The Elder Scrolls Online has been announced.
What we know so far:
An MMORPG (obviously).
The entire continent of Tamriel will be the setting. Some areas will be locked off for use as future expansion areas, however (i.e. Windhelm is reachable but Winterhold is not in the initial release).
Set 1,000 years before the events of SKYRIM.
Cyrodiil will be a PvP zone with 3 factions fighting for control of the Imperial City. Cyrodiil's topography has been recreated from OBLIVION, though it will be slightly smaller.
100-vs-100 PvP battles will be possible.
Faction 1: Ebonheart Pact, an alliance between nords, dunmer (dark elves) and argonians.
Faction 2: Aldmeri Dominion, an alliance between altmer (high elves), bosmer (wood elves) and khajiit.
Faction 3: Daggefall Covenant, an alliance between bretons, redguards and orcs.
Thieves' Guild, Fighters' Guild and Dark Brotherhood will be present.
'Hubless' quest design: an attempt to give quests to players in a less contrived fashion than going to town and asking around, though that will still be present.
'Dark Anchors' will fill same role as Oblivion Gates/Dragons: tough, semi-random magical objects that must be destroyed (otherwise Tamriel will be dragged into a daedra dimension). The arrival of one is hoped to be a big event in any given area, hopefully encouraging lots of players to band together to destroy it.
The stamina bar will impact on combat by allowing different types of attacks and defences to be used.
'Aggroing' will apparently be non-viable due to superior AI that will target the most dangerous players rather than the first one to wander into range.
Towns/Cities present: Imperial City, Daggerfall, Windhelm, Sentinel, Mournhold, Ebenheart, Elden Root, Shornhelm, Evermore, Riften and 'many more'.
Fast travel possible through waystones only. Standard fast travel will not be possible.
Radiant AI of singler-player games likely to be dialled back for player convenience (i.e. stores will be open all the time).
No houses, or NPC romances. Dragons probably not present in the main game, but may be encounterable via time travel quests. Pets possible.
Mounts present, but no flying ones.
Vampires and werewolves present as enemies, but players cannot become them (at least, not in the initial release).
Constellation and birthsign-based buffs will be present.
Developed by Zenimax Online Studios, helped by Bethesda. Bethesda will remain focused on their single-player RPGs, however.
In development since 2007.
Full voice acting.
Pretty standard MMORPG controls: 3rd person, hotbar-based skill use.
Shouldn't interfere with future Bethesda projects (FALLOUT or ELDER SCROLLS).
Out in 2013 for PC and Mac.
Interesting how much of a sandbox it will be.
This truly sucks bigtime. Don't believe the b&%%!@$#, if the MMO takes off it will kill any future Elder Scrolls RPGs.
MMO Killing the single player?! NO! I will still wait for Warcraft 4!!!
I'm a big fan of the elder scrolls series, but i'm skeptical that an elder scrolls mmo will bring anything new to the mmo table. Ditto the planned pathfinder mmo.
I'll be happy to be proved wrong, but...
It won't kill any future ELDER SCROLLS SRPGs. WoW did kill any more WARCRAFT SP games (at least until WoW dies off), but that's because they set it after WC3. Events in WoW have supersceded any kind of plot they might have created for WC4. Bethesda/Zenimax have deliberately avoided that problem. In fact, SKYRIM's situation is pretty dire for the Empire and I can't imagine that's not a set-up for ES6.
In addition, the ELDER SCROLLS SP games come out on consoles as well, and their sales are staggering. Bethesda will not abandon that revenue stream unless they are totally stupid.
My guess is that Bethesda's next game will be FALLOUT 4 and then ELDER SCROLLS 6. Zenimax Online will likely move into making FALLOUT ONLINE once they have a team in place to continuously update ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE.
As for the sandbox issue, apparently the game will have significant quests that trigger only if you stumble over them in freeform exploration (i.e. there's no-one to direct you to them from outside). Whilst it sounds like they are MMO-ising a lot of things about the game (no first-person mode, what's that all about?), the freeform angle will at least be preserved, at least partially.
