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Elder Scrolls Online art director talks MMO limitations and stylistic influences
What's up with the stylized visuals on display in The Elder Scrolls Online's recent screenshot and video reveals? It's all about marrying various takes on Tamriel with the limitations of MMORPGs, according to ZeniMax Online art director Jared Carr. "We're not really at the technical state with MMOs to be able to pull off photorealism," Carr explains. He goes on to say that the target is 200 characters on screen for the game's massive battles, and he also notes that despite concessions to tech limits and travel times, TESO is heavily influenced by previous Elder Scrolls games, particularly Oblivion and Morrowind. Head to Game Informer for the full video dev diary.
The Elder Scrolls Online designers talk combat and PvP in a new video
For all the talk about the latest entries in The Elder Scrolls series being single-player MMOs, there are some pretty big issues translating the mechanics of the single-player games over to The Elder Scrolls Online. For starters, there's the simple fact that the combat in single-player entries is built around the idea that you can pause and pick out your abilities at a slower pace if necessary. A new interview with designers Brian Wheeler (lead PvP designer), Maria Aliprando (creature combat designer), and Nick Konkle (lead gameplay and combat designer) discuss how the team overcame these issues and what players can expect from the game's battles. In PvE, players will find that each given monster has a very unique set of behaviors that players can react to, as well as elements that play off one another in the environment. Rather than rewarding players simply for defeating monsters, players will be rewarded with a rating called "finesse" for how the monster is defeated, with greater rewards coming to players with high finesse scores. The goal is to make combat less a matter of winning or losing and more about defeating enemies skillfully. But that only scratches the surface of the full interview, so click on past the break for the full 17-minute discussion.
Elder Scrolls Online devs talk questing and public dungeons
There are a couple of new Elder Scrolls Online features on tap at Edge. First on the agenda is a piece about the game's public dungeons, which game director Matt Firor says haven't been seen in an MMO since EverQuest. "When you think back to the fun MMOG moments in the first generation, it's standing there, terrified, in an enclosed space, waiting for someone to come along and save you. We can't do that punitive gameplay that they did in those days, but we can put people together in places where they want to work with others," Firor says. The other feature centers on the game's questing mechanics, and it finds Firor and creative director Paul Sage talking at length about what makes a good quest as well as various high-level creative approaches taken by the dev team.
The Elder Scrolls Online embraces solo story, traditional MMO format
Ever since Game Director Matt Firor announced that Elder Scrolls Online would have a 100% soloable main story, we've been wondering just how much this will impact the game's appeal and approach. Firor spoke with PC Gamer to elaborate on TESO's format, saying that it was essential to make the story solo in order to establish the player as a hero. While portions of TESO's endgame and its PvP experience require grouping, Firor said that the core of the game will be played alone: "The way we do that in Elder Scrolls Online is there are parts of the game that you just do solo and you just do in a story instance. So the main backbone story of the game, which is your interaction with Molag Bal, one of the Daedric princes, you're the hero in that story, so you experience that only yourself." Firor also addressed the team's decision to eschew the skill-based system seen in newer Bethesda titles in favor of returning to systems seen in earlier Elder Scrolls games. "What we had to do to make it an MMO is to kind of evolve over to the multiplayer side and there are some things that come with that," he admitted. "Since we have a PVP component to our game, it's very difficult to make a skill-based game like in Skyrim."
The Elder Scrolls Online using HeroEngine 'as a whiteboard'
Fan outcry over the announcement of The Elder Scrolls Online was long and loud, not just for the presumed MMOification of a beloved single-player franchise but for the toolset chosen by ZeniMax Online Studios to bring the world of Tamriel to its new audience. Game Informer confirms that ZeniMax is using the HeroEngine, which also powers Star Wars: The Old Republic and which has come under fire from some in the MMO fan community. Game director Matt Firor says that the firm isn't using the engine as you may expect, though. "Think of HeroEngine as a whiteboard for us –- a great tool to get some ideas in the game and start looking at them while the production engine was in development," he explains. [Thanks to Austin for the tip!]
Discussing the design of quests in The Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Online has certain player expectations going in, such as an expectation of the sort of quest structure you usually find in the series. More specifically, it's the sort of structure in which you start off on some simple quest and wind up wandering off into some completely unrelated point of interest. A recent interview with creative director Paul Sage and lead content designer Rich Lambert reveals that the team is aiming for just that sort of model in the game. As Lambert explains, the team wants to move away from the usual hub design in favor of several points of interest, each of which provides a little snippet of content and story. The points aren't meant to be structured as an A-to-B affair; instead, you have several points of interest in a given region which build into a large overarching story. Take a look at the full interview for more information about how quests will work in the game and how players will be guided through objectives as they play.
