Arena - Who's still playing?

[ZombieMonkeyNZ]

Ha ha! Cheers! Surprisingly, the quake actually made it tidier.

[OblivionDuruza]

Oh, I hope it wasn't too bad near your area. I remember the Kiwis who helped out around Black Saturday and I'm glad Australia sent people to help out.

[ZombieMonkeyNZ]

Yeah, we're fine. We are on the outskirts so... But enough offtopicness, we should make a thread about natural disasters, and people that have been affected by them...

[KalleFlaxx]

I've (kinda) decided to finish Arena, Daggerfall and Oblivion before Skyrim is released, so I might download Arena later today and try to finish it.

[VirtualWeasel]

I'll go through with Daggerfall. But not Arena, since I still can't figure out how to attack.

[OblivionDuruza]

Don't you just hold and click like your dragging the sword (or whatever your using) across your opponents face/upper torso?

[VirtualWeasel]

I tried, but it doesn't seem to work

[OblivionDuruza]

It took me a while to get used to. I haven't played in a while though (last year was probably the last time )

[VirtualWeasel]

Hmm... I guess I'll try it again. It's just so damn hard to figure out the controls

[lostlast]

Once you have drawn your weapon, you hold in the mouse button (left or right, can't remember, I use my mouse in my left hand and upside down, from bored days at uni. Stupid thing to teach yourself) then drag it in different directions across the screen, to slash or stab. Use the arrows to move in and out of enemies attack range.

[jamz slack]

im playing it just started im used to oblivion for ps3 so im getting used to being killed all the time especially with monsters in the actual cities.

[MARS]

I can't get it to run I'd love to play it.

[lostlast]

Why are you having trouble running it? What part is stumping you?

[MARS]

I don't know to tell you the truth. I've followed the instructions but it still doesn't want to run. I'll give it another go after I've finished Daggerfall.

[VirtualWeasel]

What instructions? I just had to DL the installation .exe and it installed itself

[MARS]

Link? :3

[VirtualWeasel]

Here. Just DL the Arena.exe, and you'll be good to go.

[lostlast]

Still hammering this game. Going back and forth between this and Oblivion. Both are such good games. They could have only dreamt of making Arena look as good as Oblivion. Imagine a game as huge as Arena with the graphics of Oblivion. Would be absolutely mind blowing. I just love the endless replay ability of these games.

[lostlast]

Ok Haven't checked here for a bit. Have had Arena on the hold for a little while. Few new games have come out. But I am back gaming Arena again.

I see there is a new 'easier' way to download and get Arena up and running. Should be a new batch of gamers playing now.

Lets here from ya's. Who's still playing Arena?

Ps. Duke Nukem Forever Sucks! TES 4 Life!

[elderrax]

I've just started.

I'm new to RPG and fantasy. My preferred games have been Civilization and WWII sims over the years. Even then I've not been an active gamer - just go on a binge every few years or so.

PC blew up recently so ordered a custom one built - mainly for work purposes. That got me curious as most custom builds it would seem are commissioned by gamers. One thing led to another and I've ended up buying a very high spec overclocked machine which is total overkill for work (possibly - I do a lot of number crunching) and ordered about 12 games. I got curious about what the state of the art was for RPG and FPS and Elder Scrolls looked enticing. (I really wanted to get Dark Souls but can't get it for the PC and getting a console to me seem pointless.) I figured I'd start the series right from the beginning and if it's enticing enough I'll buy the more modern games. I have no problem playing the older games as long as the gameplay is good.

So far the atmosphere and background seem rich enough to draw me in despite the graphics but brings back memories of Doom!

(P.S. Hope this isn't a necropost - but I figure it's an ongoing question from OP.)

[chrismokvack]

I imagine the moderators might consider this a necropost but I'd argue that it's fine because first, this a timeless sort of thread and second, there's so little activity in this subforum that if one were to adhere meticulously to the necro-rule, there would be many threads with only one post in them.

There, now that I have justfied my accompliceship in this necroposting business - to the point:

Don't jugde the rest of the series based on Arena since the other games have a completely different system and are far less linear and repetitive - AND have more convenient controls! Not that Arena is bad - in fact there are many things in Arena that I think have changed for the worse in the later games - for instance, in Arena you actually get a challenged as opposed to being able to max all abilities and skills and totally dominate your foes in the later games.

In Arena, you don't dominate, in Arena you have to struggle to survive. (At least on the first playthrough). So if that part of Demon Souls seemed intriguing to you, I guess you'll feel right at home in Arena.

Though there are some things you should know so that you don't end up in the situation where it's actually more or less impossible to progress further.

Spoiler:

If you aren't a casting class, you are going to need to:

1. Find items that grant resistance to fire and shock and possibly one with resistance to frost for the Fortress of Ice and Crystal Tower. (Except for artifacts, only weapons can be enchanted with resistance spells)
2. Find an item that casts levitation. It's going to be really annoying without one when you face spell throwing monsters standing on ledges with a precipice or water between them and you. Also, you'll find that without levitation you can get stuck in a tunnel if there's a ghost or other flying monster blocking the exit.
3. Seriously consider being either a High Elf or a Knight, or the Spiders early on are going to be a really big pain in the ass. AND they'll be child's play compared to the medusae later on. The alternative is to carry a truckload of potion of free action, but that's a very frustrating way to battle medusae: Get paralyzed, drink a potion, make a hit, get paralyzed, drink a potion, make a hit and so on...
4. Especially if you're a low hit points class, consider boosting your endurance early to benfit from it as much as possible - the hit points bonus is not retroactive!

IF you are a casting class, all these problems can be solved by casting spells - even the endurance one! Just cast a fortify endurance spell before each level-up.

