I have been playing the TES series all the way back to TES 1 Arena (arrived on 8 3 and half inch floppy disks from memory) and have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on every TES game since, so you can imagine my surprise when I read that the next in the series 'Skyrim' is going to arrive next year! (fingers crossed!) I joined these forums as soon as I caught wind that Morrowind was coming and have been here for the interesting array of posts just after and for Oblivion

Tell us about your TES experiences and thaughts! For me Morrowind was the best in the series, although the others were great as well, its funny how things in the past always seem better, well TES 1 was my first foray into RPG's and I played it on my first PC, a IBM 386 40 Mhz with 512 Meg (edited it was actually 2Meg) of Ram, believe it or not the only way I could get sound out of it was installing my mates Adlib Soundcard! (google it youngins)

For me Skyrim brings much anticipation and excitement, firstly I am glad they are using a new Gameengine with new technology that they seem quite proud of! But for me the greatest thing is (my wife and daughter won't agree) I can lock myself away and pour hundreds of hours into a new TES game

What do you old school gamers think?

I actually started with oblivion and climbed my way down to arena. Morrowind is in my opinion the best in series as well. I have never played rpgs, that were better than TES series. Are TES games perfect? No. The dialogue system keeps getting worse with every game, voice acting is horrible (except the dunmer in MW), quests are linear, npc's have no personality etc, etc. But despite all this there is *something* about TES that no other games (Even great rpg's like BG, PS:T, DA) have. The world feels alive. You are free. The modding community is beyond awesome. The games seem immortal, I mean even Arena is played to this very day. I really hope that Skyrim will not dissapoint and that it will keep the unique atmosphere that only TES games can provide.

PS: You had 512 MB of ram in 1994?!? :blink: Where did you play Arena? On some kind of secret computer in Pentagon?

Oppps that was in my 486 DX4 100 which was a couple of PC's after that lol (infact I think I started with 256 then upgraded to 512) The 386 had 2 meg of Ram and I upgraded it to 4 for Arena I believe from memory that I played Daggerfall on my 486!

You are right, they arn't perfect but for me they are closer than any game currently out there and like you said this is because of the Freedom! It is much easier to become totally engrossed in a open game like the TES series than it is in a much more linear game. Even as much fun as I had with the BG series there is just something special about TES that keeps me coming back for more and more! Try playing the dungeons in Daggerfall and you will see how easy it is to get lost in the world (literally lol). I really hope they ramp up the quests in Skyrim, sure they need to have fillers such as run here run there but I think they can throw some big quests alongside the MQ to keep us even more engrossed in the world they have so carefully but together!

I started with "Morrowind" and was hooked immediately, then I found the official forums and the legendary Lore RP (Loranna's) here; the first and never equalled. I was amazed at the quality of the writing from Allerleirauh, her husband Rhedd, and the others, so I joined in.
I enjoyed "Oblivion" but, as you mentioned, games like "Morrowind" loom larger in memory than they do at the time. While I'm glad "Skyrim" has been made, I'm older now and don't have the same enthusiasm. Also, I've played other games and enjoyed them -- currently "Guild Wars" and "Mass Effect 2". I'll probably preorder "Skyrim" anyway.

I started with Morrowind, but I spent much more time than Oblivion. That's not to say I think Oblivion is more fun, but the hours I spent playing Oblivion just go on and on and on. So I'm not like most people here that say "I hope Skyrim doesn't svck like Oblivion", because I think Oblivion was an awesome game, just like Morrowind. Therefore, I only have high hopes for TESV, and can't wait to get glimpses of the game.

Yeah although Oblivion looks much nicer than Morrowind I think Morrowind was on a grander scale and was more interesting to play because of it! That is not to say that I haven't put hundreds of lovely hours into Oblivion I have Currently playing the GOTY version on my PS3 (52 inch screen and a comfy couch help!) I still stop and stare at the beautiful environments, and since my Sony Bravia has a MUCH better contrast ratio than my PC Monitor when the sun go's down it is actually dark! This adds alot to the atmosphere, the battle music will begin and I have no idea where the threat is coming from!

I also love Mass Effect 2, IMO it is one of the best RPG's (some question it as a RPG but still) ever made, while different in terms of exploration and gamestyle to the TES series it is just so well done that it keeps you coming back again and again! Its like when I get hooked on a TES game, just one more quest, just one more, 6 hours later..... lol

I also started with Arena, when I was a cute little 8 year old! My brother and I would play for hours. I was so taken by all the random people in the street, that they'd all say something different to you and have unique names. I got each new game as it came out and still have all the boxed versions. I lost one of my Arena floppies though By the time Daggerfall came out, I was spending 6 hours at a time fused to the computer chair and I think my parents were starting to worry

I would say that Morrowind is the best game on balance, but Daggerfall will always have my heart.

TES2 - RG - TES3 -TES4 - BS
Have tried a little bit of TES1 occasionally, don't remember when the first time.
TES2 is surely more ambitious than TES3, but I consider them equally good. I hope TES5 will be like them.

