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

I like free to play mmo games. They allow me to play with friends who don't want to shell out the 15$ a month fee. They do bring trolls of all types but what game doesn't. That and this game makes me want to play Morrow Wind and Skyrim! So more power to it.

(this game will be free to play in no time)

If this were an MMO that was more like Ultima Online or something then yes, I'd be fucking STOKED, but from what I understand this is going to be another tab-target 1-2-3-4 clone game.

Watching the video makes me wish they'd have taken all the money spent to develop this game and instead made a feature length CG film. This trailer was pretty awesome but I don't give a flying fig about the game. I like my Elder Scrolls offline and fully mod-able.

All games got great trailers. You can't really get to know how the game will be with trailers.

@dprabon said:

I don't care for MMOs. When's the movie coming out? I'd go see a rouge badass pull that stuff on the big screen ( :

Trailers, you guys!

@Nethlem said:

@Hawker said:

Oh I hate MMO posts on here, not because I dislike MMOs, they provide an experience unlike any other genre and will one day evolve beyond the tab-targeting WoW clones we're stuck at currently.

But that is exactly the reason why everybody is so annoyed by them by now. Because what we are stuck with now are not even "WoW Clones", the dominant "tab-targeting" gameplay had been around long before WoW and in these 10+ Years nobody bothered to do anything ground breaking with the genre. That's why so many people have given up on the genre and often even end up being annoyed by the mere mention of "MMO".

That's something the industry is the blame for, not the consumers. During the big MMO surge the customers had been hyped about every new MMO getting announced, listening to tales by developers promising something "radical new!" and waiting for that revolution to happen, yet every friggin single time it turned out just to be another iteration of "tab-1234-loot-repeat" gameplay. So most people have lost their patience with the genre and are not willing to give developers the benefit of the doubt. Seriously i have stacks of boxes of MMO's that i never bothered to play beyond the free month, i'm so burned out on this crap that even Guild Wars 2 didn't convince me to get back into it.

But maybe it's exactly what we need for a new MMO to finally break the mold. Maybe we just gotta get dissapointed so often and so badly, that our expectations reach such a low, until we will be blown away by a game that's finally breaking away with a lot of the old baggage. I sure as hell hope we gonna reach that point, but as somebody who's played MMO's since MUD's and Ultima Online i just can't be bothered to get hyped about yet another product that gets marketed as the "next big thing" just to find out it's the same old thing with a new coat of paint.

Sure if they manage to build an TES game just with added multiplayer, while bypassing all the usual MMO crap, that be pretty amazing. But i won't hold my breath for it, they first gotta actually deliver before they see me going "ZOMG THIS IS THE BEST THING SINCE BLOWJOBS!!".

But that's exactly what I'm getting at, at one point I didn't enjoy RTS games at all, but you didn't see me going around to every RTS-related piece of content and spout a bunch of crap about how RTS games are boring and everything should be what I like. There has been progress, TERA broke the mold massively in the combat department, and was actually a very solid game overall, but unfortunately past the combat, as solid as it was, it was pretty dull and the same thing I could do in a huge amount of other games.

In fact over the years MMOs have made strides to innovate, Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault, City of Heroes, Champions Online, DC Universe Online have all gone away from the typical formula, whether it be Tabula Rasa's FPS style combat, Auto Assault's vehicle-based gameplay, CoH's superhero world, Champion's and DC's evolution of that with action combat. They haven't been perfect, no, but they're something, and now TERA has shown that a great, responsive, real-time skill-based combat experience CAN be had in an online space, and soon that will hopefully be applied for future games.

Hell, EsO is also going for combat akin to the single player games because people didn't like the original tab-targeting approach they were going to go with, me included. Truth be told I hate the combat in Elder Scrolls anyways but anything is more compelling than traditional MMO combat, the reason I stopped playing Dragon Age was because it just played like an incredibly clunky version of WoW with a pause feature.

Just because MMOs have failed in the past, and because a good number of them do stick to the straight and narrow, fail to innovate and just all become clones of each other, doesn't mean people have to bring their sacks of negativity to every single MMO announcement, or trailer, or interview (and I know the tab-targeting thing pre-dated WoW, I was merely saying that games of today are WoW clones, the tab-target combat included) In fact, Blizzard themselves are developing a new MMO, they are easily the kings of the genre right now and could very easily have single-handedly once again changed the genre as we know it in a few years' time, and I really hope they do.

As I said earlier, MMOs provide something no other genre can, I do play WoW right now in spite of the combat because firstly it's packed with content, the main downfall of most new games now, and on top of that, MMOs as a genre can provide so much that you get nowhere else. Just a few minutes ago I got with a few friends and had a relaxing time fishing at a lake nearby a campfire I had set up, all the while chatting and planning some heroic runs for tomorrow, you can't do that in other genres, that's the special thing MMOs do, it brings people together in a compelling environment and out of all genres in existence right one MMOs are by far the ones that could turn out most interesting if people stopped crying for everything to be a lonely single-player game.

