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Does this game feel like an Elder Scrolls Game Now?
Aztec
Member UncommonPosts: 101
I have not played this game since late alpha, early beta since it did not feel like an Elder Scrolls game when I played it. Has this been address and fixed? Also there were numerous other issues that did not not seem fixable to me like boss camping. What are peoples current opinions of the game in its current state? I want to know because I was thinking of trying it again. My main issue is does it feel like an Elder Scrolls Game?
Comments
That is a matter of opinion. The main complaint from most players when I played the beta was that it did not feel like an Elder Scrolls Game at all. Did you play the beta and read the boards or do you just like calling people names?
I played every ES game from Daggerfall to Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls feeling was not present in ESO IMHO. The only part that felt ES was the lore but that is all they got right with making it feel like an ES game. My question was whether it felt more like and ES game now and you failed to answer the question. I have been reading all the improvements they have been making so I figured they might have addressed that glaring issue as well.
That's not a bad thing.
If an MMORPG feels like a singleplayer game, something went terribly wrong.
I played every ES game from Daggerfall to Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls feeling was not present in ESO IMHO.
That's not a bad thing.
If an MMORPG feels like a singleplayer game, something went terribly wrong.
Well, MMORPG nowadays caters to solo play more. Players dont like grouping anymore.Sure they do. They just don't want to spend every single minute online having to be grouped to get anywhere.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
If you went into ESO thinking it was going to be Skyrim online you would come out saying "It doesn't feel like and Elder Scrolls Game!". But for anyone that had a realistic understanding that in an MMO some aspects of a single player game would not translate well then you went into it and appreciated all that Zenimax and Bethesda did to make it Elder Scrolls Online. The lore is there and done better than any MMO out to date (except for maybe FFXIV). The exploration is there.... I love the little events that trigger as you explore the world.... just wish there was more variety.
Justice system is in, as is Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood. The dye system lets your character stand out. You can become a Vampire or Werewolf.... hmmm feels like an Elder Scrolls game to me. Oh and many of the quests give you choices of the moral kind.... I haven't researched them enough to see (if any) the impact each one may have as you progress, but it is nice to not feel like there is only one choice in finishing a story.
That was never the case in the good MMOs. In all the ones I played, grouping was harder and more involved, so it got more rewards, but if you didn't want to group, you could progress, just not as fast. Which is how it should be, that's basic game design and social engineering.
There's no evidence to say that people don't like grouping anymore. In fact, most themeparks these days die in record time primarily because there's no social glue in the games keeping people together.
Out of curiousity; which themepark games have died lately?
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
STO, Champions Online, Neverwinter, SWTOR, Rift, AoC, TESO all had their numbers PLUMMET within a month of launch. In several cases it bankrupted partner companies, forcing them to fire staff, merge the servers 3+ times, and go FTP.
In the case of AoC and SWTOR, the failures were so high profile and well documented that it shocked the industry.
It is a MMO, a MMO will not 'feel' exactly like a solo RPG. Players need to get past this issue which has been around for years, they never going to be the same.
There is no evidence to say people don't like grouping anymore, but that does not matter when you are designing to maximise the player base. Which leads us on to the issue of plummeting numbers after launch. The majority of MMO players are now content locusts who will only stay a month or two at the most. That means the numbers will plummet ever time. The idea that AAA big IP MMOs would be different was never going to fly. For the simple reason that MMOs are now designed for content locusts; the template is easymode soloing, all polish for the reviews and no substance for the long haul. The genre has been changed form one that favours those who stay, to one that favours those who go.
So guess what? They go.
OP, Zenimax had been stating loud and clear since early beta that this wasn't Skyrim or any of the single player games. Its an MMO. It feels like part ESO and part MMO but does not feel like Skyrim. Little by little with each patch and enhancement it starts to feel a little more like the single player games. There are more things to pick up, they are expanding very slowly the dungeons so they don't feel as carbon copy of each other, dye system, soon to be justice system, etc. The compass, sound effects, look of the game, questing system, lore is very ES like. Housing is in the works. In my opinion the combat is better than the single player games as there is no pausing and it feels like a very good blend of action and soft tab targeting. Exploration is not a open as the single player games, but compared to other MMOs the exploration IMO is better than all of the rest in that you must explore outside of hubs to get all of the quests, achievements, lore books, skyshards, anchors, etc. In fact there are NPCs that mark the map and give hints that don't have markers above their heads. If you wait 1 year, it may be more to your liking if you want even more of a the single player feel, but to me the game is Elder Scrolls feeling already with a good MMO balance knowing sacrifices had to be made for an MMO.
There Is Always Hope!
ESO sits a bit in the middle. And that was to be expected as it's an MMORPG and not a SRPG.
The feel of the game (like UI, character, combat, etc) very much feels like Elder Scrolls. No doubt about it.
But there are an Equal number of things that don't feel much Elder Scrolls. And it's fine with me.
People that complain the loudest, just had way too high expectations of this game and were destined to be burned upon release.
Just like they keep burning themselves in any other MMO release, having far too high expectations.
I don't get me wrong. I used to be like that as well.... but after being burned so many times of the last years, I have managed to temper my expectations.... and as result I enjoy new MMO releases much more now.
Ignorant nonsense. Though some of these games didn't get the numbers one had hoped for, they are extremely profitable today and enjoy a 'healthy' player base.
There Is Always Hope!
I laughed really hard at seeing that list. Half of the games are profitable and have an active population. Atleast he could have tried a bit and given some games which actually have had their plug pulled.
I agree. I subscribed to TESO again two days ago, rerolled a New character and was actually pleasantly suprised to still see a lot of other "new" players beside me in the starter zones.
