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Elder Scrolls Online. Hmm.

It seems an odd time to develop an mmo and while it is impossible to deny the staggering popularity of The Elder Scrolls games, it is very much an uncertainty whether or not Bethesda can lure the players of the strictly solo RPGs to jump online and share the world with other adventurers.

We always say that it is unwise to overly praise E3 demos, but it is equally unwise to be too critical, particularly with a hands off developer driven demo.

That said.

It looks sort of…bland. The combat, while action oriented and not old school mmo, still has powers and cool downs (despite what the Zenimax rep said during the demo). The idea of public dungeons seems taken right out of Warhammer Online and the public quest system. There are private instances, raids, and pvp with hundreds of people per side.

It is also a low min spec game, which should be laptop friendly and not too graphic intensive but should look sharp on higher end rigs. The demo we saw looked…ok. The vistas look fine but the character animations need work.

There are novel ideas here, such as branching storylines and bonuses for playing as a group such as turning a simple fire spell into an area of effect firebomb just by grouping with teammates.

There still didn’t seem to be too many features here that will entice those with mmo fatigue unless you are just itching to join forces In the world of The Elder Scrolls. I realize I may not be the target audience here, but I have played my share of mmos and I’m not sold yet.

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Bill Abner

Bill has been writing about games for the past 16 years for such outlets as Computer Games Magazine, GameSpy, The Escapist, GameShark, and Crispy Gamer. He will continue to do so until his wife tells him to get a real job.

9 thoughts to “Elder Scrolls Online. Hmm.”

  1. “The vistas look fine but the character animations need work.”

    This criticism seem very familiar, somehow…

    1. Perhaps because it could be a tagline for every single Elder Scrolls game ever made?

      Bethesda presents Elder Scrolls: [new area]: The vistas look fine but the character animations need work. Coming October 2012.

  2. Somebody needs to make an MMO that forces people to role-play, then I’ll consider it.

    Wait, that makes me a killjoy. Who am I to prevent people from crowding around a banker NPC, ganking people into PvP whether they want to or not, or stripping naked and singing Nelly Furtado into public chat?

    Anyway, about Elder Scrolls Online, specifically:

    Balls.

  3. If the take-away from an E3 demo is that lackluster, it doesn’t bode well for anything more hands-on.

  4. As far as MMO games go, the only one I want is Guild Wars 2. That’s it.

    Elder Scrolls Online can go to Oblivion, for all I care. 😉

  5. I truly think this game will be DOA. There’s absolutely nothing to this game that seems interesting except the setting (which happens to be a completely bland fantasy world, but I get that some people are deep into the mythology and everything, I just happen to read books so it seems bland to me). Two years ago I think it might’ve been exciting. Okay, four or five years ago?

  6. The moment I head about this, my first thought was: HAVE THEY LEARNED NOTHING FROM HISTORY?!

    Bethsoft needs to cut their losses and stop development or this will sink the company and we won’t have “Elder Scrolls” anything. No one wants nor needs anymore MMO’s except Guild Wars 2.

  7. “No one wants nor needs anymore MMO’s except Guild Wars 2.”

    You just might be my new best friend.

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