Bethesda's classic The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall goes free

by Randy Nelson { Jul 10th 2009 at 12:00AM }

With good old games being appreciated more than ever -- as evidenced by yesterday's arrival of classic LucasArts titles on Steam -- we can welcome another retro fave, Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, to the growing ranks of "remember-when-ware" -- for free. The game, which paved the way for a more modern classic, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, is now available for download via the developer's site but won't run right out of the box ... er, zip file.

Since the game files are exactly the same as they were in the original 1996 release, they require DOS to run. Thankfully, Bethesda has provided a link to the freeware DOS emulator, DOSBox, as well as detailed instructions on how to get the game up-and-running using it. How thoughtful! So, if you're an Elder Scrolls fan -- or just like yourself a good RPG -- the deals don't come much better than this. Just remember: it's not always the looks that count.

[Via Shacknews]

Tags: bethesda, daggerfall, free, freeware, the-elder-scrolls-ii-daggerfall

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Ratfoot @ Jul 10th 2009 12:09AM

Sweet jesus yes! Isn't this the Elder Scrolls that was the size of Great Britain?

Kadamon @ Jul 10th 2009 12:15AM

A tad smaller really but close yes. Great Britain is like nearly 81k square miles where as 62.5k or so.

Still, quite freakin' large.

Noeru @ Jul 10th 2009 12:35AM

This may actually be worth a play. I remember having to return this the year it came out because my computer wasn't up to the task of running it smoothly.

Nowadays it might make a decent iPhone game or similar too

cuteSAVAGE @ Jul 10th 2009 12:12AM

I've never played the older ES games, only started with Morrowind. I'll try and download this one sometime this week, I've always wanted to try it. Is Arena also free?

Also... If you are using OS X and want a great DOSbox frontend, I'd recommend Boxer. Seriously one of the nicest apps EVER, though it hasn't been updated since last December.

http://boxer.washboardabs.net/

cuteSAVAGE @ Jul 10th 2009 12:14AM

"Is Arena also free?" - Why yes, yes it is. Wicked!

Manly Mcbeefington (Mr. ESC) @ Jul 10th 2009 1:08AM

You should be at 3 hearts by now for recommending that app.I know some guys who would love to play Megarace on MAC (Okay is just me)

Megarace *sniff oh the memories.

Back on topic that screen reminds me of Hexen,seriously ID you had the right idea why you gave up on that?

PR0F3TA @ Jul 10th 2009 2:11AM

holy crap dude, thanks for the link and download. You seriously saved me a hassle of not being able to play Elder Scrolls in the comfort of my bed.

+1

Petebot330 @ Jul 10th 2009 12:34PM

I think it's time to dust off the old iMac in the back room to play Daggerfall on.

Dope.

Shadow Hog @ Jul 10th 2009 12:13AM

Sounds... interesting. Like, the screenshot there looks a lot like Doom... and Elder-Scrolls-the-Doom-mod sounds like it would be quite the kickass game. I think I'll look into this...

The Baron @ Jul 10th 2009 8:25AM

All games looked a lot like Doom back then.

ilovethewaggle @ Jul 10th 2009 11:18AM

DOOM tastes like chicken because chicken tastes like everything.

Kadamon @ Jul 10th 2009 12:16AM

No mention of the blatant nudity in the game either? For shame. :P

rTwelve @ Jul 10th 2009 1:22AM

that's like almost the best part!

also "the real barenziah", before the temple got ahold of it ;)

tenor77 @ Jul 10th 2009 10:54AM

It'll be in there since it's the same as the 96 release. Which also means the bugs are in there. (the kind you can't kill with a sword)
Watch out for the stairs!

Man I remember those WTF moments. "And now I'm in between the walls"

Nitro122 @ Jul 10th 2009 4:34PM

Actually, they include 2.13 so it's at that level at least. You might also be able to load the unofficial patches as well.

chispito @ Jul 10th 2009 12:16AM

Three cheers for sprites!

Next up: Rise of the Triad.

... @ Jul 10th 2009 12:20AM

It's about time Fallout 1 and 2 went freeware as well.

I recently downloaded them off Demonoid (I own both on cd, however they do not run without a crack on xp or vista, even in emulation mode.) and have been reliving those great days. Old? Yes. Still fun? You bet.

t_m @ Jul 10th 2009 3:27AM

or you could just buy them off GOG and not, you know, pirate them...

Bradford @ Jul 10th 2009 3:34AM

@t_m

He already owns them dumbass.

dark_inchworm (on Steam!) dark inchworm (on XBL!) @ Jul 10th 2009 9:46AM

I don't see them going freeware very soon, given that they just issued a Fallout 1 + 2 + Tactics bundle for retail.

Shadsy @ Jul 10th 2009 12:22AM

The 90s are back. Batten down the hatches.

PS36Wii Fanboy @ Jul 10th 2009 12:29AM

I think game companies are finally realizing that games that don't sell anymore should go free.