My guess is that Bethesda's next game will be FALLOUT 4 and then ELDER SCROLLS 6. Zenimax Online will likely move into making FALLOUT ONLINE once they have a team in place to continuously update ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE.
Hard to say about Fallout Online - last I checked, the court rejected the Bethesda request to stop Interplay Fallout Online works. Judges may yet decide that Interplay delays didn't violated terms of contract and allow them to make the game... Or not.
Interesting how much of a sandbox it will be.
Considering Skyrim, I am guessing "not at all".
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Faction 3: Daggefall Covenant, an alliance between bretons, redguards and orcs
Boss. My three most commonly used races just happened to get grouped together.
Gameplan: Punching every Thalmor agent I see to death.
Actually, this does make me a bit sad, because the chances of a "WRECK THE THALMOR" DLC seems quite a bit slimmer.
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@#$%in' Thalmor...
Hard to say about Fallout Online - last I checked, the court rejected the Bethesda request to stop Interplay Fallout Online works. Judges may yet decide that Interplay delays didn't violated terms of contract and allow them to make the game... Or not.
This was resolved a couple of weeks ago. Bethesda/Zenimax have gained full control of the FALLOUT ONLINE IP and can make their own game whenever they wish. In fact, they've also taken full control of the FALLOUT IP from Interplay and from 2014 Interplay have to stop selling boxed sets of the earlier FALLOUT games as well.
Faction 3: Daggefall Covenant, an alliance between bretons, redguards and orcsBoss. My three most commonly used races just happened to get grouped together.
Gameplan: Punching every Thalmor agent I see to death.Actually, this does make me a bit sad, because the chances of a "WRECK THE THALMOR" DLC seems quite a bit slimmer.
...
@#$%in' Thalmor...
Remember, the MMO takes place 1000 years prior to Skyrim. So it really has no impact on what DLC they can release for Skyrim.
I am one of those in the minority. I was not a fan of any game I've ever played in the Elder Scrolls series. I always gave up on them because of the sheer lack of direction, same with Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
Elder Scrolls as MMO? I feel like there's nothing to be gained. The big appeal of Elder Scrolls is the whole 'open world' thing where walking around and you stumble across some stupid blip on your radar that you have to go investigate even though your inventory is full...
An MMO, it seems to me, can't do that...unless they run it kinda like DDO or Guild Wars where the towns are like hubs and everything outside of town is an instance...then, maybe, they could randomize the layout somewhat. Or run it like Diablo I and II where you create a game and your chums join you and the whole world, every dungeon, and everything is randomized...but that seems like it'll be a really taxing idea.
I am one of those in the minority. I was not a fan of any game I've ever played in the Elder Scrolls series. I always gave up on them because of the sheer lack of direction, same with Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
That's odd. They have quite a lot of direction them, it's just up to you whether you focus on the main storyline (which, aside from NEW VEGAS, is almost always pretty dull), side-quests of just randomly wander around killing things.
Once you commit to following a quest or storyline, the games are usually very well-directed (some might too much so, as they can be too linear given the freeform nature of the games).
I just hope it works as well in a 3rd person view as it does in a first.
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I am somewhat disappointed in this as I see this being the end of SP Elder Scrolls games despite what is said....
Why do developers assume that everyone wants 4 million idiots to play along with them in an RPG? I just want an RPG that I can call my buds up and say "I am on under the XXX account, log on and join with me so we can all go on a crawl" and have my game be an adventure with my friends and me making up the party. I hate walking around watching a bunch of imbeciles acting like fools in my fantasy world. Hey look! Mr. IcanjumponanythingifIkeeptrying is in town again.....ooo! Right next to Mrs. IfiguredouthowtostrafeanddoiteverywhereIgonow and Captain Iwillattackyoufornoreasontomakeyourdaysuck.
I want to play the games like I play games. Me by myself or me with some close buds.
