Elder Scrolls Abandonware: The Journey Is Half The Fun

I said in a recent Jurassic Hour that I was on the fence about whether or not I’d attempt to take on AN ELDER SCROLLS LEGEND: BATTLESPIRE and/or THE ELDER SCROLLS ADVENTURES: REDGUARD, namely because they were notoriously difficult to run in their own time, and have become even more difficult to run today.

I’ll be providing a times-two review of these games further down, but I’d like to start by re-telling the heroic tale of how I got these games to work, and then not work, and then almost work, and then finally work (well enough to beat them). It’s a cautionary tale, but I’m still proud of what I did.

VIRTUAL INSANITY

Having had good experiences with DOSBox playing a boatload of my favorite oldschool games (sometimes with my own setup, other times with the setup provided by GOG), I attempted installations of both Battlespire and Redguard. Battlespire’s installation went off without a hitch, but the game wouldn’t boot without some fine-tuning of both DOSBox’s and Battlespire’s config files (I also had to hunt down this obscure old Battlespire 1.5 patch). Redguard, however, couldn’t be done. Even though the game ran in DOS, its installation required Windows 98. There were manual ways to install without Windows 98, and I attempted this, but it was all in vain. For a time, I abandoned Redguard and worked to play the one game I successfully installed.

So, Battlespire in DOSBox. Within Windows 7. This is not a winning combo. Though Battlespire would properly boot and run (after a lot of configuration on my part), the game would still crash, frequently. It seemed to get worse the further I explored the map. By the time I finally finished the first of seven levels (these are mega-levels, akin to HEXEN), the game was crashing every 3 minutes. On the second level, my save files wouldn’t load directly when starting a new session. I’d have to load a save from the first level, and then load to the second level. This had become so unwieldy, I just gave up. After all, I had MORROWIND to play, and that transition (from Daggerfall to Morrowind) was like playing FFI and then jumping into FFIX. As I declared on a recent episode of the podcast, I would just give up on these hard-to-play side games unless a solution plopped itself into my lap.

After clearing Morrowind, that solution did indeed appear in the form of my younger brother.

Sweet little Alex tends not to get involved in my software problems unless and until he knows I’ve exhausted all options known to me and don’t know what else to do. Apparently though, I’m a dummy who never heard the word “virtualization.” In one evening, he swooped in and installed VirtualBox, VMWare, and VirtualPC. All free, legal downloads (the latter was a little tricky, but I’ll cover that).

VirtualBox (a Sun/Oracle product) didn’t claim full support for older Windows OS’s, but I tried. The trick for all these non-DosBOX solutions was that I would also need a valid OS to install (and DOS 6.22 didn’t quite cut it, since finding the proper drivers for things as basic as graphics, mouse, and DVD drive was difficult and the virtualization products didn’t virtualize the hardware as easily as I’d have liked). Though you might expect me to just find ISOs of ’95 and ’98 from obvious locations, I actually own those discs and somehow they never did end up in the trash. VirtualBox failed to run Battlespire at all in Win95, but in Win98, I did get a full install completed for Redguard. However, the in-game experience was badly lacking. Like, the first in-game sequence is a quick swash-buckling event between protagonist Cyrus and members of The Restless League. It took 20 seconds for the “fade-in” to take place, and I had virtually no control over Cyrus. Playable, maybe. But basically unplayable.

VMWare turned out to be an absolute failure. Win98 wouldn’t even install, and Battlespire wouldn’t boot in the “Exit to DOS” command prompt in Win95.

So finally, we turn to the Microsft-sanctioned product “VirtualPC.” Now, when Windows 7 users go to install this feature, it will tell you that only users of Windows 7 “Ultimate” or some other super-editions will garner you access to their downloads page for both VirtualPC and XP Mode. However, only “XP Mode” is limited to these editions. If you have Home Premium or other “Home” editions of Win7, you are entitled to VirtualPC. You have to lie to even get to the downloads page here, but when you download “only VirtualPC” (it’s an option on the Microsoft page), some authentication client runs. For me it detected my Home edition of Win7 as valid and said “you’re good to go, take your VirtualPC sir!” I tipped my hat back to Microsoft and went on my merry way.

