Daggerfall: An Overlooked Elder Scrolls Gem

[@zeriel9148]

My favorite feature in Daggerfall that no one ever talks about and I've never seen repeated in another game with "generic", procedural quests is that you have multi-outcome quests where the outcome is determined randomly. One example I can think of offhand is that there's a quest to go and see if a kid is possessed by demons. Sometimes, the kid actually is possessed by demons and you deal with that. Othertimes, he's actually faking it for practical reasons. Funniest (or saddest, I guess) moment I ever saw in discussing the game with other people is how many people hadn't played enough to realize this and just assumed every quest had the same outcome every time.

[@ForeverMasterless]

That's crazy!

[@sombernights]

That feature is such a niche thing in video-games, it's basically unheard of. It should definitely be explored / covered in a video.

[@KingOfThePanduz]

That's an absolutely amazing feature and I'm honestly surprised that's not more common in RPG's today!

[@nebel_slayn4290]

This is the reason I always liked Bioware's Dragon Age games. Each playthrough can offer different things. I do think that idea can expand even more to introduce significant shifts in the game or world due to character decisions or random elements (rather than just affecting the quest in isolation).

[@H41030v3rki110ny0u]

​@@nebel_slayn4290 dragon age 2 is the most disappointing game of all time for myself... Almost 30 years gaming and nothing comes close to how annoyed I was by DA2.. origins was just SO good

[@rejvaik00]

Daggerfall wasn't overlooked it's just aged and slowly forgotten to time but I tell you when daggerfall came out it was amazing and everybody that was a fantasy nerd or a d&d nerd loved the crap out of it Had there been an internet in the form that we know it now in 1996 when Daggerfall was released it would have spread to the top of gaming pop culture like Skyrim did

[@veteran0121]

I doubt it. Daggerfall while a great game for it's time is nowhere near as iconic as Skyrim is. Skyrim is popular and sold all the copies it did because it attracted more than just the fantasy nerd types. That's the difference. Truth is Daggerfall hasn't aged all that well and while it was a technical marvel for it's time it's no Morrowind. Morrowind is the game that put the TES series truly on the map. Oh and I don't like how this guy puts TES fans into buckets that only choose one game to fawn over. I actually like Morrowind and Skyrim pretty equally but just for different reasons. I honestly don't understand the people who crap on Skyrim. I can understand the people who crap on Oblivion, though. To me that one is the weakest of the 3 Todd Howard main TES games.

[@psyxypher3881]

Daggerfall was a hit despite being so buggy you couldn't actually complete the game.

[@EnbyOccultist]

@@veteran0121 Morrowind is honestly less impressive than Daggerfall, technically and creatively. Pretty overrated given how terribly balanced and only somewhat competently written it is. It started the trend of gutting features for quicker cheaper development and it shows, Morrowind is to Daggerfall what Oblivion is to Morrowind.

[@FoMScratch]

I never got to play Daggerfall but I did play Arena as a kid and I remember being blown away at the fact that you could literally do anything. Thankfully we do have new ports of Daggerfall via Daggerfall Unity and DeepAI has been a god send at re-creating the original textures to modern resolutions. If Daggerfall Unity could get just a fraction of the modders that we have for Skyrim then we would be seeing some really incredible things.

[@NextLevelCode]

100% true. When I was a kid I would have loved to play this game. Unfortunately I never knew about it at all back then. We just had the baby internet. If we had KZbin it would have blown up. I got all my gaming news from magazines because that was the best source. Miss the month they cover this game and it’s like if never existed

[@MickyD]

Yes! There's been a surge of great Daggerfall videos lately and this video adds to it nicely. Good stuff 👌

[@goktugaydogdu60]

Nice to see you

[@Geeler]

Best part is, is that the Daggerfall videos are usually the ones that bring the channel to other people

[@caseyhall2320]

Micky, I'm beggin' ya, please do more Daggerfall if you have any craving for it.

[@Nimandrous]

I Always enjoy your daggerfall content.

[@thealchemist69666]

Micky D's videos are crap and annoying though...

[@KidoKatsuragi]

Yeah, that starfield outtro aged like a fine milk.

[@tarekmoneimsaid]

I think Daggerfall is very close to a pen and paper RPG experience: they drop you in this incredibly huge world (really, really huge, that can't be understated), that exists independently of you, and you are completely on your own, free to craft your own story. Later releases have strayed from this pure RPG experience, with Skyrim already establishing your character as Dovahkiin and the world seemingly revolving around you (no one seems to be able to do anything without your help), it's a more tailored experience. I believe none is better than the other, whether you prefer the former or the later is entirely up to you. I enjoyed Skyrim and I am enjoying Daggerfall: Unity (free on GoG, by the way).

[@YarHarFD]

I felt Morrowind was a pretty good balance. You spend almost all of the main quest not proving yourself, but finding out IF you are the hero, only for the final moments to be recognized and then fight the main boss and most of the time people either don't care who you are or don't believe you. This really contributes to the feeling of side quests since it doesn't make sense for the hero to just ignore a looming evil and go fight in an arena or run errands. Oblivion and Skyrim are were like, "yup, you're the hero, everything revolves around you, so go make it happen, but if you wanna pick vegetables, whatever".

[@LemonMoon]

Daggerfall is free everywhere, not just on GoG

[@xBINARYGODx]

@@YarHarFD you are wrong - it's the worst in the series because it doesn't have the smoothed gameplay of the newer entries, nor the amazing choice of the earlier ones - its entirely awkward - and no, its writing is not actually that great. Read a book.

