The Elder Scrolls Online Previews

We have rounded up a few previews that popped up recently on The Elder Scrolls Online, and all of them are written from writers who had the chance to spend some hands-on time with the title, so we’re not just talking about regurgitated PR.

Neoseeker:

While the world is certainly open enough for free exploration, allowing players to basically rack up as many quests as their brains can comprehend, these are designed more for the MMO environment. Sure, this is understandable, because Elder Scrolls Online is, at the end of the day, an MMO first and Elder Scrolls second. Not every quest can be dynamic and world-changing, so we wind up with some pretty typical filler like “Kill (this many) harpies,” then “Collect (this many) harpy eggs.” Even with a bland story tying together the quest chain, I couldn’t bring myself to actually care enough to finish. Running toward that gaping portal of death in the sky seemed much more appealing.

The character designs aren’t to my tastes, either. In the Elder Scrolls games, we’re used to seeing the various mer races with distinctive physical features, like generous brows and slanted eyes, among others. In Elder Scrolls Online, these are done away with in favor of a more generic design, where elves wind up looking like humans with pointed ears, and at a distance, you couldn’t tell a Breton from an Altmer. I get that this was done in order to make the characters more appealing to a wider audience, the majority of which may not even be familiar with Elder Scrolls games, but as a bit of a diehard fan, I found this incredibly disappointing — not to mention a bit jarring. When I walked up to a random NPC at one point and engaged him in conversation, I really had no idea he was an elf until he pointed out his race.

VentureBeat:

Maybe that’s because The Elder Scrolls already has so much in common with the typical MMO large maps, lengthy mission-based structures, dungeons to raid, etc. Either way, my luxurious amount of time spent in Tamriel didn’t offer anything close to a deep dive, but it did say one thing loud and clear: This is an Elder Scrolls game first and anything else second.

Set 1,000 years before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, ESO’s main plot revolves around the unsavory daedric prince Molag Bal, who’s stolen your soul and, just for good measure, hatches a plan to annihilate the entire world. My play session dropped me in well away from those events with a Level 6 Redguard human playing the new Dragonblade mage/fighter hybrid class. All the playable races Elder Scrolls fans know are here, broken into three factions, with returning Nightblade and Sorcerer classes joining the Dragonblade and Templars a precursor to the vampire-hunting Dawnguard. Yep . vampires return, and ESO has day/night cycles for them and werewolves to plan around.

Not that you’ll stand around idle for long. Within seconds of spawning, displaced villagers begged me to clear their town of flying fire imps and tree-like Spriggans. And no, they didn’t tell me the whole story.

Combat with those nasties seemed a little loose my sword sometimes whiffed the air when I felt it should have connected. It probably didn’t help that my demo defaulted to third-person view. First-person play was available (and will be for launch), but developer ZeniMax Online hasn’t added the hands to first-person yet. The interface itself feels oddly sparse for an MMO, with barely more than a reticule and a few customized hotkeys in evidence.

MMORPG.com:

The looks and colors of Daggerfall and the way that characters and NPCs look is very much Elder Scrolls. There is no bright color palette here except in places where it fits in one sense or another. Lots of browns, blacks, tans and darker, muted colors abound and it’s all fitting somehow. Even with only an hour of Skyrim under my belt, the city of Daggerfall felt familiar. Players can enter houses and businesses and pick up all the little things like plates and cups, even loot the family’s wardrobe looking for that old sword passed down by Grandpa. Simply put, there is a lot to do in Daggerfall and its immediate surroundings, only one tiny area of the larger games.

Daggerfall is socially enabled and is designed to be a gathering spot for players. There are crafting locations, dungeons, side quests and exploration to be had within the city walls itself, not to mention outside. Exploration is key. One interesting tidbit we were told is that there are Skyrim-like achievements for finding and reading all the books in a given location and much more. It’s definitely worth the taking the time to sniff around if that’s your thing.

As said, Daggerfall itself is packed with quests. On entering the city, you are met by a dog that pleadingly uses his eyes and body language to get you to follow him. From there, a chain of events begins that ultimately requires players to rescue the king himself. It’s a satisfying arc, to say the least, since a great new weapon is given and you leave the castle to the cheers and hurrahs of the king’s guard. Players will actually feel heroic.