|
There are some games that are overshadowed by a more famous and
popular sequel. Warcraft for example.
Or Arena. Arena will probably always be known mainly as the
predecessor of Daggerfall.
This changed a bit in 2004, when Bethesda released Arena for
free to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Elder Scrolls series.
Now Arena was readily available while Daggerfall was not, and
besides it was fully supported by DOSBox, while Daggerfall was
not.
But since 2009, Daggerfall is available for free as well, and
it is supported in the newer versions of DOSBox. I guess things
are again as they were. In any case, while I have played Daggerfall
quite a lot, I never really played Arena. I could never get it to
run on a real computer (try getting 603kB base memory free when
you need a CD and want sound), in DOSBox I created a character
once but something went wrong when the actual game started, I
can't remember what. So this page just contains info gathered
from various sources.
The Official Blurb
Confront fearsome adversaries as you make your way to the Staff of
Chaos… Battle Monsters of the netherworld, using any of 2500 magical
items… Travel the world of Arena, from the fertile fields of Summerset
Isle… To the frozen mists of Skyrim. Over 8 million square kilometers
to explore!
18 character classes and 8 races let you adventure as any one of hundreds
of characters—from a Dark Elven Assassin to an Argonian Battle Mage!
Adventure through forbidden crypts, where cries of the forsaken echo through
ancient tombs and mystical guardians hold secrets of ages past!
The Elder Scrolls: Arena is the first chapter in one of the most
all-encompassing CRPG's ever created. Nine man years in the making, Arena
heralds a new level of CRPG interactivity and depth. From its first person,
full screen, 360 degree rotational movement; to the over 150,000 word story;
to the unique Spellmaker™ system where you create thousands of spells
from over 80 combinable effects, ARENA includes full character generation,
18 unique character classes, 2,500 magical items, and over 400 cities,
towns and villages for you to explore on your quest to find the Staff of
Chaos. THE ELDER SCROLLS: ARENA is the next generation in CRPG entertainment.
Prepare thyself, for the adventure begins…
Main Differences to Daggerfall
- A rather rigid D&D-style class system. Only Thieves and their subclasses can
pick locks or pockets, and there is not a single class that can wear
plate armor and cast spells. Unlike Daggerfall, there are no
custom classes in Arena.
- Skills do not increase with usage, but are increased by the player
at level-up.
- The 3D-engine is a lot simpler. Dungeons are reminiscent of
Wolfenstein 3D, the countryside has no
elevations at all.
- While graphics are in general simpler (differences are not all that
big), the water was done better. Ponds and puddles would actually
reflect. In Daggerfall water (including the sea) was done rather badly.
- The gameworld is larger than the one in Daggerfall, you can travel
all of Tamriel.
- The wilderness is
not empty as in Daggerfall, but interspersed with small villages and
single houses. Many players liked the Arena wilderness best from the
first three Elder Scrolls games.
- The appearance of NPCs changes with the weather, e.g. hoods turned
up against the rain, something that was sadly left out of Daggerfall.
- NPC interaction is a bit better, there are more dialog options.
- There are no guilds or groups to join.
History
Originally Arena was supposed to be a gladiator fighting game, hence
the name:
Arena started, as the name might suggest, as a
medieval-style gladiator game. You had a team of fighters and went
around the world fighting other teams in each city's arena until you
became grand champion in the Imperial City.
Then for a while it was supposed to be a party-based RPG (one
screenshot from that phase shows a flying dragon!) till it finally
became the single character game it now is. This still reflects in
some of the character classes like healer, which would make a lot of
sense in a party-based game but not much in a single character
game.
Some Trivia
These were posted on the German blog
antigames.de (first comment) in March 2006.
- The first sequel was supposed to be named Mournhold and situated
in Morrowind.
- Arena's lead designer,
Vijay Lakshman, started work on Mournhold but then left Bethesda
and was not involved in the further Elder Scrolls games.
- Mournhold was supposed to have features not even present in
Oblivion: No loading times between houses,
dungeons, and the world map, and the ability to look through the windows
of houses into the interior.
- The developers of Arena themselves aren't sure if it is possible to
walk from one city to another, they have never tried. That's how huge
the game world is.
- The stars and the two moons move in regular patterns and could be
used for navigation.
Links
Reviews
- A good game, but be prepared to put in many weeks to solve it and tolerate
the bugs, Michael Thompson says. He preferred Arena over Daggerfall.
The world of Arena is huge, there a scores of dungeons,
towns, cities and mines. You can actually travel freely around this
virtual world. Unfortunately there is little reward to venture outside
the bounds of the quest itself. The game could have been improved out
of sight had some rewards have been hidden in the countryside, like
magical weapons or items. I don't know what went wrong, but theres a
virtual world full of towns, villages, people and dungeons, but outside
the bounds of the quest there is little point in exploring it. A real
missed opportunity for the game designers.
- Deserves to be on every RPGer's shelves, Home of the Underdogs says,
despite repetitive dialogues, awkward interface, and tough battles.
One of the most all-encompassing RPGs ever created didn't
succeed commercially due to hefty hardware requirements for its time.
Nine man years in the making, Arena heralds a new level of RPGs: 3D
gameworld with realistic weather effects, cool spellcasting system
where you can create thousands of spells, and best of all — 8
million kilometers of terrain to explore on your quest to find the
Staff of Chaos.
- It certainly isn't a perfect game, but even now, it is a ton of fun to play,
Patrick Gann thinks (2006-04-15):
Aesthetically, the game wasn't too impressive, even for its
time. However, there was something special about this game, and that
something special is what has drawn gamers into each successive title.
Well, friends, it all started here. Cut away the fancy layers of trim
on your copy of Morrowind, and what you're left with is Arena. Bethesda
has simply been expanding and improving a wildly successful formula that
they put together over a decade ago.
Last modified 2011-10-02
|
