Elder Scrolls Online Review – First Part

The Elder Scrolls Online has finally been officially launched. After highly disputed beta stages and a controversial payment system, the day to finally test the game as it really is – completed –  has come! At least on paper, anyway. I never quite got on the payment-debate bandwagon myself, as I never fully understood the complaints behind the system in the first place. Perhaps that’s due to my extensive MMORPG experience, and after paying for over a decade for games such as Anarchy Online or Dark Age of Camelot, I don’t exactly expect MMORPGs to be free. Then again, the Elder Scrolls Online is based on the popular single-player series, so introducing a paid-for online world to fans of the singleplayer games can spawn such debates, and understandably so.

Despite all this, before even starting my on-going review, I’ll say this much. ESO is an MMORPG, that much is clear. It’s of course based on the lore of the Elder Scrolls universe, and has some similarities to previous titles such as Skyrim or Morrowind, but other than that, it’s just an MMORPG set in a familiar gaming world. In fact, if we look back in history, we’ll see that World of Warcraft wasn’t just a larger-scale Warcraft 3, it was a new game designed for massive player numbers, but based on an established fantasy universe. And that’s fine in the case of Elder Scrolls Online too. I never expected the game to be a Skyrim with multiplayer. I wanted an MMORPG in a setting that I loved. There are fundamental differences between games designed for singleplayer and MMO games. The two are so different and require designs so opposite to work well, that it’s simply unlikely anyone would be able to pull off a successful mix and match. But I won’t be reviewing the newest member of the Elder Scrolls series. I’ll be reviewing a full-fledged MMORPG, one that I joined with that mind-set and one that I will rate accordingly.

[promo title=”First steps”][/promo]

The launch of Elder Scrolls Online went surprisingly smoothly. There were some down-times, but nothing too serious, and players were spared log-in queues even on the first day of early access. Some lag issues appeared every now and then, but nothing game-breaking, and so far, ESO’s launch has been an impressively smooth one. Unfortunately, due to server load, some quests broke down after awhile, so players had difficulty completing some particular ones, but these issues will most likely be completely eliminated in the coming weeks.

The game’s starting moments are exactly what you’d expect from an MMORPG. You start off with a character creation screen where you’re allowed to select your gender, class, race and faction, as well as your physical appearance. I played as an Aldmeri Dominion character during the Beta, so this time around I went with Daggerfall for diversity’s sake. As a huge fan of the Witcher series too, I wanted to create a copy of Geralt of Rivia, and thanks to the extremely detailed character creation options, I managed to do that. ESO provides you with enough tools to make the ugliest characters in Tamriel, or the hottest stud you could envision, depending on your preference. The only part I found lacking was the hairstyle selection part, which seemed a bit on the weaker side, at least when compared to other modern MMORPGs. Regardless, after 40 minutes of tinkering, my ESO Breton Templar Geralt of Rivia was ready to start wondering Tamriel.

So far so good! Once in-game, I was greeted by the now familiar Coldharbour area. Coldharbour acts as a tutorial and story-starting area that frankly is a little bit dull, especially if you are replaying it for the 5th time. The voice acting is good, but I was never impressed beyond measure with the story and the visual aspects and setting of the zone, despite it being relatively original. Thankfully, if you do decide to make a new character, you can now opt to skip this area altogether, which is a nice touch from Zenimax. Hurrying to get the heck out of the area I’ve seen all too many times during the beta stage, I rushed through and emerged on the surface world, a place where things took a drastic change.

The first notable difference comes from the fact that up until this point (you get to about level 3 in the starting area, in about 30 minutes if you explore thoroughly and listen to the story), the game holds your hands considerably. Not so much once you’re outside though. Of course, the game’s world is designed to transition from a guided sequence to the freedom of exploration of choice it provides in the later stages, but once you’re on the surface, you can pretty much go where you want and do what you want. And the world is absolutely gorgeous. While obviously optimized for MMO play, Elder Scrolls Online manages to look incredible, especially for MMORPGs. It’s also surprisingly well optimized in terms of performance, so even on mediocre setups, you won’t have frame-rate issues.

[promo title=”Hello, Tamriel!”][/promo]

The world wouldn’t count for anything it wouldn’t feel alive, and after being disappointed in this regard by many recent MMORPGs, I was pleasantly surprised to find a vibrant, well-designed open-world that was ripe for exploring and was bursting with life. You can literally do whatever you want to. Quests aren’t bundled into a single town, forcing you to explore in order to find new ones. Say farewell to the concept of ‘go to town, pick up all the quests, go out, kill mobs, turn in quests, rinse and repeat’. Of course, there are some quests that still involve hunting down specific NPCs or gathering certain herbs or items, but their number is limited, and they are well integrated into lengthier quest-lines that actually have a story to tell. Which brings me to another point, mainly story – because all quests are voice-acted, immersion is increased and you’re actually engaged into listening to NPCs, their troubles, and end up caring about your quests for the most part.

