Its only a good game depending on what u want.
The good:
- Cool character build creating system which allows for higher replay ability and customization.
- More polished combat, stats, and spells/spell making compared to arena (no bartering system/worse dungeons suck though for daggerfall)
- Solid role playing elements like the stats, classes, adv/dis created for ur character in creation, joinable guilds.
- Modding support.
- Ridiculously massive world, there is always something to do (though extremely repetitive so why wud u)
The bad:
- There is pretty much no tutorial and you need to do ur own research/read manual before making a character to not make an abysmal character.
- Ridiculously massive world that feels dead even though its filled with filler npcs that are only used to ask for directions. Way too big many of the cities/towns look exactly the same so not much substance there.
- The quests from npcs are quests mostly revolving dungeon crawling or delivering items to npcs around the world. I felt like a dog doing errands for nobles, scholars, and peasants. It is quite strange how everyone is ok giving u quests even if u have a "bad reputation" among locals. Like why are u trusting me to deliver this item to some random person who even has bad rep lol.
The gain from quests (like barely any money and some reputation) is very little compared to the time spent so it doesnt feel good doing quests. Quests are extremely repetitive and boring this mainly includes side and guild quests. Guilds seem only relevant in what they provide and u do the same 5 repeatable quests in random locations around the world to gain access to other services with reputation gain (even though u cant actually see ur reputation so u cant know what other specific quests/actions impact ur reputation).
Although I havent gotten very far in the main quest, it seems very difficult to get into/motivated to do due to the dungeons (getting to it) and due to how convoluted, time consuming, and downright confusing it is. So there isnt much direction u get regarding the MQ and quest descriptions arent very detailed. U have to wait multiple in game days at a time to receive letters not to mention reputation and level requirements as well as some quests not being available if u did MQ in a different order. When I was going through the story there wud be usually a large delay between quests and I'd pretty much forget all about the whole MQ and think why am I even doing this. Its very difficult to really follow the story and understand the confusing politics of the world that u r thrown in between of and it makes more sense as u go on I imagine but I honestly didnt care for the quests due to the dungeons and how confusing it all was. Apparently it becomes even more confusing with different quest paths and 7 potential endings?
- Dungeons are fucking awful. They are even worse than the first game (arena's) dungeons and as some redditor described "like exploring someone's lower intestines". They are randomly generated and even if not are extremely long even with short dungeon option enabled and just an overall horrible experience. Each dungeon can take u like 2-3 hours at a time so it feels so draining to even do them for ur quests and u are barely rewarded after. Each one is a labyrinth and extremely frustrating to do, u visit the same places multiple times and it is a MUST to have some key spells like water breathing and recall to even navigate through dungeons even if u want to role a character who doesnt use any magic.
Overall the game can be fun for a person who is interested in elder scrolls lore even though its likely quite different compared to any of the newer titles, a person interested in the role playing elements and those who enjoy creating/testing different game builds. However due to my issues with quests in general and dungeons that are the main aspects to the game, it is difficult to recommend this game especially to a newer audience.
The good:
- Cool character build creating system which allows for higher replay ability and customization.
- More polished combat, stats, and spells/spell making compared to arena (no bartering system/worse dungeons suck though for daggerfall)
- Solid role playing elements like the stats, classes, adv/dis created for ur character in creation, joinable guilds.
- Modding support.
- Ridiculously massive world, there is always something to do (though extremely repetitive so why wud u)
The bad:
- There is pretty much no tutorial and you need to do ur own research/read manual before making a character to not make an abysmal character.
- Ridiculously massive world that feels dead even though its filled with filler npcs that are only used to ask for directions. Way too big many of the cities/towns look exactly the same so not much substance there.
- The quests from npcs are quests mostly revolving dungeon crawling or delivering items to npcs around the world. I felt like a dog doing errands for nobles, scholars, and peasants. It is quite strange how everyone is ok giving u quests even if u have a "bad reputation" among locals. Like why are u trusting me to deliver this item to some random person who even has bad rep lol.
The gain from quests (like barely any money and some reputation) is very little compared to the time spent so it doesnt feel good doing quests. Quests are extremely repetitive and boring this mainly includes side and guild quests. Guilds seem only relevant in what they provide and u do the same 5 repeatable quests in random locations around the world to gain access to other services with reputation gain (even though u cant actually see ur reputation so u cant know what other specific quests/actions impact ur reputation).
Although I havent gotten very far in the main quest, it seems very difficult to get into/motivated to do due to the dungeons (getting to it) and due to how convoluted, time consuming, and downright confusing it is. So there isnt much direction u get regarding the MQ and quest descriptions arent very detailed. U have to wait multiple in game days at a time to receive letters not to mention reputation and level requirements as well as some quests not being available if u did MQ in a different order. When I was going through the story there wud be usually a large delay between quests and I'd pretty much forget all about the whole MQ and think why am I even doing this. Its very difficult to really follow the story and understand the confusing politics of the world that u r thrown in between of and it makes more sense as u go on I imagine but I honestly didnt care for the quests due to the dungeons and how confusing it all was. Apparently it becomes even more confusing with different quest paths and 7 potential endings?
- Dungeons are fucking awful. They are even worse than the first game (arena's) dungeons and as some redditor described "like exploring someone's lower intestines". They are randomly generated and even if not are extremely long even with short dungeon option enabled and just an overall horrible experience. Each dungeon can take u like 2-3 hours at a time so it feels so draining to even do them for ur quests and u are barely rewarded after. Each one is a labyrinth and extremely frustrating to do, u visit the same places multiple times and it is a MUST to have some key spells like water breathing and recall to even navigate through dungeons even if u want to role a character who doesnt use any magic.
Overall the game can be fun for a person who is interested in elder scrolls lore even though its likely quite different compared to any of the newer titles, a person interested in the role playing elements and those who enjoy creating/testing different game builds. However due to my issues with quests in general and dungeons that are the main aspects to the game, it is difficult to recommend this game especially to a newer audience.