The Elder Scrolls Online Previews
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A fistful of new previews for ZeniMax and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online have permeated the Internet over the past few days, the contents of which are a mix of both favorable and unfavorable impressions.
Strategy Informer:
Your character too makes for a pleasing paper doll. Instead of cookie cutter classes and copy-and-paste customization, there is a feeling that your avatar is as familiar and unique to you as it might be in a standalone instalment in the series. Skills can be suitably mutated to fit your own build, and stat points are duly allocated upon the ding of a level progression.
But it's that inching forward in the game that really starts to show some of the perceived chinks in ESO's heavy armour. For all of this added MMORPG pomp, it is hard to escape the fact that Zenimax, try as they might, seem to have been somewhat overwhelmed by the source material.
While The Elder Scrolls Online was a fair amount of fun, it falls victim to the usual MMO traps. I spent most of my time looking for quest markers and then running through the laundry list of activities instead of paying real attention to what was going on. There were some story/plot quests, but for the most part they were just activities to help players level up without it feeling like pure grinding. At least the quests avoided the usual (kill x number of enemies) formula I rescued some NPCs while disguised as a pirate, went into dungeons while searching for items and cured one man of insanity. However, in the grand scheme of gaming, it ended up feeling like an inconsequential series of tasks I can only hope that these activities pay off or have some impact later on in the game.
Sure, The Elder Scrolls Online is massive, and there is some impressive voice acting and vision in the game. However, most fans of The Elder Scrolls games love it because of the expansive, single player experience. While running around in Tamriel this weekend, I didn't see anything that truly differentiated this game from an experience possible in Skyrim, Morrowind or Oblivion. Yes, it is pretty and fresh and new but it seems to lose out on the joy of a single player game without adding in anything special in multiplayer. Considering that the game will require a monthly subscription, I just don't see the added value in paying for this MMORPG.
One of the big problems in Daggerfall at the moment is apparently a resurrected werewolf who was basically unkillable the first time around. In an effort to find out how he was killed in the past, so that we can do it again now that he's back, I hooked up with a load of mages researching the battleground where he first fell. This eventually led to me going back to the past in the form of the person who slew him, in an attempt to find out what circumstances led up to that event and how it was actually achieved.
Thematically, this is kind of great. It's fairly interesting. It's something a little different from Kill 10 Houses or Knock On 15 Bees. It was still pretty damn dull to play through, and not just because his actual weakness is staggeringly obvious and it frankly seems impossible that nobody had ever tried it before.
Through the actual process of capturing a keep or defending a resource point are entertaining in their own right, the underlying concept that players are able to contribute change to the overall game world is highly-satisfying. During the beta test period, I was able to participate in capturing an enemy keep and then proceed to name its new ownership under our guild name was satisfying knowing that my player specifically contributed to the process. Few massively multiplayer online games and especially their player versus player component create a sense of significant player accomplishment or personal change to the overall world state. The Elder Scrolls Online also ensures players can decide on their level of involvement with the alliance wars whether it involves scouting an enemy location or capturing an entire keep, all of which contribute to the game's world state in some manner.
Unfortunately the beta testing period for press didn't provide the best example of what the final game world be like upon launch as only a few amount of players were given access. Most times during play the lack of players resulted in a ghost world of non-playable characters roaming around the landscape. However, it did demonstrate the player versus player component will require a strong base of players to ensure that the massive province of Cyrodiil feels like its actually at war between three alliances. The ultimate success of The Elder Scrolls Online player versus player component will depend both upon the amount of players as well as how well groups can work together in accomplishing the various quests such as capturing or defending keeps. Quest attempts with groups of characters that either didn't communicate or didn't utilize teamwork all failed, while in contrast to working with groups that did communicate resulted in successful outcomes.
And then there's a video preview on PC Gamer.
