Trailers: The Elder Scrolls Online - The Alliances Cinematic Trailer

[Dimitriov]

What the CRAP!

Elves in Elder Scrolls do NOT look like that. It's one of the more charming and unique aspects of the universe. Fuck you Zenimax.

It wasn't quite so prominent until Skyrim though. Back in Oblivion, they looked a little more human-ish.

LIES! TREACHERY! DECEIT!

But seriously, it was Oblivion that was the aberration. In Morrowind, and even Daggerfall and Arena, they looked much more like they do in Skyrim than Oblivion.

Spoiler: Morrowind Altmer

Spoiler: Morrowind Dunmer

Spoiler: Morrowind Bosmer

Spoiler: Daggerfall Elves

 

[Souplex]

What the CRAP!

Elves in Elder Scrolls do NOT look like that. It's one of the more charming and unique aspects of the universe. Fuck you Zenimax.

It wasn't quite so prominent until Skyrim though. Back in Oblivion, they looked a little more human-ish.

LIES! TREACHERY! DECEIT!

But seriously, it was Oblivion that was the aberration. In Morrowind, and even Daggerfall and Arena, they looked much more like they do in Skyrim than Oblivion.

Spoiler: Morrowind Altmer

Spoiler: Morrowind Dunmer

Spoiler: Morrowind Bosmer

Spoiler: Daggerfall Elves

The Daggerfall elves look about as human-ish as the Oblivion ones, and the Morrowind elves look more human-ish than the Skyrim ones.
I guess they keep switching back and forth on how human they look, and since Skyrim went extreme with how alien elves look, Online has to go extreme with making them look human?

 

[OneOfTheMichael's]

In terms of how excited i am for this. I already signed up for beta

 

[Giftmacher]

Great a cinematic that, doubtless, has no bearing on the game play at all.

 

[Alfador_VII]

Ugh. It would be hard to make it look more bland and uninteresting. Where are the unique races and cultures of Tamriel? Where are the fantastical locations? Where are the races other than Nondescript Man, Elf, and Nord? Where is the Elder Scrolls?

Yeah what I've read about it pretty much said that too. It's standard Tolkien-esque fantasy world setting #1, with a few names you might recognise from Elder Scrolls games.

 

[XMark]

Wow, awesome trailer! But I get the feeling that we won't actually be doing things that cool in the game itself.

 

[Spaggiari]

not a single Argonian or Khajhit. Not that i could spot at least. What do we get? Humans and elves. No offence, but I see human and elves so often it doesn't stur anything in me seeing them as the only races that exist in fantasy. Tolkien get's a free ride because he helped to define the trope.

Are we afraid that the beast races aren't in the game? They most certainly are, sais so on the official site.

 

[dragongit]

not a single Argonian or Khajhit. Not that i could spot at least. What do we get? Humans and elves. No offence, but I see human and elves so often it doesn't stur anything in me seeing them as the only races that exist in fantasy. Tolkien get's a free ride because he helped to define the trope.

Are we afraid that the beast races aren't in the game? They most certainly are, sais so on the official site.

I know what it "sais" But this is their cinematic trailer, which is pure eye candy to potential buyers. And what do they showcase? Humans and Elves. My point is that someone could slap any Fantasy Title over this, and people probably couldn't tell the difference. Argonians and Khajhit help to define this particular series apart from others is my point. The uneducated and uninformed could easily mistake this as Lord of the Rings if not for the title "Elder Scrolls" stuck at the end.

 

[skywolfblue]

This looks more like an Assassin's Creed trailer then an Elder Scrolls one. The flippy rogue/thief with throwing daggers takes up a good 2/3 of it.

"The armour, it does nothing to blades! how do we defend ourselves from such unstoppable weaponry!?"
oh wait.

sorry, pet peeve, but if your armour has no function in your own universe then why would you wear it?

I have to second that. Thrown daggers shouldn't go through armor.

 

[Scow2]

That they passed up the opportunity to showcase Khajiiti battlecats completely rendering those walls useless makes me afraid the big kitties won't be in the game. I want the freight-train-sized Khajiit!

 

[RedDeadFred]

not a single Argonian or Khajhit. Not that i could spot at least. What do we get? Humans and elves. No offence, but I see human and elves so often it doesn't stur anything in me seeing them as the only races that exist in fantasy. Tolkien get's a free ride because he helped to define the trope.

Are we afraid that the beast races aren't in the game? They most certainly are, sais so on the official site.

I know what it "sais" But this is their cinematic trailer, which is pure eye candy to potential buyers. And what do they showcase? Humans and Elves. My point is that someone could slap any Fantasy Title over this, and people probably couldn't tell the difference. Argonians and Khajhit help to define this particular series apart from others is my point. The uneducated and uninformed could easily mistake this as Lord of the Rings if not for the title "Elder Scrolls" stuck at the end.

Hmm, it's almost like they chose to exclude the beast races for some marketing purpose. I don't have a clue about the game's stats so I could be completely wrong here but I'm pretty sure most people played as a Nord in Skyrim. I'm assuming that the beast races are their least played so they chose to market their more popular race.

Don't get me wrong though, I have both a Kajiit and an Argonian in Skyrim.

