The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II - Daggerfall

 PC
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 131 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 99 out of 131
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 131
  3. Negative: 10 out of 131
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  1. shArk87
    Nov 7, 2016
    10
    no words to describe this amazing, fantasy 3D huge random generated world. I just love the massive landscape keeping in mind a 96 game..
    Simply amazing, i replayed this game at elast 2 times, spend a lot of hours on it
  2. notacarebear
    Feb 10, 2021
    10
    When this game from 26 years ago is better than 99% of modern RPGS you know the game industry is literally a scam.
  3. Doeren_Ithron
    May 1, 2013
    10
    It is like god of RPG went down to the developers and gave them the knowledge of a perfect RPG. Leveling, lots of awesome characters skills, deep lore, ability to buy any building, naked women, great story and so on. All this things, that recently appeared in modern games. And then developers tried to put all this knowledge into one big game... That were are all the problems started. YouIt is like god of RPG went down to the developers and gave them the knowledge of a perfect RPG. Leveling, lots of awesome characters skills, deep lore, ability to buy any building, naked women, great story and so on. All this things, that recently appeared in modern games. And then developers tried to put all this knowledge into one big game... That were are all the problems started. You can't make a perfect RPG with mortal hands. :)
    Still, 10 out of 10, because its great and worth every hour of playing.    … Expand
  4. NikolayG
    Jun 10, 2015
    10
    The best Bethsoft RPG of all, better than Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, and ESO. I love the visceral mouse swinging combat and the massive randomly generated world. It is THE rpg. Get a guide book to tell you where all the special items are. You could play Daggerfall for years. I still do almost 20 years later. Daggerfall and Ultima 7 are the best rpgs ever made. And both can still beThe best Bethsoft RPG of all, better than Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, and ESO. I love the visceral mouse swinging combat and the massive randomly generated world. It is THE rpg. Get a guide book to tell you where all the special items are. You could play Daggerfall for years. I still do almost 20 years later. Daggerfall and Ultima 7 are the best rpgs ever made. And both can still be played on modern machines. Get Ultima 7 from GOG.com. I'm not sure where I got Daggerfall from. I think Bethsoft is, or was, giving it away as a free download. You can even find it on the internet ported for Mac and it runs perfectly.… Expand
  5. Necromus
    Aug 31, 2012
    10
    Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall: This game was released in 1996 and deservingly won a Game of the Year Award. This game was my favourite game of all time until Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim came out and replaced it as my favourite. This game was a very ambitious attempt to create a massive interactive realistic RPG world where your actions would have consequences in the game. How you chose to talkElder Scrolls II: Daggerfall: This game was released in 1996 and deservingly won a Game of the Year Award. This game was my favourite game of all time until Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim came out and replaced it as my favourite. This game was a very ambitious attempt to create a massive interactive realistic RPG world where your actions would have consequences in the game. How you chose to talk to someone would change how they respond to you. Talk rude to a noble person they would not like you, talk noble to a rogue like character they wouldn't like you either, get it right and they would like you. If you went around murdering every innocent NPC you came across then the assassin's guild would try to recruit you. Pick pocket a lot of people then the thieves guild would try to recruit you, etc. You had to be careful what you did. If you joined the mages guild you were not supposed to kill or steal so if they found out you also joined the thives guild and/or assassin's guild you could get kicked out so your actions had real consequences. Also, if you murdered a lot of people in a town you could be arrested or if the town really didn't like you the guards would just try to kill you as soon as they saw you. If you got bit by a werewolf or a vampire you might turn into one permanently. The dungeons were so huge that you could get lost in them for days. The direction your rolled your computer mouse determined how you slashed your sword against