[@YarHarFD]

@@xBINARYGODx i never said anything about the writing. Learn to read

[@muttipi]

@@xBINARYGODxthank you king of video games and also writing without you people wouldn’t have been able to form their personal opinions about one of the most widely renowned RPGs in the history of the medium.

[@myflyingpotato0]

Daggerfall looks so good when you can see in the distance, wtf. 😭 It's still honestly one of my faves.

[@TheRebelkid15]

I love Daggerfall's graphics. Just find something charming about that art style.

[@synotheman]

Definitely agree! Looking back at old games, it’s safe to say that most old 3D games (using polygons) have aged much worse than their 2D counterparts (pixel artstyle). Even though at the time 3D graphics used to look so ‘amazing’ and ‘revolutionary’ ahah.

[@Birdsflight44]

Oh, I just can't stand it. So glad the Unity stuff has been adding 3D models everywhere. I don't know why, I just don't like 16 bit stuff, pseudo 3D, billboarding or anything like that. Love 8 bit, will play the likes of NetHack and Dearf Fortress with the OG ASCII palette, love early true 3D, just can't click with the in-between. Really glad someone else is enjoying it though. There's so much good design that comes out of Build endine/pseudo 3D kinda games that I want them to keep being made, even if I'm not playing them. Like MyHouse.Wad? That's going to be inspiring some killer horror stuff down the line. Keep being a fan, my dude.

[@Elrohof]

@@Birdsflight44 Hey, if Unity is making it more visually tolerable for you that's fantastic! I'm glad more people are opening their eyes to this game. It's a product of its time, for good and bad, but so endearing to me and really embodies what I'd wish other devs did for a medieval fantasy game.

[@tofu1608]

It's the best. I don't even want to mod any of it.

[@nomad7317]

This game was WAAAYYYY ahead of its time. One of the greatest games ever made.

[@elimgarak1127]

It's still ahead of every ES game that came after. By leaps and bounds.

[@skylol6258]

​@Elim Garak disagree. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Daggerfall, and it does many MANY things better than other TES games. However, after playing the game multiple times, it isn't hard to notice that, while it is pretty ahead of its time in certain aspects, it's severely outdated and downright tedious in others.

[@01What10]

If they could take the best ideas from the newer games and somehow keep the experience and size of Daggerfall, one could create the perfect Elder Scrolls.

[@S0n0fG0D]

​@@skylol6258 the way the magic and enchantments were handled should've been carried to Skyrim. It's funny just affecting cities with a single fireball 😂

[@Sanguivore]

While I agree that it is a very advanced game, and certainly great, Daggerfall (and Arena) are both just copying what Ultima did quite a while before them. (And I say that as someone whose favorite series in the entire world is The Elder Scrolls. Ultima was the true innovator that was ahead of its time; Arena and Daggerfall just iterated on their ideas.)

[@Dandyline]

I'm an old gamer that played Daggerfall when it first came out, and you are absolutely right about the skeleton's screams, they still haunt me to this day (also that squeaky door is also so impregnated into my skull).

[@TrevorLahey3]

Dude. The skelly screams are truly an aural nightmare.

[@Mak10z]

and its odd hearing the squeeky door sfx in freaking big budget movies too

[@Gameprojordan]

​@@Mak10zI mean, that sound effect started in cinema

[@LoganL17]

Yeah me too

[@thispurplebean2]

I barely began playing Daggerfall and the skeleton screams already scare me bad

[@technomage6736]

All the dungeon sound effects of Daggerfall creeped me out. Especially when you hear a new enemy for the first time and have no idea what monstrosity it might be...or exactly where. Love it!

[@christophertaylor9100]

Its the Thief game engine, it works so well for atmosphere

[@imamish]

I recently started playing DFU and this nymphs laughs are creepy

[@Unk0wn_stalk3r]

I was playing today and i was like "ayo WHO THE FUCK IS SCREAMING LIKE THAT? STOP!" (I was playing a custom class, a monk with expertise on hands and dodging, stealth, stuff like that) i had to throw hands with a damn resident evill level threat skeleton

[@monkeyglory2905]

​it certainly is that game that isn't supposed to be horror but it always scares tf out of me, like subnautica

[@garuelx8627]

Oh dear... That Starfield anticipation aged like it drank from the wrong grail...

[@norekolivas]

yeah i also saw that and was left like, oh no

[@lpc3109]

Yeah I lmao at the comment. I didn't even have to play that game to realize it was the blandest piece of s*** they ever released. Including elder scrolls online.

[@Emmet_Bryan]

@@lpc3109 dont cuss

[@chainsofgames]

@@Emmet_Bryanshit

[@EpicWinNoob]

The sound effects when you miss an attack would have been nice in morrowind, it gives the impression that your strikes are being deflected by armor or parried/blocked. It gives the impression that you *are* physically interacting still, but you just haven't quite landed a blow squarely. It's a good representation of a fight without literally showing them parrying you.

[@bobbybutterbeans516]

It's also what I liked about neverwinter nights, except it actually had animations for the misses as either a parry or a dodge

[@logan_wolf]

Which, as a die-hard Morrowind fan myself, is pretty strange, as its predecessor, Daggerfall, had exactly that: sound effects for when attacks just didn't land. I cannot fathom why they chose not to include it in Morrowind.

