» Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:00 am
That's essentially correct. You can visit anyplace on the continent in Arena-- all the provinces, and multiple cities in each area, except for the central province which only has the capital. But the only real difference between provinces is cosmetic. Different textures on the building blocks, different graphics for the locals, different weather patterns. Nothing really unique in any of the provinces outside of the two unique main quest dungeons in each.
I do disagree with Da Mage about there being nothing worthwhile outside, though. There are little mini-towns, traveler's inns, roadside temples, small crypts, abandoned buildings, and other little things to explore, as well as full sized dungeons. Arena has some of the best mini-dungeons of any of the elder scrolls games. But since there's no real pattern to any of the outside structures (like he said, all generated like a tossed salad) you can pretty much find the same sorts of random buildings outside of any city you pick. Just choose a place at random and leave the city gates, and start wandering. Check your map every so often for buildings-- anything with a little red square on it is a 'dungeon', anything from a full underground catacomb to a one-room tomb in a cemetery. My favorites are the abandoned buildings.