DAGGERFALL
Table of Contents:
Introduction and Character Creation: This post.
1. The Emperor's Request
[link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.258867-Lets-Play-the-Elder-Scroll-II-Daggerfall-Round-One#9789695]2. Escape From the DunZOMGASKELETONHELPHELP!
3. The Haunting of Daggerfall (With Me Spazzing Out)
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-the-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Three#9885027>4. Failed Thief Runs Errands, Advances Plot
[link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Four?page=2#9914152]5. I Got Ninety Nine Problems, But A Scorpion Ripping My Lungs Out Ain't One
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Five?page=2#9939313>6. Havoc Is Wreaked, Then Flees With Its Tail Betwixt Its Legs
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Six?page=2#10003436>7. I Desperately Try to Entertain You as Bloody Nothing Happens
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Seven?page=3#10039407>8. Bethesda's Random Generation Algorithms Are EVIL.
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Eight?page=3#10091397>9. These Clothes... So Heavy... So - Wait! Plot Advancement!
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Nine?page=3#10115014>10. It's Noisy Enough to Wake the Dead In This Crypt!
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Nine?page=3#10182575>11. The Chance to Summon An Incredibly Dangerous Daedra Costs WHAT?!
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Eleven?page=4#10341192>12. Gold Farming
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Twelve?page=5#11421884>13. The Most well-Read Thief in Hammerfell
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Thirteen?page=5#11450107>14. The Long Dangerous Journey to RAWR
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Fourteen?page=5#11488346>15. The Two Most Pointless Quests Ever Taken
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Fifteen?page=6#11729933>16. Simple Girl, Simple Quest, Simple Embodiments of Fleshy Horror
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Sixteen?page=6#11829091>17. Epic Short Update Because I Fail Planning My Schedule
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Seventeen?page=6#12050541>18. Breasts Everywhere!
Wanna get alerts each time the LP is updated? Join <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Lacktheknack-s-LP-Alert-System>this group!
Hello everyone! I'm Knack, and I wanna play a game with you!
What's a Let's Play?
A "Let's Play" (or LP) is a video or series of forum posts that connect together to form the entire story arch of the subject game. Often, it includes interjections of wit (or lack thereof) and the basic reactions of the host (that would be me).
Why do a Let's Play?
There's two reasons someone would do an LP.
1: To spread news of an excellent game, and hopefully convince other people to play it.
2: They cannot get it out of their heads, and don't know anyone else who plays it to discuss it with.
I'm doing this for both reasons, but also for secret reason three:
The game is really fun, and doing an LP of it also looks really fun.
Will it consist of photos or video?
Hopefully both. I'd love to add some video so you see exactly how the game mechanics work, but it will depend on whether my computer wants to cooperate.
OK... So what exactly IS Daggerfall?
So, you've probably heard of this new game entitled "Skyrim". Your mind immediately defaults back to your experiences in Oblivion, which was the sequel to Morrowind.
Morrowind was a sequel to THIS.
A bit of history: The first Elder Scrolls Game released in 1993. It was well received, enough that they decided to make a second Elder Scrolls game. This is it, released in 1996. It was also well received, despite being fairly buggy.
It's abandonware. Game <link=http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/14752/The+Elder+Scrolls+II:+Daggerfall+Free+Client>here.
However, it's tough to get running. Instructions <link=http://www.uesp.net/wiki/General
laying_DOS_Installments_under_DOSBox>here.
If you're a wimp and don't want to learn how to use an entirely new program (DOSBox) to make it work, use <link=http://theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net/?title=Daggerfall_:_DaggerfallSetup_EN>this instead. It comes with the CompUSA questpack, a bunch of unofficial fixes, and extra quests. Because I'm an idiot, I'm using the original version. (Thanks for the link, Fetzenfisch!)
There's some immediate differences you'll notice from Morrowind and Oblivion. For one thing, the combat is click/drag/swing. This didn't work for Penumbra, but it works surprisingly well here. Secondly, the engine is a bit weird: It's 2D sprites in 3D background. Thirdly, the character creation is positively overwhelming.
