Eärendil the Mage #11: Selene's Web | The Elder Scrolls: Arena on Arch Linux
Channel: David C. Drake
Date: 2023-12-18

Let's play The Elder Scrolls: Arena on Arch Linux! 🧝 Join me and Earendil, 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://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ8he4T55R3sAP868mD_1ZhTAPPtDcFbB

In this episode, Eärendil accepts a quest from Ulandra, Queen of Eldenroot in central Valenwood. She is willing to reveal the location of the Elden Grove, but only if Eärendil first saves the Wood Elves from a dire threat by stealing the "Heart" of Selene, High Priestess of Shagrath (God of Spiders). Eärendil must infiltrate the arachnid-ridden lair known as Selene's Web and retrieve a gem infused with the foul priestess's lifeforce...

0:00:00 Eldenroot 🌳
0:03:40 Palace of Queen Ulandra 👑
0:07:13 Selene's Web 🕸️
0:20:54 Gold key 🗝️
0:22:24 Vision from Jagar Tharn
0:23:52 Selene's Web, cont.
0:32:50 Flavor text bug: a►►►►a
0:34:00 Selene's Web, cont.
1:19:08 Selene's Web, level 2
1:48:48 Selene's Heart 💎
1:57:30 Diamond key 🗝️
2:13:13 Back to Eldenroot
2:15:02 Quest complete! ✨

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

Hardware 💻
• 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
• Microphone: Blue Yeti 🎤

This is the CD version of TES Arena (1.07), packaged by GOG https://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 (Main Files) https://nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/15
• Title Screen Fix https://nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/17
• Opening Fix https://nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/13
• Intro Fix https://nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/4

I no longer recommend Remapped Keys (https://nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/1) because it doesn't seem to work well with DOSBox v0.80+. 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+) 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