The Elder Scrolls Online Goes All-Out With Eight-Minute "Arrival" Trailer

[JenSeven]

I've dabbled with the closed beta and the game is VERY quest and story driven. I don't remember getting a single quest to "kill 5 rats" or "obtain 5 hides" for no reason.

Ahhh... you were in the closed Beta. No wonder this sounds so much like PR speech.
I guess you'd have to sign a contract about not revealing much about the game, or not revealing any negative aspects of the game.
Sorry, but your input into this thread and your opinions just went right out the window.

 

[hazabaza1]

Holy fuck that camera was so shaky everything was so unclear. Got a few minutes in and just turned it off because it was all so full of... nothing.

How long is this "guuuh make the camera shake to make it seem action-y" phase going to last? I know it's hard to make entertaining looking scenes without shaky-cam but it is possible.

See:

And others I can't think of.

 

[tmande2nd]

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...........
Well...its like....hum..

Cool trailer...but it is just a CGI spectacle.
Does not even show us anything in game or really help me want to get it.

Personally I liked the Skyrim trailer more.

 

[Sight Unseen]

I've dabbled with the closed beta and the game is VERY quest and story driven. I don't remember getting a single quest to "kill 5 rats" or "obtain 5 hides" for no reason.

Ahhh... you were in the closed Beta. No wonder this sounds so much like PR speech.
I guess you'd have to sign a contract about not revealing much about the game, or not revealing any negative aspects of the game.
Sorry, but your input into this thread and your opinions just went right out the window.

Right... because getting to actually see the game briefly means that I'm now a paid shill of Zenimax and can say no ill of it.

You're right that I'm not supposed to talk about what I did in the beta which is why I kept it brief and slightly vague and not spoil anything too major. But if there was something majorly wrong with the game then I wouldn't be lying about it.

The bottom line is that I'm excited about this game and what you're claiming about the game is just false from what I've seen and read about it.

Whether you listen to me or not the fact remains that I did not see a single quest that felt like an obvious filler quest or "kill x of y for me because reasons" quest, and I'm super excited to see more.

I just don't like all this misinformation that's getting spread about this game from people who clearly havent even looked into the game beyond a trailer or two.

Also the things that I'm most excited for by far are the dungeons and the PVP and I didnt get to try either, but I'm still super excited for those.


Sign up for the beta yourself and give it a shot if you want to see for yourself. It's free and they're going to be doing more and more beta tests as the launch approaches so its the perfect time to test it and see if it's for you or not. It's not for everyone, but it's still going to be a good game I think.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I like to look at the trailer as separate from the game. It says nothing at all about the game, as I mentioned in the post, but as a purely promotional thing, all flash and bang and sizzle, it's absolutely spectacular. Should it sell you on the game? Of course not. But as an attention-getter, it's pretty damn amazing.

Basically, Zenimax is the one doing all the TESO stuff, but Bethesda Softworks still owns the "Elder Scrolls" trademark so they get a mention in the trailer. All the bits in your article where you're crediting Bethesda for the trailer and whatnot though, that's all Zenimax Online Studios, which Zenimax (parent company) created to push TESO while leaving Bethesda as a studio to continue with single-player endeavors.

I think you might be mixing up Bethesda Softworks with Bethesda Game Studios.

 

[JenSeven]

I've dabbled with the closed beta and the game is VERY quest and story driven. I don't remember getting a single quest to "kill 5 rats" or "obtain 5 hides" for no reason.

Ahhh... you were in the closed Beta. No wonder this sounds so much like PR speech.
I guess you'd have to sign a contract about not revealing much about the game, or not revealing any negative aspects of the game.
Sorry, but your input into this thread and your opinions just went right out the window.

Right... because getting to actually see the game briefly means that I'm now a paid shill of Zenimax and can say no ill of it.

You're right that I'm not supposed to talk about what I did in the beta which is why I kept it brief and slightly vague and not spoil anything too major. But if there was something majorly wrong with the game then I wouldn't be lying about it.

I never assumed you were being paid, or had to say those things to appease Zenimax.
However, I know what a non-disclosure contract is and I can recognise PR speech.
I know you're not getting paid since it's much clearer that you're trying to avoid getting sued by Zenimax due to a breach of contract.
Those contracts are usually highly specific and can get very messy.

 

[Sight Unseen]

I've dabbled with the closed beta and the game is VERY quest and story driven. I don't remember getting a single quest to "kill 5 rats" or "obtain 5 hides" for no reason.

Ahhh... you were in the closed Beta. No wonder this sounds so much like PR speech.
I guess you'd have to sign a contract about not revealing much about the game, or not revealing any negative aspects of the game.
Sorry, but your input into this thread and your opinions just went right out the window.

Right... because getting to actually see the game briefly means that I'm now a paid shill of Zenimax and can say no ill of it.

You're right that I'm not supposed to talk about what I did in the beta which is why I kept it brief and slightly vague and not spoil anything too major. But if there was something majorly wrong with the game then I wouldn't be lying about it.