I just hope they'll come back to the world we read about in PGE1 whit it's almost alien like fantasy and exotic and weird themes. On the other hand I'd like to see complicity in the storyline that we had in Daggerfall.

Daggerfall was the first real 3d RPG that I played, I remember at the time I was a little dissapointed that it didn't arrive with 3d card support though as I had some really crappy Intel 2MB 3d graphics card back then lol Daggerfall despite not being as graphically pretty as its followers had alot of atmosphere that I have missed from the series after it. It might be nostalgia talking but when wandering around towns at night the music would change to that haunting tune, then all of a sudden you would hear that 'VEEEEANGEANNNNCE' and I would almost literally fall off my chair I remember freaking out and running straight to the nearest tavern where the tavern music would be playing making me feel much more at ease That is one thing I think Bethesda have missed since Daggerfall, using sound for drama and suspense! When you went into a Tavern on Morrowind and up it was dead quiet, no ambient noise or pvssyr? Also outdoor Ambient sound effects would add alot to the atmosphere I think? Btw I downloaded and installed a nice mod that had all the Daggerfall tunes and music redone in Oblivion, ahhh how that brought back memories

I still have Arena on Floppies btw but alas I have lost the box

I started with TESII Daggerfall in 1995, the demo actually (and I still have the disk). And I was blown away at how big the world was (the island of Betony). After playing that for a while, the actual Daggerfall game came out and I was obsessed with it. I played it all throughout middle school and high school, and in my twenties. I finally beat Daggerfall in 2008 due to the glitches it has with the main quest.
@Thorn2002, that "vengeance" by Lysandus still scares me at night. I too would rush to the nearest tavern, or just teleport to my ship (which I never quite understood how that was supposed to work)

I bought TESIII Morrowind in April 2009 and hated it for the first week because it was nothing like Daggerfall. Then I fell in love with it after 2 weeks and would stay up to 6 am playing it. Then I became obsessed with the lore and with modding the game and my character fanfic history.

I bought TESIV Oblivion in May 2010 and liked it a little bit but never got hooked on it and only play it extensively for a few weeks. Then I went back to Morrowind. I still play Daggerfall now and then. I tried Arena a little bit; never got a chance to get very far in it. I'd like to try Redguard and Battlespire someday too.

I'm not too hyped about TESV Skyrim. I'm actually relieved that they chose Skyrim and not Summerset Isle, as I want them to have access to super duper technology when they finally do make a game for Summerset Isle. I'm hoping it'll be the province for either TESVI or TESVII. Summerset is my favorite province.

I have Daggerfall music on my ipod! I feel like such a nerd but I honestly have played the snow music when I've been walking in the snow. Criminal levels of nerdity there.

where to begin, I started with morrowind and to this day it was the most epic rpg action game I have EVER played, man the memories... the game captivated me, I was its slave for almost a full YEAR yes year.

I did not mod morrowind as heavily as oblivion though, in fact I only used a few mods, I even made my own house on CT

Oblivion was also a great game as well, not as epic, but great, I played it for months .
I can only describe oblivion as a "smaller" morrowind with better combat/magic/stealth system, but it just did not feel as big nor as full as morrowind to be honest.

I modded oblivion HEAVILY I mean I still have it installed with over 60 mods (10 are major OOO MMM u name it) and yes I got them working together after much uninstalls and suffering , the game is pretty great atm no leveled creatures, wild animals are not crazy, tons of new items, better loot, MORE spells (thank you Midas THANK YOU) more weapons, Better stealth (thief arsenal rocks), better economy.

In short oblivion lacked a lot of stuff, which morrowind compensated for by an amazing story, exotic land, and many factions.

all in all I'm VERY exited about Skyrim, and I can't w8 to get it

Started with the Daggerfall Betony demo in January 1997 (I re-found the CD and cardboard sleeve, so now know the date). I was on holiday in San Diego with my parents, looking at the computer magazines. Daggerfall's iconic artwork was on the front of one magazine and so I bought that (and another magazine). After reading about it, couldn't wait to play it when we got back to London.

I really loved the demo, as it was the first proper RPG I had played. As I was new to the game, there were many things I initially was not sure about. I.e. I thought you obtained a horse by stealing one from a town. I thought you could die from the cold if you swam outside while it snowed and you were not dressed enough. I also wandered whether you could pick up the vegetables in people's gardens. One of the funniest incidents was being thrown out of jail outside Betony City. It was night time, the city's gates were locked, I was very low on health and there was a bear chasing me. I did not have a horse, and only was equipped with a iron staff. I ended up running around the town's walls, but ended up being killed.

Shortly after the demo, I bought Daggerfall.

The next TES game I played was Battlespire at a friend's house. This was the only time I played it. I was very disappointed that Battlespire was so different to Daggerfall.

I had a demo disc with Redguard, but the damn thing wouldn't play as I didn't have 3DFX on my old PC.

