Arena: Urban Sprawl

 

The character arrives in Shornhelm, my first Elder Scrolls city.

       

We've had several comments to the effect that the opening Arena dungeon is very hard. I unwittingly contributed to that sentiment with my first entry, in which I reported fairly rapid death after only a couple of goblin battles and one attempt to sleep. What I should have made clear is that by that point in the entry, I had already accomplished my primary goal of describing the backstory and the basic mechanics. By the time I died, I wasn't really trying. I hadn't even saved.

   

In this session, I finished the dungeon. It was only one level, and it took me about an hour to explore the entire thing. I'm not saying it was easy; character Levels 1 and 2 were particularly hard. Every enemy seemed capable of halving my hit points with a single hit, and I was still getting used to some of the mechanics. For instance, I didn't yet realize that when an enemy is around a corner and you can only see part of him, you don't need to charge past him until he's fully in view and then turn around (the game doesn't offer a "strafe" option) [Ed. Yes it does; I just didn't try enough keyboard combos]. As long as you can see any part of him, you can attack him perfectly fine through what looks like a solid wall.

   

I also didn't realize there were perfectly safe places to rest, but the game eventually clued me in.

        

Kind of makes sense, I guess.

      

Ultimately, the dungeon isn't big enough to be truly difficult. With the ability to save anywhere and reload in a few seconds, the level could have been full of liches, and I think I still would have made it. I would have just run past them.

        

My final map of the dungeon.

     

In fact, I got to Ria's teleporter in only about 10 minutes by (this time) following the left wall. I decided to turn around and clear out the dungeon first, but here's the thing (and please tell me if I'm wrong): I don't think this is the kind of game where you have to clear out the dungeon. The extra experience and treasure are nice, but there are endlessly-generated experience and treasure everywhere. Thus, there's no reason to explore any one particular place past its objective. It's a little like Telengard or Dungeon Hack in that regard.

          

Ria's portal.

       

Enemies were limited to goblins and giant rats except a couple of times when I tried to sleep, and some spellcasting humanoid blasted me out of existence before I could blink (or take a screenshot). I never encountered any of them during regular exploration. At first, I thought the dungeon must respawn, as enemies kept re-appearing in areas I'd already explored. But by the end of the level, I was convinced that they just roam quite a bit. 

  

Some miscellaneous notes about the dungeon:

      

• I like the sound: echoing footsteps, creaking doors, grunts and squeaks of enemies getting closer.

• There are lion's head decorations all over the walls. I don't remember lions being mentioned in the Elder Scrolls universe before.

     

Two piles of treasure and yet another lion's head emblem.

        

• I didn't find an elven sword this time. I did find a longsword, a short bow, and a belt. All of the armor pieces I found were metal and thus forbidden to my battlemage.

• "Fire Dart" worked really nicely, but I could only cast one or two between rests.

• If multiple enemies are near each other, you can damage them with one swing (and, presumably, one spell). 

• Secret doors seem to open when you walk into them. I mostly bumped into them by accident. I'm not sure that any part of this dungeon was accessible only by secret door; I think they just offered shortcuts to areas I could access the long way.

• Other than the first cell door, there were no locked doors, locked treasure chests, traps, or anything that theoretically would require a thief.

• There were a lot of places where I had to swim, and many of those had enemies waiting on the nearest platforms. 

        

A rat waits to attack as soon as I crawl out of here.

       

• I found several crystals, and the manual is silent on what they do.

• I kept all the equipment I found, including what I couldn't use. I never developed any encumbrance problems.

• Getting in and out of inventory is a tad annoying.  

• Enemies have a way of sneaking up behind you and hitting you before you're even aware. One second, I was walking along; the next, Ria Silmane was telling me that all hope was lost. 

       

I got to Level 3. Each time I leveled up, I could put 6 points into my attributes. I decided to always put 3 into my primary attributes (for the battlemage, strength and intelligence) and the other 3 in my lowest attributes. 

       

After killing two goblins.

