Freedom here's absolute, you can do LITTERALLY everything that passes in your mind, no limits about it. You want to borrow some money from the local bank? you can do it; you want to climb castle daggerfall's walls for no reason? you can do it; you want a house? you can BUY it (in the bank); HELL! you want a SHIP? you can buy THAT TOO, and this is not even a quarter of what you can do…libraries upon libraries full of books you can read, TONS of clothes that'll allow you to dress and undress your character like a Barbie if you want to…THOUSANDS of cities/ruins/graveyards to explore…in one word, this game's HUGE.—The Keep (defunct)
Daggerfall has been reviewed often, and most, but not all, reviewers were enthusiastic. It is probably true what Chris Mullens says, you have to either love or hate Daggerfall. Love the unmatched freedom this game offers, the variety of things you can achieve, or hate the monotony of the dungeon crawls, the sameness of the towns, or the never quite overcome bugginess of the whole game. Anyway, here are a few of them.
I am impressed with how much work Bethesda have put into this game and I am enjoying it immensely. I have already spent many hours (too many) playing it and I think I will spend many more. For me it contains all that I enjoy in a CRPG including excellent character creation, lots of exploration, an effective combat system, useful magic, a variety of monsters, interesting graphics and a useable automap.
To sum up Daggerfall is simply a poor clone of Arena. Daggerfall simply manages to magnify many of Arena's bad points, you have an even wider emptier meaningless world then Arena's. Arena at least had some villages, lakes and houses outside the city, Daggerfall does not even go that far. But the major reason why I am disappointed with Daggerfall is the bugs, unlike Arena's 'crash' type bugs, Daggerfall's are gameplay/plot bugs that stop you from completing the game, unless you hit upon the right combination of patches.
For those willing to exercise a little patience with its quirks, Daggerfall will deliver some of the most entertaining and absorbing adventures available. Those who are even the slightest bit put off by subtle storylines or RPG statistics, however, will probably find the game totally unbearable. The bottom line is this: RPGs have always attracted a fanatical core group, and this title was designed with those hard-core gamers in mind. For the rest of you, play another round of Quake and leave the adventuring to the pros.
Bugs and all, however, the intuitive interface, built-in screen capture utility, innovative character generation scheme and spell-maker, and above all the sheer scale and flexibility of the game make it well worth buying for anyone who enjoys role-playing games. It has spawned numerous web sites, some with Daggerfall-related stories by players, and is a serious candidate for the best computer RPG to date.
Quote undeniably: NO. Daggerfall IS a terrific game with fantastic graphics and high playability. Yet it DOES lack some of the most basic facts one would expect to find in such a fantasy CRPG, many (such as town reaction to player nudity) which have already been incorporated in past CRPG's such as the acclaimed Star Trail. Daggerfall is 'fun,' but almost without question, it does become boring after a while; long player brakes from the game are quite necessary; If you play for an hour or more a day, you'll probably be bored and frustrated with much of the game in less than a week.
Daggerfall is literally packed with fantasy RPG elements and features, in addition to a HUGE 3D gameworld that encompasses millions of square miles, including dungeons, ruins, snow-filled plains, and even underwater(!) areas. Unlike most RPGs which are quite linear, Daggerfall virtually lets you create your own RPG story. You can be a valiant paladin, traditional protector of virtues. Or be a dark elf mercenary, wandering from town to town on horseback, with your bow always at the ready. You can even become a carefree thief, making your living by stealing valuables from people's houses at night. Similar to Darklands, there is an overarching, uber plot you can follow to see the game's "ending," but you can just as easily spend countless hours following literally hundreds of sub-quests in the game.
If you're a big fan of Morrowind, you may enjoy playing Daggerfall for historical purposes (to see how the Elder Scrolls series evolved). Other than that I really can't come up with a reason to recommend this overrated turkey to anyone, especially not eight years after the fact. Try Baldur's Gate 2 or Wizardry 8 if you're looking for a really well-done CRPG.
I walked off to the Fighters Guild and got a mission to kill a werebeast. Strolling over to the dungeon in question, I walked in and immediately remembered why I stopped playing this game. Every single dungeon in this game is a confusing mess of yellow and gray hallways that must be combed to dig up that one beast/ character/item/sandwich needed to complete your quest. This is what I refer to as "Fun, German-style". I stepped into the old "right hand rule", where you always take the turn on the right until you get back to the entrance, because there's sure as fuck no other way to wade through these dungeons. I opened a door and got killed by a guy in a skirt. Next game.
Over the time, some reviews I used to link to have vanished from the web. So I removed the links, but why not keep the quotes?
Daggerfall is a very good RPG game when it comes to story, elements, and all the other fantasy elements. However, all of the other problems with it were just too much for me to get by and I found it to be almost unplayable (I just don't have patience to read through pages of game text). There are also still several bugs in the game that I discovered that need to be fixed up and obviously Daggerfall hasn't had any shortage of patches. So, while I would still recommend this game for hardcore RPG gamers, I would definitely suggest that those of you who are not to stay clear.
Despite the crashes and difficulty of solving the quests this game has such a vast interesting and well designed universe one can't help but want to carry on exploring. You can even try playing with an unlimited number of different characters and try different approaches and behaviour patterns. Once completely stable this game will likely be played off and on for months and months, may be years.
The non-player characters, however, do quickly tire. It is here where the weakness of Daggerfall is exposed. There is simply no emotional bond you can have with anyone you will ever meet. This one oversight keeps the game as an interesting period piece instead of the Greatest Game Ever Made. It's not just about banging someone: it's about having a network of friends, enemies, confidants, lackeys, hanger-ons… none of it is in the game. People seem to have agendas, yes. However, they come off as zombies. Reputation is a very general thing: if you act like a complete assjack in one area, most commoners will have the same opinion of you. It's really a tragedy, because virtual friendship would have made the game a serious contender.
One columnist recently said he thought true role-playing-games were dead; on the contrary, Daggerfall proves they are exhilaratingly alive and well. Not only may Daggerfall be the best CRPG of the year, it just may be the best CRPG of all time—at least, until the next flawed masterpiece is released. Heh-heh.
There are so many distractions in Daggerfall; there are lots of different guilds to join, sub-quests to perform, and much more. You aren't limited to wandering around one city, or even one country. In this game, you can explore an entire continent, take quests from peasants, or even kings and queens. You can sleep in comfort, or camp out in the wilderness, though picking the latter option means you could find wandering beasties visiting you with surprising regularity. You could turn to a life of crime, pickpocketing townsfolk, or robbing shops to make money. You can even become a vampire, or a werewolf, each condition coming with various advantages and disadvantages. There are just too many features in Daggerfall to list in one review.