[@gunitgamer]

Calling Morrowind players “the dreaded gatekeepers of the series” is probably the most accurate description I’ve ever heard

[@jimmybayconn]

I love skyrim and morrowind. Skyrim for good action combat and just simply having fun and morrowind for actualyl roleplaying to an extreme degree

[@zigfaust]

Except they are not gatekeeps, they just remember when TES was actually creative and not cash cow BS. Oblivion was a happy medium, but it's so painfully obvious that they threw away everything Skyrim was supposed to be to hop on the Norse train at the time and even on the hardest mode the game is laughably easy. They went with the AAA addage of "people want to win, so let them win".

[@michaelsmart7445]

Dreaded gatekeepers of the series! Exactly!

[@jimmythecrow]

@@michaelsmart7445 what are they gatekeeping you from? Do you even kow what that word means? Cause the creator didnt use it properly either.

[@SepticFuddy]

Some gates must simply be kept. When a thing ceases to fit its own definition, then it really isn't the same thing anymore, is it? (Reference the "ship of Theseus" problem.) Classification inherently requires some degree of gatekeeping, and without classification we can't even have a discussion about a given thing. As a Morrowboomer, I enjoyed Skyrim at the time, but its hollowness was apparent pretty quickly. I went from completely leaving the main quest train to explore and RP in Morrowind with a bit of sidequesting, to cutting short on some sidequests to chase after Oblivion gate quest markers, to mountain-climb-waypoint-click-stealth-archer railroading the main story after only a few short hours of exploring in Skyrim. Morrowind never lost its wonder and immersion because it was built to be navigated in a natural and relatable way rather than a min-max, hyper-optimized way. Dialogue had a lot more depth because it was not tied down by the burdens of voice acting, only the writer's keystrokes. Morrowind offered an immersive exploration of a detailed and believable fictional world, where Skyrim only offered the facade of the same thing. Morrowind offered a wide variety of paths and a wide variety of means to walk them, where Skyrim offered the illusion of choices. You can build your character how you want... but only stealth archer is worth wanting. You can choose a faction in the war, but about all that does is paint the battle map one color or another. The only other real choice you can make in Skyrim is whether or not to give your time to a particular questline. Trying to explore Skyrim in the way I explored Morrowind felt more like peeking behind the curtain of content meant for later than actually exploring. Most "open-world" games suffer the same problems, which is why people have burned out on the trend. It's easy to make a game "open-world", but very hard to make it actually feel like a world. The space has to be put to interesting use and feel hand-tailored, rather than just be space for the sake of slapping a trendy label on your game. Morrowind balanced that with its fast travel system and quest writing masterfully.

[@er5269]

This was the game I was dreaming of as a kid, but I didn't think that anything like this existed. I wish I found it back then.

[@Sanguivore]

This video is literally 10/10. A perfect love-letter to Daggerfall, and all the little well-placed bits of comedy were perfectly paced and not distracting but elevating. I'll definitely be showing this to anyone who asks about the game!

[@eradius]

this was my introduction to the series when i was a kid. back in the old times of the 90s. i remember the first time i played i didnt figure out you could fast travel so spent about 12 hours walking between towns

[@poopsmith6853]

The demo was the whole game almost but restricted to a small island off the coast of daggerfall. I spent many times trying to waterwalk, swim, whatever off the island and drowning when out of stamina.

[@sammerthanyou]

It's a cliche to say this, but this for real deserves more views. I am 100% biased as the only other Daggerfall fan in the universe, but still.

[@caseyhall2320]

Idk, you may not be alone anymore for long. My interest in it went pretty high when I learned you can actually take the enemy's equipment for yourself, as mechanics around this generally feel more rewarding to me.

[@jaredsmith7240]

Oh you're a Daggerfall fan? Name every location. I'm waiting...

[@probablynotdad6553]

@@jaredsmith7240 uuuuuhhhh, uuh.... Daggerfall: Daggerfall

[@Lmi109]

@@probablynotdad6553sentinel sentinel 😬

[@queuedjar4578]

@@Lmi109 You ain't a real Daggerfall fan until you've met Borp in the Laughing Huntsmen, Elissinia: Myrkwasa Region.

[@ok-zombie4286]

I played Daggerfall in college. I had the ultimate character, game crashed and I lost everything. I took out the CD, broke it in half, and chucked it in the woods.

[@AlmyTheAlien]

The Elder Scrolls is interesting as a series in that it really embodies the full spectrum of open world RPG design. At one end, you have a game like Daggerfall, wherein the player has basically free reign to do anything, go anywhere, ally with anyone, and build their character in any way, to the extent that manually designing a full game around it would take 50 years and 5 billion dollars in writing budget alone, so as a result 99.99% of the *actual* content is half-broken procedurally generated origami garbage populated with Doom enemies and carboard cutout NPCs. Then at the other end of the spectrum, you've got a game like Skyrim, where there's barely even an RPG there mechanically much less narratively, yet every single townsperson has an entire simulated schedule, family, and 9-to-5 job, where you can not only loot every individual fork and spoon off the table but hold and move them around in 3D space.

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

All we need to do now... is combine them. Skyfall Wait...

[@kolardgreene3096]

Daggerfall Unity made Daggerfall my favorite Elder Scrolls game ever. I have just never played a game that had this sense of scale or adventure. Even with a lot of the older cracks rearing their head every now and then, the changes made even in the vanilla version of Unity make it a blast to play even today Also, I love you showed the superior Daggerfall mechanics in that early montage by climbing up onto a roof to escape the guards lol

[@skidspodcast1.0]

Same here. It recently took place as my favorite over Morrowind earlier this year in fact. That was my first encounter with the Unity version, and I keep coming back to it over and over.

[@cosettapessa6417]

Did you finish it?