       

The first time I rested after I leveled up, Ria appeared and elaborated on the main quest. She said that the artifact that Jagar Tharn used to banish the emperor to Oblivion was the Staff of Chaos. It is now the only thing that can bring him back. Knowing this, Tharn has disassembled it and scattered its pieces across the continent. She divined that the first piece was in a place called Fang Lair, originally inhabited by the "Dwarves of Kragen," but abandoned after a Great Wyrm took up residence there. She knew it was in the Dragon's Teeth but nothing about its specific location. "Perhaps there are sages or scholars who would know of this place." Obviously, there's a Tolkien homage here. I don't remember the term "Kragen" before, but I think the Dragon's Teeth are the range west of Skyrim. Markarth in Skyrim is at their base.

           

There are even markings on the staff where it was segmented.

      

When I took the portal, I found myself in a snow-blanketed city called Shornhelm, NPCs roaming back and forth everywhere I looked. If the dungeon felt a bit like Ultima Underworld, this part of the game felt more like Legends of Valour. The automap of the city, pre-filled with building footprints but not the names of businesses, showed the same sorts of connected buildings, walled buildings, courtyards, and other interesting shapes as the Valour map.

   

As I explored the city, there were some interesting visuals—trees, stone statues, canals, fountains, gas lamps, clothes lines strung across the street from second-story windows. But there was also a certain uniform blandness to everything, and if commenters hadn't already mentioned this, I think I would have figured out fairly quickly that the cities in this game are procedurally generated. The types of locations must be fixed, but they're distributed randomly across the city for each new game.

       

Walking past two very different types of statues outside a temple. I swear I've seen that second one somewhere before.

       

I soon found out something vital: If the building has a shingle hung by its main entrance, it's open for business, and double-clicking on the door lets you in. If it doesn't have a shingle, it's a private business or residence, and double-clicking on the door attempts a burglary. I hadn't been in the city for more than five minutes before I tried to enter a random building, heard "stop thief!" somewhere behind me, and was dead before I saw the guard attacking me. I guess capital punishment is the default for everything in Jagar Tharn's Tamriel.

             

The NPCs are generated as well: Barbara Wicking, "the city-state thief"; Mordard Wicksley, "a typical mercenary"; Belladonna Hawkton, a fieldhand; Alabyrick Hawkwing, a squire; Victoria Yeomhouse, a guildmaster. (Even in that small sample, you can see how the prefixes and suffixes come together; I'm sure I'll meet a Wickhouse and a Hawksley at some point.) They each have a little elevator speech ("I got into Shornhelm a little while ago, looking for some excitement"; "I work my heart out during the harvest and starve in the winter") in response to "Who are you?" You can also ask where things are, which gives a defined list of topics. It is pre-populated with lists of inns, temples, and stores, or you can just ask for the "nearest" of anything. Sometimes, the NPCs give you a generic direction ("try to the east"), and sometimes they mark it on your map for you. I wonder if personality plays a role in this. "Fang Lair" is also on the list; more on that in a bit.

       

I wouldn't be so quick to admit that in this town.

        

The final bit of NPC dialogue is for rumors; you can ask for generic rumors or rumors about work. NPCs kept telling me that a mysterious woman named Rogue Gondywyr at the King's Dragon had a delivery job.

        

About one-quarter of the city.

       

The main benefit of procedural generation is that the cities feel realistically large (if artificially square). It takes about 40 minutes game time (and about 2 minutes real time, with no obstacles) to get from one corner to the other, which seems reasonable for a medieval village. There are probably around 100 buildings in it. It also removes a certain pressure from the player to see and do everything, explore every corner, talk to every NPC just in case he has a quest. The player ends up treating the city like he would a real city: asking for directions and homing in on the places that have the services he needs. At the same time, there's no real fun in exploration, and I'm betting that the game is too early to do fun things like vary the architecture when I get to Elsweyr or Black Marsh. Still, I could envision a good game that balances hand-crafted and procedurally generated content. I think it's possible that Starfield did that quite well, and the only reason I don't think so is that I disliked so many other aspects of the game.  

         

Even the tavern names are procedurally generated.

       

My first priority was to sell my excess equipment and buy the armor that I didn't find in the first dungeon. NPCs directed me to the Basic Weaponry Store, which despite its name had leather boots, greaves, cuirasses, pauldrons, and gauntlets as well. Even after those purchases, I had 1,790 gold. I began to wonder if Arena set the Elder Scrolls trend of giving the player enough money to last the rest of the game in the first dungeon.

