Arena talk:Arena

Needs Updating

I haven't really spent time recently on the Arena page and it shows. There's a number of things that need to be updated.

• Need a walkthrough (sort of one in the FAQ but a seperate document would be better)
• Some information in the Unofficial FAQ needs correction or updating
• Need a general review
• The Windows page needs work (or just link to the general Windows game page). There are a number of things recently that make Arena work better under Windows, like DosBox.

DaveH 21:11, 22 Feb 2005 (EST)

I Just gave all of Arena breadcrumb trails, but anther major thing that needs editing is the tables. They are still in basic HTML and have not been converted to UESP table style or even wiki-style yet. I can't be of too much help on the table thing though, I'm still learning scripting stuff. --Werdnanoslen 22:55, 8 September 2006 (EDT)

Quest?

I don't have Arena and probably never will, but is there a quest for this game? If so there should be some sort of quest guide here. --Werdnanoslen 22:58, 8 September 2006 (EDT)

Answere: Yes, apparently something about the a staff of chaos being split in 8 pieces would be my guess. But yes, this should have a walkthrough.

The main quest is quite short, confusing, has missing FMVs and is generally hard to distinguish from the random quests of which there are infinite, except the dungeons are static rather than generated and each is godawful (From a modern perspective, I should say. I get the feeling that at the time it was something special. All I can think about though is the cities that span a forever of nothing important and how yammering priests wearing crosses called me an evil dark elf because I was a dark elf.) 74.132.249.206 23:27, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Screenshots?

Are there any screenshots from arena on uesp.net? It would be fun to se some pictures from the first TES game... --Viccce 13:54, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

I seem to remember asking about how to take screenshots of Arena, and me not knowing. I ~could~ take pictures by printscreening a picture of Arema when windowed. But it would be very low quality, and not out of the 1st dungeon.

I had some... But I think they got lost during my computer spring cleaning. Does anyone know where to find some good screenshots?--M1SSYF1V3 21:00, 28 March 2008 (EDT)

You can save screenshots in DOSBox (Ctrl+F5) directly as PNG files. Regrettably my old-TES-fu isn't leet enough to play this game too much, or I'd make some myself. =) --Wwwwolf 18:14, 5 June 2008 (EDT)

Yeah, I think there should be some. I came here looking for screenshots, and found not a screenshot section (like with DaggerFall).—Sam324 13:10, 26 April 2008 (EDT)

The screenshots of this game are rather ambiguous. All the areas look more or less the same, aside from the background. View distance is extremely short, i never saw more than a couple people in a given instance. Each screen shot, sadly, does very little help. If you get to one of the cities, you'll see what I mean as they are of ridiculous proportion for the amount of things you could do in them. 99% doors that have no fear of you, 1% neat things if you can figure out how to get to them.

If you edit out the enemies and such, its near impossible to tell any one location from any other location. Again im guess this was not the case before but the subtleties are too subtle for a post-daggerfall audience. 74.132.249.206 23:31, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Out of Curiosity

Why can we not use the maps from here Mickyfitz13 12:45, 7 January 2008 (EST)

We prefer that UESP editors create content (articles, images, etc.) themselves for the site, rather than take content created by others. There are often legal (copyright) reasons why content can't be taken from elsewhere; there are always ethical (plagiarism) problems with taking advantage of work done by others. --Nephele^Talk 13:53, 7 January 2008 (EST)

A quote from the ReadMe, found within archive:

The source code is free. It is not copyright, copyleft, GNU, open source, etc.

It is free. Help yourself, have fun, sell it, I don't care. The only thing

you have to do if you actually use it is credit me with the original version.

(Oh, and if you're thinking that "open source" is somehow free, you're mistaken.

It is very much legally encumbered.)

