The Elder Scrolls Online Catch-All

StaggerLee wrote:

Crazy idea (bash away, peoples): would a subscription single-player game ever work? Pay $5 monthly for continuous new content?

It is out there, it is called SWTOR, and it is burning to the ground.

Certis wrote:

That preview was oddly apologetic.

Not that odd, given that Game Informer are owned by GameStop, a company who actually needs to sell copies of the game. I'd imagine that guarantees a certain amount of enforced forgiveness in any copy they publish.

The thing I love about Bethesda games is the sense of exploration mixed with bas-assery and sense that you can do almost anything in the world. The only thing I see a MMO version of the IP adding is a plethora of douchebags that I don't generally want to associate with and dumbed-down gameplay (even moreso from consoles). While it is great to group with good people, there is still everyone else out there.

I'd love to get excited about this but I really can't based on what's been revealed to date.

Nevin73 wrote:

The thing I love about Bethesda games is the sense of exploration mixed with bas-assery and sense that you can do almost anything in the world. The only thing I see a MMO version of the IP adding is a plethora of douchebags that I don't generally want to associate with and dumbed-down gameplay (even moreso from consoles). While it is great to group with good people, there is still everyone else out there.

This is why I'd prefer to have seen a TES game with small-scale multiplayer instead (like, say, Skyrim where you can host a server and invite some friends in).

gorram double-posts...

Ulairi wrote:

Everything I've seen of TES: Online is that it has very little to do with TES and a lot to do with the diku mud that I don't want to play anymore. I don't know why designers just ignore UO, I think there is so much more room in that direction than the WoW direction. I think what most people want is TES with multi player not what TES: Online is turning out to be. I just hope they launch F2P.

UO ~= Diku ?

ShynDarkly wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

Everything I've seen of TES: Online is that it has very little to do with TES and a lot to do with the diku mud that I don't want to play anymore. I don't know why designers just ignore UO, I think there is so much more room in that direction than the WoW direction. I think what most people want is TES with multi player not what TES: Online is turning out to be. I just hope they launch F2P.

UO ~= Diku ?

I think you misunderstood the article or i'm misunderstanding your nomenclature. If you mean to say that UO does not equal Diku then that is the correct answer. He made a point to say that UO wasnt just a diku clone like EQ was.

Similarity, not completely distinct from, the princess may be in another castle, but the castle in just down the road aways

EDIT: ... well, she would have been down the road aways, but got set upon by a ganking crew of PKs before she got there!

You forgot the part about where she was about to finish crafting her 67th cumberbund.

Farscry wrote:

This is why I'd prefer to have seen a TES game with small-scale multiplayer instead (like, say, Skyrim where you can host a server and invite some friends in).

I've always wanted this, ever since Morrowind graced my hard drive.

I actually also had a hankering for playing a capture the flag style game in Balmora, it just seems like a city that was crying out for some PvP to occur across that river.

Scratched wrote:

On the consumer end I think it initially sounds good, it's when you start thinking about the ongoing production that it fall apart for me.

Presumably you pay $60 (which apparently is the accepted price for a AAA game now) for the base game, which gives you the base world, made by lots of people and a big release. This would need to have a decent amount of gameplay by itself to justify the base price, the alternative being essentially F2P with minimal content. The world is essentially a baseplate for the subscription content to exist on.

Then they switch over to the $5 lumps of content, one a month (it has to be something each billing period, otherwise why pay for that month?). That content has to last a month's worth of play, and be produced in a rolling one month schedule.

I've no idea how you differentiate between the person who gets in at launch and starts a sub, and the person who gets in a year later and then receives a year's worth of content. It just seems similar to waiting for a 'complete' edition of a normal game with DLC. I know some companies are doing DLC 'season passes' but selling it as a MMO style subscription just seems like making charging for SP content more complex than it has to be.

That's a great point. Hadn't thought about the person who shows up a year later. Good thing I don't have to solve these problems

Eurogamer - The Elder Scrolls Online's main story is 100 per cent solo

At no point do they mention playing with others. The following question writes itself - Why is this online, let alone a MMO?

Scratched wrote:

Eurogamer - The Elder Scrolls Online's main story is 100 per cent solo

At no point do they mention playing with others. The following question writes itself - Why is this online, let alone a MMO?

I can see it now,

ON to the next quest in the main quest line, just follow that line of players, they are all headed to the same spot. just get to the back of the line.
And for heavens sake don't talk to them! it ruins the immersion.

I suppose to be entirely fair to them, they don't mention sidequests, and they don't rule out playing with others.

The thing is, at least in the UK, Skyrim was the best selling game for christmas, beating even COD, so TES's singleplayer version isn't doing poorly by anyone's definition, so I can only assume the reason they're doing this is for the ongoing revenue, subscription, microtransactions or otherwise that an MMO brings.

If they're doing it for a subscription, it seems a crappy way of charging for your singleplayer games, and as they're so popular why not just make another one or three, and some expansions. If they're doing it for microtransactions, presumably the 'traditional' XP boosts and peacock aesthetics, then they need to lock out mods and secure the system.

