Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
[Column] The Elder Scrolls Online: Making it Feel Like TES
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Ever since the announcement of The Elder Scrolls Online, players have been clamoring to make sure their voices are heard by developers that they want TESO to perfectly capture that "Elder Scrolls" feel. We've got a few thoughts to share about how that's happening so be sure to check it out before leaving your ideas in the comments.
One of the main reasons Matt Firor and Paul Sage told us they’ve waited so long before showing off Elder Scrolls Online is that they wanted to make sure their game could show up on the scene and be known immediately as an Elder Scrolls game. A lot of people might just think that turning Tamriel into an MMO is no small task. Put some multiplayer architecture behind the Skyrim engine like a few mods have tried, and let it loose. But that isn’t Zenimax Online’s goal. Their goal is to bring the world of Tamriel into the MMORPG framework while still retaining specific facets that make games like Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim such massive gaming hallmarks. They want to make an MMORPG that fans of the genre will immediately grasp, but they also want to make an Elder Scrolls game that Bethesda fans will agree with and adopt as one with the series. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want that job of playing mash-em-up.
Read more of Bill Murphy's The Elder Scrolls Online: Making it Feel Like TES.
Comments
"You are all going to poop yourselves." BillMurphy
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone."
for me it's the incredible first person combat that has always drawn me to the TES games. nothing more immersive than a acurate and responsive first person combat view.
it's what i loved most of DF, and the only reason i played MO for so long.....they reminded me so much of Oblivion.
also horses that stay in the world when you dismount, instead of magically disappear to go into your inventory or back on your hotbar. i don't care if theyare not killable (they should if possible) they should still remain in the world pretty much where you dismounted. If you log off dismounted than your horse should be automatically be stabled at the closest stable, or the last stable you used.
**** let's not hype this up to much to become something it can not become ****
This is not going to have the TES feel, rather it will be an mmorpg with TES qualities, let's set this up for success not failure.
I agree with your list, except the werewolves/vampires bit - I could care less about that.
Most important thing to me is that the combat and progression are good.
I want to mash people and NPCs in the face with a Shield as I did love so much in Skyrim - so if the progression of the Block skill and general character progression + combat is as good as Skyrim, I'll be a happy camper.
It depends upon the engine really and how well it can take the load.
In Fallen Earth mounts stay in world but it also turned heavy populated areas into slide show.
Some good point there, particularly the Crafting that Zenimax seems to have completely overlooked.
Posts like this make my blood boil.
How can you justify saying this?
No one knows exactly how the crafting is being implemented, only that during their play time all the previewers said that crafting mats drop and can be found everywhere on and in everything.
Which points to the exact opposite of your pointless, baseless troll comment.
I'm no ESO or Zenimax defender, but come on.... unless you have some body of evidence to support your statement I (nor anyone else) has yet seen?
I'm afraid I'll have to disagree about the thievery. Oh sure, it would make it more "Elder Scrolls" for those people who played that way but short of instancing the silly process, what is it going to look, like when 32 people are all stealthing up to one npc?
Or if they allow players to break into a house, what happens when 25 players find themselves in the same place? ARe they going to allow everyone to raid that chest by the bed making the entire thing a thievery vending machine or do they allow first come first serve and just replace the stuff every 24 hours. If that npc house gets stolen from every day is that npc house going to start "fighting back"?
Just one of the issues that mmo's have when they try to incorporate single player mechanics.
And same with vampires. is one npc gonig to be the blood bank for 50 vampire players?
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
I agree with the list. Especially the crafting. I'm a firm believer that crafting should make players rich not poor. The top gear should come from crafting while the best recipes come from dungeons.
One thing I'd add to the list is open world exploration. Not being able to travel to other faction zones is a real turn off for me. One of my favorite end-game activities is world map clearing.
Very good point.
That will kill the feel of an ES game. Instead of being a legendary-style thief, you're like a rat trying to scurry for a piece of cheese before the other rats get there.
Thievery HAS to potentially play a huge role in an ES game. How to do it without a hundred people robbing a town blind every 5 minutes is anyone's guess.
Oh thank god that over the shoulder view will be available. I absolutely hate the clunkyness and limited field of view that first person provided in all of the Elder Scroll Games. Couldnt stand Darkfall for the reason that the over the shoulder view sucked.
I'm more concerned about the importance of crafting. I hope it is as important as it us in tes single player (and Indeed daoc & uo where firor and sage come from). But the game has instanced raiding, and that's never worked well with crafting, crafting always suffers as raid types assume they should have more shineys than everyone else.
Agree 100% with Bill on having access to "alot"™ of dungeons to explore. It is the main feature I adore about TES games. Getting lost in an almost endless open world is the best thing about the RPG's. I dont particularly care for other features the single player games uses like First person Combat, the crafting, the lore or the storylines so any of those can be different if it makes the game better as a whole.
What Elder Scrolls features do you hope make the game that haven’t already been touched on? So far it would have to be player housing and endless open world freedom to explore which is meaningful. Give me those things and I am a happy camper.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Over the shoulder is fine for out of combat, but in SKyrim once you go into combat stance the camera goes over the head.
For me it would be a near deal breaker if the camera remained over the shoulder, its not as immersive and the camera rotating over the head once combat starts.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
The thing that will make it feel "Elder Scrolls-like" to me is the question of whether I can play TESO 100% solo (if I so choose) and still feel llike there's a complete game there for me. The MMO aspects of the game are fine (and I'll probably participate in some of that content), but it's the single-player aspect of the original games that I am going to miss the most if it's no longer there. Most MMOs take the "sure you can level up by yourself, but the good stuff, the dungeons, is for player groups only" approach. I hope TESO doesn't follow the MMO "the best content is for groups only" herd.
If ZeniMax provides a rich SP experience that's heavily enhanced and garnished by multiplayer content, I'll be happy, but if they attempt to go "halvesies" -- i.e., sewing a "half-MMO" to a "half-SP game" together like some kind of Frankenstein's monster -- I'll be disappointed and probably give the game a pass.
haha who needs proof or facts these days? its only "opinion" that matter
Can you link that? Last thing I read they said that they were going to try and add fpv like the other games (where you can see your arms and weapons).
"You are all going to poop yourselves." BillMurphy
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone."
The only way that I can think of that would work would be to make it part of a series of instanced quests. Of course that mitigates the whole "open world" idea and you have 500 players all talking about how they robbed "Prince Lyle" but I suppose that isn't any different from everyone running up to x npc and collecting the quests they offer.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Combat, interactivity and Freedom are the things that set TES apart from its contemporaries and make it unique and highly successful. These things mentioned in the list are mostly just fluff.
The race-locked factions (where you can't explore other faction's lands) and static non-real-time combat that ESO currently has makes it VERY far from n actual TES game.
They are trying to improve it but if the last gameplay video is any indication they have a LOT of work to do. Also, friendly fire needs to be ON for RT combat to have any meaning. Otherwise it's just a spamfest. Therefore FFA PvP is necessary (just like how you can attack anyone in TES games you should be able to attack anyone in ESO - with just consequences to keep it from becoming a gank-fest).