Welcome to The Arena

[jackofallgeeks]

I just installed and started a game on Arena, the very first of the Elder Scrolls series by Bethesda Softworks -- the most recent game being Oblivion. I had this game, Arena, ages and ages ago. I'd nearly beaten it once, but Life happened. Now it's up for free download at Bethesda's site (and has been for quite some time) using the DOSBox emulator. I'm not sure I'll keep up with the game, I've been feeling fitful and restless in my entertainment lately, but having it and playing it again makes me very happy.

Comments

[uhlrik.livejournal.com]

Funnily, way back when I played it the first time (I don't recall ever getting more a staff piece back then since I didn't actually own the game) my character was a Dark Elf spellsword too, so I did it again this time.

Yeah, Rogues get the shaft in Arena. For that matter, any non-spellcaster gets the shaft. Imagine running a pure knight.

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, it's true that Magic gives all spellcasters an edge -- they can open locks, shoot fireballs, even remove whole sections of the dungeon without so much as breaking a sweat. (I remember coming to a door I couldn't open with a key I couldn't get and just, well, destroying the walls around it and walking on by...)

But Warriors have a foot up on Thieves in that Warriors can at least stand and fight. They generally have more health, better armor, and stronger weapons, which all means that they can kill stuff to get what they want. Thieves don't have that.

And this is almost always true across the board. I think Arcanum (a great, steam-punkish type game) came close to sorting things out and evening the playing field, but even at that I think Mages had the lion's share of power (though I may be biased, my Sorceress rocked).

[naughtjennifer.livejournal.com]

Actually, especially following the patch which balanced(read: nerfed) guns, thieves were by far the most insanely powerful class in Arcanum. Set play to turn-based, max out agility, train in backstabbing, steal a mechanical dagger from one of the merchants... Nothing can stand up to you. As an added bonus, if you so choose, you can stay centerline on the tech/magic scale rather easily, allowing you to use charged rings(+agi) and magic scrolls. Trouble stealing an equipped item? Read a scroll of transformation or whatever to make them an air elemental, all items are unequipped and they have pathetic attack. Stealing unequipped stuff's a cakewalk, then dispel the transformation spell. Plus, since the transformation spell is a buff, not an aggressive spell, you can use it on townsfolk without getting anyone mad at you. And if they're already mad, they're completely unarmed, so pretty helpless anyway. And of course there's the lil' bug where you can steal from transformed people, even if there's a script preventing you from stealing from that character.

Yeah, I tore that game to pieces, and took advantage of every single bug. Why do you ask? :P