I DLed ESO yesterday in a hope of seeing a world that was breathing, immersive.. something I could get lost in.

The introduction sequence where you battle your way out of Coldharbour is cool. But after that, the game takes a dive into MMO-land.

I noticed coming out that the world was rather drull, no one was really pathing, save a few. Everything seemed stationary, a-la MMO. No unique AI, living, breathing, going to work, going to bed.

There seems to be no race-specific items around. One of the neat things of past ES games was that certain races couldn't wear certain items.. a khajit wouldn't be able to wear a nord's shoes, or an elf's helm, for example.

The exploration in terms of loot aspect is so minimized and tedious that I stopped doing it after searching through upwards of 50 assorted sizes of urns.

In Skyrim and Oblivion, the player felt a part of a living world, where objects bounced around the floor and tables, and they could practically take whatever they could fit in their bag. In ESO, there is nothing of that sort, no physics, no randomly picking up daggers that you see lying around, not one thing. Everything here is static, immovable, and little is to be had. This an MMO cliche.

The wildlife.. where is it? Aside from a couple of deer and vermin, the world of Cyrodil seems rather unalive. Where's the AI-controlled wildlife from the previous games?

For an MMO, without regard to the Elder Scrolls series.. this game isn't half bad. The world is beautiful for MMO standards, the combat is nice, albeit a little clonky still. The character customization is cool, I like the skill morphing. The ability to wear platemail as a mage is something I've always enjoyed about the ES series as well.

As for how the game feels, it is just another MMO it seems. Quests seem to be take this and do that, or go over here and protect that person.

The story line is good, though.. and I enjoy the voice acting.

I just can't help but feel like I'm playing another MMO and not an Elder Scrolls game, mainly due to how the questing has been built, lack of AI controlled NPCs, static land with barren wildlife, static, non-roaming monster camps with relatively low AI.

Now, I know at level 10, you get to do PvP, but what about not PvP? Will the player experience the same types of quests until the last level? Will the areas all have that same, un-alive feel? Bring us the roaming giants, and the wooly mammoth herds.

I do enjoy this game, but only as an MMO. This is not an Elder Scrolls game, rather a relatively generic MMO with a namebrand title.

Not playing the same game as I am. I say that because my experiences have been very much TES.

Hmm

I've played Morrowind, I've played Oblivion, I've played Skyrim..

I wonder given this game didn't have the ES name, would you recognize it as such?

To be honest, re-naming it with the backing of Bethesda's name would've been a lot less discerning

If it didn't have the ES name it wouldn't have the ES lore (this is the biggest thing that makes an ES game an ES game as the non main series games tend to not adhere so strongly to what the main series does gameplay wise).

People seem to forget Redguard and Battlespire are ES games yet, differed vastly in gameplay from the main series. Same with most the mobile ES games.

Quite right, whats missing is the ability to "Live Another Life".

Instead we have a competent, professional Elder Scrolls World Themepark. in the same mould as all the other themepark MMOs around. If you like that sort of thing then fine but it isn't a game in the spirit of the Elder Scrolls games.

I agree it is not Elder Scrolls...honestly I wonder if the folks who claim it is have actualyl ever played an ES game before? This game does not have the customization, the open world, or any of the other things lots of people have already pointed out.

Sure they kinda give you a soft version of the level-less skill system...but it isn't the same.

Is it a good game? Sure...minus a few sore points like the idiotic lockpick sustem...but it doesn't even remotely resemble an Elder Scrolls game.

The most weighed choice for me in purchasing the CE was if the game, in fact, feels like a TES release. The answer was an astounding yes. After a few minutes of gameplay, once I made it through the tutorial, at no point did I NOT know I was playing a TES game.

I was asking the same of ones that say it's not. The gameplay is different, of course, and the mechanics are different. But not any more than the differences between the other chapters of the series.

That argument should have merit...but it really doesn't. The Lore of TES isn't what keeps bringing people back...and you're lieing if you say it does. Its the innovative gameplay...something that is absolutely absent here. Sure the character does become immersed in the Lore of an ES game...but that also is a gamedesign choice...and also missing from this game...if I can't collect books to re-read in order as a series is collected, then entries I uncover should at least be "saved" in my Lore section for later perusal...nope. After finding dozens of books, my Lore section is still completely blank.