And also it's only for PC/Mac, so they're immediately cutting out what I assume is a large part of the TES audience, mods or not.

I guess I'm just having a hard time getting a handle on TESCO.

Maybe this is an experiment in avoiding platform licensing and provide games as a service. You know every publisher would love to cut out all middle men in the transaction if they could.

Taking a known franchise that lends it self to long hours of play and with fans that expect three or four major add-on releases is a good way to test the waters. Farming it out to another development team ensure's they do not mess with Bethesda's success. If Beth. stays business as usuall, the next Fallout and Elder Scrolls games will likely follow their trend of growth and success.

While not related specifically to TESCO, I found an excellent Elder Scrolls podcast which explores the lore behind the series called, appropriately enough, The Elder Lore. Each episode covers a specific topic or aspect of the ES world, and it is fantastic. I've already burned through the entire backlog of episodes.

A trailer, which I think doesn't show off much. Without the titles to tell you what it is I can't really see anything distinctive in there, or anything that hypes me up.

warrior/barbarion
thief/archer
magic user

Wonder if they're hints at classes or just cool looking representations of avatars.

ShynDarkly wrote:

Some game world footage

It looks nice enough, but for my personal tastes it seems like an uneasy balance between realism and stylising/exaggerating things. My feeling from the SP TES games was that they leaned towards realism in presenting the world and characters.

The more I see and hear of this game, the more I think it's perhaps the least interesting MMO I've heard of in years. Fantasy MMO's are oversaturated and I haven't heard anything about what sets this apart other than being in the Elder Scrolls world.

I keep hoping to hear something that I can get excited about, but I'm not. This scares me not only for this game, but for what the Fallout MMO is going to be.

Well, the action combat is interesting. It sure is good in Tera.

I am hoping for the best. I imagine Skyrim with all real people and no NPC's and a dynamic AI controlled questing system. That is the dream game for. My head hurts thinking about all the challenges to pulling that off in a functional way that does not undermine role playing conceit. A pipe dream to be sure.

Something Borderlands-esque would be sufficient for me, though, to be honest. As long as I get to really design and hone my character, just giving me a playground with a gorgeous atmosphere in which to play with my toys is enough. I enjoy just being in Skyrim.

heavyfeul wrote:

I am hoping for the best.

Sure, I mean who doesn't want good games, right? My problem as far as I can fathom is that Bethesda haven't shown me anything I can get behind. Perhaps they broke cover too early before they really had enough to show. When there's already other established games that I assume are competing in the same genre/style of games, based on what's released I find it hard to find a good answer to the question why I should invest my time, brainpower and money into TESCO. "Because it's Elder Scrolls" isn't a good enough answer for me.

Scratched wrote:

When there's already other established games that I assume are competing in the same genre/style of games, based on what's released I find it hard to find a good answer to the question why I should invest my time, brainpower and money into TESCO.

Because it abbreviates to TESCO?

I was grabbing some plastic bags out of the closet yesterday and one of them was a Tesco bag that we apparently brought back from the UK. My first thought was, "Oh man, I should totally hang on to this." But then my immediate second thought was, "What the hell is wrong with me?"

Scratched wrote:

When there's already other established games that I assume are competing in the same genre/style of games, based on what's released I find it hard to find a good answer to the question why I should invest my time, brainpower and money into TESCO. "Because it's Elder Scrolls" isn't a good enough answer for me.

I would like to see some gameplay too. That teaser looked to be purely cinematic. It looked way to pretty to be in engine. Just characters posing as well.

Something like the videos Christina Norman did for ME2 would be awesome. I remember going back to them when I would switch to a new class. They showed exactly how the game played for each class. Very cool.

Gravey wrote:
Scratched wrote:

TESCO.

Because it abbreviates to TESCO?

I was grabbing some plastic bags out of the closet yesterday and one of them was a Tesco bag that we apparently brought back from the UK. My first thought was, "Oh man, I should totally hang on to this." But then my immediate second thought was, "What the hell is wrong with me?"

I'm going with it because I find it funny.

They said all the right things now if they can deliver.

heavyfeul wrote:

I would like to see some gameplay too. That teaser looked to be purely cinematic. It looked way to pretty to be in engine. Just characters posing as well.

That looked like an in engine walkthrough.

garion333 wrote:

This scares me not only for this game, but for what the Fallout MMO is going to be.

Unless it gets picked back up the fallout MMO was canceled (again)

ranalin wrote:

They said all the right things now if they can deliver.

heavyfeul wrote:

I would like to see some gameplay too. That teaser looked to be purely cinematic. It looked way to pretty to be in engine. Just characters posing as well.

That looked like an in engine walkthrough.

Oops. I missed the linked one. I only saw the embeded vid.

No gameplay still really. The game looks pretty and I liked how they decided to go with a minimalist HUD. Any effort to get rid of them is progress. At least sticking to the current HUD is a good plan.

I am ready to see some battles and quests.