First time playing Daggerfall

[Jaesun]

I'd be nice if Bethesda released it as freeware, like EA did with Ultima IV.

 

[Zomg]

I can't recommend that "Cheatmode=1" .cfg setting enough. You will go fucking insane by your third dungeon without it.

 

[MINIGUNWIELDER]

They just released Arena for free this year (or maybe last?) on their site, so I'd assume they'll do the same for Daggerfall in a couple of years.

I'll agree that I wish publishers would have some download service for old games. But I have to wonder how profitable it would be since next to none are doing it. Though, Nintendo will have something like all of their NES games available for download for a price on the revolution, which I think is pretty damn cool (even though I'll probably never get a revolution or buy those NES games).

correction:NES, SNES,and N64 games with the possibility of mods

and if daggerfall is released as public domain(not open source but like king kong was so that nobody owns it at all)

then id pay for whatever whatever was built on top of the original skill system

 

[Naked_Lunch]

I'd be nice if Bethesda released it as freeware, like EA did with Ultima IV.

Well, it is Daggerfall's tenth anniversary this year so maybe they'll release it like they did with Arena's tenth anniversary in '04.

But they'll probably be bastards about it and not release it despite it's the only half-decent game they ever made.

 

[Xi]

Using DosBox CVS is the only way to get anywhere if your going to emulate Daggerfall. It can add some smoother graphics, but fuck that. The main thing it does over normal DosBox is the TimeSync. This allows your CPU to utilize the cycles it needs on the fly. So, you set the max cycles and timesync and you'll be playing the game without issues.

Timesync=true
Check here to learn more about CVS builds


I always liked to stay in Privateers hold until i was about level 3-4ish. You'll know if you like your character by then, and it will teach you a lot about the game.

Once you get out of Privateers hold, goto the world map and let your jaw drop to the floor as you can visit any of the dots on your map. Though many are simply filler, the idea is that you can leave Daggerfall and venture elsewhere to do your theiving/murdering/etc with less consequence on your ability to enjoy other facits of the game.

The game will grow as you play it, more dungeons will appear on the world map, new monsters will appear as you level, and guilds will offer you some pretty awesome stuff if you get to the highest ranks. Also, some of the fun in this game is simply finding what is hidden. Certain guilds offer special services, and the only way to get these services is to find these guilds and rise in there ranks.

I think I liked Daggerfall because it's an awesome fantasy simulator. Lots of Lore, insane lore actually, and plenty of room to stretch your feet.

Cheers!

 

[Kairal]

I am the only one who heard that rumour that they lost Daggerfall? Could be why they're neither selling it nor releasing it in a freeby type fashion. But it probably would cause embarrassing questions.

 

[dongle]

Pretty sure the rumor was that they'd lost the source code. That would prevent them from open-sourcing it, which would let modders go wild on it. Even if they'd lost the final build tho it would be trivial to find an existing CD of the finished product and make copies of it for sale. Even a used copy off Ebay would work for that.

 

[Kairal]

Pretty sure the rumor was that they'd lost the source code. That would prevent them from open-sourcing it, which would let modders go wild on it. Even if they'd lost the final build tho it would be trivial to find an existing CD of the finished product and make copies of it for sale. Even a used copy off Ebay would work for that.

Well I don't know but it would be pretty pathetic if people found out that Bethesda were looking for a cheap copy of Daggerfall so that they could release it on the net. Wouldn't make the company look to good. And irrespective of your opinion of the games, then everybody would be asking questions like "why are there so few factions?" and "why can't I climb walls". Lastly of course Daggerfall could well be negative marketing. It's a fairly tough game to get into, if their target audience played they'd never touch Oblivion.

 

[0sacred]

Does Luck affect loot drops in vanilla (not Unity) Daggerfall? It did in Arena, and it's very noticeable even in the starting dungeon (though the relative effectiveness seemed to vary between versions).

speaking of which, here it says Speed affects your attack speed. It only affected missile reload speed in Arena. Which is it?

 

[Funposter]

Does Luck affect loot drops in vanilla (not Unity) Daggerfall? It did in Arena, and it's very noticeable even in the starting dungeon (though the relative effectiveness seemed to vary between versions).

speaking of which, here it says Speed affects your attack speed. It only affected missile reload speed in Arena. Which is it?

Don't use the fandom wiki

 

[Corrin]

Does Luck affect loot drops in vanilla (not Unity) Daggerfall? It did in Arena, and it's very noticeable even in the starting dungeon (though the relative effectiveness seemed to vary between versions).

speaking of which, here it says Speed affects your attack speed. It only affected missile reload speed in Arena. Which is it?

