Thanks to skidpro of The Manic Zone, we’ve been able to join the beta trial weekend for The Elder Scrolls Online. As it’s not the type of game we would normally get developer access to, I’ve decided to write our own preview of the game.
I’ve played my fair share of MMORPGs ranging from Asheron’s Call 2 to World of Warcraft and The Lord of the Rings Online. After playing hundreds of hours between other entries in The Elder Scrolls series such as Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, I was very excited to hear about the upcoming MMO as much as any other fan. With Skyrim being the recent and arguably most popular entry in the series, it’s no surprise that ZeniMax Online Studios has developed the game as almost a carbon-copy of the fifth installment.
Creating an account consists of picking your unique UserID that will be visible publicly across the game and forums; your in-game characters can be named separately but you can also be known to other players by your UserID. How this will impact upcoming features is not clear as yet but it could go towards preventing cheating or bad behaviour if griefers can’t hide behind temporary character names. Character creation is basic and follows pretty much any other MMORPG with the available races mimicking those available in previous Elder Scrolls games, each with unique traits and abilities to provide variety to the population. There are also the bread-and-butter RPG classes to choose from albeit with different titles.
The Elder Scrolls Online character creation screen.
Once you’ve created your ideal male or female persona it’s time for the obligatory instanced tutorial sequence where you must escape from a prison cell while taught basic combat. This is when Skyrim players will instantly feel at home with the very same first-person view and user-interface design as the 2011 single-player. The visuals are just as good but with some sacrifices typically needed to support multiplayer, such as less detail around the environment with less complex player models.
The controls are exactly as Skyrim players will remember, as well as the combat system that still features blocks and parries but with the addition of more traditional MMO skills activated with the number keys. There will definitely be a theme to this preview as most aspects will compare exactly to their Skyrim counterparts, but this could be seen as a positive to some people.
As always, we begin the game escaping from a prison cell.
Once past the grandiose tutorial and out into the real world we can finally inspect the full set of MMO features of The Elder Scrolls Online which are typical of World of Warcraft and any other self-respecting online RPG. The basic social grouping options exist such as guilds and tools that help people team up for quests, as well as public or private dungeons that support two to four players. For those that prefer the opposite of teaming-up, player-versus-player is available in the form of the Alliance War that sees hundreds of gamers from three alliances compete for Cyrodiil, the Imperial City, and the throne of Tamriel.
An important aspect of MMORPGs is how well they persuade players to group up and work together and in my few hours with the game I had no reason to join up with others and simply went about my own business. This could easily change later on into the game but as I only had access for a few days I’m not able to truly say if it succeeds in getting players to work together for basic questing.
The grouping tools are simple and team work will net additional XP.
One useful feature is that mounts are available to new characters immediately for only one gold piece which aids with getting around, and they can be customised by feeding them certain foods to increase their attributes. Crafting is another MMORPG staple with TESO‘s choices being very similar to World of Warcraft. There are five general professions: alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, tailoring and woodworking. Each of these professions requires skill points to be spent in order to increase proficiency, and the recipes themselves use materials and ingredients bought or found all over the game world.
Character leveling is copied straight from Skyrim with some MMORPG twists; experience points are earned to increase levels which rewards skill points used to purchase new skills. Every character starts with a basic level of health, magika and stamina which is increased using stat points that are also rewarded each level. The most recognisable RPG element taken from Skyrim is the point modifier for skills such as one-hand or two-handed swords, blows, staves or the proficiency in armour types: light, medium and heavy. This is where your character becomes specialised as you use certain skills more than others just like with previous games in the series.
Riding horseback with my pet monkey Keith in tow.
The quest system will also be instantly familiar to experienced Elder Scrolls players but would need to be improved on to support social features present in other MMORPGs such as grouping options from the quest journal. Dying in TESO causes your armour to suffer a loss of durability and a visit back to the nearest Wayshrine unless you have a full soul gem in your inventory which allows you to revive yourself on the spot.
When it comes to interacting with non-player characters it’s refreshing to find most of them voice-acted with lengthy dialogue options for those that want to take in some lore. The acting isn’t bad either and I found some interesting people to speak to. This has always been an issue with games in the Elder Scrolls series and luckily I haven’t come across many repeated voices just yet.
Combat is just like Skyrim… watch out Keith!
Overall my experience with the beta trial has been positive and The Elder Scrolls Online will launch with plenty of features and content to keep people happy. I’m not sure if this is a positive or negative point – the game feels very much like a multiplayer version of Skyrim, it doesn’t really add anything new to the MMORPG genre and lacks any innovation. However it’s a good time to release TESO during these quiet months of the year when gamers are waiting patiently for the next big thing after the buzz of the next-generation consoles has died down. No doubt a lot of people are going to buy this on its name alone just like with The Lord of the Rings Online which is still active (and free-to-play) today.
If you are looking for more Skyrim gameplay but with a multiplayer aspect then The Elder Scrolls Online is definitely worth considering. I’m still on the fence about whether or not I’m going to spend any time and money with this one. The release date is currently set for 04 April 2013 on Mac and PC and will cost $59.99 / €54.99 / £49.99 for the game with thirty days of free game time; after that it costs a subscription of $14.99 /€12.99 / £8.99 a month. Let us know in the comments section below if you’ve had a chance to play yet or if you’re planning to buy it next month.