[@kolardgreene3096]

@@cosettapessa6417 not yet. In the middle of Mannimarco's dungeon, but it's the openness of the game that draws me in more than the story, even though I'm enjoying the story bits I get. Looking forward to triggering a Dragon Break though

[@dawnfleischman]

I like to think it's the true version of daggerfall, what they would have made if they had access to what we have now

[@Birdsflight44]

Might be worth looking into Dwarf Fortress, depending on which aspects of the game appeals to you. There's something I really love about having potentially hundreds of lil guys, all with their own hopes dreams and agendas, just running around like that.

[@danielzawacki4192]

Interesting thing about daggerfall's dungeons... They were "procedurally generated" at the developer, and then solidified. In the original MS-DOS release, if you installed the game on a new computer and went to a location where there is a dungeon, that dungeon would be exactly where it was on the previous computer, and would have an identical map to the dungeon you explored on the previous computer. The rooms were modular, and the whole dungeon map was built using a precursor to the random per seed procedural generation that would become the standard in following years, but the dungeons were not randomized between playthroughs. They were, on the other hand quite massive. Like really, really huge. Getting lost in a dungeon was a real danger. There were also some dungeons that required levitation magic or teleportation magic to escape. There's at least a couple where you can only progress by dropping into a room from above, with horizontal ceiling surrounding the entry once you're down. Since you can't climb along ceilings, there's no way out unless you can teleport, or remembered to set a mark up top. This taught me to always set a teleportation marker when I entered a new dungeon so I would be able to get out, even if I got hopelessly lost (which happened quite a bit - did I mention how HUGE the dungeons were?)

[@christophertaylor9100]

When he says you could get lost in the dungeons, he's not exaggerating. There was a trick you could do where you crouch against a wall and could peek through to try to see where the hell you were and how to get somewhere else. And it was almost necessary to play

[@skidspodcast1.0]

I couldn't agree more. I remember my first experience playing the game. First dungeon I went to after the game opens up after Privateer's Hold, I got lost in it and spent the better part of a day trying to just backtrack to get out. But the dungeon was so enormous, innumerable intersections and levels.. I never made it back out. I had to start a whole new character. The dungeons are seriously, GARGANTUAN. None of these other commenters have exaggerated at all. The Unity option to make the dungeons smaller is a MUST.

[@blockmasterscott]

OMG, you were spot on about getting lost in those dungeons.

[@Retrofire-47]

Kind of remarkable, really... since procedural generation is widely regarded as a more recent video game mechanic.

[@Retrofire-47]

Do you recommend a newcomer play Daggerfall? I am kinda intrigued

[@MagCynic]

To this day I have great memories of going through the Daggerfall DEMO (back when demo CDs or floppies came with gaming magazines) over and over with different characters.

[@cogsworther1639]

Real quick tip to everyone who decides to give this game a try: Always take the Ebony Dagger. It doesn't matter if Short Blade isn't one of your skills. Just take the damn dagger.

[@thanoseid2883]

gotcha

[@thepolarphantasm2319]

Like three enemies into the first dungeon you'll run into an imp or something that's immune to iron and steel both So unless you have decent attack magic (you don't, you barely know how to move at this point) you'll need a strong weapon to hit it. Also, good luck hitting anything in that first dungeon. Lol, I remember having like four minute sword battles with things and 3.5 min of it would be both of us whiffing like a mf heh

[@TheHegetzu]

@@thepolarphantasm2319 so it's not me? Am I not supposed to kill stuff?

[@Wintermute-nt5fp]

@TheHegetzu What class are you playing?

[@Mr-Sinister]

I killed that imp with some other weapon I looted in the dungeon, and I chose gold instead of dagger in that playthrough (playing DOS version)

[@Rulytasho]

Have you ever heard of a game in the making called Wayward Realms? it's a game that is currently on developement made by the people who made Daggerfall, and they are planning on making essencially a Daggerfall 2 with this game they are developing.

[@cliffworms2990]

Very interesting video and well edited too! I'm glad you're loving a modded Daggerfall Unity game. Hopefully your video brings more players to DFU. Cheers!

[@dentureadventure1490]

This game blew minds in the late 90's, it was my first Elder scrolls game. Daggerfall had such a flexibility to the way you made your character that's even lacking in todays recent installments to the series, I use to love to levitate after robbing stores and watching the guards follow me, as i float from one building to another with them saying " HALT " now and again. Still my favorite out of the series.

[@Traivss]

I install a skyrim with a fuck ton of graphics mods to get baked and walk around looking at trees when it’s too cold to go camping in real life.

[@zanenewton8586]

I just clicked on this video expecting a typical, okay review that didn't really stand out like so many others out there but damn this was actually a really entertaining video. Loved your style, humor and skits. Definitely looking forward to more stuff like this so keep it up, man!

[@louislaplace2691]

Dude the skeleton and banshee sounds in Daggerfall used to give me nightmares as a child.

[@ThalantyrS]

I still remember my first time playing Morrowind and struggling to get to Balmora just to struggle even more to find Caius Cosades xD but it was so immersive and enjoyable! So sad that games left these ways behind... get video man btw!

[@shadowmasterking]

I agree it's a great video but he didn't have to Poison the Well about morrowind fans caring about the Deep choices and RPG mechanics we used to have

[@demavend6847]

I've seen documentaries on YT about the history of the Elder Scrolls series, and while they are fantastic you are the first I've seen discussing the actual gameplay of the game. Nicely done.

[@emmathepony1992]

this is a really great and well edited video and i love that you love this classic too !