      

Being a battlemage is cheaper on the wallet than some other classes.

          

I next followed directions to the mage's guild, apparently the only guild in Arena (no faction quests here). There, I realized my 1,790 gold wouldn't go that far. It also wouldn't identify (at 200-270 gold pieces each) the crystals that I found in the dungeon. I did determine that my longsword was a Longsword of Lightning and that two bracelets were a mithril bracelet and an elven bracelet. I should mention that there were "steal" options in both the mage's guild and the weapon shop, but crime is something I'm going to have to investigate later. So is spell-making. Be patient.

        

I'm going to have to come back.

           

The King's Dragon, in one of those oddities you get with procedural generation, shared its building with another inn called the King's Bird. You'd think that would cause some confusion. I started clicking on NPCs to find Rogue Gondywyr, but instead, she "approached" me (a message came up with no visible NPC) when I clicked on the bartender. She offered me 57 gold pieces to take a dagger to the Restless Ogre. "If it isn't [there] by Sundas, 6th of Hearthfire, my life ain't going to be worth a copper," she said. That's tomorrow.

   

I did the quest, and besides the 57 gold pieces, it gave me enough experience for Level 4. It's hard to imagine that it's going to be worth it to do too many of these, though. 

       

Yeah, walking from one building to another really took a lot out of me.

      

I got some interesting responses to asking about Fang Lair:

   

• Chrystyna Ashham, the interpreter: "There ain't no such thing!"

• Agrane Yeomford, the historian: "Isn't that just a legend?" 

• Ysyn Hearthston, the cook: "No one's heard of that in the past 500 years." That seems like a paradox.

• Mordyval Gaersley, one of the personal priests of King Rodore: "I honestly have no idea. Try someone else. Maybe they can help." I wonder what King Rodore is the king of. 

• Morgorya Hearthwing, the thief: "You wouldn't be the first searching for that. Why don't you try somewhere in the cities of Hammerfell. I heard something happened there."

• Uthane Buckingcroft, the city-state historian: "Have you tried asking at a temple? They seem to know everything." I did, in fact, try asking at a temple, but I couldn't find any NPCs in the temples. Indoor NPCs don't really have dialogue options anyway; they just give you one line. 

• "Try the local inn. Tales are flying back and forth about something unearthed in the province of Hammerfell. Maybe you should check there." 

            

Rochester looking dapper in his full suit of leather.

       

After typing all of that, I realized that the same NPC will give you all potential responses to a location if you just keep re-selecting the same dialogue option. They never seem to kick you out of the conversation, unlike NPCs in some other games we could mention. 

   

I got my answer about the king when I double-clicked on a gate (thinking it was the gate out of town) and found myself in the king's audience chamber and saw King Rodore before me. "It is well known that Shornhelm is currently at peace with its neighbor, North Point." Part of me wonders if even that is procedurally generated. The king had nothing to say to me except to suggest I explore the surrounding wilderness. "You may come back with something useful." 

        

Approaching the king.

       

We'll have more about the calendar and time system later, but for now, suffice to say that time doesn't pass too quickly in the game—about 12 minutes of game time for each minute of real time. I did all of this in one day and had time to spare. If I hadn't been leaving the game window to type this entry, I might never have experienced nighttime.

     

The world started to get darker starting at 17:00. By 19:00, there was no light except in an immediate radius around me. At 20:00, hostile enemies start appearing on the streets. At first, I thought, cha-ching!, but it turns out they're a bit tough for a Level 4 character. 

      

What's even the point of having a walled city?

       

Miscellaneous notes on the town:

      

• NPCs stop and face you when you get close. They stay stationary until you walk away from them. That's a refreshing contrast to a lot of games, where you have to chase them down. 

• NPCs indoors don't have the full set of dialogue options. They just shout one line at you. Most of them are rude.

    

Personality is my worst attribute.

      

• If you find a location on your own, the automap does not record it. You have to type it in. [Ed. Or right-click on the shop door. Thanks, Karth.]