The Elder Scrolls Online Ebonheart Pact faction profiled
The flashlight of knowledge has already been directed at two of The Elder Scroll Online's three main political factions, and now the third is getting a little time in the light. We've already told you about the Daggerfall Covenant and the Aldmeri Dominion, and today Game Informer is closing out ouroboros with the third faction, the Ebonheart Pact. The alliance that makes up the Ebonheart Pact was first forged after an Akaviri invasion, when the Nords and Dunmer banded together and then cut the Argonians in on the friendliness in order to find safety in numbers. While the Aldmeri Dominion is bent on conquering and ruling, the Ebonheart Pact is really just an attempt to stay alive in a world of invasions and power struggles. The Dunmer, also called Dark Elves, call the familiar lands of Morrowind home. Skyrim, which a few folks may have heard of thanks to a rather underground game that came out last year, is home to the militant and cold-resistant Nords. The reptilian Argonians, or Saxhleel as they like to call themselves, come from the Black Marsh, also known (by way of total coincidence, I'm sure) as Argonia. They share the area with the Hist, a race of sentient trees, and all matter of poisonous and malicious critters and plants. If you need help keeping all the names straight (the Nords are also referred to as children of the sky, by the way, although apparently that's an informal title), be sure to read the full profile.
Matt Firor on The Elder Scrolls Online's '100% solo' personal story
Games in the Elder Scrolls series have always been about giving players the opportunity to become the game's hero, and it looks like The Elder Scrolls Online will be no different. The title's game director, Matt Firor, has announced that each character's main storyline in the game will be "100% solo." Firor points back to the previous entries in the series, stating that "in The Elder Scrolls games, you're always the hero... The last thing you want to do is have the final confrontation with Mehrunes Dagon as he's stomping across the Imperial City, and you see like 15 guys behind you waiting to kill him." While it's a good point, we can't help but wonder what kind of an impact this design will have on the social aspect of the MMO, but at this point all we can do is wait and see. Firor's full interview over on Game Informer has plenty of extra information as well, so if you're jonesing for more details, just head on over and check it out for yourself.
The Elder Scrolls Online factions profiled
Three alliances control the political scene in The Elder Scrolls Online's Tamriel, and Game Informer is taking a closer look at all of them, starting with the Daggerfall Covenant and the Aldmeri Dominion. The Daggerfell Covenant is made up of the Orcs (also called Orsimer), Bretons, and Redguards -- although the latter two are coming out of something of a love-hate relationship, with a history of as much internal conflict as external. Apparently time does heal all wounds, though, because the three races have worked out a democratic system of mutual love and respect. The Orcs and Bretons call the beautiful land of High Rock home, while the Redguard are based in Hammerfell. The Aldmeri Dominion is a more hostile power composed of the Altmer, the Bosmer, and Khajiit and intent on total domination. Also known as Wood Elves, the Bosmer call Valenwood home (surprise: It's a heavily wooded area) and enjoy tramping through forests, living in harmony with nature, and building cities in migratory trees. The Altmer, or High Elves, can be found in the little-known Summerset Isles. The Khajiit, who missed out on the alternative name lottery, live in Elsweyr, whose climate is ideal for the cultivation of Moon Sugar. Got all that? Study up, there'll be a test. Feel free to read the full profiles, and keep an eye out for Ebonheart Pact information on Friday.
The Soapbox: Translating Elder Scrolls Online dev speak
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. Language is a pretty fascinating thing, and studying a second one is something I've long intended to do. Aside from entertaining thoughts of learning Korean to play ArcheAge, though (seriously, I looked into it), I haven't gotten around to much beyond college-level Deutsch. But as I watched last week's interview with The Elder Scrolls Online creative director Paul Sage, I realized that I already have some pretty good second-language skills. I'm fluent in both English and MMO dev-speak, so as a public service, I'm going to translate some of what Sage said into the former.
Analyst predicts The Elder Scrolls Online will launch with a subscription fee
Are you hoping that The Elder Scrolls Online will be part of the classic subscription model rather than go the free-to-play route? According to analyst Nicholas Lovell, founder of Gamesbrief, the odds are good that you'll get your wish. Lovell notes that since the game began development in 2007, when subscription games were at their apex, Bethesda is likely to launch using the more familiar business model. Whether or not it will remain as a subscription game is another matter. Of course, the price of play is far from the minds of most fans -- the real question is what the game will look like when it's actually playable. Director Matt Firor recently sat down to discuss the game's earliest stages of development, the relationship between ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda, and working within the lore of the established IP. It's an interesting look behind the scenes of development, and if you're interested in the game, watching the video is certain to be six minutes well spent.
