So Renee Gade did manage to get into Dunstad Grove finally. Quite confusing! But I've often felt confused by other villages in later ES games, so I think I'll eventually figure out Dunstad too.

She's got 618 gold and she found a room to stay at an inn. After sleeping awhile, somebody 'pilfered' her belongings (the game said this) but I'm not noticing anything missing. *shrugs* She had a crystal (I think) and now that's gone. No biggie. She still has all the equipment she left the Tutorial with: longsword, silver helm, a pauldron, and a few other items.

About to go about town, see what 618 gold can buy. :drool: Edit: she managed to buy all the armor pieces: pauldrons on both shoulders, chain cuirass, gauntlets, and greaves, leather boots and she kept her silver helmet. OH, and that crystal was not stolen from her, matter of fact she was able to sell it for 624 gp!

I have noticed that the town gets overrun by baddies at night, so RG is going to do a bit of night-patrolling Arrgh! She is suppsed to find some sort of tome from the Gentle Hand Temple (something like that). Well, she managed to find the temple but there's no tome in there.

Patrolling town is a good thing to do to get experience and stuff to sell, I used to do that too

About the tome, did you talk to the guy inside the temple? Cause you won´t find the tome just laying about

Of course. He only offered "Heal" "Bless" "Cure" and "Exit". Nothing about a tome. I even tried choosing some of those options anyways, like I had Renee get blessed and healed, and nothing came up about a tome.

That´s strange Sure you went to the right place? I´m sure you did but I have to ask. I´ve never had one single quest I couldn´t follow up on.
Check your journal what it says, just to be sure.

Yup. She's in the Order of the Gentle Hand. I'm looking at the map right now. Quest must be broken!! I'm going to start a crusade against Bethesda starting NOW!

just kidding. Actually I'm pretty excited tonight. I just got my wireless controller working for the PC! ... RG1 is now just kind of moseying around Dunstad Grove. It's daylight; she's just figuring the place out. We'll do some night patrols when the sun goes down.

She wandered outside the village but I'm not ready for that yet! I'm not sure how far this open world bizness goes, but with a lack of draw distance & landmarks, it's looking possible to get very lost out there. A lot of areas look the same, in the sense that there's always snow falling and there aren't the usual mountains or other landmarks in the distance to go by. Well, there is one but I don't want to get too far out there and not figure out how to get back to Dunstad.

I've noticed that if I push the 'detail' slider to the right that it increases draw distance a bit, but this also slows the game's animations down. I've currently got this slider up to about half-way.

Not sure but this quest thingy might be because you´re using the Anthology version which I think isn´t patched up all the way like the downloaded version is. Send a PM to ghastley, he might know more

I don´t run around outside towns either with no landmarks or anything to go by. I just tried it a couple of times and always made sure I knew where the town was. Nothing much out there I can tell you. Apart from small settlements I didn´t find any dungeons, enemies or anything.

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As for my Nord, he just reached level 25 and that´s more or less his final level. It took me several days fighting creatures over and over to reach it and now the experience needed for 26 is even higher and I don´t think I´ll care for it. His spells are strong, he has over 300.000 gold and good equipment. If I should decide to embark upon the MQ (gasp!) he should be ready


Not sure I am though...

Ahh, wow! See now I'm curious. I'll be the one who will try to find that hidden shrine or dungeon. It's just odd not having any roads to travel by, at least.

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Wow that's a lot of gold. Do you travel from province to province? Where are you getting all that gold?

I realized something about Arena the other day and I'm going to try to explain my thoughts. Back in 1994, a lot of RPG type games were isometric, which means they were viewed from the top down, and usually on an angle. I remember early versions of Gauntlet and Final Fantasy were like this.

The NPCs in these games moved in a digital way (on/off). They only move at one speed usually, at least in these earlier games this is true. Arena is the same way: all the NPCs move very quickly, and only at one speed. When they are done moving, they come to a dead stop. It almost seems as if Arena uses the same mechanicals as the isometric games; the main difference being its method of viewing the game.

