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 Introduction Arena is the game that began the iconic Elder Scrolls franchise, created by Bethesda Softworks and released in 1994 for MS-DOS. While it's still a first person open world RPG, it's quite different than its more popular successors such as Morrowind and Skyrim. The game relies heavily on procedurally generated content, though there are still some hand crafted elements to be found in towns and certain dungeons. It also features one of the largest explorable world spaces in video game history, though it is not connected like the majority of the lands in other Elder Scrolls games. The gameplay mostly consists of hacking and slashing monsters to bits in various dungeons, but there is a story to tie everything together as well as spells, thieving, and NPC interactions. The game begins with the current emperor being betrayed and locked away in an alternate dimension by one of his imperial battlemages, Jagar Tharn. The dashing hero of our story:  About the Playthrough I got into the Elder Scrolls games starting with Oblivion. I also played a little of Morrowind either a bit before or around the time of Oblivion's release. I can't quite recall. Like most other people I enjoyed Skyrim quite a bit, though usually with mods. However, I've never finished the main story in any Elder Scrolls game. Since I like retro games quite a bit, I've been wanting to go back and play through the older titles and actually finish the newer ones. I've done a fair bit of research about Arena and have played a little, but I haven't touched much of the main quest. I'll probably end up sticking mostly to the main story, though I do want to do some additional exploration here and there, just to see what I can find. Since there's no Arena playthrough in the master list, I figured I'd do a thread about it for people who are curious about the series' roots. If you've played the game before and have any tips on stuff to try or look for, I'm open to suggestions. Note that I'll probably be recording at least a couple episodes ahead usually, so I may not be able to act on advice immediately. As a fun extra, the music in this playthrough will be generated by a real Yamaha MU50 MIDI device. The game itself will be emulated via DOSBOX.  Episodes Series Playlist
It's video games. Every day...ish. rojovision fucked around with this message at 19:11 on May 11, 2019 |
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Sep 16, 2018 22:26
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Images The game isn't completely hideous, but it hasn't aged spectacularly in the graphics department, in my opinion.       
rojovision fucked around with this message at 19:26 on May 11, 2019 |
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Sep 16, 2018 22:26
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reserved
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Sep 16, 2018 22:26
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 Episode 0 - Exordium This is an introduction to the game, sort of going over some similar stuff from the main post. We also take a look at the game's intro sequences and make our character.  Episode 1 - A Dank Dungeon Indeed With Ria's assistance we must make our escape from the imperial dungeon, now overrun with rats and goblins...but not before finding some treasures to equip ourself with.
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Sep 16, 2018 22:34
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90s Cringe Rock posted:Ah yes, the noble high elves of Somerset. You should feel grateful  . ESDF is where your fingers belong on a keyboard...WASD was just a setback.
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Sep 17, 2018 21:32
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extra row of teeth posted:Glad to see you doing this! Arena is one of those games where most of the Youtube LPs are either lovely or incomplete and I loved your Anvil of Dawn LP. Thanks. I miss Anvil of Dawn...that was a really fun game. Hopefully Arena has some cool things in store as well.
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Sep 18, 2018 00:49
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 Episode 2 - Making Preparations Adventuring responsibly means being prepared, which in our case specifically means spending some quality time with the spell maker and buying some armor we can actually wear. Before returning to dungeoning, we begin to seek out an artifact that will greatly aid us in our future quests.
