The Elder Scrolls Online is out now for PC/Mac in both a standard edition ($59.99) and the Imperial edition ($99.99) set in the lands of Tamriel taking place years prior to events in The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim.  The Elder Scrolls Online is an online MMO with a subscription fee of $15 a month and will soon be released on current consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

We’ve been playing The Elder Scrolls Online for the last couple of weeks – prior to launch and have come away with some thoughts thus far on the game.  The Elder Scrolls Online is massive and takes a good amount of hours just to scratch the surface — at about 25 hours of gameplay and an Orc Templar at level 10 we figured a good time to step away and pencil in thoughts on the game.  As with most online games — patches and updates can and will be furnished so some things may be addressed or added in the future — making it difficult to write a definitive ‘review’ of a game like this.

PROS:

  • Fantastic environment, everything from the architect, landscape, change in weather and music is highly detailed
  • Rich and deep character creation – sort of becoming the standard in modern gaming
  • Easy to change from third person perspective to first person perspective and either mode is rewarding
  • Combat mostly fluid with the ability to roll/dodge, parry attacks, and cast spells from multiple distances
  • Excellent voice acting in non-playable characters and navigation through dialogue
  • Play in the style you want — spend time grinding dungeons, fetch questing or joining a guild

CONS:

  • Maps and getting around — if there’s an option to overlay the map onto the screen we couldn’t figure out how
  • Melee combat seems strange – enemies will swipe at you from 10 feet away and you think they missed but somehow that blow connected.  Also many enemies have target-seeking magic projectile weapons so often dodging or trying to strafe behind a wall is futile when a magic bolt will hit you regardless
  • Questing and keeping tabs on your journal often confusing — this may be debatable but when you have 30 open quests currently available – it can be quite daunting trying to figure out who/where to go to solve ’em
  • Monthly subscription fee — probably the biggest ‘deal breaker’ in modern gaming right now – do non-hardcore fans want to pay monthly?
  • Respawning bad guys….. like right in your face!  I get it – The Elder Scrolls Online is an MMO there’s gonna be thousands of people playing at once and baddies need to respawn to fill in for the ‘next guy’ but something just seems ‘off’ after you kill a major dude and click ‘I’ (inventory) to check out the awesome loot he/she just dropped only to have them re-appear again ready for another battle

Overall The Elder Scrolls Online is fun — you really feel like you’ve stepped into another world full of living and breathing people — all with personalities of their own.  After completing a few of the storyline quests you’ll see villagers react and respond a bit differently to you like after you save the king people will utter things like ‘that’s the guy who saved our beloved king’.  We mostly spent out time adventuring solo which is probably the opposite of how an MMO is meant to be played but fear not as the game is rewarding with plenty of quests to take on by yourself — keep in mind players from all over the game/server will be by your side popping in and out of the action to either join in a battle or remain off to the side holding up their map.

At this point we’re mostly curious to see how the majority of gamers react and respond to the monthly fee – for most it will be a ‘make or break’ buying decision however some prominent MMO’s of the past few years eventually dropped subscription fees and saw an increase in activity and with console release versions The Elder Scrolls Online could definitely be one of the most talked about games of 2014.

For more on The Elder Scrolls Online visit – http://www.elderscrollsonline.com

The Elder Scrolls Online Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k_a4G9kkf0