The Elder Scrolls Online Previews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on September 2nd, 2013

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Talking to NPCs and even exploring the world all feels very Elder Scrolls. Zenimax Online has nailed the overall feel of the classic RPG series. The compass looks like Skyrim'˜s compass. The movement feels like Skyrim'˜s movement. The music, which sounds like series veteran Jeremy Soule's work, sets a familiar tone. The combat feels like Elder Scrolls combat. This is where things started to come apart at the seams a little.

The Elder Scrolls is lauded for many things, but combat is not one of them. Similarly, MMOs haven't exactly been romanticized for their action lately most games succeed despite playing like every other MMO released for the past ten years. With The Elder Scrolls Online, the dull thrills of Skyrim combat meets the rigid rotation of old-school MMO design, and it becomes a bit of a drag. The early quests on offer during this demo all involved retrieving items from areas infested with skeletons, skeletons that took a few too many sword swipes and hotbar-cast lightning bolts to go down. Stronger enemies are exercises in exploiting the simple block-and-attack mechanics. Skeletons (and a wolf that chased me across half the map) charging a power attack emit some shiny particle effects, which cause them to stagger if blocked. This opens up a window to charge your own power attack, which. doesn't do too much damage. It's all being balanced out, I'm sure, but everything felt like it took about twice as long as it should in this demo.

I was introduced to a quest line that involved a city in Bleakrock under the threat of attack by Covenant. It's your standard MMO quests go to location X, perform a task (such as killing someone or investigating something) and return to the quest giver. In this particular quest I was to search out the cause of the threat, rescue the citizens of the city, and help them escape. Quests are generic, but the ways in which they are presented at least make them tolerable; it seems that every line with NPCs is voiced over, a nice treat for those who actually pay attention to storylines in MMOs. And with the lore of The Elder Scrolls, who wouldn't pay attention?

It's not the quests that make The Elder Scrolls Online appealing, though; it's the gameplay particularly the skills/leveling system and combat. TESO offers a unique leveling system in which character skills and abilities are separate from your overall character level. You can increase your stats (Health, Magika, Stamina) by raising your character's overall level while unlocking the initial skills in a particular ability tree; however, once an ability is unlocked it is leveled separately based on your usage of that ability. Additionally, other abilities in that tree are unlocked based on that tree's specific level (which is leveled separately by using abilities in that tree).

For example, at level one I learned (Fiery Reach,) an ability part of the Ardent Flame tree. Rather than learning additional abilities in that tree by increasing my overall character level, I unlocked new abilities in the Ardent Flame tree by using that tree's specific skills. While doing so, I also effectively increased the individual level the skill(s) I used.

Our Dragon Knight has three paths along which he can progress in his class. Ardent Flame first allows you to shoot out a fiery chain that yanks your opponent close to you. The second ability is a melee flame swipe, which lets you yank one enemy out of a crowd and do some damage before his friend turns up and the battle gets hectic (one enemy tends to be easy, two tricky, and three suicidal. But MMO characters are often restricted to loosely-defined areas - they won't follow you across the continent like a stubborn Skyrim guard). Earthen Heart lets you summon a stony fist that stuns your enemy for a few seconds. Then there's Draconic Power, whose first offering is Spiked Armor, that returns some damage to the inflictor.

So far, so typical - the three-branched skill tree is a staple of RPG development. But ESO tips its hat to previous games, giving each class of weapon its own set of skills. So, if you find yourself specialising with a bow, you'll unlock bow-specific powers - Poison Arrow adds damage over time to a successful strike, and Volley provides damage of an area.

There's also an element of dodge and timing, although it's one tailored to the possible lag of the MMO format. Enemies will 'telegraph' special attacks, giving you a chance to respond. If you see a swirl of white lines, they're planning a strong attack, which you can counter with a block. This'll stagger them, giving you a chance to land your own strong attack, by holding down the attack button. Other enemies flag an attack with a visible cone in front of them, allowing you to dodge roll to the side.

Your ultimate goal is to save Tamriel from the nefarious machinations of the evil Daedric Prince Molag Bal, but for our demo, we're simply tasked with rounding up villagers on Bleakrock Isle in Skyrim, before evacuating to Morrowind. It's a journey that takes us from Captain Rana's encampment to investigate a possible scheme for invasion, across the isle to caves and tombs on a search for clues and missing people. From finding the injured Darj the Hunter, we progress to Skyshroud Barrow, where we need to locate and place runes to summon a dragon priest named Haldriin and gain entry to the tomb. Sanctify Haldriin's defiled body and Darj will leave with you to Morrowind.

One of fifteen people rescued, we destroy a magic staff making a woman believe she's a squirrel (or something) to rescue another, before embarking upon yet another quest to free a man frozen solid inside an icy catacomb. Numerous fights with skeleton warriors, skeleton archers and polar bears ensue, as we're taunted and cajoled by the spirit of a mad elf who makes us play his tortuous game. Dancing to the mad elf's tune, we soon confront him and find the key to freeing Eimon, the trapped frozen man, who joins our band of refugees with his sister. After a final mission that takes us to Oblivion to destroy a sigil, we decide that rescuing almost half of the fifteen people is enough, and return to Captain Rana to initiate the exodus to Dhalmora in Morrowind.

Completists can rescue all fifteen people and take them to Morrowind, but with time against us, we pressed on, lighting Bleakrock's signal fire, uncovering a Covenant invasion and initiating a frantic battle against Bretons, Redguard and Orcs, as Bleakrock Isle's village burned around us. The signal fire tower under siege, the battle brings The Elder Scrolls Online's combat to the fore, which in the case of our Dunmer Dragonknight is dual wielding sword and shield fare. Not that we don't have some formidable spells at our disposal, like a fiery chain that we can use to impale and drag enemies towards us like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, and rocky spike armour that bolsters our defensive capabilities. Of course, you can exclusively wield spells, specialise in archery, go for two-handed swordplay and more if you want.

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