your enemy. The questing in the game was pretty much free form, you talked to people in towns and they asked you to do stuff for them. many quests were exciting, you would do stuff like get and item out of the end of a dungeons, rescue hostages, do an assassination, etc. This was the days before MMOs and there lame go here and pick 10 flowers kinds of quests lol. You got better at the skills you used. If you swam a lot you became a good swimmer. If you used a sword a lot you became an expert at using a sword, etc. You could create your own spells and enchantments. When creating a character you could 1) pick a class, 2) answer a bunch of questions and have the game pick the class that matched your personality best or 3) create a completely custom character where you choose all of the stats and abilities yourself. Now this game has really bad graphics by today's standards (it was written for DOS since it was released prior to Windows 95) and it was the buggyist game I have ever played (you had to cheat with the console to complete some of the quests sometimes), but for its time this game was so ambitious and ahead of its time I have to give it a 10/10.… Expand
  6. Vault-Boy
    Aug 13, 2012
    10
    Daggerfall is one of the greatest RPG's ever made. The amount of content, things to do, quality of content, and story were all overwhelming and memorable. The game's explorable land is actually twice the size of Great Britain, making it the largest, non-generated, landmass of any game of all time. It takes two real world weeks to walk form one side of the map to the other. That is prettyDaggerfall is one of the greatest RPG's ever made. The amount of content, things to do, quality of content, and story were all overwhelming and memorable. The game's explorable land is actually twice the size of Great Britain, making it the largest, non-generated, landmass of any game of all time. It takes two real world weeks to walk form one side of the map to the other. That is pretty damn big. With multiple way to go through the main story, Daggerfall was truly built around the players wishes. As a roleplaying game, this was when PC gaming was at its greatest, with Daggerfall as a flagship game for this genre. Class creation and role playing as a character is amazing in the game. In my opinion, in comparison to modern games, the combat is pretty bad. But This is one of the most influential and amazing games of all time.… Expand
  7. chrisevjnr86
    Jun 3, 2014
    10
    I got the anthology elder scrolls set and thought it would be fun to play this old, dated awful looking game! i started playing just to poke fun at the graphics and laugh at how cheap the music sounded. There were a lot of glitches and saving problems until i downloaded the DOS 32 a file but still had a couple of issues of the game. But somehow i just could not leave this game alone, theI got the anthology elder scrolls set and thought it would be fun to play this old, dated awful looking game! i started playing just to poke fun at the graphics and laugh at how cheap the music sounded. There were a lot of glitches and saving problems until i downloaded the DOS 32 a file but still had a couple of issues of the game. But somehow i just could not leave this game alone, the sneering stopped and i started to fall in love with this game. I am currently well over 100 hours in this world and have to say that this game has captured my imagination more than any of the other games in the elder scrolls anthology!! it's a shame there are so many glitches and saving errors still but what bethesda game doesn't? you sort of get used to this by playing bethesda games, excellent games but glitches galore, i hope that they work this out in the future but i doubt it. they will charge you for a game that might not finish and then charge you again for the add on that will fix the problem. But i cant keep away as these games are just fantastic.… Expand
  8. TripleBeam
    Mar 31, 2021
    10
    Still the best CRPG of all time... Until OnceLostGames finishes the sequel.
  9. Wave0Cloud
    Feb 26, 2023
    10
    A memorable game that is still played and modded till this day with Daggerfall Unity. Enjoy climbing up walls, shooting magic spells and dressing up your hero with different pieces of armor and clothing. Daggerfall has a lovely charm which set a lot of the elder scrolls lore into the ground to grow over the coming years with interesting characters and a complex plot, but enjoyable story.
  10. elijahlape
    Jun 3, 2022
    10
    Fascinating, incredibly deep, and complex pen-and-paper RPG that you definitely should try for yourself.
  11. Gunswetta
    Aug 21, 2023
    10
    This is where it all started. The lore we all love. The Daedra, The Temples of light, the nine Divine. Tamriel...

