Sure thing.

#1 rule of Daggerfall: save often!
#2 rule for Daggerfall: use multiple slots for one character!

First is because the game can crash randomly. It doesn't happen nearly a often as people like to say, but it happens.
Second is because saves can get corrupted. You'll be glad you had a backup if this happens.

Mouse Freelook: Yes, Daggerfall can be configured to use mouselook so it plays similar to Morrowind. Hit ESC -> Controls -> Mouse and switch it to View.

Now with the rest of the controls, look for "activate center object." This is what you use to 'click' on whatever you're looking at. However, there is no crosshair to help you point at something; luckily you can always "activate cursor" to get your pointer back when you need it. Helpful for when you have to pull a lever or pick up a small vial from the floor.

Horse And Wagon: General Stores sell horses and wagons, in addition to the usual stuff. Horses can be ridden by pressing T, and also really speed up your fast-travel time. Wagons help you carry a ton more stuff--however, they cannot be accessed while you are in a dungeon. Clicking on the dungeon exit while inside a dungeon will ask you to either exit the dungeon or access your wagon without leaving. It is nice that you can access your wagon without leaving, because if you leave the dungeon will reset!

NEVER BUY MORE THAN ONE HORSE OR ONE WAGON. The game will glitch. besides, you can never sell them back, so you'll be stuck with them forever.

Daedric, orcish, impish, etc. are languages not armor skills. There is no armor skill. Language skills are largely regarded as useless. The speechcraft skills are etiquette and streetwise.

There are also good guides around at the UESP, http://www.izhtex.com/tes2/, and I also have a guide on http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/29065/50211, to name a few.

Since all of the tips so far have mostly been for people who approach the game right, I think it's time I gave one for the cheaters and power gamers out there: if you want to advance fast, go outside of a town and spam rest. Out by Daggerfall (the city) is a good place to do this, since you'll generally be heading out there anyways and it's very easy to see where the town ends and the wilderness begins (basically, the bumps start where the wilderness starts - this is pretty important, since resting in town is illegal and the game won't give you any warning before sending the guards out for you if you try it).

So, stand just a little ways out into the wilderness with enough room to back up a fair distance (but still within sight of the flat land around the city), face away from the city, and rest for 99 hours. Eventually an enemy will interrupt your rest. If it's weak (rats, bears, bats, most humanoids for example) then kill it. If, on the other hand, it's something like a spriggan or zombie (at lower levels, at least) and you aren't feeling particularly brave, turn tail and run back over to the flat part around the city - when you reach it, it'll load in the city and the enemy that's chasing you will vanish. Then get back onto the hilly bits, rest again, and repeat. Your skills and level will shoot up pretty quickly thanks to the fact that the enemies that pop up are scaled to your character, and you'll be able to find some amazing loot since drops don't seem to be limited to you if you're at a low level (expect to have at least one piece of elven or dwarven equipment before you hit level 2 or 3). And yes, this is basically cheating, but if you're finding the game hard it's a good way to tilt the scales a bit more in your favor without having to put a lot of effort into it.

Also, for combat, there's a trick that has worked in every single game in this series, and it probably works better in Daggerfall than in any of the other games. When fighting an enemy, move backwards constantly when you aren't attacking. When you are attacking, do the motion for the attack FIRST, and then move in when you reach the point in the animation where it hits the enemy (usually just about where the weapon is fully extended out), then quickly start backing away again. If you can get the timing down right and you have enough space to move, you should be able to make it virtually impossible for enemies to hit you (especially since enemies that use ranged attacks don't generally use them when you're that close in).

One other thing worth noting, and this one's a bit less cheap: weapons don't have a "best" way to be swung, but the direction you swing your weapon can actually be really, really important. It affects both accuracy and damage, and as a rule the more downwards you're doing an attack the more damage it'll do and the less accurate it'll be. That means that you should match the swing you use to the enemy you're fighting. Enemies like spriggans are ridiculously hard to hit but don't have all that much health, so stabbing is best with them. Enemies like giants, which can't dodge nearly as well but can take a decent amount of hits, should usually be approached with a solid downward swing. But in general, figuring out what to use with each enemy is going to be a matter of personal experience - your character's stats are going to have an effect on how easy or hard it is to hit enemies, and your approach should be to figure out just how inaccurate of a swing you can use to still get in a reasonable number of hits but do as much damage as possible.

I figured out how to equip my blades, but can't swing them. The tutorial said to press the right mouse button, but nothing happens when I do. The game controls said to press M2, this just brings up the map. Any help?

