Happy 25th Birthday, Arena!

[SeaGtGruff]

This year-- on March 25, 2019, to be precise-- The Elder Scrolls: Arena (a.k.a. The Elder Scrolls Chapter One: The Arena) will turn 25 years old.

I vote that UESP hold some sort of "Arena celebration" this year to honor that fact. What that might be, I don't know-- perhaps a competition of some sort with the winner(s) chosen by the forum members (coolest player character? best Arena-themed creative work?), or perhaps just a series of helpful wiki articles and forum posts encouraging people to "Play More Arena!", whether they're revisiting an "old friend," discovering a "new friend," or possibly even making a new "frenemy." ("Oh my gargoyle! These graphics! This gameplay! And I can't even throw a punch without the game locking up?!?")

[Cliffworms]

I've never finished Arena, but I return to it every year. I find it enjoyable until around level 10-12... that's about when my poor Khajiit Burglar gets oblirated by tough enemies.

I bought a physical copy on ebay, big box and all, in 2003 for a meagre 1$. It's the French box and manual, but with the game in English. It also turned out the seller was around 50 km from my place so the shipping was cheap. A real bargain at that price.

The guards' "Stop thief!" get in your head fast enough when you're a Khajiit Burglar...

[SeaGtGruff]

I prefer to play Arena as a Knight so I can repair my own gear, but even so I don't hesitate to break into houses. I don't even see it as being an evil or lawless thing, because the houses are never populated by honest citizens (well, with the possible exception of the larger mansions), just a lot of Orcs, Goblins, Spiders, Lizard Men, Minotaurs, Rogues, Wizards, Spellswords, etc. I figure I'm doing the legitimate owners of the house a favor by clearing out the riff-raff.

Anyway, even my Knight in shining armor is very familiar with the "Stop, thief!" cries of the guards.

[SeaGtGruff]

There are only 7 more days until Arena's 25th birthday! This is called a "Silver Jubilee."

I can't believe that Bethesda hasn't jumped on this yet as an excuse to push "Elder Scrolls Awareness" or whatever in the media; some sort of Elder Scrolls Silver Jubilee par-tay is definitely called for.

I'm planning to run around every zone in ESO next Monday planting a trail of those ginormous cakes and yelling things like

"Happy 25th Anniversary, Elder Scrolls!"

"TES1:Arena is 25 years old today!"

"Everybody, join in the Elder Scrolls Silver Jubilee!"

"Arena! Arena! Arena!"

I'm prepared to get some "wtf?"s at first, but I'm hoping it will catch on.

[SeaGtGruff]

I can't even throw a punch without the game locking up?!?

I don't remember seeing this mentioned in the wiki or forum (although I haven't actually searched for it), but after I posted the above I was using The Wayback Machine to browse Bethesda's old website, especially any Arena-related information. I found a comment in (IIRC) the FAQ section that revealed the secret to successfully punching enemies without locking up the game-- you must first remove any gauntlets you happen to be wearing!

I've had to use this to get out of a dungeon I was stuck in, because my weapon broke and I didn't have any spares. I wasn't a magic user, but I did have some rings and other trinkets with some attack spells-- except the spells didn't seem to be doing very much damage and I kept getting killed. So I removed my gauntlets and managed to punch my way to the exit and head back to town to get my gear repaired.

[1alexie]

What a milestone, so it has been 26 years now?
This thread was created last year.

[SeaGtGruff]

Yes, it's 26 years old this year.