Why Elder Scrolls Online fails to Deliver (for me)

[SSL]

I think I am not even going to buy it.

 

Let's be realistic. ESO will be F2P within end of the year.

[CJ2311]

 

Honestly, after watching this, I'm wondering if there will be any people crazy enough to even renew their subscriptions for another month. I've played obscure F2P chinese/korean MMORPGs that were better than this...

 

This "game" fails at being an elder scrolls, and it fails at being an MMO... No wonder why there are no rabid fans defending it on the internet.

[phazer11]

........................................................................................................................

[Neovalen]

Thanks for the link... that made me laugh so hard... and glad that I didn't buy it. I kinda expected it from Bethesda tbh... cash grab kings and no good engines.

[Nearox]

Ugh... disagree with just about everything in the video... the cynic tone from the first second says enough about the quality of the reviewer.

 

Die-hard single=player TES gamers will dislike the game, as well as the die-hard MMO gamers. For every person not liking it, there are 10 others who do enjoy the new blend. Granted it took me about 20 levels to get used it it, but I for one will be re-subbing.

[Aiyen]

Imo there is not really anything to disagree with. While his tone etc. looks like it is bashing left n right, the final verdict and general points stand. The game is just average... nothing more nothing less. It has several features that might have been thought out to be a good idea, but lacks polish. 

 

Essentially it all boils down to the asking price is just way way too high. If it had been 30 $/€ for all content then perhaps it would have been worth it, but at that really high price compared to everything else then just no. 

 

This review is on par with most others I have looked at so far, and I am not going to hand out that kinda money for a game that clearly still needs to get a few patches under its belt before it is worth looking into compared to the alternatives. 

 

Finally then I must admit that I find it curious that they made fire look so epic, while making sure everything else looks so kinda bland.... then again they do keep up the ES themes so far, for better or worse. 

[CJ2311]

The cynic tone is part of the persona of that youtuber, you can't really expect someone with the nickname Angry Joe to talk about rainbows and puppies.

 

The worse part is that they could actually have made it a good game if they adressed some of the issues that were pointed out by the beta testers. The price would have been justified if it had been more like Rift, for instance, with randomly generated invasions instead of that Oblivion garbagy bit he showed... But seeing how little mobs there are in every area, I don't think their servers would have handled it... D:

[Neovalen]

The biggest downfall to me is the lack of proper group mechanics and lack of any immersion as pointed out in the video. That should be focus #1 for an MMO.

 

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

[redirishlord]

The enormous step down in features and fidelity from a modded SKyrim prevents me from enjoying ESO. What woudl work for me would be a neverwinter-nights-style private server-based capable TES game. Combine old school pen-n-paper features with modded TES fidelity into a STEP (or other) group game night. Campaign packs could be hosted (anyone remember Against the Giants?). Just throwing around hypotheticals here, but the NWN style would be my preference over MMO for a TES experience.

[Nearox]

Well, not gonna try to convince anyone, but while he does state some facts correct (and others are flat out wrong) he grossly exaggerates them. For instance I've been playing with friends since early access and we all like the grouping system more than traditional MMO grouping systems. It works, it is smooth and hassle-free. No idea WTF angry joe is doing. It's like the guy examined the system for 5 minutes and concluded it sucks... Most of the other 'issues' he has with the game, I have yet to encounter them. I know for fact that I won't encounter them because they are not there. Am progressed quite far into current endgame. No grind, only exploration, questing, dungeons, pvp. Game does feel like elder scrolls to me, a lot actually. With sweetfx profiles, the environment is - by MMO standards - simply stunning and I often stop to see the vistas.

 

Anyways, if you look at the game as someone like him does, I guess it'll be tough to like any game. Personally I don't trust reviews anymore these days, whether they come from the establishment or from youtubers. They seem either sponsored (giving extremely high ratings for crap games) or have a self-interest in cracking down on games (aka being "critical") just to get more viewers. Even on reddit, every games section in the last 2 years seems to have become a place for whiney, overindulged people that feel entitled to a massive amount of individual wishes just for spending a subscription of 10 - 15 dollars a month.

