Elder Scrolls Online

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Chris
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Elder Scrolls Online

Post by Chris »

It was mentioned in the Skyrim thread, but I think it deserves its own.

The Elder Scrolls Online is due for release sometime this year. It will have werewolves, and the player will have the opportunity to become one. No more details about that have been provided, though (as far as I know). Here's the introduction video talking about the game, and showing some gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxJTsq2XeKY

Also, closed beta signups started recently. Both Windows and Mac players are encouraged to try out. http://signup.elderscrollsonline.com/ They say an open beta will occur closer to launch.
The beta signup was accompanied by the release of a CGI trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jNT5cMwxw0 (yes, those are what you think they are)
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

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Most excellent. I don't know how long it's been but I'm still not tired of playing the Dragonborn Werewolf. :evil:
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by FoxKnight »

This might just be the motivation I need to play a Bethesda game
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by Morkulv »

FoxKnight wrote:This might just be the motivation I need to play a Bethesda game
Except its not being made by Bethesda...
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by FoxKnight »

Thank goodness :P
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by Kaijudo »

The Elder Scrolls MMO scares me. They're going to have to do something really invative to seprate itslef from other MMO's. I think all Elder Scrolls needed was a 2 - 4 player co op (Online and LAN) and it would have been awesome. :shift:
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by Uniform Two Six »

:?
Huh? I thought Bethesda did a good job with Skyrim. What was wrong with it?
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by FoxKnight »

I just really dislike the feel of Bethesda games
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by Morkulv »

I think my favorite RPG's / Bethesda games is as follows:

1) Morrowind
2) Skyrim
3) Oblivion

Bethesda isn't going to develop Elder Scrolls online because their parent company Zenimax, has a seperate branch that specifically develops online games only. So naturally, any online component of any Bethesda license is not going to be developed by them.
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

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Morkulv wrote:I think my favorite RPG's / Bethesda games is as follows:

1) Morrowind
2) Skyrim
3) Oblivion
If we're talking unmodded, mine would be:

1) Daggerfall
2) Oblivion
3) Skyrim

While modded would pretty much invert that list:

1) Skyrim
2) Oblivion
3) Daggerfall

Morrowind was a good game, don't get me wrong -- it is one of the better action-RPGs made, and it did do some things better than the other games, but there's just something about the way it was designed... it didn't try to be as grand or far-reaching as Daggerfall tried really hard to be, and it just wasn't as engaging to play as Oblivion or Skyrim.

As far as Elder Scrolls Online goes, I'm concerned, but hopeful. Bethesda does have some problems when it comes to making open world RPGs, and quite a few of their decisions are rather questionable... but I'm not sure any one else could do it better. They do have the core aspects down right, IMO, even if they get some details wrong (not forgetting that mods can go a long way towards fixing those issues). But as it is, the ESO devs have been shying away from the be-who-you-want open-world nature of the Elder Scrolls games, with the zoning, faction locks, and racial restrictions in place. The first-person view is also an important aspect to me, and it's something the ESO devs haven't been giving much priority to.

So, ESO may turn out to be a fun game, I really hope it does, but I don't believe it'll be as good as the Elder Scrolls games are, and I don't think it'll hold true to what attracts me to the franchise. It seems as though it'll just be another MMORPG, but with a coat of Elder Scrolls paint.
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

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I don't get why people are so focussed on mods for Skyrim and Oblivion. I think Morrowind had a few nice mods and tweaks, but I've never seen a mod that added something truly essential to Oblivion or Skyrim, except for stupid nudity mods and mods that allow you to kill children. If thats all the fun I'm missing out on, then I'm glad.

I thought Oblivion was the most overrated out of all the Elder Scrolls games. Most people said that the combat was improved, but I'd rather have the 'roll of the dice' style of fighting that Morrowind had, then the 'flail your sword around and pray you hit something' style of Oblivion. Skyrim at least tried to make the combat more engaging instead of the mindless hack and slash combat of Oblivion, but I never had that much trouble with Morrowind's combat to begin with. When I've been playing Morrowind for an hour or so, I barely noticed it anymore.

Daggerfall I can honestly not say much about. I'm not even sure it got an official release here in Europe since I never saw it in stores, so I missed out on that. The video's I've seen on YouTube looked pretty fun though, although most people seem to complain about bugs (like they always do). I said this many times and I'll say it again: the bigger a game is going to be, the more bugs its going to have. This is just something that you have to take into account. A video game is made by a large team of artists (I think about 150 people or something worked on Skyrim), so regardless there will always be things that the team will overlook.

Also, like I said before: Bethesda is not going to make Elder Scrolls online.
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

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Morkulv wrote:I don't get why people are so focussed on mods for Skyrim and Oblivion. I think Morrowind had a few nice mods and tweaks, but I've never seen a mod that added something truly essential to Oblivion or Skyrim, except for stupid nudity mods and mods that allow you to kill children. If thats all the fun I'm missing out on, then I'm glad.
There's much more to mods than minor stuff like that. There are mods that fix many of the game's outstanding bugs (of which there are plenty that even the upcoming 1.9 patch doesn't fix), mods that add new types of creatures, mods that add new weapons/armors/spells, mods that revamp and rebalance the perk trees to make it more expansive, meaningful, and useful. Mods that make character creation more like previous games. Mods that make lycanthropy a bit more in-depth. Mods to make whole new places to explore, quests to do, and characters to interact with. And much, much more. Further, there's often a few variations of these types of mods, so if you want something but don't quite like how a mod does it, you can probably find another mod that aims for the same thing but does it in a different way.

