The Elder Scrolls Online
Review
A newer scroll
by Ingvi Snędal
reviewed on PC
Brawn
Part of what makes an Elder Scrolls game stand out from other RPGs is its first-person perspective. There is something about that view that makes a game more immersive and TESO is no different. You are inside the world and your character is you, not just some puppet you're controlling from a few meters behind. It is perhaps because of that, that TESO feels infinitely more substantial than other MMOs. Everything looks... bigger, more epic to the point where calling it a mere 'game' is almost an insult. At least it would be if it wasn't so much fun to play.
All this is amplified by some truly elaborate settings and fantastic visuals. MMORPGs have traditionally been known to feature blander, less impressive visuals than their single player counterparts. TESO, however, easily looks as good as contemporary single player RPGs, features spectacular effects and animations and runs well on both high-end and low-end graphics cards.
Can you imagine every player jumping around with the grace of Oblivion's animations? It would be hilarious for about half an hour, after that it would just have been sad. Fortunately the character animations have been completely redone for this game and - it has to be said - it was high time for an upgrade. From the rolling animation as the character lands having fallen to the dodging and death animations of enemies, everything looks fluid and lively.
Niggles
It has become a theme of every Elder Scrolls game to be bugged to the extreme at launch. The games have always patched up fairly quickly and we can only hope that TESO is no exception - it's a tad buggy. Escorting NPCs, you will become painfully aware that the lumbering idiot following you is indeed controlled by a piece of software. I was to escort a woman who refused to sneak when I snuck, stood on top of traps I was in the process of disarming, and ran into steam vents that I swerved past. Even though she didn't die, her stupidity made it difficult to maintain any 'suspension of disbelief'. In another example, I was to follow a path through a town, but the path disappeared faster than I could sprint, leaving me standing in the middle of the town square with my thumb up my ass and no clue where to go. When interacting with items, I occasionally noted that the interaction dialogue took a long time to appear and was thrown out of the game a few times by 'an unknown error'.
The latter made me appreciate how well the game keeps track of progress as I never had to replay any parts of my quests despite having to log back on. Which is a good thing, as some of the quest lines are a little bit too long. You can, of course, always tab over to another one and in some cases delegate some of the menial fetch quests to NPCs, allowing you to focus on the more important stuff like talking to people, or lopping their heads off.
Elder Scrolls, but...
In today's free-to-play dominated atmosphere, selling a game and then charging a subscription seems a bit greedy. Having played the game, I realized how much I enjoyed not having a huge eyesore of a 'store' button and the absence of the relentless droning about in-game currency that buys a pink unicorn with a blue feathered hat. I can easily imagine paying the $15 a month and not having to deal with any of that.
If you wanted TESO to be a Skyrim sequel, you're going to be disappointed. If you wanted it to be another World of Warcraft clone, then stick to Lord of the Rings Online. If you are looking for something fresh in a familiar setting then you are in for a feast.
With The Elder Scrolls Online, Zenimax has created something truly amazing, possibly a new standard for virtual worlds. Whereas every MMO has tried to copy the success of World of Warcraft and Everquest by emulating them in almost every way, TESO makes no such attempt. It follows the same philosophy that lead the creators of World of Warcraft to make that game a hit in the first place: look at what you don't like about the dominant games on the market and make 'not that'.
9.0
fun score
Pros
Truly immersive virtual world. A new standard for MMORPGs.
Cons
The standard array of bugs a-la Elder Scrolls tradition.
