[typing] [Redguard soundtrack plays]
No, not yet. Have patience, outlander.
Today is all about The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard,
released in 1998 for MS-DOS PCs
by Bethesda Softworks.
"Destined to be legendary," indeed.
And I don't necessarily mean that in the most positive of ways.
Redguard is the fourth game released in the Elder Scrolls series,
the second spin-off game following in the footsteps of Battlespire,
and the first and only one so far to rid itself
of traditional computer role-playing elements.
As evidenced by this movie poster-like screenshot collage on the back of the box,
Redguard is a third-person action-adventure,
notably taking inspiration from Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia games.
And I guess movies, too, because why not?
It's also the first in the series to feature 3D acceleration,
making use of the venerable 3dfx Voodoo chipsets
that were so popular at the time.
Whatever you think of the game itself, though,
this box is pretty excellent in by book...
of excellent boxes.
Like all of the early Elder Scrolls games these days, it is quite collectible.
But it's not as costly as Arena, Daggerfall or Battlespire,
and even less so with the later releases of the game.
No matter what, I do appreciate the contents of a good box,
including this lovely CD-ROM and a lovely dual CD-ROM package,
this lovely fold-out paper map of the world of Redguard,
which features edges that are actually burnt! It's not just printed that way.
And of course, the lovely instruction booklet,
"The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Volume R."
Even though it's in monochrome,
this manual features plenty of extra stuff in comparison to the norm,
like a lore-building comic strip
and concept art selections all throughout the book.
My copy also came with "The Redguard Companion,"
the official strategy guide/ walkthrough for the game,
which is beefy and welcomed,
but totally optional.
It's worth noting that early shipments of Redguard
came with a separate full-color printing
of the "Origin of Cyrus" comic as well.
But thankfully, Bethesda made a PDF of it available for free
if you don't want to rip your nipples off trying to find a copy.
And finally, if you're *really* into pointless knick-knacks,
keep an eye out for this pewter figurine,
which was available as a Redguard pre-order bonus
and now costs more than the game itself.
And yes, limited pre-order bonuses are nothing new
Reality is a bastard.
Redguard begins with a Windows-specific installer,
even though the game itself runs exclusively in DOS,
so that's convenient.
Once you've adjusted the options to suit your hardware and all that goodness,
it's time to boot up the game and receive an array of introductory cinematics,
starting with this 3D-rendered mage's room
filled with countless tomes and magical items.
The Redguard Volume flying off the shelf
and opening up to display its logo to psyche you up...
...and promptly going downhill from there.
After this, it's just an assortment of static imagery
and excessive exposition
with pronouns and fantasy jargon thrown at you left and right
before you can even realize what's going on.
NARRATOR: Septim is opposed on all sides.
But never more fiercely than by Hammerfell,
the ancestral home of the Redguard.
LGR: But just going by the imagery, it seems that a bunch of paintings
have declared war on other similar-looking paintings.
And as a result, the local cartographers
have to start their hard work all over
because their maps are stained beyond repair.
Then there's something about Tiger Septim rings
and Chrysler Imperials getting high,
culminating in Khaleesi having a temper tantrum,
and this apparently lets us know that it's 400-ish years before the events
of The Elder Scrolls: Arena.
It finally gives way to something a bit more interesting,
introducing you to the protagonist,
Cyrus the Restless,
who doesn't give a crap about war never changing.
Cyrus is instead biding his time with the one Khajiit who has time for him,
as he received a letter regarding his estranged sister Iszara
having gone missing.
Even though they're not close, he's gotta go and find her!
Why are they not close, you ask?
CYRUS: I killed her husband.
LGR: Oh. Dang, dude.
Well never mind that, it's time to hit the high seas in search of adventure
and your sister that hates you!
And in no time at all, pirates attack,
dropping you right into the action
without a moment to spare.
PIRATE #1: The Restless League is claimin' this cargo.
PIRATE #2: Said the other with cruel, cruel clarity.
[ship creaking, swords unsheathed]
LGR: [chuckles]
Oh, it's gonna be one of *those* games, isn't it.
You know, the kind that's so happy sniffing the farts of its own lore and world-building
that it somehow forgets to nail down the basics of gameplay.
[long sigh] Yeah, so here's the thing.
Tomb Raider was a big deal in the mid- to late-'90s.
Really big.
So I don't blame Bethesda for taking that same basic control method
and slapping it on top of Redguard with all the care
of a second-grader's last-minute essay
about waffles.
Alright, maybe I do blame them for that,
but it was probably a decent business decision at *one* point,
based on consumer metrics or whatever, but ugghh!
Somehow they took what was already a slightly infuriating control scheme in Tomb Raider
and managed to make it even worse!
Part of this is because when you press a button,
it'll play out an animation... sometime later.
It'll check its calendar and get back to you soon.
This happens with running, jumping, side-stepping,
*any* kind of basic movement,
but also in the combat itself.
Not only do you have that typical Elder Scrolls thing
where you can't exactly predict when you're going to make contact with the enemy,
but the timing seems to have been designed with fortune tellers in mind.
Admittedly, you do get better at it the longer you play,
but there were still plenty of situations
where the enemy would get the upper hand on me
seemingly at random.
It's also simplified to such a degree
that it's playable using a four-button gamepad
or just as many action buttons on the keyboard,
granting this control scheme *zero* favors as a result
and adding plenty of opportunities for swearing.
If this kind of nonsense makes you wish for death,
then take one of the opportunities the game gives you to direct your own destiny
and just jump off the ship right at the start of the game
to be eaten by sharks.
Eh, whatever.