If you don’t feel like questing however, fear not. There are multiple ways of gaining experience, and the game doesn’t punish you if you’re not a quest completionist. You can simply run around exploring, gathering crafting ingredients or opening hidden chests with lock-picks. Opening a chest or finding a new area will grant you some modest xp, and while it doesn’t appear to be much at first, it does tend to add up. I’ve gotten from level 4 to 5 relatively fast without doing a single quest, just by running around and finding hidden chests that other players had missed, a satisfying experience overall, especially since I’m something of a loot-whore and hoarder.

[promo title=”Crafting and Skills”][/promo]

Time flies quickly, and you’ll find yourself reaching the first threshold of level 10 relatively fast. There are so many things to do, that you’ll rarely feel bored. If you love crafting, you’ll be surprised at how good ESO’s crafting system really is, and how useful and rewarding it can get. Money certainly doesn’t flow in rivers, so if you want to save up, you’ll have to start crafting your own gear instead of spending coin on buying it. With a multitude of different crafting styles (that you need to unlock by finding rare tomes), there’s definitely variety when it comes to how you look. If you want to dress to impress, you’ll have to invest time in finding these racial crafting styles and expanding your crafting abilities. It’s a worthwhile experience, and it feels extremely rewarding to be able to craft in any style you want with a multitude of special traits at your disposal.

Becoming a successful crafter can also be profitable, but in order to do so, you’ll have to invest some valuable skill-points into the various crafting skills, which is a decision you shouldn’t take lightly. Elder Scrolls Online gives you huge diversity in terms of how you can build your character, not limiting you to any specific armor or weapon just based on class. Obviously, you can’t become an expert in everything, so you’ll have to wisely consider what you’re spending skill points on. At first, you seem to have enough, especially if you pick up the hidden skyshards around the world, crystals that give you skill points permanently after finding 3 of them. However, as you’re leveling up, you’ll have more and more things to spend these points on, and it’s easy to run out. I actually spent a long time figuring out what skills I want to use and what weapons I want to focus on, considering various options such as armor preference, racial benefits, class specialization and skills available in the future. Right now, my Breton Templar uses medium armor, with a two-handed sword for up-close and personal combat and a bow for kiting and healing. It’s my own take on the DPS/Healer hybrid role, and I love ESO for allowing me to use whatever and however I want.

[promo title=”Combat”][/promo]

That being said, we arrive at another important point, more specifically combat. There are very mixed feelings among players about Elder Scroll Online’s combat system, and for good reason. On one hand, you have a fairly dynamic system that forces you to be mobile and on your guard at all times. You have to block power-attacks, dodge special attacks and interrupt channeled abilities. You also have to carefully manage both your stamina and your mana in order to be successful. Run out of stamina for instance, and you’ll find yourself unable to roll away to safety when a boss charges up a deadly AOE power attack, killing you instantly. Since I love dynamic and challenging combat, I have no complaints thus far. That being said, combat often feels lacking due to some mediocre animations (especially visible while using bows), a lack of impact on regular attacks and minor delay problems with certain attacks of mobs. It’s frustrating to take damage from an AOE ability that you’re visually not in range of, yet the game still sees you as being. It’s also disappointing to whack a pesky skeleton with a huge two-handed power-attack and not see any visual indication of the blow’s impact other than the health-bar dropping.

Lastly, the limited number of skills you can bind to your hot-bar can be disappointing for many players. I personally don’t find it that bad, since I’ve passed the level 15 threshold, which has given me access to a secondary hot-bar with my secondary-weapon, on switch. Still, expect skill-based combat to resemble Diablo 3 more than games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic. You have 5 skill slots plus an ultimate ability slot and a consumable item-wheel, meaning 6 active skills + 1 for potions. This number doubles once you get another weapon at level 15, but it’s still limited to 12 skills overall. It’s a totally different take from what we’re used to in MMORPGs, and it forces you to be extremely considerate about what skills you invest points in, as you won’t be able to use more than 12 at a time. Overall, combat is pretty original, but it’s not executed perfectly. I like it for the most part, but I can also get why some people don’t. It definitely has room for improvement. I’m guessing a lot of these limitations are a result of the game’s console port, Elder Scrolls Online launching on the PS4 and Xbox One sometime in June.

