The Elder Scrolls Online - Review

 

Where have you been? Did you die and come back to life? Why over 6-months without a single game review? Alright, enough with the questions. There are lots of reasons - well no, there is actually just one; The Elder Scrolls Online. While I love The Elder Scrolls Oblivion and Skyrim an online version of Elder Scrolls just did not appeal. Last year my partner in crime (and honorary penguin) really wanted to find a co-op game to play together, we both decided to take the risk and purchase copies, and after that, time disappeared - rapidly.

I'm trying to be healthier this year, and by that, I mean not eating and drinking sugary things every day, so in that regard, I am winning. Sometimes you forget just how mind-blowing some things can be, for example, Peanut Butter M&M's. I love peanut butter in almost all forms, so wrapped in chocolate and candy is pretty awesome. The only thing is once I eat one, quickly ten boxes are gone. Playing The Elder Scrolls Online I found myself asking did I have a problem?

Story

The main story is pretty good, and while it does have a note of familiarity to it, it still manages to stand out from others. I'll aim as much as possible to keep this all spoiler-free. We all know that races, cultures, and classes can clash from time to time (or often) and that the only way to bring them all together is to have a big bad they can all fight. That will work, right? Well as it turns out no, in a world embroiled in war and politics no one is willing to do anything just in case one of the others swoops in and tries to take their land. Luckily, there is one person who can bring them together, you. Playing the main story made me feel for all those UN and Corporate negotiators,  everyone has a bone to pick and special something they need before they will consider throwing their hat in the ring.

While the main story is good what really brings the world to life are the side quests. Of course, there are the standard fetch quests - much of the game is populated by people who are really struggling with health, love, fortunes, and in the more extreme cases destruction of their home. The voice acting is amazing and genuinely brings a level of realism that I have not experienced in an online game before. The one potential downfall here is that you can do literally anything in any order, as the quest difficulty scales to match your character. This means it's entirely possible to play the stories in each of the three alliances (Aldmeri, Daggerfall, and Ebonheart) out of order. I would highly recommend doing a little research on the best chronological order to play. If you're not too worried about the story, it won't matter much - but if you do, you'll notice some discrepancies in terms of NPC attitudes to you based on the chronology. 

If the hundreds of side quests are not enough there are also player-created guilds and the classic guilds the Elder Scrolls players will be familiar with; Thieves, Dark Brotherhood, Fighters, Mages, Arena, and Dawnguard. Each has its own missions, and ranking system, and if that is not enough the player-created guilds also offer daily and weekly missions, stalls for players to player buying and selling, banks, and more.

Overall a very solid main story, with tons of side quests with new content being added almost every few months.

Visuals

I knew going from console dedicated games like Skyrim and Oblivion that visuals would be dialed back a bit for The Elder Scrolls Online, To be honest, though I was quite impressed by them. The world is huge and the topography of each area can vary a lot from one to another. If you look at Skyrim it is snow-filled, and mountainous, the towns seem smaller and there is a lot of nature. Then Alik'r Desert is at sounds but not as visually boring as some games can be, there are bazaars, hidden oases, and even bustling cities. Then there is Greenshade, lush forests, trees that are so large a city full of people can live in them. That is just a brief snapshot of the types of lands there are to explore.

Character creation has come a long way in the Elder Scrolls, it has always been a staple but sometimes characters do not always look the best. This has changed now with Elder Scrolls Online, people look more realistic than before, tons of customization including the ability to dye clothes and add new styles to create a very unique character.

Their game has a lot of enemies and when I say a lot I actually mean tons. Each new area can have a very different set of enemies. Playing it felt like the enemies had more of The Witcher 3 level of details rather than those seen in Oblivion and to a degree even Skyrim.

Overall the visuals are solid, which considering the sheer size of the game is a rather impressive achievement. 

Music

The music much like the game itself is vast, with some great fantasy, choir, and orchestral pieces scattered throughout the two and half hour soundtrack (this just covers the base game). The music was composed by US-born Brad Derrick responsible for almost every part of the Elder Scrolls Online music along with creating the music for Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning. Canadian-based Jeremy Soule penned the opening track For Blood, For Honor, For Glory and has worked on a large back catalog of games including; Oblivion, Guild Wars 2, and Dungeon Siege 2.

