced' thinkers or something; people who just already 'know' what to do.



Anyways, I'm supposed to do a bunch of stuff today; Xmas is almost here, but I'll hopefully get around to messing with Arena soon, and my next post will hopefully be an actual gaming update. I have already decided who my first character is. I'm going with the flow in this thread here, and it'll be Renee Gade I. I'm RPing that RG1 was the first Renee Gade, and that RG2 (who appeared when I was playing TES4) is the daughter of RG1.

RG1 will not be dead-is-dead. There's a learning curve here, so I'll have to learn it first.

Remember this is Beth you´re dealing with, and she is not an easy one to have around!


Very Extremely good idea. Otherwise I bet a thousand bucks we won´t hear much from her

I'm trying to start Renee Gade I's game as we speak. It's actually raining outside, too.

One question: why won't it let me start her from the Imperial Province? I was able to start her from Skyrim (by accident) but I want to make her an Imperial.

You can´t be an Imperial in Arena. They´re not invented yet

I have done it! I have managed to configure my controller for Arena! I got it, man! Seriously, if anybody wants advice how to get this to work, I can definitely help. Now, time for some gaming.

Edit 1: man this game is hard. Stamina is what determines whether you die or not, and assuming I can find a spot to rest at, it barely regenerates? Damn.

Edit 2: Ridiculously hard. Every time it offers me a chance to rest, it's guaranteed an enemy will show up who will remove all the Stamina RG has gained, if not outright killing her. Getting rather frustrating. tbh.

Get yourself together, man woman, and persevere! It will become easier later on
What race is she, btw?

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As for my Nord, he just slept away three months because the winter ended but we couldn´t accept that so he´s been practicing fighting in a house for a long time. But enough is enough and so he went to the closest inn and payed for several weeks at a time and just slept until winter was upon him again!

She's a Nord, which is fine. Renee Gade II was an Imperial, so there's some sort of cross-breeding between RG2 and her mother, perhaps.

But yeah, Arena's frickin' hard man. I mean, damn. If this is supposed to be the Tutorial dungeon, the learning curve involved is really steep. I didn't expect much hand-holding, that's not what I mean, what I mean is I can't even make it 50 feet without getting killed. Good thing I'm not playing this game DiD.

Stamina = health apparently, and it does not regenerate. When an enemy attacks Renee Gade I, it's the Stamina that's getting hacked, and when it gets to zero, Renee is dead. There are moments when the game will let my character rest, restoring Health and Stamina, but these moments guarantee some monsters will show up, hacking away any gained momentum, and possibly also killing her with just 2 swings or something.

There is no difficulty, either. I can't dumb the game down. Perhaps this is where my first training on the Console will begin; perhaps I'll have to cheat a bit, give RG1 boosted stats or remove certain enemies (if possible). I hate doing this, but I'm too frustrated by this game as-is to really enjoy it. I have noticed goblins and rats are good opponents, problem is a lizard man or some sort of soldier-looking dude will show up. Two hacks from one of these, and RG1 is dead.

Once I'm out in the world, perhaps it'll mellow out a bit (like you say), perhaps I'll be able to have Renee run around a lot or something. But it's interesting in an evolutionary sense, because this is how games used to be. No hand-holding! None! .... The game even seems to trick and fool the gamer too, because there will be a message like "this looks like a good place to rest!" so of course I try to rest. Assuming the game even lets this happen, that's where RG1 gets into the most trouble.

I think there must have also been a different climate of gamers back in the '90s, at least on PC: a hardcore following of people who like the fact that it's super-difficult from the get go.

Well, one thing right off the bat; the green bar is your Health and the red is your Fatigue (not Stamina! ) They switched it in later games.

I´m a little surprised you find the tutorial dungen that hard Yes it´s hard but you should be able to slay rats and goblins somewhat easy. I only died a couple of times in there.

About resting, do you rest on the elevated platforms? I never got attacked when I did that so the game doesn´t trick you there at least.

Also, what level is she now?

It's not the rats and goblins. I'm seeing lizard men and also these 'soldier' looking guys. Two or three strikes and I'm done. Perhaps it's because RG1 is already up to Level 3? That seems strange that she's leveled up to 3 so fast, but it's true, she has. *shrugs* Maybe at L3 they start putting some stronger enemies in there.


Um, elevated platforms? Not sure I've seen any yet.

It´s not strange, the game has a different leveling system which is based on experience points and some calculation and in the beginning that means fast leveling


Haven´t you seen those raised squares in the wall every once in awhile, with a brazier? The game hints it´s safe to rest there since no animal can smell you when you´re up there. You just missed them and that´s why you get attacked when you rest

Ohhh you can CLIMB into those areas? Ahh, Okay, that helps a lot. Thanks. I thought when that message showed up that means it's okay to rest in the middle of the floor. Cool.

I might start all over again, from the very first save then. Thanks!

One thing I have noticed is that Arena seems to feature a very vague system of hitting and missing. I have heard about this in Morrowind: how sometimes you'll be able to view a weapon hitting an enemy, yet it will count as a 'miss'. Well Arena seems to have the same system going on, but the graphics are so bad, it's hard to actually see the weapon hit an enemy at all!

