I read in my GI at work that the other games are preambles to this one. I have yet to play anything before Morrowind, is it worth downloading and playing these games before this one releases? Are the preambles very evident or are they subtle details in the game? I love the ES series but I was just curious as to whether or not it would be worth it to play through them.

Of course! You'd need to download an emulator say DOSbox to run the older games (i.e. Arena). Bethesda used to have a link on there homepage to download it for free and Daggerfall too.

Not sure where to find them now. Since Bethesda changed their home page for Skyrim.

I recommend Daggerfall first. It's slightly new-ish then try Arena. The main quest for both games is on an Epic scale.

Morrowind is a little out dated but it is widely considered a better game. you may get a little bored if you need good combat but if you don't mind older visuals it has a fantastic atmosphere and a wider variety of items and spells.

They are definitely worth downloading and playing but they aren't preambles to Skyrim, that's just a false rumor spread around. They were just events that were predicted to happen and when they all happened they would herald the return of Alduin, they aren't the reason he is returning (except maybe Oblivion)



Widely considered on these forums, but in the entire community of TES fans, Oblivion is considered a better game. I mean, started playing the TES series in 1998 with Arena and I still think Oblivion is better than Morrowind. The only thing good about Morrowind to me was the main story, the rest of the game...meh.

You can get away with not playing the previous games (although if you can get past the visual and interface datedness, I still highly recommend you give them a whirl if you're into to classic games ) particularly if you played Morrowind. It gave you a very healthy helping of lore provided you read the books found throughout the world.

If you're into the lore and history of the world and regions, I recommend checking out http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Main_Page if you haven't already.

As with Morrowind and Oblivion, Skyrim will likely seek to do a good job of immersing you in the world and its history in such a way that it's understandable and relatable regardless of whether you played the previous games. It takes place 200 years after the last installment, after all.

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They are definitely worth downloading and playing but they aren't preambles to Skyrim, that's just a false rumor spread around. They were just events that were predicted to happen and when they all happened they would herald the return of Alduin, they aren't the reason he is returning (except maybe Oblivion)



Actually they are preambles, according to the GI article and Todd Howard.

There has DEFINITELY been a theme in TES leading up to this.

It was most obvious in SI, I think.

I can't imagine why that poster thinks that's just a false rumor...? I mean, it's right on the wall, for goodness sake.

What was obvious in SI?

Jyggalag's return, the book "The Ravings of Fenroy"... In fact, it was prevalent in Oblivion as well. Akatosh had a far more prominent role than we would expect in that game, and the general theme of the plot and all the DLC was that of things ending, the old passing away.

Combine that with "The Seven Fights of the Aludagga", and as soon as I watched the trailer I was screaming "AKATOSH IS COMING".

http://theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net/?title=Arena_:_ArenaSetup_EN
http://theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net/?title=Daggerfall_:_DaggerfallSetup_EN

I got these links from the UESP. I downloaded them both, and they work fine for me.
I don't have DOSBox or anything, just a plain Windows 7, so it should also work for you.

Be warned about Daggerfall. It's a huge, rewarding game, but it's hard and it's old. Don't expect modern graphics and speed, and even the first dungeon is a [censored]. Save after every fight, as the next one could be your last. It's also full of bugs, so install the patch in your DOSbox.

I know they're old, I've heard of them, seen them, just never played them.

Thanks, you saved me the time of looking for these!

i've been dying to play arena, daggerfall, redguard, and battlespire... but my gaming PC doesnt have internet, and i have no freaking clue how to work DOSbox, anyway...

guess im just completely screwed... seems to be the main theme of my life.

Well... If you wanted to put forth a modicum of effort, DOSbox is really quite simple to run, and you could technically get it onto your gaming PC without the internet. Download it, and daggerfall, onto your current one, then put them on a flash drive or CD and transfer it to your gaming PC. Then install, follow instructions, voila.

I'd sayy Daggerfall and Redguard are both well worth any amount of work it takes to play them; but I'm a bit of a fanatic about this series.

You wouldn't happen to have a download for Redguard would you?

Saying that I found it quite funny how it just so happened to be the Chapel of Akatosh to be the first to fall in the main quest of Oblivion(Kvatch), a bit of fore-shadowing huh? Bethesda? Huh? lol

Aside from the events of Oblivion - which may have been set in motion by the events of Morrowind, per the http://www.imperial-library.info/content/nu-mantia-intercept (SPOILERS), none of the games really have a tie to the Skyrim plot. Bethesda just wanted to impress the fans by taking everything that's ever happened previously and referencing them in Skyrim.

Then again, who knows. In a way I think it's more of a symbolic thing for the Elder Scrolls as a franchise than anythign else, that after years of experimentation and toying with both ends of the extreme (Daggerfall versus Oblivion), Bethesda feels they've finally reached the perfect balance in an RPG and Skyrim will be the game to leverage that.

Btw it is called alduin not aludin nor aladin...

Just google DOSBox. Plenty of instructions all over the place.

Yeah, Daggerfall is an amazing RPG but it's extremely difficult and huge and pretty intimidating at first. It's super realistic, in that a bunch of stuff can get you killed aside from being damaged by monsters, and almost no matter how you build your character the beginning portion will be quite tough. But I still think it's my favorite ES game. Awesome and complicated story.

No....They are not what caused Alduin's return. They were signs that he would return, they had nothing to do with his return....



This.



I never said anything about Alduin not being Akatosh in this thread but I can start my rantings of how he is not if you want... Also, "The Seven Fights of the Aludagga" is not canon, so yeah, I wish people would stop using it as a source. Once it is used in a book, in-game or BGS declares it canon, you can use it as canon.

As far as I know there is no way to download Redguard as of now. Unless it's available on steam? I really want to play it. You can buy used copies on Amazon for $20 and up but most of them are only the disc. And to me I would want the box and manual as a collector item.

I thought it was pretty well-accepted that the Tower Theory is what's really going on? It certainly seems correct to me. If it is, then the events of Morrowind DID set Oblivion in motion, and Daggerfall is directly related as well, since Numidium was also a tower.

Maybe it's not canon, but it is certainly suggestive.

And actually, I would like to hear why you think Alduin and Akatosh aren't representations of the same entity.

There are plenty of loyal followers who don't post in the forum. Most people in this forum started with Morrowind, so a similar generalization to the one you made could be made about them. Truth is, the two games have a different approach, so one can't objectively be regarded better or worse than the other. One can prefer one or the other based on their tastes. I can assure you there are some time fans who prefer Oblivion (eg me), just as the forums assure me the opposite is also true.


As for the topic. If you can get past the graphics, they're definitely worth a try IMO. Daggerfall is worth playing just for the experience IMO. To see how high they were aiming. One may look at the faults and it has many (the weird dungeons that can take you hours to navigate, the randomly generated quests, the generated world, broken skills etc), but I've never seen a game that aimed so big. All the things they tried to put in there, all the customization option, the huge map that, even though generated, really make the world feel big, all the different kingdoms, the chances of becoming werewolf or vampire, the main quest that really allowed you (in fact, pretty much required you) to roam and build your character before you can tackle it and didn't shove itself in your face. Daggerfall was had plenty of mistakes in the implementation, but the scope it was aiming for was amazing..

On page 57 of the GI, in the side column is where I found this information. Its prophesied that the events in the other game are leading up to the return of Alduin, it would seem to me that those are whats causing his return. In a prophecy it predicts things that will lead to something else, these things happened now he is returning.