If you’re a fan of RPGs, then you’ve probably gotten your hands in one of the Elder Scrolls game, and if that’s the case, you might’ve wondered: “Is Elder Scrolls Online good?” Little disclaimer though since I’m going to praise the hell out of this game, and that is that just because you enjoyed the Elder Scrolls games, doesn’t mean you’ll immediately love ESO.
Elder Scrolls Online is an amazing game for fans of the saga, for veteran MMO players, and those who haven’t tried either. It does have a few pitfalls that need to be mentioned, however.
ESO falls in a weird line in between what we’ve come to expect from Elder Scrolls games and an MMO. If you are a fan of massive-multiplayer online games, then I’m sure you’re going to have a good time with ESO. But there are some key points that I’d like to touch, especially for those who are expecting to find an online Skyrim experience and those who have never even played an MMO in their life.
It Had A Rocky Launch
The Elder Scrolls Online released back in 2014 to a very mixed reception. A lot has changed since then, not only in the gaming industry as a whole also in the game itself.
Performance issues, for example, were a hot topic back in the day, and the subject made a return with the latest expansion Greymoor. Instead of doing what most companies would do and play dumb, they instead acknowledge the issues and have made great progress in improving it.
ZeniMax has come forward since then, delivering a very entertaining and dare I say it, addicting fantasy MMO. While not exactly the behemoth that is World of Warcraft, I think it’s unfair to compare the two.
If we were to set the third-person shooter crime sandbox games to the high standards of the Grand Theft Auto games, then we wouldn’t be able to enjoy otherwise amazing games such as Mafia and Saints Row.
Part of what makes Elder Scrolls Online into what it is has been the community. The Game Director Matt Firor has said it himself in a forum post: “ESO as we know it would not exist without the community that plays it every day,”
You can tell by seeing how far this game had gotten compared to when it first came out that the people behind it are really dedicated to creating an amazing experience for the players, with a myriad of events and updates that have made the lives of players easier and more enjoyable.
One of such was an update that allowed players over the level of 50 to access their Champion Points from their account, giving us access to them even through different characters. That way, you’re able to have several alternate characters easier.
It’s Beginner Friendly
One of the major setbacks that many multiplayer games have, especially MMOs, is that once the game has been out for a while, the community can get clogged with high-level players and elitists that make it hard or flat-out unenjoyable to play for beginners.
This is not the case with ESO. With a community that still has new players trying it, you’re going to find people at your own levels and pace to interact with. Not to mention that this game, even though it does have a conventional leveling up system like other RPGs, feels more of a horizontal progression system.
You see, in ESO, it’s way more convenient to focus your character on one set of skills rather than being a jack-of-all-trades that’s great in everything. This means that even high level and endgame players are still learning new things and looking to progress as much as a beginner would.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there are not areas that can be challenging or that the game doesn’t have a learning curve. One of these areas is crafting. Unlike Skyrim, you actually have to put some thought into crafting. Whereas in Skyrim, you could slap some stone slabs together and get a decent result, in ESO, it can take a while to get the basics of crafting. This is especially true with Alchemy.
There’s A Lot To Do
Elder Scrolls Online is filled to the brim with content, and not just shallow content like the collectathons (looking at you, Ubisoft), but cool side quests with unique storylines and interesting, fully voiced may I add, characters.
A lot of the narrative-driven quests will have you glued to the monitor for hours on end. Exploring this big open world in and of itself is a time-consuming task that will take you to amazing and beautiful places, and you’re bound to find some interesting things to do along the way.
If the countless amount of quests and miles to explore is not good enough for you, there’s also four-player dungeons and twelve-player trials to engage in. There are also Arenas, which pit you against several stages of enemies with a boss at the end of each one. If that weren’t enough to keep you entertained, then let me introduce you to the province of Cyrodiil.
Cyrodiil is the PVP area, where all three main alliances are at war against each other over control of Tamriel. If armies of players battling it out for control over the map doesn’t sound epic enough, then I don’t know what is. There are also smaller PVP fights in Battlegrounds, which match four players in each of the three teams with different modes, such as Deathmatch, Domination, and Capture The Relic.
ESO has everything for loot-based players whose only concern is to grind for gear sets and those who enjoy the progress and level up their characters.
And if playing with others is not something you’re fond of, you’ll find the nice surprise that you can single play a lot of the content, which some would argue that it kinda defeats the purpose of an MMO, but it’s a nice change of pace for us lone wolves, albeit at the cost of being too easy at times. While Skyrim also had the issue of being too forgiving, the difficulty could be changed at any point in the game, whereas that’s not something you can do in Elder Scrolls Online.
The Combat
If you are an Elder Scrolls fan, the combat might require a bit of getting used to it. It can be a bit of a shock to find that the combat of ESO is more akin to that of an MMO than an Elder Scrolls game. Which is can be a bit daunting for a few people.
It has dodging, blocking, countering, it’s a lot more complex than the more casual approach of combat that Skyrim had. Here, the focus is more on your selected abilities and what each of them can do to work in synchrony instead of just smashing the block and attack buttons.
This can feel pretty weird at first, especially if you’ve never played an MMO before, which is normal, but it can become a blast once you get used to it and get the fact that ESO is not supposed to be Skyrim Online, but rather an MMO that takes place in the Elder Scrolls universe.
The combat feels a bit button mashy initially, especially on the first few levels because your character is still building the necessary abilities for it to feel more fluid and impactful. Your class will play a big role in this, considering that every single one of them has three specific skill trees.