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Sep 18, 2018 00:57
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inscrutable horse posted:You mentioned Legends of Valour being an influence in the intro video, a game that I had almost completely forgotten. It's not a very good game. Some might even say it's a bad game. I'd say it's an awful game. It's that particular kind of awful, that even my remote home of the Faroe Islands, a tiny country that was about 10 years behind the rest of Europe electronics-wise, the game was relegated to the absolute-garbage-bargain bin almost upon release. My brother picked it up for me, when our family got our first computer (a 286) in early '93. Try as we might, we never got understood what the hell we were supposed to do - the game and its mechanics were opaque, even by the standards of the day. That's interesting. I'd like to at least try as many dungeon crawlers from around the DOS era of games as I can, but since LoV is perhaps pretty bad maybe I'll be able to find a physical copy on the cheap. I imagine I could download it for free from various websites as well since it wouldn't surprise me to find out that the game is basically abandonware at this point. Or maybe it'll show up randomly on GOG...who knows? Olesh posted:Keen eyed viewers might notice that the magical torc he picked up and equipped as his very first piece of loot gave him a -5 bonus to his armor rating everywhere. There are four "accessory" slots, that provide a passive effect - bracelets, belts, torcs, and amulets. These either provide an armor rating bonus (up to a maximum of -5) or a bonus to a stat. The sticker price on that Ebony Torc is 25000 GP, so the very first piece of random treasure rojo found is one of the most valuable and useful items in the game. I figured that torc was pretty good but I didn't realize how good. Quite a lucky find so early, and as my first piece of loot as well. In my testing I had found a bunch of dwarven / elven quality torcs I think. That bit about the shops is good to know. Next time I'm recording and have to do a little shopping it'll be easier knowing that anything I can buy, I can use, save weapons apparently. rojovision fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Sep 18, 2018 |
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Sep 18, 2018 18:34
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Olesh posted:I got around to watching the second video, and I can't help myself. There are a few ways to spend money in this game, and the choice. Is. Yours. Cool, I do want to revisit the spell maker, but I might not do so immediately. I know I can get some offensive magic via marks, etc, but I also want a couple spells in my book just in case, even though they're twice as expensive for a healer. Those pots really don't give much magicka considering my theoretical cap of 200. Still, I agree I should get more, and probably will before the next dungeon.
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Sep 18, 2018 20:56
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 Episode 3 - Parchment Leads to Parchment We put some of the new spells we made to use, and continue exploring the depths of the Dungeon of Noruvor in search of the map that leads to the Oghma Infinium.
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Sep 19, 2018 01:19
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 Episode 4 - Knowledge Is Power Using the map we found previously, we enter the dungeon containing the Oghma Infinium.
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Sep 20, 2018 11:10
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 Episode 5 - Fang Lair Where? Now that we've gained what we can from the Oghma Infinium, we experience the seedier side of city life, and turn our attention to rescuing the emperor. rojovision fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Sep 22, 2018 |
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Sep 21, 2018 19:34
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AltaBrown posted:link leads to episode 4 Whoops sorry about that. Should be fixed now.
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Sep 22, 2018 22:16
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 Episode 6 - Remnants of Stonekeep We begin to explore Stonekeep, and the game quickly shows us that it's done pulling punches.
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Sep 25, 2018 02:09
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 Episode 7 - Fang Lair Revealed We explore further into Stonekeep and discover the location of our next target - Fang Lair.
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Sep 27, 2018 00:36
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 Episode 8 - Searching for a Staff Piece With a few new spells in tow, we finally make it to Fang Lair, which happens to be an abandoned dwarven ruin that once housed some sort of vast mining operation.
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Sep 29, 2018 00:56
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 Episode 9 - The Guessing Game I am not good at riddles, and this is proof.
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Oct 1, 2018 23:42
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 Episode 10 - Hammerfell Wilds We take a bit of time to explore the world outside the cities of Hammerfell.
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Oct 3, 2018 03:04
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 Episode 11 - A Frosty Reception We seek out the Labyrinthian and are directed, somewhat under prepared, to the Fortress of Ice, which is held by some dastardly knights.
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Oct 5, 2018 00:19
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 Episode 12 - Fortress Barracks We return to the Fortress of Ice better prepared for the challenges ahead.
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Oct 5, 2018 17:46
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inscrutable horse posted:According to the wiki, you can press shift+c to cast the previous spell. Ah, cool. I probably rebound it when I was dicking around with all the other keybinds so I'll check it out next time I record.
