The Elder Scrolls Online Celebrates the Opening of Beta Sign-Ups With a Fancy New Trailer

Oh man you guys check out this Missile Command game I just found out about it looks AMAZING.

@Hawker: I'm sorry you seem to have had a bad experience with MMO haters, but a lot of us are just looking at this game for what it is so far. It looks to me like it has a generic cartoony fantasy art style, typical "disconnected" MMO combat, and I can't find a single thing about it that another MMO hasn't already done.

totally gonna play just like that.

I really hope this game does at least "okay" just because everybody involved with it must have a terrible time right now

Let me save any new comers some bandwidth!

CG TRAILER IN 2013!

in other news, balls....

You can thank me now.

@Hawker: You fly off the handle pretty easily. I'm curious, how many MMOs have you played?

It doesn't matter how hard you fight. The Cyrodiils are going to conquer you all.

@TheMustacheHero: Although I protected the game earlier, after watching that video it seems like they might've commited MMO sin #1. Not making an MMO. It seems like they're aiming for the "this could've been a normal online RPG; but we're gonna make some stuff server-side just so we can charge you" angle. Hopefully I'm wrong.

@RobertOrri said:

@Hawker: You fly off the handle pretty easily. I'm curious, how many MMOs have you played?

Well when you have to deal with the level of ignorance displayed on the internet it's hard not to. How many have I played? Most all of them past Everquest. If anyone should be jaded about MMOs it's me, for every good one there's a crock of shit about 50 MMOs big but at the very least I don't paint massive sweeping statements across entire genres, bashing games before they've even seen the light of day because it happens to be labelled an MMORPG.

The potential in the MMORPG genre is greater than in ANY other as far as I'm concerned, we have barely scratched the surface of what one day may be possible. That's why it saddens me that when developers move into the genre and offer their own take on it, they get blasted by ignorance. If they had shown gameplay and it looked terrible, fair enough, if the setting or storyline looked poor, fair enough. Saying "oh it's an MMO so it's bound to be bad" is not fair enough, it's pure stupidity, not every adventure game is the same, not every platformer is the same, not every rhythm, puzzle or shooter game is the same, so WHY people feel that they can judge MMOs in such a fashion is beyond me.

@President_Barackbar said:

@Hawker: I'm sorry you seem to have had a bad experience with MMO haters, but a lot of us are just looking at this game for what it is so far. It looks to me like it has a generic cartoony fantasy art style, typical "disconnected" MMO combat, and I can't find a single thing about it that another MMO hasn't already done.

From the previews I've seen there's a lot different, for starters the combat is typical Elder Scrolls, while I personally find the combat in those games piss-poor, in an online game it's still far more engaging than the typical tab-targeting most MMOs utilise. And as people seem to enjoy the Elder Scrolls games in spite of, or maybe even because of the combat, then that's already one thing I see in this game's favour.

On top of that they have taken far more inspiration from the Elder Scrolls games than just the world, quest design and the like is also a big thing, the leveling system is heavily influenced by the single player RPGs.

There's a preview here that explains a lot about it: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/821/feature/6819/The-Elder-Scrolls-Online-The-Comprehensive-Preview.html I don't know if you've read it but if you haven't I recommend doing so. It's gotten someone like me who isn't even a fan of the ES series to at least be moderately interested in what they're trying here.

"Combat is nearly identical to other Elder Scrolls games. You control your swings with the left mouse, and block with the right. While blocking, you can press the left to “interrupt” your enemy’s casting. This takes a lot of stamina, but it’s effective in fights. You can sprint with shift, and crouch to sneak. Sneaking works just like it does in other TES games, and obviously lighter armors will help you out here."

That gameplay is off the hook.

Off.The.Hook.

If I hadn't been told, not in a million years would I have guessed that trailer was for Elderscrolls. It has so little to do with anything I associated with that IP.

Except elves, it had those.

Werewolves! NO UNDEAD WEREWOLVES!

I don't really think it's a good idea to make an mmo right now but it's their money. I signed up to the beta cause I'm really curious, I just want a dragon mount, fucking love those dragon mounts.

I dunno, I think I'm getting jaded but adverts for games that have nothing to do with the final product are becoming increasingly depressing to watch. For me, it's an incredibly bad sign for the final product.

Oh I didn't know they were making an Elder Scrolls movie! This looks great!

Eek, just gave the gameplay trailer a watch... Now I get why they had to make the CGI illusion so strong. There's nothing like videos with developers to make you realise big games are just like any other mass market media, just a slog to even watch till the end...

I have absolutely no interest in this game.

How about instead of making that, they just make an animated movie about the characters in this trailer? I'd be much more interested in that.

@gbrading said:

No thanks. Fallout 4 or The Elder Scrolls VI please. However, very impressive trailer. Too bad it wasn't for The Elder Scrolls film because I would happily watch that.

You've got the idea.

I like CG trailers. Am I a bad person?

Oh, Alex. I hate your snark.

@Triumvir said:

I have absolutely no interest in this game.

How about instead of making that, they just make an animated movie about the characters in this trailer? I'd be much more interested in that.

@gbrading said:

No thanks. Fallout 4 or The Elder Scrolls VI please. However, very impressive trailer. Too bad it wasn't for The Elder Scrolls film because I would happily watch that.

You've got the idea.