    In the first 20 hours of Daggerfall: I became a werewolf, learned how to infinitely fly with levitate, stole my way to infinite gold, Summoned Sheogorath, and cured my Lycanthropy so I wouldn't be hunted down the entire game by a Lycanthrope hunter. Yep, it's all here.    This is where it all started. The lore we all love. The Daedra, The Temples of light, the nine Divine. Tamriel...

    In the first 20 hours of Daggerfall: I became a werewolf, learned how to infinitely fly with levitate, stole my way to infinite gold, Summoned Sheogorath, and cured my Lycanthropy so I wouldn't be hunted down the entire game by a Lycanthrope hunter.

    Yep, it's all here. All of the Daedra and their artifacts. Azura's Star, Molag Bal's mace, Wabbajack. The Guilds are all here. The Dark Brotherhood included will contact you after you've killed 3 innocent people. The Thieves guild will contact you after stealing.

    It's just incredible to discover your roots.

    The drawbacks: UNITY is basically required to make this game playable in 2023. You need Unity, and the dream mod. There are at least 20 other mods that boost the quality of life, but UNITY and DREAM are a must.

    Dungeons are so confusing and with that, the gameplay is super dated for today's standards. You have to understand, this pioneered all modern FPS RPGs. Look at it from a historical perspective, not a modern-day Skyrim.    … Expand
  12. BlackWidow
    May 4, 2013
    9
    I'm a huge fan of the TES games, but I really do believe this to be one of Bethesda's best, and one of the best RPGs ever made, just a few steps behind games such as the Baldur's Gate Saga, Torment, and Diablo II. Sure, it's an old game, with mediocre graphics, but the variety of game play options is just astounding. You can be a noble knight, a grave-robbing criminal, or pretty muchI'm a huge fan of the TES games, but I really do believe this to be one of Bethesda's best, and one of the best RPGs ever made, just a few steps behind games such as the Baldur's Gate Saga, Torment, and Diablo II. Sure, it's an old game, with mediocre graphics, but the variety of game play options is just astounding. You can be a noble knight, a grave-robbing criminal, or pretty much anything you want to be. The game world is so extremely large, it will boggle your mind. The ONLY reason I didn't rate this a perfect 10, is because there is no third person view option, (something I enjoy in RPGs), but it's not that big of a deal, especially for such a fantastic game. Furthermore, unlike the last three TES games, this one actually has an ending. I like that in an RPG. So, the replay value is extremely high. The biggest problem with Daggerfall is it's HARD, and is one of the reasons I quit playing a few times, but I always go back to it eventually. Awesome game which no RPG fan should miss.… Expand
  13. TimeOfTheChimps
    Feb 22, 2020
    9
    I recently tried The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (Unity version), which improves movement, visual clarity, and the UI, but largely keeps the game intact as it was out of the box.

    GAMEPLAY. Where to start with this one... imagine DOOM but somehow even more terrifying. Because straight out of the gate, the starting dungeon throws bats, archers, rats, bears, imps that shoot instakill    I recently tried The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (Unity version), which improves movement, visual clarity, and the UI, but largely keeps the game intact as it was out of the box.

    GAMEPLAY. Where to start with this one... imagine DOOM but somehow even more terrifying. Because straight out of the gate, the starting dungeon throws bats, archers, rats, bears, imps that shoot instakill fireballs, skeletons, and more at you as you try to navigate and survive a procedurally generated nightmare labyrinth of endless claustrophobic tunnels and rooms that lead to nowhere. Imagine the jump scare I had when I'd seen no enemies for like 5 minutes and some muscle man jumps out of the wall down the hallway and nails me with an arrow. I died like twenty times in this exact same way. Sheesh. This is a straight-up horror game and you will never be more relieved to finally see the outside sunlight in any Elder Scrolls game.

    CHARACTER CREATION. You select your province which gives you your starting race (which for me is Black Marsh, always), and though the actual sprite that your character is represented by is pretty static with the exception of faces, the game is really surprisingly in-depth with class creation and whatnot. It gives you a generated background and even armour/weapons (based on questions you answered at the start). I chose a bard specialising in intelligence and sneak, and I got an ebony dagger, which judging by the other games and the enemies I was hitting with it, is pretty OP.

