An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire

Battlespire used Bethesda's own DOS-based XnGine video renderer, which was occassionally susceptible to clipping and collision-detection errors in the game environment. At any rate, keeping this limitation in mind while navigating yields relatively few issues, as it becomes pretty much second-nature where and when these issues arise. The innovative jumping feature in Battlespire helps the PC avoid a lot of frustration from this issue. Battlespire is commonly described as a dungeon-crawler; but this is not really the case: you're in a massive tower filled with very diverse corridors, chambers, entrance-halls, etc.; sometimes you are transported to distinct realms that are expansive and open -- it's a chaotic and whimsical wizard's tower, after all. Melee/magic, effects/outcomes are basically what one would expect with this video-renderer: occassionally unpredictable and quirky. But what makes Battlespire so impressive, and so atmospheric, is the contemplative, charismatic, and diabolical motives of its denizens (primarily the Daedra, an omnipresent, praeternatural faction, who keep the dullards of Tamriel on their toes): NPCs are relevant and substantial; they are not merely hyperbolous, interactive props who grant access from point A to point B. Each has their own voice, dialect, and personality. The evirons are very immersive. The music (Absolute Pitch) is varied and appropriate. . . outstanding, actually. All these aspects are encapsulated within a good story. Julian LeFay had such an incredible talent for the mercurially wondrous. I think Battlespire was his final major contribution to the TES series. Be sure to READ the manual, and the accompanying readme.txt. . . The Daedra suffer no fools.

First, the good: This is an intense dungeon crawler with some excellent level design. Unlike Daggerfall, the dungeon levels aren't frustratingly huge or difficult to navigate, and unlike Arena, you can find clues for the riddles and passwords hidden throughout the levels where they are needed. If you are an enthusiast for this sort of level design and don't mind the frustrating flaws, you might find this game enjoyable. The bad: First of all, there's no resting option. Combine this with a complete lack of natural regeneration, and limited healing potions, and you'll be starving for health throughout the entire game. Your only salvation are these tiny blue crystals which fully heal you, and respawn after a short time. However, starting as early as level two, you'll find yourself backtracking to these crystals, sometimes after every battle, and this starts to become tedious. Even if you start with a healing spell, you'll still starve for mana (which also doesn't regenerate), and you'll still have to backtrack to crystals to restore that, too. Also, the game is unbalanced. It seems like any build that isn't a mage or an archer is severely underpowered. At the very least, with level 70 Long Blades and 89 Strength, the common enemies in level 4 are so difficult I find myself constantly needing to switch to my bow instead. I am more effective with level 32 missile skill and 50 agility than I am with my Long Blades--something isn't right here. Lastly, the game boots back to DOS every time you die. This means that every time you die, you need to wait through the boot-up sequence, followed by a load time, and then you need to load your save, which involves another load time, and while it doesn't take too long, it becomes tedious when you begin to die around 10 times in one room. If you think the good level design makes up for these problems, then by all means, you may find enjoyment where I did not. But for the rest of you, I'd recommend Daggerfall instead.

Battlespire's original release marked a leap forward in graphics and art design for the series. However, even its best aspects would be difficult to appreciate by most players today. The gameplay is a watered-down dungeon crawl. Combat feels clumsy and is sometimes unsatisfying. The game does not offer worthwhile opportunities for role-playing outside of a Battlemage-like class with a complimentary player race choice. Several standard RPG character statistics can be neglected with no penalty. This suggests that Battlespire could have benefitted from forcing players to play with Battlemage attributes, rather than offer a false sense of freedom. Eventually I found myself enjoying the gameplay under these constraints. There did remain critical bugs that harshly impacted my experience. Also, the multiplayer component was uninteresting. The art direction of Battlespire is generally appropriate. There is a constant supply of strange and eccentric demon sprites to observe throughout the campaign. It can be gratifying to see a difficult enemy phase out of existence during their death animation. The early-3D era graphics offer some charm, aside from the serious glitches associated with level geometry. While the player character sprites can be nicely drawn, they can later get overwhelmed with ugly equipment sprites. The music is serviceable for the eerie atmosphere of the environments. It mostly consists of droning ambiance or is outright absent. The sound design is also acceptable, helping the combat to function. The story is straightforward, perhaps too much for what is considered a role-playing experience. There are a couple choices to make, but they don't affect the story meaningfully. The lore building is what drives the narrative experience, specifically for fans of the Daedra Princes and related demonic lurkings. Without the association with the franchise, this game could have been labeled shovelware. Battlespire is only recommended for dedicated fans of TES.

I played the heck out of this in the 90s when it was new and cool. To me it felt like Bethesda said "I enjoyed Ultima Underworld, let's take a stab at in in TES world". I didnt finish it, I kept finding bugs like disappearing items or monsters who had specific keys getting stuck inside the map where I couldnt loot them (found from some web searches tryiing to find why im stuck). Im not the best pathfinder granted I was one of the few who wasnt overwhelmed by Daggerfall maps that were the size of Morrowind and all it's xpacs put together, and could use the map. Jumping is a bit odd, but once you get the feel for it, it is not bad. The combo of rightclick and drag to swing plus freelook was really odd and awkward. It felt like playing Die by the Sword, in fiurst person, with Daggerfalls weapon controls, I can only imagine how it looked form the outside. The no regen complaints are not completely accurate, you could get skills for that during character building, and that just means you need to find the occasional dark corner to hide in while things regen. I also found spells to be resisted most of the time, and when they werent seem to do miniscule damage, and a sword was a better way to go, which is opposite of some others here, not sure if it is a play style difference or character design. The conversations with some of the monsters were hilarious "You want keeeeys? Keeeeeys out? Key down in dark smelly place down by my tail, want to look, see?" Overall it is an interesting story that I really enjoyed, it is a buggy mess at times though. The dialogue is HILARIOUS...like Spiders flirting with you, or NO! Shrenell is a FEEEmale, do I look like a FEEEmale to you? It is an intensnse adventure that doesn't take itself too seriously. I still think this game is the PERFECT candidate for making a BIG mod in Skyrim to add in the Battlespire as a training mission, a historical mission from centuries past as a requirement for a high rank in College of Winterhold.

Can download Daggerfall and Arena with this game. Very old school, and if you aren't patient, don't even try. If you are, the systems are incredibly deep, and far more satisfying than anything you will find today.