The only reason Daggerfall could be raw and fearless, was that 90% of it was randomly generated content.

Nice mathematical logic there, but...

Daggerfall had prosttutes in upper inn floors, and topless girls dancing in temples. Aside from shallow gratification, this made the game world more realistic.
Daggerfall had beautifully composed music, that changed to fit different cities, regions, and dungeons. It would even change to fit the weather. This was all done in MIDI but it sounds better than the later 3 games' music, which have a a general track that plays EVERYWHERE YOU GO, and a track that plays during battles. That's it, and it gets boring and nauseating to listen to. I'm appalled at how the designers completely ignore the importance of music and how it effects the mood of the player, and in turn the gameplay.
Sure the randomness got old after awhile, and trumped the "massive world" claim because it was the same thing over and over again. However, it was the sheer unpredictability, and more importantly, the R-rated "wicked sick" style and artistic integrity that made Daggerfall better than the other games. I wish they had taken what was good about Daggerfall and refined the generic gameplay. Instead, they took the generic gameplay and made it more user-friendly, while abandoning the style and artistic merit that made Elder Scrolls great in the first place. The cheap imitations and ripoff lore is very bland in comparison.

Julian wrote:Hello all,

Being the programmer of the original Daggerfall, Arena, and Battlespire, here are my two cents.

Arena was a stealth RPG (long story) but never really got the effort it merited. It did have a bunch of firsts, though, that I am proud of, like dynamic lighting with proper drop off and such. It was a small team and it was not bad given the conditions.

Daggerfall was horribly understaffed and many features were dropped or cut short. It was buggy but this was mostly due to pressure to release the game prematurely. It was done with only one main programmer (me, although I had an assistant occasionally) which is absurd on a project of this size. Especially considering that I was also the main designer (Ted was phenomenal and deserves at least equal credit but left before the project was done) and project leader and the Chief Engineer in charge of all other Bethesda development. Consequently, the project suffered and I consider it one of the great missed opportunities in my life, seeing what the game could have been but having to fall short. Had the dedication of the company been there, it could have so much better while retaining the feel it has. Ah, well... It has always had a dedicated following, strangely enough, even during development and testing. Most of the gods a named after some very dedicated testers, one exception being Julianos, God of Logic, whom I named after me!

My favorite (if I can use that word, considering my viewpoint) must be Battlespire. While it, too, suffered from a complete lack of resources and support, it was the best controlled project and the one where I had complete control of all aspects of the game and its development. If it had had hardware rendering support it would have been a much bigger success, I think. But, then again, I am rather biased.

I only just found out about this project today, much to my surprise. I am still not sure what it really is... I am intrigued, of course.

All the best,
Julian LeFay

The only reason Daggerfall could be raw and fearless, was that 90% of it was randomly generated content.