Like many of the elder scrolls protagonists i feel like i have just freed myself from prison after finishing this game. I sometimes ask myself "Why are you so stubborn with the dumbest shit?", well since october last year (january 21 as I type this) I was trapped in the pixelated dungeons of the very first the elder scrolls game just so i can write about it on my blog, real 90's shit. I must admit that skyrim never really captivate me much and i felt like the gameplay was a bit lacking in depth both in combat and in roleplaying, not to mention that the medieval fantasy for the longest time was one of my least favorite settings for media, i have since read the hobbit, game of thrones, berserk, played demons's souls, all the dark souls, the witcher 2 which rivals tolkien, and of course played DnD and morkborg, i can now say that it is an ok setting for many interesting stories. The elder scrolls fans seem to be having a lot of fun so i wanted to join in, so i played Arena, as you do to get in the elder scrolls. So, what happens in Arena? Why is it called arena? The elder scrolls: arena has a very simple premise. a court sorcerer called jagar tharn has betrayed the emperor because he wants to disguise himself as the emperor and rule the empire, the mage's apprentice Ria Silmane who is also the only FMV character I saw in my playthrough tries to stop Jagar Tharn from completing his treacherous deed, but is swiftly defeated by her teacher. But Jagar Tharn did not quite win as the spirit of Ria is still alive and well. We, for our part, are completing a quiz which will land us as being a barbarian as our class, and this barbarian is named Barbara.
My tastes land me on a redguard woman. I was going to make a joke about having a double debuff for being both black and a woman to personality but i cannot confirm nor deny that statement, i don't even remember where i heard that from, but if it is well, That is an odd factoid isn't it?. debuff or not, barbara is here and she was chosen by Ria to rid the empire of the false emperor, for she will become the eternal champion. So Ria tells us to grab the conveniently placed key to our cell which is inside our cell so we can escape our cell and eventually our prison, then we can gather the pieces of the staff of chaos, but for we shall beat the first enemy of arena: the controls and UI This is the 90's so there is no WASD controls or mouse view, we use the arrow keys and pull out our weapon using the 'A' key on the keyboard, and to actually swing the weapon? well you right click and drag the cursor around the screen of course. Want to pick up an item? you of course press the pickpocket looking icon and then press of the key, but gods forgive you if you are slightly off the invisible hitbox or at the wrong distance because you will be wondering if the game is bugged or if you are intellectually impaired for 3 minutes. Many other oddities shall await those who intend to experience The elder scrolls: Arena which will make you feel like you are the girlfriend on those gaming for non-gamer videos, with the conventions of the time going way past your head. This, dear reader, makes so i would not recommend submitting yourself to this experience which takes over 20 hours to start feeling genuinely entertaining. I also know for a fact that anyone determined enough to experience arena will not be dissuaded by any lack of approachability this game might have for a modern audience. The gameplay loop for this game is as simple as its story:
Most of the dungeons blend together into pixelated fantasy mush, but the one in skyrim filled with ice and ice wolves, and the one that is filled with lava forcing use to use fire resistance potions to traverse are some outliers which have some great atmosphere, the foggy forest also does come to mind, but that dungeons was annoying as fuck despite looking great. As the non-caster barbara is she had to rely on many potions and enchanted items to complete her quest successfully, potions are for healing, damage resistance, and any other situational utility such as levitation and light. Combat as a barbarian could not be more barbaric, you just randomly swing your weapon at things until they die. I have never cared much for the way bethesda does combat in it's games, i find it quite simplistic and combat being the main focus of The moment to moment gameplay really makes it hard to have a good time with Bethesda games. Arena feels so expansive, i will give it that, but at the same time it feels as if things are just randomly placed around a huge world with no rhyme or reason, making all seem like fluff instead of a deliberately made experience and space. I know it is not possible with Arena, but maybe like it did for skyrim playing these exploration heavy games in VR might be the push i need to understand the praise these games get. At some points in this experience i genuinely enjoyed my time, but by the end i was completely burned out by the 8 iterations of the same cycle, i think that the game would have benefitted from being half the length or so that it is, but i understand they wanted to show off all of tamriel i can't shame the team making this for wanting to show us their cool world, but for me it was quite a lot of game with not much substance to it. Still with all that, maybe the ordeal that it was getting to that point made the final cutscene of Jagar Tharn melting so much more satisfying. I don't recommend this game for fun, but i think the most curious and stubborn among us will venture into the arena and find something of value just as I and many before and the less but still many after me have done.