The overriding message from Zenimax Online has been that this is an MMO, and by design must be different.

TES Online screenshots pulled from GameInformer's magazine reveal are located elsewhere on the internet. There was a backlash against the look of The Elder Scrolls Online and the gameplay mechanics when it was announced earlier this month. 'So in order to make the game look good and interesting,' he added, 'we make it stylised.' That puts us at technical limitations, as far as polygons and textures and things like that, so there's no way we're going to get photo realism. 'Our target is 200 characters on screen for our massive battles. 'Well, there are 200 of us in this area.' We can't do it,' TES Online art director Jared Carr told GameInformer. 'My view is that MMOs - we're not really at the technical state with MMOs, the graphics technology, to really be able to pull off photo realism. Hence, stylisation - a technique that allows pixel-restricted MMOs to 'look good and interesting'. At times it feels more like a massive scavenger hunt rather than an epic quest.The Elder Scrolls Online doesn't look like Skyrim because it can't - MMOs can't yet replicate those sort of graphics on the scale they offer, insisted developer Zenimax Online. In ESO, hordes of heroes run around completing the exact same tasks. Skyrim and its ilk are about an unlikely hero saving the world. It feels like some part of the Elder Scrolls spirit is lost in translation when it switches from single-player to multiplayer. I wish they did this instancing more often but I guess that would make it harder for players to meet each other. Furthermore, many important quests whisk players away to separate instances of the same location so your experience won't be ruined by a crowd of other players. If you and another player attack the same quest mob, you'll both get credit for the kill. To the game's credit, players rarely hurt your progress in quests. The battle against the sorceror at the heart of the dungeon isn't quite so challenging when you've got five players helping you kill him because they've got the same quest. The thrill of exploring a long-forgotten crypt is gone when you turn a corner and realize the undead army inside has already been wiped out by Poontrain and his companion Megaswordz. While the usual MMO nuisances - gold spammers, chat trolls - are present, the bigger downside of multiplayer is how it hurts the quests. It's multiplayer whether you like it or not. The thing is, though, ESO isn't just Elder Scrolls with some optional multiplayer. You can play the game like it's Skyrim but the dungeons or PvP provide a fun change of pace. At the time, I said that ESO still retains the core Elder Scrolls experience but the multiplayer provides a nice complement.

I initially listed multiplayer as one Elder Scrolls Online's advantages over Skyrim. ESO's mistakes are much harder to recover from. You could grind up an unused skill within a day if you wanted. Even before that, though, it was much easier to reverse course with your character. Granted, Skyrim didn't allow you to reset your abilities until the last DLC pack was released. You can't just decide at max level, 'Hey, I'll become a healer instead of a tank.' To leave yourself the option of different skill builds at max level, you have to do counterintuitive things like filling your hotbar with abilities from skill lines you don't necessarily use or wearing all three armor types. You can reset skill points if you're unhappy how you spent them but in order to move points to a different skill line, you need to have invested the time into that line. Skill lines also take a long time to build up. It takes six hours to complete research for a new trait for crafted items so you have to start doing this early on in leveling to build a good selection. There's a lot less research needed.Įlder Scrolls Online requires you to plan well in advance. You're shaping your character by playing the game. In Skyrim, you simply use skills to get better at them. The issue I have with the customization options of ESO, though, is that they're not very clearly laid out. You can also use other items to improve it after its initial creation so it stays useful.

You can make an item that's exactly suited to your level and imbue it with a variety of effects. The crafting system of ESO is flexible as well. ZeniMax even added PvP, Guild, and Race skills to the mix to give the game even more customization options than Skyrim. You can make marksman mage, warrior healer or a number of other possibilities. Elder Scrolls Online gives you a huge amount of freedom in creating your character.

The elder scrolls online vs skyrim