Madman97 wrote:
Speaking of Spin-offs, I am conducting research on them for a news article to spread more awareness on Elder Scrolls Spin-offs and bouncing more readers back to the wiki! If anyone has played some of them, please drop me a line on my talk page explaining which game(s), what it entails and how it's played, whether you liked it or not, etc.
I've played both Battlespire and Redguard, however I've no idea if I manage to be useful.
Well let's start, shall we? First of all Battlespire, its character generator is actually the same as that in Daggerfall, with exception for the lack of khajiits and argonians as they weren't popular before due to having dull stats (I've heard, I didn't actually ever played or even got intersted in playing as one of those), and the fact that they were just coloured humans with tails.
It is not open-world game which for some reason makes people mad, there is also no currency as no daedra would know what septim is worth. There is one mechanic which made this game cool - you can speak to any daedra, well not any as some would be so mad that they would not lower their eternal divinities to such mundane pest like you. But you can try to talk with those daedra who can only articulate in daedric even though you won't be able to really converse with them. And then there are Ideal Masters, floating gems which even sounds like strange kind of mentor who would rip your soul to place you in better state of life as skeletons, but they won't go mad if you didn't offend them.
And here is one major cons, at least for me, so to get any dialogue you need to be humble to anyone, yes, if you are proud you can sometimes talk out of fight but where is the money in that. The best is to appear humble, and then after it, attack whenever he was friendly or not, I appear to be some kind of a scumbag, but you can raise your stats only seven times, at the end of every level. And you'd better be prepared as every level won't forgive you, however they are less demanding than the first one as it was really a hell even if hero hadn't entered one yet. Either you have good stats at the beginning, either you're screwed.
Thing with the last "boss battle" is that it is somehow suiting that Mehrunes Dagon is banished by an armor, his own name, and a weapon more than you, but it's rather anti-climactic as in one blast of that artifact he is gone - easier than any other enemy.
One word at the end, people say that game is full of bugs- well some enemies sometimes stuck in walls, and jumping mechanic sometimes won't work and you'll stuck in them as well. Which if you have little idea how to emulate it, you're "dead" (or more likely cought and trapped in oblivion forever) and as it happen game will crush. I felt myself lucky that with my limited knowledge I somehow was able to emulate it.
After quite long text here is another game! Hooray, more reading!
Well, after Battlespire, Redguard felt awfully easy, every boss- Dvarven Centurion, Goblin King, even dragon Nafaalilargus was easy (the last one because of buggy fight), only one challenge was ending fight with Richton, and it was only due to the fact how much health he has for a human. Fighting mechanic was actually one of the finest thing in game, shame it wasn't really pollished. To win you need to avoid or try to block any oncoming attack, which while you have your sabre was quite hard for beginners, but by the time you'll easily learn how to do so and sadly everyone will be no match for you.
There is no character creation which I don't mind, as for the sake of it I had fully voiced character with backstory, pretty neat. And as for the fact that there are not so many characters, every single one has its own personality and political insights which aren't like this- He is siding with that faction and accept everything it does, but He is supporting them, but why for Hunding sake the did such shameful things, or He is supporting them, but he is oblivious to the fact that they're with highest probability exterminated. It's actually more than that I've just simplified their political reviews, but even for such "fan" of political intrigues and looking through diplomatic facade of politics it was fine piece of insight in Hammerfell recent events by the time of the game.
As for plot, it is one hell of the plot, while everything seem to be in chaos at the beginning, then every side quest form into one plotline which is quite well made, with exeption of those Dwarves, whose culture was first introduced in that very game, it just seems to be put forcefully into the plot. As Dwarven gear which we are to bring for repairement consist only of three cogs and could've been as well made by looking through mechanism, and how could they know that such thing is inside centurion is beyond me. Somehow it was also strange for the most powerful witch of yokudan tribes to make some foolish mistake and put hero and saviour prince A'tor's soul into his sword - I smell "deus ex machina". But overall plot is not so bad, good even , at least for Bethesda main plots, which with exeption for Morrowind are always plain.
As I said it was the first time elder scrolls, have seen any of the dwarves magnifcient constructions, well except, again, for their weaponry and armour. There was their one of the greatest, now ruined, city in Vollenfell, nearly fully functionable observatory and one awesome contraption- dwarven "Zeppelin", or airship if you like, which was used for governor as a mean of escape, failed by the way. But as I mentioned dragon, the first time ever in Elder Scrolls series we could see a dragon exactly in Redguard, as in Daggerfall it planned appearance didn't made its way in the final release, leaving him only for lore.
I think it's all, if you have any questions, please ask, and try not to mind my obvious mistake in english as I'm foreigner, or at least tell me how to write more understandable, or do what your inner entanglement of thoughts, called mind, tell you- I'm not your overlord, even though it could be fun, or not. There is really few people who can tell.
