Hello.... after spending almost 100 hours in Oblivion (more than any other game, except one I'm pretty sure) I've fallen in love with the game. But now I really want to try and understand it from it's roots. Terrible graphics from old games never really bugged me because "good" graphics hadn't even arrived yet. So now, I am installing Arena as we speak, and am going to try out the game Anything I should know before I start out that would make the game more enjoyable for me? Thanks!

Edit2: Got it working! So weird yet fun lol

Arena is a pretty simple game, although it is quite difficult at times. It shouldn't be hard to get into or understand if you're past technological limitations and difficulty. However, just to point out some key differences, Arena doesn't have joinable factions and you need to use fast-travel to get from city to city, as the various cities are segmented into their own separate gameworlds. As a long-time Oblivion fan, I can tell you that I think Arena and Oblivion match up in the pace of the game and I jumped into it pretty easily. Arena has a basic experience point system and really penalizes you for your class, so choose your class very carefully.

If you ever decide to play Daggerfall, it's a bit more of a complex game, although still going at the same pace as Oblivion, in my opinion. Daggerfall has joinable factions, is also pretty difficult, and has massive and often confusing dungeons, so save in various slots a lot and always keep a slot for Arena and Daggerfall from right before you accepted a quest or went into a dungeon, just to make sure you can safely quit if anything becomes too frustrating. Daggerfall has a level by use system, as Oblivion does, but Daggerfall doesn't have attribute multipliers in its system, so I prefer it to Oblivion's leveling system.

Both games do have mostly random loot, as Oblivion does, and Daggerfall has Daedric summoning quests like Oblivion. Arena doesn't have any ingame books, so you may find the lore aspect lacking, although Daggerfall has a few, even if not quite as many as Oblivion. Out of the two games (Arena and Daggerfall), I think Daggerfall is much better, but Arena's a good a fun game, as well. Have fun.

Thanks! I made a Nord Knight because it told me I was a Knight and Skyrim is coming out .... I plan on playing Daggerfall if I can complete the main story of Arena. Thanks for the tips

I still paly both Daggerfall and Arena, love both for different reasons. I actually prefer them both to Oblivion, as I find the experience for finding stuff and completing quests more rewarding than Oblivion (havent played Morrowind enough, so no opinions from me here).

As you are trying out Arena first (good choice), I will talk more about this. Also, because it is my favourite (reasons why later).

Arena is 2-D, unlike other TES games, The graphs r very basic, and as mentioned above experience is awarded very differently (you must kill things to level up). There is also NO custom class, unlike the other TES, no item maker, but there is a spell maker at mages guild, accessible the moment you enter one MG. Easy and effective to use (the best of all imo). Also, you do not have role-playing here - as said above, it is purely combat.

Quests are very linear: Talk to a King / Scholar to quest for a map or item that will enable them to reveal the location of the thing you are searching; This is good for the main quest too (bte, once u r done with the mq, u can still go find artifacts, do noble quests, murder ppl, etc...).

The first thing that is very different from other TES for the good is Races. I really have no idea what went on the TES folks to handle races so poorly after Arena. Unlike other TES, Races here do have an impact on how well you do things - precisely: You want the best Archer? You must take Wood Elf. You want best Swordsman? Redguard. You wanna do both? Dark Elf. Why? Unlike other TES, these races grant you actual bonuses to your weapon style. Wood Elves get their level/3 as bonus to hit and damage with any bows - as do Redguards with any melee weapon, while Dark Elves would grant you level/4 as bonus to hit and damage with melee and bow. High Elves are immune to paralysis (they do not have the weakness or higher spell point from M or O, which was actually the only race improvement I saw after Arena), Bretons have greater magic resistance (which is NOT the same as spell resistance. it is only ability to resist magic-effect spells, not cold, fire etc....)

Then come Classes. You might think that not being able to customise them is bad, but imo the classes here are very well designed. In general, Warrior type classes differentiate themselves by the ability to wear Plate Armour (the only armours that can carry any magic effects) and use any weapons; Thief classes have the noticeable ability to score Critical Strikes (3x damage) + they pick locks better (there is no stealth system in Arena); and Mages use spells, have limited weapon and armour selections. At higher levels, nothing can beat Mages.

Some combinations are cool - I currently have 3 characters:
1) Redguard Assassin (the one I have most fun with, as he scores truckloads of sequencial Critical Strikes - but you have to know how to play them);
2) Redguard Ranger (very effective combat build, as he can wear Plate and presumably adds his level as extra-damage to all oponents);
3) High Elf Battlemage (the most powerful character I have and the one I'd advise you to start with).

Another thing I like more about Arena may sound odd... but since you cannot make items, then your notion of power is very different now: Artifacts really shine here - plus they have a short history description when you right-click on them, which is a very nice touch I have not seen in other TES (I like reading, so...). A very nice detail that helps you feel how important is the thing you just found.

When you go to one of the 8 places where the pieces are, you get to see a nice screen about that place and the history behind it. This adds a lot to the feeling of importance that place bears... All these small things bring a different feel to the game that no amount of voice acting or 3-D graphs will ever convey, because they require more creativity, imagination and commitment.

So, try it out, the beginning will be the most difficult of all TES games I think, specially if you are a mage, but do not give up! Also, beware that this game still have some annoying bugs, so save ofte, like keep one save for before starting a quest, a couple of others for during the quest, etc...