Once you're done clowning around with your first awkward sword fight,
you arrive on the island of Stros M'Kai
off the coast of the kingdom of Hammerfell.
And, man, this moment... is great.
If there's one thing that most Elder Scrolls games get right,
it's that feeling of awe and wonderment
when you finally get to that grand reveal
of the open world that's now available to you.
Even if your path through it is... not as open as you might think.
But still, ugh, it's exciting.
And I know some folks find this art direction and graphics tech to be sickeningly dated,
but to me, it's a tasty, nostalgic slice of growing up in the '90s.
The pointy trees, the low-res dirt,
the single-digit animation frame rate.
Aww... it's cute!
Look at how hard they were trying.
I am genuinely charmed by this era of
early 3D-accelerated PC gaming,
and Redguard is no exception to that.
Especially since this gives you a pretty huge world to explore.
It's nothing compared to Arena and Daggerfall,
and again, there's a lot of emptiness, but
at least it's significantly more open than Battlespire was.
Even though... it's not a role-playing game.
Oh, yeah, that's right. I almost forgot.
Redguard is infamous for its tossing aside the whole idea of classic role-playing
in favor of emphasizing the action-adventure stuff.
This means you don't get to customize CRAP!
Not your name, your look, your clothing, your stats,
your skills, your weapon preference, not a thing.
By and large, you're going to have the same basic experience as anyone else that plays,
meaning that Redguard has a lot more in common with a '90s graphic adventure game
than it does *anything* else Elder Scrolls related.
Heck, even those Elder Scrolls Travels games
had significantly more role- playing, and that's kinda sad!
But at the same time, I can kind of appreciate
that Bethesda was just trying their darnedest to try something new here.
Eh, maybe they fell flat on their face and everyone laughed at them for it,
but dang it, they did their best.
I think.
I'm still not entirely sure
what I feel about Redguard.
On the one hand, I absolutely love the story.
Not because it's particularly well-written,
but because it's The Elder Scrolls!
I love this series of games and the lore is a big part of that.
Sure, in Redguard it gets bogged down in the details sometimes.
Most of the time.
Okay, ALL the time, in this case.
But you know, it's fascinating stuff
if you're into the games that come after this in the series.
I mean, it's the basis for all sorts of things fans came to love.
Like the introduction of Michael Mack as the voice of Cyrus,
and subsequently, like, *every* Redguard in later Elder Scrolls games,
like Morrowind and Oblivion.
And the fact that Imperials are now a distinct race.
That's right, before Redguard, the Imperials were just sort of
in the background doing things... imperially.
But after this, they've been a playable and important race ever since.
At the same time, though, the dialogue is... excessive,
and cheesy,
and excessively cheesy.
Every single line in the game is fully voice-acted
which, hey, in 1998, that was still... pretty cool!
But the interface for chatting isn't the best,
and you'll go a bit mad hearing the same things over and over
from characters you have no idea will be important or not.
But you've still gotta ask them about all the stuff,
just in case they reveal an important plot point or objective.
Once you do receive an objective,
it's time to start action-adventuring.
Head on over to the general store and buy some gear,
and drop into the nearest cave to crack some skulls
and gain some epic loot.
Just not too epic,
because unlike other Elder Scrolls,
this one limits your gold because it's too heavy.
Ah, come on, Cyrus. You're a pirate. Sort of.
You'll carry no more than 500 gold pieces,
but you'll happily haul around an inventory of thousands of potions,
books, torches, shovels and ships
made of pure silver.
If I can't horde money, then I'm not sure what I'm doing here,
other than getting aggravated with terrible platforming
and hating everything about the combat.
It's just... so... BALLS!
If this had controls closer to the game Rune,
instead of Tomb Raider by way of Bubsy 3D,
the world would be a lot more fun to explore.
But as it is, I just can't stand half of the exploration.
And I know what some of you are thinking:
Oh, your DOSBox isn't configured correctly.
The game's running badly.
But nope, I'm playing this on my Windows 98 PC
that meets the recommended system specs.
It's running just as it would have back in the day.
I also tried it on a lower- specked Windows 95 PC
to double-check it wasn't running too fast or something, but nope.
Redguard is just a slow-paced and cumbersome game to play.
And that's a real shame because, again,
the world-building going on here, I love it.
And just exploring these bizarre landscapes
dwarven ruins, creepy catacombs and foggy towns
is a blast for fans.
In theory.
I even like the slightly ugly graphical style.
It just oozes late-'90s 3D charm.
It just, I dunno, it appeals to me in a weird way I can't quite explain.
But as enjoyable as it can be to wander around
and take in the world of Redguard at a leisurely pace,
as soon as you start taking part in the main game, it falls to pieces.
Pieces of gold that you can't pick up because you already have too much.
Except you don't have too much, you have too little
because Redguard is a lackluster thing, indeed.
Oh, well.
It was an interesting experiment, at least.
But I can see why Bethesda never revisited this idea
and spent five years getting Morrowind just right.
And, hey, if you wanna give it a try yourself,
and don't wanna pay the slightly high collector's prices,
there's a version on GOG.com that works on modern hardware.
It's not perfect, your mileage may vary,
but it's actually gotten a whole lot more playable
compared to the mess that it was when they first launched that version.
Well, I mean it's as playable as is *can* be,
considering the game at hand.
[ocean waves, splashing]
[uptempo orchestra music]
And if you enjoyed this video of this game in the Elders Scrolls series,
then maybe you'd like to see some of my other videos on the topic.
And there's more coming in the future.
I got new videos every Monday and Friday
here on LGR.
And as always, thank you very much for watching.