Introduce Yourself to The Elder Scrolls Online

[Andy Chalk]

Introduce Yourself to The Elder Scrolls Online

​

The Elder Scrolls Online "Introduction" trailer has more than nine minutes of gameplay and guys talking about how awesome it's going to be.

The Elder Scrolls Online is a pretty big deal. It's a high-profile, big-budget MMO based on a well-established and well-loved franchise, all of which, as Star Wars: The Old Republic so aptly demonstrated, means virtually nothing to its potential audience. That could be bad news for Bethesda, or ZeniMax Online Studios to be more precise, because if it can't make the game stand out from the crowd it'll likely sink quickly and quietly into oblivion.

There are two points in this video that strike me as particularly interesting. First, that the game will eschew server shards for a single "mega-server" on which everyone will play, and second, that it "really opens up" once you hit level 50. That's a bold statement, not because there's anything necessarily sinister to it but because it's so open to interpretation in less-than-ideal ways. It makes sense that higher-level characters will be able to see more and do more, but do we really have to grind through 50 levels before things get interesting?

What do we think? It looks The Elder Scrolls but it also looks like an MMO. Will The Elder Scrolls Online have what it takes to square off against World of Warcraft - or at least avoid getting stomped into the ground by it?


Permalink

 

[Frostbite3789]

It's always amazing with worlds like this, how a thousand years before armor and technology look exactly the same as they do in the current games that are apparently set far later.

Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Can it square off against World of Warcraft?
No... probably not. They're going to need more than that to stay popular and alive.

I have a friend who's played WOW for years. She gets tired of it and it takes on a Facebookish routine of activities for an hour or so every day, but every new expansion she's glued to the computer screen and there's no getting her away from it.

Maybe if they could somehow stop Blizzard from making expansions.

 

[DugMachine]

Sigh. Part of me really wants to play this game because I'm liking what I see so far buuuuut I'm scared it'll die off in a few months and nobody will play..

 

[Mumorpuger]

It's always amazing with worlds like this, how a thousand years before armor and technology look exactly the same as they do in the current games that are apparently set far later.

Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far.

That's usually my one gripe with fantasy settings. Some of them (and in my head I'm thinking about the Game of Thrones Universe) have had civilized society for thousands of years, yet still rely on horses, fire, etc. No steam, no electricity, nada.

You would think they'd have more technology by then, if you juxtaposition it to the real world's timeline of events regarding human civilization and inventions.

 

[Valok]

Mixed feelings about this, really don't know. After the latest failures in the industry you really shouldn't be expecting much of it. Let's see how it turns out.

To quote Yahtzee, "It always LOOKS good".

 

[kodra]

It's always amazing with worlds like this, how a thousand years before armor and technology look exactly the same as they do in the current games that are apparently set far later.

Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far.

It kinda makes sense if the people who make the technology/armor aren't around anymore. Y'know, kinda like the Dwemer.

 

[Sight Unseen]

parts of this video were "meh" to me. The combat looks a bit weird. But mostly I was really impressed. The environments and visuals are amazing and it definitely FEELS like an elder scrolls game, and HOLY FUCK that PVP demo at the end was amazing!

I really hope the actual pvp is like that because I think that will be so much fun to be a part of these massive battles complete with siege weaponry and castle defense.I've never seen an online game that does that (or really any single player games other than RTS's)

 

[Frostbite3789]

It's always amazing with worlds like this, how a thousand years before armor and technology look exactly the same as they do in the current games that are apparently set far later.

Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far.

It kinda makes sense if the people who make the technology/armor aren't around anymore. Y'know, kinda like the Dwemer.

You're saying not one other species of people in that world have the wherewithal to be like "Tired of this, advancing technology."

 

[Frostbite3789]

It's always amazing with worlds like this, how a thousand years before armor and technology look exactly the same as they do in the current games that are apparently set far later.

Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far.

That's usually my one gripe with fantasy settings. Some of them (and in my head I'm thinking about the Game of Thrones Universe) have had civilized society for thousands of years, yet still rely on horses, fire, etc. No steam, no electricity, nada.

You would think they'd have more technology by then, if you juxtaposition it to the real world's timeline of events regarding human civilization and inventions.

At least with Game of Thrones, it could be argued, that the long winters that kill off so many people could hinder a lot of advancement.

 

[lokicdn]

It looks somewhat like they are trying to refine what GW2 started. Hopefully if they do, they can make combat more interesting then GW2's nonsensical button mashing. And it doesn't fall prey to Bethesda's habit of releasing extremely buggy games.

 

[Fappy]

I really want this game to be awesome... but have... a lot of doubt

 

[Mr.Wizard]

I'm really not looking forward to this. There are a couple of things they say in the video that makes me worried.

First they talk about how you can choose any weapon/armor/etc combination. What they don't understand is that -any- MMO will eventually boil down to min maxing and there will always be one weapon or combination of weapon/armor that is best, even if it is only best numerically and people will feel pressured to choose that one. This is true for all games but in a single player game you can do what feels the most fun for you, but in an MMO you have the weight of expectations from others that influence your decisions. You don't want to be a burden to your guild or group because your build isn't "good".

Second, the fact that everything in the trailer is in third person makes me feel that the combat will simply be the same point and slash as every other MMO. It's awkward as hell swinging a melee weapon accurately in third person so instead of being Elder Scrolls combat it will be WoW or GW2 combat.

Picking classes... sigh. Not Elder Scrolls. At least not Elder Scrolls as I know it. I'll admit that I haven't played the earlier Elder Scrolls (Daggerfall etc) but I have played every Elder Scrolls game and expansion from Morrowind onwards and classes don't even fit into the concept.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they can make a decent game, hell it may even be a good MMO. But it's sounding to me like it will be just a regular MMo with an Elder Scrolls skin. I'll just wait for the next single player game.

 

[Magikarp]

I really really want this to be good...
Ah, who am I kidding, I'll probably buy it regardless of quality.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Left click to attack
Hold for power attack
Right click to block

Those three things have done quite a bit to reduce my endless pessimism towards this project. That is one step toward TES and one away from WoW(it was previously stated that the game would have action bar combat).

Note that I am not yet optimistic. The whole pvp emperor thing is still fairly ridiculous. But I can now say that there is something I don't hate about the game, and I suppose that's a start.

 

[Scars Unseen]

It's always amazing with worlds like this, how a thousand years before armor and technology look exactly the same as they do in the current games that are apparently set far later.

Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far.

It kinda makes sense if the people who make the technology/armor aren't around anymore. Y'know, kinda like the Dwemer.

You're saying not one other species of people in that world have the wherewithal to be like "Tired of this, advancing technology."

Tired of what? Magic? What could be accomplished by very early industrial revolution era tech that magic can't do better?

 

[Domogo]

This looks like a massive graphics hog haha but you can sign me up

 

[newwiseman]

It looks awesome, and I would love to play it. However I won't buy it if it's a subscription based game. I just don't have the time to play MMOs regularly and I'm not going to pay a monthly fee to play a game that I may only get a couple days of play every month or two in.