So, I noticed you can get a free download of Daggerfall online. Two Questions:

1. How does it compare to Morrowind and Oblivion? How is it better/worse? Note: I couldn't care two bits about graphics.
2. Is the download any worse than a disc copy? I don't want to put a broken game on my computer period.

Its different from Morrowind and Oblivion. Parts of it are better parts are worse.

First off the world is random and gets repetitive.
The world is HUGE, it is not to scale like the other 2. BUT the wilderness is boring drab and lame you will use fast travel always most likely. The only time I don't is when I exit the first dungeon and head straight to Gothway Garden (its a stright shot from the exit I believe)
Guild system is different. You do quests over and over at whichever place you want, no city hoping. It takes about a month for a promotion I think.
Really you got to try it yourself, as for the download I have no idea.

EDIT: He beat me to the post and now mine is repetitive.

The download basically is the disc copy. It probably runs better too. Optical drives are slow.

As for the game, it's fun stuff. The character system is vastly more complex, which makes it fun to play with. the dungeons are huge and I find them immensely fun. The main quest is also more involved. The guilds don't have stories though. They have quests, but they're generic and randomly generated. Some of them are still pretty fun.

The only disappointing thing is the wilderness is boring and mostly empty. There's almost no reason to go wandering without fast travel, despite the game world being positively massive.

You should just give it a go and see if you like it. The download isn't very big (unless you're stuck on dial-up) and when patched it's not really anymore broken than any other TES game.

Also the infamous bugginess of Daggerfall is exaggerated. It works just fine when it is patched to the latest version.

go to youtube and type "Daggerfall" and watch.

Daggerfall is very different from Morrowind and Oblivion. The game balance is even worse than either of those two games. The world is even huger and more maze-like. The dungeons are something out of a nightmare.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

So, for a theif characeter, it sounds like it wouldnt be too bad of a game...

The first thing is bad. The second thing is good. The third thing is a warning

If you play a thief, you will never run out of things to steal and towns to steal them from, unlike Morrowind or Oblivion.

However, the game balancing of thievery is much worse. I won't go into specifics!

Yeah, but there's still a lot more to do in the realm of thieving - both as actual gameplay and roleplaying. Climbing over the town walls at night while the gates are shut, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, etc.

Is it any good? That's like asking if six is good. If you haven't got it yet get it and play it. It's 10 times better then Morrowind and 100 times better then Oblivion, If Beth would make a game with this much stuff and replay value with todays graphics then all the people that hate them now for Oblivion would forget all about it and make them realize that they should have just have stayed with what they had in Daggerfall and not change anything except updated graphics and a new story. I spent more time playing both Arena and Daggerfall then any game before or after them.

That still depends on the type of gamer you are. My brother doesn't like the gameplay and movement in Daggerfall, but he likes everything since Morrowind. Some players may not like some of the more "realistic" aspects of Daggerfall (eg. repair times of days, limit on loitering, passing out from fatigue, etc).

Daggerfall is an excellent game, but I find the lack of unique loot in all the dungeons dampens my desire to play it more often. Oblivion had the same problem until mods like OOO came along.