Update: Beta Tester Leaks Elder Scrolls Online Gameplay Footage

[Product Placement]

Wait... let me get this straight... It's an elder scroll game... and you don't start as a prisoner?

 

[rofltehcat]

Rather bland but probably a bit too early to come to conclusions. On the other hand, I don't want to start any other MMOs anymore, they're just too much of a time/rl killer (even for me).

 

[omicron1]

....No.

In a real Elder Scrolls game, those bottles and things on the ground would be items, not window dressing.
In a real Elder Scrolls game, you would not be attacked by a random sword-swinging lunatic while in the character info screen.
In a real Elder Scrolls game, you would not be killed by wolves thirty feet away while they obviously can't reach you.
In a real Elder Scrolls game, the item details would not be an obvious cover laid on top of a generic numberthon where the Level Ten Wolf has three hundred hit points to your fifty. You'd be able to take that wolf, with difficulty but you could manage.

Also, what's with the "Every desert civilization is generic Islamic themed"? The Redguard never struck me as particularly stripes-and-fractals sorts.

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

Holy fuck I'm excited about an MMO.
Someone, slap me.

*slap*

Don't get yourself hyped! It will only lead to disappointment...
Try cautious optimism instead ;-)

Least effective fireballs i have ever seen in a game. Also way to much WoW formula... the small differences arent big enough.

And seriously? Another CLASS based system? The elder scrolls games where allways about creating a character to your liking including his skills... it was one of the keypoints of the series.

Take it out and all you have is a generic fantasy mmo that looks like age of conan and shares to many similiarities with WoW

I'd say they're about as effective as the starting spells in Oblivion/Skyrim. Especially against higher lvl enemies

And from what I recall, classes were a thing in TES until Skyrim came out. They were not as rigid as in other games, but they were there.

Oh, and I think Age of Conan looks better, but from what I read in the YT comments, this guy used low graphics settings (aside from Ultra texture resolution)

 

[KeyMaster45]

And this is why people not breaking their NDAs is so important. People get a look at a very early, unrefined version of the game and people make up their minds about it prematurely. Speaking from prior beta experience with mmos, there is so much change that can take place in a properly run beta that at the end the game looks and plays nothing like it did when it started. Sadly, very few companies seem capable of running betas as nothing more than glorified demos.

 

[Ickabod]

They lost me at the character creation. TES game with class based system? Uh no thanks.

 

[Hagi]

It's kinda sad that so far besides your comment, pretty much everyone else has decried this game as a WoW clone especially since most of the information we have about the game show's that it is more in line with Guild wars 2 in terms of it's gameplay mechanics.

Er, that's because it's blatantly ripping off a lot of features from GW2, and TESO has not exactly kept that fact a secret.

For example, TESO's PvP system is a three-way war amongst factions that seek to control the land. You fight over various camps and keeps using siege equipment and sheer numbers to take and hold these places. Sounds great, right? Except that they stole the entire idea from GW2's "World vs World" system. It's a blatant carbon copy.

Basically every good idea that this game presents, it took from another (better) game. Honestly this game brings nothing amazing to the table. When the "best" unique feature is a stamina system? Doesn't exactly make me scream "Oh boy, let me get my wallet," at least not to me. But maybe some people are just easier to impress than others.

But honestly, I don't expect this MMO to retain players any better than any of the other MMOs out there. It'll sell and then see a massive drop in players after the initial few months, like all the rest.

Not really GW2 to be honest. Most of those ideas have indeed been done before, even before GW2.

3way faction PvP would originate from DAoC, not GW2. The actiony-combat looks a closer match to TERA's, seeing the reticule and the lack of selecting targets, which existed before GW2 as well.

Overall I'd say it's more a wait and see how it turns out, it could easily fail but that's far from a guarantee. It definitely didn't rip off GW2 though, at least not any more than GW2 ripped off any other game.

 

[Monsterfurby]

Good think I got ArcheAge to try out. That one looks at least sandboxy enough to satisfy this old UO / SWG player...

 

[Hagi]

Not really GW2 to be honest. Most of those ideas have indeed been done before, even before GW2.

3way faction PvP would originate from DAoC, not GW2. The actiony-combat looks a closer match to TERA's, seeing the reticule and the lack of selecting targets, which existed before GW2 as well.

Overall I'd say it's more a wait and see how it turns out, it could easily fail but that's far from a guarantee. It definitely didn't rip off GW2 though, at least not any more than GW2 ripped off any other game.

Yes, the ideas have been done before. That's always the truth of any concept.

But they didn't get three-faction combat from DAoC, I hate to break it to you. They got the idea from GW2, who likely got the idea from DAoC. When a dev team copies an idea, they don't copy ideas from older games, they do it from newer more popular games to cash in on that wave of popularity. Which is why we see a lot more action-oriented combat systems being pushed now: because TERA and GW2 popularized the idea. They existed before both of these games, but these two games made them "mainstream".

And the combat plays nothing like TERA's, you can tell just by looking at it. I know because I've actually tried TERA's combat before. TERA doesn't allow that sort of freedom of movement in that you can't move and cast at the same time, it instead utilizes a combination of out-of-skill movement, and dodges implanted into the skills....neither of which shows up in the TESO video. It's pretty clear the TESO team used a combination of Skyrim (which is where the "no targeting" idea came from, NOT from TERA) and GW2 as its inspiration for combat.

