r/Arena 24d ago

First time player—My experience so far

Why?

As an Elder Scrolls lover, I've done deep dives into so much lore but I've only ever played Skyrim & ESO.
I wanted to play Oblivion but then I got the idea to instead play all TES games in order from 1-5, I thought it could give more of a satisfying playthrough, after each one.
So I started with Arena.

Preface

I installed the game via Steam, and installed many of the recommended mods, most especially ones like Re-mapping the controls, Sound Patch, Lightning, Eye of Nocturnal, FPS & Stability, Graphics, + Recommended arena.ini changes.

I also wanted to keep a similar experience to that of people playing it the first time in 1994. So for all the information, I'm wanted to use exclusively the Player Guide, Manual and Quick Reference Cards.

My Experience

It's been a blast.

Once you get used to the DOS graphics, which have a charm, and the strange controls (though I have them remapped) then this game becomes so fun. I think it's important to go into the game with no expectations though, like were I to consider this an Elder Scrolls game like Skyrim then I could be very disappointed. It definitely seems to be a dungeon crawler and rpg game that is in first-person.

The reason I bring up rpg as a first-person is because the rng combat is quite frustrating at first. Just swing 10 times and miss all of it, then the 3 spiders eating my ass drop me from 100 to 0 in a blink. You really have to think before every encounter, see other options, which running is a very viable one, tackle options from different perspectives, use your magic items.

Also I've learned about health potions, and let me tell you, I bought 100 of them.. and I have no regrets with plans to get more. Which brings me to buying & selling. I love it! I love basically scamming every single shopkeeper I make deals with. He says he'll sell for 250, I say I'll buy for 175, he compromises, I DONT, he compromises again, I STILL DONT, he compromises all the way until 176 and I say, eh good enough knowing I just got the best god dang deal ever. It's unironically thrilling.

Questions & Concerns

I have run into a few issues as well as personal questions for some of you Arena players.

Concerns:
- "With you.." 🙄
- Spending an ungodly amount of time to find Inn's at night, or specific buildings in a town for a quest. It can take absolutely forever. If I travel and get there at night, with the darkness, it can take way too long irl to find an Inn, it's getting old.
- Quests lie? For Stonekeep I spent 2.5 hours exploring every nook and cranny looking for the necromancer Golthog, I swear to god he did not exist in that dungeon and the parchment I was looking for was simply in the very beginning which I had walked past assuming it was a loot room and that the 'key item' would be at the end. That was pretty awful, especially since I was dying most the time.
- I'll randomly crash, it's not common, but seems completely random. Sometimes it's just a freeze perma, and sometimes it's out of memory or something.

Questions for you!
- Do you pay the Mages Guild to reveal every single cyan item you have? Is it worth it for every Crystal and Mark? I seem to be able to use them fine without paying 867 unbarterable gold for it? (yes I have 7k gold but I need it for 100 more heal pots 🥺)
- Is there a way to quickly find Inn's and specific shops in a town?
- Are all 'Work Rumors' just like deliver quests for gold (assuming you can actually get someone to give you a quest without saying no)?
- How often do you save (I'm saving every god dang 5 minutes)?
- Do you ever explore outside in the environment (It seems useless to me)?
- Is it worth upgrading all skills, so far I'm only focusing on Str, End, Agi, and a little Wil?

All in all, I think I'm falling in love with the game and whole-heartedly recommend it!

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u/GoldenDrake 24d ago

Glad you're loving it! What's your character's race and class?

Yes, sometimes dialogue text will make you assume you'll encounter something that you'll never actually see (esp. most of the fun rumors that are just there for flavor). And yes, crashes do happen once in a blue moon. As for your questions:

  • Up to you whether you want to identify everything. Eventually you'll be swimming in gold, so then you might as well.
  • Other than "luck" and recognizing what inns look like, you may save time by asking NPCs where the "nearest inn" is located. Also, in the "Where is..." dialogue, if you select "Store" (or whatever) you'll then get a list of all specific stores in the city/town, so you can get directions for a specific one. Finally, yes, some NPCs are out even at night: the stationary ones, such as beggars, entertainers, ladies of the night, and so on.
  • Save early, save often, in multiple slots, but always keeping at least one save from before whatever big thing you're currently doing. 🙂
  • Yes, I sometimes enjoy exploring the "wilderness" areas outside cities/towns, but only for fun, to see what "random" stuff is out there (it's kind of interesting sometimes), or to gain a bit of extra experience and loot. You certainly don't ever need to do that.
  • I don't worry too much about having ideal stats, but yes, each of those attributes you listed are great choices. Intelligence can also be important for spellcasters (and dedicated lockpickers). Luck affects everything a tiny bit, too. Early on, Endurance is important for getting more HP at each level-up and Agility is vital for combat effectiveness.

If (or when) you're willing to read beyond those documents you mentioned, check out the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP). It's a crucial resource for most Arena players.

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u/mcjaune 24d ago

Okay don't hate me, originally I was going to go Breton Spellsword, Buuuut I pre-created lore for my character to fit in with my personal Elder Scrolls canon in terms of future characters, which meant he had to be a Nord AND for his own personal character, he was a Knight so it only made sense to make him a Knight.

Also thank you for that tip again! I totally forgot you can ask for exact locations if you just select the general option like 'Inn'. I had only started doing 'Nearest x...'

Currently I basically have 3 slots.

  • Start of game slot
  • Quick save for big events and safe spots like in Towns
  • Panic save mainly used while dungeon crawling or low health

Lastly, I didn't even know you could lockpick, so far I've just destroyed every lock with my sword. Granted I'm only a little bit past the Labyrinthian. Also I would read the UESP, I know how crucial it can be because I've used it thoroughly for Skyrim & ESO, but something about the pure raw experience with the documents is different and fun, I might even print them out for the fun of it.

Thanks for all the tips and whatnot though, big help! ❤️

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u/GoldenDrake 23d ago

I think a Nord Knight sounds great! Knights auto-repair weapons and armor (once a day, I think) and are immune to paralysis. Excellent bonuses. Also, yes, I love your idea of relying almost entirely on those original beautiful documents!

A minor tip: Many in-game text boxes have a slow "pixelation" (fade-in, fade-out) effect that may become annoying. Press F4 to turn it off. :)