The Elder ScrMMOlls

[DanJW]

I noticed that too Murdoc. I assume it is future-proofing. Elder-Scrolls games tend to go for some approximation of photo-real, but the thing about that is that the march of technology ages very quickly (just look at Everquest 2 - dated and ugly even before it went live). MMO's aim for a longer life-span than single-player games.

Thus most MMO's have larned from WoW that a stylised slightly cartoony look ages better. Of course none of them do it as well as Blizzard and now they all have the same cartoony style...

edit: Yeah, if I didn't know that these were screens of an Elder Scrolls game, I wouldn't be able to tell.

[Murdoc]

Okay, so got the down low from a friend of a friend.

The game has been in production for freaking ever, has gone through a dozen changes and is lead up by some ex Mythic people who wanted to make DAOC 2... which isn't a bad idea.

So, yeah, it is what it is at this point.

[Frenetic Pony]

Doomed game is doomed, and I feel bad for Bethesda as a publisher yet again.

From a business standpoint MMO's are a bit of a unique prospect, especially because most of them tend to be so similar to each other. So if you've got five modern MMO's with the same gameplay to choose from, and they all cost the same, and you only have time to play one, then the only features you choose on are those that are differentiated.

And the only one The Elderscrolls Online has going for it, is that it's "The Elderscrolls". Unlike what I've seen of Tera, or The Old Republic, or the only one I'm interested in because it's not subscription based, Guild Wars 2. All of those at least have some sort of, thing, that sets them apart. A definitive "that's new" kind of thing.

Frankly I don't see how an MMO, well into development already, that does little more than play "me too" can compete. Not with World of Warcraft already bleeding subscribers.

[TheLastBaron]

Unlike what I've seen of Tera, or The Old Republic, or the only one I'm interested in because it's not subscription based, Guild Wars 2. All of those at least have some sort of, thing, that sets them apart. A definitive "that's new" kind of thing.

What does The Old Republic have? I only played in the closed beta but that seemed like basically equally cartoony WoW in space, unless you meant the millions of dollars of voice acting that I skipped and I think most MMO players skip (It's mostly a habit to skip quest text). I don't mean for that to be in any way disparaging towards World of Warcraft, or games like it, btw.

[Salacious Snake]

Pretty much all of your complaints may be solved by the fact that they are not using Gamebryo. We shall see.

Unfortunately, they're using HeroEngine, so none of his concerns will be solved, based on what we've seen so far.

[mikemariano]

Doomed game is doomed, and I feel bad for Bethesda as a publisher yet again.

You're not pessimistic enough! I fully expect this MMO to kill The Elder Scrolls as a series. There will be no Elder Scrolls VI.

NOTE: There is absolutely no evidence to back up my dire prediction. In fact, by keeping the MMO and Bethesda completely separate, the only available evidence is against my prediction. But I stand by it anyway!

[Orv]

Unfortunately, they're using HeroEngine, so none of his concerns will be solved, based on what we've seen so far.

Oh jesus, really?

Welp, waiting for TES:VI then.

(For those of you potentially unaware, the HeroEngine is what SW:TOR runs on. It is a pile of shit.)

[Berzee]

This was the newest thread about this game that I was able to find. =P

 

Somehow I ended up subscribing for a month of this last Friday, and I am feeling surprisingly positive about it! (Whether my enthusiasm will exceed 30 days remains to be seen).

 

Things I've liked about it:

 

1) No "how to spend real money in-game" tutorial; it's been a long time since I played a subscription MMO.

2) I was reckless and got killed by a boss on a newbie quest! In LotRO that only happened when I accidentally selected the "8-man raid" version of a quest instead of the solo version. =P

3) If I downgrade the graphics until it looks like Redguard, it runs real smooth on my laptop too. =P

4) I saw a bunch of other folks my level, though maybe that's just because of the recent sale.

5) They let you put spaces and hyphens in your name!

6) Character building is basically familiar but with some interesting idiosyncracies. Also, like every respectable MMORPG, has the occasional obscure balance issue that's generally learned a few levels too late.

 

Things I've not liked about it:

1) Downloading 40 GB and then 10 more in patches.

2) Downloading 30 GB over again because, I think, the Steam auto-updater went all crazy and somehow conflicted with the ESO Launcher auto-updater. (Should've bought it not-through-Steam...but I really only needed the product code that Steam provided to make an ESO account, so now I've downloaded the Launcher from the official site and put it somewhere that Steam can't find it. )

 

Thing that is weird: the amount of "for-your-eyes-only" stuff going on in a shared world. I'm pretty sure NPCs will be standing in a different place depending on where you are in a quest (so people on a different part of the quest will appear to be standing in a corner staring at nothing, but really they're talking to the person who, for you, is beckoning to you from across the room), and after I beat one quest a bunch of happy ghosts appeared in a courtyard (which presumably remained bleak and spooky for the people running by who were just starting the quest). I'm not really sure how it works, but these are my speculative observations. I'm happy that starting a quest doesn't drop me in a single-player dungeon though, especially since I've been rescued by strangers a couple of times. =P