» Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:02 am The first time I ever played Daggerfall was before it was even released. My brother got a demo in one of his video game magazines - the demo that confines you to Betony. All my siblings LOVED it, and when the game came out, either my dad or my brother (can't remember which) bought it. I was just a 9 year old kid, but I spent hours and hours playing. However, I hated the dungeons, and they kinda scared me a little too...all the monsters jumping out of everywhere, random sounds, dismembered corpses, etc. I replayed the game several times in the next few years, but never really ventured into the dungeons much. Eventually I did a playthrough where I DID go through the dungeons, a lot, and in fact got really good at knowing where the quest object locations were in each module...but I still didn't do the main quest. The game is really fun without it.
One time I did a playthrough where I tackled the main quest but cheated every single dungeon. Finally I got to the Mantellan Crux and discovered the cheat doesn't work in there. Then I gave up.
I got from level 5 to level 30 as a vampire once...that was rather difficult, since finishing quests at night is a chore. Just becoming a vampire at level 5 is a pain in the [censored]...literally.
Played a few more times...still never got all the way through the MQ.
Finally, a month ago, I decided to load Daggerfall up and beat it. I'm 23 years old! I can do this!
I chose a male Khajiit for no real reason...I was usually a female Dark Elf before, so I wanted something different. The theme of my character was a monk. I made a very physical fighter. Previously I've utilized long blade and destruction a lot, but this time I selected neither. My magic skills were illusion, thaumaturgy, restoration, and mysticism. I chose alteration because I thought I would use Shield a lot, but rarely ever cast it, so that was kind of a waste. My fighting skills were hand-to-hand and critical strike. No metal weapons were ever used. All armor was forbidden, including gauntlets, and I went through the entire game wearing only a white robe and a pair of sandals. Only defensive magic was utilized, in keeping with the idea of the monk as a holy warrior with a hard punch and a core of mystical defense. For special advantages, I chose rapid healing, regenerate health - general, immunity to magic, increased magery, and bonus to hit - undead. Disadvantages were various forbidden materials and weapons. My difficulty dagger was low and health per level was high.
I did "cheat" a bit and become a werewolf (werewolves can be holy too!)...the benefits were absolutely PERFECT for a hand-to-hand fighter. Killing people every few weeks did not fit with my theme, and so I made sure to get the Hircine Ring. I went through the Mages Guild grind, doing "protect the mage" quests over and over and over again for the loot, selling it at Perore's in Bubyrydata until I had 150k, then did quest after quest for the Glenmorial Coven until my rep was 100 and I had enough money to summon Hircine. I also eventually did the Oghma Infinitum quest for 30 extra attribute points. Other than that, I did no Daedra summoning and did not use or wear ANY magical items besides the Hircine ring.
My monk is at level 18 and has maxed out hand-to-hand at 130, with critical strike nearly maxed as well. I'm at the height of my damage output, and I don't think leveling any more would be wise. At that level, hand-to-hand is strong...but it doesn't match a Daedric Dai-katana...I have to hit humanoids many times before they crap out. I rarely do the Lycanthropy thing because the sound of the panting is annoying.
I encountered a weird glitch in the game after I got the totem...at first, only Gothryd was sending his assassins. Everyone else sent letters. My favor was high. Eventually EVERYONE started sending assassins after me. I was like wtf? So I gave the totem to Gortwog. Problem solved? Nope. Still more assassins...INCLUDING from Gortwog, for some reason! So I ran fixsave...which removed the quest completely. Despite the fact that I had no totem, and it wasn't in Daggerfall's treasury, and I already gave it away, Nulfaga wouldn't teleport me. I finally had to load a previous save that was short two levels and a bunch of skill boosts, give the totem to Gortwog and immediately go to the Mantellan Crux. I was nervous that even that save was broken and I wouldn't be able to finish, or I would be getting assassins within the Crux, but luckily, everything worked out okay.
When I finally got to that green gem in the Mantellan Crux, I felt so proud of myself. FINALLY. I'm thinking of starting the game again as some kind of linguist/pacifist...using those "pacify X" spells and training languages until everyone loves me, haha.
