ODE to Daggerfall...does it still Play?
freestone
oh, i was in some mall software store the other day....
i overheard a couple of clerks talk fondly of their Daggerfall
days...way...way...back then.......
? ?
!!
Here, i played daggerfall for months, back in 1998, before selling my
computer in order to move.
alas...my small pension prohibits me from indulging again in the
computer world except for these public library computers.
Daggerfall....
i wonder how it stands up to day with those 800 pentiums and those
super-voodoo cards?!
does NOX and Balduars Gate and half Life make Daggerfall look to be a
pixilated mess, worthey only of a retropspective Memory-only...never
never to return to playing?....like of some old SKIN, shed by a snake,
lying on the ground, something on the Way To Something Else, a something
that was cutting edge and now it is out of date.
i wonder?!
my own intuition, from my memory of Daggerfall, compared to most of the
games out there today...
is that there IS something special about this daggerfall game, something
unique and should never be let go of.
that indeed...it is playable today...
i wonder, though...will someday all of the extra Quests ad-ons and the
bug-fix files...be gone from the internet??
or...
will someone keep them on their files in order to give out to all the
rare devotees of this game.
these two salesclerks talked in awe how on could play for YEARS and not
even get to the main story-line Quests!!
indeed...i played for six months and as i begun to begin them...i was
immediately killed!! ...a Elf-mage with spells galore...and i lasted
all of six hallways before i was gone....[i have heard that the
game-quests, especially the later ones...are HARD!!]
so i wonder a bit to myself...if that day ever comes ....the
.000000000000016% out of 100 chance...that i win the lottery and can
sit there with an Alienware 850 pentium with a Viewsonic 21" monitor
with a Mattrox G400 video-card....and Have A few Games on the
desk and disk...WILL one of them be Daggerfall, even with System
Shock II...
Might and Magic VII...on the shelves of that mall store?!!
Nox...Thief....awaits
----and yes.....there is Something Else that i learned from daggerfall!!
my concurrant, when i played that game...my concurrant SUBSCRIPTION to
alt.daggerfall, as i played the game!!
for being in this group, was, for me, PART of playing the game!
yes, in every Town...in every kingdom..there is the cafe...the pub...
the Watering hole where explorers and Knights and Mages...would meet and
share their experiences together...share the Quests that were done and
help with equipment and broken wheels and bent swords!
tips on loot and Ambushes too, freely given over the Ale.....
THAT is what alt.daggerfall was to me, then!
I would even go as far as to RECOMMEND that ALL players of ANY computer
game....do TWO things!
one...Go to the sites and get every bug fix and driver update.
and
two...find a newsgroup or chat room that is devoted to that game that he
has just bought! sign up...learn and share....
I can really really tell you all something else too!
the level of Quality and and "adultness" is very evident in this
alt.daggerfall!
i have only a playstation now...while it is adaquate in some ways...i
find that it tends to be a "kids" system! i mean that all the
newsgroups seem filled with lots of Kids!! one line flames and 13
year-old talk seems common. not all is of that, of course...but many of
the games are of that too...even the RPGs of the
playstation...natindeo...
saturn....are set for a younger age group...the japanese put out some
Very cutsey rpgs!!
cute...cute.....preciously cute!
no!
i am 58 years old in more ways than one!!
of COURSE the learning curve is greater for a computer game.
which is yet MORE fuel for the fire of that great old 72,079-posts
Thread called"is the computer or the VideogameConsole the best medium
for games!
or....
"which is better...PC or Console"?!!
I would ADD to that long---long--long thread by saying that the players
of PC games are more "grown-up"...more adult. the games reflect that!
even when some "kiddie' game gets onto the computer, usaually this game
is SO bad in bugs and execution, the Mags give to it a "1" rating, in
the review of it!
well enough. i have put here enough stuff for ten threads....
freestone wilson....freestonew@yahoo.com
--
Freestone Wilson
frees...@yahoo.com
AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU LAUGH!
---seen on a road overpass...Rochester, ny 1970
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Tarvok
Freestone! You haven't posted in *ages*! I'm probably not among those
you remember, alongside the likes of George4 and Magnus, but it's good
to see someone from the distant past of agd show up again. :) On to
the post:
On Sat, 08 Apr 2000 16:19:36 GMT, freestone <free...@my-deja.com>
wrote:
<snip>
>which is yet MORE fuel for the fire of that great old 72,079-posts
>Thread called"is the computer or the VideogameConsole the best medium
>for games!
>or....
>"which is better...PC or Console"?!!
>I would ADD to that long---long--long thread by saying that the players
>of PC games are more "grown-up"...more adult. the games reflect that!
