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[Preview] Elder Scrolls Online: The Comprehensive Good and Bad of ESO
BillMurphy
Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
I’ll admit something, that’s probably apparent from earlier previews and columns I’ve written: I’ve been wary of Elder Scrolls Online living up to the immense hype created by the Elder Scrolls IP. And yet, with every passing time I’ve seen the game, I’ve seen many of my worries addressed by (most notably) making ESO feel more like a true entry into the Elder Scrolls franchise. Today we’re going to have a lot of previews for you. From starting zones to crafting, to fifteen minutes of our own in-game footage. You’ll get several different views on the game, but for my part I’m going to list the good and bad of what I’ve played so far. This was the first time I’ve really been able to focus on one character and play for over ten hours, and I can say definitively: I’m now getting very excited to play this game for real at launch.
Read the rest of Bill Murphy's: The Comprehensive Good and Bad of ESO.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
Comments
Looks like Skyrim with the possiblity of being able to play with other people maybe.
That also looks like you won't be able to play with other people until your level capped because who is going to wait for you to level up?
So why would I jump ship from Skyrim to ESO? So I can buy another game at full price and pay a sub? So far take out the pvp, all we have is a continuation of Skyrim.
The main idea of this game, the main selling point can not be the story line and joy of leveling save that for single player rpg's.
This is mmorpg's people want to play with their friends and they want to progress. They do not want to play a single player game until they reach a certain point and then suddenly the game drastically changes and you can suddenly play with your friends and suddenly all immerision is broken.
But hey you bought the game for $60 and it took you 4 months x $15 a month to reach level cap, before you got to the main idea of the game which is pvp? So now your $120 in and maybe you don't like the pvp, oh well thanks for the $120, btw you can't come back and play the single player experience that you enjoyed unless you pay us $15/month
I knew this was a bad idea from the get go - Impossible task!!!
Let this game not be testimony for sub based games, it is no such thing.
Just want to reiterate what I said elsewhere: the NDA still applies to non-press. This means you cannot offer or discuss any of your impressions of the beta, even if its stuff touched on in any of our articles today until ZOS drops the NDA for everyone.
I know that puts many of you who have played the beta in a weird place when looking to comment on this article since you have your own experiences to relate back to, but please keep this in mind when posting. Thanks!
___________________________
Have flask; will travel.
Only an issue on quests that are in an "instance", but yep.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
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The Armor
The armor models in ESO are probably the biggest graphical letdown of an otherwise gorgeous game. I never had any issues with animations like some readers have, as I think they’re light years ahead of past TES games. But I will say that the armor is a step back. It’s all got this painted on look, except for helmet, shoulder pads, some hip and belt wear. That was passable in 2004’s MMOs, but in DX11 and with all the graphical upgrades this game has received… it’s just weird looking. I gather it’s probably to help ease the load of rendering in large-scale PVP, but if ArenaNet can figure out how do display their armor in WvW, I think Zenimax could too.
The biggest reason why i got turned off by the game. Asthetics are important to me. I don't mind it in games like WOW or LOTRO given their age but not going to accept in 2014..no way.
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I have read a few of these from various websites. The common theme...bugs. Yeah I knows its still technically a beta. But really? less than 2 months from release in the big reveal for the press all but 1 or 2 of the beta experiences I read experienced 'game-breaking' bugs. You would think they would make sure these guys were playing on a build where stuff was stable. If they dont have such a build that is astonishing.
If this were a complete NDA drop this could be discussed a little more but since it isnt just knowing that these bugs exist is a bad sign for a lot of people.
Like I always say bugs are bugs but not fixing bugs is a major concern.
But basically none of these things have revealed anything most people didnt know. Sort of a bone I think for these websites that help promote and hype them.
People will gain a lot more on their own this weekend than these things will. Hopefully people go in and pay attention to what they see and then use it as a comparison going forward.
But it was refreshing to see that I didnt see any of these articles call his the best game they ever saw, which is really what I was expecting from most of them.
I wasn't getting great vibes from this game from the stuff I read, and there are still some things I'm not keen on, but Bill's article makes me feel a lot better about giving it a try. My main focus will be, "Does it FEEL like an Elder Scrolls game?" To me, everything else is secondary. From what Bill has said, I should be pleased in that regard. I don't need to be able to kill random NPCs, but I do need to know I can wander off the beaten path and get into adventures. So this is good.
Bill, two quick questions: You mentioned being a plate-wearing sorcerer. In Skyrim, you could do that as well, but IIRC, most plate gear didn't have an abundance of Magicka built into it, which gimped you in a sense. Is that an issue here? Or does crafting tie into that in some way? Also, you mentioned being a duel-wielder so you can get more abilities at your disposal with the second weapon. Does that mean that people that use only a two-handed axe have less abilities at their disposal? Does that gimp them?
Interesting that they dropped the NDA ONLY for Press. Frankly that alone would leave me a bit apprehensive. Is that common practice these days?
I believe I can say that I'm not in the beta's and have had no experience of the game....so I really have no idea if it's the best thing ever or a turd on a stick. However I simply won't take reviews published by employee's for venues that accept paid advertisement from the products they are reviewing. No disrespect to mmorpg.com or any individual but I wouldn't accept it from a car magazine or a golf magazine either. There is simply too much potential for conflict of interest with that.
yes.every game that has ever been in closed beta in the history of gaming has had some form of NDA attached. and they do give the "press" relief of that to be able to get the word out about there games..its nothing new at all
Hey Rebel:
1.) You get bonus to regen and the like with cloth, and you move faster with lighter armor, but if you want to be a Sorcerer in Plate who can tank, you can spend stat points in Magicka, skill points in attack spells, and weapon skills for 1h+shield.
2.) You get two SETS of weapons. Like GW2. Dual-wield is a type of weapon discipline that has its own skill line. But to use its skills, you have to have dual-wield weapons equipped. So at level 15, when you unlock your second set of weapons to have equipped at once (and swap between like GW2. This allows you to have a second skill bar, with more spells and weapon skills as well. Make sense?
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
Steam: Neph
"By all means, reach for the stars but you need to build the spaceship first"
Looking forward to pvp in the next hour or so.
One question please (if is possible to reveal this information ) - when going from one zone to another there are loading screens ? I know that lot of people don't care about them but I find them very annoying.
Too bad they choose to go with phasing - yes,they made wotlk storytelling better than previous expansions but also made questing annoying if your friend was not in same phase as you.
My personal experience is quite the opposite - the games I enjoyed playing long term were also the games I enjoyed first few levels. If the beginning of the game is lacklustre not many chances that the game will improve middle game - usually first levels are great and polished then you discover the lack of quests,grind,limited areas to explore (hello AOC !). Of course different people enjoy different things - one can be bored by beginning quests in a game while other can find them great and engaging.
Yep, there are loading screens. Not many, as zones are really quite massive, and most buildings don't have them. But instances do, and moving from one zone to a next does.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.