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Oct 6, 2018 03:13
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Poil posted:Just dropping plate armor on the ground? Give a boot, don't pollute. It's fine...Nilliven's got a crew of unpaid interns just off screen that make sure all his spare loot piles get donated to Chosen Ones Without Borders once he leaves the area.
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Oct 9, 2018 01:05
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 Episode 13 - Locating Labyrinthian Our inventory overflowing with loot, we delve deeper into the Fortress of Ice to acquire the stolen tablet piece for Thelen Kaarn.
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Oct 10, 2018 04:43
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 Episode 14 - Tale of Two Brothers We do a bit of shopping in the nearby towns and then enter Labyrinthian, only to be greeted with an unexpected story.
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Oct 11, 2018 20:41
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 Episode 15 - Riddles, Three We make an effort to solve the riddles of Labyrinthian in order to acquire the second piece of the Staff of Chaos.
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Oct 13, 2018 01:04
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BattleCattle posted:I caught up! I’ve wanted to play this ever since I got out of college, but I don’t have a computer. Thanks for showin’ this off, bub! It’s improved my quality of life! Sure thing. Glad you're enjoying it.
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Oct 13, 2018 17:25
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 Episode 16 - Skyrim Wilds Second piece of the Staff of Chaos in hand, we take some time to explore outside the cities and towns of Skyrim, as well as determine where we need to go next. rojovision fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Jan 26, 2019 |
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Oct 18, 2018 16:44
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 Episode 17 - A Sticky Situation The elves of Valenwood have a serious problem that goes by the name of Selene. She likes spiders and undead. Maybe even undead spiders, if such a thing exists.
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Oct 23, 2018 00:01
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 Episode 18 - Stolen Heart We make our way down to the second level of Selene's Web and are confronted with mazes and monsters.
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Oct 29, 2018 23:44
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 Episode 19 - To Elden Grove We finish up our exploration of Selene's Web and get a small glimpse of Elden Grove, a dungeon that seems to offer a very different aesthetic from what we've seen so far.
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Nov 9, 2018 01:50
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 Episode 20 - The Mist Has Eyes We explore deeper into Elden Grove, but many foes stalk its grounds unseen, and the grove seems to have a mind of its own. This has definitely been my favorite 'dungeon' so far, and I can easily imagine how incredibly atmospheric it could feel in a modern Elder Scrolls game.
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Nov 10, 2018 19:35
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 Episode 21 - Valenwood Wilds We adventure into the wilderness of Valenwood, and have an opportunity to experience the sunset.
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Nov 13, 2018 20:33
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 Episode 22 - The Infinium Resurfaces The Infinium reappears in Tamriel, and we must seek it out to gain yet more power.
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Nov 15, 2018 23:47
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 Episode 23 - Feeling Lucky We travel to High Rock and search for the Infinium once again.
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Nov 20, 2018 19:10
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 Episode 24 - The Temple of Agamanus A temple of warrior priests has attacked a mage's guild in Elsweyr, taking a stone tablet that the mages unearthed and claiming it was stolen from them.
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Nov 24, 2018 01:08
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 Episode 25 - The Temple's Lower Levels We continue to search the temple, with some unfortunate difficulty.
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Nov 28, 2018 05:24
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Unfortunately my current graphics card is in the process of dying. I have a new one on the way, but I might not get another Arena video out until this weekend. Just wanted to let you guys know.
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Nov 29, 2018 17:30
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 Episode 26 - Magickal Remodeling We use our wits and a bit of magic to defeat the temple's final challenges.
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Dec 1, 2018 20:00
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 Episode 27 - Roaming the Halls Having become quite wealthy, but only barely better equipped over the course of our recent adventures, we make our way to the Halls of Colossus to locate the fourth staff piece.
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Dec 7, 2018 03:23
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 Episode 28 - Counting Keys We continue searching the colossal Halls of Colossus for the six keys we require.
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Dec 8, 2018 18:40
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