Fourthly, the GAME ITSELF is completely and totally overwhelming.
This is a good sized chunk of Hammerfell and High Rock, about 20% of one and 40% of the other. It is also the entire game map.
This is the Kingdom of Daggerfall, one of the fifty kingdoms available.
See those dots? Those are cities, towns and dungeons.
One of those dots is the Capital City of Daggerfall, and it takes about fifteen minutes to walk across.
That popping sound was the exploding heads of the people who comprehended that.
The game currently holds the world record for largest game map - 163,492 square KILOMETERS. To grasp this, take Great Britain in your head, and shove it into Great Britain again, with a population of 750,000 spread over 15,000 locations (populations of each location ranging from two to several thousand).
For obvious reasons, I will not include all my exploits in the LP. Heck, I might have to leave out entire kingdoms if they aren't interesting!
There's more reasons that this game will cause many heads to spontaneously combust through their ears, but we'll get to them when we enter the game itself.
Will the readers have any say in how the playthrough goes?
Yes! While I won't let you guys wreck the story if I can help it (the story is very, very easy to wreck, the game's greatest weakness), if I get enough votes to do something major (contract lycanthropy, buy a house, join a guild), it will either get placed on my to-do list or put up as a vote (for example, which guild to join). One request, guys - please don't make me be an evil twat. PLEASE. It'll only make my life harder.
Yes, this was inspired by Internet Kraken's excellent LP of Dwarf Fortress. Go read that one as well.
WARNING: This game is rated M for Mature. This is for some graphic violence and quite a bit of casual nudity. I'm going to spoilerize the inevitable pictures of naked women and label them, so DON'T CLICK if you're averse to nymphs, naked slave dancers, or random women with their low-res breasts hanging out.
If a mod reads the above and doesn't like it, then feel free to PM me and tell me to knock it off. You'll be depriving readers of nymph fights, harpy fights, and a few other monsters. You'll also make photographing the inside of temples very, very difficult. Don't worry too much, none of it is any more inappropriate than accidentally walking into the ladies' locker room, and I'll try to minimize it anyways.
And that's it. No more pleasantries - off we go with the game!
_____________________________________________
Round Zero: I Exist!
Note: This is just character creation. If this post is too wordy and complex, just skip straight to Round One, as the character has already been made.
Before I do ANYTHING, I'm shoving the most important decision of the game in you, the reader's, hands.
WHO AM I?
This is by far the most overwhelming update I'm going to post, but I'm going to give you the character creator and ask you guys who I'm gonna be. I'm not gonna give you any hints as to what works really well together and I'm not gonna say "How about _____ instead?", unless you all agree on a particularly broken class.
If you guys WANT broken class, then go ahead and say it, but don't expect frequent updates.
First thing is first, though: Where am I from?
High Rock: Bretons. Human. Excellent spellcasters, excel against other spellcasters, average against other classes.
Hammerfell: Redguard. Human. Excellent with all weapons, fantastic warriors.
Skyrim: Excuse me. SKYRIMNOVEMBERELEVENTHZOMGAAAAAAH! Sorry. They have... Nords. Human. Fantastic with swords, blunt weapons and axes, bonus resistance to cold damage.
Morrowind: Dark Elves. Most balanced race in terms of classes.
Imperial Province: Not selectable. What the hell, Bethesda!?
Black Marsh: Argonians. Lizard things. Tend towards soldiers and mages.
Elsweyr: Khajit. Cat things. Pretty much dedicated thieves.
Valenwood: Wood Elves. Like Khajit, except with more wiggle room for other classes.
Sumurset Isle: High Elves. Like Bretons, except much weaker against other spellcasters, and slightly stronger against other classes.
What anatomy was I born with?
No difference to gameplay at all. TO ALL LUSTY MEN WHO ARE IN THIS FOR THE NEKKID CHICKS: A. Shame on you. B. If I go as a lady, I'm not taking off all my clothes for you. End of.