Source code is also included. Atedos 06:57, 20 January 2008 (EST)

Ummm... and... ? What exactly is the relevance of this quote? The original question was about taking images from another site, and had nothing to do with using source code written by someone else. And the quote doesn't change the basic fact that UESP prefers to have editors create their own content. If the person who created the maps at the above site wants those maps to be available to UESP readers he/she is free to add them to our site. Otherwise, it seems to me that the person uploaded the images to another site out of a desire to improve that site, and I'd prefer to respect that intent. --Nephele^Talk 01:16, 22 January 2008 (EST)

Well, the link is leading to article with file archive in it, I thought that was the subject. =\\ Atedos 07:38, 22 January 2008 (EST)

Downloadable version

This game is downloadable from the official Eleder Scrolls website, and I'm just asking if it's worth downloading. Like, would it be great 'cause it's a classic, or would it be crap (I'm allowed to say that right?) 'cause it's old? 58.174.98.29 18:40, 14 January 2008 (EST)

I played it at a friend's house before. I, personally, love it! But, because I'm a total DoS Box newb, I can't get it running on my computer. Perhaps, if you want, you could check out some of the videos on youtube with Arena gameplay...

[Here's a quick search for a few videos!]

(Hopefully, that link works. If not, youtube search Elder Scrolls: Arena.) — Unsigned comment by M1SSYF1V3 (talk • contribs)

I dunno, it's not too impressive graphic-wise if you're used to Morrowind and Oblivion. Even gets confusing some times. But you should go ahead and try it for yourself, I guess.—Sam324 13:18, 26 April 2008 (EDT)

quality of graphics is not what should define your view of a game. It is the gameplay --- the story, the quality of the control methods, and the atmosphere that should count. Given, old MS-DOS graphics is in some cases quite well suited to cause eye problems, but many DOS-era games are worth it. Especially ones like TES:Arena. By the way, Arena was the third First-Person-CRPG, after Origin's Ultima Underworld: Stygian Abyss (up to today one of the best CRPGs ever) and Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of worlds. If you like CRPGs, you will love all three of them. To play them, just use DOSBox. --kuli 20:35, 26 November 2008 (EST)

after Bethesda released Arena and Daggerfall free for download, some of the helpful folks on this side put pre-configured DOS-Box versions up, which require zero effort on your part (Youll need to learn how to make Dosbox go in and out of fullscreen, or any time you leave the window it shrinks. Fairly easy, a simple button command..But I cant remember it or the location of the dosbox files. They are here though, and the work "perfectly" (Any problems you have afterward are likely the game, not the DOSBOX emulation.) 74.132.249.206 23:38, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Sequels

Like "the" Wiki of all wikis, any product or medium with direct successors or sequels should have them posted somewhere, eg:

"TES 2: Daggerfall" Preceded by: TES: Arena Succeeded by: TES 3: Morrowind (And its' respective release date, if not all of theirs'.) This is usually included on the table/box on the right hand side.

Emm Source?

"Although it was the first of the series and received very little attention, Arena became a cult classic that spread in popularity through word-of-mouth, and it secured Bethesda's place in the RPG industry."

So reaceved very little attention AND is a cult classic? Sounds like fanwank.

86.45.126.252 17:05, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

I see what you mean, any suggestions for change? RandomTime 17:09, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

how about: "little initial attention"  ? Kalevala 01:01, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

"place" refers to something more global and judgmental in this context, "foothold" more accurately represents the history of Arena, since they could have subsequently fumbled their efforts and not have achieved their current "place" among RPG's. It is also a little less "fanwankish" (to coin a word.) Kalevala 02:21, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Arena console

out of curiosity, and because of what a laugh it would be to compare graphics from oblivion, what consoles does this game come out in... like computor, xbox, what?--Arch-Mage Matt 18:16, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Please research your questions before asking them, please. As you can tell from the article (of which this is the talk page for), it was released in 1994 only for PC. –Elliot ^talk 19:00, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Please don't be so patronizing, please. The answer may be obvious but you don't have to deliver it in such a condescending way or with such bad English. 89.168.126.149 19:10, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Stop "insulting" my English to try to put me down. Simple typos. And the fact that he (or you?) has asked multiple questions where the answer lies a few clicks away is an issue. It really isn't that hard to search the wiki. –Elliot ^talk 19:15, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

You brought it on yourself. If you insult other users then prepare to get as good as you give. And there are more errors in your sentence than the one you fixed. 89.168.126.149 19:18, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

That's quite enough of that from both of you. –rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 19:21, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

....thanks....--Arch-Mage Matt 23:20, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

General Hints section?