Why do developers assume that everyone wants 4 million idiots to play along with them in an RPG?
They don't. They do assume that a crap-ton of people want to play in a world with a million other people. And they're right, for the most part. Gamers freaking love MMORPGs.
That said, if you want a game where you can call up your buddies and go on a dungeon crawl together, might I suggest Diablo 3?
I am somewhat disappointed in this as I see this being the end of SP Elder Scrolls games despite what is said....
I don't see why. WORLD OF WARCRAFT has prevented a WARCRAFT IV being made because WoW's storyline basically wraps up everything that happened in WC3. Narratively, it leaves no room for a further SP WARCRAFT game. In addition, WoW is actively made by some of the same team who made WARCRAFT III (though some also went off to work on STARCRAFT 2).
On the other hand, ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE, which is made by a completely different team to the SP games, takes place 1,000 years before the events of SKYRIM, and thus 800 years before the events of ARENA, DAGGERFALL, MORROWIND and OBLIVION. I'll be surprised if the reason for setting it earlier is so it does not interefere with any plans for future single-player ELDER SCROLLS GAMES. Although we're probably not going to see an ELDER SCROLLS SP game for another 5 years or so based on the waiting time between previous installments, we will see another one down the line. Bethesda also aren't going to stop developing games for the consoles, which make a lot of money for them.
Why do developers assume that everyone wants 4 million idiots to play along with them in an RPG?
Money. Even a fairly small MMORPG can make a ton of cash. EVE ONLINE has about 300,000 subscribers (chicken feed compared to WoW) but all of those people paying $8 a month generates them a ton of revenue. Heck, the team behind ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE are (mostly) the same team behind DARK AGES OF CAMELOT, which came out a decade ago but still has 10,000 people playing and paying a sub, which is still a decent wad of cash every month.
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Ah, FINALLY I will be able to go to Elseweyr, the most mythical region of Tamriel!
That's odd. They have quite a lot of direction them, it's just up to you whether you focus on the main storyline (which, aside from NEW VEGAS, is almost always pretty dull), side-quests of just randomly wander around killing things.Once you commit to following a quest or storyline, the games are usually very well-directed (some might too much so, as they can be too linear given the freeform nature of the games).
That kind of game design is actually exactly the issue I'm talking about. Because if you do follow the main story, which is blatantly obvious, you can usually finish Bethesda games within 20 hours (at least in my experience). Which is painfully short, imo and the plots are usually...predictable at best, outright cliche at worse.
When I say they lack direction...its because nobody, at least that I know of, plays Bethesda games for the plot. They do it 'for the sandbox' design. They play to go off and investigate all those stupid blips that keep showing up on their radar as they make their way to the nearest hub to sell/store their loot. I always feel almost...obligated to go off and clear all those small useless quests before I even look at the main quest line. And of course, in between me and that side quest blip on the radar, there'll be another 20 irrelevant blips I have to deal with...
So yes, in the strictest sense, the game does have direction...but nobody pays it any mind. Bethesda, usually, just dumps you in a town with no money or items and says 'go kill things. kthxbi.'
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For Fallout 3/NV, I'm perfectly fine with the open world thing, mostly because I don't care about the story at all. I just wanna run around and kill things. Occasionally I run across a side quest that interests me and I work on it until I finish it...or simply keep on killing things and forget about it.
For Arkham ASYLUM, it worked fine too...even the side quests were pretty tightly related to the main plot, and seemed like natural extensions thereof.
Arkham CITY, on the other hand, was pretty much a loosely connected mess of completely unrelated side quests, one of which was labeled as the main quest (despite not really being any more engaging than any of the side quests).
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Crap. I just realized that Sean Bean even died in oblivion. WTF?
He is a walking spoiler.
THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE will cost £50 - almost twice the cost of a normal game here in the UK - and will have a £9-per-month sub in a genre that's mostly gone free to play.
Er, okay. That sounds sensible.