Now it's time to make a class! The premade classes are junk, custom all the way!
So, the Character Creator.
Daggerfall has by far and away the best character creator I've ever played with in terms of sheer scope and decisions that matter.
(Sorry for the Alteration selection in there, I put in there by accident. We can take it out/move it if we don't want it.)
This is gonna require a tutorial in itself, isn't it? I'll include one for those with a ton of spare time, if not, just scan the lists and select the things that look good to you. I can tinker it to please the largest audience, so long as it's not a class that will result in me staying awake at night.
I have 400 attribute points to set. These are NOT the final values, those get decided later.
Strength: Affects combat damage, weight of encumbrance.
Intelligence: Affects available magicka to cast with.
Willpower: Affects ability to resist hostile magic.
Agility: The art of hitting and not being hit.
Endurance: Affects health levels, healing rate, and natural resistance.
Personality: Affects how well people react to you.
Speed: Affects all action speed.
Luck: Affects all algorithms and calculations in the game.
Note that while encumbrance, health levels and magicka (and possibly some parts of speed) are affected by every attribute point, all other attribute bonuses are affected by multiples of ten.
There are thirty five - count 'em, thirty five! - skills to choose from - some familiar, some new. Bethesda, please stop reducing the amount of usable skills from game to game.
Each skill is raised the same way it is in all other Elder Scrolls games - using it. You level up after increasing certain skills - specifically, the game tracks your primary skills, your top two major skills, and your top minor skill. Once these skills have been increased by a total of fifteen, you level up! The exception is leveling from one to two, where you only need two skill increases.
To increase skills, you must practice it enough (the game doesn't tell you how far along you are), you must have waited six hours, and you must have just finished resting or travelling.
Also, each skill is related to an attribute. You gain bonuses to learning each skill if the related attribute is high. ALSO, you cannot raise a skill above the related attribute's level!
Axes: Related to strength. One handed or two handed. Sturdy, damaging, fairly rare.
Blunt Weapons: Related to strength. Includes maces, flails, warhammers and staffs. Sturdiest weapons, average damage, the ONLY weapon that does full damage to undead! All others do half. Common.
Short Blade: Related to strength. Very light, very quick, fragile, low damage. Average rarity.
Long Blade: Related to strength. Very powerful, somewhat sturdy, extremely common.
Archery: Related to agility. Ammunition is limited, but range is possible. Heavy damage, somewhat rare. Unsure of sturdiness (I don't normally use them).
Hand to Hand: Related to agility. Hurts all monsters regardless of material requirement, low damage, never break (apparently, you have titanium bones).
Alteration: Includes Water Walking/Breathing, Slowfall, Shield, Paralyze, Jumping/Climbing boosters, Free Action (paralysis immunity), Elemental Resistance.
Destruction: (Continuous) Damage, Disintegrate, Drain.
Illusion: Light, Shadow, Chameleon, Invisibility.
Mysticism: Language Comprehension, Item Creation, Detect, Dispel (possibly instakill for certain creatures), Identify, Lock/Unlock, Silence, Soul Trap, Teleport.
Restoration: Heal, Cure, Fortify Attribute, Regeneration, Transfer, Absorb Spell, Spell Resistance.
Thaumaturgy: Charm, Levitation, Pacify, Spell Reflection.
Languages (9) give a chance that the relevant enemy won't try to kill me. Sorry, no in-game conversations with terrifying monstrosities (not even nymphs, to the sadness of some of you). They're all governed by intelligence, and are as follows:
Centuarian (Centaurs), Daedric (Daedra in general), Dragonish (Dragonlings), Giantish (Giants), Harpy (Harpies), Impish (Imps), Nymph (Nymphs), Orcish (Orcs, believe it or not, Orcs are generally hostile in this game!), Spriggan (tree things).
Etiquette/Streetwise: Both are related to personality, and define how polite/blunt I am. Also, these allow me to have a chance of escaping being arrested by debating my innocence/lying.
Mercantile: Governed by personality, this controls my ability to buy/sell and get good deals.