    THE WORLD. Not too much variety outside of dungeons. Though the map is just a tad bit bigger than the landmass of Great Britain, there will never not be a time where you don't fast travel to wherever you're going, because outside of the usual towns is endless miles of randomly generated terrain that you will never cross in its entirety no matter how long you walk. And enemies don't even spawn out in the wilderness, adding to its uselessness. Interactions with NPCs is pretty much as it is in the later Morrowind, with the exception of three tones of voice you can speak to people with. Not that it matters, because until your disposition is up, you'll get lots of "Oh WHAT NOW", "You're wasting my damn time", and "What do YOU want, Argonian?" which is exactly how I picture people in TES universe talking to each other based on Tamriel's expansive history of warfare and slavery. Quests you get from NPCs are timed, even the main quest, which means if you decide to screw around for weeks, the game will give you a pretty big "screw you" and lock you out of the story. Games from 1996 really did not mess around.

    THE VERDICT. I'm not that far into the game yet, but based on what I've seen, this is a deep, surprisingly fun, if a bit flawed, pseudo-horror RPG that is basically an all around work of art, from the enemies and the sprite designs, to the scary ass sound effects of screaming skeletons and beyond. There's clearly a few things lore-wise that still needed to be ironed out, but for the most part the foundation for the future games is all here. Even the map of Tamriel has remained the exact same since 1996 and that's pretty amazing. Overall, it's a pretty good game that you have to try at least once in your life, especially if you're an Elder Scrolls fanatic.    … Expand
  14. marc5477
    Dec 28, 2014
    9
    An unbelievable achievement in game making in its time. No one had ever made anything that even comes close to resembling this game and it put almost any RPG to shame for many years until Morrowind. Huge open world, tons to do and almost no limits to the imagination and all in full 3D in a time when Zelda: Ocarina of Time & Final Fantasy VII were considered the greatest 3D game everAn unbelievable achievement in game making in its time. No one had ever made anything that even comes close to resembling this game and it put almost any RPG to shame for many years until Morrowind. Huge open world, tons to do and almost no limits to the imagination and all in full 3D in a time when Zelda: Ocarina of Time & Final Fantasy VII were considered the greatest 3D game ever made... Daggerfall came out 2 years before Zelda OoT!!!! Yes 2 year BEFORE. It came out 1 year before FFVII which many consider the best 3D RPG of all time. Daggerfall made Zelda and FFVII look like baby toys in comparison but alas, very few knew about this gem until years laters when they were introduced to Morrowind.

    Daggerfall had the largest landmass of all ES games to date. In fact, it was probably bigger than all of them put together. As great as that sounds, there are a few hiccups. First, a lot of reused graphics made the world look repetitive. Dungeons were randomly generated and huge too compared to other ES games but they did get boring after 40 hours of similar looking dungeons. So although there was a lot of stuff to explore, much of it was repetitive but you have to remember when this was made. it still had 10x more unique content than Zelda or FFVII so despite repetitiousness, it was still 10x bigger than both those games. You just need to keep some perspective when we look at this game objectively. It did not have the budget of todays games but no game did back then yet they achieved something incredible anyway.

