ELDERSCROLLSUPDATE

The reaction to the first screenshot of ZeniMax Online Studios’ upcoming The Elder Scrolls Online was not overwhelmingly positive for a few reasons. Its art style doesn’t scream Elder Scrolls, really, and series fans have a lot of expectations about exploration, combat and story for an online version of a beloved role-playing franchise that’s been defiantly single-player since its inception.

Is it possible to retain many of The Elder Scrolls’ strengths in an online environment? That was the topic brought up by Game Informer in an interview with Paul Sage, creative director at ZeniMax Online Studios.

“We have to make our own game,” said Sage. “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.”

From Daedric princes to providing plenty of reasons to explore to including raids and end game player versus player combat, Sage and ZeniMax Online are trying to strike a tricky balance between Elder Scrolls touchstones and traditional MMO mechanics.

When it comes to modding, hugely popular with Skyrim, Sage said, “Right now we don’t have a large modding plan. We do have plans for things like our UI, allowing the community to look at the UI and say ‘Ok, what changes would I make?’ There are definite ways the community is going to be able to change their game experience, but you have to be really careful with this because you can’t allow players to change other players’ game experiences or they get a little upset with you.

You’ll find much more detail over on Game Informer.

The cover story of Game Informer’s June issue provides a first look at ZeniMax Online Studios’ The Elder Scrolls Online, revealing plenty of details about the anticipated project. Set 1000 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls Online will span most of the continent of Tamriel, which includes more famous provinces like Skyrim, Cyrodiil and Morrowind. You’ll be able to take on standard quests, dive into public dungeons and compete in an open players-versus-player combat system at the level cap for control of the Emperor’s throne in Cyrodiil.

Starting off, you’ll choose to play as one of three factions, each comprised of three of The Elder Scrolls’ species. The Nords, Dark Elves and Argonians form the Ebonheart Pact, the High Elves, Wood Elves and Khajiit are bound together as the Aldmeri Dominion, and The Daggerfall Covenant includes the Bretons, Redguard and Orcs. Each faction will have unique questing content, so if you decide to replay as a different faction, you won’t have to complete the exact same set of tasks all over again.

The game will be class-based, so you can’t just jump in and start developing your character however you want like you can in Skyrim. ZeniMax Online isn’t revealing the exact classes yet, but from the sounds of things there’ll be a rogue-type class, a healer, a damage-focused caster, an archer and a fighter, all of which fit to some degree into the traditional healer / tank / damage-per-second categories of traditional MMOs, but ZeniMax Online stresses that though healing is a big part of the game, you won’t necessarily need a dedicated healer to clear all group content.

Outside of combat you’ll be able to tweak your skill bar, which determines your available abilities. Two of the skill slots will change depending on your equipped weapon, you can add in a few class-specific skills, and the final skill slot is an ultimate. Triggering your ultimate requires a certain reserve of finesse, which builds as you accomplish special tasks in battle. By working together with friendly players you can create skill combos, where a mage class can light an oil slick laid down by a rogue class on fire, or a fighter class can apparently spin kick fireballs from within a carpet of flame laid down by a mage. You can also perform special actions like interrupting casted spells or using shields, two-handed weapons or magic to block incoming attacks to build finesse, encouraging you to take advantage of advanced combat actions whenever possible.

For questing, ZeniMax Online will make use of phasing like in Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, where the world around you will change after completing certain quest objectives. There’ll be plenty to explore across Tamriel, encouraging you to search without specific quest goals and discover hidden caves and rewards. That being said, there’ll still be plenty of structured content, including instanced dungeons as well as public dungeons, which will feature similar content but can be accessed by anyone.

For end game content you’ll get heroic versions of instanced dungeons, raids, as well as an open world player versus player combat system. The three factions will fight for control of terrain surrounding the Imperial City in Cyrodiil. Across the province will be capturable forts, castles and farms, and you can either charge to the front lines of battle or hang back and fire siege weaponry to bust up the walls of some of the more heavily fortified capture points. Once your faction is into the Imperial City, you’ll find the streets will be full of enemies, and once the roads are cleared a new emperor will be crowed based on which player contributed most to the war effort. Your faction’s success in Cyrodiil’s PvP areas will confer faction-wide bonuses, but being crowned emperor will simply be for personal pride, and will not reward some god-like temporary power or items.

The familiar guilds of The Elder Scrolls, including the Dark Brotherhood, Fighters Guild, Thieves Guild and Mages Guild, will all be in the game, but ZeniMax Online isn’t talking about all of them quite yet. At least for the Fighters and Mages Guilds you’ll be able to perform tasks in the world to boost reputation and eventually unlock rewards in the form of abilities. As you quest and level you’ll be able to craft items and acquire mounts, but you won’t be able to own property. ZeniMax Online also mentioned that while werewolves and vampires are in the game, you can’t actually transform into either of those creatures.

While Bethesda Game Studios, the developer of the single-player Elder Scrolls games, is not creating The Elder Scrolls Online, they are consulting on aspects such as lore accuracy. Aside from that, though, all decisions about content creation are being handled within ZeniMax Online Studios.