VirtualPC is the product for Win98 Virtualization. Let me assure you, there is nothing better on the market. I learned the hard way, so you’ll want to just jump ahead with my recommendation. So here I am with VirtualPC running Win98 SE. Redguard install goes off without a hitch, and the game plays smooth too. Well, fairly smooth. There are these blotchy-blotch artifacts that appear graphically, but I think that’s more the “XGine” engine than anything else (I remember my non-Voodoo PC having similar artifacts with Tomb Raider in my youth). Also, I believe the game crashed a handful of times throughout the play, and the game would run super-fast the first few seconds after loading a save, so you’d have to wait that out.

As for Battlespire… it still gave me headaches, but it was ultimately playable enough for me to beat it. At first I was having this terrible movement problem (the game would force me to walk into walls and then I’d get stuck in them …?). And then I remembered I hadn’t put the 1.5 patch on the VirtualPC install. So I did that, and I also had to grab UniVBE drivers. With these in-place, the game would run, but the sound would cut out after a few minutes of play, and that led to a variety of other glitches, particularly if I got a Game Over (this usually led to a system crash). But, with enough awareness to load a save file before dying, I could go a good hour or two with the no-sound glitch and do fine. Though, I preferred having sound when I could have it, especially because all interactions were fully voiced.

So that’s that. Below I’ll be reviewing Battlespire and Redguard (in that order), but I’d like to put out a standing offer to help you play these games too, should you be so inclined! I will not provide you any pirated software (so for getting the OS’s and the games, you’re on your own), but I will happily help you set up these games to work for you if you’re running Windows 7. Just leave a comment and I’ll help!

BATTLESPIRE REVIEW

Battlespire was originally planned as an expansion for Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, but eventually separated as its own game. It offers a very limited LAN-friendly multiplayer (PvP arenas), but the real game content is the single-player scenario. In this scenario, you are tasked with clearing seven separate levels that start in the Battlespire and eventually end in Oblivion (yeah, that Oblivion). In fact, the final boss is Mehrunes Dagon himself, the evil Daedric Prince who plays the role of villain in ES4.

In this regard, Battlespire is great for its narrative. I didn’t think some junky old game could round out my understanding of Tamriel, but here we are. Battlespire is a prequel, taking place a few years before ES1: Arena (as the Battlespire overthrow is part of Jagar Tharn’s plot to take Septim’s throne). You play the role of a battlemage unknowingly thrown into these events, thinking your visit to the Battlespire to be a regular training event instead of a last-ditch attempt to save Tamriel from the gates of Oblivion.

The game opens with typical Elder Scrolls character creation. You are limited to six races, and all the classes from ES1 and ES2 are available. The stat/skill setup is nearly identical to previous ES titles, with one big exception: leveling is not based on raising major vs. miscellaneous skills. Rather, at the time of character creation and once between each level, you are awarded points to distribute to both stats and skills (this “point” pool is shared!). How many points you earn is based on a variety of factors: skill-ups (major and misc), enemies defeated, loot acquired, etc. Basically, your performance in the level determines your growth. That said, growth itself doesn’t matter too terribly much, since (as always) enemy levels are scaled. Cheating to create an overpowered character (which I tried by editing a save file) just results in overpowered enemies. The true advantage lies in ONLY raising skills and stats most useful to you and leaving others intentionally low. Note: to make PER worth something more than convincing the occasional Scamp to fight for you, they put “Restoration” magic in this category. I think normally it resides with WIL in other games.

Combat remains consistent with prior series entries, though I found the AI pathing to be particularly atrocious in this game. They’ll even cast large explosion spells into walls over and over, killing themselves and leaving you unharmed. Sadly, I found I had to use the dumb AI to my advantage since it would take me about 10 hits with my best-skilled weapon to bring them down, whereas most “tough” enemies (dark seducers, daedra counts/lords) could two-shot me.