While I think the Elder Scrolls franchise might be the one best suited for film or TV adaptions (as the world is the main character, allowing them to tell stories within that world that won't necessarily have anything to do with the stories told in the video game entries), there's also an interesting issue - The Lord of the Rings movies where hugely successful, in part because they visualized a world which we had previously only read about, and did it in a stunning way with on location shooting, rather than the entire world being CGI or matte paintings on a studio set. We've already seen the Elder Scrolls world, and many of us could probably find our way between the major towns in Cyrodil, Skyrim or Morrowind. Filming on location like Peter Jackson did would do the best job of making the world feel like a real place - but many players may be turned off by the fact that the locations probably wouldn't really look like they did in the game (assuming they'll take place in areas we've seen in the games already - there are of course unexplored areas in the world, and I guess the Daggerfall setting could be revisited without drawing any ire, as the technology was so limited back then that we never really had any recognizable landmarks there), and I'm unsure if CGI environments would be all that successful - seems like a lot of people remarked on the CGI heavy parts of The Hobbit feeling like watching someone play a videogame, and I worry that an all-CGI Elder Scrolls movie could get the same reactions. Even if the landscapes are more detailed than what we've seen in the games, CGI still often has that issue with just not looking right - objects not looking like they are affected by gravity and wind the right way and all that.

Look the guy in the front has large shoulder pads. That signifies he is superior to the ones behind with the smaller, less impressive shoulder pads.

Signed up for the beta. Hopefully I get in because I am super curious about it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, drop the subscription fee and I'll check it out. I can't devote the time to justify a subscription fee anymore.

This isn't elder scrolls, the people don't look ugly enough. That elf lady should look more like this:

Are we 2 generations away from games actually looking like that?

Those Imperials need some backup.

@fisk0:

If they could do some facial capture and produce a movie with that trailer's fidelity, I reckon the whole uncanny valley thing would be less of an issue that you might think. Also, I don't personally need it to look realistic Just give me that trailer extended to 90 minutes or two hours with a decent story and some awesome action sequences. Besides, part of the problem with the CG in Peter Jackson's movies and the Hobbit in particular is the juxtaposition of CG with fantastic practical effects and live action shots. Then again, the sort of fantasy that the Elder Scrolls brings to the table couldand would most likely be incredibly corny in live action, and need a heavy CG element anyway.

As for it not looking exactly like the game, there will always be some sort of license in adapting things from medium to medium. I really couldn't care if people are too rigid in their enjoyment of a property to be able to get beyond minor things like how certain cities aren't exactly the way they are in the game. Also, the ESO timeline is like 1,000 years before the last few single player games. If there are minor differences in the cities and such you can just chalk it up to the time differential.

I definitely think you've got a leg to stand on with your idea a TV show or miniseries with highly episodic content where the world itself is the thematic connective tissue.

Making MMO trailers is like selling fucking snake oil.

"Greetings quest-goer!"

"Do you have a quest for me."

"Why yes I do. I want you go kill 15 giant rats YOU STUPID FUCKING MORON."

@benspyda: LOL! So true.

What a depressing trailer, the game will be nothing approaching this. Can I just have an offline version where I can walk around and see the world they made, like all of the cities and such that haven't been in TES games yet and then just turn it off? Cause yeah...

Trailers like this immediately turn me off to a game.

MOVE YOUR MOUTHS!

All I will take from that is that cut scenes are still gorgeous. I'll sign up for the beta to test it out. I want to see more gameplay, though.

PRODUCE THE SHIT OUT OF THAT SHIT!!

For some reason this trailer made me think that a Dark Souls MMO sounds like a good idea and...wait-a-minute,...yeah, I've got a boner.

Three or four years ago, this game would have had me super excited. I couldn't even remotely care about an MMORPG at this point, even after loving my time with GW2.

Invent some damn parachutes, if you're so smart

5 years too late, bethesda.

Why would anyone play an Elder Scrolls game if they can't install 50 different sex mods?

End game, if they get endgame right, and by that I mean raiding and good, solid PvP then people will stay and pay. The only reason go back to WoW is because end-game is so well-done, well at least the raiding part.

It's the only reason I really play WoW 2 nights a week still.

Trailer looked amazing, loving how this game is coming along, signed up and excited to see what they cooked up there at zenimax.

@benspyda: My problem with this trailer is nothing looks right. The Elves dont look like they belong in an Elder Scrolls game and the over-the-top swashbuckling near the end just seemed like bullshit.

What the hell happend to that Fallout MMO that was in developement? I love TES but there's so many high fantasy MMO's out there, it's sickening.

I don't know why Alex is so cynical. This is exactly how this game is going to look and play. Why else would they release a trailer with this content?

This doesn't make me want to play the game but it that trailer looked pretty neat.

BETA HERE I COME!

This video is great (superb animation). I really like Elder Scrolls, specifically Skyrim, but I really don't think this game will be much to write home about. I would love to be proven wrong when it comes out.

Way to make the elf look like a generic fantasy elf as opposed to the interesting ones they created for the Elder Scrolls series.

Oh boy this game looks nothing like an elder scrolls game

I was trying to identify what race each person was, and I couldn't figure out who the three guys were at the end other than a human, a dwarf, and an elf. It just looked like humans fighting humans, and I had no idea what was going on. At least it was nifty looking though.

Anyone else annoyed that there are no Orcs, Khajiit, or Argonians in this trailer at all?

Yeah Blizzards CG murders this....however the spectacle was pretty cool....

If only the game looked like this, and not like every other game using the Hero Engine.