I remembered a lot of buzz and interest in this around the internet but since it’s launch I have heard next to nothing. Is anyone here playing it? Console or PC?
I’ve been wondering, too. I picked it up yesterday for $15 with a month’s free subscription. Patcher was still running when I left for work this morning, so we’ll see.
I played a lot of it… until they killed my free developer account when they laid me off 2.5 months ago. Why no, I’m not bitter, why do you ask?
As much as I’d like to see the game crash and burn, I really must admit that it’s actually a very fun game. Don’t go in expecting it to be either a MMO or a single-player RPG. It’s really more of a hybrid of the two- go in with an open mind about how to play it, and I think you’ll have fun.
I played a bit in Beta. I didn’t really like it. I guess I was expecting it, unfairly, to be more like Skyrim. It’s obviously not that, nor should it be if it’s an MMO.
I wanted to solo it but found there were spots I can’t get through without a group, and the beta crowd I as with weren’t very helpful at the time. Also, levelling was really slow so I ran out of things to do to help me level and get past the difficult parts.
I’m going to criticize you by saying that you’re right, if that makes any sense.
Long story short: why would your view be unfair in any possible sense? Yes, it’s a different game. And sometimes games do change genres somewhat. But Elder Scrolls games have never exactly sold units on the value of a shared lore or universe. Star Wars does, but not Elder Scrolls, because while it isn’t a generic setting - it’s also not especially interesting. Frankly, outside of Sheogorath being a lot of fun, I can’t really think of anything particularly interesting about the series as a whole that stands out. The entire point of the game was the gameplay; they were really never that stand-out in terms of story or world-building outside of maybe Morrowind.
Which brings us to ESO. It’s not a terrible effort, but every single review I could find basically said “It’s OK, for a while, but there’s not really much meat.” Because once you’ve taken away the classic series gameplay, there’s nothing left to hold your interest. As an MMO it’s derivative of other games - but doesn’t really hold up as well as they do. If you want a subscription MMO, Warcraft offers far more and incredibly polished content with an established base and broadly-inclusive community. If you want a technology up-to-date MMO, Guild Wars 2 offers better graphics and more well-thought out multiplayer technology, AND offers some mechanically unique gameplay designs, story integration, and a vast amount of ongoing content - for the same out-of-the box price as ESO with no subscription!
ES as a series does tend to appeal a bit more towards the hardcore crowd, and its focus on open-world gaming creates the same expectations. But there’s the thing - they sold this as an Elder Scrolls title. They weren’t shy about that. In fact, they explicitly marketed that nonexistent aspect to potential players. Which is naturally something of a problem.
Whether explicitly or implicitly, they made certain promises about the nature of the game they were selling… and those promises turned out to be more than a little misleading. Yes, if you were really following the details you could probably see many of these problems coming, but that’s not exactly a fair expectation of the customers. Unfortunately, this appears to be a game which existed not because somebody really thought it would be a great game to play, but because they thought it would make a lot of money. Time will tell on that, but it is certainly a factor in how the game was received, critically and otherwise.
So no, you shouldn’t apologize. You were completely correct, because whenever companies market sequels or expansions the onus is on them to do so with respect and care. Plus, even the reviews that were generally favorable gave some questioning sidelong glances at the idea of making the open-world game into a linear-ish MMO.
I find reading the lore and history in the in-game books or wikis fascinating. What is “interesting” about Sheogorath vs. the (IMHO) Star Wars retcon fanwankery? Lack of weird shit outside of Morrowind?
I played WOW at the start, but I have no time or interest in further MMORPGs. I’d really rather play single player games these days, especially without the pressure to “keep up.”