[promo title=”How it looks and how it sounds”][/promo]
Okay, this is where things start getting better. Visually, the game is absolutely stunning. Zenimax did a great job with the engine, and the game manages to run extremely smoothly while looking gorgeous. From water effects to dynamic day and night cycles, from a lush fauna to exquisite light effects, Elder Scrolls Online looks stunning. You can hate the game as much as you want, but the truth is, there’s nothing to complain about when it comes to the visuals.
Elder Scrolls Online’s world is huge, and there’s plenty to do wherever you go!
The same applies to sound effects too. The music captivates from the moment you boot up the game and are idling in the log-in screen. The well-known Elder Scrolls theme is present once again, but has been reworked. It definitely has a different feel to it than Skyrim, but it’s just as good. Voice acting is top-notch, as you’d expect, and every NPC talks to you. If you’re worried about playing an MMORPG where you have to read walls of text without hearing a single word (*cough* TERA and Aion *cough*), worry not. Well-known actors give life to the characters in ESO, and there’s really nothing to complain about audio-wise either.
On the negative side of things, third person animations still aren’t great, something that Elder Scrolls Online seems to have inherited from Skyrim or Oblivion. Playing in first-person is still an option, and animations look a lot better. However, the limited field of view in first person mode make it inferior to Skyrim. It’s easy to overlook chests or goodies in first person, and until this is resolved, I feel a need to play the game in 3rd person.
[promo title=”How it plays”][/promo]
The main feeling I got from the Elder Scrolls Online was that it had a massive world that truly felt alive. Yes, there were server issues, incredibly long loading times, broken quests (mainly due to mobs not respawning) and other annoying aspects that made exploring somewhat frustrating. But all those issues are likely to be sorted out until launch, and do not undermine the fact that the game’s world is indeed massive and impressive. Exploration is encouraged, with many hidden treasures to be found. Shards are scattered all across Tamriel, and finding 3 of them will grant you an extra skill point, which really matters. Additionally, you can find treasure maps that send you out into the world trying to find that magical X that marks the spot. It can be time-consuming, but the rewards are good, and the feeling of finding a hidden treasure is extremely rewarding. Add treasure chests (that can be lock-picked) and hidden resources, and you’ll find plenty reasons to go out and explore.
Crafting is rather complicated, but can be extremely useful.
Additionally, quests are not all bundled up within a city. You don’t get into the routine other MMORPGs have gotten us accustomed to, where you have to go to X city, pick up a number of quests, than go out and kill Y amount of certain mobs. Quests have a story to tell, are generally long, and are rewarding. To find some of the more interesting quests, you’ll have to go out and explore. Combine exploration with beautiful landscapes and visuals, and you get a world that feels alive and wants you to immerse yourself into it.
Crafting is also both useful and complex. For once, you can actually craft gear that you can use, and by the time I reached level 15, I was almost exclusively wearing gear that I crafted myself. In order to craft various styled armors, you’ll need to find lore books that are hidden around the map, so exploration becomes necessary and useful yet again.
[promo title=”PvP”][/promo]
Probably the most desirable aspect of Elder Scrolls Online, and the center of its marketing campaign, Player versus Player combat is a core feature, and one that works. I was afraid of facing the same issues that Star Wars: The Old Republic had with Ilum, mainly huge drops in performance that would have made mass-pvp obsolete. This isn’t the case luckily, and even with 100+ players on my screen, frame-rates remained unchanged mostly.
PvP has a certain Dark Age of Camelot feel to it, with long-lasting battles for strongholds. There’s a lot to fight for, and the game’s central area of Cyrodiil is massive. You’ll have to siege keeps, defend them against opposing factions, use catapults or battering rams to break down gates, and engage in both small skirmishes across the map, as well as full-fledged battles of epic proportions. The combat system still felt lackluster at times, due to issues with collision and hit-boxes, but overall, mowing down enemies was a very rewarding experience.
[promo title=”Conclusions”][/promo]
Time to answer the initial question. Is the game worth buying, or not? That depends a lot on what you’re expecting it to do. If you want an MMORPG that is different than World of Warcraft, Rift or The Old Republic, the answer is most likely yes. Of course, if you’re a veteran MMORPG player, you’re already accustomed to the financial aspects of buying and paying for an MMORPG. This payment model is certainly not a novelty, and while there are other more recent alternatives, such as Guild Wars 2 or other F2P titles, ESO’s payment system can’t really surprise anyone. It really feels like an MMORPG with potential, and there are various aspects that are done quite well. Is it perfect? Far from it, but then again, no MMORPG is. It’s a lot better than The Old Republic was when it launched.
3rd person view still doesn’t look great, with some modest animations here and there. Unfortunately, first-person isn’t perfect either, suffering from a greatly reduced field of view.
If however, you’re hoping for a Skyrim with multiplayer features, Elder Scrolls Online most likely isn’t for you. It’s a different game than Oblivion and Skyrim, and while it retained some features, it obviously aims to cater for a different type of gamer. Elder Scrolls Online certainly isn’t a sequel to Skyrim, so don’t shed out your money on it if you were expecting that.
That being said, I personally was positively impressed with ESO. I expected it to be terrible after reading other impressions, and ended up liking it, quite a lot. Personally, I don’t mind the price. I’ve been paying subscriptions for well over a decade, so as long as I get a quality MMORPG, I’m not one to complain. I know that for the monthly subscription and the full retail price, I’ll get plenty to do and content that will last me for months, if not years. There are certainly games out there that ask a full retail price for under 20 hours of gameplay. In that light, Elder Scrolls Online is worth it. On the other hand, if you want a perfectly polished game, or you’re simply a fan of buying a game and never paying for it again, this is not for you. It all comes down to your budget and what you want to spend your time playing. If you’ll only be able to invest a few hours every month into ESO, save your money.
For those that want an MMORPG with huge potential, the price is justified.