I never assumed you were being paid, or had to say those things to appease Zenimax.
However, I know what a non-disclosure contract is and I can recognise PR speech.
I know you're not getting paid since it's much clearer that you're trying to avoid getting sued by Zenimax due to a breach of contract.
Those contracts are usually highly specific and can get very messy.

Even if I hadn't been a part of the beta the very vast majority of what I said is already publically available knowledge. They have pages and pages of AMA's of fan questions on their website as well as numerous trailers. So a little cursory research would inform you about almost all of this, and that's also where a lot of my excitement comes from since I only got to experience a small amount of the game in the beta.

 

[Hawkeye21]

Yeah, actually Bethesda has pretty much nothing to do with this game. It's all Zenimax.

Sure is a nice video, definitely worth watching. Probably cost a few millions to make. Too bad I am not buying this disaster waiting to happen, cause I'm pretty sure its going to be as generic as it gets.

Also, people wont be able to play as Imperials unless they shill out for collectors edition... yeah, thats happening.

 

[soren7550]

Man, the rogue got butt-fucked in this. First trailer: ultra B.A. Second trailer: Ppppppppppppppft. Gets stabbed and gets turned into a zombie or something. His poor hose becomes a zombie as well. Because reasons.

 

[Agayek]

Story focus and MMOs are never a combination. Since the game would need to be accessible to new players and individual stories for each character is pretty impossible (I think that Bioware Star Wars game tried something like that. Don't know how that was). If you have a server wide story progression new players will become lost and have no idea what is happening, and everyone, no matter their level will also progress at the same time (bit like WoW expansions, like Cataclysm). It's just not something I can see happening.

Actually, The Old Republic did a fantastic job of giving everyone a story to follow and progress through as you level. It works phenomenally well and it's easily the best part of the game.

TOR has/had a lot of issues as an MMO, but the story focus and story content was never one of them (though admittedly some of the stories are fairly weak by comparison).

 

[A-D.]

Eh, I've learned to take a more relaxed approach to trailers like this.

See, there's two things that can happen:

1. The game turns out good. Yay! We've got a good game that's worth our money and an awesome trailer to top it off!
2. The game turns out bad. Yay! We've gotten to enjoy a completely free awesome trailer!

Either way, I profit. And all it requires for me to do so is to have a basic measure of patience to look into gameplay footage, trusted reviews etc. before buying if I decide I want it.

Seriously a portal from the sky, wouldn't the obvious choice be an Oblivion gate?

Oblivion gates are Mehrunes Dagon's thing. They're made of fire and earth because Mehrunes' associated with fire and earthquakes, things that cause widespread destruction and change. Which is his thing.

These portals are from Molag Bal. Enslavement and Domination are his thing, he's the King of Rape after all. Hence the chains and such. It's presumably coming from the sky as Molag Bal's plane of oblivion, Coldharbour, is a copy of Nirn (the world) except completely desecrated. So you know, his portals are in a mirrored position.

It might be more than one daedric lord involved in this trailer, the chains and the daedric attacking sounds very molag bal, but other than vampirism, the undead army doesn't fit. That sounds more namira.

Im getting the feeling the main story will be about stopping a few daedric lords.

Which is weird because the daedric lords usually dont get along either, so them banding together for a common purpose, especially one where they essentially help one other daedric lord..yeah its not gonna happen. The only explanation would be that it is several seperate goals and plans being run by various daedric lords who want something and just took advantage of the situation, which means if we go by your example, Namira would oppose Molag Bal anyhow because Namira wouldnt just let him win, nor actually side with him either. Although undead arent exactly Namira's style either, not in the strictest sense but they fit the decay theme, but if Namira is doing shit, you can bet your ass Meridia would oppose Namira quite vehemently.

Again, if there are multiple daedric plots going at once, they are all at odds with each other, which further blows a giant hole in the whole faction-dynamic. And with the story set up as it is, it would have been a much better idea to structure the game around around factions which follow a specific daedric lord, rather than mortal races against daedra and each other. Why would anyone give a shit about the imperial city if molag bal is trying to suck all of Nirn into his plane of oblivion? Nobody would give a crap about whatever petty squabbles there are if it means the lord of rape and domination ends up winning. If you needed some kind of faction-dynamic, could have been between followers of Molag Bal and Namira and Azura and Hircine and Vaermina and the rest, all against each other.

But as it stands, uninspired plot we've seen time and again and honestly, i sort of expected better than the usual.

 

[Hagi]

It might be more than one daedric lord involved in this trailer, the chains and the daedric attacking sounds very molag bal, but other than vampirism, the undead army doesn't fit. That sounds more namira.

Im getting the feeling the main story will be about stopping a few daedric lords.

It's just Molag Bal.

Other Daedric Lords will certainly have a presence but they won't be the main antagonist. The undead army doesn't belong to any Daedric Lord, it belongs to the great necromancer Mannimarco, the king of worms, who has made a deal with Molag Bal.

