In remembering the Elder Scrolls series I want to briefly go over ”Battlespire” and ”Redguard”. After playing ”Daggerfall”, ”Morrowind” was the big thing I was waiting for, but in the meantime I found a few more games in the Elder Scrolls universe. These weren’t RPG games, they weren’t even very good games, but they were Elder Scrolls so I thought they might at least have a hint of what was possible in ”Morrowind”.
I first played ”An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire” around 2001. I can’t really say I have fond memories of this game. I spent a lot of time in it, but never really made it that far. I must have tried with at least three characters, but ever time I got to a point where my character simply wasn’t tough enough. There were seven levels. I made it through three or four and couldn’t get any further. It was a game where if you didn’t create your character absolutely perfectly, you’d end up stuck. Part of me still wants to go back and play finish it. I do remember, though, ”Daggerfall” had nudity, but Battlespire’s was even more titillating. I really did like the sense of despair that the game gave the player. You played a character stuck in this Battlespire thing, and really the only other people you find are dead, and it sort of makes you feel like that, too, will be your fate.
The other weird game in the series is ”The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard”. What I remember most about this game was how frustrating it was. It was basically a never ending supply of guys trying to kill you. And the best way to fight them was to do this weird jump attack, otherwise they’d just parry your sword swings, and the puzzles were absolutely insane. There was this one astronomy puzzle that goes beyond the comprehension of mortal man. The one thing I liked was these old Dwarven ruins that you got to explore, though they also had an insanely difficult puzzle. Luckily cool Dwarven ruins would be brought back in ”Morrowind” and ”Skyrim” and the insane puzzles would be absent.