Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall now free

By Polybren, GameSpotPosted Jul 9, 2009 4:39 pm PT

When The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released, it was hailed by critics for its sprawling open world and the potentially intimidating freedom of choice it offered players. While Oblivion represented a major breakthrough for developer Bethesda Softworks, the foundation of the title's gameplay was...

When The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released, it was hailed by critics for its sprawling open world and the potentially intimidating freedom of choice it offered players. While Oblivion represented a major breakthrough for developer Bethesda Softworks, the foundation of the title's gameplay was in many ways preserved from earlier titles in the series.

Now players who only discovered the role-playing game franchise with Oblivion--or have yet to try it at all--have an expanded opportunity to explore the series' roots. To celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls, Bethesda today released an earlier installment in the series, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, free of charge on its Elder Scrolls Web site.

Because the game is being released free of charge, Bethesda will not be providing technical support for it. However, the game can be made to run on modern computers using the DOSBox program, and Bethesda has released a step-by-step guide on how to get it running.

The original Elder Scrolls game, Arena, was similarly released for free to mark the franchise's 10th anniversary. It remains available for download from Bethesda's Elder Scrolls Web site.

For more on Daggerfall, check out GameSpot's original review.

194 Comments

  • Knight95007

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 9:33 pm PT

    I must say I was really impressed by Oblivion and its strong storyline and I look forward to downloading Deaagerfall

  • IceJester45

    Posted Aug 29, 2009 6:13 pm PT

    A played a game called "Gemstone" in.....jeez...it must have been in the mid-to-late-1990s. I believe it was before "Ultima Online" came out. I'm not really sure, though. That's the only MUD I can remember playing. Sorry.

  • CastorCat

    Posted Aug 27, 2009 9:28 pm PT

    HA! Anyone that's going to deny these games deserves to have their thumbs cut off. Now, granted, your Breath of Fire games and Final Fantasy games (prior to 7 anyway - I don't care what anyone says, FF7 is just a bunch of selfish whining with big swords - and FFT is more RTS than RPG) are fun, they'll lose every time to the solid (and more in-depth due to greater control flexibility) PC RPGs that are released every year by both big-brand and indie game companies. But let's forget all these fancy games for a moment and let me pose a couple of questions to you. When was the last time you played a hardcore in-depth text-MUD like Achaea? Do you even know what a MUD is?
    One last thing -- IceJester45, way to remember Planescape Torment. You leveled up.

  • IceJester45

    Posted Aug 14, 2009 10:54 pm PT

    PC RPG-related story. Today, some guy in one of the forums said that there haven't been any good RPGs since "Breath of Fire III" and "Final Fantasy Tactics," both of which came out in 1998. My first response was, "Ummm...'Baldur's Gate II' and 'Planescape Torment.'" I listed a few of the quality RPGs that have come out since 1998. He replied by saying that every game on my list made him yawn. I find that unsurprising. If "Breath of Fire III" is this guy's measure of a great RPG, a real RPG like "Baldur's Gate" would go completely unappreciated. It's like giving a physics book to a fourth grader.

  • StewSpot

    Posted Aug 14, 2009 8:49 am PT

    Sweet! I wish other game developers would follow this lead =)

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Aug 5, 2009 11:32 am PT

    @ IceJester45, could not agree with you more. I am beginning to think that new gamers know they want simpler games as they know older games tax their minds because they are too smart for them. You only have to compare the Oblivion with the Morrowind with the Daggerfall main quest. Oblivion: In your sleep, Morrowind: You have to be aware of the world, Daggerfall: You have to be a political understanding person.

  • IceJester45

    Posted Jul 31, 2009 9:46 pm PT

    Why would someone be opposed to bringing back PC RPG gaming? That entire mindset makes no sense to me. At best, it's a statement that the person wants less choice and diversity in gaming. Do these people want every game to be a "Final Fantasy" clone or something? Do these people have so much animosity toward PC gaming that they're willing to hurt themselves? People do funny things.

  • totlot

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 9:29 pm PT

    i'mhaveing probloms i do every step very cerfally and when im at the last step type dagger and when i do it sees like i have the wrong disk it realy sucks

  • P1zzaman

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 6:16 pm PT

    Nice! I sold my copy a while back, now i can get it again.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 2:44 am PT

    @writer4life have you got the latest 0.73 version? Have you installed it into the default folder (C:\Program\Files\Dosbox-0.73

    Download a windows front end for DOSBox, like 'D-Fend Reloaded' (just google it) as that may make a difference.