Having trouble explaining what I mean, like I said.

There are roads in fact, just look at the ground


I stay in Skyrim and get my gold from slaying enemies on houses, plus Selling their weapons. I´ve been doing this since I came out of the prison so it´s no wonder I have so much gold now.


I understand perfectly what you mean

It´s like being in that isometric game and you just fly down from that angled top view and start walking on the ground. No rules have changed, just the view.

Here is a pic of Renee Gade I just after leaving the tutorial. She found that giant silver helmet! I'll have to get a pic of her without the helm on.

My Nord just got a little interested

What class is she again?

One of the characters in that pic looks like Magneto! The fourth one from the left in the Turn Order up top.

Oh wow. I had no idea who Magneto is but I did a search and now I see what ya mean. Kind of a super hero.



Warrior, I think. Or Fighter or whatever is in that genre. Interesting how her class does not allow her to use any spells, PERIOD. No spells! I might try to see if it's possible to join whatever Mage's Guild is in this game, anyways, just to see what it says.

You can´t join the Mages Guild in Arena, only visit them to buy things.

So she can´t use any spells at all? Wow, I´d have a hard time accepting that in a TES game My Nord can´t use better armor than leather but I can live with that. Spells are much more important to me. Though for your Nord there´s always the option of using enchanted weaponry of course

Nope, no spells! This game's hardcore. There is a spellbook tab in her character menu, but if I click on it it says "You are not a spellcaster" or some such.

so yeah, pretty hardcore!

Well, good luck to her!

And please show her without her helmet! I´d like to show you my Nord too, but I´m not as skilled with using a camera for my gaming pixies

I got a pic of RG1 without her helmet, but I'll put it up sometime later. Doing a bit of gaming with her before going to bed. Just running around Dunstad Grove, killing baddies. She also finally found the Mage's Guild and bought a few potions. There are a lot of magic items too, and I'm curious how these work in Arena, but right now Renee hasn't got enough gold to afford any of these.

It's funny how some buildings are so huge inside, yet there will only be one person we can interact with. And also the fact that enemies seem to get so easily stuck on terrain features. RG1 was attacked by a lizard man at one point and all she had to do was get catty-corner around a moat and the lizard could not follow.

I found this bit of text on Wikipedia which is interesting

The game world is very large. Players may explore outside cities into the wild. There they may find inns, farms, small towns, dungeons, and other places of interest. The terrain is randomly generated. It is not possible to reach other cities without using the fast-travel feature. Several hundred towns, dungeons, and NPCs are available.

Ah. So there are dungeons, eh?

You don't know who Magneto is? Get thee to an X-Men movie at once woman! (preferably a Bryan Singer one)

Ha ha you crack me up. Broad-minded you are: everything from Greco Roman warfare to X-men. Actually now that you say this, Magneto is ringing a bell. I had a friend who was obsessed with X-men, and his kids were too, but this was back in the '90s. I remember he had an X-men video game.

Only name I can remember off-the-bat is Wolverine.

Back on topic: right now I'm playing Arena more often than Oblivion or Skyrim. Imagine that? I will get back into OB more heavily once I figure out all the PC stuff my imagination has been demanding, but for now it's RG1 all the way

That´s awesome, Renee! I haven´t played in awhile now so we rely on you at this point to keep the thread going!

Here she is without helmet this time.



Not exactly Xena, but she'll do for a Windows 3.1 game.

She looks great! Though a little bit cold around her chest....

My Nord doesn´t look as good because he has his mouth opened in a grin

I'm still trying to figure out what's stopping her from falling out of that top

I'm gonna have to fire up Daggerfall again...

Its frozen to her skin!

Yeah, you know? (.)(/\\

It is Hearthfire something or other in the Year 389 of the 3rd Era. Renee Gade I is patrolling the night town of Dunstad Grove. Interesting that RG2's mom was a sort of free-roaming guard. She tries not to get too far from this one inn, this way if she gets beat up really bad she can just duck inside and rest up. So far, she's managed to take down one lizard man.

