Well, I played Morrowind first, then Oblivion, and now this. I must admit it was quite thrilling at first, but got a bit boring when I spent the next 30 minutes trying to find stuff in Daggerfall. Can anyone possibly offer me a unique and fun character build, playstyle, or a way to get into this game? I love oldschool games, and the graphics don't really matter, but I'm finding it hard to get into it.

EDIT: Also, how do I sneak?

OK this may be somewhat hardcoe but it's how i played last time.

Create a normal Nord Burgler (mix of warrior with thief), who doesn't use magic. He should have reasonable swimming, jumping and climbing skills for mobility since he won't be using levitation or teleportation. Inside dungeons you will have to climb pits or swim to reach inaccessible areas, but don't worry about this. You will only need a levitation potion in the last part of the main quest.

With this char the first dungeon should be easy. When you exit Privateers Hold i suggest you walk or run down for 1 minute in the wilderness until you find Gothway Gardens (it's just one pixel bellow PH in the world map). This is a very good town to start your adventures and build up your character a little, before going to Daggerfall or going to meet Briziena about your quest to the emperor. This town has all the guild houses and good merchant stores.

Join a temple that will sell you potions later in the game. You can't join the mages guild because you don't have magic skills. Do the merchants or commoners quests which are the most interesting and have nice surprises. Rob a few taverns, shops or rich houses at night, then the thieves guild will invite you to join. If you feel like it kill a few innocents (the peasants walking in towns) or do a few merchant quests that require freelance assassination and the Dark Brotherhood will tell you to join them. Pickpocket a few peasants and flee to another town once the guards go after you. Join the knights or the fighter guilds and do their quests.

All these are considered side quests to build stats and obtain resources but there should be a few interesting events that are activated when you are side-questing. Avoid getting infected with vampirism if you want to do the main quest.

My playing style is to do one main quest between one or two side quests. Main quests are all hand-made and not too hard but when doing a side quest you may find a random dungeon that has the mating octopus dungeon block or the maze of small rooms. These are not very fun dungeons to say the least and it's ok to abandon the side quest if you find one of these. You only have to go back and ask for another quest once the time for doing your abandoned quest expires.

I find dungeon crawling using the swimming, jumping and climbing skills and using only resting to heal my health something interesting and challenging. Sometimes it's impossible to finish a quest this way on time but the collected loot largely compensates for that. To reach the time limit you may have to sneak by or run by enemies and not try to fight everyone. Locking monsters inside rooms or using traps on them may work sometimes. To sneak properly don't walk with your weapon equipped and don't use metal armor (huge penalty if you do this).

Buy an house and a boat, which doesn't serve much bit it's cool.

Set yourself some restrictions to make the game more hardcoe. For example if the guards are after you, instead of getting yourself caught and pay, try living a thief life. Always enter a town at night climbing over the city walls and try not to be seen by the guards. You can't buy stuff at night but the thieves guild will sell you things (i think) and you can also travel to a nearby kingdom where your reputation with the law isn't negative and walk the streets in daylight without being disturbed by guards.

For a list of cool places to visit in the Illiac Bay check this site:
http://www.jceason.dircon.co.uk/dagger/dfgprov.htm

Wow! Thanks a lot! I'll make that character right away. Do you reccomend not using plate or chain then?

Use plate for maximum protection but take it off, when you want to be stealth (it's automatic, there's no stealth button), lockpicking in the night or some other thief activity. Using armor (or walking with a visible weapon) raises your detection and noise level. I know it's weird but you can equip/unequip your armor instantaneously so no problems here.

How do I instantly unequip it? Only way I know is to click it all off. By the way, I think a magic character is more my thing, but I'll make your build for another character. Thanks for all the help. Hey, any suggestions on what temple to join for my mage character? By the way, it says theres a crouch and sneak button in the controls, both change your height or speed.

I find offensive magic to be a bit difficult to rely on, especially for new players. I still use magic for really just defensive and utilitarian purposes. Like me a good bow or flail.

There's a sneak button, I think the default is ctrl, but look in the controls menu to find it. Holding it down will make you move slower and better at sneaking. Also, illusion magic is a rogue's best friend

Cool. I want more of a role like you play, mostly rely on my sword, but occasionally use destruction to bring down a big foe.

i wacked 'D' today and my view suddenly got lower, i presumed it was sneak mode.

Now you are crouching, or 'D'ucking.

there is a 'sneak' button. sometimes if your abilities (agi and sneak?) are high enough you will sneak up behind enemies even without using the sneak button. but check the control mapping; there is a sneak button but i don't remember what it is usually assigned to. i think i use caps lock because you can toggle that like a switch. i would say if you want to get into the main quest start from the beginning and take careful notes; probably write down every piece of info you get if you are certainly set on not using the internet for hints.

I mapped my controls out to the "neo-classic" layout (essentially the same as MW and OB's core system)...

I almost always create a custom class and ensure "Fast healing - General" is always one of my advantages, as it makes it easier to complete quests on time.

Offensive magic works best with enchanted items. Cast a spell with those enchanted pants of fireball then use C to repeat the last action and it's almost like cheating.



Mark/recall and trap soul are also very important. Traqed souls pay a lot of money.



Yes i forget about that. It still works without using the sneak button which is the right way to balance sneaking. There's also a crouch button. I guess the slower you move the bigger your sneak boost. Don't forget to unequip armor (from your inventory) and unequip your weapon, because this helps a lot.



That's another fun killer for me, with True Invisibility, but as a low level char normal invisibility can be fun.

Okay I'm making a brand new character, it's a dark elf. I have some questions.
What temple should I join?
Is armor drastically important to the point where I can't replace a few pieces for clothes, just for looks?
I made my last character immune to magic, but some creatures still hurt him with magic attacks! Why?
How do I begin climbing? I press up repeatedly against a wall, ones I know I can climb, but it doesn't always work...
Does armor effect spellcasting?
Can you make your own potions?
Can you make your own spells?
Can you poison your weapons?
Where do I get lots of arrows? I can never seem to find any in shops or loot.
How diverse is enchanting?

Thanks, by the way, quote it and answer them in the quote so I know which question you're on.

1. I've never played a lot with the Temples, but they can offer different abilities. You might want to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Temples (Personally, I always joined a temple that would fit the character I play in terms of mentality and belief.)

2. Clothing can be worn under armor. No worries here. (It will look odd if you are a female wearing a noble's robe under your full plate mail though. )

3. Immune to Magic does not grant immunity against all magic schools. I think this immunity concerns only spells that drain your stats and other "non-harmful" spells like Silence.

4. To climb, face the wall and walk straight on it. You need to be as straight as possible and your character will automatically start climbing. For a tip, look at the pixels on the wall. They must be aligned as straight as possible. Beware though, a low climbing skill can make your character fall.

5. Armor does affect spellcasting as far as I know.

6. You need the services of the Mages' Guild or some Temples to brew potions. The service is only accessible to members of a certain rank though.

7. Same thing as Alchemy.

8. No it is not possible.

9. I always found out that arrows tend to spawn more often when I'm wearing a bow in my hands. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to find more arrows in loot or in weapon smiths..

10. The enchanting service allows you to do anything you want. You can make really anything.. provided you have the money. It's really expensive! You can even make enchantments that not even Jagar Tharn could cast.