Eärendil the Mage #5: Stonekeep | The Elder Scrolls: Arena on Arch Linux

Channel:

David C. Drake

Subscribers:

422

Published on November 21, 2022 5:21:47 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3qBrxi_gZ4

Game:

The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)

Duration: 1:48:15

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6

Let's play The Elder Scrolls: Arena on Arch Linux! Join me and Eärendil, a High Elf mage, as we journey through Tamriel on my first full playthrough of TES Arena, a classic open world fantasy RPG originally released in 1994. Along the way, I'll offer tips, trivia, and game design analysis and I hope you'll share your knowledge and opinions, too! Full playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ8he4T55R3sAP868mD_1ZhTAPPtDcFbB

In this episode, Eärendil seeks rumors in Hammerfell as to the location of Fang Lair, leading him to Queen Blubamka of Rihad who informs him that the final clues are on a parchment stolen by a band of goblins led by Golthog, a goblin necromancer rumored to serve the Underking. Eärendil must retrieve the parchment from them in the ancient, ruined fortress of Stonekeep...

0:00:00 Dragonstar
0:01:34 Rihad
0:05:44 Palace of Queen Blubamka
0:08:06 Stonekeep
0:18:00 The Royal Bedchamber
0:47:40 South through the goblins' caves
1:34:10 North to the subterranean lake
1:38:55 Parchment found!
1:46:58 Return to Rihad

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The name Eärendil comes from an extraordinary Half-elf in the works of Tolkien and means "Lover of the Sea" in Quenya. To learn more, watch this video by the Nerd of the Rings: https://youtu.be/BLDWm1eOTL0

PC: MSI GE62MVR 7RG Apache Pro
OS: Golden Drake Linux (Arch Linux customized for gaming and game development) https://github.com/GoldenDrakeStudios/golden-drake-linux
CPU: Intel i7-7700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile
RAM: 32 GB DDR4-2400

This is the CD version of TES Arena (1.07), packaged by GOG https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_elder_scrolls_arena, installed via Lutris https://lutris.net/games/the-elder-scrolls-arena, and played through DOSBox. For details about the game, consult the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP): https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Arena:Arena

Mods
• Sound Patch https://www.nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/15
• Title Screen Fix https://www.nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/17
• Opening Fix https://www.nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/13
• Intro Fix https://www.nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/4

I no longer recommend the Remapped Keys mod https://www.nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/1 because it doesn't work with recent versions of DOSBox. Besides, the default controls are fine once you get used to them!

As for DOSBox settings, I usually stick with the original, glorious, pixelated look of retro games, but TES Arena is a rare exception: I like smoothing its graphics a bit by using "advmame2x" as my graphic scaler. To try it, set "scaler=advmame2x" (or "glshader=scaler/advmame2x" for DOSBox v0.80 or later) in your game's DOSBox config file.

Speaking of pixels, many of Arena's in-game text boxes have a slow "pixelation" (fade-in, fade-out) effect that, in my opinion, quickly becomes annoying. Press F4 to turn it off.

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Gameplay recorded via OBS Studio https://obsproject.com
Voice audio recorded and edited via Audacity https://audacityteam.org
Final video edited and rendered via Kdenlive https://kdenlive.org

#linuxgaming #elderscrolls #tesarena #retrogaming

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