Then we are not to expect an Elder Scrolls game in the fashion of a living, breathing world. Where NPCs path around, have jobs, eat, sleep, drink, converse.. nor do we have a wilderness where bears attack deer and giants roam around. No free loot system, no taking houses.

Yet, here we are.

As others have said, it's good as a themepark game, a-la LOTRO.

Hilarious...even if details of gameplay have changed, the core idea of a FULLY customizeable character have remained the same. This game allows very limited character classes...and not even as many as any other MMO.

No reason whatsoever we can't have the same skill list available in the recent TES games...none whatsoever.

Day and night too...haven't noticed the passage of time yet.

The books are saved for you to read later. All the ones I've found are in my journal to read as I want.

Again though you ignore that the games not in the main series have varied in gameplay and some completely did away with the free roam. The only thing that made them ES is the lore.

What previous releases shared those mechanics you have listed there?

I suppose that depends on what you identify as the feeling of a TES release. For me Fallout 4 has more TES feeling by far than ESO, even though it lacks all the lore, has a somewhat different art style and is set in a completely different time and place it still feels more like a TES game. Because at the end of the day for me its all about immersion and gameplay. The lore for TES is good, sometimes even great but its all just window dressing at the end of the day. What the games have been about is giving the player as believable, open and interactive a world as possible for them to get lost in. That is not the goal of ESO, its a themepark, thats what its is, unquestionably. The land is packed with "rides" for you to queue up for and partake in. There is no sense that I am my character or that I'm in a real place that is going about its business. Such is the way with MMOs, at least most MMOs there was once a dream of something different, something better and deeper but there has been little development towards it. People obviously like MMOs and many if not most of the player of MMOs have no interest in the RPG that seems to have been dropped off the end of the genre name.

Thanks...you said it perfectly with this post.

That removed any credibility that may have been present for your cause. Not to sound mean... I just stopped reading at that point.

In general, I don't see any slams to ESO for not being TES that are any more negative than the details, omissions, and changes between earlier versions.

You're kidding, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_AI

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Radiant_A.I.

I want you you tell me, how many Giants you saw in Oblivion and Morrowind.

Is it TES? Yes.

Is it Skyrim Online? No.

... but it does have Skyrim in the game and it does have Giants.

I personally think its a great MMO and a good TES game.

I wrote a post before a few weeks back stating how MMO based on already established games or products (like star wars or LOTR) tend to hurt MMO as a whole because they can never really live up to expectation of the previous games/products. And as a result, people look MMO as the inferior way of gaming. Single Player games tend to do a better job because they can work with more, but with MMOs there always seem to be a limit to what you can do. I hate to say it, but if I was making a movie comparison of some type, MMOs in general tend to be the "B-movies" of gaming compared to other ways...

Does it have the AI of Elder Scrolls? No. And that AI really did set Elder Scrolls apart from many other RPG's. I would be happy to see some day and night cycles. Merchants wandering home after work. Animals combing the wilderness. Definite areas of improvement to bring more life into the world, though I will admit, probably the most difficult thing that could be done.

The rest of it, though, feels very Elder Scrolls to me. Even the animations are true to the series ... meaning clunky and slightly unrealistic.

Radiant AI doesn't have anything to do with eating and drinking. Its purely a quest driven mechanic.

Perhaps you would have understood had you kept reading. It all comes down to what they are trying to create. The Elder Scrolls games are clearly trying to create an immersive world for the players to inhabit as their characters. A trait which Fallout 3 (sorry not 4 that would be the next one shares. In that sense they are more alike than ESO which is trying to create a playground if you like for real people to get together and play games in.

I for one don't think that a true Elder Scroll like game with that same core principle of as living, vibrant and believable world as possible is incompatible with multiplayer or even mass multiplayer. But it would of taken considerable innovation and not copying the everquest model. Its a game I hope to one day see and I think the company that does it right first could have another massive hit bigger even than the WoW phenomenon. But its not this game, this game is to Elder Scrolls what Lotro was to Lord of the Rings. Its a Florida style cashin, fun to visit for a while but like Harry Potter land at Universal Studios, once you've been on all the rides it starts to feel all to shallow.

eating and drinking can be scripted into RAI