The Elder Scrolls Online is scheduled to launch some time in 2013 for PC and Mac. You can find additional information over on Game Informer’s hub page and in the Elder Scrolls Online Wiki.

After five years in development, Zenimax Online Studios is finally showing off The Elder Scrolls Online. This massively multiplayer take on Bethesda’s fantasy franchise has a different sort of look than what series fans may be used to, with more stylized, exaggerated visuals than the single-player games. To be clear, though Bethesda Game Studios is consulting to a degree, Elder Scrolls Online is an entirely separate thing: a different team, different combat systems and many different ways to play.

That being said, some staple Elder Scrolls elements are included. You’ll be able to explore locations in every one of Tamriel’s provinces, in a time period set 1000 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and play as one of nine Elder Scrolls races. The Nord, Dunmer and Argonians form the Ebonheart Pact in the north east, the Bretons, Redguard and Orcs, based in the north west, make up the Daggerfall Covenant, and the Aldmeri Dominion made up of the Altmer, Bosmer and Khajiit are based in Tamriel’s south western areas. In the middle of all this is Cyrodiil and the Imperial City, which all three factions fight over as part of an open world player versus player battle system.

For combat, you’ll get familiar health, magicka and stamina bars, and a limited number of slots to assign active skills. Zenimax Online isn’t talking much about specific skills or classes, but it seems like there’ll be a few mechanics that all classes will use fairly often. The first is a block, which does not take up one of your limited skill slots, consumes stamina and lets you deflect incoming attacks and interrupt spell casts. Based on brief segments of footage shown off, it seems like this ability should be used fairly often, as a well-timed block will mitigate damage and stagger an enemy, giving you an opportunity to land a few extra hits without fear of retaliation. You’ll also be able to charge up attacks for more powerful versions, and periodically activate an ultimate ability, giving you another way to fight beyond what’s assigned to your skill bar.

There’s an incentive to fight intelligently too, as skilled play rewards you with extra treasure following a fight. Actual targeting seems to be genre-standard – this is not a Tera-like action combat system. In terms of what the classes can actually do, there aren’t many specifics available, but Zenimax Online is building all classes so they can fill multiple roles. The idea is regardless of which class you choose, you can still be useful in a group regardless of class composition.

Classes can combine attacks too. In a Guild Wars 2-like twist, if a mage-like class sets down a fire field and a warrior-like class does a spinning attack within it, fireballs are then tossed all around. Other cross-class combos are possible as well, and it should be interesting to find out more about how these function leading up to The Elder Scrolls Online’s launch.

Zenimax Online seems to want to deemphasize the need to group up to plow through challenging content, and so has built multiple public dungeons into the world of Tamriel for you to explore with others. This way, if you come across somebody trying to beat up a menacing creature, you can walk in and, without needing to form a group or complete a number of prerequisite tasks, jump in, help out, and be rewarded. Standard grouped five-man dungeons will also be in the game, with normal and heroic versions.There’ll be plenty of solo questing opportunities as well, including exploration features that encourage you to wander. Points of interest will pop up on your map as you roam environments, and can sometimes lead to new quests that tie into your main tasks. For example, on the way to confront a werewolf outbreak in the city of Camlorn, there’s a field of hostile spirits you can choose to ignore or investigate. Naturally, investigation leads to battle, and you uncover an ability to time travel and discover weaknesses of the lead werewolf in Camlorn that would have otherwise remained hidden if you’d simply followed the most direct route to the main quest goal.

You’ll also find plenty of recognizable environment and enemy types as you explore, from Dwemer Centurions and dinosaur-like Clannfear to the swamps and marshes of Morrowind and snowy slopes of Skyrim. Armor designs don’t seem as intricately detailed as the versions found in single-player Elder Scrolls games, but do give off flashy reflections from metallic elements.

Much of the game remains a mystery at this point, but from what’s been shown so far it seems like Zenimax Online isn’t taking any big risks with The Elder Scrolls Online’s gameplay. Hopefully sometime soon we’ll hear more about the types of classes included and their specific skills, as it’s tough to get a real sense of an MMO until you’ve played for hours and gotten acquainted with the intricacies of the battle system and flow of character progression. For now, The Elder Scrolls Online is scheduled to ship in 2013 for PC and Mac.

Zenimax Online hasn’t ruled out releasing The Elder Scrolls Online on consoles according to the studio’s head.

In an interview with GamesIndustry, Matt Firor explained that uncertainty over the next generation is the main thing that’s holding the company back.

“There are a lot of rumors swirling around the next-gen coming back together with PCs,” he said. “It seems like things are going back to a more standard platform. That being said, we haven’t thought about it heavily right now. The worst thing you can do is worry about new platforms while in development.

“We want to do what we’re doing right now and then look around for further opportunities. Certainly we’re open to new opportunities, and we’re going to be looking into new territories beyond North America and Europe.”
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Online game development is all about doing whatever you want, pushing limitations, and it’s just easier to do on an open platform. Someday, it may all change.

