As you know, 28th Feb, I was invited to join The Elder Scrolls Online beta that was taking place for a scale test. Obviously this is still a work in progress, so some aspects I comment on are subject to change upon release. Nevertheless, ZeniMax have encouraged beta testers to share our experiences, so here is my opinion!
The first thing you notice and come across is the character creation screen (as with any other Elder Scrolls game). The layout was nice and clean, very easy to navigate and I got to create my perfect character which of course was a Khajiit was with every other character I’ve ever made. You choose your alliance in this screen, and choose how your character will battle. Whether it be with spells, or with two handed weapon. There are a few options you can choose from which customizes the perks for how you want to play the game with your character.
The actual intro of the game I found to be rather irritating. You start off in a room, where you are given some basic controls, as with most games these days, then you set off on a multitude of corridors. I genuinely can’t remember how many of these short corridors there were, but it felt unnecessary and kind of awkward as you don’t really achieve a lot in each corridor. For example, one corridor you collect your gear of choice, then the next corridor you fight a skeleton warrior, and the following corridor you fight a skeleton archer. Just one of each, and these aren’t respawned. I didn’t really see why a separate corridor was needed for a single skeleton, but as it was part of the tutorial, I can see how others could find it handy. But for me it would of been nice to be condensed into say, one corridor for your gear and one for fighting.
Within the tutorial you learn the new levelling up layout which is different to how it worked in Skyrim. Once you have reached the next level, you press ‘C’ to open up the menu in where you choose where you want to upgrade yourself. Same as previous you have the options of mana, stamina and health, and before you’ve dedicated your choice, it shows you how the upgrade will improve your attributes. The next screen allows you a choice of perk which you can use ingame helping you in battle. The perk I chose when used set your foe on fire once struck with a sword. Very handy for taking a huge chunk of their life. During the game, the more you use them, the more they upgrade themselves.
There is one room before the final room, after all the corridors, but not a whole lot goes on in here (and I want to tell you everything that happens, just the important stuff). Once you get to the final room of the intro you are confronted by Molag Bal, the daedric prince of domination and enslavement, you have a quick chat, then you free a blind prophet who takes you to Tamriel. Easy peasy. A nice intro into the game, even if it was a bit long and repetitive for me, but still a good way to start the experience off. You also don’t start seeing other online players until the end of the intro, then once again when you’re exploring Tamriel and starting on your quests.
A bug I noticed straight away in gameplay was that there is no collision with NPC’s. Everytime I tried to battle with something and either I or the enemy walked forward, it would disappear into my character, making any fight very awkward.
One thing you do immediately notice is just how good the game looks graphically. It was, for me especially, something expected after seeing just how amazing Skyrim looks. The new layouts for character customization and for inventory are more simplistic than in Skyrim which I found very appealing. Very easy to navigate and I liked being able to equip armour by dragging it from inventory over to the active armour layout on the left side of the screen. In the same screen you also find the tabs for your map, quests and information on friends added. Being an MMO, it’s nice having these all on the same screen, so you don’t waste time ingame searching through different menu’s.
Regarding the compass at the top of the screen, it looks the same as in previous games with the given bonus that if you look in the right direction, the compass will tell you what marker quest you are looking at, and whether it’s on a level higher or lower than you’re at currently. It’s also done in a way where it’s very subtle, yet effective as you notice it there, it’s just not in your way blocking your view as you do other things.
There was a bug I found however, when looking at say a mudcrab in the distance, it would show the name and health status as a target would when battling up close. This for me was very off putting when trying to follow a quest line, for the game to decide for me the butterfly I was half looking at in the distance should be tracked instead. Not nice.
Unfortunately, due to my lack of interest in pursuing the game further, I did not take any screenshots of my own, sorry! And it's rather hard to find any on the internet, so I have failed you there.
Finally the soundscape in the game, nothing really special to me. Nothing stood out, it was just what I’d expect from an Elder Scrolls game. Same old dialogue and voice acting from Skyrim, and no background music. Nice, as it was kept nice and simple and didn’t distract from the gameplay itself, but I would of liked to have heard something that stood out, letting you know this is a brand new game.
Overall, I wasn’t thoroughly impressed. Thinking back to how much excitement and enthusiasm there was when this was first announced, it really didn’t live up to expectation. There are really good aspects to the game, but for me, it really doesn’t stand out and choosing to release an MMO may not have been the best idea. I would of preferred a new Elder Scrolls single player, with some of these new features shown online and with more effort gone into setting the game apart from previous titles in the series, rather than just the online aspect being the focal point for this title.
For me, I'd say an even 5/10.
Nothing truly special in my eyes, but perhaps upon release there will be more aspects which will make me reconsider and become a huge fan.
So thanks again for reading, and sorry for the huge mountain of text and lack of screenshots, will try and do a separate tl;dr version soon!
Next review will have more visual aids I promise.
Until next time!
-KirreeH
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