Would anyone be against me starting a "General Hints" section for Arena? Considering that combat tips does pretty well for, well, combat, there should be a page with additional help for subjects such as thievery, money making, survival, non-com magic tips, etc. (LordHaHa 02:05, 27 February 2010 (UTC))

Sounds like a good idea to me. It's good to see Arena getting some attention! rpeh •T•C•E• 10:38, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

OK, it's been added. Anybody want to add in some tips for Arena, have at it. LordHaHa 10:54, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Ooh~ This game looks fascinating! [Win7 64bit workings]

Will it work on Win7 64bit? --Pipgrandpa 09:25, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

It works on 64-bit Vista, so the answer is "probably". See this page for details on how to get it working. rpeh •T•C•E• 09:38, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! I'll try it out.(Hell, I always forget to sign...) --Pipgrandpa 15:58, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Aye! I will add that it works indeed, but do not be daunted if you try to open something from the ARENA folder and Windows says something like "This won't work on 64 bit! ahh omg!" If you run into this problem, do not panic, as it only means you need to open the game via DOSbox, and it will then work. --Guest — Unsigned comment by 67.142.168.24 (talk) at 12:18 on 21 February 2013

Unplayable game?

Perhaps somebody would be so kind as to prove me wrong, but... I have been trying to revamp the help files and renew interest in this game with my own play testing on modern computers. However, I have reached the conclusion that the game cannot be finished by any class of character. My rationale is based upon the design of the game when played on the faster machines, to wit: When it comes to basic melee you can muddle through as armor class improvements are substantial and easy to come by. However, magical attacks must be warded off by spells or potions. The problem with this is you must keep the magical defenses up constantly. On the newer computers, you can be hit multiple times before you can react. When a monster appears behind you and you don't have the correct defense, your character will often (or even always) die before you can turn around to find out what is hitting you. But the greater problem is, spells and potions duration is fixed by the game mechanics, and thus the time they are effective lapses very quickly. In one dungeon, Temple of Agamanus of the main quest line, the duration of Protection from Fire lasts less than 2 minutes. Then an additional problem enters things in that you cannot carry more than about 25 or 30 of any one kind of potion. The game will often lose them. Subsequently, it becomes extremely frustrating, if not impossible, to complete the higher levels without a lot of dumb luck.

Computers I have tested the game on: 2.5 and 2.6 ghz single core processors. 1 ghz Celeron 500. Detail level cranked all the way up to slow the game down as much as possible.

The DOS-Box preformatted setup available on this site has completely removed the issues you brought up. The game runs absolutely fine now, as does Daggerfall. 74.128.56.194 07:29, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Arena/Daggerfall for Morrowind/Oblivion Players

I liked those sections very much, even though I had fully immersed myself in both before ever reading them. Same thing i do with the players guide; buy them after i win (stupid players guide, doesnt even have Oranges listed.) I had heard great things about Daggerfall, and always wanted to play it. I had heard...things..about Arena. Mostly "Its a DOS Game before Firstperson gameplay was standardized."

I dont think theres any explicit problem with the games; its just that they are so very very unfamiliar to 3 and 4. I started at Morrowind, and was absoluteoly astounded how much better it was (visually, GUI..ly) than Daggerfall. Still, wanted to play both of them...And I always die. Like right away.

We need someone with a good knoweldge of these games ,and playing them on modern systems, who can also accurately recount how to play these games to people used to the modern day first person control schemes. It often feels like the games are simply impossible to play coherently. We need someone who can unambiguously tell us how to play these games from a MW/OB perspective. If I should ever make it to the point where I am that person, I will gladlycontribute. For now, I cant get out of the starter dungeon in either game. One time, I ran into like..an imp? And it was immune to all my stuff and killed me. In the tutorial dungeon. Was like "Gee..thanks."

