ESO beta

[mothergoose729]

ESO beta... in a word:

 

AWESOME

[PioneerRaptor]

I disagree completely. I played for about ten minutes and had to quit. The combat system is terrible and not fun in my opinion.

[mothergoose729]

For MMO combat, its a qutantum leap. Skyrim combat is better. A lot better.

[Aiyen]

That is not saying much, since Skyrim vanilla combat is fairly bad! :)

 

But its an MMO, it needs to be button mashing friendly or it is never going to appeal to the mainstream.

[PioneerRaptor]

It's a quantum leap in the wrong direction in my opinion. I wish I could go into detail on the forums but I can't. Skyrim combat is a lot better which is actually a bad thing because as Aiyen said, Skyrim's combat isn't the best.

[deathneko11]

hmm' date=' I'll be trying to make an account with my usual name. deathneko11. and I'll be on the 2nd day unfortunately' date=' I have another 24hour shift on opening day T_T[/quote'']

then

Decided not to bother with ESO myself. For selfish reasons I'll wait for TES6 before touching another TES game.

That include Beta as first post implied you had invite for this weekend?

yep!

[Neovalen]

I think its fun for an MMO and having a good time with it.

 

That said it is not Skyrim and honestly its not a fair compare as an MMO is never going to compare to a superbly crafted single player experience especially one with mods.

 

The upside is multiplayer/community, new lore, new quests, new lands. Downside is the playstyle due to being over a network.

[mothergoose729]

A healthy bit of cynicism is making its way into my opinion. As an MMO though, I think ESO is superbly done. Compared to other MMOs, there is a lot ESO is doing right. As a game though... I have never been a fan of MMOs. So its this weird thing where I appreciate the work but at the same time I am thinking the game might not be for me.

[mothergoose729]

Alright lets talk ESO beta. I put in a few good hours and here is what I think so far. Can't be too specific or I might get in trouble.. so what might otherwise be a lengthy review is reduced to nonspecific bullet points:

 

ES Lore: They are clearly trying. There is a lot of familiar elements. Artistically I think there are a lot of differences between the representation of some things in previous ES games, and in ESO, but they are similar. You will see very similar themes from other games and similar environments as well.

 

Game Engine: The engine in ESO is definitely superior to skyrims. ENB folks you will be very comfortable in ESO I think. The game suffers from a host of poorly done meshes and textures however, even worse than skyrim, and the environments are under detailed. So its a better engine, but not as good an implementation of said engine. This makes sense though, because you can scale back shaders, lighting, and shadows, but you can't really take away stuff from a scene to improve performance on the very low end. It is unfortunate for us ES players, who are used to vibrant and detailed world. It was kind of like being in a mock up of a skyrim universe. I was reminded of how people who make model train sets will build little replica villages and towns and the like, with little shrubs and bushes and people, on some kind of astro turf material. Its a bit like stepping into a miniature, or a replica. There are bushes and people and little houses but it does feel more like a reenactment than the real thing, if that makes sense. They did put a lot of effort into characters though, so textures and models related to characters are very realist and detailed, while the environments is not so much.

 

Exploration: Mixed bag here. There is a lot of world, and the game definitely encourages you to go out and explore it. However, the environments are under detailed and pretty generic. So you can go out and fun stuff, but its not very interesting stuff to find. You do get quite a variety in different world spaces. I got to explore a few different places, and while I can't really say which places, I can say that, in my opinion, they were very, very different. Hope you can read into that.

 

Combat: if you have played WoW at all, ESO feels like a vastly superior and much more responsive combat system. Compared to skyrim you are going to notice a lot of things are missing. I found combat to be rather boring and repetitive, but it was definitely better than playing runescape or guild wars.

 

Characters: For the player character, there are huge number of ways to customize your skills, appearance, and lots of different equipment to choose from. You are constrained though in what you character can do. It feels more constraining, in my opinion, than skyrim did. The NPC characters are all very detailed in appearance. The dialogue between characters is actually really good. Not all of it was properly voiced, I notice a robot pop up from time to time, sometimes with a real voice actor cutting in between lines, which was rather odd. The voice acting overall though is excellent and the characters are given very interesting things to say.

 

Quests: I will say there are quests, and they are more meaningful than "kill 8 things". I was reminded of the more simple side quests in skyrim. There are elements of a broader story continuum and minor sub plots that you interact in. The characters are interesting and the quests are mostly driven by the plight of said characters. What you do in the quests, however, not so interesting.

 

I wish I could say more than that but I can't. I have hopes to play more in the beta. I will continue to update this thread with my opinions as the beta goes along, and when ESO goes live you will hear all about what I think, in the nitty-gritty.

 

My impression so far is that people who really like MMOs are going to have a blast with ESO. It is much, much better in many ways than the classic MMOs. People like myself who like ES games but not so keen on MMOs are going to find things to be disappointed with, and might not be interested in playing this game. My personal opinion, not sure if I will get ESO when it comes out or not. Everything that is cool about it is cool because an ES game did it first. That being said, so much stuff technically well done so there is a lot of value in what they have so far. Look forward to saying more later. I encourage you all to try and get in on the beta, there will probably still be quite a length of time before it goes live and you might be able to get in on the action before then.

[rootsrat]

That's a good feedback, and I'm encouraged to try ESO more than I was before :) The only thing is - comparing to Skyrim isn't really the best way to go I think, as both games are essentially different experiences, and MMO will never be as good as single player game :) Nevertheless, thanks for such a detailed review, Mothergoose, it was a good read!

[AyleidRuin]

edit:

Its just not Elder Scrolls...is it guys?  Maybe my prayers will be answered come launch day :D

 

 

I love the Land but I don't like the Combat.  I mean I get why you can't bow snipe someone really far away...but still.  I don't like the skill system either.  There should be more.  But maybe I'm just a cynic  :P

 

If anyone wants a beta key pm me.  I got an extra one(for a friend).  Fair Warning: The client/game is 30GB.

 

Also according to the non disclosure agreement you Can take screenshots, vids and what not.  Just not a lot.  

15m max for vids.  

 

Edited March 2, 2014 by AyleidRuin

[keithinhanoi]

Finally got in a beta test run a few weekends ago.

Can't get past the bazillions of strangers that won't interact with me with names like bling-bling92 and such. "Social" my butt. Also the clothing / arrmor that looks like it's plastic wrapped on the body really bothers me.

I never felt engaged, and with everyone else running and jumping around at high speed, it felt like a trainwreck between TES RP with Quake III Arena.

I've got a "bring a friend" beta key for this weekend as well - first PM gets it.

[FCqt]

I got plenty of key to giveaway again if you guys can't find one for this weekend test run that will last four days. NDA is lifted and everyone is free to post screenshot and video now.

[torminater]

I got plenty of key to giveaway again if you guys can't find one for this weekend test run that will last four days. NDA is lifted and everyone is free to post screenshot and video now.

I'm coming back at that to you ;-)

[Nearox]

Looking forward to this!

 

Thanks again for the key you sent me a while ago Fcqt!