Note: Making me a linguist is a cruel, cruel thing to do.
Running: Related to speed, consists of how fast I can run.
Swimming: Related to endurance, it allows swimming with heavier loads, increase speed, and increases lung capacity.
Jumping: How high/far I can jump. Related to strength.
Climbing: Related to strength, this allows vertical walls to be scaled. This skill also results in the most glitches. ALWAYS save before climbing.
Stealth: <youtube=zekiZYSVdeQ>
Lockpicking: Again, it's obvious. Warning: This skill is VERY hard to train.
Pickpocket: For both picking pockets and robbing stores in broad daylight.
Backstabbing: Governed by agility, you get extra damage if you can thunk something in the back. Spine damage FTW!
Critical Strike: Related to agility again. This skill is all about putting the pain on things.
Dodging: Related to speed, for a change. This defines how often the other guy is gonna miss.
And finally, Medical. It's related to intelligence, and it let's you recover more quickly as you sleep.
Max Hit Points Per Level: By far more important in health gains than endurance, this does exactly what it ways on the tin.
Acute Hearing: Most creatures make noises, you can hear them better and farther away with this.
Adrenaline Rush: Gives boost to combat factors when low on health.
Athleticism: Lose less fatigue over time. Running out results in passing out, so this can be helpful.
Bonus to Hit (Animals, Daedra, Humanoid, Undead): Exactly what it says on the tin.
Immunity to (Disease, fire, frost, magic, paralysis, poison, shock): Also exactly what it says on the tin.
Increased Magery (1x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x, 3x): Normally, you receive half of your intelligence in Magicka. This changes that.
Rapid Healing (General, Darkness, Light): See Medical Skill, except with Darkness/Light restrictors.
Regenerate Health (General, Darkness, Light, Water): No need to sleep to recover health now!
Resistance (Disease, Fire, Frost, Magic, Paralysis, Poison, Shock): Like Immunity, except there's still an effect (it's just reduced).
Spell Absorption (General, Darkness, Light). This lets me take all spells thrown at me and eats them. I can't absorb more magic than I hold, that's often fatal!
Critical Weakness (See Immunity): The opposite of Immunity. Whatever is chosen here will become a VERY BIG DEAL later.
Damage (Holy Places, Sunlight): The character takes damage from one of those conditions, and it's damaging.
Darkness Magery (Lowered, Unable): Results in lower amounts/no magicka in light.
Forbidden Armor (Leather, Chain, Plate), Material (Iron, Steel, Silver, Elven, Dwarven, Mithril, Adamantium, Ebony, Orcish, Daedric), Shield (Buckler, Round, Kite, Tower), Weaponry (Axe, Blunt, Long Blade, Short Blade, Archery, Hand to Hand): Again, self-explanatory. By the way, forbidding Hand to Hand doesn't do anything.
Inability to Regain Magicka: Oh dear. Resting does nothing, you must rely on spell absorption or potions.
Light Magery (Lowered, Unable): The inverse of Darkness Magery.
Low Tolerance (See Resistance): The opposite of Resistance.
Phobia (Animals, Daedra, Humanoid, Undead): The opposite of Bonus to Hit.
Note: You must balance Advantages, Disadvantages and Health Points per Level to keep the Skill Advancement Graph in a good range. The better stuff you take, the higher it goes. The worse the disadvantages, the lower. You advance slower at the top, and faster at the bottom.
How popular you are with merchants, peasants, scholars, nobility, and underworld, on a scale of -10 to 10. The sum of them all must equal 0.
If you read all that, you're probably pretty freaking intimidated. I was. So go ahead and just point at a few things that look interesting, and I'll try to craft a decent character that satisfies as many as possible in a day or two. However, I'm more inclined to honour more specific requests.
What do I label myself as?
Label your class as something.
What is my name?
What are my basic personality traits?
If you guys can just give me some preferences for the bolded text, I'll be able to get this LP going!
Daggerfall awaits...
Table of Contents:
Introduction and Character Creation: This post.