74.128.56.194 07:35, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree with this completely. I have been out of the dungeon, trying to get to the fang lair, and the most I can understand from the walkthrough is to go "west to hammerfell." So, I have been walking.... and walking... and walking. Nothing even indicates that I am going in the right direction. I would hate to turn back only to find out that I was actually going the right way, and would have to turn back around.... again. 67.222.167.140 16:34, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

In response to the Hammerfell thing: you do know you can fast travel there, right? As for a page helping out Morrowind and Oblivion players get used to the originals... I don't think it would work. They're nothing like each other. Morrowind and Oblivion were basically the same, but with many minor differences which players need to acquaint themselves with. Arena and Daggerfall are oldskool DOS games which cannot be compared to the modern releases. a 'Tips for New Players' page would be a nice idea, though. Legoless 16:52, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

Link doesn't work

The link for "The Elder Scrolls 10th Anniversary Article" doesn't work, gives 404 error. - ZuTheSkunk 13:19, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

I want to fix it, but I cannot find the original article anywhere. And Google never fails! If it cannot be found, I would recommend deleting it. I'll give a chance for someone else to find it first. --DKong27 ^{Talk Cont} 21:23, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

The page is in the web archive, here. mxk101^Talk 21:32, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

The link has been updated. -- Jplatinum16 00:21, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Doesnt work

I went to the elder srolls site and downloaded the full site but i dont know how to play it?? it gets installed but i dont know how to actually play it. can someone helpp.®⅜⅝¢ =( — Unsigned comment by Jamz slack (talk • contribs) at 04:34 on April 8, 2011

The first two games in the series were not meant to be played on Windows, but rather DOS. For help with the DOS emulator DOSBox, see here. For playing Arena on Windows XP without an emulator see here. To be honest, I've never tried, as it seems complicated...But use Google if you need more help, I'm sure you could find some good threads on Bethesda's forums. --DKong27 ^{Talk Cont} 13:09, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

If you couldn't be bothered setting up the game yourself, download the self-installer version here. It's the CD version, so it has a slightly different ending and cutscene audio emitted from the floppy disc version provided by Bethesda. The installer does all the work for you, and all you need to do is install DOSBox. Legoless 13:17, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

do you think you could give me the link for daggerfall too legoless?? — Unsigned comment by Jamz slack (talk • contribs) at 23:24 on 8 April 2011

Here. The Daggerfall installer is even better, as it comes with loads of unofficial mods as well as all patches and the CompUSA quest pack. You could have found the links yourself in the 'Files' pages for each game. Check them out if you're looking for more. Legoless 22:39, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

hey thanks but i just downloaded the game and i dont know how to save can you tell me please — Unsigned comment by Jamz slack (talk • contribs) at 00:47 on 9 April 2011

Fast travel

Im getting confused with travelling from province to province. I dont get the map either is there any way to fast travel??? — Unsigned comment by Jamz slack (talk • contribs) at 04:37 on 9 April 2011‎

Try Shift-M, click on a province. The province map will appear then click on a city within the province. You will get a screen display indicating how long the travel requires. For example, from Old Gate, High Rock to Ebonhart, Morrowind is 75 days. Press "return" and the destination city should blink red. Click the horse icon in the lower left. You will then fast travel there (with galloping horse animation), and a screen showing the results will appear. Click return. Done. Kalevala 02:09, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I also have a question about fast travelling. I don't like fast travelling and I was wondering if it was possible to walk to different cities? Please don't say "You can but it could take weeks", I am just wondering if it is possible. — Unsigned comment by 24.131.209.202 (talk) at 14:21 on 5 June 2013