• There's a haggling mechanic in shops, but as with many games, I'm not sure it's worth the time. One side effect is that even if you don't haggle, you have to accept the sale price of items twice, which is a little annoying.

• There's also a damage/repair system, but the armorers want multiple days to fix even slight amounts of damage. I have to spend the week in an inn just to get my longsword sharpened? 

           

Good thing time passes slowly in the emperor's prison.

      

I spent the night at an inn; no rumors about Hammerfell, no matter what the NPCs said. You can book rooms in quality from a "single" (10 gold, at least in this case) and an "emperor's suite" (75 gold). You hit the "camp" button and appear in the room automatically. All the rooms look alike, but I guess the amount you pay affects the quality of rest and the number of hit points you restore.

        

This "emperor's suite" needs some work.

        

In the morning, I headed for the exit. I hoped once I got outside, the automap would tell me where I was in the world, but it didn't—until I checked the manual and realized that you have to right-click on it to get the world map. I could have done that from within the town. It turns out that Shornhelm is in the middle of High Rock, home of the Bretons, one of the smaller provinces, which itself has 31 cities. Just for fun, I clicked on Skyrim, and damned if Whiterun, Riverwood, Riften, Windhelm, Winterhold, Dawnstar, Solitude, Markarth, and Dragon Bridge aren't all there, in roughly the locations you'd expect, in 1994. There are, I should add, lots of smaller towns that aren't in The Elder Scrolls V (e.g., Black Moor, Graniteshaft, Dunstad Grove, Laintar Dale), but you could chalk that up to 200 years having passed and smaller cities being abandoned or renamed.

       

My current location.

        

Commenters have told me—and I have no reason not to believe them—that you cannot walk from one city to another in Arena no matter how long you're willing to spend. Each city in this game is apparently like a planet in Starfield, with an infinite amount of procedurally generated landscape around it. On the province map, there's a road heading southeast from Shornhelm that goes to a village called Markwasten Moor. In the real world, there's no road. I walked southeast from the city for about 10 minutes and passed plenty of trees, buildings, NPCs, inns, fenced-in fields, walled compounds, and ponds. I even got onto something that looked like a road at some point. But the automap continued to place me solidly in Shornhelm.

      

Wandering outside of the city.

         

There were oddly no monsters in the wilderness. Maybe they only come out at night, like in the towns? I know there are random dungeons, but I (without trying very hard) didn't find any. I'll explore at least one or two random dungeons at some point, but for now I clicked on Hammerfell and deliberately chose one of the smaller towns (Riverpoint) rather than a large city. The game said it would take 13 days to travel there, but there's no cost to travel in Arena, no food to worry about, and no chance of disease, drowning, or other calamities on the road. Saying all that makes it sound like I'm taking a dig at Star Trail, but I'm honestly not. Those survival elements can be fun, too. It's amazing how much variety we get under the large umbrella of "CRPGs."

        

Most people online seem to think The Elder Scrolls VI will be set in Hammerfell. I'm still hoping for (but not expecting) Akavir.

        

Before I wrap up: a commenter sent me a link to a translation of the French version of the Arena manual. It has a lot more detail on the backstory, to wit:

     

• Talin's last name is Warhaft. 

• Jagar Tharn used to be head of the Elder Council.

• He couldn't just kill Emperor Uriel because Uriel had used the Amulet of Kings to cast a spell that would alert all of his imperial guards if he died.

• The heir at this time is Uriel's daughter, Princess Ariella Septim. One wonders what happened to her between this backstory and the beginning of Oblivion. During that game's prologue, Uriel mentions that his sons are dead, but he doesn't say anything about a daughter. 

• It was Talin Warhaft who accidentally gave Tharn the idea to replace the emperor. During a banquet, Talin recounted a story in which he and his friend, Marten the Blade, were threatened by bandits. Marten cast an illusion spell to make himself look like the bandits' leader.  

       

I was about to post a fan theory that the "Marten" of this story later entered a holy order and became the "Brother Martin" of Oblivion, but the story makes it clear that Marten was older than Martin, and that he had a son and retired. Still, one wonders why all this good material was cut from the English versions of the manual. 

       

Time so far: 3 hours