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Attributes Says here luck doesnt affect loot

Same page has speed affecting reload and weapon swing.

like Funposter said id also recommend against using fandom.

 

[None]

Does Luck affect loot drops in vanilla (not Unity) Daggerfall? It did in Arena, and it's very noticeable even in the starting dungeon (though the relative effectiveness seemed to vary between versions).

speaking of which, here it says Speed affects your attack speed. It only affected missile reload speed in Arena. Which is it?

Don't use the fandom wiki

More specifically, use UESP Wiki.

 

[NecroLord]

Does Luck affect loot drops in vanilla (not Unity) Daggerfall? It did in Arena, and it's very noticeable even in the starting dungeon (though the relative effectiveness seemed to vary between versions).

speaking of which, here it says Speed affects your attack speed. It only affected missile reload speed in Arena. Which is it?

No, Luck has no effect whatsoever on loot. According to UESP, it only affects your chance to hit and dodge hits. Therefore, high luck=high chance to hit and dodge enemy blows.
Speed affects both your attack and movement speed.

 

[Modron]

speaking of which, here it says Speed affects your attack speed. It only affected missile reload speed in Arena. Which is it?

Speed certainly affects weapon speed, it's one of the first ways you'll notice you've been infected by a werewolf/wereboar/vampire. If your stats aren't maxed (of course), out of nowhere your attacks will be that much faster fuhhhhk.

 

[NecroLord]

it's one of the first ways you'll notice you've been infected by a werewolf/wereboar/vampire.

You're kidding?
I don't remember anything like that.

 

[Modron]

Oh yeah all those conditions add like 10-20 per stat IIRC, I remember having swing speed suddenly jump up and that it happened enough to me to be able to diagnose what happened.

 

[NecroLord]

Does Luck affect loot drops in vanilla (not Unity) Daggerfall? It did in Arena, and it's very noticeable even in the starting dungeon (though the relative effectiveness seemed to vary between versions).

speaking of which, here it says Speed affects your attack speed. It only affected missile reload speed in Arena. Which is it?

No, Luck has no effect whatsoever on loot. According to UESP, it only affects your chance to hit and dodge hits. Therefore, high luck=high chance to hit and dodge enemy blows.
Speed affects both your attack and movement speed.

Only loot is dependent on level.
You will start to see daedric gear appearing quite frequently (though not excessively so) at high levels.

 

[0sacred]

Fuck, I'm tempted to give up on this buggy mess.

Accept Fighter Guild quest to clear out pests, get to residence, it is locked. Try other houses in the vicinity, they're all not the right ones. The one with the quest is locked.

Accept Fighter Guild Quest to clear out beastie, after accepting hear that it is a harpy. Doesn't sound like a good foe for a level 2. Get there, can't hurt it with my only weapon.

Accept Fighter Guild Quest, ask around for bookstore, have to ask about 20 NPC to get to it. NPC Simulator - the game. Get there, no foes in the store. Remember that I was given two stores with the same name to ask NPC's about, thought it was a bug but it isn't. Thanks, procedural generation. Ask 10 more NPC's, two promise to mark it on my map. They don't. Walk around trying to find it by yourself, get there, kill 8 bats. Return to Fighter's Guild. Look forward to the money as the quest giver promises to pay the same as for slaying stronger foes. Guildmaster also, again, tells me that these jobs pay as well as others. Game bugs out, I don't get any money.

 

[0sacred]

Ok, not getting paid for rat killing might be a feature. Tried again, again no payment. Weird decision, but ok.

 

[NecroLord]

Fuck, I'm tempted to give up on this buggy mess.

Accept Fighter Guild quest to clear out pests, get to residence, it is locked. Try other houses in the vicinity, they're all not the right ones. The one with the quest is locked.

Accept Fighter Guild Quest to clear out beastie, after accepting hear that it is a harpy. Doesn't sound like a good foe for a level 2. Get there, can't hurt it with my only weapon.

Accept Fighter Guild Quest, ask around for bookstore, have to ask about 20 NPC to get to it. NPC Simulator - the game. Get there, no foes in the store. Remember that I was given two stores with the same name to ask NPC's about, thought it was a bug but it isn't. Thanks, procedural generation. Ask 10 more NPC's, two promise to mark it on my map. They don't. Walk around trying to find it by yourself, get there, kill 8 bats. Return to Fighter's Guild. Look forward to the money as the quest giver promises to pay the same as for slaying stronger foes. Guildmaster also, again, tells me that these jobs pay as well as others. Game bugs out, I don't get any money.

