Okay, so we've all seen Morrowind vs. Oblivion, Daggerfall vs. Morrowind, Daggerfall vs. Oblivion, Marvel vs. Street Fighter, everything basically. But here's one you don't hear often. How do TESI and TESII look in comparison? Not that I'm expecting Arena to win anything here, but there's stuff to be learned from the process.

Personally I liked Arena's MQ in every facet over Daggerfall's MQ. Also, I feel in terms of balance that Daggerfall, while superior, does have some lessons to learn in terms from Arena in terms of loot.

So what do you think? Is there something from Arena you like more than Daggerfall, or vice versa?

Arena is a fun game if you're in the proper mood for playing it. I'm not in the mood to go into an in-depth debate, but here's some things I like and dislike about Arena.

The Elder Scrolls: Arena

Pros
-Easy, simple gameplay.
-Graphics better than Daggerfall in some cases (most NPCs are actually animated, etc.)
-More stable, better performance.
-Interesting wilderness with dungeons, landmarks, and the occasional house or inn.

Cons
-Simplistic levelling system.
-Not enough quests.
-Tedious shopkeeper interface (purchasing and selling one item at a time).
-Enemies move fast as hell. Can't run from them too well, and it's not easy to do the "backtrack and swing" strategy.

This will sound odd, but I just plain love Arena. There is just something about it, something I can't word, that just makes it a simple, great game. Yes, Daggerfall is the "better" game, but Arena has a quality to it that makes it far more entertaining for me.

Arena cities are more interesting. There's short alleys with thieves, hokers and beggers wandering around and large roads with big houses. Dungeons are easier to navigate than Daggerfall ones and have more interesting puzzles but Daggerfall dungeons are much more immersive. Daggerfall has more lore and books and the main quest is much much better. Just a few things i recall at the moment.

Well I always knew that I wouldn't be the kind of person to play a game such as Arena, which is why I never even bothered to try. But I was interested in the story, and so I've read it on the Imperial Library. And I must say that Daggerfall's story is much, much better, in my opinion. Arena's story has basically been made interesting after the game, by giving more background information on it (The Real Barenziah describes what happens shortly before Jagar Tharn succeeds in banishing the Emperor, for instance).
In Arena, the plot is very very simple. Evil battlemage, one item to defeat him, and of course it's split into several pieces that you have to find. And unless I've missed an important part, that's really all there is to it. There don't seem to be any plot twists either - you know right from the beginning what you have to do.

Daggerfall's plot is complex and entertaining. There are many different parties that try to win you for their cause or simply act against you and each other, there are intrigues, there are plot twists, and there is no simple "good and evil" thinking. And in the beginning, you really can't guess what is about to unfold.

Arena's one huge plus: being able to travel ALL over the world (except cyrodiil but judging from Oblivion we didn't miss much). I loved being able to go from Skyrim's snow to Elsweyr's heat whenever I wanted. And each province was different, reflecting the climate, landscape, and inhabitants. That was an awesome thing that I'm very sure will never be featured in any ES game ever again...it's just too big. Impossible.

Daggerfall trumped Arena in every other way, though. Except the dungeons are sometimes too frustrating IMO.

Arena's main quest didn't keep me interested, and the infinite world made me uncomfortable.

I really prefer the 'simplistic' levelling system (also used in Fallout 3). Say, for arguments sake, that 'Satan' was killed Daggerfall (or MW or OB); a fairly big beastie you would have thought, experience a-plenty you would have thought. But wait! - I killed him with my Sword, toiling for hours between cities, and my Long Blade and common combat skills are '100' (whatever that means). Therefore, despite killing Sin and Evil etc, I have learnt NOTHING from the experience. I could have used a lesser-known skill, but then I would have been beaten...
Then I go and use a lesser skill on a goblin once, and I learn infinitely more.

It's a false economy which skips a level of character evolution to deny choice. If I use my sword skill in Daggerfall, my sword skill will increase. If I use my sword skill and get 312,080 experience, I will increase my sword skill myself thank-you-very-much, beacuse its the skill I use, so of course I will increase it. (And any abuse of this system should be entirely the players choice).

There's probably a reason why near every other RPG uses the 'simplistic' levelling system - I think these systems could be combined.

Anyhoo -
The climate effects are seen in Daggerfall in a somewhat 'smaller' scale (the hot south/snowy north).

There are aspects of detail within Arena which will hopefully be implemented into DaggerXL - I'd certainly like to see more character within the cities, and have dungeons easier to navigate. Although Arena shouldn't really be credited for this, given that all the dungeons are flat like 'World of Xeen'..

I can only imagine the answer is 'nostalgia'

Daggerfall polished many aspects of its gameplay and graphics over Arena, but Arena is probably more 'finished' in its own right.

I love Daggerfall a lot more than Arena; however, both are wonderful games. Without going to deep, Daggerfall was more playable, which matters a lot to me. And the main quest is more interesting.

I agree with you completely on that. The NPCs are also far more interesting to talk to in Arena - you can ask them about their trade, they will remark about what they do for a living, where they are going, et cetera. Small bits of lore such as rumors regarding the Underking are speckled throughout the game, and these elements are only expanded in Daggerfall. Oh, and the Amulet of Kings - I had no idea that was in Arena until I bothered to read the manual's backstory!

When daggerfall changed the dungeons, it should have re-thought the spells, the spell points charatcers get and how spell points are used. Daggerfall is the only game, even if those other games have small dungeons, that decided Recall should be expensive, so a character with 75 INT, which even Daggerall says is 'brilliant' you cannot use Recall or even a simple Open spell. It made changes in Daggerfall and then didn'tthink them through, so for me,Arena and Morrowind come before Daggerfall.

I think that both games are great, although Daggerfall is slightly better (leveling system, graphics, horses, etc.).

Daggerfall. It has a better main quest, more depth, and there is much more you can do. Arena is just ok IMO.