Graphics: I love this game's primitive graphics! Love 'em! I love going back in time to the 'way it was.' Jumping from Arena to OB or Sky is going to be interesting because of this.

I also like the fact that there are four different commands for swinging a weapon around, rather than 1 button that gets pressed over and over (as in OB and Skyrim). I'm able to use the right joystick in Arena to slash left, right, down, and RG1 can also poke her enemy. Yahh! She's a viking Nord!! Yaah!

I love your enthusiasm, Renee!



Since I don´t have a controller I just swing with the mouse from right to left and as my own Nord has high agility he hits almost all the time now. Pretty fun system actually

I agree on the graphics! It feels more "game real" ya know? Almost like how it´s supposed to be I could use a little more refined graphics maybe, but it´s ok enough.

It's 'cause you just cheered me up, talking crow. I was kind of bummed about Arena's difficult learning curve because (so far) I'm barely able to connect with my character, other than as a super-paranoid lady running around in the dark getting pwned every seventeen yards or so.

Ahh, so Agility affects 'to hit' rolls. Very good.



I agree. I like that there are choices with weapon-swings, although I have heard that we can't manally block with a shield, right? The game automatically does this if we have one equipped? That must wear out your mice, all those side-to-side/back 'n' forth motions, eh?

A

It doesn´t really block like in Morrowind either but it counts towards your armor rating.


I have a pad so it´s all good It wears more on my wrist I´d imagine


About connecting and roleplaying, Arena is a hard game when it comes to that. You have freedom and you have leveling and so on, but aside from that and the MQ there isn´t that much to do besides getting rich. If you gimp your character in Arena you´re in for a world of trouble, unless the attributes getting gimped are Personality, Speed or Luck. Although Luck has an impact on everything you do, including To Hit and such.

Speed is basically only useful for archers because that affects how fast you can shoot arrows and Personality lets you haggle harder.

It's all good, mirocu. I don't intend to RP Arena as hardcore as I RP later games, but I think I'm going to enjoy it immensely. I'm a lover of attributes and stats and how they affect gameplay. All of that is derived from pen 'n' paper games, so it's imm .. imm ... IMMERSIVE to see how this stuff works out in real-time.

I can only imagine what it must have been like to go from tabletop gaming back in the early '90s to a real-time world such as Arena or Baldur's Gate.

I bet it blew their nerdy heads off!

Okay NOW we're rolling. Yep, RG1 can jump into a 'niche'. As long as there's no enemies nearby, she can heal up fully then. Now I'm having a better time with Arena.

Great You found much loot yet?

Not sure, but it's piling up. One thing I discovered is there are false walls in the Tutorial (Yes she's still down there). And also I've found it's possible to jump in the shallow water to cross hallways and stuff. I have no idea how to get out of this first maze but I'll figure it out.

Compared to Oblivion, this first Tutorial really is a maze. Compared to Skyrim (which features mostly in-and-out style lairs) I'm really having to use my wits just to remember which direction I'm going. It's possible to toggle the compass on and off in Arena, so I've actually been using the compass every so often! Imagine that!

I'm already kind of addicted to this game, mirocu. Why is this? There's something about it that grabs me. I actually chose Arena over Skyrim last night!

I think it´s because of the sense of a true adventure where you actually are in danger and have to figure out how things work. I was also very addicted and I absolutely loved it when I started to play. Like you say, you have to use your wits alot. I had a real sense of the need to survive and I loved it!

One aspect I find most interesting regarding any game is learning how it all works, and then apply that knowledge to overcome trials. It was the same with Morrowind but when all is said and done, I always go back to Oblivion

Also, I actually didn´t know you could toggle the compass! Or are you just applying your Oblivion mod?

It's also imagination. There isn't as much detail, the graphics are horrible, so to some extent imagination kicks-in to a higher gear or something, know what I mean? There's also a lack of story in this game-it's kinda vague. RG1 has been thrown into a prison because she's associated with Jagar Tharn or something. And that's it. That's all the game has given us. So to some extent, imagination becomes key.

LIke, when we used to play Adventure years ago on the Atari 2600 in high school, the 8-bit graphics were so primitive that to some extent I'd make up little stories in my head to fill in the blanks. The same thing seems to be happening now.



Me too. I'll be going back to Oblivion even more once I get some mods, of course. But Kahreem's game will always be vanilla.



No sir!! F8 toggles the compass on and off, and I managed to make one of the buttons on my controller simulate F8, too. I had to go through each and very key on the keyboard one by one, and then 'assign' the buttons found on the keyboard (and mouse, too) to various buttons, the d-pad, and one of the joysticks on my controller.

I'm supposed to be doing Xmas stuff with the family (cough) but here I am kinda sneaking off to possibly play some Arena!

I believe you´re right about that. Imagination automatically kicks in and provides me with information the game doesn´t give me and I think this is much better than being spoon-fed all the details. It gives a sense of achievement, like you figured something out for yourself and not much beat that feeling