My tips to start a good game are:

1) Install the game and the 213 patch
2) Extract the http://www.uesp.net/file.shtml?dagger/files/addquest.zip in the ARENA2 folder (they are official but were released with a special CompUSA edition back in 1996)
3) Extract http://uesp.net/wiki/File%3a%44FQFIX.ZIP in the ARENA2 folder (to keep Morrowind and Oblivion players terms, it's a kind of 'Unofficial Daggerfall Patch' however it fixes only quests)
4) Open your z.cfg file and change the following lines:
pathcd d:\dagger\arena2\
...
controls betaplyr.dat
to:
pathcd c:\dagger\arena2\
...
controls viewplyr.dat
This will make the exe point to your Daggerfall installation directory instead of your CD (of course change the D and C letters according to your own configuration). The second modification will toggle mouse look mode with WASD controls already set like in any modern first person game.
5) Run DOSBox and setup your sound to use MPU401 for MIDI music and Sound Blaster Pro for sound sfx.
6) Start the game, make a new character (say 'yes' when asked if you want to use the tutorial) and once in the game, switch to full screen mode to get rid of the bottom menu (which is unused in mouse look mode). You will then see the same life, mana and fatigue bars on the bottom left as in Morrowind and Oblivion, and a direction compass on the bottom right.
7) Once you're done with the tutorial (your character should have exited the dungeon and be in the Daggerfall city at that time), look at MarStinson's excellent http://www.tesguides.com/tes2/index.htm to get some nice playing tips.

This just ruined my games. Apparently you advised something that isn't right.

There are some additional steps
First copy all different files from ARENA2 folder of Daggerfall CD to ARENA2 folder of installation directory. These are movie files. You may copy and overwrite all files but then you will have to install all the patches again.
After that point you wont have a use for cd, i.e: the folder which you mount as cd.
REMEMBER, to start the game you have to write FALL Z.CFG instead of DAGGER

You may edit DOSBOX config file to automate all the mounting and starting the game for you.
To do this, open dosbox configuration for edit:
At the end of the file you will see:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

Write all the commands there instead of writing them everytime you start the emulator.

example:
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount c c:\dosgames -freesize 1000
mount d c:\dosgames\dfcd -t cdrom -label Daggerfall
c:
cd\dagger
dagger

OR example (if you have copied the additional files from cd):
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount c c:\dosgames
c:
fall z.cfg

After that, whenever you start Dosbox, Daggerfall will start.

If you install a later version on DosBox, copy the [autoexec] part from the config file from old version to the newer version.

I recommend installing, copying additional files from cd, patching, making all the custom configuration such as keyboard mapping, mouse look, installing additonal content etc..
Then you will have a standalone daggerfall folder which is customised just for you. Backup that folder. It is all you will need in the future if you want to install the game again.

I am running it on a Mac, so I can't find the configuration file. I have found the z.cfg file, but the other I cannot.

probably not, but ill ask anyway - any way to set or hack in 'wasd' movement options in the game instead of the old style underworld 2 mouse arrow movement controls?

I'm pretty new to the Elder Scrolls universe. I've recently picked up Oblivion and loved it, but that's the only Elder Scrolls game I've ever played.

What are the main differences between Oblivion and Daggerfall? I thought the game would be horribly dated, but from the videos I've seen the graphics are tolerable and the world is still suprisingly detailed, and from what I've read, it appears that Daggerfall is actually more interactive and has more depth than Oblivion does, which really surprised me.

How does one kill a wraith? >>

EDIT: I've also encountered an area of a dungeon where I hear growling/rumbling and take severe damage, but there are no monsters around. Does anybody know what causes this?

Ah, thank you, I was trying to use ebony. Still can't find out what's up with the dungeon.

You must distribute your bonus points...


..how?

I'm pretty new to the Elder Scrolls universe. I've recently picked up Oblivion and loved it, but that's the only Elder Scrolls game I've ever played.

What are the main differences between Oblivion and Daggerfall? I thought the game would be horribly dated, but from the videos I've seen the graphics are tolerable and the world is still suprisingly detailed, and from what I've read, it appears that Daggerfall is actually more interactive and has more depth than Oblivion does, which really surprised me.

Daggerfall is not a finished game. This is important. With the latest official patch it's fairly stable, and with some of the unofficial patches a lot of the bugs and issues left over can be fixed, but it's still not finished. There are spells that don't work and there are skills that do nothing.

I am running it on a Mac, so I can't find the configuration file. I have found the z.cfg file, but the other I cannot.

There's an unofficial patch?

Can it be used with a current save game? I've only just saved exactly as you create your character, but I put quite some time in creating him.

There's an unofficial patch?

Can it be used with a current save game? I've only just saved exactly as you create your character, but I put quite some time in creating him.