[@justsomeperson5110]

Love it!

[@mehulmankar5953]

🙌

[@xmen123ist]

Genuinely a great read.

[@ericbaker8781]

Morrowind is still infinitely better

[@bobbyhill1110]

If morrowind fans are boomers Daggerfall fans the silent generation

[@hugzar9797]

Daggercorpses

[@GALuigi]

You deserve more subs. Really enjoyed the editing in this video. No crazy sound effects every 3 seconds and your presentation skills are good. Thank you!

[@MrOkatron]

Another great video my guy. Didnt know shit about daggerfall until watching this, and it seems like an interesting experience for sure.

[@GodwynDi]

Daggerfall was my first, first person RPG, and I spend most of the time playing later Elder Scrolls games lamenting the fact that they are not as good. Many of them are quite enjoyable, but they have not felt quite as complete an experience. My top 3 games that epitomize what a first person RPG can be are Daggerfall, Fallout New Vegas, and VtM: Bloodlines.

[@ashes48]

Daggerfall was my first, it was so awesome back in the day. i loved that it had climbing lol I'll have to check out the Unity version!

[@Tc4ify]

The dig at Morrowind's run speed is admittedly funny, but it is actually the game where it is easiest to get to Sonic the Hedgehog levels of swiftness just by obtaining the Boots of Blinding Speed (+200 Speed attribute).

[@poopsmith6853]

You get pretty fast in daggerfall when your running skill and speed attribute get high

[@dudes11bravodadschannel85]

I started with daggerfall back in 96 on my uncles windows 95 lol still enjoy it to this day well put together video man

[@leon_De_Grelle]

The original Bethesda designers and programmers that made Daggerfall and Arena - pre Todd Howard days for the most part - like Julian LeFey are working on a new game where their goal is to essentially build the type of game they wanted Daggerfall to originally be. DF was so incredibly ambitious for the time that, while it was lovingly called Buggerfall due to it's constant bugs and crashes and other issues, the original team was unable to get most of what they wanted into the game. These mechanics would've included a real evolving world around you of the various factions, large and small, of which you're given glances in DF (e.g. when asking about news you're told by a barkeep, 'I hear the Statmeyer Clan and the Millseer Family are fighting with one another'.) This often meant nothing in the actual play of the game but there were mechanics implemented for keeping track of all of these factions and the idea was if you were running errands and helping the Statmeyer Clan in their town, and then later you were seeking shelter at a tavern in a town who had a lot of allegiances and ties to the Millseers, they may try to attack or poison you, drive you out of town, deny you a hotel bed , etc. In this way. A much larger living breathing world would be created but in the end the only way to do such things in 1996 was lots of Procedural Generation and tons of bugs in these smaller factions. As a result really it was just the primary 5 factions, e.g. get good prices from merchants, get info from the aristocratic class, lay in league with thieves, or your rep. or etiquette / language skill with different monsters and mobs in order to pacify them and have them fight with you. You could also just decide to setup life as perhaps merchant, buying and selling goods as you stacked cash, made alliances and reputation, bought a boat to travel with your wares, buy a shop and sell to passers by. It was intended to be a kind of 'Second Life' but in the Elder Scrolls universe. Extremely ambitious in 1996 and by the time they changed things a bit and Morrowind came around those ideas were forgotten. The idea of this new game from LaFey and crew as I understand it is that they will essentially build kind of what DF and elder scrolls as a whole might have been. We'll have to see. The company is called OnceLost games, go check it out. They're working on it.

[@CoralCopperHead]

Huh, I recall "Buggerfall" being used extremely derisively.

[@NerdHerdForLife]

Started with Skyrim, played all the main games in reverse order. Daggerfall is my absolute favorite.

[@skookathing]

fantastic video. it's always so hard for me to choose what my favorite tes game is but I have to say daggerfall because of how deep and complicated it is

[@ssagee4101]

Absolutely love your narration and the small easter egg comedy you throw the audience's way. Fantastic!

[@Mr._Anderpson]

You hit on the key difference between Daggerfall & later entries when you said you "imagine" the fights as epic, sweeping duels. Daggerfall's graphics limitations & relaxed structure for the main quest left most of the details to the player's imagination. I'm an old gamer & played this game, Mechwarrior 2, & TIE Fighter religiously in the 90's. The later entries in those franchises are visually superior & have better user interfaces. The problem is, just like with modern movies, they rely much more on visual spectacle while lacking substance. Yes, Skyrim is beautiful, Oblivion has more interactive quests, & Morrowind showcases an alien world, but Daggerfall steps back & let's you breathe life into your character & the world around it. Ok. Grandpa is tired & needs his chair.

[@Chedar_enthuaist1234]

The single line "eating 19 cheese wheels" got me to play skyrim

[@jowilson5581]

You did a really great job articulating the history and changes in the series, in a much shorter form video than a lot of Daggerfall content. I LOVE TES2 and i'm still waiting for a proper sequel to that sort of game. My first game was Morrowind, but Daggerfall grabbed me hard and hasn't let go since I first tried it a few years ago. I'm always happy to see others discovering it too, and sharing that love. I also really appreciate how funny this was, without needing to lean on easy toxic nonsense for laughs. So thank you very much for that. I do have to say, though, that I vastly prefer the gargantuan default dungeons, and I happen to absolutely love how insanely hardcore the dungeon crawling is in the vanilla game. I genuinely enjoy dedicating an entire gaming session to just exploring a dungeon in its entirety, piling up loot in my wagon and trying to figure out arcane layouts and hidden rooms and interactibles. There's really nothing else quite like it in the modern era, this absolute dedication to the hardest of the hardcore dungeon crawling experience.