NPCs

I think having an NPC page would be very beneficial to the namespace. Arena:Queen Blubamka is an example of a current NPC article. Such articles are practically worthless. A list of all non-random NPCs (likely anyone to do with the Main Quest) and a table of all possible random names (which would probably be similar to this section) on one page (Arena:People?) would be much more helpful. Someone with knowledge of extracting Arena files would be needed for this task. --Legoless 22:42, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Is it really neccesary though, I mean most of the NPCs are very one dimensional. Also, Skyrim will be out in literrally 2 months so that will obviously take up a lot of attention. If somebody is going to do this though I would recommend something like this:

 CHARACTER NAME     LOCATION    QUESTS
 Andrew             Cheydinhal  None
 BoB                Anvil       Murkwood
 Carl               Daggerfall  Dagoth-Ur

That's just an example though, you don't have to use it. RIM 20:13, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

Most Arena townsfolk can be related to any quest (depending on region for MQ, or chance for random quests). A list of names would be the best option, with a format similar to the one you proposed for the (seemlingly) permanent MQ-related NPCs. --Legoless 15:04, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Ok, that was just an example but you can see what I mean by it. I don't have arena but if you found somebody who did it could be done. But like I said, Skyrim will be out very soon and will take up a lot of attention so if you are going to do it, you should probably do it sooner rather than later. You should probably do it by region or alphabetical. I'd help if I could but I don't have Arena. RIM 19:10, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

If I were to do it, Skyrim wouldn't be a problem, as I likely won't be editing the namespace until things settle down after release. But I don't even have Arena installed. If I ever get around to it, I'll look through the game files. Hopefully they aren't encrypted. --Legoless 19:24, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

With regard to the initial comment: As far as I can tell the Arena algorithm (in pseudo-code) for random NPC names for an NPC, n, in city X for the current player character is something like:

NameOfNPC(n) = concatenate (randomFirstPartPraenomen(n), randomSecondPartPraenomen(n), nonBreakingSpace, randomFirstPartCognomen(n), randomSecondPartCognomen(n), randomOccupation(n) )

where each function calls upon a list (or set) in a random fashion to assign a name and occupation to NPC n. The lists seem designed to generate several thousand names for the NPCs of City X, numbering from 1 to several hundred occupants without repetition. If the NPC whose name is so generated is greeted early in the day and one inquires about rumored work, one will be directed somewhere for a generic random quest until the limit for quests granted that day is reached (often 4 at lower levels.) If a randomly named NPC is greeted after the initial offering of a quest, they will confirm directions or mark the location of interest on the map. After the final such local quest, one will receive a message, when inquiring about work, indicating that the NPC does not know of available quests. So a table of NPC names might be impractical, whereas a listing of the four sets (realizing how they are used) might be helpful. For example, if each list (set) contained 10 name-parts that would be a table of 10,000 names, but a list of only forty name-parts. My comments here apply only to the randomly generated NPC names. The fixed NPC names should be a more straight forward matter. — Unsigned comment by 98.169.71.227 (talk) at 04:07 on 2 October 2011 (GMT)

Thanks for that. If there really are that many possibilities, a list of affixes would be far more preferable to a full list of names. Now all that's needed is the data, and we might actually have a page. --Legoless 12:08, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Armor rating

when i look at the stats on my armor its says -1 to armor rating, does that mean its minus one to armor rating? it doesnt make much sense to me (^{I plead Lazyness}_{Eddie The Head} 08:52, 10 October 2011 (UTC))

The lower the armor rating, the better. D&D derived board games have been through several iterations as to how to scale things and what formulas to use. Arena in 1992 was closer to the original in which armor was scaled going down. My level 13 Sorcerer has a -14 armor rating. His ebony torc says: -5 to AC. If I un-equip the torc, the ratings on his chain armor bounce up to -9 which is not as good as the -14. Hope that helps. Kalevala 22:10, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

short draw distance

When playing Arena 1.07 - with dosbox built in, i cant change draw distance. When i adjust details to max - it's always the shortest draw distance. Whats curious, in the night, adjusting details changes distance. Same in the buidlings. It doesnt work in wildernes, cities and dungeons. Can anyone know a solution? Playing with shortest draw distance is a bit uncomfortable. (it works fine with dosbox and arena separatedly installed). — Unsigned comment by 89.69.183.127 (talk) on 7 February 2012

Whoops. It was in game fog :P sorry for bothering — Unsigned comment by 80.254.147.220 (talk) on 7 February 2012

Bonus Attribute Points

Does anyone know how the bonus point when levelling up are decided or is it just random? I have tried lots of different things, I even saved right before levelling to try it many times and it seems to be random every time from 3 to 6. Has anyone else noticed?