In terms of difficulty, the game offers both moderately easy quests, as well as some frustratingly difficult fights. I’ve found that it’s not a good idea to get over-confident overall, and it’s best to remain on your guard. You might mow down some hostiles with great ease, only to find a boss minutes later that hands you quite the trashing. Dungeons can be particularly difficult if the group is inexperienced, and boss-fights require various tactics in order to be successful. The final boss of the first level 12 dungeon for Daggerfall, mainly Spindleclutch, requires careful stamina management from all group members. Run out of stamina and fail to roll away when the boss unleashes its powerful AOE attack, and the entire group can wipe in a split second. Do it right however, and you’ll send the critter to Oblivion grinning. It’s rewarding to know that the game punishes carelessness and rewards experience and skill.

[promo title=”Graphics and Sound”][/promo]

Touching upon the visual and audible aspects of Elder Scrolls Online, there’s a lot to be said. As mentioned before, the game manages to look great and run smoothly. Whether or not you like ESO doesn’t matter, you have to admit that the game’s graphics are top-notch for MMORPGs, especially considering the fact that doing mass PvP with hundreds of players on-screen doesn’t affect frame-rates. This was my primary concern with the MMORPG, and I’m glad it’s not an issue. The world is gorgeously designed, with dynamic weather and lighting effects. From beautiful sunsets to rainy sunrises, you’ll see plenty of diversity. Cities are well designed and are a pleasure to explore, and boy, is there a lot to explore! I’ve only visited some of the main areas and I was already overwhelmed by the number of small villages, sprawling trading towns and fortified castles. And then there’s nature, begging to be explored. Fields of flowers, beautiful waterfalls, lush forests or desolate deserts. When I mentioned that the world of Elder Scrolls Online really felt alive, I was also referring to the beautiful landscapes that help shape this feeling.

It not only looks alive, it also sounds alive. Sound overall is top-notch, especially the music. I can’t get enough of the log-in screen music, and I actually leave it minimized often just to listen to the epic tunes while I’m working on other things. With an impressive line-up of prestigious actors doing most of the voice-over, the quality of voice acting is equally on par, although there are certain moments when some NPCs sound dull and odd. That’s to be expected however, given how vast the game is and how astonishingly massive the overall voice-over quantity is. My only real issue with sound and voice is the repetitive dialogue from some NPCs in cities, which can drive an avid crafter mad at times. I was glad to move over from the first major area of Glenumbra, only to get rid of the extremely annoying banker dialogue. If I hear the lines “either a borrower or a lender be” one more time, I’m going to start punching newborn seals. There are just so many times one can tolerate hearing that “a stranger saved the city”. It’s a minor nuisance, granted, but it’s one of the most frustrating elements I’ve encountered in ESO, and based on the rage on Reddit (you’d be surprised what some players would do to Glenumbra’s blacksmith), I’m not the only one.

There are some issues with first-person field of view though, an issue highlighted in the beta-stage too. Playing in first-person can be visually pleasing, but the game’s engine limits your viewing angles, making it hard to react properly in larger skirmishes. This is also an issue that isn’t likely to be fixed easily, so you’ll often be forced to switch to 3rd person for more complex battles. On the bright-side, I found Elder Scrolls Online’s UI to be particularly good, and you can set it up to be almost entirely hidden, improving immersion greatly. Your screen won’t be hindered by countless windows and stat bars, allowing you to truly enjoy the world around you. Since you’re also limited to 12 skills, you can opt to completely hide your skill-bar, since it’s not particularly hard to memorize the limited number of skills at your disposal.

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that there are a huge number of UI mods and plug-ins available freely on the internet, and some actually manage to improve core functions greatly. These are all user-made, with some being better than others. If you’re accustomed to Skyrim modding, you’ll know what I’m talking about. These small plug-ins can improve numerous aspects, from the quest tracker to the map and from gold-spammer chat filters (which, sadly, have already appeared) to combat assistance add-ons.

[promo title=”The experience so far”][/promo]

In the continuation of my review, I’ll be touching upon other aspects of the game, such as the important PvP factor and mid-game content and raiding. It’s too early to give a verdict about Elder Scrolls Online yet, but my experience with the game so far has been an extremely pleasant one. Yes, there are areas that definitely need work still, and not everything Zenimax did was spot-on, but then again, no MMORPG is ever perfect and no such game has ever catered to the tastes of all gamers. Still, considering that I approached the game with considerable skepticism (thanks to the extensive negativity online prior to the game’s release), I found myself enjoying the game infinitely more than I would have initially expected to. It’s off to a promising start, but we’ll see how good it is overall once we approach late-game and take a look at other, so far less explored aspects.