The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall 📽 Through the Lens

Today we going back. How back?? Way back... // queue Sway voice

But more precisely we're going back precisely 7 years before the release of Morrowind, the Elder Scrolls game that would change it all and put the franchise on the map. 😎 Before that Elder Scrolls was a niche RPG game that only had a cult following. *I'm talking about the first game, Arena, more specifically.

Now, Daggerfall brought some new people in, no doubt. But it was still a niche game. A very unique for its time game, and maybe a few years too early. For many their entry point into the franchise, for most a ghost. 👻

And thus❗️ In this edition of Through the Lens 🎞, we'll be taking a look at Bethesda Sodrwork's massive (and boy is this game map huge 😂) open world RPG from 1996: The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, Roll it! 📽

https://images.ecency.com/DQmbsGg6LbLCkQFPWzFr9WDp2WaRLx6e3jJgY5sbdoetmWe/image.png

As always we link the OST for your listening pleasure. A note here. This is a different composer than the masterful Jeremy Soule (who for his part kept the soul of this OST intact in his projects). So you might think this OST is subpar - but no, this OST slaps.

For some reason the video starts with an audio rendition of the opening cinematic. Super weird, but time-stamped videos don't work as links so just skip to the first track, they're all time-stamped.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqUCz7E1s90

Needless to say, I didn't play this one on release. 😁 in 1996 I was about three and a half years old and blind, so yeah. 😅 And when I returned to it two decades later, it was already antiquated to the point of me not being able to enjoy it as those who played it on release. // bad sentence, I know, move on grammar boi

I do know enough about it to formulate an opinion on it, however. And that's all I need baby! 👯

Believe it or not...

Daggerfall has the biggest open world of all time.

No jokes. 😂

They did this using the same methods they use to generate all of their dungeons nowadays. I say generate but what I mean is layer. By using the same asset over and over again, takes up much less storage than having unique assets for every dungeon. Kapish?

They do these by using a blocking system. Each block represents a certain amount of memory, and you can reuse it without any additional cost. 😱

This as you can imagine, works wonders for indoor places, but for an entire world? Well, let's just say you'll be looking at the exact same thing all the time. And what were you expecting for a game of 1996 - when you hear it has the biggest world? 😂

Regardless it's impressive feet. And for the time it was a benchmark that put the industry on notice. These guys, who were mostly known for devel; hoping sports games, made a 3D RPG with this large a world?

And the fact it was 3DF back then was a big deal. Arena (the first Elder Scrolls game) was 2.5D. It tried to be 3D but they couldn't quite develop it as such, so they kinda faked it. 😅 Now, they went all in. The spirits might be two-dimensional, but the game itself is fully 3D.

You look at it today and its funny af. 😂 Everything just looks silly. But for the time? It showed ambition from a studio that had no right to show it.

And the ambition wasn't the only thing they had to show. Daggerfall is a competent game in all aspects.

Arena was the trial run. Daggerfall would establish the Elder Scrolls formula as we know it today. And I'm not exaggerating. A lot of the systems you see today have been present nearly 30 years ago...

You can play the game however you like. It's possible to be a thief and complete a quest that you didn't think was possible, in a way that wasn't obvious at first glance; you can be a mage and craft spells; you can be a warrior and just brute force yourself through every problem. It's all their man! Take it! / niche reference but who gets it gets it

You might think I'm describing a modern game, but no. All of this open gameplay is from the 90s. Revolutionary would be a small word.

Short segm4ent here but it beared mention. 😀

While some yjinhs have been redkon'd most of the lore is the same. Allt he elements you have grown to love in the modern Elder Scrolls games are present. Your deadric princess and races and artifacts. They are all here.

Even the story is very much similar to your classic Elder Scroills game. 🙃 Evverything from the set up, to the finale, is textbook Elder Scrolls storytelling.

"Arena might have been the first Elder Scrolls game, but Daggerfall was actually the first Elder Scrolls game, yo." Your Truly, 2022

The biggest open world game to date. And honestly, I don't think that will ever be topped. 😂 Yes, it will remain the biggest for... who knows how long. True, it's mostly nothing that you're traversing. But a medal is a medal as my mom used to say. 🥇

If nothing else, it's going to be remembered as the game that opened a whole new horizon to what was possible in gaming. And seeing the fame the franchise has now, it will get new players for years and years to come.

I can't really recommend it, but if you are a retro gamer, then go for it. 👊

Shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙

Now I have no idea what I'll write about next. Like zero. But something will pop up, it always does. 😎

Thanks for reading fam!

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Have you're having a great weekend! 🙌

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