Keskyman 23:07, 23 July 2012 (UTC)

uh

a good free unzipping program that isnt 7zip? — Unsigned comment by 173.215.5.61 (talk) at 23:14 on 31 July 2012

Probably a bit late, but there are lots out there. Later versions of Windows can unzip natively. You can also try something like WinRAR. (I think there are Mac and Linux versions too, if you need.) – Robin Hood↝talk 23:00, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Possible other quests plus one quest related question

While reading text files of Arena (http://www.dyk.pl/content/pc/arena/TEMPLATE.DAT), I found the text for two quests which I never got while playing (I am on level 23). They would include protecting a palace from enemies (#0007) and protecting somebody inside inn (#0089). Is it possible to get these quests?

Also, at level 23, I can't find any quests in taverns. Is there possibly some upper limit on which level player can get it.78.2.92.138 04:02, 4 February 2013 (GMT)

Original Arena Manual from Bethesda Softworks

From Bethesda Softworks, here is the original Arena manual in PDF format: Game Manuals

--BrianKRoss (talk) 20:24, 19 September 2013 (GMT)

arena glitch possibly

Sorry. I don't join sites. So I rarely have the chance to post cheats or glitches I find. But this one makes arena extreamly easy. First go to a mage and create your own spell. Next craft a spell under transfer- figured attribute- health. Max it at 100. For me it had a 0 casting cost. And was free to make. Than add to it the same thing. Than add the same thing a 3rd time. They add up. Works with healing spells as well. Make sure it is target area- centered on caster. Well any target will work. Now create it. Every time you cast the spell it will take 300 health from all enemy's around you. For 0 casting cost. You can do one for fatigue and spell points as well if you want. Kinda breaks the game and makes it too easy though. Oh and it transfers the health to you. Not sure if this is a bug or not. I know this isn't the right place to add stuff. But it won't let me anywhere else unless I join. And I don't join sites Sorry. 70.210.8.129 03:52, 15 April 2014 (GMT)

Arena Information

Hey, i've been wondering for a while now, but never asked anyone here. Anyway, I'm just curious as to where UESP got information about Arena? Thanks Crazy131 (talk) 17:47, 24 July 2014 (GMT)

From the game and it's data of course. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 17:50, 24 July 2014 (GMT)

Release Date?

I just noticed that we technically don't have an official release date beside "March 2014". I know that the release was hectic, but is there not a more accurate release date out there? I haven't been able to find one. --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 18:02, 7 August 2014 (GMT)

Do you mean "March 1994"? :p Anyways, in my brief search, I can't seem to find anything either. By the looks of it, only a small number of copies (3,000) were initially distributed which leads me to the theory that it was an unorganized release that varied from shop to shop throughout March 1994. •WoahBro^►talk 18:27, 7 August 2014 (GMT)

About a year after the above conversation someone added the precise date we have now, "25 March 1994", based on the date of Bethesda's acknowledgement of the series' 20th anniversary: [1]. This blog post is actually very vague and makes no claim to being on the specific anniversary. Many other websites give the date as 25 March but the only one with a source (Wikipedia) just cited this same blog post.

There is more evidence for March: [2]. GOG.com, who I would trust regarding classic games a bit more than other storefronts, give the original release date as 1 March. They actually seem default to the 1st whenever they don't have a specific date so we can just take this as official support for March.

And corroborating that we have a 2001 interview with Ted Peterson: [3]. "We released in the doldrums of March."