And the Daedra and Undead aren't attacking the Imperial province. They own the Imperial province, at least they will in the time the game's set. The Imperials are the fourth faction (NPC faction) in the game and after the death of the Emperor with no heir and the other three factions rising against them they (the Tharn family to be exact) struck a deal with Mannimarco to strengthen the Imperial army by raising their dead. This turns out about as well as expected and Mannimarco betrays them in favor of Molag Bal, ending in the Imperial Province falling to the Undead and the Daedra.

Molag Bal's the main antagonist and Mannimarco is his right hand. The King of Rape and the King of Worms, should turn out well.

 

[Hagi]

Why would anyone give a shit about the imperial city if molag bal is trying to suck all of Nirn into his plane of oblivion? Nobody would give a crap about whatever petty squabbles there are if it means the lord of rape and domination ends up winning.

The Imperial City houses the Dragonfires. The one thing that can stop Molag Bal from sucking Nirn into Oblivion.

Except they need an Emperor to light them. And the three factions simply can't quite agree on who that next Emperor should be.

And yes, this is pretty much the exact same plot as was featured in Oblivion.

 

[Auberon]

Calling it now, that guy will be a raid boss who dies unceremonial death.

Other than that, all I got from the trailer was... nothing remarkable. Introduce first major antagonist in person, still leave out every race other than Breton/Altmer/Nord, possible build system in action.

 

[A-D.]

Why would anyone give a shit about the imperial city if molag bal is trying to suck all of Nirn into his plane of oblivion? Nobody would give a crap about whatever petty squabbles there are if it means the lord of rape and domination ends up winning.

The Imperial City houses the Dragonfires. The one thing that can stop Molag Bal from sucking Nirn into Oblivion.

Except they need an Emperor to light them. And the three factions simply can't quite agree on who that next Emperor should be.

And yes, this is pretty much the exact same plot as was featured in Oblivion.

And the reason is still the same, why would they give a shit whose ass is on the throne for the time being? Just put someone's ass there, declare them emperor and then figure shit out when molag bal isnt shitting on your lawn. Plus the dragonfires are supposedly linked to the septim dynasty specifically, hence a requirement is being decendant of a dragonborn, and ironically, dragonborn arent that common you know. Therefore the plot is already inconsistent to begin with IF we follow that logic, of course the fact that skyrim is set 200 years after oblivion and the septim dynasty literally died out..you know, i kinda doubt the dragonfires do jackshit, or have ever done anything. Because lets be honest, the Altmer pissing all over the empire following the oblivion crisis..you'd think some daedric lord would sieze the opportunity given that..you know, no dragonfires and a big war..hrm im sensing a odd pattern here.

Yet, they didnt, nope but 2000 years earlier when the supposedly protecting dragonfires were still lit..thats when the daedra figured it would be a cool idea to go ahead. TESO shits over the lore and tells you to eat it with a spoon and a smile on your face.

 

[Hagi]

And the reason is still the same, why would they give a shit whose ass is on the throne for the time being? Just put someone's ass there, declare them emperor and then figure shit out when molag bal isnt shitting on your lawn. Plus the dragonfires are supposedly linked to the septim dynasty specifically, hence a requirement is being decendant of a dragonborn, and ironically, dragonborn arent that common you know. Therefore the plot is already inconsistent to begin with IF we follow that logic, of course the fact that skyrim is set 200 years after oblivion and the septim dynasty literally died out..you know, i kinda doubt the dragonfires do jackshit, or have ever done anything. Because lets be honest, the Altmer pissing all over the empire following the oblivion crisis..you'd think some daedric lord would sieze the opportunity given that..you know, no dragonfires and a big war..hrm im sensing a odd pattern here.

Yet, they didnt, nope but 2000 years earlier when the supposedly protecting dragonfires were still lit..thats when the daedra figured it would be a cool idea to go ahead. TESO shits over the lore and tells you to eat it with a spoon and a smile on your face.

That's... not how it works...

The dragonfires very much aren't linked to the Septim dynasty. They were created by the Reman dynasty. The Septims came along after that and took over the practice. It's an Emperor thing, not a Septim thing and has nothing to do with the dragonborn. At the end of Oblivion, when the avatar of Akatosh was summoned through Martin sacrificing himself said protection became permanent as we don't have enough Messiah stories in Western (probably all over the world) literature yet it seems.

As for just putting a random person on the throne to get it over with. The Dragonfires signify a pact between the Empire and Akatosh, you can't simply put a random person who's Emperor only in name on there. If there's no real Emperor then there's no Empire and thus no pact.

TESO very much doesn't shit on the lore. Lore-wise it's as absolutely standard Elder Scrolls as it could possibly be, there's quite literally not a single thing in it's main story that's in any way new. It can't shit on the lore since it doesn't bring anything new to the lore, it's just repeating things we already knew.

 

[Gnoya]

The good news is with no F2P or Pay to Win, the game integrity will be there for those that REALLY want to play it without being Micro-transaction'd to DEATH. I will happily pay the equivalent of a magazine subscription for a quality game, and when Im done i can stop

F2P/P2W ruined Lotro for my entire Kinship and with the current direction we are pretty much done with it, and this is one of the options we are looking at having some fun with in the future.