 

/rant

 

As an elder scrolls fan, I'd at least play the game when eventually a trial becomes available (start with Daggerfall Covenant it has the best quests and environment in my opinion). But to each his own, I guess :)

Edited April 23, 2014 by Nearox

[Aiyen]

Good points. One thing I took notice of is that most of the stuff he points out is stuff that is fixable by patches down the road, and I am sure they will be.... like the issue with the million dead spiders people are farming... that is just a bad piece of remove object code that should be easily fixable by the devs. 

 

As for stuff about it being bland and boring... well its an MMO... if stuff was stunning etc. then that sort of PvP would cripple most systems in seconds and not be fun at all. As for quests lacking proper quest rewards... well I take that with a grain of salt. With that many quests then they cannot all be epic etc. and neither should the be. 

 

One thing I did find very disappointing and which I think they wont fix are those daedric invasions.. the criticism there was warranted imo. Even by MMO standards that was just lackluster across the board. There is no reason other then "lack of time to do it" during development why it is so boring... with at most a few NPC´s wacking at each other. When PVP has 50 or more player actors at once, then I do not see why in a PvE context there cannot be at least 20 NPC´s.... oh yeah and guards should not have a simple idle greeting during such an event. But again this is part of what I meant with lack of polish. It is fixable down the road... if they want to. 

 

However all that being said.... it does look like an elder scrolls game to me as well, and I would like to play it for sure... but not for that asking price.. for that sort of money I expect a polished game, and this is not a polished game yet. But I have high hopes down the road that I will give it a spin. 

[HannibalsChef]

I didn't really like the shouty man in the review video but I have to agree with main points.  "Weak tea" as they say.  Must admit though, not a big fan of MMO anyway. Always find the MMO mechanics offputting and breaking immersion - people and things popping in and out.

 

I agree with the guy above who suggests a TES game with private servers for team questing, like NWN.  Skyrim with friends would be great fun.

[Tarikko1]

ESO was a huge disappointment for me.

 

 

I will not be renewing my sub.

[Kuldebar]

Appeal to gameh authority:

 

As an avid (subbed for 6 months or more to 20-25 MMO's over the last decade) MMO gamer and a dedicated fan of the Elder Scrolls escapist franchise since the Daggerfall era...there's nothing to entice or interest me in this MMO-fication of the Elder Scrolls saga.

 

Now for opining, my opinion:

 

MMO's are in a sad state. Until the vertical progression and outstanding shallow gameplay elements are addressed the typical MMO model has lost its luster to those who have been overexposed to it. Guild Wars 2 (did some really awesome things that ESO should have taken as a clue) was my last foray...but unfortunately it picked up the vertical progression playbook with some gusto early after release but worse, it remains a rather pale shadow of deeper RPG gameplay. It's really a tough row to hoe for an MMO, no doubt.

 

Just some stuff I noticed from the video review:

• The game animations looks clunky, compare to a game like Aion or TERA...very rough looking character movements in ESO.
• Some of the gameplay mechanics (grouping, BOSS spawn, quest item spawn), rightfully vilified in the review, are whack...seriously, WTF?!
• The Cash Shop model...sucks. I usually have played subscription games but my last games were quality games that were largely/mostly/almost free to play. (Guild Wars 2, TERA) ESO is making the demarcation point between free players and paying players...too severe. It's going to die on the vine unless it changes that, if an MMO lacks players, it will die. Players are the content.
• The art direction fails to deliver the gritty world we expected. Character models? What a joke! (Hey,I don't like ugly elves either, but FFS, talk about devs caving in for marketing reasons!)

[Redferne]

What cash shop? You mean the store that sells a horse and an upgrade to the Imperial edition? The store that has only one small square add on the main page to upgrade to the Imperial Edition? 

Yeah really outrageous... 

Oh and there are no free players.