[@JustMe99999]

Look in to The Wayward Realms... being created by the same devs who created Daggerfall.

[@jowilson5581]

@@JustMe99999 YEAH! i found out about this recently. so hype for it

[@PaulKentSkates]

I played hundreds of hours of this game as a kid. That tavern song has been stuck in my head for nearly 30 years now.

[@leafheart3213]

God, my biggest complaint with the old daggerfall combat was the mouse swinging. Not because it was uncomfortable but because the mouse was also what you used to make your character look around, so in addition to the chance based hits, I was also essentially unable to hit anything because my dudes looking all over the damn place while I try and swing my shit.

[@III-vg4dp]

I didn't know it had been brought to a different engine. Combine that with a surprisingly good analysis and presentation and you've got yourself a new subscriber. Thanks.

[@loudradialem5233]

It would be cool if Todd Howard played this game to remember the old games.

[@CarlosDLimaArt]

Pretty sure he already does that :)

[@cal5750]

@@CarlosDLimaArt he definitely does not

[@xBINARYGODx]

@@cal5750 at this point? Probably not, but he did - he didnt want to work at Bethesda for not playing their games. But I guess him having differing priorities is "bad". You, not liking something makes you better than that other person who likes the thing. You are a child, probably a too-online one./ Now please do make retarded assumptions about which games I prefer and in which state.

[@max7971]

Todd is a weird one. He outright refuses to even condider remastering morrowind, because he loves it, and wants people to experience the game “as is”, while moving away from it more and more with each new title.

[@Judymoe]

My first TES game was "Arena", but I fell in love with "Daggerfall". Yes, I'm an old, old woman. Thanks for talking about the update; I really want to try that, now.

[@denyarwing]

Here's a tip for anyone interested in playing Daggerfall. Try to start off the game with an ebony Dagger. That thing helps SO much in the beginning dungeon. Any Imps or flipping skeletons are then somewhat combatible.... can't help against the ptsd from the skeleton screams though.... Anyways good luck to anyone wanting to start playing!

[@zeriel9148]

Yeah, there's a ton of little details like that. I think the fun of the game was always discovering that for yourself though; another basic thing you'll figure out from messing around with chargen is the semi exploit of "free powers" from the disadvantage system, since there are disadvantages that are completely countered by advantages, like taking a disadvantage that makes you weak to diseases and then making yourself immune to diseases.

[@Jonoth]

Skeletons don't make me quiver, but when I hear that zombie roar, I know I'm going to have a bad bad time

[@miserere_me9168]

17:38 ... yeah about that.

[@bradygrumadas4081]

The personality shines through and keeps viewers coming back.

[@firstnamelastname9237]

You can bash doors open?! I thought I just happened to anger an enemy on the other side of the door and they opened it lol. Also yes, I heard about the small dungeons option. Made life so much easier. The dungeons were the biggest thing I had against daggerfall

[@christophertaylor9100]

I would get physically ill trying to find my way out of them, they were too big and twisty

[@Payayaso]

​@@christophertaylor9100 they are lol but it's the experience

[@Wintermute-nt5fp]

I feel like I'm the only one who likes the dungeons lol.

[@Byrvurra]

@@Wintermute-nt5fp Nah I love the dungeons too.

[@rogermusson4110]

Daggerfall is the only RPG I have seen where it actually feels like a real world - where you have towns with more than 12 inhabitants, and areas are believably scaled. I finished the main quest back in the days. Also, the music was really great, especially the atmospheric night music. Truly a great game. Incidentally, one of the bugs was quite useful. It was possible to fall through the floor in dungeons in certain places. The trick was to deliberately fall through, float around in the void until you spotted your quest objective, then rise up through the floor and complete the quest.

[@mayssm]

I played this game in college. Got like halfway through it, after spending so many hours and then I had a quest where I was supposed to deliver something to someone and even though it was in my bag, he just wouldn't take it or recognize I had it. So many bugs. Ended up just giving up and never finishing.

[@robinmattheussen2395]

Yeah I never got close to finishing my original playthrough when I first played it (which I did after I played Morrowind I think?). The many bugs and bizarre labyrinthine dungeons stopped my progress pretty quickly, and at that time there weren't that many exhaustive resources available for it.

[@milkpigeon]

you DEFINITELY take inspiration from J1mmy, your reference to rs2 at 7:00 just solidified that to me

[@thewhyzer]

I've started multiple playthroughs of this game, and they all ended out of frustration on returning to that Witch's dungeon to find her over and over with the map being reset each time. I should give the unity version a try sometime.

[@Corehaven22]

I discovered Daggerfall at age 36. I remember what age I was because I fell in love. I'm 42 now. I came into it before Unity. Just playing it on an emulator. I have all my documentation and notes in front of me now for the game I'm about to play it again. I have a Daggerfall t-shirt. I really enjoy Daggerfall Unity now. I played Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, and Daggerfall in that order. Daggerfall is my favorite game of all time. I'm glad I found it.

[@TheSynthPunk]

If you liked Daggerfall, make sure to keep an eye on Wayward Realms by OnceLost Games! It's an old school, procedurally generated RPG by the original developers of Arena and Daggerfall, Julian LeFay and Ted Peterson, and Eric Heberling (Composer for Daggerfall) will return to write music for the game. If you liked Daggerfall, then make sure to throw a buck or two their way on the Wayward Realms Kickstarter!

