[Phylum]

Started Daggerfall, because I was craving something with a huge world that had the oldschool vibe of being hideously imbalanced, overly complex and just a butt load of fun.

It's pretty hardcore. The controls are weird - not being able to turn while moving makes everything feel hectic. In the first dungeon I kept ending up a similar situation - "Is there a grizzly bear/imp chasing me? If I stop to turn and look I won't have time to get away without fighting it, so I'll just keep running and never really be sure." I expect this will only get worse as I go on.

Character creation is sweet. I love that you can give yourself phobias, critical weaknesses, strengths and other optional traits that really add to the sense of who your character is. The game has the balls to shut doors in your face, sometimes without telling you, but in doing so gives you a lot of freedom. When you first arrive in the city of Daggerfall and have to scout out everything by asking for directions you really get a sense of how fantastically huge the world is.

Now for a story documenting my first moments outside of the first dungeon:

I fast traveled to Daggerfall, arriving at dusk. I walked in with no idea what to expect, and just fucked around talking to people for a while. Eventually it turned to night so, confused and lost, I attempted to rest on the street until morning. Apparently this is illegal, and before I knew it I had some knights up in my grill for being a vagrant. I was arrested and threatened with jail time. I plead guilty, so they let me off with a slap on the wrist and just dumped me outside the gates. It was still a horrible, monster-filled night. I promptly died.

Attempt 2 saw me loitering a bit longer before traveling, so when arrived at Daggerfall it was night and the gates were closed. I retreated safely, and attempted to set up camp. Apparently I was too close to the city, and I was informed I couldn't rest. I continued to back away, but next thing I'd been arrested by some knights for vagrancy. Again. The sentence was 6 days, and rather than being dumped out in the night again I plead not-guilty, hoping to actually be punished this time and let out in the morning later that week. Somehow with my street-smarts I managed to talk my way out of a sentence, and ended up back in the wilderness where an undead archer one-shot me.

Third time's the charm, and I finally found my way to an inn and hired a room. I slept for 8 hours, and headed out into the town, only to find it still night. I was chased by a wraith for a short while before finding my way back to the inn, however the wraith was aggro'd now and I couldn't sleep. I left the game idling for about 30 minutes, and when I came back it was safe to venture outside again.

New games just don't have this same kind of shit happen in them. It favors a save+load style of gameplay, which kind of sucks, but at the same time it's just so interesting.

No idea if I'll actually finish this mother though.