soundtracks,  video games

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

30. January 2023 /

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.

No.TitleArtist(s)Ratings
01The Elder Scrolls II: DaggerfallEric Heberling44/5
02Sunny DayEric Heberling33/5
03SwimmingEric Heberling33/5
04SwimEric Heberling33/5
05A Beautiful Day in the CityEric Heberling33/5
06RainingEric Heberling33/5
07Raining (Piano)Eric Heberling33/5
08RuinsEric Heberling33/5
09DungeonEric Heberling44/5
10Snow Is FallingEric Heberling33/5
11SnowingEric Heberling44/5
12Snow Over NorthmoorEric Heberling33/5
13OversnowEric Heberling33/5
14OvercastEric Heberling33/5
15Home Sweet HomeEric Heberling33/5
16At HomeEric Heberling44/5
17FireplaceEric Heberling33/5
18On the ShipEric Heberling22/5
19EerieEric Heberling33/5
20Night AdventuresEric Heberling33/5
21Wildneress (Piano)Eric Heberling33/5
22Dungeon (No 21)Eric Heberling22/5
23PalaceEric Heberling33/5
24Palace 2Eric Heberling33/5
25NiteEric Heberling33/5
26ShopEric Heberling33/5
27Folk 1Eric Heberling44/5
28Folk 2Eric Heberling33/5
29Folk 3Eric Heberling33/5
30StoreEric Heberling33/5
31SquareEric Heberling44/5
32Tavern MusicEric Heberling44/5
33Daggerfall NightsEric Heberling22/5
34Treading WinterEric Heberling55/5
35MagicEric Heberling33/5
36Dungeon 2Eric Heberling33/5
37CurseEric Heberling33/5
38Dungeon 3Eric Heberling22/5
39A Bad FeelingEric Heberling33/5
40A Winter on Yeomsley FarmsteadEric Heberling44/5
41Now My ChampionEric Heberling11/5
42Elven Fable MixEric Heberling33/5
43Snow Day Summer Time MixEric Heberling22/5

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