The Elder Scrolls Online

the game felt like a bunch of features from various games and MMOs thrown together in a soup that when all together you realize... this shit does not go together well.

I can't think of a single thing they have changed based on beta feedback since March. No joke.

Draegan_sl said:

That survey was terrible.

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Completing the survey was a painful as playing the game. We may be seeing one of the most epic MMORPG failures (outside of Vanguard of course) here.

Maybe the difference here will be that Vanguard wasnt playable on console as it crashed and burned. When we see ESOL tank on the PC side might it have sustained success on the console side where maybe the console player base doesnt have the expectations the old school PC player base has in next gen mmorpgs ? Has there been a PC mmorpg port to console on ESOL's scale that has been successful ? I have no idea but what are the numbers compared to PC players vs console players a game like ESOL may at release attract ?

Planetside / DCUO will fill that hole on consoles

Convo_sl said:

You don't get it?? You gave it a 5/10..let's put the game in context... One of the most popular IPs out there.. Been in the development for what, 6+ years with god know how much money behind it... and you have it at a 5 out of 10. But you don't get the hate? I'm so confused by this. The real problem with this industry is a lot of the gamers have no standards. That's why garbage like this will release and companies like SoE will charge for alpha.. It's almost an inside joke with them. How much can they get away with...

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Well I guess that's part of it then, I don't personally have the reverence for ES. I played Skyrim and enjoyed it, though never got past level 25 on more than four characters, but respect it, and fully understand why it was GOTY etc, as it was a very well executed game where code, game design and art met at a very high level. Never played the other games, though I am aware they exist. I guess I'm coming from another place and my expectations were as I'd approach any other game.

I started writing up a breakdown of my experience, as I did play it on all three days, but realized it was probably too NDA breaking. I will however say, as people have already mentioned it, I found the TTS *hilarious*. I assume (and I'm aware of what they say about assumptions) it's placeholder until they get the final speech in place. On design choice angle: I think it was an interesting and apparently, risky, choice, to use TTS, as the other obvious choice was having silence in the case of missing audio. I wonder if it's done more harm than good, because if you think about it, it has actually technically accomplished a goal of providing more audio.

So let me sum it up as: maybe I was luckier than some with none of the game-jarring technical issues people have already reported. This was the first beta phase I was invited to, so I can't compare to previous sessions-no emotions or expectations to play off of. Should any of those quest bugs or the TTS make it into release, I'll gladly join the ranks with the torches and pitchforks and why I'll be waiting for the week-1 reviews. So that's why I'm saying it's on a trajectory for 5/10 (and I'm talking a true gradient, none of this hyperbolic stuff many sites use), the core tech, art and sound seemed good. Turned the music off immediately (I always mute music in almost every game for some reason, so can't comment). The gameplay was pretty standard (in an acceptable, I-can-play-this way), but doesn't bring anything new to the table for a MMO, and doesn't really add or subtract. Animations were average at best. UI was console-ized a bit too much, but still more useable and better than Skyrims, and was poor-below average, but at least they're promising UI mods.

Do I expect a miracle or "this patch will totally turn it around"? Nope, I see it as a "the concrete has been mixed, and mostly poured, but there's still time to get the air bubbles out and correct any small shaping issues" and ~5 months could see some (and admittedly not) good changes.

For comparison of recent betas, I enjoyed this more than CO and STO, the same as TSW, and less than AoC (tortage) and SWTOR. Boy, was AoC (tortage->post tortage) a major surprise. I won't lie, as I bought and played all of those for the first month. I am also looking forward to getting into WildStar beta, and plan to purchase and play the first month too.

EDIT: And I should add, I completely agree with you about the pay for alpha access for a big budget game (non MMO indie games are much of a gray area). That's where I will draw the line. I am looking forward to seeing how EQN tackles some of the technical and gameplay challenges that will be present in a fairly new form, but I am absolutely doing them a favor when I alpha/beta test, and I will not pay for that "privilege." Before someone says it, saying a game is "release" (even if it sucks) and charging for it does put different expectations on the product, and rightfully so should people be angry, disgusted, etc, should it underperform or under deliver on reasonable expectations.

Ryanz_sl said:

Keep on supporting terrible games brother! The path to mediocrity demands it!

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Thanks brother! As my livelihood depends on playing games, both good and bad, I got to do what I got to do. There are often more lessons to be learned from experiencing others failures than others successes. I will admit, MMOs are my guilty pleasure (I love the "new box smell" of MMOs which quickly fades after the first few months), but I make sure every year to play at least 10 PC games, five of the best, and five of the worst to completion. Which reminds me, still got Bioshock: Infinite and Aliens: Colonial Marines to play, and Steam Winter Sale should be exciting.

It's providing me schadenfreude entertainment. So it's not a total waste.

Erronius_sl said:

For a second I thought you wrote 225 mil and I nearly crapped myself, though 125 is still a lot of money.

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They'll recover that on box sales in release week.

I always thought Bethesda ran a tight ship. Given they are at their core a gaming company, how in the world did they develop a big budget MMO that is so far from their legacy single player games?

I agree they'll make some coin back, but do they really want to damage the Elder Scrolls brand?

Gecko_sl said:

I always thought Bethesda ran a tight ship. Given they are at their core a gaming company, how in the world did they develop a big budget MMO that is so far from their legacy single player games?

I agree they'll make some coin back, but do they really want to damage the Elder Scrolls brand?

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Zenimax is developing it, not Bethesda

Skyrim sold 4 million copies in the first 2 days. The IP is absurdly strong. I predict this sells at minimum 2 million boxes week 1.

Well, Skyrim sold 7 mill units the first week of its release and 11 mill to date. Considering it is console as well, I don't think them hitting 4/5 million copies in the first week is an unrealistic expectation, even if it sucks ass. Console people are a strange lot; they will buy that shit because it is The Elder Scrolls, as has been said elsewhere in the thread, I believe, no matter how bad it sucks. Most of them the minute it releases.

Quaid_sl said:

They'll recover that on box sales in release week.

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Assuming they actually profit $45 per box copy (60-shipping-distribution charges-small store cut of about 2-3%), they need more like 2.8million boxes. They will not sell that unless something serious changes with the game and the general perception of the game.