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So this was a title that at first I was hesitant about when I had heard the news.  The thought of ES turning into a MMO was scary on a few accounts...one being that I've never played an MMO that actually kept me interested for too long.  The other being that ES is very specific the gameplay in a way that makes it interesting, and I didn't see that translating well with turning it into an MMO.

Thankfully, I seemed to be wrong on both accounts.  I've been playing Tamriel Unlimited since it launched on the PS4, and I haven't really had a day that I haven't played it to some degree since.

Story: 8/10

It is a time of strife and unrest. Armies of revenants and dark spirits manifest in every corner of Tamriel. Winters grow colder and crops fail. Mystics are plagued by nightmares and portents of doom.

Four years ago, in 2E 578, an arcane explosion of energy in the Imperial City set off mystical aftershocks that swept across Nirn. Mages died or went mad. Supernatural abominations from the plane of Oblivion, the Daedra, appeared in greater numbers than ever before. The constellation of the Serpent grew so large that it dominated the night sky.

So began the grand scheme of Molag Bal, Daedric Prince of domination and enslavement. His Dark Anchors, vortexes of evil magic, weaken the barrier between worlds, threatening to merge Nirn and Oblivion into a single, nightmarish hellscape.

In the midst of this chaos, three alliances vie for control of the Imperial City and the White-Gold Tower. High Rock, Sentinel, and Orsinium stand as one, united under the rule of the High King in Wayrest. Valenwood and Elsweyr have forged an alliance of their own with Summerset, while Black Marsh, Morrowind, and Skyrim have formed a third, uneasy pact.

The Daggerfall Covenant. The Aldmeri Dominion. The Ebonheart Pact.

Three armies will take up arms against the Empire, and against each other, to wrest control of the Imperial City and White-Gold Tower from the dark forces of Oblivion itself.

Where do your loyalties lie?

That's the basic story as posted on ESO's site.  There's actually much more to it as you learn quite early on in the first story-based quest that you're put on (not counting the Tutorial world).  It's pretty much something that mimics that of a typical ES story in my opinion, and so far it's one that has been very effective.  Granted some of it is a bit cliche, but for the most part I actually enjoy how it is.

Gameplay (Questing): 9/10
This was what I was most worried about, since most MMOs translate into endless kill-monster fests and fetch quests...and the gameplay for each seems to mimic each other perfectly with small deviations.  However, ESO for the most part feels like a typical ES game, just with multiple people.

Quests are practically everywhere, and many are linked.  Some of the first quests you jump into when you start are preventing assassination of a Queen/King or protecting the city.  Fetch quests are surprisingly rare, and "kill this many monsters" quests are virtually non-existent.  Quests tend to fall more into the typical ES style, your first being an ES staple of escaping from prison.

Gameplay (non-battle/controls/battle/leveling): 9/10
Essentially this was my biggest worry for ESO, and thankfully was one that was quickly answered.  The gameplay virtually is the same as past ES titles with some slight deviations.  These deviations include:


>Lockpicking is reminiscent of Oblivion's style to where it goes to a screen of tumblers.  However, in ESO, you hold the R2 button down (for the PS4 version) until you hit the point just before the tumbler begins shaking (if you go too far, you'll break the lockpick).  You have to do that with all of the tumblers, naturally.  However, you're given a timer, and normally must be able to get it complete within 30-40 seconds.

>You can now not only use magic once more regardless of having a weapon/shield equipped (Unlike Skyrim), but you are not confined to having to switch to a different spell when you want to use it.  Instead, you can assign different spells to different hotkeys like a typical MMO, and execute them upon click.


>Much like Skyim had it, each trait (One handed, blacksmithing, etc...) has different upgrades you can learn for each.  In ESO, these upgrades go between Active skills, and the typical passive ones.  Active skills can gain levels, and once they reach Level IV, they can be morphed into different versions (IE a healing spell can be morphed/upgraded to give more range, etc...).  Passive skills of course don't level up.

>Mounts can be called from anywhere at any time except in a dungeon.  You can still buy mounts from stable masters, but you can also get mounts from the Crown Store, and all mounts stay with you forever.  There's also the addition of pets, but they serve no purpose outside of just following you around.

Outside of those, there really were no deviations or things removed.  You can still pick up random items anywhere in the world (not every single thing, but you can still pick up a lot), Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Tailoring, and other skills still exist in complete form, characters can level up traits by usage or by reading books, and you can still switch from first to third person viewpoints, as well as other features that made ES a great game (even character creation is still perfectly fine!).  My only gripe was the lockpicking, since there was no reason for a timer.

Graphics: 9/10
This was another one that I was unsure of since Skyrim was actually fairly well done in that department, and the worry was that an MMO would go a tad lower in that department since anything more would require monumental work.





It seems however, that monumental work is exactly what they decided to put into ESOTU, as Tamriel looks absolutely gorgeous.  Sommerset Isles alone is one of my favorite places to explore, and the graphics are a heavy part as to why I enjoy ESO as much as I do.  Skyrim was beautiful, but it felt boring to me because it was missing some kind of charm to it.  I think they found that charm in ESO.




Morrowind is another notable one as it's a mixture of both bleak and beautiful (since it's quite barren with mushrooms).  I think each of the areas I've seen so far has had some kind of striking thing about them that I've very much loved, and I'm very eager to see what the other areas of Tamriel look like.




Soundtrack and voice acting
Michael Gambon and John Cleese are welcome editions to the ES fold.  The former you'll be hearing a lot in the game, and honestly I think his voice fits quite well with the universe.  The latter as well, though I remember his voice work in Fable III, so I'm not surprised I enjoy him in ESO as well.  There are other well done voices in the game as well, and many returning ones from Skyrim, and I've yet to really find a voice that I didn't like (and all character/quest interactions (their side at least) are all done in voice.