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THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE will cost £50 - almost twice the cost of a normal game here in the UK - and will have a £9-per-month sub in a genre that's mostly gone free to play.
Er, okay. That sounds sensible.
That amount seems high. That amount corresponds more to the digital deluxe version being released in the states for $79.99. The regular version is $59.99. Both are eligible for pre-order bonuses.
THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE will cost £50 - almost twice the cost of a normal game here in the UK
I'm not from the UK, but that doesn't seem to line up with reality. A quick check of Amazon.co.uk reveals TES Online being sold for £40 on PC (£50 on consoles), and other big-name upcoming releases being sold for £48 (Watch_Dogs, Thief) or £50 (Infamous: Second Son). So even if you actually had to pay £50 for it (you don't), it's certainly not priced at "almost twice the cost of a normal game". Normal major release games in the UK cost £45-50 on release.
Now, the subscription fee is another matter entirely, but this is nothing unheard of. Until a few years ago it was the norm for a major MMO title to be priced similarly to a full retail game and to have a subscription fee tacked on as well.
The going rate for PC games in the UK is £29.99-£34.99. There have been repeated attempts to raise this, but they've all failed and the stores have ended up dropping down to that price range anyway. In fact, the common situation in the UK is for PC games to launch at £30-£35 and then be discounted to around £20 within 6-8 weeks of release (usually in an attempt to counter Steam).
The RRP of ESO in the UK is £50. It'll be discounted by Amazon to around £40, but that probably won't translate into the shops (based on prior experience, GAME will probably sell it for £44.99). Blizzard games and occasional other MMOs will
WATCH_DOGS and THIEF may have been priced up in an attempt to increase price towards the next gen consoles, but they won't get very far if they do. People will just get them for the £35 they'll likely be on Steam instead.
I'm actually not against in principal the prices of PC games moving up a little: I bought MONKEY ISLAND II in 1992 for £34.99, and it is slightly ridiculous we've had a complete price freeze on PC games for 20+ years despite radical increases in both production costs and interest in the intervening years. But launching a game at 50% or more the market price would seem to be unwise.
I'm not too fussed about it because I have no plans to buy it, ever, so it's not a personal problem.
The going rate for PC games in the UK is £29.99-£34.99. There have been repeated attempts to raise this, but they've all failed and the stores have ended up dropping down to that price range anyway. In fact, the common situation in the UK is for PC games to launch at £30-£35 and then be discounted to around £20 within 6-8 weeks of release (usually in an attempt to counter Steam).
The RRP of ESO in the UK is £50. It'll be discounted by Amazon to around £40, but that probably won't translate into the shops (based on prior experience, GAME will probably sell it for £44.99).
GAME is selling it for £40, just like Amazon is.
This is, coincidentally, the same price they are selling Warlord of Draenor for, the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, which also requires a monthly subscription fee (of £9, the same as ESO's).
GAME's online prices are rarely reflected in the store, sometimes to the point of lunacy ("Can you price-match with your own online price?" "No").
TESO is fairly pricy. 420dkk (on their own website) compared to a more typical 300 to 350dkk. Usually only Microsoft has the gall to charge more than 400dkk for a game. :)
(PC games, I mean. Console games are a lot more than that, I think.)
GAME's online prices are rarely reflected in the store, sometimes to the point of lunacy ("Can you price-match with your own online price?" "No").
Man, I really thought retailers were getting past that. Is this a last-ditch effort to maintain profitability in an age of the decreasing relevance of brick-and-mortar storefronts?
GAME's online prices are rarely reflected in the store, sometimes to the point of lunacy ("Can you price-match with your own online price?" "No").Man, I really thought retailers were getting past that. Is this a last-ditch effort to maintain profitability in an age of the decreasing relevance of brick-and-mortar storefronts?
Yeah, the only thing that is going to achieve is me being even less likely to make that trip to the store than I already am. If I want something that badly on release day I can get almost guaranteed release day delivery from Amazon.
