The Escapist Bravely Unboxes The Elder Scrolls Anthology

[Fanghawk]

The Escapist Bravely Unboxes The Elder Scrolls Anthology

Watch and wonder as Dovahkiin-in-Chief Greg Tito opens our copy of The Elder Scrolls Anthology.

The Elder Scrolls: Arena was first released in 1994, back when floppy discs were a valid method of game distribution. Today, you'll need a lot more storage space to cover what Elder Scrolls has become, but Bethesda has already done the hard work for you. The entire series, from Arena all the way to Skyrim is now available in The Elder Scrolls Anthology, which The Escapist's Editor-in-Chief fearlessly offered to explore for the following unboxing video.

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Seeing the full series in a single box set, encapsulating Tamriel and much of its history, is a little humbling to contemplate. Not only has The Elder Scrolls consumed decades of our gaming lives, but as Greg notes using a map of Tamriel, there are still lands and provinces we've never once seen. Even if these territories are explored in The Elder Scrolls Online, perhaps one day we'll see yet another Elder Scrolls Anthology fit onto our gaming shelves.

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[SonOfVoorhees]

Everytime i hear the theme music for Morrowind it makes me want to replay the game again.

 

[Ensayia]

He mentions that the DVDs do not require Steam. Has the Skyrim in this pack ditched Steamworks or is he mistaken?

 

[fix-the-spade]

Everytime i hear the theme music for Morrowind it makes me want to replay the game again.

Don't, I have it with the TES overhaul mods installed on my PC right here, it's like it's got it's own gravitational field.

I've got save just after the Corprus cure from about six months ago...

Captcha: quality time... righty ho...

 

[JaceArveduin]

All of these awesome things, coming around when I'm building my new computer, and therefore am broke.

 

[The_Echo]

Honestly, my computer probably can't handle Oblivion or Skyrim, but I know I'll be picking this up eventually, because of the maps.

Arena and Daggerfall are available for free, Morrowind probably gets a good sale every now and again, and I've already played the other two.

But those maps, man.

Dem maps.

 

[jackpipsam]

I already own them.

But it's just... so... awesome.
Bethesda why are you so good at making me part with my money?

 

[J Tyran]

The Elder Scrolls: Arena was first released in 1994, back when floppy discs were a valid method of game distribution. Today, you'll need a lot more storage space to cover what Elder Scrolls has become,

Scary when you think how many floppy disks you would need for a newer Elder Scrolls game like Skyrim, My Skyrim is heavily modded so I cannot tell exactly how big the folder would be for the Legendary Edition but you would need over 8,000 standard 3.5 inch floppy disks for Skyrim and its three DLCs.

Eight thousand, well over a 120kg of disks.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Oblivion was this one's first foray into the Elder Scrolls, and have always wanted to feel the warm sands of Elseweyr beneath this ones paws. Has any past Elder Scrolls gone there, or will Online be the first?

and for all of the moth priests who have been reading the elder scrolls since arena, how are you reading this one's post?

 

[Grabehn]

OMG... I might actually buy a physical copy of a PC game... I really HOPE though that it gets sold here at the real price and not some shitty "120-160" bucks exchange rate.

 

[Korten12]

He mentions that the DVDs do not require Steam. Has the Skyrim in this pack ditched Steamworks or is he mistaken?

I believe Skyrim still requires Steamworks, but the rest are DRM free.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I still remember my first Elderscrolls game, and it was 100% by chance. My grandpa was a dumpster diver in his apartment, and one day when he came by to visit, he brought a couple of games that he found sitting in the dumpster. One of them was 7th Guest, and the other was Daggerfall. I already knew all about 7th Guest since a friend had that (and the sequel), but this Daggerfall game... it intrigued me. Upon flipping through the manual (both games had the boxes and manuals), I learned that it was an RPG, so that right there had me sold. I installed it, and I haven't stopped loving it since. Daggerfall is still my favorite of the series to this day, followed closely by Morrowind.

Sure, Skyrim has its moments that neither game can match, but the over-all package is just too watered-down to compare to the glory of Daggerfall and Morrowind being your standard issue PC RPGs (e.g. complex as all get-out), and having much more interesting worlds to explore. Daggerfall makes-up for areas being fairly samey by having such a great story, and such a large world; where Morrowind really hit the mark on having to reduce the size of the game to compensate for the more advanced graphics, but still having a large world to explore with a lot of varied and interesting locations. Compared to Oblivion and Skyrim where the only real difference from place to place is how much snow is on the ground, and the RPG elements are being diminished more and more; likely in the name of making the series "more accessible". I suppose I can't blame them, since the sales figures speak for themselves, but I still can't help but feel that the games are weaker for it.

So yeah, Skyrim is great and all (don't get me wrong, I love it), but my heart will always be in Daggerfall.

