The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is an

Compared to its predecessor, Arena, the player can now only travel within two provinces in Tamriel: High Rock and Hammerfell; however, Daggerfall consists of 15,000 cities, towns, villages, and dungeons for the character to explore. Arena's experience-point based system was replaced with a system that rewards the player for utilizing role-playing elements within the game.[2] Daggerfall includes more customization options, featuring an improved character generation engine, as well as a GURPS-influenced class creation system, offering players the chance to create their own classes and assign their own skills.^[3][4]

The game was a critical and commercial success, with sales around 700,000 copies by 2000. The game was followed by The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002. In 2009, to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the Elder Scrolls franchise, Daggerfall was made free to download from the Bethesda website.^[5]

Gameplay

Daggerfall, like the other games in The Elder Scrolls series, takes place on the fictional continent of Tamriel, in which the player can travel between the provinces of High Rock and Hammerfell. Like all The Elder Scrolls games, the player does not have to follow questlines or fill specific character roles, allowing the player to play the game how they see fit.

The game features over 15,000 cities, towns, villages, and dungeons for the character to explore, which gives the player many options when buying a house. In addition to exploring the world the player can join a number of guilds, orders, and religions; all with unique quests and tasks for the player to do. Joining and contributing to these organizations will allow the player to gain ranks and gain a reputation in the game world, which affects how

• If the player gives the Mantella to the Underking, he absorbs its power, passes into eternal rest, and creates a large "magicka free" area around himself.
• If Gortworg is victorious, he uses the Numidium to destroy the Imperial forces and the "Bay Kings", the rulers of the several provinces of the Iliac Bay. The Underking arrives shortly thereafter to destroy the first Numidium once and for all, losing his own life in the process. Gortworg then succeeds in creating Orsinium, a kingdom of Orcs.
• If the Blades are victorious, they succeed in recreating the first Numidium and use it to defeat the Bay Kings and the Orcs as well as unite all the provinces of Tamriel under the empire once again.
• If any of the Bay Kings win, that king will use the first Numidium to defeat all the other kings just before the Underking destroys him and itself.
• If Mannimarco receives the Mantella, he uses it to make himself a god.
• One more ending, as described in the strategy guide The Daggerfall Chronicles and elsewhere, was planned by Bethesda, but is not achievable in-game: if the player activates the Mantella while in possession of the totem (the controlling device of the Numidium), the Numidium will slay the player, go out of control, and be destroyed by Imperial forces.[2]

Development

Work on The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall began immediately after Arena's release in March 1994.^[2] The project saw Ted Peterson assigned the role of lead game designer.^[4] Originally titled Mournhold^[6] and set in Morrowind, the game was eventually relocated to the provinces of High Rock and Hammerfell, in Tamriel's northwest.

By mid-1994 Daggerfall was the new name.

Olympia, Washington based MediaTech West who was acquired by Bethesda in 1995 helped develop the game.^[1][11]

Daggerfall was completed on August 31, 1996, almost three years after production began.^[12] It was released in North America on September 20,^[13] within the game's intended release window,^[14] and in the United Kingdom on November 1.^[15][16] Like that of Arena, Daggerfall's release suffered from buggy code. It was patchable code, however, a fact that nonetheless left consumers disgruntled.^[17] The yearning to avoid what were, in LeFay's words, "all the stupid patches we had for Daggerfall" led to a more cautious release schedule in the future.^[10] Ted Peterson left Bethesda following Daggerfall's release and went to work for a series of companies in Los Angeles and San Francisco: Film Roman, AnyRiver Entertainment, Activision, and Savage Entertainment.^[4]

Community support

Although Daggerfall did not come with official

For Daggerfall's launch on September 20,[13] shipments of around 120,000 copies were delivered to stores. The game surpassed Bethesda's internal estimates and became an immediate hit: more than 100,000 copies were sold within two days of release. As a result, supplies were depleted at many retailers. While a second printing of Daggerfall was shipped on September 24, Next Generation reported at the time that "this shipment is expected to be considerably smaller than the first due to production limitations".^[38] In the United States, the game debuted in fourth place on PC Data's monthly computer game sales chart for September 1996.^[39] It secured sixth place the following month,^[40] before dropping to position 16 in November.^[41]

According to Bethesda marketing director Pete Hines, Daggerfall sold roughly 700,000 copies by mid-2000 and was "still selling four years after release". He called it likely the company's biggest success by that time.^[42]

Critical reviews

Daggerfall was met with critical acclaim, surpassing its predecessor in Game of the Year Awards.