1. The Emperor's Request
[link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.258867-Lets-Play-the-Elder-Scroll-II-Daggerfall-Round-One#9789695]2. Escape From the DunZOMGASKELETONHELPHELP!
3. The Haunting of Daggerfall (With Me Spazzing Out)
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-the-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Three#9885027>4. Failed Thief Runs Errands, Advances Plot
[link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Four?page=2#9914152]5. I Got Ninety Nine Problems, But A Scorpion Ripping My Lungs Out Ain't One
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Five?page=2#9939313>6. Havoc Is Wreaked, Then Flees With Its Tail Betwixt Its Legs
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Six?page=2#10003436>7. I Desperately Try to Entertain You as Bloody Nothing Happens
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Seven?page=3#10039407>8. Bethesda's Random Generation Algorithms Are EVIL.
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Eight?page=3#10091397>9. These Clothes... So Heavy... So - Wait! Plot Advancement!
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Nine?page=3#10115014>10. It's Noisy Enough to Wake the Dead In This Crypt!
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Nine?page=3#10182575>11. The Chance to Summon An Incredibly Dangerous Daedra Costs WHAT?!
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Eleven?page=4#10341192>12. Gold Farming
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Twelve?page=5#11421884>13. The Most well-Read Thief in Hammerfell
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Thirteen?page=5#11450107>14. The Long Dangerous Journey to RAWR
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Fourteen?page=5#11488346>15. The Two Most Pointless Quests Ever Taken
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Fifteen?page=6#11729933>16. Simple Girl, Simple Quest, Simple Embodiments of Fleshy Horror
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Sixteen?page=6#11829091>17. Epic Short Update Because I Fail Planning My Schedule
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258867-Lets-Play-The-Elder-Scrolls-II-Daggerfall-Round-Seventeen?page=6#12050541>18. Breasts Everywhere!
Wanna get alerts each time the LP is updated? Join <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Lacktheknack-s-LP-Alert-System>this group!
Hello everyone! I'm Knack, and I wanna play a game with you!
What's a Let's Play?
A "Let's Play" (or LP) is a video or series of forum posts that connect together to form the entire story arch of the subject game. Often, it includes interjections of wit (or lack thereof) and the basic reactions of the host (that would be me).
Why do a Let's Play?
There's two reasons someone would do an LP.
1: To spread news of an excellent game, and hopefully convince other people to play it.
2: They cannot get it out of their heads, and don't know anyone else who plays it to discuss it with.
I'm doing this for both reasons, but also for secret reason three:
The game is really fun, and doing an LP of it also looks really fun.
Will it consist of photos or video?
Hopefully both. I'd love to add some video so you see exactly how the game mechanics work, but it will depend on whether my computer wants to cooperate.
OK... So what exactly IS Daggerfall?
So, you've probably heard of this new game entitled "Skyrim". Your mind immediately defaults back to your experiences in Oblivion, which was the sequel to Morrowind.
Morrowind was a sequel to THIS.
A bit of history: The first Elder Scrolls Game released in 1993. It was well received, enough that they decided to make a second Elder Scrolls game. This is it, released in 1996. It was also well received, despite being fairly buggy.
It's abandonware. Game <link=http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/14752/The+Elder+Scrolls+II:+Daggerfall+Free+Client>here.
However, it's tough to get running. Instructions <link=http://www.uesp.net/wiki/General
laying_DOS_Installments_under_DOSBox>here.If you're a wimp and don't want to learn how to use an entirely new program (DOSBox) to make it work, use <link=http://theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net/?title=Daggerfall_:_DaggerfallSetup_EN>this instead. It comes with the CompUSA questpack, a bunch of unofficial fixes, and extra quests. Because I'm an idiot, I'm using the original version. (Thanks for the link, Fetzenfisch!)
There's some immediate differences you'll notice from Morrowind and Oblivion. For one thing, the combat is click/drag/swing. This didn't work for Penumbra, but it works surprisingly well here. Secondly, the engine is a bit weird: It's 2D sprites in 3D background. Thirdly, the character creation is positively overwhelming.