 

[Sean Steele]

Did the elf girl get eyebrow reduction surgery? Because I played elder scrolls games I know what elves look like, giant eyebrows with faces (barely) attached.

 

[BroJing]

I think we're all missing the most important thing here...The Nord dude was clearly the best.

Those are some bitching beard-dreads.

(Also, signed up for the beta)

 

[Burst6]

Hmm, it's almost like they chose to exclude the beast races for some marketing purpose. I don't have a clue about the game's stats so I could be completely wrong here but I'm pretty sure most people played as a Nord in Skyrim. I'm assuming that the beast races are their least played so they chose to market their more popular race.

Don't get me wrong though, I have both a Kajiit and an Argonian in Skyrim.

It doesn't matter what the most popular race is, they did nothing in this cinematic to make it looks at all like the elder scrolls. If i watched the cinematic without reading the article i probably wouldn't be able to tell that it's an elder scrolls game. They could have done something. Maybe a few orcs in the imperial ranks (they are imperials right? the guys with the useless armor. I can't tell), a few best races scattered around here and there. It really looks like the developers are going for the most bland safe MMO ever to exist.

 

[shintakie10]

Watchin this cinematic was like watchin a Michael Bay movie. Cuts everywhere. Shitty as all hell lightin. Generic as fuck action scenes.

At least show some Khajit damnit, or an Argonian. Hell, I'd take a Breton just for some variation from the standard humans and elves or a Redguard so not everyone is white.

 

[Souplex]

Watchin this cinematic was like watchin a Michael Bay movie. Cuts everywhere. Shitty as all hell lightin. Generic as fuck action scenes.

At least show some Khajit damnit, or an Argonian. Hell, I'd take a Breton just for some variation from the standard humans and elves or a Redguard so not everyone is white.

I'm pretty sure the archer was a Breton since they were trying to represent the three factions.
Aldmeri Dominion: High Elves, Wood Elves, Khajit.
Ebonheart pact: Nords, Dark Elves, Argonians.
The third group whose name escapes me: Bretons, Redguads, Orcs.
I'm pretty sure that the archer was of the third group, and was not a Redguard or Orc.
Cyrodill is a PvP zone, so there will be no playing as Imperials.
Plus this is before Tiber Septim, so they wouldn't even be called Imperials.

 

[keroko]

Way I see it trailers are to games what covers are to books.

A game shouldn't be judged by it, not even if it's a gameplay trailer, and it's generally in the publisher's best interest to have one that catches the eye easily.

So I guess it's a pretty good trailer with that in mind, nothing special though.

But the entire point of trailers is to sell the product to the audience. Having an underwhelming trailer that fails to define why your game is better than the rest defeats the entire purpose of a trailer.

 

[Hagi]

Way I see it trailers are to games what covers are to books.

A game shouldn't be judged by it, not even if it's a gameplay trailer, and it's generally in the publisher's best interest to have one that catches the eye easily.

So I guess it's a pretty good trailer with that in mind, nothing special though.

But the entire point of trailers is to sell the product to the audience. Having an underwhelming trailer that fails to define why your game is better than the rest defeats the entire purpose of a trailer.

You should know better than that. This type of trailer might not sell it to you personally, but for the majority of potential buyers it works.

The buyers who want in-depth information like you will look up articles, reviews, previews and reveals anyway, there's no need for a trailer like this to cater to them because they'll search out the information they want on their own.

The buyers who don't want in-depth information are what they're after with flashy trailers like this. For that group it needs to be a trailer that just looks cool, that's it. Failing to provide information or being generic don't really matter, those things aren't cared about enough anyway.

 

[luckshot]

Way I see it trailers are to games what covers are to books.

A game shouldn't be judged by it, not even if it's a gameplay trailer, and it's generally in the publisher's best interest to have one that catches the eye easily.

So I guess it's a pretty good trailer with that in mind, nothing special though.

But the entire point of trailers is to sell the product to the audience. Having an underwhelming trailer that fails to define why your game is better than the rest defeats the entire purpose of a trailer.

You should know better than that. This type of trailer might not sell it to you personally, but for the majority of potential buyers it works.

The buyers who want in-depth information like you will look up articles, reviews, previews and reveals anyway, there's no need for a trailer like this to cater to them because they'll search out the information they want on their own.

The buyers who don't want in-depth information are what they're after with flashy trailers like this. For that group it needs to be a trailer that just looks cool, that's it. Failing to provide information or being generic don't really matter, those things aren't cared about enough anyway.

that may work with a single player game just fine, but a MMO is based on having a large number of people continuing to play. The kind of people that just go for the newest shiny will be pulled away by the next big shiny thing on the market, while those that are interested in elder scrolls world will be left unimpressed and uninterested

 

[xShredd]

Yeah, it is obvious that this is really a great cinematic trailer, but people seem to forget that it is just a 'cinematic' trailer.

Before everyone gets their hopes up about this game, let me remind you that when the actual game itself finally comes out, it is merely going to be a game of click-and-hit combat with average graphics and unimaginative quests. And don't forget to take into consideration that there will be a monthly subscription fee for online gameplay.

It just makes me sad that a company like Bethesda would end up to be like what I listed above.