[Silencer]

Not my fault your ears/brain don't work. (I figured was getting overused, lol...though now I think this might make the post look waaaay more passive-aggressive than it should. XD)

[Obdigore]

 Silencer, on 06 February 2014 - 12:04 PM, said:

Not my fault your ears/brain don't work. (I figured was getting overused, lol...though now I think this might make the post look waaaay more passive-aggressive than it should. XD)

Trying to fix esx hosts. Arguing with New Zealanders is a hobby, not an occupation. (overuse overschmuse)

[Morgoth]

It all went to the dogs after Daggerfall I say.

[Obdigore]

 Morgoth, on 06 February 2014 - 01:17 PM, said:

It all went to the dogs after Daggerfall I say.

Daggerfall? You Johnny Come Lately. Arena is the one true Elder Scrolls.

[King Lear]

I liked ES before it was cool.

[Gothos]

 Possibly Brent Weeks, on 07 February 2014 - 10:05 AM, said:

 Morgoth, on 06 February 2014 - 01:17 PM, said:

It all went to the dogs after Daggerfall I say.

Daggerfall? You Johnny Come Lately. Arena is the one true Elder Scrolls.

Arena is where they started to go way too close to mainstream. They added graphics to appeal to the wider market, and a comprehensible combat system to make noobs and kiddos feel at home... It's the beginning of the end.




Can I write reviews for pitchfork yet?

[Silencer]

It's not. You should probably install them in order, but you can play them whichever way or combination you want.

[Silencer]

Yeah, they tend to be either a level-based trigger event, or a new 'rumour' that you might hear, starting the quest.

Honestly, though, the main reason to do the expansions in order, is the same reason to read book series in publishing order - it's how they released the content. Unlike ones connected by storyline, when they're independent like most (all?) TES expansions are...well...it's up to the player. Why did you think you have to do them in order? XD

[Silencer]

ROFLMAO. Good job! I was going to query that, but figured it might be some new-fangled method of delivery. Considering my TES Anthology didn't come with separate disks for the Skyrim expansions...XD

[Silencer]

Ah, yeah, I skipped over that at the time because of other things to reply to, but really, it makes no difference.

Dragonborn is a big step up in quality, so you'll be less disappointed with Dawnguard if you play that first, I think. And again, "publishing order" suggests it makes sense to play Dawnguard first. But it's not necessary. They don't conflict. XD

[Silencer]

Oh, right. It's not really where it is on the map, more or less. XD Very edge of Skryim is more accurate, but the position on the map (at least when I last played) was quite a way further East of the actual location in-game.


Incidentally, it is very rewarding to install Skyrim on your desktop PC, and have it autodetect settings to "Ultra High". >.>

[Garak]

So, those of you who took part in the stress test. What do you think of it so far?

[Stalker]

Silencer said:

1391679299[/url]' post='1109188']
So, courtesy of a generous forum member, I'm going to be playing in the ESO Beta this weekend. That way, I can criticize the game mercilessly without being told that I can't because I haven't played it. BWAHAHAHAH!

>.>

In any case, I'll post some feedback/impressions, I'm sure.


@BK - yup, new books. A reasonable amount, all told.

So what's your take? I've been reading some impressions on gaming sites but those guys don't care nearly as much as you do, so I'd rather hear your take.

Personally, I think it will be something I try on xbox when it goes F2P.

[Garak]

Yeah, I'm really curious to see what Silencer thinks. My two friends who like the Elder Scrolls series loathe it - even from a gameplay point of view.

[Silencer]

*cracks knuckles*

Alright, impressions. (Disclaimer: did not play as much as I should have. Though that perhaps speaks for itself...)

Pros:

1. First-person. Great to be playing an MMO in first-person for once.
2. Elder Scrolls. (See caveat below)
3. Uhm...?

Cons:

1. Caveat to point 2 above - it's not *really* Elder Scrolls. The lore violations and reimagining of some things makes it TES Lite, imo. I know, they've got a lot of leeway with some things, like the period, and so forth, but I'm never going to accept factions of Altmer/Bosmer/Khajiit(WTF?) and *especially* the Ebonheart Pact - that is pure blasphemy. Nords do not mix with Dunmer. Dunmer and Argonians could not be forced into an alliance if the entirety of Tamriel depended on it. The practice of Slavery in Morrowind ALONE is enough to make the Argonians hate the Dunmer, let alone the constant border wars, raids, etc. Anyway. That's the most egregious of their lore-breaking, but things also come across in the design of the game (most notably the Coldharbour 'Anchors' you can see in the trailers and so forth...needs more explaining, imo.

