The Elder Scrolls Online

TheWombat · 2015-03-14T17:04:27.000Z

gurugeorge:

Hmm, I’m remembering how impressed I was with the Hero Engine in this game when I played it when it first came out (as opposed to the abomination of SWTOR). It really does look and play quite awesomely.

The look of it is sort of how Vanguard was supposed to look, and sometimes did look, with its version of Unreal 2/3. I just love that “realism” thing of this art design with this engine, can’t get enough of it. So much better than the semi-cartoon-like stylization of many recent MMOs.

It does look very good. Easily one of the best looking MMOs I’ve ever played, maybe the best looking.

KevinC · 2015-03-14T22:42:34.000Z

gurugeorge:

Hmm, I’m remembering how impressed I was with the Hero Engine in this game when I played it when it first came out (as opposed to the abomination of SWTOR). It really does look and play quite awesomely.

It doesn’t use the Hero engine, it’s a home grown engine.

TheWombat · 2015-03-15T07:46:46.000Z

KevinC:

It doesn’t use the Hero engine, it’s a home grown engine.

Yet when the game starts, there is a splash screen that says Hero. Did they modify it I guess?

KevinC · 2015-03-15T09:29:23.000Z

TheWombat:

Yet when the game starts, there is a splash screen that says Hero. Did they modify it I guess?

It was used for prototyping. Per a 2012 GameInformer article:

Q. You licensed HeroEngine a long time ago. What role did the Hero Engine play in the development of ESO?

A. We started ZeniMax Online from scratch, with no employees and no technology. We had to build everything ourselves. It takes a long time to write game engines, especially MMO engines, which are inherently more complicated than typical single-player ones. So, we decided to license the HeroEngine to give us a headstart. It was a useful tool for us to use to prototype areas and game design concepts, and it provided us the ability to get art into the game that was visible, so we could work on the game’s art style. Our plan is for ESO to be a world class MMO, with the most advanced social features found in any MMO to date – so while we were prototyping the game on HeroEngine, we were simultaneously developing our own client, server, and messaging layer that were specifically designed with ESO in mind. Think of HeroEngine as a whiteboard for us – a great tool to get some ideas in the game and start looking at them while the production engine was in development.

gurugeorge · 2015-03-15T09:38:51.000Z

Oh yeah, I remember now reading about that before. Well, whatever it is, it’s a superb game engine, and coupled with the excellent semi-realistic art design, it looks a million dollars and plays slick as you like.

Haven’t been this absorbed in an MMO since TSW.

Redfive · 2015-03-15T09:49:15.000Z

Glad to see some views coming around on a game that in my opinion didn’t get as fair shake as it maybe should have mainly because ZOS had the audacity to charge a monthly sub.

Not saying that those of you with good things to say previously didn’t.

Looking forward to starting up again on the 17th.

milspec · 2015-03-16T15:27:50.000Z

Unlimited is up and accepting logins from players with previous accounts. Enjoy.

Redfive · 2015-03-16T16:21:15.000Z

Just hopped in myself. Looking forward to getting back into this.

Scotch_Lufkin · 2015-03-16T17:20:33.000Z

I bought a horse! Seemed a solid investment, since they cost like 17k gold and I have like… 2k. I’m only level 9, and it’s a pretty darn cool horse, too. I can feed it and level it up!? SQUEE!

gurugeorge · 2015-03-16T17:50:19.000Z

I’ve been playing around with a few chars now, and I can’t put my finger on it, but the combat system is much more fun to play than it was at launch - much better, more responsive. In terms of feel at least, it’s one of the best out there now IMHO.

Mark_Asher · 2015-03-16T20:05:47.000Z

So Steam has the client at $60 now. Is that really the price? I would think it would be $20 by now.

KevinC · 2015-03-16T20:11:00.000Z

gurugeorge:

I’ve been playing around with a few chars now, and I can’t put my finger on it, but the combat system is much more fun to play than it was at launch - much better, more responsive. In terms of feel at least, it’s one of the best out there now IMHO.

Definitely. They cleaned up the animations and made a few other tweaks which resulted in making the combat tighter. Of particular note is how they cleaned up weapon swap; it feels responsive now, instead of sluggish and only working half the time.

Mark Asher:

So Steam has the client at $60 now. Is that really the price? I would think it would be $20 by now.

Yep, that’s the price. No subscription now, though.

Redfive · 2015-03-16T20:21:18.000Z

Mark Asher:

So Steam has the client at $60 now. Is that really the price? I would think it would be $20 by now.

Found a link for $17.49 at Gamesrocket that others had confirmed worked about a week ago and the client had regularly been on sale for months before now.

I wouldn’t expect to find it significantly discounted for a few weeks but I have no basis for that.

Mark_Asher · 2015-03-16T20:36:16.000Z

I can hold out for the Steam Summer Sale. It will be 50% or 66% or maybe even 75% off then, I will wager. I was a bit surprised to see it at $60.

stusser · 2015-03-16T20:38:45.000Z

It was much cheaper before the relaunch. You can still find it for $40 or so from the usual resellers like kinguin.

Squee · 2015-03-16T20:41:10.000Z

Redfive:

Found a link for $17.49 at Gamesrocket that others had confirmed worked about a week ago and the client had regularly been on sale for months before now.

I wouldn’t expect to find it significantly discounted for a few weeks but I have no basis for that.

Showing up as 46 euros for me. I know the euro has been falling but I don’t think it’s quite that bad yet.

rei · 2015-03-16T21:50:29.000Z

Hold out for $20-30. It’s not worth it at full price.

Squee · 2015-03-16T22:06:29.000Z

Yeah, I’m not even sure I’d go in at $17.50, but I was gonna stare at it and consider it at least.

Wendelius · 2015-03-17T07:04:07.000Z

This game has its hooks into my wife and me. I bought 2 boxed copies in prevision of the Unlimited relaunch from a generalist UK retailer (came to about $16 a copy with the preorder codes. Much cheaper than all the digital downloads available) and we played it for the first time on Saturday evening.

We thought we were going to log off around midnight. By the time we looked up from our computers, we had completed Bleakrock island and realised to our surprise it was quarter past 2 (so close to QT3. we should have kept going :) ). So far, we’ve found the combat to be a joy (it’s dynamic, feels impactful, has good visual feedback, …), the world to be very immersive and the starter quests to be a bit more interesting than the usual “kill 10 rats” fare. We even got addicted to gathering crafting materials, as you find chests with a lockpicking mini game on those rounds which yield nice little rewards (green gear, soul gems, mats, …).

We went back yesterday with the goal of only gathering a few mats and upgrading our gear for our next hunt. We ended up questing until nearly half past midnight.

One thing both of us hate right now is inventory management. We long for the days of being able to craft more bags and add to our inventory space. 60 slots fill up so fast! Despite that annoyance, every time we spot a quest giver, we just can’t resist going for one more quest.

I didn’t care for ESO in the beta. Barely played it past the tutorial. But I’m really enjoying the game as it is now.

Wendelius

KevinC · 2015-03-17T07:05:29.000Z

Personally, I was happy with my $60 purchase. I didn’t subscribe after the free 30 days, but going back to it the game is much improved now. I really like how much more… open it is, compared to similar MMOs. I don’t feel like I’m moving on tracks leading me from quest hub to quest hub. I go out and explore, trying to find lore books for the mages guild, skyshards, maybe some delves, and along the way I run into NPCs and some of them have quests. It has a more organic feel that makes a big difference to me.