Fourthly, the GAME ITSELF is completely and totally overwhelming.
This is a good sized chunk of Hammerfell and High Rock, about 20% of one and 40% of the other. It is also the entire game map.
This is the Kingdom of Daggerfall, one of the fifty kingdoms available.
See those dots? Those are cities, towns and dungeons.
One of those dots is the Capital City of Daggerfall, and it takes about fifteen minutes to walk across.
That popping sound was the exploding heads of the people who comprehended that.
The game currently holds the world record for largest game map - 163,492 square KILOMETERS. To grasp this, take Great Britain in your head, and shove it into Great Britain again, with a population of 750,000 spread over 15,000 locations (populations of each location ranging from two to several thousand).
For obvious reasons, I will not include all my exploits in the LP. Heck, I might have to leave out entire kingdoms if they aren't interesting!
There's more reasons that this game will cause many heads to spontaneously combust through their ears, but we'll get to them when we enter the game itself.
Will the readers have any say in how the playthrough goes?
Yes! While I won't let you guys wreck the story if I can help it (the story is very, very easy to wreck, the game's greatest weakness), if I get enough votes to do something major (contract lycanthropy, buy a house, join a guild), it will either get placed on my to-do list or put up as a vote (for example, which guild to join). One request, guys - please don't make me be an evil twat. PLEASE. It'll only make my life harder.
Yes, this was inspired by Internet Kraken's excellent LP of Dwarf Fortress. Go read that one as well.
WARNING: This game is rated M for Mature. This is for some graphic violence and quite a bit of casual nudity. I'm going to spoilerize the inevitable pictures of naked women and label them, so DON'T CLICK if you're averse to nymphs, naked slave dancers, or random women with their low-res breasts hanging out.
If a mod reads the above and doesn't like it, then feel free to PM me and tell me to knock it off. You'll be depriving readers of nymph fights, harpy fights, and a few other monsters. You'll also make photographing the inside of temples very, very difficult. Don't worry too much, none of it is any more inappropriate than accidentally walking into the ladies' locker room, and I'll try to minimize it anyways.
And that's it. No more pleasantries - off we go with the game!
_____________________________________________
Round Zero: I Exist!
Note: This is just character creation. If this post is too wordy and complex, just skip straight to Round One, as the character has already been made.
Before I do ANYTHING, I'm shoving the most important decision of the game in you, the reader's, hands.
WHO AM I?
This is by far the most overwhelming update I'm going to post, but I'm going to give you the character creator and ask you guys who I'm gonna be. I'm not gonna give you any hints as to what works really well together and I'm not gonna say "How about _____ instead?", unless you all agree on a particularly broken class.
If you guys WANT broken class, then go ahead and say it, but don't expect frequent updates.
First thing is first, though: Where am I from?
High Rock: Bretons. Human. Excellent spellcasters, excel against other spellcasters, average against other classes.
Hammerfell: Redguard. Human. Excellent with all weapons, fantastic warriors.
Skyrim: Excuse me. SKYRIMNOVEMBERELEVENTHZOMGAAAAAAH! Sorry. They have... Nords. Human. Fantastic with swords, blunt weapons and axes, bonus resistance to cold damage.
Morrowind: Dark Elves. Most balanced race in terms of classes.
Imperial Province: Not selectable. What the hell, Bethesda!?
Black Marsh: Argonians. Lizard things. Tend towards soldiers and mages.
Elsweyr: Khajit. Cat things. Pretty much dedicated thieves.
Valenwood: Wood Elves. Like Khajit, except with more wiggle room for other classes.
Sumurset Isle: High Elves. Like Bretons, except much weaker against other spellcasters, and slightly stronger against other classes.
What anatomy was I born with?
No difference to gameplay at all. TO ALL LUSTY MEN WHO ARE IN THIS FOR THE NEKKID CHICKS: A. Shame on you. B. If I go as a lady, I'm not taking off all my clothes for you. End of.