A good thing to do with commoners is to pester them until they mark the house on your map. It might take a while, but keep at it. Try switching between polite and blunt tone in dialogue (blunt works best, or so I heard).

What is your build/character, by the way? Why not drop a screenshot too.

 

[Poseidon00]

Fuck, I'm tempted to give up on this buggy mess.

Accept Fighter Guild quest to clear out pests, get to residence, it is locked. Try other houses in the vicinity, they're all not the right ones. The one with the quest is locked.

Accept Fighter Guild Quest to clear out beastie, after accepting hear that it is a harpy. Doesn't sound like a good foe for a level 2. Get there, can't hurt it with my only weapon.

Accept Fighter Guild Quest, ask around for bookstore, have to ask about 20 NPC to get to it. NPC Simulator - the game. Get there, no foes in the store. Remember that I was given two stores with the same name to ask NPC's about, thought it was a bug but it isn't. Thanks, procedural generation. Ask 10 more NPC's, two promise to mark it on my map. They don't. Walk around trying to find it by yourself, get there, kill 8 bats. Return to Fighter's Guild. Look forward to the money as the quest giver promises to pay the same as for slaying stronger foes. Guildmaster also, again, tells me that these jobs pay as well as others. Game bugs out, I don't get any money.

As was already mentioned, you can get the location marked on your map if you ask enough NPCs. Reputation/dialogue skill makes a difference iirc.

You can also choose to ignore quests you feel are tedious, and only accept the ones you can do quickly. I tend to do this with Mages Guild quests, wait until I get one that has me guarding the guild so I don't have to leave, rinse and repeat.

Daggerfall Unity also has a built-in cheat that lets you get the quest locations immediately.

 

[0sacred]

What is your build/character, by the way?

Cleric custom class. Increased Magery, a good bunch of extra HP, expertise in blunt weapons. I got the difficulty dagger down to 0.3x with some equipment restrictions, but most importantly, critical weakness to paralysis. I figured my Breton would resist some paralysis, and casting Free Action is supposedly cheap. Primary skills are blunt, restoration and medical (I figured medical would make me level quickly). Major critical strike, dodging and alteration.

Probably should have taken bonus to hit undead too

Why not drop a screenshot too.

What's the hotkey for screenshots in DosBox?

Speaking of which, man vanilla Daggerfall looks ugly on a modern rig. Arena is almost better looking than this. After finishing this playthrough I'll probably switch to DF Unity.

 

[NecroLord]

What is your build/character, by the way?

Cleric custom class. Increased Magery, a good bunch of extra HP, expertise in blunt weapons. I got the difficulty dagger down to 0.3x with some equipment restrictions, but most importantly, critical weakness to paralysis. I figured my Breton would resist some paralysis, and casting Free Action is supposedly cheap. Primary skills are blunt, restoration and medical (I figured medical would make me level quickly). Major critical strike, dodging and alteration.

Probably should have taken bonus to hit undead too

Why not drop a screenshot too.

What's the hotkey for screenshots in DosBox?

Speaking of which, man vanilla Daggerfall looks ugly on a modern rig. Arena is almost better looking than this. After finishing this playthrough I'll probably switch to DF Unity.

Resist Paralysis should always be in your repertoire of spells, it's a good thing you got it going, since paralysis is brutal and many powerful monsters will inflict it upon you. Restoration is always useful and you can buff yourself very effectively with it.
Dodging is also pretty good, as is Alteration (MANY useful spells here, including Resist Paralysis, which you said you already have).
I also recommend you get the Recall spell. It's a Mysticism spell, so you should probably use a trainer first to raise your skill a bit. You can teleport with it. Immensely useful for getting around, especially in the huge and monstrous dungeons of Daggerfall.
Levitation is another spell you should acquire.

 

[Lemming42]

Yeah, any time someone indicates they know what you're talking about, spam them with the same request until they mark it on your map for you. I don't think there's any risk to spamming them, you don't lose rep with them or their faction/class.

DF Unity also has a console command that's like "talk_npcsknoweverything" or something like that. Against the spirit of the game but makes things quicker.

 

[0sacred]

how do I merchant?!

you click on a merchant's shelves which brings up in the inventory, you select an item, click on buy, right? For some reason it doesn't work for me. I can't even buy a stack of arrows.

Also, is there a better way to grind for a low level character than doing Fighter's Guild quests? I haven't done much exploring so far.