Why is Daggerfall So great?
Most computer roleplaying games (like "Ultima" or "Might & Magic") are based on a group of characters (a "party" in RPG jargon). This is a heritage from the original role playing games played by a group of friends around a table, with pencil and dice. Daggerfall accepts and embraces the fact that most computer players now play alone. (No, there is not a network or internet option. Sorry.) In Daggerfall, you are your own man or woman. If you choose to spend all your time studying spells, you will have that much less experience with weapons, and the other way around. It is up to you to find the right balance, and take the time you need to build your skills.
Most significant, however, is the fact that you are on your own. The creators are not holding your hand. There is a main quest which you can follow if you feel like it, but you can ignore it completely if you prefer to pursue other goals. (Actually the main quest is sort of frustrating, in my opinion, and hardly worth the trouble.) The appeal of Daggerfall is in its openness. It is not like a narrow path, but like a wide open plain with only scattered landmarks.
character portrait Creating your own character
You can choose your character from many different races, each with some strength or weakness. You can also choose one of the many different classes that come with the game, such as knight or healer or acrobat. Or you can compose your own class, which most of us do after a while. You can choose between a lot of special advantages and disadvantages. These must offset one another in the end, but let you create really unique characters. For instance, your class of character may be unable to use certain types of weapons or certain metals. Also some are quick learners, while others spend a lot of time mastering even the most common skills.
Combat skills are not the only ones in this game. There are six different schools of magic, and you can even study foreign languages like Orcish or Nymph! Sadly there is no actual conversation with these creatures, though a "pacifist" class would appreciate the ability to pass peacefully by another race if they know the language. (And an assassin would pass peacefully, then kill them unexpectedly...)
Even after you have played for a while, your character can change dramatially if you happen to be infected by lycanthropy or vampirism. Werewolves, wereboars and vampires have strengths that normal humans can not match, but at a severe cost. For those who search diligently, it is possible to lift the curse and return to a normal life - but not all choose to do so ...
spellcasting Magic
Magic, or "magicka" as it is called in Daggerfall, is a power that floats richly through this game world. Almost everyone can harness it to some extent - even a warrior may be able to cast a simple spell if he learns how. But the various classes of mages can hold much more of it at any time.
However, inborn capacity is not nearly the whole of it. With sufficient training, anyone can learn to use the magicka more efficiently. When you fully master a school of magicka, even powerful spells require only a moderate amount of magicka.
For those who don't have the time or inclination to follow that long path, there are potions that cover the basic needs, like healing and protection and levitation. There are also enchanted items of many kinds. Some of these are found naturally in dungeons or on fallen enemies. Others can only be made through the "item maker", which is available to advanced members of the Mages Guild or the Temple of Julianos. At a price, any item can be given magickal properties.
Finally, the Mages Guild also allows their members - even new ones - to compose their own spells. For non-members, the most common spells are sold ready to put in your spell book.
village A huge world
The game world of Daggerfall is only a small part of the empire of Tamriel, but it still covers the area of a moderate American state or European country. There are literally hundreds of cities, towns and villages, and also scattered temples and farmsteads amid wilderness where you can travel for weeks of real time. Luckily, you can also choose to fast travel from one place to another, if you get bored by forest or mountain or desert or jungle. Yes, there are several different climates, each with their own plant life and architecture and weather pattern.
The ancient civilization of Tamriel also supplies hundreds of ruins and dungeons, many of these the size of a small game in themselves. Do not visit those if you are in a hurry! The dungeons are without exception infested by potential enemies, either humans or other races, or at the very least critters like giant rats or bats or humongous spiders.
For those who prefer the daylight, life is more quiet. Though you should think twice about sleeping out in the woods without weapons. Luckily most enemies can be run away from, especially with a little practice. Your running skill will increase when you use it. And of course you can buy a horse, which should be able to outrun anything except a well placed arrow.