She takes the same approach as Thor, I see. Clever choice too since you gotta fight to get XP but it´s best to have a safe spot nearby

Although I must warn you, not even the inns are perfectly safe at night as Thor found out one time...

They're not? Ooh, I'll have to remember that.

My Arena session was fun last night (it's morning now in Maryland). Got several more lizard men and one nightblade I think. Despite the crude graphics, I always have a tingling up my spine whenever an enemy suddenly appears at night; this game's kinda spooky! I can't help but imagine what Dunstad Grove would look like in Earth-graphics. Not that I want to change the game's appearance, what I'm saying is this game's primitive graphics always trip my imagination, the way the original Gauntlet or Castlevania or Adventure used to do.

It's interesting quickly RG1 leveled upwards from 1 to 5, but making Level 6 is taking a longer time. I also like the game's music. I usually turn game music off, but with Arena I leave it on partially because there aren't very many sound effects. And also it sounds just like the sort of music we'd hear in an early Nintendo game.

I only experienced an assault in an inn once, but still it happened. Didn´t think it could.

Yes this is a spooky game, at least in the early levels. I remember walking around Dunstad Grove with the sword ready and always on my tippy-toes. I love it when a game can do that, especially such a "crude" game by today´s standards. I think it´s because it´s that crude in fact. Like you say, imagination kicks in better then plus you really feel vulnerable at lower levels.

Leveling up goes pretty fast early on but the "older" your character gets the more points is needed so it will take more time to level up later. I´ve stopped at 25 and to reach that I had to endure endless fights (breaking into a house and choose the camp option) for several real-life days and now I just don´t want to continue doing that. Thor is strong and more importantly, his spells are strong and those that can have well passed beyond 100% chance of casting success.

Ah, so your character's name is Thor. Interesting. I didn't know that.

Last night RG1 kept hearing that lizard man sound, ya know? They make that sound like a clogged toilet? Anyways, she kept hearing it and it was giving me goosebumps because I couldn't find the damn thing. Then I realized it was standing inside one of those bush 'mazes'. So RG1 starts exploring this mage, trying to find the lizard man, but we couldn't find it. After awhile, it stopped making its gurgling call.

Later on she wound up at that same maze, and we heard the lizard again. So she goes to the entrance of the maze but THIS TIME it was RIGHT THERE coming for her! Damn, I almoist had a heart attack!

Not sure if I should continue with Arena and do the questline or if I should fire up Daggerfall and give that one a go now...

So many games, so little time!

Even now when I don´t have a job!

You got that right. Sheesh.

I play Arena rather casually. None of the misc quests seem to work for some reason, so RG mostly just runs around while I enjoy the pixelated atmosphere of Dunstad Grove. I'll probably switch to Daggerfall sometime during the spring, Fallout 3 during the summer, and Morrowind during the Fall. Imagine that? Me playing Morrowind.

I've cut Skyrim back to naught now that I've got PC / Oblivion going, but I'll probably play Skyrim once every other week. Kahreem is once a week. Snaat Rayag is my new beau, so I'll be with him almost every day, unless he dies. I have one more OB character I want to introduce, she'll be mostly living in the I.C. though, while I explore Better Cities. I'm also starting up a Sims game, which will appear in the Fan Art section.

But the good news: Lady Saga will return, this time on PC. I'm pretty psyched about her return. Been missing her.

An arena/daggerfall thread? Why hadn't I seen this before?

Hmm... Maybe one day I'll try daggerfall again, for now I'm stuck in the same situation as you Renee, there are way too many games I want to play.

Renee, you'll love morrowind. I played it after oblivion (although I bought if first ) and had a great time. I'm currently playing through it again, between skyrim, oblivion and a bit of Dishonored.