And just for comparison, I was still subscribed to Wildstar until few days ago and in that game the population "really" has dwindled a lot.
Age of Conan was such a massive flop two of Funcom's partners went bankrupt. It merged the servers 3 times and then went FTP. It's current "healthy population" is less than pre 2004 MMO sub levels.
STO and CHO both flopped hard on release and didn't find their niche until they restructured the game and went FTP.
Neverwinter has already been more or less forgotten entirely.
Rift merged it's servers 3 times before going FTP, and has merged again since then, with a constantly shrinking playerbase.
SWOTOR had a budget of 300 million, and spent another 200 million on advertising. It sold over a million boxes on launch day, and almost right away lost it all. It was down to about 400k subscribers, and had merged its servers 3 times, and fired 80% of their staff just to keep the game profitable, before going FTP. Their staff is still so tiny that they can't even add new races to the game because they don't have the personel for it. It was supposed to be the biggest MMO in the world and it currently has less players than EQ did in 1999.
Compare all these high profile failures to the pre 2004 MMOs that launched, and then GREW slowly over time before peaking YEARS after launch.
Compare this to Eve, that at 550k subscribers and is STILL growing, because it's designed well and knows how to appeal to its niche.
There's correlation there.
You have absolutely no idea what you talk about!
Age of Conan a massive flop? Dude! They sold over 800.000 boxes in the first month and pretty much recouped their Investment within the first 2 months lol.
Not every MMO costs 200 million to develop.
Sure the population of AoC steadily declined over the years and ultimately they changed it to F2P.
SWTOR is actually making them Money now after 2 years. Which is actually not bad at all, if you have dumped over 200 million dollars in it's Development.
STO completely rebounded and is doing really well now.
I agree with Champions Online and Rift. Especially the latter. TRION has completely lost itself.
EVE Online doesn't have 550K subscribers today! You wish. They had it at it's peak several years ago and have been on the decline too now last couple years. Come on now! Let's be realistic here.
I have had many people say this almost verbatim and it does not help. No it does not feel like Skyrim nor does it feel like Daggerfall or Morrowind or Oblivion. It failed to capture the essence of what ES is in general. IMO it is not that it is an online game vs an offline game lost in translation issue. I got the feeling when playing the game that the person that made the game had never even played Elder Scrolls. All they did was copy their neighbors term paper (the lore) and slapped an Elder Scrolls sticker on and said, "Look it is an Elder Scrolls Game because the name is in the title!" Would, coulda Shoulda, Bethesda alone should have made this title and it would be on the top of the charts. This I am 100% sure of. You cannot sell genius.
I dislike people saying that they could not make an mmo game with Skyrim mechanics. They COULD, but at an initial feasibility meeting they chose not to in favour of making a generic mmo with an ES skin.
They could have made it open world, sandboxy, classless, skill driven; they could have done all these things but instead they chucked everything that an ES game is out of the window and just made some tedious crap unworthy of the title.
The few remaining white knights need to stop pretending that these mechanics are unobtainable in an mmo, they simply are.
The feeling of the game hasn't changed all that much from launch - there's a lot of energy looking forward to the stuff they mentioned at the QuakeCon panel, but the structure of the game and such is the same. It feels like a great game and a fun addition to the Elder Scrolls universe to me, but it sounds like you have some very negative feelings toward it and it doesn't fit what you are looking for. Well, it hasn't done a 180, so you should probably just stay away and save yourself some heartache.
EDIT: You asked about boss camping. That's been completely fixed, there's now a timer on looting bosses (a few minutes or so), so you don't see anyone sitting around the same boss any more like you did around launch.
Also, since you asked about opinions - I don't get the "quest hub" vibe that I do from many other mmos. You'll find lots of quests just out exploring the world, and even in the middle of the dungeon delve. You can just start wandering and find something new. That was what made Elder Scrolls games fun for me, and ESO nails it. So to clarify, since Elder Scrolls means something different to everyone, perhaps if you could explain exactly what you're looking for, others can elaborate more.
I've heard lots of people say this and it, also, isn't any help. See, if you said, "I hate how there's a hundred people running around in my instance. It's game breaking for me." That's helpful. When you say it "failed to capture the essence of ES" that's just a cop-out. It's following the line of lemmings. So what is it? I've played everything AFTER Daggerfall and I don't see the disconnect. Unless you're talking about the game not being a hot mess. I remember in Morrowind, I spent over 100 hours in game, came across this item during my exploration, sold it, came to find it was actually a quest item later on, IT GONE! It was part of a main story quest, so it basically hosed my entire save. If there's anything ES is notorious for, it's game breaking issues. Is that the essence you were hoping to find?
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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It doesn't feel like a good ES game.
It does seem like an ok MMO, but yeah.. There's a lot of those.
a yo ho ho
There are so many things that break the ES feeling but for the sake of brevity let us choose the worst offender. The real ES has a true classes system and does not force you to spend points in a tree to let one use the good skills. This for me was the biggest game breaker. The freedom is gone. I am not sure if they changed this but if they did then I might consider trying it again.
Pls OP,
answer me this. To understand this themepark nonsense, which is in my opinion only for people who havent played single player rpgs since 2000.
Why on earth to you even looked at ESO if you expected a Elder Scrolls experience? Only cause they took a known IP? We are talking here about current MMOS, where you of course got a themepark. A themepark, which defies every sanbox nature of the elder scrolls series, for which they stand. Heck, MMOS dont even have a day/night cyle, which is killing me.
So, i am being surprised how people can play themeparks, yet im even more surprised how people could EVER hoped for anything else than seeing an IP turned into a themepark.
In all honesty, im curious!