So, I've had Daggerfall since it came out... and I was mystified by the experience, to say the least. You know, I've had it available to play through DOSBox and for some reason I really haven't spent a lot of time with it. Now that Bethesda has released Daggerfall to the public domain, for some strange reason I'm drawn to it again. Anyone else had this experience?

Moving on, I'd like to report that I've made a Battlemage and have taken my first quest in a remote area. It was a dungeon, of course, and it was a massive one to say the least. Long story short, I was thoroughly lost and happened upon some sort of marked spot on the wall. I touched the wall and was instantly transported to another area of the labyrinth. To my surprise, all that existed was a couple of rooms... and no way back! Is this normal? I know that Daggerfall can catch you with your pants down, but this character has fallen for some sort of trap and ultimately been walled up in a hidden area of the dungeon for all eternity. Happen to anyone else?

Yeah, some dungeons are impossible to solve due to the way they were generated. I'm lucky enough to have avoided this (thus far), but it's happened to many people. It's unfortunate but you can somewhat easily make your way out by using the cheatmode.

Did you check your map for hidden doors? Sometimes there are doors textured the same as the wall with no doorway, that you have to either catch by the texture not lining up or by checking the map as it'll show up as a doorway.

Are there any floating skulls, red brick walls, or other objects? They are teleporters, try clicking on every object you see in those rooms. Usually there's a way back.

If that happens and there is no hidden door or hole in ceiling (people never look up!) then use the [ cheat to go to another location. The way Daggerfall has been designed, there are going to be times, like this, when using [ cannot really be called cheating, so pretend it's a special spell, like I do!

I once found the red teleport door hidden above the struts in a dungeon room. Non-Mages would have been stuffed

Thanks for the support and insight! I found a room with an area on the wall where the stones didn't line up logically. I clicked on it and a secret door slid open so I'm back in business!

UPDATE: After another hour of wandering the dungeon, I was able to locate the creature I was sent to kill. I took him out and *somehow* found my way back out of the 6+ floors of labyrinth. I was even able to turn in my quest on time, halfway across the country. The entire adventure took three days of spare time IRL. Now that's an RPG!

I had a similar experience. I played Daggerfall when it was released and loved it -- I think I played it for almost two years. Then I got a better computer and I couldn't play anymore. I was totally inept at Dosbox.

When they released it recently I thought I'd try again with the new instructions and I was able to get it running. It's so much fun to return to the game after all this time! It still is my favorite ES game.