    Daggerfall was easily the greatest game made to date. A year later we got Baldurs Gate and FFVII and after that there was Zelda, and a year later Planescape Torment followed by BGII and Morrowind. These were the golden years of gaming and produced some of the greatest games of all time.... if only we updated the graphics they would still be great today.    … Expand
  15. johnmp
    Jun 20, 2014
    9
    This game is ridiculously fun and immersive except for ONE big flaw: the dungeons are HUGE and there's no in-game guidance to help you explore them. If they were a bit smaller, or had less arbitrary paths that led to nothing, or had some help that pointed you toward your objective, then this game is easily a 10. It's just a drag when you want to do a small side-quest that involves goingThis game is ridiculously fun and immersive except for ONE big flaw: the dungeons are HUGE and there's no in-game guidance to help you explore them. If they were a bit smaller, or had less arbitrary paths that led to nothing, or had some help that pointed you toward your objective, then this game is easily a 10. It's just a drag when you want to do a small side-quest that involves going into a dungeon, and it ends up taking an hour because there are so many pathways and you have to wander aimlessly until you find what you're looking for.… Expand
  16. Gladismoxy
    Oct 7, 2014
    9
    Closest experience I've had that's between reading and playing... Get this game, it's free, what can you lose? Never seen a game so huge and immersive... Bugs can kill your saves though, therefor ruining the entire game, but it's something we are willing to take for the experience of living in another world, that's literally the size of Great Britain.
  17. Sphinxmoth
    Feb 19, 2020
    9
    Daggerfall is a great game, atmospheric, immersive and interesting, but it feels unfinished. Literally.
  18. storygamer
    Sep 15, 2020
    9
    After the brilliant Arena, The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II - Daggerfall marks the beginning of a video game legend. Daggerfall is maybe the most groundbreaking RPG release ever. Of course, this game was released 1996, so many things like the graphics are outdated, but the experience is just unique. Check it out, Daggerfall and Arena are free on the Bethesda homepage. And these games are a must have!
  19. Chillaoi
    Jan 14, 2023
    9
    Review só pra lembrar a nota que dei pro jogo:
    O seguindo jogo da série e na minha opinião o segundo melhor da série (atrás de Morrowind), mesmo com seus gráficos datados DAGGERFALL ainda apresenta um charme da época, uma dificuldade alta que ira te ensinar que morrer também faz parte do jogo.
  20. narpet
    Oct 27, 2010
    8
    Daggerfall is a great game. Though seriously dated by today's standards... it was a huge leap forward in free-roaming RPGs when it was released. Of course it was realeased with a huge amount of bugs as well.

    It looked great when it came out... and it was absolutely huge. After being patched (though never completely fixed) it was a great game. You can play through the story (which is    Daggerfall is a great game. Though seriously dated by today's standards... it was a huge leap forward in free-roaming RPGs when it was released. Of course it was realeased with a huge amount of bugs as well.

    It looked great when it came out... and it was absolutely huge. After being patched (though never completely fixed) it was a great game. You can play through the story (which is fairly good) or you can just wander around and do what you want. This is an older game, so getting it to run on new hardware/software may be daunting unless you know what you're doing. But if you can take off your "graphics-goggles" and take your time... Daggerfall is a game worht playing. There are still people playing this game to this day... and you could literally play it for years and not see everything.    … Expand
  21. Shadow1
    Aug 28, 2016
    8
    This game is very good for 1996, but in 1996 there are games is better than TES II Duggerfall, but TES II Duggerfall is very awesome too, because in TES II there are good open world, awesome gameplay and interesting gaming world, in TES II there is magic, as in all TES Games, I think TES II is very good game and better than many other RPG of 1990s, but isnt best RPG of 1990s, because SuperThis game is very good for 1996, but in 1996 there are games is better than TES II Duggerfall, but TES II Duggerfall is very awesome too, because in TES II there are good open world, awesome gameplay and interesting gaming world, in TES II there is magic, as in all TES Games, I think TES II is very good game and better than many other RPG of 1990s, but isnt best RPG of 1990s, because Super Mario RPG Legend of Seven Stars and Final Fantasy 6/7 are better than TES II Duggerfall, but TES II is very awesome too.… Expand
  22. SolveEtCoagula
    Oct 10, 2020
    8
    Truly a grand RPG experience, vast open world, freedom and all that good stuff. But some of the buggy sequences are making this a chore to play sometimes. Had to start over min. 3 times due to quest crashes and other gamebreaking errors. World is vast, but it's looks like a transparent curtains for shallow scenery that is not worth to explore to it's fullest. But all those drawbacks cannotTruly a grand RPG experience, vast open world, freedom and all that good stuff. But some of the buggy sequences are making this a chore to play sometimes. Had to start over min. 3 times due to quest crashes and other gamebreaking errors. World is vast, but it's looks like a transparent curtains for shallow scenery that is not worth to explore to it's fullest. But all those drawbacks cannot change the fact that it is a lot of fun to play it now, i wold recommend Unity overhaul, totally awesome.… Expand
  23. Anonymous_1
    Oct 2, 2014
    7
    Pros: Biggest and most realistic in scale fantasy game world I've ever seen; fun first-person combat; great roleplaying mechanics; keeps things unpredictable and fresh; the dungeons were always terrifying and ominous to go into; very deep gameplay, mechanics and story.