After this, came Morrowind. I actually got it a few years after it was released as my previous computer would have no way of running it. Bought Morrowind GOTY and absolutely loved it. There were several aspects that I was very annoyed with such as shops not closing (and NPCs standing in the same spot 24/7), as well as no exterior/interior building lights. But there are several mods that change this. That said I recognise the fact that for years in Daggerfall I was always visiting the same type of settlements, almost all of it was cookie cutter. So it really was a breath of fresh air to have a hand placed unique world with so much variety in landscape, culture and architecture. One of the features that really got me excited were the interiors. Going from Daggerfall's cookie cutter interiors were nearly all were the same (and with static 2D NPCs) to the richly detailed warm interiors of Morrowind was amazing. And better yet, physical items now could be seen / took in shops).

I got Arena when Beth released it for free. Pretty good game, but I def. prefer Daggerfall. It was weird going back to the first step, and while I still play Daggerfall from time to time, I very rarely play Arena.

I started with daggerfall back when it came out but didnt' finish it until 2 years ago. I then moved onto morrowind then oblivion and afther finishing them went back to finish arena, daggerfall, redguard, and battlespire in that order. I then started the elder scrolls travels games and have competed them just this year. I'm hopeing that by the time skyrim comes out to have been one of the few to have completed every quest in the elder scrolls I still have the redoran quest line in morrowind and 3 of the 8 ending of daggerfall to finish. I am also hopeing to revive the battlespire multiplayer soon and play at least a few game of it.

I have played since the advent of Morrowind (well, like a year after it was released), I wanted to play Daggerfall, but I don't feel like dealing with getting the system requirements.

you really don't need much all you have to do is ask around the past games forum they have a setup already to all you have to do is double-click if you don't feel like messing with dos box

I might do that myself, was wondering how it would run on a relatively modern system with a E8500 running at 3.16 4 Gig of Ram and a GTX285 1GB, if it is just a case of double clicking a file and it loads I might just go and do that for Nostalgia's sake if nothing else, thanks for that

it uses dosbox and they have a setup of dosbox that all you have to do is double click the dosbox icon and it'll run so no need to have to fool around with the configuration setup or anything. It's convienent for those who don't like to deal with dosbox but for me I prefer to tweak my own setup to run. here's a link to it. http://theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net/?title=Daggerfall_:_DaggerfallSetup_EN

I started with TES 1 ARENA and was hooked when i saw so many expected things NOT HAPPEN :shocking: oo: :shocking: . Am still stunned when thinking back at the moment of realisation that the buetiful ghostly female speaking to me telepathically in the first dungeon was never to be met again and her body was rotting away dead somewhere. Then there were the ladies of the night plying their trade on cold rain soaked streets which really brought home some amazing atmosphere. Finally what got me hooked was seeing some horrifying giant in a dark cave who could kill me with a single swat of his foul smelling hand. It was like a scene out of the horror movie EQUINOX. That sense of fantasy carrying over into my reality and me being able to influence its shape made me a life time customer and fan for life of Bethesda rpgs. Am really happy how FALLOUT 3 turned out for the same reasons in the sci-fi genre.

After ARENA came TES 2 DAGGERFALL which had me rushing to J&R Computer World on a late cold novembers afternoon to buy it on release day. DAGGERFALL took everything from ARENA and added a finishing completeness that has yet to be matched in any game i have yet to play except for FALLOUT 3 which is just as humongous and all consuming in detail.

I found FO3 the same absolutely love it also NV which has a different feel again to it a bit darker maybe? About to try to play Daggerfall on my Laptop !

Yeah the storyline in Daggerfall and Morrowind was exceptional in terms of plot and twists, and while Oblivion was good it didn't have the same pull in my opinion! I liked the alien feel of Morrowind I hope a bit of that returns but I also love lush forest environments too !

I'm going backwards! I started with Oblivion, then Morrowind, now Daggerfall and next i want to try out Arena.

I own a big thanks to Oblivion for introducing me to the Elder Scrolls series. It was great fun for about a year,
But nowadays when I try to play the game I just get really bored and just end up uninstalling the game after a while.

Morrowind is my favourite from the series and probably even my favourite game. It's exiting and amazing world
keeps me playing it.

Daggerfall has an exiting big world and some great features which were not in Oblivion or Morrowind, such as
climping, banking and owning a ship. And the dungeon exploring is so much fun!
Haven't played it much yet, but I sure will be playing it more.

I have tried Arena few times, but seems like the game didn't work correctly, because I couldn't swing my sword
(or I did something wrong) and just died to the first goblin. I'm thinking of trying it out again soon.

Daggerfall and Morrowind are certainly my favorite ones.I also liked Redguard, it felt really adventurous.I have never played Arena nor Battlespire tho.Oblivion was fine, but it was missing content and variety, thus couldn't keep me as much as Daggerfall and Morrowind had.About Skyrm - my hopes are really high, but I can't hide that my fears are even higher.Time will tell tho.

Somewhere while first playing Morrowind, I found these forums. I've been adventuring Morrowind for a long time. Then I played Oblivion which was better to me. It means a lot because besides the halo series, I wasn't any more loyal to a game series. The series has so much content. Skyrim is gonna send a great contribution to video game history and to me. I love it and can't wait for it.