 

[briankoontz]

I'm not sure if you lucked out or whatnot, but Daggerfall was terribly buggy, by far the worst in the series for that. Other than that it was good but the amazing architecture and world of Morrowind, as well as the harder-core RPG mechanics that Bethesda has been eagerly abandoning ever since makes that clearly the best in the series.

Arena is incredibly underrated, given that it hardly ever gets any mention other than being the "start of the series". Fuck that, it was an amazing game and there was nothing like it at the time. The standard to compare it against was the Ultima Underworld series, which was excellent but it was all cramped dungeons. This had *outdoors*, it had open air and freedom and overworld exploration in a first person view, unlike the isometric traditional Ultima series. But it also had dungeons, so it was the best of all worlds.

It was Arena, not Daggerfall, that captured the imagination of gamers. Players were already highly anticipating Daggerfall just like they would every subsequent Elder Scrolls title.

Arena came out before any successful MMOGs hit the market. Meridian 59 preceded Ultima Online but it was terrible compared to Arena, despite the social component. It's not like today where the RPG games market is so plentiful and splintered - back then one was playing Ultima and/or Arena. Ultima was far better known because of it's history but when Arena came out gamers knew that something special was happening. And they were right.

Bethesda has betrayed the hopes of RPG fans. Skyrim is not the game that Arena players were hoping for two decades down the line. We wanted better NPCs, a richer world, more variety of player actions, NOT so much focus on hyper-combat, which has plagued the industry in general. The Elder Scrolls is no longer an exciting series - it's just a sandbox RPG at this point where an overpowered main character blasts his way through the game.

Early RPGs focused on simulation. The idea was to present merely a more exciting, let's say heroic, version of a middle-ages swords, sorcery, and monsters world. Developers were excited to create a day-night cycle, an NPC schedule/job system, NPC relationships with each other. But somewhere along the way, for the Elder Scrolls between Morrowind and Oblivion, the focus on simulation was lost in exchange for a focus on player power.

Early RPGs focused on the world, not so much on the player. Game developers would talk about everything the world offered, and amazing worlds were created in video games, such as in Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Ultima VII, and Morrowind. Older gamers well remember the motto of legendary development studio Origin Systems - "We Create Worlds".

Not - "we create the Dragonborn". The modern assumption that the gamer is an impotent power-fantasist who craves a superpowered protagonist is not an old one, despite being rarely challenged or even considered by unthinking gamers and "game journalists". There's a big difference between playing as a hero and playing as a superhero, a distinction lost on many modern game developers.

Beware the creation of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Create a game which can only be enjoyed by impotent power-fantasists and that's the only audience you'll have. Any self-respecting game developer doesn't want that audience playing their game, no matter how much money they might have.

 

[Vault Citizen]

Will I need to download a DOS emulator to play Arena and Daggerfall or will both come with everything I need to play them on the disc?

 

[GrayJester]

So Tribunal and Bloodmoon are now "DLCs". Huh.

 

[Arkaijn]

Man, where's my Redguard, Bethesda? I know it didn't do well commercially or critically, but there are still a few fans out there like me, that would love a re-release, HD or no HD.

Just make it happen, make my dreams come true oh wonderous one!

 

[OneCatch]

So Tribunal and Bloodmoon are now "DLCs". Huh.

I also miss the phrase 'Expansion pack', but I guess when applied to disks it's nearly as much of a misnomer as 'DLC', come to think of it.
And DLC is so much easier to say - curse its convenience!

Everytime i hear the theme music for Morrowind it makes me want to replay the game again.

Don't, I have it with the TES overhaul mods installed on my PC right here, it's like it's got it's own gravitational field.

I've got save just after the Corprus cure from about six months ago...

I'd forgotten how nice it was to not have to worry about bloody diseases after that buff, and just be able to wander around blightlands without lugging cure disease potions after you.
... that's it, I'm gonna have to reinstall and transfer my save files from my external hard drive. There goes another 50 hours in the next week or so.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

My excitement for this has dwindled significantly from when I first heard of it's release. After trying to play Daggerfall from their website I absolutely hated the combat. There's just something about swinging my sword at a monster running towards me yet somehow "missing" that really pisses me off! And using the mouse to swing my sword sounds good in practice but I found it to be really stiff. The only time I got any progress was by backtracking my way through the dungeon, flailing my sword about like a madman until one of my swings registered as a hit. I assume Arena is much the same combat wise but as far as I can tell, Morrowind sounds like a mix between Daggerfall and Oblivion so I might get that if there's a Steam sale.

Oblivion just about runs on my laptop so Skyrim's essentially a no-go zone. While the low-performance mod might make it more playable it doesn't seem worth trying when I've got a perfectly fine PS3 version of the game sitting right infront of me.

I suppose I'll just stick with what I've got. A life-support Oblivion and a modless, somewhat laggy Skyrim. Atleast hitting a guy with a sword means I hit a guy with a sword.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I guess Battlespire and Redguard are unworthy of being in the presence of the main series games.

Neither is a good game, but you know, for the sake of completion.