While intimidating at first glance, the mechanics of the combat are really not too complicated, and the way it is introduced to new players has improved with each update. Not to mention, that once you get used to the rhythm, the combat can be extremely satisfying, part of this is thanks to the audio cues and visually appealing animations that makes it feel like there’s a real punch behind each strike.
The Game Is Filled With Lore
While the gameplay is more akin to a classic MMO rather than an Elder Scrolls game, it’s worth giving a try, especially for those lore enthusiasts who read every book and scroll they can find and study meticulously every item description.
The lore of the Elder Scrolls games is deep and engaging, with thousands of years of history scattered throughout five main games and several spin-offs. ESO does not shy away from that and instead provides a world full of interesting facts and events from the Elder Scrolls universe.
The writing in the quests is pretty remarkable, with fully voices characters that immerse you in the experience and is a perk compared to the vast majority of MMOs. Not to mention, a lot of characters are fully fleshed out. NPCs are not cardboard quest givers but actual characters with personalities that oozes in their dialog and actions.
Elder Scrolls Online is filled to the brim with content, and not just shallow content like the collectathons (looking at you, Ubisoft), but cool side quests with unique storylines and interesting, fully voiced may I add, characters.
The way it is done is such that new players won’t feel overwhelmed by the amount of information available to the point where they’ll think they need to understand every single piece of lore to enjoy the game, but also giving small winks and Easter eggs to the fans that are into it as much as the creators are
The World Is Massive
The team behind Elder Scrolls Online really knows how to test the limits of the MMO acronym. If you thought that Skyrim had a large open world, then prepare to see all nine provinces of Tamriel. The best part? You can explore at your own leisure since the enemies will level up with you. So you’re free to roam the expansive continent of Tamriel without the growing worry of having to grind your way up to get to the place you want.
Of course, the main reason to create such an expansive map is to accommodate an ever-growing community of players from all over the world. Which makes it all the more impressive when you take in consideration that ESO has a lot of the same features that the Elder Scrolls series is known for, such as being able to interact with almost every object in your surroundings or the fact that the graphics look stunning compared to the vanilla version of Skyrim. Many MMOs choose to sacrifice a few things to create a more cohesive world, but ESO manages to pull both off gracefully.
The visuals are stunning. Not only is this game beautiful to look at compared to other MMOs but also compared to single-player fantasy RPGs and modern games. The style draws you into the world.
One thing to note is that Tamriel is not exactly all free to navigate since each province has a few key areas you can travel to and from, but the areas themselves are so big and full of life that you will truly feel like you’re traversing the continent. The developer team definitively made an effort to make ESO as charming as possible, and they succeeded.
Customization
Even though your chosen race will lock you into a set of abilities unique to that race and your alliance will remain the same throughout the game, the customization options are incredibly varied compared to many other MMOs and even some Elder Scroll games.
A good thing about ESO is that it’s not locked to a certain amount of content after its release like a single-player game such as Skyrim would, but instead, developers can add new gear, weapons, abilities, sets of armor, and the like with each new update.
The options are not just cosmetic either, since you can pretty much create your character to your preferred way of playing without feeling restricted. In other games, if you choose a certain class, you’ll find yourself only able to be damage, support, or tank. In ESO, you can change your character’s abilities at your own leisure and tailor them in a unique way.
You can choose any weapon, shield, staff, or armor you like regardless of your chosen race and class. This will allow you to play the game the way it is intended to be played: your way.
However, this freedom comes at the cost that creating a good build can be a little daunting. It relies a bit on trial and error, especially considering the balancing issues the game has suffered from and still does to some extent. But it’s still a step forward in the right direction and one that many more games should follow.
The Endgame
And finally, one of the best things about ESO is the fact that, once you reach the max level, you don’t hit a brick wall where all progression just stops that leaves you feeling overpowered and with no further reasons to keep playing the game.
ESO introduced a level system after reaching level 50 called Champion Points. The experience you earn will fill up until you get one Champion Point, then you can choose to allocate that point in one of the three different trees: The Warrior, the Mage, or the Thief. As you might’ve guessed, the Warrior is for Protection and Health, Mage is for Damage and Magicka, and Thief is for Utility and Stamina.
The soft caps and hard caps for Champion Points are pretty high, so there will be plenty of more progression before you can be considered “max level.”
ESO has also done an amazing job of providing players with a wide range of stuff to do. Either PVP or PVE, whatever you choose to do, has the potential to be replayable countless times, with friends or solo. This is especially true if you’re a fan of both. Trials, Dungeons, Cyrodiil, Crafting high-end items, Battlegrounds, and even home décor are some of the few things you can engage in long after you’ve reached the top of the food chain.
Conclusion: Is ESO Worth It?
Elder Scrolls Online has come a long way, and thanks to its community, along with the effort that the developers have put into maintaining and developing the game, it has reached a place where I can recommend it to almost anybody.
If you’re a fan of the Elder Scrolls games, you should give it a try, even if the combat is not your cup of tea, the exploration and lore alone are worth the price tag. And if you’re a fan of MMOs, you’ll find refreshing what ESO brings to the genre while keeping a sense of familiarity compared to other MMOs.
And if you’ve never dipped your toes into RPGs or MMOs in general, I’d still recommend taking a look at it. Watch some gameplay; inform yourself on the mechanics, just to see if it tickles your fancy. Like I’ve said before, ESO is very easy on new players, so I’m sure your experience will be as gratifying as mine.
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