The soundtrack is typical ES style, and typical ES style tends to sound fairly awesome.  It's not overly loud and interrupting the immersion of the game, and it fits well with everything going on.

The Virtual Marketplace (aka the Crown Store) and Subscription fee: 10/10
I think this is the area that tends to worry people in games.  It's normally something that feels like a cash sink so that you have what you need to win the game and hold what would be considered an unfair advantage over other players.  If that's what you're expecting with ESO's crown store and subscription bonus, you're way off.

In both departments, ES took a leaf from DC Universe's book.

ES has an added $14.99 a month cost to become an ESO Plus member.  With this, you get 10% bonus to EXP and gold, and that's where the P2W attitude feeling for that area ends.  Other bonuses are strictly tied to getting any and all DLC content that ES releases, for no charge as long as you remain a subscribing member.  This does not include the Imperial Edition upgrade.  You also get 1500 crowns each month as an allowance, the currency of the crown store.


The crown store has the following tabs: Pets, Costumes, Mounts, Upgrades (not shown above), Consumables, and Bundles.  As mentioned, Pets are simply little things that follow you and look pretty.  Costumes are essentially the same to where it doesn't affect your stats, but it can look nice.  Mounts obviously are the horses/creatures that take you around Tamriel.  Upgrades are strictly for upgrading your mount's speed, stamina, and carrying capacity.  Bundles are where you'll find the Digital Imperial Edition upgrade (for those that didn't pre-order it), the Starter Pack, and Adventurer's pack (the former having heath/mana/stamina potions, a mount, and a pet, the latter having the contents of the Explorer's Pack aside from a different pet).  So there's really nothing exceptionally "game breaking" there that would give you an unfair advantage over other players.

Overall: 9/10
ESO will obviously have fine-tuning before it's the perfect MMO that captures the ES experience, but it's remarkably close right now.  I don't know what it was like in the Beta stages (though I've heard horror stories), but I think it's by far my favorite MMO that I've been playing, and it's the only MMO (and only ES game) that I haven't been able to put down.

lmao that French

"Courroux de l'aube"
"Rétablissement lumineux"
"31 Magie damage"

lmao that French

"Courroux de l'aube"
"Rétablissement lumineux"
"31 Magie damage"

Ah, good old French.  XD

One thing though :

I like my MMOs mostly single-player. I've been through the whole guild stuff back when I played WoW and I hated it. Too much nepotism, too much drama, too much bullshit. I can't count the number of times I and the rest of the guild had to carry a GM's girlfriend through a raid where she had no business being, or where I was gypped out of items I rolled on and won because some other guy was sucking the officers' dicks and "needed it more than me". I liked LFG and LFR. Same thing in FFXIV.

The problem with these games is that the player base sucks too much for either option to work as it is supposed to. I quit FFXIV a few months after release. I was a level 50 white mage and trying to get my relic weapon. I never managed to get past Titan. I was always the last one to die or close to it. I've played a decade as a healer in various MMOs so I'm very, very good at it, but everyone else seemed to be worse than useless. The DPS and the other healers would stand in the bombs, get their shit wrecked any which way, all the time, every time. They had no reflexes, no situational awareness, no brains, no clue how to play their class. In more than 75 attempts I never downed Titan once. It was so bad that some guilds were selling Titan runs because PUGs were so fucking horrible.

I've been looking at this game for a while, but again, the part turning me off is that I'd have to deal with other people. So how's the general skill level of people in the game, is there LFD/LFR shit to complete dungeons, are there enough low-level characters to progress in low-level dungeons, can one progress reasonably far without a guild, will I be cursing all the time again? How is the "single player" component?

I've been looking at this game for a while, but again, the part turning me off is that I'd have to deal with other people. So how's the general skill level of people in the game, is there LFD/LFR shit to complete dungeons, are there enough low-level characters to progress in low-level dungeons, can one progress reasonably far without a guild, will I be cursing all the time again? How is the "single player" component?

Actually, I've yet to even interact with anyone.  I joined one of the main guilds (IE Mage, Thief, Fighter, DB), but those so far have been single player questlines as well.  I haven't joined a multiplayer guild yet.

So far, the game allows you to level up fine enough, and dungeons can be easy to progress through alone if you're the right level.  The main story-quest dungeons so far have been Solo (and those open up it seems every 5 levels), and they change themselves to fit your level.  But you'll be given plenty of quests to level up, fighting will always help bump it as well, as is discovering new places, reading books to increase skills, and whatnot.

There ARE multiplayer/party dungeons, but like MMOs such as Atlantica Online, they're completely optional from what I've seen so far.  Elder Scrolls Online, like other ES games, seems like it relies more on you being able to fend for yourself.

However, players can still jump in and help you whenever they want, whether you're on a team or not.  And I have noticed that a lot of players tend to jump in to help if they're around.  If you're fighting an enemy and not getting much damage, then it's not uncommon for a nearby player to jump in and help kill it.  You'll both gain the experience, and you'll both be able to loot from the enemy if the enemy has stuff, so it's not something that's more beneficial to one than the other.

So essentially, I'd say the Single and Multi aspects are fairly alright so far.  You don't have to worry about a god-awful chat screen with people spamming it, and I've yet to ever have a player bug me about wanting me to fight them, join a party/guild, or anything like that.

I will say that Cyrodiil is supposedly the city where all the PVP action happens, but I'll let you know what it's like when I actually bother to go there.  It becomes open to explore once you hit level 10, but I've been doing other quests around the open areas of Tamriel first.