The development of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall involved an enormous task, but planning failed to keep pace with the scale of production. Originally scheduled for release in January 1995, the game was delayed multiple times and didn't reach North American stores until September 1996; the launch version still contained numerous bugs.
After its announcement, the game frequently appeared in gaming magazines, including on the cover of the January 1995 issue of Computer Gaming World. It also showcased a trailer at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show. At the time, some media outlets believed the game could bring new vitality to the computer role-playing genre, which was then in a slump.
Developers recalled that the actual workload far exceeded the original schedule. Nesmith stated that the team attempted to complete in about a year and a half a project that realistically required around three years. Peterson recalled that team members worked seven days a week, putting in overtime during summer weekends in offices without air conditioning.
When programmer Hal Bouma joined, he thought the game would enter testing in just a few weeks, only to discover he still needed to use map chunks to procedurally generate around 15,000 locations. Another designer recalled that important systems were still being added close to release, while testing resources were extremely limited.
Bugs present at launch included issues that could cause main quests to disappear. Despite the difficult development process and numerous problems in the initial release, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall later received critical acclaim and awards, and inspired fan projects.