The soundtrack is great, and if you want to space out and relax it is great to listen to, also looking to feature a couple of tracks for our wedding in September. My favorite tracks include:

For Blood, For Glory, For Honor

The Three Banners: Fanfare

Omens In The Clouds

Dawn Gleams Of Cyrodil 

Moth, Butterfly, And Torch Bug

Oath And Malacath

Stendarrs Mercy

Onslaught At The Gates

Overall a great soundtrack by itself but even better as part of the Elder Scrolls Online world.

Gameplay

This is going to be tough, really tough as there is a lot to cover, and being honest I am probably going to miss something. That being said I will do my best to provide you with a screenshot of the gameplay on offer. Above is a map of the world of The Elder Scrolls Online, thanks to Game-Map.com for going to great effort to capture everything to date (as of this posting). The reason for me showing it is to truly capture the size of it and tell you that exploring everything will take time, a lot of it. 

I have a certain biased when it comes to Online Games and MMORPGs in general, I like playing with myself (oi oi), but I don't like to rely on others to help finish a mission or potentially the game. So with that being said no I really mean this when I say, this is the best MMORPG for people who don't like MMORPGs. While of course with any online there is a focus on the social aspect, you can, for the most part, do everything solo, apart from Dungeons which have a great matchmaking system and there is no need to even chat, with a lot of groups you will find a natural simpatico. On the off chance, you don't most dungeons can be finished in around fifteen minutes and then you can team up with others.

Combat! There are many classes to choose from and it is not limited by the race you pick which is pretty nifty. Each class offers its only positives and negatives and I found myself at times comparing it to Monster Hunter World, lots of time in menus making adjustments to give the best loadouts. It can be a bit overwhelming but there are plenty of guides out there to help you build the right character for you. There are skill and attribute points, make a mistake, want to change up skills? No problem, go to the shrine, fork over some of your hard-earned coins, and presto all reset. The game offers the best first-person and third-person views which become massively helpful later when you start taking on dungeons and need to see everything. The game never rushes you and lets you find your own way in the game, this is quite helpful when it comes to combining moves and working out tactics.

Something for everyone. Some people want to stay away from combat and be a humble chef, an alchemist, a blacksmith, or maybe something else altogether. The Elder Scrolls Online offers this all and more, some people don't want to spend time gathering and leveling up their cooking skills to make a legendary recipe. That's okay, go to a guild shop and search it for what you're looking for, nothing there? Plenty of guild traders around. Still nothing? Then join a guild, join a few and soon you will find what you need for a price. Interested in antiques? Go scrying for and digging up antiquities. 

Home is where your heart is, but also where your loot and homewares are. Previously in the Elder Scrolls you could purchase homes and decorate them to a degree, The Elder Scrolls Online is on a whole other level. You make things for your home, buy or get others to make them, and they can then be placed wherever you want and with a lot of precision. It is a great way to take a few minutes to relax unwind and if you have the coin have workstations in your home rather than going to the market square. The level of precision includes movement and rotation by single degrees, with some players adding entire floors to their residences thanks to the availability of walls, wooden panels and more.

I have not been paid or sponsored to say this, however, the first thing you should do after getting set up by ESO Plus. It will give you access to almost all content, and get some free rewards, and this is the big one that gives you have a sack that can carry an infinite number of ingredients, which you will need or risk having to run back and forth to towns and cities to trade. It does cost a monthly fee, but if you get into the game it's well worth it.

There are a few elements to the social part of the game; guilds, dungeons, and PVP. The guilds are great to find other players to help with dungeons and give advice on helping you improve. There is a match-making tool for dungeons for the most part other than a 'hi' there is no big need to communicate. PVP can be fun-free for all if you are looking for it and you can be rewarded with gear only available from doing it. That being said it can be a little mismatched in the same way GTA V Online used to be. The social aspect can be as relaxed as you want or a heavy investment depending on what are you looking to get out of it. 

Final Thoughts

So, after 400+ hours how did I feel?  The main story is solid and even in places where it slips a little the characters themselves along with the tons of side missions more than makeup for it. The visuals are really impressive, especially for an online game and one that is as large as it is. The gameplay is solid and the only real drawback is that the only way to take full advantage of the game is to buy ESO Plus and PVP perhaps being a little unbalanced. Overall this one gets a solid 4 out of 5 and yes I will be playing more of it in the future.