>even when some "kiddie' game gets onto the computer, usaually this game
>is SO bad in bugs and execution, the Mags give to it a "1" rating, in
>the review of it!
This is so very true. Computers are both helped and hindered by the
higher learning curve. We get a lot nicer a community since the morons
that flood groups like alt.games.final-fantasy don't come here, but at
the same time, we have to hang on the edge of our seats wondering if
there will be another one, since the smaller customer base makes the
game less commercially guarenteeable. Personally, I prefer the
computer. Consoles just seem to lack truely original games.
- Tarvok
http://members.xoom.com/Tarvok.1
To send e-mail, I think it's obvious what must be
done.
Gary Crockett
On 8-Apr-2000, tarvDIESP...@xoommail.com (Tarvok) wrote:
[snip[
> We get a lot nicer a community since the morons
> that flood groups like alt.games.final-fantasy don't come here, ...
Amen to that! My daughter is interested in horses, so I found a NG about
horses; subscribed; downloaded all the messages - and was appalled at all
the four letter words (like shampoo) that were freely floating around.
Thanks to EVERYONE! for keeping this place clean.
Gary Crockett
Silent
<snip>
Wow!--that was a long post :)
I agree with your sentiments. Daggerfall has a quality that is
unmistakable. It has kept me coming back to it for ages.... I was first
intrigued by it with the Betony Demo on PC Gamer. Later, I bought the
full copy. I've never regretted that :)
Sure, Daggerfall never kept me up all night without my being aware of
it. So far, The Pandora Directive holds that distintion.
Daggerfall may not even be the most immersive game any longer (Thief
holds that place; when I really get into it, my watch alarm can go off
and my brain won't process that until ten minutes later).
Daggerfall is still, however, a game that surpasses all. In
replayability and non-linearity, it ranks first. Although there are
other games I find more immersive, I can still feel that I'm there. With
Thief, I *am* Garrett.... With Daggerfall, I *am* my character. The only
real difference is graphics quality (something I essentially ceased to
care about as it applies to a game as a whole).
Daggerfall is, without a doubt, THE best game I have ever played. Sure,
I've had memorable experiences in Thief and The Pandora Directive, but
Daggerfall has them beat there. In the other games, it may have been a
close call or a feeling of wonder. In Daggerfall, it could be that, or
it could be the first time I emerged from Privateers Hold. Or the first
time I played a Pure Mage, running (a little too slowly for my tastes)
from anything that confronted me. Thief and TPD are games.... Daggerfall
is, too, but.... But with Daggerfall, when you "play" it's more like
living a seperate life.
It is.... It's just undescribable. Daggerfall has a quality that I can't
put a name on. It has a myriad of good qualities possessed by other
games, but though some of those games can surpass Daggerfall in a few of
these areas, Daggerfall somehow remains better in those exact same
areas! When you play DF, you tend to forget that it is another game....
Until it crashes ;)
Don't get me wrong! Daggerfall's bugginess is as much a part of the game
to me as anything else. Like the time not too long ago when I was in
dialogue with a random NPC off the streets. Under Taverns (I was on my
way to see Lady B. at the time), I saw a strange name for the third
tavern in the town (a town that, oddly enough, really only had two
taverns according to the map). Its "name" rotated from "make up,
costumes" to "creating disguises" to "perfecting disguises."
Oh, and in that same session I came accross "Rodoryan's General General
Store." As you may have guessed, nothing else was interesting about this
"general general store" :)
Daggerfall.... One of the buggiest of the final version games--and the
only one that seems to be enhanced by its quirkiness :)
Bethesda did nothing short of pulling off a miracle on this one. I can
only hope that Morrowind manages to capture these same qualities....
(Wow.... Another long post!--good thing I snipped freestone's or some
people would be a little peeved at the amount of text :)
Magnus Itland
>my own intuition, from my memory of Daggerfall, compared to most of the
>games out there today...
>is that there IS something special about this daggerfall game, something
>unique and should never be let go of.
>that indeed...it is playable today...
It is certainly more playable today than when it was new. On the
newest computers, you have to slow down the machine for the game to
run properly. There are now programs available to do this. I am
lucky to have a machine where I can choose between 3 different speed
settings, and the middle one is nearly perfect. (A tad fast,
perhaps.)
>i wonder, though...will someday all of the extra Quests ad-ons and the
>bug-fix files...be gone from the internet??
>or...
>will someone keep them on their files in order to give out to all the
>rare devotees of this game.
Someday they will be gone; but then again, so will we all. Until
then, there are likely to be some sites that carry the fixes and the
extras. And perhaps more than today. There are still people working
with Daggerfall.
If Morrowind has the same freedom and the same large and varied world,
then it may replace Daggerfall eventually. But until then, we are
likely to return again and again to the world that is our second home.
