Why Elder Scrolls Collection Needs to Happen.

by Shawn McFadden

Okay, so Elder Scrolls blew up recently due to last year's Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It already had a crap-ton of fans all across the world. I mean, who can blame them? It’s one of the most in-depth RPG series around with on-going lore that continues to expand with every new game. Now, when I really enjoy a series, I tend to do a little research on it. I was always familiar with Morrowind and Oblivion. I even knew a little about the first two titles, Arena and Daggerfall. The thing that several people don’t know is that there are quite a few other Elder Scrolls titles that nobody seems to remember. Some of them are almost impossible to find. After reading this, I was very curious to why Bethesda never made an effort to re-release any of these titles for others to play.

Okay, now for a little background information. After the popularity of the first game in the series, Elder Scrolls: Arena that released in 1994, Bethesda made a sequel. This game was Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall which was released a few years after in 1996. This is common knowledge. Little known to several people (Or at least myself), they released another Elder Scrolls in the following year which was titled “An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire.” According to Wikipedia, the story surrounds a young Mage Apprentice who, on the day of his final test, discovers that Merunes Degon has sent an army of Daedra to kill all of his teachers and classmates. You basically have to defeat Mr. Dagon and save the world. This game also introduced a Co-op mode and a competitive multiplayer. Multiplayer in Elder Scrolls? That sounds awesome. But wait, there is more.

In 1998, Bethesda released yet another Elder Scrolls title that I had never heard of. This game was called “The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard.” The story followed a young Redguard named Cyrus. Cyrus’ quest is to find his lost sister. Even though I almost never hear about this game, Bethesda actually released a comic book with early copies of the game. It obviously was important enough for them to go the extra mile.

You’d think this is where the Elder Scrolls obscurity would stop but it only goes deeper from here. Remember the Nokia N-Gage? Yeah, that failed attempt to merge gaming and cellular devices? I recall it looked kind of like a taco with buttons. Well, what if I were to say that Bethesda actually supported this device a great deal. Yes, they released not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Elder Scrolls titles for that piece of crap console. What?? Was there something I missed? Clearly.

It all started in 2003 with the “The Elder Scrolls Travels: Stormhold.” You play a prisoner who must defeat an evil warden and gain his freedom. This was actually the only Elder Scrolls game to take place primarily in the Argonian homeland of Black Marsh (Except the region being playable in the second game). The next game in this series was called “The Elder Scrolls Travels: Dawnstar,” which was released in 2004. This one I actually could not find any information for. I assume it takes place in Skyrim, due to it having a city of the same name. The third entry for N-Gage was “Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey,” also in 2004. This game revolved around a young heroine who is attacked by a band of bandits and upon killing the leader of the bandits, finds an artifact called the Shadowkey. The final game should have a familiar title to fans of the series. It was called “Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion.” This came out in the same year as Elder Scrolls IV. From what I understand, this was a prequel to the Elder Scrolls IV.

I have searched for the four N-Gage titles on eBay and the only one I could actually find was Shadowkey. Obviously, this game goes for a very high price due to its rarity. So what gives? Six Elder Scrolls titles that almost nobody has ever played. Why has Bethesda never re-released any of these titles? With the high popularity of both the Elder Scrolls series and HD collections, I think it would make a lot of sense for Bethesda to do a collection of their own. Why not create “the Elder Scrolls Collection” including Elder Scrolls: Arena, Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire, Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, the Elder Scrolls Travels Quadrilogy, and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with all the expansions? It would be a great value and would give players a chance to catch up on years and years of Elder Scrolls lore that you have to go out of your way to catch up on now. It wouldn’t take that much effort to put something like this together? Fans would love it and I’m sure they would get high sales off of the title alone. Hell, people would buy it just to have Morrowind on their PS3 or 360. While I’m at it, I’m not sure why they never made a remake of Morrowind. As awesome as that game is, try going from playing Skyrim to playing Morrowind. It has not aged so well. This is why I really think that Skyrim’s future DLC should visit some of the other continents of Tamriel. How awesome would that be? Way more deserving of a $19.99 price tag than Dawnguards few new areas and features. I have heard rumors of Elder Scrolls and Fallout being released for the iPhone, so hopefully these titles will see the light of day sooner or later. But, I digress. Bethesda, make this happen.