[@logan_wolf]

As a die-hard Morrowind fan, I just wanted to say: I have a deep respect for Daggerfall, and love playing it from time to time. Believe me, I've been well aware of the existence of both Daggerfall and Arena for over a decade. In fact, Daggerfall was actually my first Elder Scrolls, followed closely by Oblivion. It wasn't until much later that I found Morrowind, and I didn't even like it the first time I played it, lol.

[@FirstSkilletFan]

The clip (3:50) of you shooting that guy in the head with an arrow at point blank range while casually talking over it like it's normal has me rolling laughing.

[@MarrsJ]

I grew up with Oblivion, Skyrim and Morrowind. I only recently played Daggerfall, and I can say, with a couple QoL and Immersion mods, it was the best Elder Scrolls experience I ever had. I also recently started playing outward, which, to me, is basically Daggerfall 2, but as a survival game I hope Elder Scrolls 6 is closer to a mix of outward and daggerfall rather than just Skyrim 2

[@crimace9703]

I love RPGs(Yes that includes Skyrim and Oblivion)and I booted up daggerfall for the first time a month ago, now I havent had time to continue playing(Sadly)but it has become my third, maybe even tied for second favorite Elder Scrolls game and easily one of my favorite RPGs. But one thing that will ALWAYS bug me and always has, is chance based hits when attacking(With the exception of Daggerfall), to me it just makes the game feel bad to play now that doesnt exactly mean hard but just unresponsive, now this specifically applies to games that dont use a turn based combat system(Morrowind for example). Thats my own personal take on rng based combat though, in short I think it works for turn based combat but not open combat(Daggerfall being the exception). If you're curious about what my first and second favorite Elder Scrolls games are, as I mentioned Daggerfall is my third maybe second. Elder Scrolls online is my second favorite and Skyrim is my favorite, even with Skyrims more mainstream/casual play style.

[@caseyhall2320]

Skyrim is the most laid back and easy to get into of the bunch. You can basically relax as you play it. Comfy game good.

[@abadenoughdude300]

It's not as much rng-based combat (at least not entirely) as it is following the basics of tabletop rpg - dice rolls and skill checks. Your blade skill is level 1? You're a total noob, won't be able to hit anything and will get blocked constantly. Your blade skill is level 100? You can out-sword the gods themselves and you will kill anything you want. There is luck involved but generally skills mean something and aren't there just for windowdressing. It is also why Daggerfall is considered "hardcore" while it just follows certain mechanics instead of being just a "click button to kill enemy" action game.

[@max7971]

Bruh, what a taste you have. Skyrim > ESO > daggerfall What the actual fuck

[@pedrovisgueira]

This video just earned you a new subscriber. good stuff man

[@lotan7681]

I like the big dungeons. They're honestly the most fun part of the game for me.

[@whosaidthat84]

As someone who's brand spankin new to the series, I'm loving learning the history.

[@wilcekmay9052]

cool that you say about it, and i've tried unity version, which is cool, but i gotta admit, that i still love to use the old classic vesion of Daggerfall, run on DosBox. Probably a sentiment to the old version, from time when i was small. And yea - the skeleton sound freaks the sh!t out of me. As well as mummy and ancient vampire xD

[@probablynotdad6553]

"I love to use dosbox" I've never seen such horrific stockholm syndrome before, I'm sorry.

[@Malentor]

As an omegachad who was first acquainted with the Elder Scrolls by means of the Daggerfall-demo, way back in 1995, I naturally contempt and simultaneously pity everyone who started before or later in the series. Great video!

[@MitchellGwr]

Sick video mate, always keen on RPGs with actual RP to them. Btw where is the clip at 7:12 from?

[@sasukest]

gaming convention

[@tofu1608]

Morrowboomer here (I started with Morrowind). Just started Daggerfall not long ago and it's an amazing game. It really is the best explanation to say that the style of games just changed. Daggerfall was a fantasy life simulator with pen and paper RPG elements. The customization is unmatched. Morrowind is a super in depth, lovingly crafted RPG dripping in atmosphere. Oblivion was a great story RPG that was fairly close to Morrowind's general style just translated into new technology and a new area. Skyrim is an action game with health bars.

[@Krokosmil]

Nice video! I'm sure your subscriber count will go up if you just keep at it. There is a spiritual successor in the making called "The Wayward Realms" that you might want to keep an eye on. It's made by Julian Le Fay, lead programmer of Daggerfall and Ted Peterson, lead director of same game. Indigogaming has nice interviews with both of them that I found quite interesting.

[@lukeyznaga7627]

I wanted to say thank you for your great defense of Daggerfall. And you are right about Skyrim. Great game but gets old. UNTIL I started the playing Daggerfall...I didn't realize how great and accurate..but tough....yet fun and rewarding Daggerfall was. When you go up skills in Dagrf and when you finally find that baby blue colored Mithril morning star...! And YES you were right about the monster sound effects. That skeleton. And the vampire were Timeless great! I subbed.

[@JPG.01]

Skyrim is not an RPG. You can't change my mind on that. It's a first person action adventure with soft rpg elements.

[@zaidabraham7310]

People have such a nebulous idea of what an RPG is. At this point it's basically "game I like = an RPG, game I dislike = not an RPG"

[@retrogamernr.8569]

I don't think there's a true genre for "RolePlayGame". There are RPGs that focus on stats, decisions and times, meanwhile other RPGs only customization is designing your main character. Some games are complex, others are simple, but they all have something you can appreciate.