Now it's time to make a class! The premade classes are junk, custom all the way!
So, the Character Creator.
Daggerfall has by far and away the best character creator I've ever played with in terms of sheer scope and decisions that matter.
(Sorry for the Alteration selection in there, I put in there by accident. We can take it out/move it if we don't want it.)
This is gonna require a tutorial in itself, isn't it? I'll include one for those with a ton of spare time, if not, just scan the lists and select the things that look good to you. I can tinker it to please the largest audience, so long as it's not a class that will result in me staying awake at night.
I have 400 attribute points to set. These are NOT the final values, those get decided later.
Strength: Affects combat damage, weight of encumbrance.
Intelligence: Affects available magicka to cast with.
Willpower: Affects ability to resist hostile magic.
Agility: The art of hitting and not being hit.
Endurance: Affects health levels, healing rate, and natural resistance.
Personality: Affects how well people react to you.
Speed: Affects all action speed.
Luck: Affects all algorithms and calculations in the game.
Note that while encumbrance, health levels and magicka (and possibly some parts of speed) are affected by every attribute point, all other attribute bonuses are affected by multiples of ten.
There are thirty five - count 'em, thirty five! - skills to choose from - some familiar, some new. Bethesda, please stop reducing the amount of usable skills from game to game.
Each skill is raised the same way it is in all other Elder Scrolls games - using it. You level up after increasing certain skills - specifically, the game tracks your primary skills, your top two major skills, and your top minor skill. Once these skills have been increased by a total of fifteen, you level up! The exception is leveling from one to two, where you only need two skill increases.
To increase skills, you must practice it enough (the game doesn't tell you how far along you are), you must have waited six hours, and you must have just finished resting or travelling.
Also, each skill is related to an attribute. You gain bonuses to learning each skill if the related attribute is high. ALSO, you cannot raise a skill above the related attribute's level!
Axes: Related to strength. One handed or two handed. Sturdy, damaging, fairly rare.
Blunt Weapons: Related to strength. Includes maces, flails, warhammers and staffs. Sturdiest weapons, average damage, the ONLY weapon that does full damage to undead! All others do half. Common.
Short Blade: Related to strength. Very light, very quick, fragile, low damage. Average rarity.
Long Blade: Related to strength. Very powerful, somewhat sturdy, extremely common.
Archery: Related to agility. Ammunition is limited, but range is possible. Heavy damage, somewhat rare. Unsure of sturdiness (I don't normally use them).
Hand to Hand: Related to agility. Hurts all monsters regardless of material requirement, low damage, never break (apparently, you have titanium bones).
Alteration: Includes Water Walking/Breathing, Slowfall, Shield, Paralyze, Jumping/Climbing boosters, Free Action (paralysis immunity), Elemental Resistance.
Destruction: (Continuous) Damage, Disintegrate, Drain.
Illusion: Light, Shadow, Chameleon, Invisibility.
Mysticism: Language Comprehension, Item Creation, Detect, Dispel (possibly instakill for certain creatures), Identify, Lock/Unlock, Silence, Soul Trap, Teleport.
Restoration: Heal, Cure, Fortify Attribute, Regeneration, Transfer, Absorb Spell, Spell Resistance.
Thaumaturgy: Charm, Levitation, Pacify, Spell Reflection.
Languages (9) give a chance that the relevant enemy won't try to kill me. Sorry, no in-game conversations with terrifying monstrosities (not even nymphs, to the sadness of some of you). They're all governed by intelligence, and are as follows:
Centuarian (Centaurs), Daedric (Daedra in general), Dragonish (Dragonlings), Giantish (Giants), Harpy (Harpies), Impish (Imps), Nymph (Nymphs), Orcish (Orcs, believe it or not, Orcs are generally hostile in this game!), Spriggan (tree things).
Etiquette/Streetwise: Both are related to personality, and define how polite/blunt I am. Also, these allow me to have a chance of escaping being arrested by debating my innocence/lying.