    Also, do you mean Daggerfall is crashing when you start it in DOSBox?

    Go to the Bethsoft forums,where there is a lot of help for new gamers.

    I have never ever heard in 5 years of using DOSBox where it has crashed the PC.

  • writer4life

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 12:05 pm PT

    Unfortunately, that DOSBox program crashes my computer everytime. Sucks.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Jul 27, 2009 12:33 pm PT

    I want to remind PC gamers:

    A post was made on 12th July: "bring back pc rpg gaming!!!!!!!!"

    It has two thumbs down.

    Fight back PC gamers, fight back!!!!!! Get some backbone guys!!! They haven't won yet! This is a thread about Daggerfall a PERSONAL COMPUTER GAME - don't let the console gamers win even in THIS thread!

    And if I get loads of thumbs down I will know we have lost and that PC gaming is a breath away from Oblivion. (Yes, that word was intentional!)

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Jul 27, 2009 12:22 pm PT

    In a post below I was talking about playing the Quest for Glory games... a free re-make has been made available by fans with better graphics and icon rather than text input control!

  • Mr_Versipellis

    Posted Jul 20, 2009 12:24 pm PT

    I can't wait to play... this is the only one I haven't played yet. Old it may be, but it's a history lesson.

  • HiSaZuL

    Posted Jul 20, 2009 12:36 am PT

    i just couldn't resist making a comment on bioshock and rpg in same sentence .... name 1 rpg element there?
    please if someone wants to say fps-rpg then theres deus ex... thats fps rpg anything at least half of it could be called fps-rpg but something like bioshock can't be an rpg simply because theres 0 character development. theres no customization of any kind there are no objectives aside from (next open door shoot monster 914 await further instructions)... and most importantly theres no story to unravel and no great epic adventure of your own to have. its a linear game where amount of choices you can make is so minuscule its disappointing in itself. as fps it was fun tho not going to deny that heh system shock was a nice fps with ... some rpg elements to it. eh everytime i think bioshock i think system shock for some reason... i guess both are bizzare in their own way heh

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Jul 16, 2009 3:58 am PT

    To all those thinking of trying Daggerfall; don't give up until you change the control option in Z.cfg to 'viewplyr.dat'. This will give you a WASD control scheme with mouse look. In other words, the way modern games work. Also, check Options a) to see the control keys set up and b) to click on 'Full Screen' so you now have a Morrowind/Oblivion style GUI! With this set up you'll be a lot more comfortable and will do better in the game!

  • Sovereign_13

    Posted Jul 15, 2009 11:03 pm PT

    Bethesda what are you thinking! You should have used the Nintendo method and charged $20 for it. Then, you wait a week and come out with a new motion based control scheme and charge $30 for that.

  • IceJester45

    Posted Jul 15, 2009 12:52 pm PT

    Krondor...there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I never played the "Ultima: Underground" games, but I did play the last few games in the main series. As for the "Quest for Glory" games, I played almost everything that came out of Roberta/Ken Williams-era Sierra (I seem to remember the Krondor games being theirs, too).

    I never got around to playing "Lands of Lore." There seems to be quite a few RPGs I missed.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Jul 15, 2009 9:08 am PT

    @ IceJester45, back in the day I was playing the Krondor games, the Realms of Arkania games,the Lands of Lore games and The Quest for Glory series. Although late on, I also found (about 5 years late) the Ultima Underground 1 and 2 games to be excellent. Realms of Arkania is up there with Daggerfall in my book; consider, for example, that when your party rests you can set each of them on different 'shifts' to guard the sleeping party and you can send your wizard off to spend a certain amount of time looking for herbs for alchemy. The amount of detail is just as amazing as the title we're talking about here!

  • IceJester45

    Posted Jul 14, 2009 10:03 pm PT

    Leonagard,

    A DS version of "Daggerfall" would be great. The DS seems like it should be well-suited to handle old PC strategy games and RPGs. The stylus works very well with games like "Civilization: Revolution," which is essentially a prettier version of "Civilization II." The only problem is that developers and/or publishers keep botching retro PC ports. "The Settlers II," for instance, should have been brilliant on the DS. I think its gameplay is perfect for the handhelds (it's accessible enough to play on the go, but it's also deep enough to keep the player engaged). Yet, the final product was glitchy nonsense.

    Sorry for the digression. Yeah, "Daggerfall" would be awesome on the DS, provided they could fit everything on the cart (not sure how much a DS cartridge can hold) and keep the game relatively glitch-free. It would sure be a welcome break from all the Japanese RPGs.

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