It definitely *did* rip off a lot of things from GW2. And we know this for a fact because TESO was still on the drawing board back when GW2 was showing off demos at conventions, and they were getting a lot of praise and accolades for it. TESO did what a lot of other devs did: they copied from something that was, at that time, very popular and getting lots of critical praise.

Considering ESO's PvP will be happening in the actual world, just like DAoC and unlike GW2, I feel quite safe in saying that DAoC was much more of an inspiration then GW2 was. It's also based on three actual factions, just like DAoC and unlike GW2 where it's based on servers.

TERA's Archer and Berserker classes do allow movement during casting animations though, but sure the combat isn't exactly the same as TERA's. The video definitely reminds me more of TERA though than it does of GW2.

Not really seeing all the things you claimed it supposedly ripped off from GW2 though, not that you give any specifics. ESO is simply continuing a trend in MMOs, growing more dynamic and action-orientated, that's been there for several years before GW2 and is still here after GW2.

Way I see it ESO is bringing some potentially interesting things to the table that may turn out well or may also turn out disastrous, hard to tell at this point. Anyone who's saying it's a WoW-clone or a GW2-clone I find simply lacking in sufficient knowledge of MMOs.

 

[Frost27]

Aaaand Zenimax killed the video. I guess those wastes of skin know it's a substandard entry into a dying market and want to get as many initial sales but cancelled right after the free month as they can.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

Urgh link is down!! I was waiting all this time to come home and watch it too! This sucks!!

 

[Hagi]

Considering ESO's PvP will be happening in the actual world, just like DAoC and unlike GW2, I feel quite safe in saying that DAoC was much more of an inspiration then GW2 was. It's also based on three actual factions, just like DAoC and unlike GW2 where it's based on servers.

TERA's Archer and Berserker classes do allow movement during casting animations though, but sure the combat isn't exactly the same as TERA's. The video definitely reminds me more of TERA though than it does of GW2.

Not really seeing all the things you claimed it supposedly ripped off from GW2 though, not that you give any specifics. ESO is simply continuing a trend in MMOs, growing more dynamic and action-orientated, that's been there for several years before GW2 and is still here after GW2.

Way I see it ESO is bringing some potentially interesting things to the table that may turn out well or may also turn out disastrous, hard to tell at this point. Anyone who's saying it's a WoW-clone or a GW2-clone I find simply lacking in sufficient knowledge of MMOs.

Someone isn't reading.

I never claimed that it's a GW2 clone. I stated (correctly), as a person who has played GW2, that it copies several of GW2's features. Which it does.

Yet I feel I must reiterate that it doesn't really matter where the idea came from originally. My original statement was as follows:

Basically every good idea that this game presents, it took from another (better) game.

Which you have misinterpreted to mean "it's a GW2 clone" simply because I compared the game to GW2, which is something that a lot of people are going to do because they're both highly-popular action-oriented combat systems in an MMO format. I expect comparisons to Skyrim, too, for obvious reasons.

Yet if you had read any of the post instead of just pretending you read it, you would have noticed that I pointed out the differences between GW2 and TESO's designs, and specifically why TESO's model was arguably inferior. I *never* claimed that the game was a clone, and suggesting that I did indicates that you didn't pay any attention to what I said.

Effectively, you've killed your own argument by ignoring what was actually said by playing straw-man tactics.

Way I see it ripping-off GW2 is pretty much synonymous to GW2-clone. There being inferior differences is very much part of the whole clone thing.

But sure, you didn't literally call it a GW2-clone. The point remains that ESO isn't copying any of it's features directly but is instead continuing a general trend in MMOs.

It's features are not copies of GW2 or indeed any other game. They're certainly inspired by other games, it'd be downright impossible to create a game without taking inspiration from any other game, but each feature is also very clearly it's own new incarnation.

It's certainly not a revolution rejecting everything that came before it. But's it's most certainly not stagnation either as you're implying (by saying it's copying and ripping off and worse, in an inferior way). It's simply the next evolution of a current trend in MMOs, whether it's a successful iteration time will have to prove, that's not really up to either one of us to judge.

But saying the game is merely going for an inferior copy of GW2 and other games is simply an ignorant statement to make and shows a lack of perspective on the developments that are going on within the MMO genre.

 

[DoPo]

Mudcrab eating like 50 autoattacks. Quality.

I know - annoying creatures. At least they are slow and not too bright. Their pincers are sharp though.

Spoiler: If you know what I mean

It's probably the only time this conversation would be meaningfully referenced. Not that it's interesting or anything but I had to take the opportunity

And I can't add much more with no video... :/

 

[synobal]

Is it so bad to want a fantasy version of EVE online?

 

[bat32391]

Bleh, it looks generic as hell. I still don't understand why they didn't just go with the traditional format. Does anyone know why the hell they didn't just do that instead of doing this?

 

[Chessrook44]

Is it so bad to want a fantasy version of EVE online?

YES.

Waiting days to upgrade one skill at a time... bloody idiocy for an MMO, that's what I say!

Plus we're already FILLED with fantasy MMOs. We need more sci-fi MMOs out there.