Mercantile: Governed by personality, this controls my ability to buy/sell and get good deals.
Note: Making me a linguist is a cruel, cruel thing to do.
Running: Related to speed, consists of how fast I can run.
Swimming: Related to endurance, it allows swimming with heavier loads, increase speed, and increases lung capacity.
Jumping: How high/far I can jump. Related to strength.
Climbing: Related to strength, this allows vertical walls to be scaled. This skill also results in the most glitches. ALWAYS save before climbing.
Stealth: <youtube=zekiZYSVdeQ>
Lockpicking: Again, it's obvious. Warning: This skill is VERY hard to train.
Pickpocket: For both picking pockets and robbing stores in broad daylight.
Backstabbing: Governed by agility, you get extra damage if you can thunk something in the back. Spine damage FTW!
Critical Strike: Related to agility again. This skill is all about putting the pain on things.
Dodging: Related to speed, for a change. This defines how often the other guy is gonna miss.
And finally, Medical. It's related to intelligence, and it let's you recover more quickly as you sleep.
Max Hit Points Per Level: By far more important in health gains than endurance, this does exactly what it ways on the tin.
Acute Hearing: Most creatures make noises, you can hear them better and farther away with this.
Adrenaline Rush: Gives boost to combat factors when low on health.
Athleticism: Lose less fatigue over time. Running out results in passing out, so this can be helpful.
Bonus to Hit (Animals, Daedra, Humanoid, Undead): Exactly what it says on the tin.
Immunity to (Disease, fire, frost, magic, paralysis, poison, shock): Also exactly what it says on the tin.
Increased Magery (1x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x, 3x): Normally, you receive half of your intelligence in Magicka. This changes that.
Rapid Healing (General, Darkness, Light): See Medical Skill, except with Darkness/Light restrictors.
Regenerate Health (General, Darkness, Light, Water): No need to sleep to recover health now!
Resistance (Disease, Fire, Frost, Magic, Paralysis, Poison, Shock): Like Immunity, except there's still an effect (it's just reduced).
Spell Absorption (General, Darkness, Light). This lets me take all spells thrown at me and eats them. I can't absorb more magic than I hold, that's often fatal!
Critical Weakness (See Immunity): The opposite of Immunity. Whatever is chosen here will become a VERY BIG DEAL later.
Damage (Holy Places, Sunlight): The character takes damage from one of those conditions, and it's damaging.
Darkness Magery (Lowered, Unable): Results in lower amounts/no magicka in light.
Forbidden Armor (Leather, Chain, Plate), Material (Iron, Steel, Silver, Elven, Dwarven, Mithril, Adamantium, Ebony, Orcish, Daedric), Shield (Buckler, Round, Kite, Tower), Weaponry (Axe, Blunt, Long Blade, Short Blade, Archery, Hand to Hand): Again, self-explanatory. By the way, forbidding Hand to Hand doesn't do anything.
Inability to Regain Magicka: Oh dear. Resting does nothing, you must rely on spell absorption or potions.
Light Magery (Lowered, Unable): The inverse of Darkness Magery.
Low Tolerance (See Resistance): The opposite of Resistance.
Phobia (Animals, Daedra, Humanoid, Undead): The opposite of Bonus to Hit.
Note: You must balance Advantages, Disadvantages and Health Points per Level to keep the Skill Advancement Graph in a good range. The better stuff you take, the higher it goes. The worse the disadvantages, the lower. You advance slower at the top, and faster at the bottom.
How popular you are with merchants, peasants, scholars, nobility, and underworld, on a scale of -10 to 10. The sum of them all must equal 0.
If you read all that, you're probably pretty freaking intimidated. I was. So go ahead and just point at a few things that look interesting, and I'll try to craft a decent character that satisfies as many as possible in a day or two. However, I'm more inclined to honour more specific requests.
What do I label myself as?
Label your class as something.
What is my name?
What are my basic personality traits?
If you guys can just give me some preferences for the bolded text, I'll be able to get this LP going!
Daggerfall awaits...