So it seems there was good reason for the non-specific "March 1994" we had until 2015, but wait! Looking further back, Daggerfall was released to celebrate the 15th anniversary on 9 July: [4]. This one also doesn't state clearly that it's on the same date as Arena's release but as evidence it's just as strong as the 20th anniversary post is.

More compellingly, here's what they did for the 10th anniversary: [5] [6] "Ten years ago this month," posted on 5 April! So in 2004 Bethesda said that Arena was released in April.

And even better, here are some conversations from February 1994: [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] (this was dug up by user Justbreathe on 'The Older Scrolls' Discord server and them bringing it up is what got me looking into Arena's release date). Some are merely stating that the game has released or that they bought it, others are clearly talking about playing the full game, not just the demo. I don't want to give this too much weight as it could all be explained by shops breaking street date, which was more common back then, however nobody mentions that they think they got the game early.

With people buying the game from February onwards, some Bethesda sources saying March, and one saying April, I can't help but conclude that Arena's release was unfortunately too woolly to pin to a specific month, let alone day. I've changed it to say "Early 1994 (officially March)" which seems to me to be the best way to summarise all this in that tiny box. If anyone has any other evidence I would love to see it. Boustrophedon (talk) 02:41, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

Manual

The link to the Manual is broken. 96.239.26.26 20:02, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

The link here should work. —Legoless (talk) 20:08, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

On the main Arena page there is a broken link to manual. Bethesda has there original manuals of all their games, in color, free for download here http://manuals.bethsoft.com/

Why don't we link to that instead of that svatopluk website which seems to be taken down?85.144.47.241 21:27, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Updated it, thanks. —Legoless (talk) 21:38, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

French Arena Manual

Should the French Arena manual be taken as cannon or be disregarded? There lots of interesting little lore bits in there that don't entirely seem to conflict with other sources (for example: the original heir the empire, Princess Ariella Septim is mentioned) (TIL Link: https://www.imperial-library.info/content/arena-intro-french) Username-72 (talk) 03:26, 25 March 2018 (UTC)

It definitely should not be disregarded (documenting everything is a goal of the UESP, after all). As far as being canon with the English version, I personally don’t see any reason to set that sort of info apart as long as it doesn’t directly contradict the English version. At the very least, it could be considered an OOG source and referenced or noted that way. Echo (talk) 20:37, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

We already display the French box art on the main page. I don't see a problem with documenting this. —Legoless (talk) 14:07, 13 May 2018 (UTC)

The French manual from the Bethesda website does not contain a story as found in other versions. If anyone knows where to find a copy of the original French manual that includes the story recorded on the Imperial Library website, please let me know. We should have access to the original to properly support any changes or additions. CONTRADICTIONS: In the French version we find references to General Talin Warhaft, but in the English version, the Hero is named “Talin” and “General Warhaft” is a separate individual. However the French version matches the cut-slide which names him as “Talin Warhaft, leader of the Imperial Guards and your guardian”. The French version also specifically mentions that it is 3E 389 and then proceeds to mention that it is the month of “Sun’s Dusk” when Tharn betrays and kidnaps the king. The King’s birthday, mentioned in the intro slides, is elsewhere established as the 30th of Frostfall and Sun’s Dusk is the following month, both at the end of the year. However, when the game begins it is the month of Hearthfire (Morning Star in some versions), which are both “earlier” in the year. This shows that the Kings 43rd birthday and his betrayal are both in 3E 388 (not 389 as in the French story) and a few months later, it is a new year, and the game begins in the dungeon in 3E 389. Please see the Arena Subforum for the discussion about the phrase “492 years after” for more information supporting these dates. --Satribe (talk) 17:16, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

(addendum): There is also an intro slide in the English version which also names him; "Uriel Septim IV, Emperor of Tamriel, stands with Talin, leader of the Imperial Guards.") This matches his name in the French story, but contradicts the English story.--Satribe (talk) 05:00, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

I obtained a PDF of the French version of the manual from the "Abandonware France" website. The story is the same as the French version on the Imperial Library site (a few typos).--Satribe (talk) 13:35, 12 November 2020 (UTC)