PAX East 2013: The Elder Scrolls Online

n the coat tails of Skyrim, Bethesda is jumping out of their comfort zone and currently producing their latest endeavor, Elder Scrolls Online. Matt, Ser, and George sat down with Bethesda and had a brief play session with title’s production stage so far as we entered the familiar city of Daggerfall. The following piece is a collective of impressions from the three of us with our time playing the ambitious MMO.

One of the shining aspects that’s held in high regard for the Elder Scrolls series are the expansive worlds found in its many entries. Elder Scrolls Online promises players the chance of revisiting all of trademark kingdoms within one singular experience, but after my initial impression with Daggerfall, the execution seemed disappointingly lifeless. Where the city itself was bustling with citizens and the visuals authentically represented the visual motif of the RPG, it was in the animations that the world’s illusion was broken shortly after I traveled down the streets. Keeping in mind that the isolated environments of worlds like Skyrim and Oblivion focus more on immersion through the vivid actions of the AI, this was completely lost in ESO and came off as if everyone was operating mechanically instead. It was relieving to find the myriad of quests available right outside of the gates of Daggerfall and that Bethesda implemented a seamless management system. Just as easily as I finished three quests were completed, five new ones were picked up on the way and the options to manage which ones you wished to attend to first implemented within the UI. While this again, continues to complicate the ability to bring the Elder Scrolls universe to life, it came into practical use and minimized menu use.

The classes available during play were either the Dragon Knight or Sorcerer, which showcased the core styles of play and combat but had nothing to portray in terms of advancement. Combat is very much akin to the more modern Elder Scrolls titles except the camera perspective is permanently affixed to the third-person view which may be another disappointment for some. Combat is fundamentally sound but nothing we haven’t seen before and during the time of play, there wasn’t a distinctive party system in play we could chose from as we experimented with commands with one another either. Instead, we pressed on wards and simply chatted it up along with whoever chose to accompany us and take on the quests individually. Playing with others this way fundamentally worked and did present the freedom of assisting the defeat of foes encountered through gang-up attacks, but the downside is that loot is doled out through civil distribution of spoils amongst yourselves with no discernible system dictating who gets what.

Overall, I feel that there’s potential in Elder Scroll Online to be a successful MMO mechanically once development nears end, especially considering the classes and perks available. However, one of the biggest highlights of Elder Scrolls are the expansive worlds, and for a game that promises the ability for a player visit them all in a seamless journey, the results so far feel tragically tepid.

Going into any MMO experience today usually comes with rather lofty expectations, especially with titles like the massively popular World of Warcraft and the time-tested Final Fantasy XI still going strong years -- and even over a decade -- after thier release.

The Elder Scrolls series has been around for quite a while, and with the recent mega-successes of its most recent outings -- especially Skyrim -- Bethesda has now decided to introduce the series to the MMO arena with The Elder Scrolls Online, a huge undertaking that collects and combines the entire Elder Scrolls mythos into one massively multiplayer outing. Not only does it feature all of the locations players have visited in the series to date, it also collects all of the gear they may have used to do it the first time.

While it is true that Elder Scrolls Online isn’t an MMO with much instant gratification to speak of, the point of this particular game is to emphasize exploration. Unfortunately, while players can go about their exploration in totally different ways which can lead to totally different quests on the outset, the objectives are not especially well explained, defined… or especially fun. It took a long while to get what the game was trying to explain, thanks to not-so-intuitive navigation and bland environments. There were also additional objectives that came up seemingly at random. I’m not sure when weird vines my character supposedly found became a thing in my quest, but I got 50 gold for going to a guy about it.

Somewhere along the line, I was ambushed by some sort of bandit, which was dispatched handily with constant strafing and intense clicking. I don’t really mind easy combat, but boring combat is another thing altogether. Alas, The Elder Scrolls Online is of that ilk, with stunningly blasé fighting that left me feeling as engaged as a deflated tire.

When it all comes down to it, this is as vanilla as an MMORPG can get. If you really, seriously need to play another MMO or you’re brand new to the genre, there are certainly much better alternatives out there. Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn for example…

Elder Scrolls Online certainly is an MMO. I was impressed immediately by the visuals. The environment breathes, the characters are well-rendered and customizable and it's damn pretty. Then I had to do things.

I saw this glowing lady, right? And she was all, "Get me three of these things and, like, two of these things." I figured this is kind of how you have to start an MMO these days. I hate that games have taught me to think that way--to be ok with expecting the expected. But, I went and collected several [ITEM]s and came back to her. I mean, this is Elder Scrolls. It's a series known for its immersion and unique spin on genre convention. So after this quest, the game has to open up in done crazy impressive way. Then I came back and she told me to get 10 more [THING]s.

Other than the impressive visuals, the ONLY thing I saw that sets Elder Scrolls apart from other MMOs is the combat. It's not so timing based as other MMOs where you're just tapping, waiting and tapping again. It's more tactile than that. You're tapping and then just tapping again, without the waiting. I guess that's a step up? The sorcerer I played as only had one attack and a block. I could shoot fireballs from my staff and holding fired the fireballs.

In the time I got with Elder Scrolls Online I didn't see much to make NE see it add anything more than an MMO. In a market surprisingly still flooded with them I see this getting some mileage from the name then falling by the wayside until it gets some headlines again when it goes Free to Play. And the cycle will continue.