I could’ve lived without combat for the most part. What made the game appealing at all (and surprisingly, I was sucked in by this appeal) was the puzzle-style exploration: hit switches, collect magical-dingus items, answer riddles to open doors. That, and of course, the story. It is here that Bethesda really began to flesh out Daedric politics, much better than in Arena or Daggerfall. How does an immortal choose to act, or align, when faced with eternity? Why get involved in human affairs? How can one maintain loyalty in a house ruled by force if that force can never fully destroy its subjects? One human among thousands of Daedra, moving from the Battlespire to various outer realms (and finally, Dagon’s hunting grounds on the edge of Oblivion) is quite the journey.

The game took me about 20 hours to complete. If I could have had a superior virtualization (one with absolutely zero crashes), I’d even consider playing it again with a magic-heavy class. But then again, I’d really just rather play Hexen again, as this is ultimately a Hexen clone with Elder Scrolls skin. Interesting skin, but the mechanics fail in comparison to id/Ravensoft’s classic longform FPS.

Played: 20 hours
Platform(s): PC
Price: N/A (abandonware, good luck finding it)

REDGUARD REVIEW

I’m only a few hours into ES4: Oblivion, yet I’ve twice run into references to this curiosity of a game. In the Imperial City, a pirate wench sings the song of a young Redguard pirate named Cyrus. And when you complete the Orrery in that same city, you are informed by the mage guild member that this is only one of two Orreries known to Tamriel: the other is in Hammerfell, on the island of Stros M’Kai.

Redguard takes place on that island of Stros M’Kai, and you control the Redguard Cyrus. In terms of timeline, “Redguard” goes back further than any game in the entire series. There is an empire, but it’s totally pre-Septim. In fact, I think this one is dated in a different era altogether (400th year 1st or 2nd era, IIRC). The game is completely different from any prior game in the series, too. If Battlespire is a Hexen clone (and it is), then Redguard is a Tomb Raider clone.

Redguard has no leveling or experience points to speak of. It is a traditional 3rd-person action adventure, complete with ledge-hanging, rope-swinging, and swash-buckling galore. It is also story-heavy, and is fully voice-acted. Said voice acting is actually pretty good too, especially for the standards of 1998.

Because your character never really gets “stronger” by means of leveling or equipment, it only makes sense that the game be non-linear at least to a degree. There is only one ending, and there’s only one way to get there. But that way is actually broken into three separate segments, and the order you complete them in is entirely up to you. On Stros M’Kai, there is a main town, an observatory, a Necromancer’s tower, a Dwarven ruin (which is huge), a goblin hideout behind a waterfall, and more. Cyrus’ adventures are all motivated by a personal ambition to reunite himself with his estranged sister Izsara, whose husband he killed a decade before because he (the husband, not Cyrus) was an abusive douchebag. After that event, Cyrus fled Hammerfell. During the time he was gone, there was a bunch of political unrest, and finally a civil war that was ended when the empire jumped in as a 3rd party and strong-armed the whole affair. “The Restless League” is a small remnant of the defeated bunch (“The Crowns,” loyal to the local royal bloodline), and Izsara was an active member in this group before she up and disappeared.

Thus, Cyrus’ desire to save his sister leads to him becoming the inadvertent hero of an oppressed people that hate the Cyrodiil empire even more than they hate one another.

The gameplay is plenty of fun, and the puzzle-solving dungeon is a little less harrowing than I remember the original Tomb Raider being. Thus, while Battlespire is a step down from Hexen, I think Redguard is a step up from Tomb Raider. Though it’s not with its own problems.

For example: remember that “everything runs fast after loading” thing I mentioned earlier? That’s apparently not unique to my VirtualPC setup. That problem has always existed. So, if you save just prior to facing three enemies, and then load from that save… well, good luck surviving. A button-mash on right-click with the “auto-defend” (easy mode) option enabled is probably your best hope of survival.

Speaking of: the combat is a strange mixture of swordplay and rock-paper-scissors. I never did master it in the 25 hours it took me to beat the game. But I found that with enough patience (and health potions), button-mashing with the occasional forward- or back-stroke would do the trick.

The many unique characters and hefty dose of dialogue help to round out a microcosm within the usual (relative) macrocosm that is The Elder Scrolls. Also, the ending is super-satisfying. Hardcore TES-nuts would do well to track this one down.

Played: 25 hours
Platform(s): PC
Price: N/A (abandonware, good luck finding it)