The kind of mods someone would go for is obviously personal taste. That are mods that enhance immersion and role-play, others that improve difficulty, others that offer a different way to play, others that fill in what are seen as missed opportunities (something the game could've done, but didn't for some reason), and others are just because. If you've ever though "it would've been cool if they did XYZ", you can probably find someone else who thought the same thing and made a mod to try to address it. And if someone hasn't, you're free to learn and make a mod yourself. No game is perfect, so there really is something for everyone.
Most people said that the combat was improved, but I'd rather have the 'roll of the dice' style of fighting that Morrowind had, then the 'flail your sword around and pray you hit something' style of Oblivion.
Morrowind was more 'flail your sword around and pray you hit something' to me. You pretty much stood around wildly clicking, with hits, misses, and blocks all psuedo-randomly determined for you. There's very little you had to think about... enemies would just rush right at you and rarely take a step to the side, and you just keep clicking at some determined pace. You'll either win or lose depending on how much the RNG-god favors you and allows you to hit without getting blocked.

With Oblivion, you had to actually employ strategy. You had to watch for attacks and actively block or dodge, and you could decide to take the hit so you don't miss the opportunity to attack or to block/dodge without striking back. You had to look for openings to strike at, as poorly-timed attacks could stagger you and leave you open to a counter. You had to manage when and how to power attack, as it had a risk-vs-reward you had to keep in mind (you could do more damage and possibly disarm them or knock them down, but it left you wide open if you missed or got blocked). You had to move around to keep enemies from flanking you.
Daggerfall I can honestly not say much about. I'm not even sure it got an official release here in Europe since I never saw it in stores, so I missed out on that. The video's I've seen on YouTube looked pretty fun though, although most people seem to complain about bugs (like they always do). I said this many times and I'll say it again: the bigger a game is going to be, the more bugs its going to have. This is just something that you have to take into account. A video game is made by a large team of artists (I think about 150 people or something worked on Skyrim), so regardless there will always be things that the team will overlook.
Daggerfall is quite buggy, yes. Even with the latest patch and various mods designed to help stability, it's easily one of Bethesda's buggiest games. But it still manages to be extremely fun despite those problems, if you're able to get into the gameplay and overlook the crude graphics. And hey, it was the first TES game where you could play as a werewolf (I'm honestly not aware of any other RPG that lets you role play as an actual werewolf character -- as in a real fleshed out character, that just happens to also be infected with lycanthropy -- to the degree that Daggerfall does; the open-world, open-ended nature really does wonders for that kind of character).
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by Morkulv »

I've been playing on XBox 360 and I have yet to see any gamebreaking bugs.

I've seen some of those creature mods and new weapon mods, but to be honest they mostly look like crap. Either that or they behave in an odd way, or they screw up the balance of the game. Either way, when it comes to additions to the game, I prefer getting the content from the people that get payed for it.
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

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Morkulv wrote:Either that or they behave in an odd way, or they screw up the balance of the game.
Oblivion and Skyrim are really poorly balanced as-is. Skyrim particularly.. just look at the sneak skill, which is basically hax-mode once you start using its perks, or the completely useless and unnecessary lockpicking and speech trees. There's a good number of mods that try to rebalance the game to make it fairer all around, while also maximizing the utility and enjoyment of using the perk trees. It's the people who work on the game as an act of passion, rather than money, that really pulls the most of it (not that Bethesda doesn't have any passion for it, but money is also a really large factor since they have to sell enough copies).

Anyway.

The ESO guys recently put up a small espose on the werewolf: http://elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/p ... o-werewolf
They seem to have changed how it looks compared to previous showings. The concept art and models don't look that bad, actually, though I don't get why it and Skyrim went for the 'patchy fur' look (Daggerfall and Bloodmoon had a (IMO better) look with the body covered in fur). I suppose it's to more realistically show defined abs and muscle, which otherwise wouldn't show very well through fur, but still, Bloodmoon had a really sleek design that looks good without having to expose rippling muscles.

Unfortunately, it's also been revealed that ESO will have a monthly fee, which guarantees I won't be playing it. Sad, because I was kind of interested. But I vehemently disagree with having to keep paying to play the game I've already paid for, so until they implement an optional one-time fee (B2P) or free-wth-cash-shop (F2P) model, I'll only be able to watch from the sidelines.
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by Uniform Two Six »

Two things:

1. Holy cr@p, that looks awesome.

2. The only way I can play this thing is to sell my soul to Xbone?! Well, forget that. Anything that requires you be connected to the internet, even to play single-player, is retarded.
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

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Uniform Two Six wrote:2. The only way I can play this thing is to sell my soul to Xbone?! Well, forget that. Anything that requires you be connected to the internet, even to play single-player, is retarded.
It will also available for the PC, Mac, and PS4. As for requiring an internet connection, well, it's an MMO. Even if it was somehow possible to play offline, they're designed to be played with friends or other people.
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Re: Elder Scrolls Online

Post by Uniform Two Six »

Oh. I figured it would be like Skyrim and have a single-player option. No big loss then, I guess.
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