I mean Rockstar is doing it, Tribes 1 and 2 went free, MW4 is going free, and now Bethesda is free. This just shows they love their fans.

Manly Mcbeefington (Mr. ESC) @ Jul 10th 2009 1:11AM

It also serves as publicity for a new game.

If Diablo 3 included Diablo 1 [Hint,Hint] it would be awesome.

To be honest I wouldn't mind paying for this,these sort of games would be nice bonuses in Limited Editions or collector's editions of certain games.For example I think it would be awesome if Moder Warfare 2 included Call of Duty 1 since it was the first COD game made by Infinity Ward.

kacex @ Jul 10th 2009 12:38AM

remember-when-ware™

PS36Wii Fanboy @ Jul 10th 2009 12:43AM

now if only Freelancer, X-com, and X-Wing went free....

Gumper3 @ Jul 10th 2009 8:05AM

Actually as cheap as the X-COM titles are on steam there is no reason not to play them again!

Noxat @ Jul 10th 2009 1:01AM

Daggerfall was great, though I think I had more fun exploiting all the bugs and glitches than actually playing the game.

Manly Mcbeefington (Mr. ESC) @ Jul 10th 2009 1:15AM

I think can be said of most Bethesda games.

In Oblivion I had a wonderful time flying around using a pick up/drop glitch and the infinite money balanced my crappy Spellwarrior,needless to say the game was impossible to play with my spellwarrior.He couldn't cast spells for the lack of mana and he wasn't strong enough to fight but he sure could pick locks and do sneak attacks,on retrospective it was also a crappy rogue.

rTwelve @ Jul 10th 2009 1:23AM

yeah, i don't think you were doing it right esc

Evan @ Jul 10th 2009 2:34AM

Seriously, how hard is it to type 'player.additem f 9999999'?

Zerokku @ Jul 10th 2009 1:02AM

And in the space of a minute, I've only downloaded 1.4 megs total. With cable internet...

....This is going to take awhile.

Jrinswand @ Jul 10th 2009 1:43AM

Oh good. I'm glad that its not just me. This download should've been over and done in a couple of minutes at the most. Firefox is telling me the download will take 2 and a half hours. I'm pretty sure that's not right.

DangerMouse @ Jul 10th 2009 11:45AM

What's a better way to give a free old game out with 28.8K modem speeds. the 2.4kb/s & downloads finishing early with errors takes me back.

Jrinswand @ Jul 10th 2009 1:29AM

Oh shit! That is awesome! I actually almost bought this game the other day, but used copies are still going for like $35 on Amazon and eBay. I've been wanting to play this game forever, but just never got around to it.

Thanks for being awesome Bethesda!

Elranzer @ Jul 10th 2009 10:05AM

Looks like the prices are about to drop. Being officially released for free can do that to a game's worth.

indrid @ Jul 10th 2009 1:55AM

BTW should anyone care...

Mirror at FireFront: http://www.filefront.com/14005983/The-Elder-Scrolls-Daggerfall-Full-Free-Game/

Sly @ Jul 10th 2009 3:16AM

thanks. doing it from bethesda's site is slow as hell.

Quiggy @ Jul 10th 2009 10:48AM

Ah, good. Something about a 10-hour download for 149 megs seemed a bit ridiculous.

Matteran @ Jul 10th 2009 3:17AM

FAVORITE. GAME. EVER.

incubeezer @ Jul 10th 2009 11:45AM

yeah awesome game. But sometimes you could get hopefully lost in the gigantic dungeons... I lost a few save files that way. Of course I was only like eight years old and there's probably a spell to get out of dungeons, but still.

Gotta love how when you kill townsfolk they turn into splashes of blood with no body.

t_m @ Jul 10th 2009 3:46AM

Bethesda rocks.

(though i have a boxed copy around somewhere.... )
I acutally bought and returned this game about 3 times. the bugs are infuriating, but there is something magical there....

there was a fan-made patch that fixed a huge number of bugs, made it much more stable, and added a load of features. I don't remember the name though.

PS// SAVE OFTEN!!
PPS// Get mark and recall before entering dungons!

Chris @ Jul 10th 2009 3:55AM

Has anyone gotten this to work with Boxer for the Mac? Boxer tells me this is a Microsoft Windows file and requires Bootcamp to run...

Snowblind @ Jul 10th 2009 5:17AM

I tried playing this back when Morrowind was first released, and just couldn't get my head around the controls.. Has no one made a patch for mouse/keyboard yet? Also, there's so many bugs the game is nigh impossible to actually finish.

t_m @ Jul 10th 2009 8:00AM

It's always had mouse/keyboard support. A few of the default controls were a bit weird, but i used to run it with basically standard FPS controls.

Switching between different interaction modes was a pain though... i'd always forget i was in STEAL MODE and get arrested for trying to talk to someone...