Yes, we've even got a thread for older games, absolutely. I only started playing Arena a month ago myself. In the spring I'll try Daggerfall and in the fall Morrowind. That's my plan. I want to experience the series sequentially, you see.

Played some Arena this afternoon. Went around Dunstad Grove at night fighting monsters and breaking into stores. Thing is I have been away from it for some time now and I can´t really see myself come back to it again. It´s still not impossible for me to do the MQ but at this point I´m more inclined to play Oblivion and later on Fallout 3.

I just like messing around with Arena, just for that 'back in time' feeling, but I'm not really all that serious about it. If I can figure out how to start the MQ, I will go ahead and try to do it, but so far I can't even get RG's random quests going.

I am going to play some Arena in a moment. After that's over, I'm going to have a 'mystery guest' in another game.

Well, after stumbling across a video of Arena on the internet I decided to give it a go! So far so good




Benethor the Breton Rogue:



He's been making his way through the sewers after escaping from his cell in the Imperial prison, with a little help from Ria Silmane. He's using a steel longsword he found to dispatch of any Goblins and rats as he escapes the sewers, resting frequently along the way. He's just found the portal out before I left him.

Yay, another Arena gamer! To replace me as I´ve stopped for now..

Maybe I will pick it up again some time.

I'll pick it up again, too. I've decided I'm going to do Arena's Main Quest even if it takes me a year or more. I'm not moving on to Daggerfall until I'm done with TES 1.

How did you get that picture, Vital?

I thought about doing Arena´s MQ but I´ve lost interest in it now. Much the same as with FO3 I´ve been away for too long and moved on with Lothran´s game but I´m glad I´ve played it for some time. Though I´m not saying I won´t ever pick it up again

It's just a screeny from the character menu

Benethor is lost and a little confused in the town of White Haven. He has no idea where he is and now he's being attacked on the streets?!?! There seems to be no inn and he's resorted to breaking into houses

I found that not even inns are always 100% safe. At one point I got attacked in there at night!

Vital, what province is Benethor in?

High Rock I believe, although I can't actually figure out how to get a world map, only the local one....

Same button, you just right-click instead of left-click or vice versa. I think...

Turdas 3rd of Hearthfire, 3e 389. Tales and Tallows holiday.

Benethor was quite lost when he found himself in an unfamiliar town at night, however he eventually found his way to The Silver Ogre Inn, thanks to a woman he encountered on the street named Belladonna Greenton. He rented a flea-ridden single room, but was too tired from his escape to really care.

He had another vision of Ria Silmane, telling him to locate Fang Lair. Initially he was confused how to do so, however he asked around and the townsfolk managed to point him in roughly the right direction; Hammerfell. He'll head out there soon, but today all he was worried about was getting some supplies.

Ben bought some leather armour which he looks quite good in. I love the blacksmiths!:lol: He then headed into the Mages Guild to buy some potions and sell a crystal, I also rp'd this was were he asked about Fang Lair, despite their being no dialogue option for it. Later Ben paid a visit to the temple, or Brotherhood of Temperance. I don't think he's very religious but he is from a religious family and those things rub off, I guess.

Soon Ben will slowly journey to Hammerfell, stopping at each town to gain some experience. There he will inquire further about Fang Lair, since the locals should know a bit more. Wow, I really love this game so far

So you´re really taking the MQ upon yourself, huh?

Nice pixies, but how do you take them? I tried fraps but it didn´t work.

It's got a charm to it, does it not? I think I'm going to get back into Arena once my main Skyrim game atm (Mycharonna) has come to a close.

Benethor has been traveling between towns and doing some grinding on his way to hammerfell. Nothing exciting but still enjoyable

I've noticed this game requires a huge amount if grinding, certainly early on. I'm pretty the sure the MQ involves lots if big dungeon crawls and I don't know if these are level scaled so I want to be a decent level before I give them a go.

My thoughts/approach exactly. Of course, I don´t play it any longer to fully enjoy all that grinding and preparation..