Store Worldly goods
In Daggerfall, you can buy various items from weapons and armor to gems and herbs. But that is not the whole of it. I've mention the riding horse, but you can also buy a wagon with room for 750 kg of merchandise. If the travelling life is not for you, you can start saving up for your own home! You can have only one house at a time, so this is mostly for those who want to settle down after their travelling days. By then you should have amassed plenty of money; but if not, the local bank is usually willing to extend a loan.
A ship is a good alternative in the meantime. There are two different sizes of those, and the largest is quite as large as many houses. The benefit of the ship is that it has its own teleport function: You can hop to your ship from any outdoors location, and then hop back to where you came from. This makes it an ideal place to sleep during your travels, and to store items that you don't want in your cart.
While you can't buy or sell furniture, you can buy clothes. There is a wide selection of those, particularly for women, in many different cuts and colors. This may not interest you if your focus is on fighting; but in that case, it may be worth mentioning that weapons and armor can be had in different metals, one better than the other: Iron, steel, silver, elven, dwarven, mithril, adamantium, ebony, orcish and deadric. These also have distinct colors and can be quite fashionable if you manage to gather a whole armor of one metal. Some of them are quite rare, however. A daedric gauntlet costs about the same as a house, if you can find it for sale at all!
guild teacher Guilds and politics
Daggerfall has several different guilds: The Mages Guild and the Fighters Guild are federal institutions, and your membership in these follow you wherever you go. The same holds true for temples, but each province has its favorite deity. Luckily there are several provinces which have the same patron god, and here you will find their temples usually less than a day's travel from wherever you are.
There are a couple dozen different provinces in the game, and each has its local government. You can have a good reputation in one province and be considered pond scum in another. In fact, sometimes two of them are in a state of cold war, and you could get in trouble for being involved too heavily with one or the other.
Some of the provinces have their own knightly orders. As for temples, you can only join one such. And like temples and guilds, they confer certain benefits on active members. You graduate through the various guilds by studying the skills they value particularly highly, and by doing quests for them. Each type of guild has its own set of quests. At any given time you can choose between many different quests, but some of them only become available after you have proved your worth in simpler quests.
Royal throne Quests and storyline
Quests are the driving force in Daggerfall. Less a game and more a gaming environment, Daggerfall provides a huge and detailed game world. But to become more than a tourist in that world, you have to take on quests. As I mentioned, quests decide your standing in the guilds, along with your dedication to the guild's lore. But there are quests also outside the guilds. Merchants and bartenders are the employment officers of Daggerfall, and may or may not know of a way to earn a quick buck. The quests can be dubious, like smuggling or assassination. Or they can be heartwarming good, like rescuing a kidnapped child. Choose wisely, for your reputation will eventually catch up with you.
Each faction in the game world - and there are about 400 of them - have their own balance of reputation with you. As for provinces, almost any faction can be at war with any other, but they can also be allies, in which case you improve your standing with two or more at the same time. You can always ask the local populace for the latest rumors, and they will eventually tell you who is at odds with who. If you really care.
More importantly, the royal courts of the major provinces have quests for you. They offer a wide selection of quests like any guild, but they also administer the Main Quest. In so far as Daggerfall is a game and not just a game setting, it is due to the Main Quest. You supposedly arrive in Daggerfall in order to investigate two mysteries on behalf of the Emperor, who lives far away from all this. One mystery is a letter that has disappeared; another is a slain king who has returned as a ghost and haunts the capitol with his army of wraiths. As you succeed in a series of increasingly difficult quests, a plot of dark intrigue is revealed.
As with everything in Daggerfall, the Main Quest is entirely optional. And even if you undertake it, there is no guarantee that you will be able to conclude it. There are some good walk-throughs on the Net (see for instance MarStinson's website in my link section) but if you start the quest too early you may still have to give it up. Luckily you cannot lose the game, except by getting bored. As long as you have a save game where you are still alive, you can continue to enjoy the alternate world of magick and bravery that is known as Daggerfall!