The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
A vast RPG set across two provinces of Tamriel.
Bethesda Softworks released The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall in 1996 for MS-DOS, the second game in the series. Players, acting for the Emperor, must free King Lysandus's ghost and investigate a missing imperial letter to Daggerfall's former queen.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Bethesda Softworks; MediaTech West
- Publisher
- Bethesda Softworks
- Director
- Julian LeFay
- Designer
- Julian LeFay
- Bruce Nesmith
- Ted Peterson
- Programmer
- Hal Bouma; Julian LeFay
- Artist
- Mark K. Jones
- Hoang Nguyen
- Louise Sandoval
- Composer
- Eric Heberling; Andy Warr
- Series
- The Elder Scrolls
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Daggerfall takes place on the fictional continent of Tamriel, where the player can travel between the provinces of High Rock and Hammerfell. As in other Elder Scrolls games, the player is not required to follow questlines or fill specific character roles. The game contains over 15,000 cities, towns, villages, and dungeons, providing many options for buying a house. Players may join guilds, orders, and religions, each offering unique quests; advancing in these organizations increases rank and reputation, affecting how NPCs and factions view the player. A special feature is the spell-creation system, unlocked by joining the Mages Guild, which lets players create custom spells with automatically generated magicka costs. Equipment can also be enchanted. Players can become a vampire, werewolf, or wereboar. Combat uses mouse movement to determine weapon swing direction and effect. The game includes a wide range of enemies, with Daedra being the strongest. To finish the game, the player must visit at least 6–8 of the 47 explorable areas.
Plot
Daggerfall is set in the Iliac Bay, between High Rock and Hammerfell. The Emperor sends the player to free the ghost of King Lysandus and to discover what happened to a letter from the Emperor to the former queen of Daggerfall. The letter reveals that Lysandus's mother, Nulfaga, knows the location of the Mantella, the key to resurrecting the first Numidium, a brass golem created by the dwarves. Tiber Septim, founder of the Empire, had previously used the Numidium to halt a fascist elvish faction. The Emperor wants his spy to force Nulfaga to reveal the Mantella's location so the Blades can finish reconstructing the machine. The letter fell into the hands of an orc named Gortworg, who consults Mannimarco, the King of Worms. The Underking, who destroyed the first Numidium due to its misuse by Tiber Septim, is recuperating in a tomb in High Rock. To give the Mantella to anyone, the player must kill King Lysandus's murderer and put his ghost to rest, then steal the totem of Tiber Septim from King Gothryd of Daggerfall and free the Mantella from Aetherius. The player then has six choices for how to deal with the Mantella. If given to the Underking, he absorbs its power and creates a magicka-free area. If Gortworg is victorious, he uses the Numidium to destroy Imperial forces and the Bay Kings, and the Underking dies destroying the Numidium, allowing Gortworg to create Orsinium. If the Blades win, they recreate the Numidium and use it to defeat the Bay Kings and Orcs, uniting Tamriel under the empire.
Development
Work on Daggerfall began immediately after Arena's release in March 1994, with Ted Peterson as lead game designer. Originally titled Mournhold and set in Morrowind, the game was relocated to High Rock and Hammerfell. By mid-1994 the name was Daggerfall. Developers initially planned to connect it with Arena and one or two more games, but Arena's experience-point system was replaced with one rewarding role-playing. The improved character generation engine includes basic class choices and a system allowing players to create their own classes and assign skills, with GURPS-inspired bonuses, disadvantages, or disabilities. Development initially used an updated 2.5D raycast engine, but it was dropped for XnGine, one of the first truly 3D engines. The gameworld is approximately 209,331 square kilometers, containing 15,000 towns and a population of 750,000. Julian LeFay stated the idea was that players could play for years, keeping the same characters. A YouTube channel walked across the entire map in 69 hours. Peterson said the game was only lightly influenced by contemporary video games; influences came from analog games and literature, such as Dumas's The Man in the Iron Mask and Vampire: The Masquerade. MediaTech West, acquired by Bethesda in 1995, helped develop the game.
Reception
When Daggerfall hit stores on September 20, roughly 120,000 copies were sent out. The game quickly became a hit, moving over 100,000 units in just two days and leaving many retailers with empty shelves. A second shipment went out on September 24, but Next Generation noted it would likely be much smaller because of production constraints. In the U.S., it landed at number four on PC Data’s monthly sales chart for September 1996, slipped to sixth in October, and dropped to 16th in November. By mid-2000, Bethesda’s Pete Hines said Daggerfall had sold about 700,000 copies and was still moving four years later, calling it probably the company’s biggest success up to that point. Critics loved it, and it won several Game of the Year honors. Computer Gaming World and PC Gamer US both named it the best computer RPG of 1996, and the Game Developers Conference gave it the Spotlight Award for Adventure/RPG Game of the Year. It was up for best CRPG at GameSpot and Computer Games Strategy Plus, but lost both times to Diablo. Computer Gaming World’s editors summed it up as “not perfect, but it is revolutionary.” Michael Wolf of PC Gamer US praised it as incredibly immersive despite bugs and writing flaws, calling it one of the most realistic and impressive RPGs around. Before release, Computer Gaming World had ranked it eighth on its vaporware list, frustrated by delays, but later gave it a 4.5 out of 5.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who designed The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall?
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was designed by Julian LeFay, Bruce Nesmith and Ted Peterson.
Who composed the music for The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall?
The music for The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was composed by Eric Heberling and Andy Warr.
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