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Download Daggerfall for free. Hopefully it's bug free too.
It turns out this year is the 15th anniversary of Bethesda Software’s Elder Scrolls series. Who knew? Spanning four games, the franchise is probably best known for its most recent additions: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006).
But the game had its origins back in the mid 1990s, and to celebrate those humble beginnings, Bethesda is giving away Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996) for free on its website. Yes that’s right: free. Not peer-to-peer free. Legit free.
For those of you who missed Daggerfall when it was first released, it was a game of flawed brilliance. It featured one of the largest playing areas ever created, allegedly the size of Great Britain. I never actually tested this claim out myself, by running from one side of the Daggerfall world to the other, but trust me: the game was big.
Unfortunately, however, Daggerfall will probably be best remembered for its bugs. It was one of the most buggy, poorly beta-tested PC games to ever hit the shelves... leaving countless frustrated RPG gamers in its wake.
Bethesda tried its best to rectify the situation. The company released countless patches in the hope of making Daggerfall playable. But, this being 1996 and all, not many people had the internet... so most gamers couldn’t download the patches anyway.
Instead, committed gamers played the game – bugs and all – and gave it the nickname “Buggerfall”.
Every other gaming website seems to be using this anniversary to honour Daggerfall’s brilliance. I thought it might be a good time to instead honour all those goddam bugs... because really, that's what I remember.The Supidest, Most-Ridiculous Daggerfall Bugs
Bug #1: When you first created your Daggerfall character, occasionally he would start the game with -1000 hit points. You would literally have to rest your character for weeks before you could even start playing.
Bug #2: The game would crash randomly. And often. The solution was to save before you did anything. About every 5 minutes seemed to help.
Bug #3: Supposedly the game’s likelihood of crashing was directly related to how many items you carried. The more items in your inventory, the greater the chance of a crash.
Bug #4: The game would also crash in direct proportion to how many quests you accepted. So if you were greedy with your quests, you would pay the price.
Bug #5: When you had a bow equipped, monsters would often equip the exact same bow. Even if that bow had special powers (for instance, even if it killed with a single arrow). The lesson? Never equip a bow.
Bug #6: Arrows could shoot through walls and doors. More reason not to equip a bow.
Bug #7: If you wanted to steal items from a store, all you needed to do was walk into a shop, wait until nightfall, and then save your game. The shopkeeper would strangely disappear, and you could help yourself to anything for free.
Bug #8: You would often fall through random holes in dungeon floors. “Often” as in every dungeon... more than once.
Bug #9: The worst bug of all. The game was actually released with a bug stopping you from completing the main plotline. The game would always crash when you reached a certain point (I can’t remember the exact point, but according to this old review – it was when you avenged Lysandus’ killer).
These bugs are just the tip of the iceberg. If you want a complete rundown, have a look at here or here or here.
If, after all that, you actually want to download and play this game, go to Bethesda’s website.
Posted 07/10/2009 by ShaolinCowboy.
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