[@YOda_55]

Isn’t rpg stand for role playing game which gives you choices on creating your character and your build? So yes Skyrim is a rpg yes maybe lesser than some but you can’t deny that might helped the game too cause Skyrim brought a lot of players to the elder scrolls like me I didn’t know about oblivion and that I only knew Skyrim then knew that it was the fifth game of the series

[@straitmlgpug]

Thanks! 🙏

[@redmarine2717]

​@@zaidabraham7310yeah. Or "game easy = not rpg"

[@mikehawk4258]

Pulling the knife out of thin air after being shot by the dragonborn with an AK was amazing. Astounding video

[@Sil-Jan]

i'd love to hear your opinion on those "older rpg elements" of starfield after what it turned out to be LMAO

[@Caydos]

I respect Daggerfall players, I just can't play a buggy eye cancer. I finished Morrowind once and yet again I am not going to go for another dice roll hit or miss eye cancer game. Loved it though and it's main theme is still my ringtone 😂 I still play my softly modded Oblivion to mainly fix bugs and extremely graphics modded and bug fixed Skyrim today. I appreciate the lore of Elder Scrolls and can't wait for ES6 sometime in the near future.

[@Kilmodius]

Wow I gotta play this, I started at morrowind and that was hands down my favorite. Daggerfall had my interest, but I had no idea there was this much depth to the game, thank you for the video buddy

[@Kman1989]

Not gonna lie i enjoyed your editing WAYYYY more than the actual video. This is a good thing btw. Legit amazing especially at 10:14 "must have been the wind" after getting shot killed me. Subbed af

[@fancycrafts7774]

Can’t wait to spend 100s of hours looking at the same 3 buildings and bushes. What a masterpiece.

[@Xerdar36]

Daggerfall.. the one computer game where you could be lost in a dungeon for a weeks time trying to negotiate and figure out where the exit was.. lol

[@happy_camper]

Screwing around on Daggerfall at the age of 9 was an experience I'll never forget.

[@thethegreenmachine]

I played it through when it was new. I'd played a little of ES1, so the world size wasn't a surprise, but those dungeons floored me. They're wonderfully labrynthine. I haven't played the "small dungeon" option, but it isn't necessary. Just accept the fact that you won't map the entire dungeon, do what you're there to do and leave.

[@LennyValentine]

I'm eager to try this smaller dungeon setting. Honestly, the enormous labyrinthine randomly-generated dungeons were the biggest thing holding me back. I tried them a few times...and just inevitably got so very lost.

[@WatanukiProductions]

My ideal Elder Scrolls game would have Morrowind's quest and dialogue system, Daggerfall's character creator, Mount and Blade's combat system, Oblivion's quest quality, and some sort of mechanic to encourage you to make multiple characters beyond simply starting a new game.

[@orangejuice7156]

That's why I loved gaming back then, you didn't have fancy graphics or insane game engines, but you had fucking immersion, details, lore, gameplay, possibilities. That's what makes a game. Nowadays we get shit in a gold package.

[@FrumpybutSuperSmart]

I never made it past the imp in the starting dungeon when I was young. You've given me reason to try Daggerfall again.

[@randybeans1984]

Saw daggerfall was free on steam and I'm watching this video as I await install. Subbed for the good video and you made me laugh my ass off with some of your jokes/editing!

[@LastRedStar]

Subbed becase of this video. Hope you do more Elder Scrolls stuff in the future. I would give this game a shot if it was on xbox. I dont have money to afford a computer, so its a shame im missing out. Seems like fun to me.

[@11th_defender51]

holy shit. I saw this video when it came out and was sad about how little views you got. Really nice that it's picking up steam now!

[@skidspodcast1.0]

Great video! You got a new subscriber out of us. Glad to see more people giving this amazing, classic game more attention. I recently rediscovered it with the release of the Unity version, and it really does make the game truly, one of the best in the series.

[@Hellsing3]

Oh man, that joke of you getting hit with the AK-47 earned you an instant subscribe. Can't wait to check out some of your other videos.

[@RadishAcceptable]

Just FYI, the reason it took so long to find the house for the FG quest is because you were talking "polite" to commoners. They see it as pompous and since they don't like it you were getting -10 on a competitive d20 roll. When they like the conversation style it rolls against your associated skill (streetwise for blunt and etiquette for polite), and if it succeeds (d100 under your skill level) you get a +5 to your roll. No penalty for losing the roll in Unity if they like the conversation style, so there's no reason not to try for the appropriate NPC type (in vanilla you get the same -10 if you fail your % roll). Use Blunt for commoners and Polite for royalty / academics.

[@Truxzord]

Having a blast playing this right now!

[@DanteKingOfSin]

I've been a Skyrim player for a decade, finally got to mod my game the first time I got a decent gaming pc. Ive always wanted to try Morrowind and now I'll have to look into Daggerfall. The way I see ES games is that I just really want to share this awesome fantasy world with another person. Whether you introduce them through Daggerfall or Skyrim? Didnt my love of Skyrim bring me to this very video? That's what it should be all about

[@awizardwithwords994]

Wow this had me cracking up from the very start to the very end. Amazing vid.

[@Kababalax]

I started with Oblivion, then did Morrowind and now doing Daggerfall, and I am a Morrowblivigerfall-oomer and proud of it! I haven't touched Skyrim yet and dont intent to until I've finished daggerfall which I'm loving by the way right now 10 minutes before 2023. Working backwards from Oblivion, I can say that the games have become progressivelty watered down, so I am not going to expect too much of Skyrim.

[@GreyTileGaming]

Glad this came up as a recommended view, great content!