How do you run a franchise like The Elder Scrolls? Mythical Western-style RPG series with names resonating like a sweet fragrance in the ears of real video game enthusiasts: Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim are all for me synonymous with sleepless nights and great gaming experiences.
Then comes the announcement of an MMORPG on the franchise, my first reactions were similar to "OMFG NEED A FOND"! Obviously when you are a fan of MMORPG and the franchise, you can only salute.
Then there was hindsight. First of all, remember the known franchises that have tried MMORPGs. Star Wars, Warhammer still echo in my head like huge mess. We also had to deal with the statements made by Bethesda since the announcement of the game such as development on consoles (automatically assimilated for me to limited gameplay) or statements such as "we want to get closer to an Elder Scroll in multiplayer with a very strong solo story ".
Let's say in my mind, it smelled bad for this game and I started to lose interest more and more, so I went to test The Elder Scrolls Online with a huge a priori.
3 hours of waiting
The advantage of the press badge is to get rid of the waiting girls and to be able to try the game in business, but the photos taken by us on the stand show that the game is eagerly awaited, the organizers of the gamescom going so far as to ask the people of Bethesda to better "tidy up" the fans of the game because they obstruct the passage to the other stands, in particular their neighbor at gamescom, a certain Nintendo.
I was able to test the game twice, once for 20 minutes at the classic stand where I had the pleasure of chatting a bit with Michaël Servotte, the spanish speaking CM TESO (a charming guy, you'll see) and another time in business for 2 long hours.
MMO or RPG?
It was while playing the game that I understood where Zenimax was going with this game. I was talking to you at the beginning of the article about SWTOR and Warhammer Online. In my opinion, if these two games failed it is because they generated a huge expectation and this expectation did not translate into a gaming experience close enough to what the players wanted. The Star Wars license is not that different from The Elder Scrolls license and TESO's facebook page already has over XNUMX million fans. Star Wars and The Elder Scrolls are both synonymous with magic and success in the geek universe and when I say I understood where Zenimax was going with TESO it's because I think they know that to delight their fans, to please the million people (and no doubt more) who are waiting for an Elder Scrolls Online, they must first make an Elder Scrolls before making an MMORPG.
It would have been a great mistake to come up with yet another WoW or Guild Wars 2 clone because it's not what fans of the franchise expect and it's not what Bethesda and Zenimax have mastered best, as much to tell you. that designing a classic MMO would have been like shooting themselves in the foot for them.
What is the game worth?
Don't expect a grade, let's get out of the school blackboards. The game experience on TESO is very good, the game is beautiful, the controls are perfect, the animations are flexible, the interface is very intuitive and the plot is present. I wanna say, like any other Elder Scrolls. TESO not only offers a massively multiplayer experience (because the big bosses, economy, dungeons and PvP are there), it offers fans of the series to continue their journey through Tamriel with their friends, which is personally something I have always dreamed of in The Elder Scrolls games.
I had the opportunity to test a low level character as well as a level 16 character. My two playing experiences were very complete. The high level skills are VERY impressive (special mention to this leap thanks to the huge dragon wings that push you behind your back). Only problem ? At no time did I feel like I needed to bundle but ... is that still the case in leveling up World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2? As always, it will be necessary to see the end game to judge, it is in my opinion the biggest challenge of Zenimax because on the technical and narrative level, the game is already a success!
The question of the end
The only thing that bothers me is, are people really willing to pay a membership fee to play The Elder Scrolls in multiplayer? I don't have the answer to this question, you have to see how often the content will be added. Let's say that instead of offering us DLC, Zenimax will release content patches. Console players who are accustomed to this kind of method may have a harder time getting used to it (especially since they already pay for access to multiplayer at Microsoft and Sony). The debate remains open, in the meantime I leave you, I must sacrifice a chicken for my ritual of invocations of the gods of the European beta of TESO!