I'm very much looking forward to this game. I saw some of the voice talent - an impressive line up. I played the Beta, it seems quite good.
High Elf wizard for starts for sure.
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I'm very much looking forward to this game. I saw some of the voice talent - an impressive line up. I played the Beta, it seems quite good.
High Elf wizard for starts for sure.
Yeah, the betas definitely got better as time went along. The first ones made me want to bang my head on the desk because of bugs. On the other hand, the last beta was a lot of fun. I am thinking Altmer Dragonknight as my first toon.
I was greatly let down by the beta. The inherent MMO mechanics vastly changed the way I've played an Elder Scrolls game. It was jarring, and I honestly doubt whether I'll buy it.
I was greatly let down by the beta. The inherent MMO mechanics vastly changed the way I've played an Elder Scrolls game. It was jarring, and I honestly doubt whether I'll buy it.
I actually liked it more than I thought I would, to the point that I'm actually tempted to get it.
The dealbreaker for me, however, is how they have addressed the issue of level gaps between players. If there's some kind of sidekick system, or auto-everyone's-equal system, cool. If it's just old school "tough luck if you're three levels ahead of your friends" that's a no-go for me. That's such a 2003 design. We're better than that.
I don't actually team much, but I've found that this is really the only real thing that turns me off of a new game.
Can this game be played with only 2 players all the way through? I fnot what is the minium for the toughest dungeons and can those be played with only a select group? What were the changes that you didnt like compared to skyrim?
From what I've read you should be able to solo the main quest content. That wasn't my experience, though. I got to a point where quest mobs started outpacing me in level and fights got progressively harder and harder. I don't know if it's a flaw in their level design or an intentional change from what I've read before.
So quest mobs just show up while in dungeons? Sounds like everquest? What things did u like about the beta
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So quest mobs just show up while in dungeons? Sounds like everquest? What things did u like about the beta
I played in several. The first betas were pretty rough.
First, thing I really liked was combat was action driven not old tab targeted combat. I find action combat helps me to immerse in a world. Note, this type of combat starts off easy but gets harder relatively quickly. I saw lots of people not use to needing to move or double tap.
Second, first person view worked in the latest beta. Different people prefer different views. A good friend of mine is a first person view only fan and he was fine.
Third, your character is what you design it to be. I had a lot of fun with a Altmer tank sorcerer. You can also make a Dragonknight ranged spell caster. You can eventually learn every non class line on any character.
Fourth, if you help kill a mob you get credit. No more standing around waiting for another group to finish. You can and should help others kill mobs because you get credit as well.
Fifth, I had fun doing the story quests. I prefer voiced quest givers. You will find skyshards that give skill points in some of the strangest locations.
Note, this is a Bethesda game so there were bugs. No dragons flying backwards thou.
I enjoyed the beta myself and am looking forward to the game. I have preordered the Imperial retail boxed version. That let's you play as an Imperial (or any other race) and pick your alliance rather than have your race determine it. And the map, the book and the 12" statue of Molag Bal don't hurt either :D
My son has ordered it as well, and my brother is likely to as well as my daughter. Nothing like having a built in party :)
Does Skyrim do anything better than ESO? What elements/game mechanics from ESO would you add to the next TES single player game? Magic improved over Skyrim especially destruction magic?
You can't stealth and be a ranged character in ESO. Even ranged combat is comparatively up close and personal. In Skyrim, you can easily enough stand off a couple hundred yards and take down opponents and be a very successful thief/assassin character. In ESO, if you start with a bow, they do that damned super-humanly fast run up to you that many MMOs do, and, from there, it's a slog fest. Also detracting from the thieving ability is that not all game objects are able to be interacted with.
The thing I thought was cool about ESO's magic was that your race, class, etc all had unique things they could do which expanded on the classic Elder Scrolls racial abilities. They just did a little more with it. I could stand seeing that in the next TES single player title as long as it didn't restrict the classic system.