It irritates me to no end when people come in saying "hurr durr, it shud be single player not dis MMO bullcrap" they're the types of people that would happily see any social gaming experiences like the one I mentioned earlier gone in favour of dull, lifeless worlds inhabited by legions of cardboard cutout NPCs. MMOs as a genre deserve to thrive, no matter how bad they are right now, because they are huge undertakings that require a LOT of effort, even the terrible ones, and the fact that there are still companies out there willing to provide people these experiences, whether they're good or not, should be good enough, because one day someone's going to have that eureka moment and something great will come of it.

In the meantime we're not forced to play any of the lackluster games, the worst MMO in the world will mean nothing to us if we simply don't play it. So what's the harm in letting people make crap? If anyone's averse to the "tab-1234-loot-repeat" gameplay then it's very easy to avoid. And if enough of us avoid those and start putting our money where our mouth is, as opposed to just call every MMO shit before it even releases, the genre will be a much better place.

I'm with you in not saying go around saying this will be the best thing ever, I don't think that yet, in fact nobody should think that, but at the same time, the inverse is true, bashing a game purely on its genre is just as stupid. I'm waiting for them to deliver, too, I'm not stupid enough to run blindly into every MMO that seems like it may have so much as an inkling of potential, I made that mistake with FFXIV after the phenomenal FFXI. I simply believe that MMO developers should get a break, the genre has a LOT of untapped potential, and just because it's had rough patches in the past doesn't mean now suddenly every new game deserves to be demonised before any actual gameplay is even seen,

@Hawker said:

Oh I hate MMO posts on here, not because I dislike MMOs, they provide an experience unlike any other genre and will one day evolve beyond the tab-targeting WoW clones we're stuck at currently.

But that is exactly the reason why everybody is so annoyed by them by now. Because what we are stuck with now are not even "WoW Clones", the dominant "tab-targeting" gameplay had been around long before WoW and in these 10+ Years nobody bothered to do anything ground breaking with the genre. That's why so many people have given up on the genre and often even end up being annoyed by the mere mention of "MMO".

That's something the industry is the blame for, not the consumers. During the big MMO surge the customers had been hyped about every new MMO getting announced, listening to tales by developers promising something "radical new!" and waiting for that revolution to happen, yet every friggin single time it turned out just to be another iteration of "tab-1234-loot-repeat" gameplay. So most people have lost their patience with the genre and are not willing to give developers the benefit of the doubt. Seriously i have stacks of boxes of MMO's that i never bothered to play beyond the free month, i'm so burned out on this crap that even Guild Wars 2 didn't convince me to get back into it.

But maybe it's exactly what we need for a new MMO to finally break the mold. Maybe we just gotta get dissapointed so often and so badly, that our expectations reach such a low, until we will be blown away by a game that's finally breaking away with a lot of the old baggage. I sure as hell hope we gonna reach that point, but as somebody who's played MMO's since MUD's and Ultima Online i just can't be bothered to get hyped about yet another product that gets marketed as the "next big thing" just to find out it's the same old thing with a new coat of paint.

Sure if they manage to build an TES game just with added multiplayer, while bypassing all the usual MMO crap, that be pretty amazing. But i won't hold my breath for it, they first gotta actually deliver before they see me going "ZOMG THIS IS THE BEST THING SINCE BLOWJOBS!!".

In the immortal words of Riddick:

"I might have gone another way."

@primalmaster:

yeah! i was wondering for a moment were they using real actors.

anyways, mmo, meh..

I'm guessing free to play within 4 months of release.

@Irvandus said:

I like CG trailers. Am I a bad person?

I like 'em too, they're fun to watch. I don't really understand why people piss and moan about how they're not representative of gameplay -- well no shit, that's not the point. It's not like you're forced to form an opinion about the game based on a CG trailer, and then oh no! There's no gameplay footage, so how can I judge it! There will always be gameplay footage released. That is when you start forming judgements. Or better yet, wait until the game releases and see what people have to say about it. People need to lighten up and learn to enjoy a little harmless entertainment. Games are not serious business.

I feel bad for the devs putting all that work into something that'll (probably) fail. Rad video though.

Looks like a fantastic movie based on a video game

Excellent trailer. Still, I have no interest in an MMORPG. The next gen console entry in the Elder Scrolls series is totally on my watch list though. Skyrim blew me away.

How about you scrap the whole MMO thing and just make a movie? "The Elder Scrolls: Badass Archer Elf" sounds better than anything the MMO will actually be.

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

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

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

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.

Oh boy this game looks nothing like an elder scrolls game

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

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.

BETA HERE I COME!

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

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?

@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.

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.

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

5 years too late, bethesda.

Invent some damn parachutes, if you're so smart

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.

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.

PRODUCE THE SHIT OUT OF THAT SHIT!!

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.

MOVE YOUR MOUTHS!

Trailers like this immediately turn me off to a game.

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...

@benspyda: LOL! So true.

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."

@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.

Those Imperials need some backup.

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

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

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.

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

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.

@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.

Oh, Alex. I hate your snark.