2. Clunky. Movement is smooth, but combat is not. First-person is great and all, but you're competing with the fact that lag is a factor in all MMOs, and making things that slow/awkward is unreasonable.

3. Power. I'm confused as to how my character escaped the starting zone. Apparently level 1 in this is more akin to level 10 or 15 in Morrowind, level 5 or so in Skyrim. Even so, still not sold on how easy it was (relatively speaking) to get out of opening sequence.

4. Skills. I know it's an MMO. But when there are only five character classes, and you've more or less hidden away or locked out/removed the individual skills that I'd like to be increasing for my character...not cool. This is one of those things I think I needed to play more with, but from my time with the beta, I couldn't really call this system very "Elder Scrolls". And it didn't seem very in-depth relative to certain other MMOs. That could be a beta thing, though.

5. VA. Was pretty poor. Most performances felt wooden/phoned in. At the very least, the opening sequence (even for the beta, imo) should probably have had more effort put into making the characters gripping, engaging, and the world immersive. I can accept the first couple of characters I met outside the opening being poor, but frankly the initial sequence should have grabbed me. It didn't. Not good if that main storyline is supposed to be engaging.

Conclusion: At this stage, I'd say it's probably worth the up-front $60 buy-to-play. PURELY because it's got the option of first-person perspective, and it's TES (sorta). It's not anywhere near $15US-per-month territory. Fuck, why pay out the nose for a subscription to this when Guild Wars does everything this does, better, for no sub? For the setting? (Psh, watered down, not engaging) For the first-person? (Sure, if you're the kind who has money to burn on a one-trick pony, I guess...)

In other words: it should be Buy-to-Play. Then I'd recommend it as an average MMO with some strong points of difference/interest. But as it stands, I can barely sell it as an average MMO. Not for hundreds of dollars PER YEAR to play. Stick to Skryim for your TES, play something else with a more reasonable pricing scheme (like GW2) for your MMO fix.


And there you have it, everyone. Don't think I've overstepped the NDA anywhere, either... >.>

[Silencer]

It's 2nd Era.

As for Provinces, I didn't get that far into it. However, bear in mind that, afaik, this game isn't going to be "open world" full-province style. This is areas of playable space connected by loading screens, in the style of, say, Dragon Age. You go into an area of X size, with paths connecting it to other areas. You don't just walk from Whiterun to Dawnstar, basically.

[Gothos]

 Silencer, on 12 February 2014 - 05:40 AM, said:

It's 2nd Era.

As for Provinces, I didn't get that far into it. However, bear in mind that, afaik, this game isn't going to be "open world" full-province style. This is areas of playable space connected by loading screens, in the style of, say, Dragon Age. You go into an area of X size, with paths connecting it to other areas. You don't just walk from Whiterun to Dawnstar, basically.

What.

[Silencer]

For reference: See the TES Wiki.

It's not exactly like Dragon Age, but obviously some areas are not exactly directly walk-to-them accessible. If anyone in the Beta has played around an entire Province, I'd like to know. XD But that was always my understanding of the game - it wouldn't be the complete map, just pockets of ALL the provinces, with some provinces getting more play than others. *shrug* (Obviously open to expansion later on, of course.)

[Silencer]

I've just had this conversation on Facebook with a friend of mine. I think some of you might appreciate the end result. XD

First, Friend posts this image:

 Cliff Racers.gif (1.05MB)
Number of downloads: 0

Friend said:

aaaaargh what the fuck?!



that is legit the most terrifying thing ever

Silencer said:

It would indeed be horrifying. And short-lived. I've always thought since seeing that, "Cliff-Racer Storm" should be THE highest-level conjuration spell. XD

friend said:

OH GOD! i want to have the skies blacken with cliffracers and have them charge at me in slow motion while Wagner plays in the background

Silencer said:

I can see it now:

You are facing some random mage in the middle of nowhere; he's almost dead, his summoned minions slain.

And then...a slow, almost maniacal grin spreads across his face.

He raises his hand and, spittle flying from his lips, uses the last of his magicka to cast the ultimate spell.

As you look on, horrified, and utterly in despair, the day slowly becomes like unto darkest night, as the air fills with the shrieking of hundreds, nay, thousands of...Cliff-Racers.

You stare upon your doom, slack-jawed, dull-eyed. And through the cacophony of noise, the hurricane of beating wings and snapping beaks, you can just make out the sound of deranged laughter, as the fallen mage stares straight into your eyes, even as the horde consumes you both.

XD

[Gothos]

Uhm. Fire Damage in Area 20 yards 23pts for 4 seconds?


As for the map, I was under the impression these would be at least sizable parts of the provinces, like The Rift and Eastmarch, yeah. But not quite like Warhammer Online giving you tiny pockets of land...