    Cons: Bad graphics by modern standards; some of the music is annoying; hard to figure out controls; steep learning    Pros: Biggest and most realistic in scale fantasy game world I've ever seen; fun first-person combat; great roleplaying mechanics; keeps things unpredictable and fresh; the dungeons were always terrifying and ominous to go into; very deep gameplay, mechanics and story.

    Cons: Bad graphics by modern standards; some of the music is annoying; hard to figure out controls; steep learning curve.

    Score Breakdown: Horror 10/10, Loading Screens and Frame Rate 9/10, Plot Development 9/10, Gameplay 8/10, Replay Value 8/10, Background Story 8/10, Voice Acting 8/10, Game Stability 7/10, Realism 7/10, Sound Effects and Music 3/10, Graphics 3/10, Total Score 7.3/10

    Conclusion: A good game if you can get past the obsolete graphics, sometimes annoying music, the controls and the steep learning curve. This is a much better game than Bethesda's modern offerings, despite the bad graphics in this old game. Bethesda should take notes of what they've forgotten from here instead of trying to disguise worse games in fancy graphics.    … Expand
  24. TheDiabolic
    Feb 16, 2016
    7
    Major Points listed:

    1. Love the combat system, honestly its better than the combat system in Skyrim. 2. Extremely difficult to understand tasks at hand, Quests are hard to complete because the world is so large and you are given too little information to find anything. especially with very bad controls and a terrible camera. I understand that this game is very old and outdated,    Major Points listed:

    1. Love the combat system, honestly its better than the combat system in Skyrim.

    2. Extremely difficult to understand tasks at hand, Quests are hard to complete because the world is so large and you are given too little information to find anything. especially with very bad controls and a terrible camera. I understand that this game is very old and outdated, however this only makes up for graphics. The maps could have easily been split apart by separating dungeons, Instead maps are extremely difficult to interpret due to elevation and leave you lost the majority of the time retracing your steps for hours. I also hated that dungeon maps would reset after exiting a dungeon and that everything was randomly generated, felt the same and was too large - with a very small render distance.

    3. Dungeons were fun (yet repetitive), and challenging.

    4. Annoying system for crimes in which guards are invisible and randomly arrest you regardless of if anyone can find you.

    5. Races are somewhat unbalanced.

    I thought this game was pretty fun but it's flaws prevented me from enjoying nearly everything to any major extent. I will give this the highest neutral score instead of a 6/10 in which it deserves because it is worth your time (only because it's free).

    Enemy AI: 7/10 Good
    Camera: 3/10 Atrocious
    Controls: 5/10 Poor
    Replay Value: 8/10 Very Good
    Content: 7/10 Good
    Gameplay Tools: 0/10 Game hindering would actually prefer nothing
    Combat: 10/10 Excellent
    Dialogue: 6/10 Average
    and for the fun of it

    Size: Seriously Too Much For It's Own Good    … Expand
  25. Senden_Wh
    Jun 1, 2022
    6
    Можно вечно видеть приключения в этом мире, но тут очень маленькая проработанность их. Мечта было бы иметь огромные полотна текста, сделанные вручную миллиардом программистов. Очень бы было фантастично, чтобы появился один сумасшедший, кто выполнил такой проектМожно вечно видеть приключения в этом мире, но тут очень маленькая проработанность их. Мечта было бы иметь огромные полотна текста, сделанные вручную миллиардом программистов. Очень бы было фантастично, чтобы появился один сумасшедший, кто выполнил такой проект
  26. actinium
    Oct 6, 2021
    1
    / /
  27. Interfalen
    Jan 31, 2023
    1
    Honestly it may seem like it could be a fun game to try out but in reality don't bother. Play Skyrim or Oblivion instead
  28. GapeHorn
    Jan 8, 2022
    0
    Old and Outdated. Skip it, play skyrim instead. At least with skyrim, it'll never stop getting updated....