Elder Scrolls creative director: We want to make a good game first
The recently announced Elder Scrolls MMO has a lot to live up to. If the initial fan reaction is any indication, it's not doing as well as you might expect in the court of public opinion. Creative director Paul Sage recently stepped in front of the camera to talk at length about the project, and some of what he has to say probably isn't going to sit well with fans who are concerned that ZeniMax is making a generic themepark MMO out of the much-loved single-player sandbox series. "We have to make our own game," he tells Game Informer. "We want to make a good game first. Not a good MMO, not a good Elder Scrolls game, we want to make a good game first, a great experience for the player."
Bethesda's Todd Howard not interested in an Elder Scrolls MMO
Whenever the subject of untapped RPG franchises that could make the jump to MMOs comes up, Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series is almost always mentioned. After all, if Blizzard and BioWare made the jump, why not the folks behind Oblivion? In talking with our sister site Joystiq at PAX, Bethesda's Todd Howard fields the question with blunt honesty. "I like this kind of game better," he said. "You know, it's what most of us are into. I'm not really an MMO guy. I respect them, I look at them, but I don't play them. It feels more real to me when I'm the hero and it's crafted for that. A community aspect to it, I recognize a lot of people would want that in a game like this, but it changes the flavor for me. Of course, one man's feelings toward the genre aren't always enough to stave off corporate demands, but Howard says that isn't the case: "We can just do our thing, and it's kind of grown with each game. So there was no pressure from anybody above me to say 'Hey, you need to change this.'" That doesn't mean Bethesda will forever abstain from MMOs, however. Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Media, built an MMO customer support facility in Ireland earlier this year, an indication that online gaming may very well be in the company's future.
Rumor: Elder Scrolls MMO in the works?
Just about every MMO player has an IP he'd like to see undergo the MMO treatment. For some of us here at Massively, that IP is Bethesda's long-running Elder Scrolls series. Due to a deep reservoir of lore and the fact that earlier games in the series (notably Morrowind and Daggerfall) were more MMO-like than many modern MMOs, we'd love to see what Bethesda would do with such a beast. Apparently we're not the only ones, as SystemLink has posted a bit of speculation on a possible The Elder Scrolls V, highlighting a few job postings as evidence in support of its theory. While we're not completely sold on the author's conclusions -- mainly due to Bethesda's plainly articulated stance on the massive genre -- we suspect this won't be the last we hear of an Elder Scrolls MMORPG..
UK retailer GAME faces delivery issues with PS3 Oblivion
Is United Kingdom retailer GAME refusing to stock its store shelves with the PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion as part of some shady, conspiratorial deal with Microsoft and/or Nintendo? It must be that the retailer, as an entity, is so anti-Sony that it's willing to sacrifice a hefty amount of business on a high-profile, well-reviewed game launch so as to deprive helpless Sony fans of their Elder Scrolls fix.Put your tinfoil hats away, however, because it's just not true.Though the PS3 Oblivion was released today in Europe, a spokesperson for Ubisoft has told CVG that there were some distribution issues and that the title, while missing at some GAME stores, is available elsewhere. "Rest assured," said the spokesperson, "Oblivion on PS3 is definitely out today in online and high street retailers."The real loser in this situation is GAME, for aforementioned financial reasons. Many branches are not expecting to have the game until next Monday.[Via PS3 Fanboy]
Shivering Isles patch coming Monday for Xbox 360
According to a post on Bethesda production director Ashley Cheng's blog, a patch to fix the "formID" bug in the Oblivion expansion Shivering Isles will be available for download on the Xbox 360 Monday, April 30. The patch has been available for PC since April 12, as well as some fan-created solutions prior to that.There's a chance the patch will not make its purported Monday deadline, but the good news still is that there is a patch and it is complete and coming very soon. The critical bug would essentially appear late in the game and cause items to disappear.Cheng, whose current project is Fallout 3, has also posted a handful of YouTube videos featuring the various introductions from the Fallout series. Maybe they're considering a similar opening for their version? Time will tell.[Thanks, Megen]
Oblivion gets Nine Knights, expansion set on Nov 21 [update 1]
Bethesda has announced its eigth mini-expansion for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The latest download, Knights of the Nine will feature a new faction you can join, a sorcerer-king (and demonic minions, of course) that you can defeat, and the holy armor and weapons of the Divine Crusader to take for yourself. No price has been announced. Knights of the Nine will be available for download through the usual channels (XBLM, OblivionDownloads.com) as well as a boxed expansion set (for PC only) that includes all the downloadable content (currently valued at $13.53, or $11.54 sans Horse Armor). The PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion will come with Knights of the Nine. It was originally thought that this quest would be "exclusive," but we all know how finicky that word can be.[Thanks, PaleGringo][Update 1: clarified boxed package is PC only. Sorry Xbox gamers!]
