The Elder Scrolls series of games have always been a single player experience. When the team at Zenimax Online were presented with the idea of creating an MMO based on the Elder Scrolls they undoubtedly knew that it was going to be a challenge. They knew that they would have to convince fans that the rich gameplay that they’d come to expect in games from Daggerfall to Skyrim would translate into an online experience and still maintain the character that made them Elder Scrolls games. Not so easy a feat in my mind but the team at Zenimax accepted the challenge.
At a recent preview event in Santa Monica I got to meet some of the team for Elder Scrolls Online as well as get my hands on the game for a good hour and half to get some impressions. I myself am a hardcore Elder Scrolls fan. Skyrim has consumed 230hrs of my life and is still counting but I counted myself amongst the doubters of how well this jump to online would actually fare. I’m happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised as the game still feels like the experience we’ve come to know and love.
After building my character I was dropped into Daggerfall, 1000 years before the events of Skyrim, and left to free roam and pick up missions as I saw fit. The level of detail was fantastic and is easily the benchmark for graphics when it comes to games in this series. Character models were as close to human (or orc) as I’ve ever seen them. I’ve never been much of a PC gamer but after a short tutorial from game director Matt Firor I was off and running. I felt comfortable in battle as the combat system was very fluid and surprisingly I didn’t feel like I had much of a learning curve. Being able to tie my skills to a hotbar at the bottom of my screen made using them on the fly in battle an easy endeavor. One fight in and I felt like a pro (in my own mind of course). A first for me in this franchise, however, was the third person viewpoint. Gone is the choppy and awkward third person experience of, well, every Elder Scrolls game thats had it. It felt good; so much so that I’m sure I wouldn’t switch back to the first person mode although it will be an option.
Accepting a few of the missions I could already tell early in that there’s an epic story to be told. After only a taste I surely wanted more so it was hard to walk away after that hour and a half. The only thing that I would say is really hard to evaluate at this point is the actual multiplayer online portion. As I made my way through the city of Daggerfall I came across other players sharing the server but not once did I interact with another player nor did I come across a situation where I had to. I left the experience feeling almost as if I could play this MMO as a single player experience should I choose to. For someone like me who has famously lived by a mantra of “Does Not Play Well With Others” this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing but I’m sure that if I’d had more time I’d see the benefit of being able to interact with other players online.
Due to the fact that I didn’t actually have any ‘online’ interaction it’s surely hard to tell if the team at Zenimax will succeed in bringing MMO to the Elder Scrolls. That being said, of course, from what I saw it would seem as if they’re at the very least on the right track to deliver a great game. When speaking with Matt Firor he acknowledged the fact that snaring traditionally single player gamers into this online world would be an uphill battle. He also noted that he really felt as if the formula they had come up with would do justice to the legacy that is Elder Scrolls.
Considering the scope of the game I really don’t feel that I can make a call saying yay or nay with such a short venture into its world. I can say that a game that previously wasn’t really on my radar has made the short list of games to watch though. We’ll be seeing a lot more from the team at Zenimax in the near future, likely at E3, and I’ll be keeping a keen eye out. Be sure to check back to Canadian Online Gamers for info as we get our grubby paws on it.
