The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Year: 1996
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Eric Heberling
Number of tracks: 43
The Road Most Untraveled
As I mentioned in my review of the predecessor The Elder Scrolls: Arena, the Elder-Scrolls series only became an object of interest for me with the fourth installment, Oblivion. Accordingly, I can't say much about the game, so I'll briefly quote a fact from the Elder-Scrolls-Wiki that I found interesting:
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is characterized above all by the fact that it is probably the largest simulation of all PC games. The huge fantasy world, which was developed by Bethesda without a pen & paper background, offers an area twice the size of Great Britain. It can be explored both on horseback and later by ship and contains over 5000 villages, 750,000 NPCs, 500 books and hundreds of items of clothing. However, the majority of the game world was not created manually by the developers, but is randomly generated.
Entry on Daggerfall from the inofficial Elder-Scrolls-Wiki
So now on to the music, which presents itself as a 43-track long album - whether it really is an original soundtrack, I'll leave open in view of the year of release and the various listings circulating on the net. The score is by Eric Heberling, who, as with the previous album, shows no signs of losing his edge and, contrary to what one might expect from the beautifully metal-like cover, once again delivers solid fantasy MIDI music. In addition to the return of a few familiar motifs from Arena, such as “Snowing”, which turns out to be a carbon copy of “Winter in Hammerfell” or its minor-key variation “Oversnow”, Heberling once again delivers catchy tunes that don't reach the class of a Final Fantasys , but still know how to please.
Sometimes heroic (“Dungeon”), sometimes fantasy (“At Home”), sometimes medieval (“Folk 1”, “Square”, “Tavern Music”) and occasionally a little darker (“Night Adventures”), the score brings this old-school RPG to life and reminds us of a carefree time. Although there is a lack of really outstanding pieces apart from the good main theme and the chewed melodies from TES1, the score is self-contained and coherent and we have seen what that can achieve, especially with the awful Earth 2140 in mind, which was released a year later.
I would also particularly like to praise “Treading Winter”, which takes up the aforementioned snow theme from Arena and spits it out again in an epic style. However, as it stands out somewhat from the style of the OST and also sounds less like MIDI, I assume that this is a fan composition that was slipped into the OST like the rock medley “A Winter on Yeomsley Farmstead” or the trance-like “Elven Fable Mix”. Generally speaking, this is a no-go, but I'll let it pass here, as I did with "Dueling Destinies - A Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Suite" from the Jedi: Fallen Order-score. Because it just sounds nice.
| Nr. | Title | Interpret(en) | Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall | Eric Heberling |  |
| 02 | Sunny Day | Eric Heberling |  |
| 03 | Swimming | Eric Heberling | |
| 04 | Swim | Eric Heberling | |
| 05 | A Beautiful Day in the City | Eric Heberling | |
| 06 | Raining | Eric Heberling | |
| 07 | Raining (Piano) | Eric Heberling | |
| 08 | Ruins | Eric Heberling | |
| 09 | Dungeon | Eric Heberling | |
| 10 | Snow Is Falling | Eric Heberling | |
| 11 | Snowing | Eric Heberling | |
| 12 | Snow Over Northmoor | Eric Heberling | |
| 13 | Oversnow | Eric Heberling | |
| 14 | Overcast | Eric Heberling | |
| 15 | Home Sweet Home | Eric Heberling | |
| 16 | At Home | Eric Heberling | |
| 17 | Fireplace | Eric Heberling | |
| 18 | On the Ship | Eric Heberling |  |
| 19 | Eerie | Eric Heberling | |
| 20 | Night Adventures | Eric Heberling | |
| 21 | Wildneress (Piano) | Eric Heberling | |
| 22 | Dungeon (No 21) | Eric Heberling | |
| 23 | Palace | Eric Heberling | |
| 24 | Palace 2 | Eric Heberling | |
| 25 | Nite | Eric Heberling | |
| 26 | Shop | Eric Heberling | |
| 27 | Folk 1 | Eric Heberling | |
| 28 | Folk 2 | Eric Heberling | |
| 29 | Folk 3 | Eric Heberling | |
| 30 | Store | Eric Heberling | |
| 31 | Square | Eric Heberling | |
| 32 | Tavern Music | Eric Heberling | |
| 33 | Daggerfall Nights | Eric Heberling | |
| 34 | Treading Winter | Eric Heberling |  |
| 35 | Magic | Eric Heberling | |
| 36 | Dungeon 2 | Eric Heberling | |
| 37 | Curse | Eric Heberling | |
| 38 | Dungeon 3 | Eric Heberling | |
| 39 | A Bad Feeling | Eric Heberling | |
| 40 | A Winter on Yeomsley Farmstead | Eric Heberling | |
| 41 | Now My Champion | Eric Heberling |  |
| 42 | Elven Fable Mix | Eric Heberling | |
| 43 | Snow Day Summer Time Mix | Eric Heberling | |
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