--
itl...@online.no The one and only Magnus Itland.
http://home.sol.no/~itlandm/
The Chaos Node: Diary of a sentient humanoid.
Ykalon Dragon
S 1 H 2 A 3 M 4 P 5 O 6 O 7, no not a four letter word:-)
--
My games for trade http://ugtz.com/users/Patrik.html
ICQ # 45086408
Jeroen Vermeulen
>
> On 8-Apr-2000, tarvDIESP...@xoommail.com (Tarvok) wrote:
>
> [snip[
> > We get a lot nicer a community since the morons
> > that flood groups like alt.games.final-fantasy don't come here, ...
>
> Amen to that! My daughter is interested in horses, so I found a NG about
> horses; subscribed; downloaded all the messages - and was appalled at all
> the four letter words (like shampoo) that were freely floating around.
>
> Thanks to EVERYONE! for keeping this place clean.
But....shampoo doesn't have 4 letters?
:-)
--
Jeroen Vermeulen
<insert your favourite quote here>
Georgethe4
>> was appalled at all the four letter
>> words (like shampoo) that were freely floating around.
>But....shampoo doesn't have 4 letters.
Neither does shaving cream.
Cool, cool
George IV
Gary Crockett
On 9-Apr-2000, "Jeroen Vermeulen" <m...@isp.gov> wrote:
> > Amen to that! My daughter is interested in horses, so I found a NG
> > about
> > horses; subscribed; downloaded all the messages - and was appalled at
> > all
> > the four letter words (like shampoo) that were freely floating around.
> >
> > Thanks to EVERYONE! for keeping this place clean.
>
> But....shampoo doesn't have 4 letters?
> :-)
Sheesh! Doesn't ANYONE remember the "shampoo" topic here a couple of weeks
ago??? (Though I'd hate to think that this very well could be the beginning
of the downfall of a perfectly good word! Remember - "gay" used to mean
happy, "pot" was something one cooked dinner in, etc., etc., ......)
Gary Crockett
P.S. I did notice the smiley faces on both messages... :-)
freestone
> people would be a little peeved at the amount of text :)
>
there was a post on one of the videogame groups where the post was
about 60 PARTS LONG!!
this guy wrote out something about every rpg under the sun for that
system...i think!
it is the quality that counts!
freestone
Masked Aardvark
Georgethe4 wrote:
>
> Previously,
> >> was appalled at all the four letter
> >> words (like shampoo) that were freely floating around.
>
> >But....shampoo doesn't have 4 letters.
>
> Neither does shaving cream.
> Cool, cool
> George IV
Soap does.
TMA (avast!)
DigitalOZ
> hello everyone!
[snip]
> so i wonder a bit to myself...if that day ever comes ....the
> .000000000000016% out of 100 chance...that i win the lottery and can
> sit there with an Alienware 850 pentium with a Viewsonic 21" monitor
> with a Mattrox G400 video-card....and Have A few Games on the
> desk and disk...WILL one of them be Daggerfall, even with System
> Shock II...
> Might and Magic VII...on the shelves of that mall store?!!
Most likely. I loved both System Shocks and all of the Might and Magics
I've played. And I have them all sitting here on my desk (though I don't
quite have an Alienware 850). Daggerfall, however, is the only game I've
kept playing for over three years now. I even traded the first copy of
the game as credit on a new game two years ago. The funny thing is that
I can't even remember what game I traded it in on.
About a year after the trade, I had the strongest craving (I can't think
of a better word) to play Daggerfall, so I found it at Electronics
Boutique and bought it for the second time. :) This time I'm not selling
it. I think it is the freedom in the game that makes me want to keep
coming back to it. Even though it takes my eyes a few moments to adjust
to the graphics after looking at games like System Shock 2.
I was going through all of my old files in my home directory and found
that I had Daggerfall save games from 98 saved in there. Heh, that was a
blast.
Long live Daggerfall!
DigitalOZ
Ykalon Dragon
>
> On 9-Apr-2000, "Jeroen Vermeulen" <m...@isp.gov> wrote:
>
> > > Amen to that! My daughter is interested in horses, so I found a NG
> > > about
> > > all
> > > the four letter words (like shampoo) that were freely floating around.
> > >
> >
> > But....shampoo doesn't have 4 letters?
> > :-)
>
> Sheesh! Doesn't ANYONE remember the "shampoo" topic here a couple of weeks
> ago??? (Though I'd hate to think that this very well could be the beginning
> of the downfall of a perfectly good word! Remember - "gay" used to mean
> happy, "pot" was something one cooked dinner in, etc., etc., ......)
>
> Gary Crockett
>
> P.S. I did notice the smiley faces on both messages... :-)
Do you have Shampoo in your head? :-)