Buy The Elder Scrolls Anthology

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List Price: $79.99
Sale Price: $74.84
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My first Elder Scrolls game started with Oblivion as I never had a system to run the previous ones, but it was pretty easy to get into the previous three and explore the first worlds and lore that has been set for the Elder Scrolls universe. The Anthology does a great job combining all five games with all the expansions in one package, along with the maps and an Elder Scrolls Online sticker.

Still, I miss physical manuals. Oblivion's manual is one of my favorites for any game, and I don't think paying $80 should include a piece of paper that tells me to go online to find them. This is nitpicking, and doesn't warrant removing a star.

So, what comes in the box?

DVDs for:

Elder Scrolls: Arena and a DOS emulator (this game came out in 1994)

Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, also with a DOS emulator (1996)

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions (2002)

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine and other minor expansions

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with Hearthfire, Dragonborn, and Dawnguard expansions

Also included, 5 maps for the different areas of each game, but no Shivering Isles map:

Skyrim (Skyrim)

Cyrodil (Oblivion)

Vardenfell (Morrowind)

Hammerfell (Arena and Daggerfall)

Tamriel (all games)

A Steam account is required to activate Skyrim, even if installing from the DVD; this is not required for the other 4 games. If you've never used Steam, it does NOT require a 100% always-on Internet connection, only an initial one to create an account, then activate and download the game. A Steam Key is included, and will also add Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim to your Steam account, but you can install all the games (excluding Skyrim) without Steam if desired.

Since Arena and Daggerfall are available for download for free from the official Elder Scrolls website, you're only paying for Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and all the associated expansions. On Steam (as of 9/10/2013), Elder Scrolls 3-5 costs $104 with all the expansions included, so $80 is a nice deal for anyone looking to jump right into the series. If you already have Skyrim with all the DLC, then the Anthology isn't worth the money unless you like nice looking boxes on your shelf and all your games in disc form.

The overall quality is good. The box feels solid and has that Elder Scrolls look. The maps are glossy photo-type paper, but are also folded which means they come with creases. It might be asinine to expect them to ship the maps in a tube instead of finding a way of putting them into the game box itself, but it would still be nice to be able to put them on the wall without having a tic-tac-toe box on them.

You also get a few glamour shots and a short synopsis of each game printed on the disk "booklet" that contains all the DVDs. This is good for knowing what you're getting into, and reminding you what the particular game is all about.

Overall, would I suggest the Elder Scrolls Anthology to someone? The answer is yes, but only if you're a die-hard fan or don't own any (or at least most) of the games. It has solid quality, nice maps, and a cheaper price, so it's a great combination and as time goes on will be an even better deal than it is today. However, if you already own Skyrim with all its expansions, it's probably cheaper to buy the GOTY editions of Morrowind/Oblivion and find the different maps online.

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Worth the $79.99, possibly, the plastic container it comes in is cheap, however the internal leather box set is excellent in quality. For a huge fan of the series with well over 1000 hours in the TES line so far, worth ever cent, the maps as another reviewer are of cheaper "photo paper" quality, for this price, wishing that there was a better option. Also be aware that this box set is the size of a DVD season box set, which I consider small, again for the price point.

As for activating the Skyrim DLC, there is a keycode that unlocks "Elder Scrolls Retail" which gives you access to Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, once Skyrim was installed the Steam installer did download ALL DLC.

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I collect Collectors Editions. I don't hide them away in their original packaging I display them all over my house, I open them and I read everything in them and play with the figurines and everything. This Anthology is amazing in my opinion. First let me start with who I think this is for.

1. A Collector of Elder Scrolls Games. I say collector because if you started with Oblivion or just picked up Skyrim or even started with Morrowind and want to play the first two they are free on Bethesda's site, go download and play them and buy an expansion to Skyrim if you want to support them.

2. Someone who wants to have all of the discs and not hunt down all of the editions and hope the used copy on sale is good enough.

3. Crazy people like me who buy every edition of every game they love.

Onto the review of the product. As stated in the description you get every Elder Scrolls PC game ever made. Starting with Elder Scrolls Arena. There are instructions on how to install with old DOS / 95 machines or how to configure DOSBox an emulator to play the original game. There is a disc just for Arena in its own slot on the first page of the binder than is covered in fake leather. There are some awesome screen shots of the game along the fold out page that holds the disc and the famous starting quest line quote as the game description. This is what you will find for all of the games. I will not go into detail for each as they are all setup the same and in the back is an ESO decal and maps of the World of ESO.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and well worth the money just for Skyrim alone, not to mention the entirety of one of the most awarded and praised game series of all time. This game series holds its own with Final Fantasy, Zelda, and Diablo. A true experience that should not be missed by any gamer. Good job Bethesda on offering this amazing product.

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These games were classics, and Skyrim is a masterpiece. However, The value of this collection is only that it combines everything in one place. For value, get it if you haven't already played two out of the following three: Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. The DOS emulator they refer to is DOSbox, available for free download, and Arena and Daggerfall are available from the Bethesda web site as free downloads. This collection will save you hassle if you have never used DOSbox before, and completeist collectors will want it just because, but if you have already played some of the games, give this a pass.

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I bought this mostly for the collector side of me so I'm going to love it no matter what. The only annoyances I have is that it doesn't include Redguard or Battlespire (I know there not part of the Elder Scrolls main series but that's no excuse and imho is a loss to this set). It also uses a lower quality version of Arena (the same version on Bethesda's website) instead of the voiced (during the Ria Silmane cut scenes) and higher produced music version which can be found if you look hard enough, or fork over an arm and a leg for the original disc. Also for Arena and Daggerfall the "fullscreen" version simply takes the windowed mode and stretches it to fit widescreen, which of course makes everything look scrunched up. As far as the first title goes and the exclusion of Redguard and Battlespire, Bethesda really could have done better and there's just no excuse for the laziness.

But with those grievances out I still can't help but really love this anyway. Weird I know, but what can I do?