So, what class and race are you and how far have you progressed? I've just recently started playing the game again as a High Elf mage. I'm currently level 13

Spoiler:

and have just finished the Fortress of Ice and the Oghma Infinitum artifact quest

.

[elderrax]

Hey chris,

Thanks for the advice.

I've barely started - just left my cell. Taking time out to read the manual after I got nibbled on by a rat!

I am a Spellsword and I hail from Morrowind! Er, and I'm level 1?

P.S. Isn't it starting to get cold in Sverige?

[chrismokvack]

Good choice. The spellsword can cast spells yet he won't have as much difficulties at the early stages of the game as classes focused more exclusively on magic. And the level/4 bonus to hit and damage from the Dark Elf race will make you proficient in combat later on as well.

First thing you should do once you get out of the starter dungeon is to find the mageguild and use the "spellmaker" service to create a custom spell that boosts your endurance with whatever amount is needed to reach 100. For me that would be 55 since I have 45 base endurance. Put duration on max (95 round per level) and rate of decrease on max as well to compensate for the cost (10 points per 1 round).

The spell will coust around 250 gold. If you can't afford it, you can decrease duration as much as is needed. I actually did it with minimum duration and succeeded, but then I cast the spell just as I was about to kill the monster that would net me the next level. Though as you increase in level, the duration will be less of a problem. 1 round is 5 seconds, so you get the idea of how quickly 95 rounds per level will turn into a very long time indeed.

While you're at it you might consider buying a custom made cure disease spell. It's very annoying to be diseased and then forced to travel 5 days to a town to get cured. The disease might kill you in that time. Play around with the settings to get a spell with decent success rating without too high mana cost. Consider that the mana cost decreases with each level up, and what seem like half your mana pool at first will be a mere trifle in a few levels. Never buy standard spells - you can make much better (more intelligently designed) customized ones. Other spells can wait until you have finished the first dungeon of the main quest (or the second dungeon if you count your escape).

Now keep an eye on your experience. When you are close to reaching the next level, cast your endurance boosting spell and voila you get +5 bonus health on that level up. (In the level up screen you will see your normal endurance value instead of the boosted one, and after you have leveled up the effect will vanish, but don't be fooled by that - you still get the bonus!)

If you want to do it really hardcore power gaming style you can do as I did and just run past all the rats and goblins, only killing the ones blocking your way, straight to the exit and leave without gaining any levels. This way you can start maximize your hit points from level two. The downside with that is that you'll be short on gold at the start of the game, unless you find something really valuable in the treasure pile right outside the starter cell. Consider that if you can't afford the Endurance spell you have kind of wasted the whole point with it.

Also, as you might have noticed, lots of things in this game are randomized. So are the amount of hit points and extra attributes you get every level. You get 1-12 hit points plus health bonus (=6-17 with 100 endurance) as a spellsword, and you get 3-6 attributes points to spend. Some people like to save before leveling up and reload until they get a decent value on both parameters - others consider that cheating. Personally I prefer making my character strong by playing smart rather than grinding reloads to maximize the values. Whatever floats your boat.

The manual only lists experience for the first 10 levels. Here's the experience table for Spellsword up to level 40. You won't get further than that, trust me.

Spoiler:

1. 0
2. 1 200
3. 2 250
4. 4 218
5. 7 910
6. 14 831
7. 27 809
8. 52 142
9. 97 766
10. 183 312
11. 274 968
12. 412 452
13. 618 678
14. 928 017
15. 1 392 026
16. 2 088 038
17. 3 132 057
18. 4 698 086
19. 7 047 129
20. 10 570 694
21. 15 856 040
22. 23 784 061
23. 35 676 091
24. 53 514 137
25. 80 271 205
26. 120 406 807
27. 180 610 211
28. 270 915 316
29. 406 372 974
30. 609 559 462
31. 914 339 193
32. 1 371 508 789
33. 2 057 263 183
34. 3 085 894 775
35. 4 628 842 162
36. 6 943 263 243
37. 10 414 894 865
38. 15 622 342 298
39. 23 433 513 447
40. 35 150 270 170

About the rats: unless you figured it out already - press F1 and then click "next page" to get to the inventory, click once on "dagger" (or whatever other weapon you might have available) to eqip it. Click "exit" then "done" (or just hit escape twice). Now press the crossed swords icon or hit the A key to ready your weapon. Finally, hold down the right mouse button and drag the mouse around to swing the weapon. Sideways make slashes, forwards make thrusts, downswards makes chops. Different attack types are supposed to have different properties. One has more chance to hit, another more damage and so on. I don't know which is which, but the slash can hit multiple enemies it seems. I haven't botherd to find out, I just drag my mouse around at random to get a fair deal of each attack type.

And no, it's actually relatively warm over here. Last year we had snow in October. This year we haven't even had frost yet far as I've seen.

[elderrax]

Wow! Thanks for the really helpful information, Chris.

I took your advice and got the custom spell made, but I couldn't afford to reach 100 in endurance. (That's sneaky - using the spell before you're about to level up. I like it!)

I figured out the 'hardcore' method of 'run like hell through the dungeons slashing everything in your path' by myself. Less scary and less chance of getting surrounded or outflanked.

Getting more comfortable with the way things work slowly. I was thinking that the gameplay is OK, it's entertaining enough - until I realized what the time was. Definitely the sign of a good game - ended up going to sleep way past my bedtime!

Thanks once again.

Tack sa mycket!

[chrismokvack]

Sure you can afford to max the endurance. Decrease the duration of the spell instead to make it cheaper. It's not really necessary to have 95 rounds/level duration. Like I said, I actually had it minimized at 5 rounds per level and still managed.