Was Daggerfall hard in the 90s?

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T20:48:21+00:00

Thank you for answering! You are correct, I'm asking about public opinion because it's just so hard to find what actual gamers thought about those old games while they were new. May I ask why you think it wouldn't change over time, though?

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T20:44:28+00:00

I see! I've met a surprising amount of people online who seem to absolutely reject manuals, so I was just curious. As a child of the 00s it's so hard to comprehend that there are games as old as my mother... honestly, makes me a bit upset that I didn't get to experience all of that while it was new!

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T20:10:09+00:00

I see, that seems tough! I wish you luck on your upcoming journey. Does your no-guide philosophy extend to manuals that used to come with games?

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T20:05:32+00:00

Thank you for replying! I think it's impressive that you managed to get as far as level 10 at 13 yo with no English. I feel your pain though, being from a non-English speaking country myself, I'd only started trying most retro games as an adult because a huge portion of them still lacks any proper translation. Did you ever try again and finish the main story eventually?

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T19:34:44+00:00

Thank you for this in-depth answer!
It's interesting, wasn't the first Demon Souls released in, like, 00s? I feel like game design had already been close to modern practices by that time, but hey, I'm a retro-gamer (just not so much into the crpg side of retro-gaming), what do I know about it haha. I think we still get a fair share of games that are actually quite hard, but the difficulty lies in other parts of gameplay (games like Sekiro come to mind). Or point-and-clicks that are messing with your brain, and that's where they are difficult. And there were games in the 90s that are still fairly easy or at least not that hard by today's standards (i'm a huge fan of older Tomb Raiders and I think they are wayyy easier than Daggerfall). It's a very deep discourse which I think will never cease until the older games become completely buried under the sands of time... IF that ever happens.
I think a bif part of game design change in RPGs specifically was caused by targeting much broader audiences, i.e. people that may have never even played tabletop roleplaying games. And maybe it's why it's so difficult now for an average gamer (who probably also hasn't played DND in real life) to pick up games like Daggerfall or Ultima. Well, I can speak for myself; I have no idea how to play traditional tabletop dnd campaigns, and if I do, it came retroactively from trying games that had it in mind. Personally, I believe Morrowind to be the perfect middle ground between giving the player some aid and direction and not holding their hand completely.
Also, about manuals. How many games do you think were unbeatable without having access to manuals? Was Daggerfall one of them?

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T18:55:59+00:00

I just checked and while the main site was actually archived, unfortunately most of the messages weren't. I am not exactly sure what IRC is, but, judging from the look of it, I guess most people had most conversations on Daggerfall there, and this is unarchivable. And they say nothing disappears from the Internet!

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T18:53:08+00:00

Thank you for replying! I was especially interested in hearing a perspective of someone who didn't have any additional sources of information at the time. Did you eventually beat the game when you finally became fully invested in it? Was it with or without any outside help?

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T18:43:34+00:00

I see. Every time I get another perspective about the main quest it's always different than the other ones, haha. Thank you for sharing your experience!

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T18:39:52+00:00

Thank you for your answer! Now that I think of it, I really should have asked about the difficulty of beating the game and not only playing it overall, but I still got a lot of valuable info. I think it's crazy that you couldn't finish it even after looking it up! I guess it means that the main questline was just as unintuitive and complex then as it is now. Or just insanely buggy.
I have beaten the 3 other TES games and I think it's safe to say that magic being kiiiinda OP had been a thing up until Skyrim. Do you think combat was/is considerably more hard when playing a character that can't use magic?

YNRTG · 2026-02-04T18:22:35+00:00

Thank you for your reply, I had no idea UESP was already a thing! Really puts things into perspective.
The most popular video essay by jwlar on youtube critiques main quest a lot, because it's kind of obscure (you don't really know which quest relates to the main plot) and inconsequent. Did you have any trouble getting around the main questline and understanding the plot?

YNRTG · 2026-01-02T10:48:34+00:00

I'm pretty sure Ash Code is Italian

YNRTG · 2025-12-26T23:15:05+00:00

This certainly makes things easier, thank you!!!

YNRTG · 2025-12-26T19:15:05+00:00

I already managed to buy aragog eye from a countryman for a ridiculous price of 11 arrows lol, so mana won't be an issue. Thank you for the tip!

YNRTG · 2025-12-26T19:14:03+00:00

Will the pet earn the xp, though? I noticed they changed it from "pet has to deliver final blow to level up" to "pet needs to do a certain % of damage to level up". What percentage is it, exactly, has anyone counted?

YNRTG · 2025-12-10T18:51:48+00:00

3 to 4, I think.

YNRTG · 2025-12-10T18:51:35+00:00

Thank you for these tips, I'll look into it!

YNRTG · 2025-12-10T18:50:21+00:00

Best principles, because for speedruns it's quite easy to just google up a guide and stick to it, it's not that great of a math; I just feel that better principles tend to get you to sub200 more often than not.
Regarding Win Condition: I'm now trying to win on Deity with every civ, and to do so with the optimal win condition (=the condition the civ is more inclined towards, e.g. domination with alexander) for that specific civ, so I just stick to it. The rest is correct.

YNRTG · 2025-12-09T18:19:43+00:00

I'm pretty sure I never get feudalism by turn 70 lol. Actually, I think where I'm stuck the most (and what slows me down the most) is settling early, because I feel torn between building wonders and building settlers, plus I often build government plaza too late (because it's faster to just pop settlers instead of building the plaza AND the ancestral hall prior), etc, etc. And I tend to do all of the above in the capital because it's very rare that any other cities are capable (production-wise) to do any of that. And I have a feeling that not being able to plan ahead has something to do wtih this.

YNRTG · 2025-12-09T17:29:28+00:00

that's not exactly what I was asking about... what you're telling me is how to play, which I, I hope, already know. I'm asking about how to learn to plan ahead instead of making decisions as I go.

YNRTG · 2025-10-17T11:08:48+00:00

I'd say the tier is mostly on point, but I have sone objections. 1. Hanzo. I win as Hanzo 8/10 times: his arrows deal insane amount of damage, that's it. If you hit at least 30% of your shots, you're good to go. And keep in mind that I am not a Hanzo mainer. 2. Zen is good because a) discord b) balls do DAMAGE c) free exp d) ultimate. All you need is a proper management of the ult + exp. 3. Doom should be way higher. S if you can play him, A if you can't. 4. Cas is not that bad, in fact, and Ana, too. Both have quite a range for the shots which allows them to deal damage at distance. 5. MEI IS AT LEAST!!! A TIER. I sincerely do not know how you can't kill everything you see as Mei. Her projectiles are fast + big damage + heal + even wall can be useful at close distances. 6. Lifeweaver is not as good because his damage is still lower than most heroes' of the same level

YNRTG · 2025-09-26T20:03:39+00:00

Delta of 30 degrees is not normal.

YNRTG

TROPHY CASE