Firor explained that he doesn’t know if any potential console version of the game would be connected with the PC version, as is the case with Final Fantasy XI, as it would depend on the technology. Despite this, he shared his feeling that we may be seeing more MMOs on consoles in the near future.

He claimed, “It’s the classic desk vs. couch argument, but it is blurring over time. The current-gen and previous-gen MMOs were all about using the keyboard and mouse, and sure, everyone used things like Ventrilo and other voice chat services, but that only works in a small group. A lot of that has been thanks to design problems that people haven’t focused on a lot, such as typing and controlling at the same time.

“The 360, when announced was a pretty ridiculously cool device, but it is not so good anymore compared to PCs and even when it was announced PCs were still better than it. The technology was a little limiting for the size and scope of the world you could have. It mostly comes down to PCs being wide open. Online game development is all about doing whatever you want, pushing limitations, and it’s just easier to do on an open platform. Someday, it may all change.”

With so much still up in the air, it’s no surprise that Firor refused to be drawn on the potential business model for the game, simply saying it would be revealed “later”. There’s been speculation both ways in recent months, with some arguing that Guild Wars 2’s imminent release means the title can’t risk charging a fee, while others argue that as development began in 2007 when most MMOs had recurring costs, it’s likely the game was designed with that model in mind.

But despite the crowded MMO marketplace, Firor explained the team isn’t worried. He refuted the suggestion that Blizzard dominates the fantasy genre with World of Warcraft, arguing, “All fears have been erased after the success of Skyrim. It just shows that the IP, fantasy or not, is giant and very popular. It resonates with a lot of people in a lot of different parts of the world. It is perfect for an MMO, so I am not worried about that at all.”

The Elder Scrolls Online is due out in 2013.

It’s been a pretty interesting year for the MMO genre. Just 12 months ago, things were looking incredibly positive; Star Wars: The Old Republic was reporting booming subscriber numbers, The Secret World was raising eyebrows with its original setting and engaging environments and, despite many people’s hopes to the contrary, World of Warcraft continued to boast substantial – if slightly diminished – subscriber numbers.

Fast-forward 12 months and a very different landscape lies before us. Despite three fairly diverse MMOs launching in the past year (Tera being the third), not a single one has managed to reach its first birthday still in the subscription space. While some people would have suspected this of The Secret World and Tera, the latter of which only announced its free-to-play ambitions last week, SWTOR’s failure was more shocking. If the most expensive video game ever made, reportedly costing around $200 million, failed to justify a paid subscription despite being helmed by one of the most respected developers in the industry, then surely it’s time to ask: are subscription fees still viable for MMOs?

Though it was never considered a bastion of the genre, Tera’s defection to the ranks of sub-less MMOs is likely to have a pretty big impact for those titles still resolutely charging monthly fees. Blizzard’s behemoth World of Warcraft still looks relatively safe, especially given its revitalised subscriber numbers following the release of Mists of Pandaria, but for other games it’s looking like it can only be a matter of time before they start feeling the pinch.
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Though it was never considered a bastion of the genre, Tera’s defection to the ranks of sub-less MMOs is likely to have a pretty big impact for those titles still resolutely charging monthly fees.

It’s hard to predict what will happen to EVE Online; CCP’s space age MMO has never reported huge subscriber figures (though it did break the 400,000 barrier back in March 2012), but it is the only MMO to have grown year-on-year in terms of subs numbers every year since its release a decade ago. The experience offered by the game is so unique that, especially when coupled with the infamous loyalty of the game’s community, it should do fine. The imminent release of the free-to-play PS3-exclusive FPS tie-in Dust 514 is also likely to raise the game’s profile and, providing it isn’t a horrifying addition that devalues the EVE experience (unlikely, from what we’ve seen), it will probably translate into some extra sub fees courtesy of console players keen to check out what they’re missing in the game that started it all.

At the other end of the spectrum is Rift. Credit where it’s due, the game is pretty much the only MMO to launch with a similar fantasy aesthetic to World of Warcraft and not be blown out of the water within months. As we approach the game’s two year anniversary though, it seems the game’s grace period may be drawing to a close. In December 2012 developer Trion Worlds laid off a third of the team working on Rift “in response to market conditions”. It’s an understandable move considering an expansion had just been released and the overall development workload had decreased but, even so, it’s an ominous sign for the future given how flooded the genre is with titles that don’t require monthly payments.

Ultimately, it all comes down to MMOs still being able to justify their subscription fees in the eyes of gamers. How they can achieve this remains murky, and it’s undeniable that World of Warcraft is casting a long shadow; with eight years of iteration and fresh content under its belt, asking anyone to pay the same for a new release seems ludicrous. But out of the remaining handful of MMOs that still charge subscription fees, one of them has managed to do so for even longer than World of Warcraft without being beaten into submission.

Final Fantasy XI has been running since 2001, with a new expansion pack due to be released imminently, and has managed to justify its subscription fee to many players for all that time. It seems that despite many gamers proclaiming how they’d be willing to pay subscription fees if an MMO tried something new, this isn’t strictly true; FFXI boasted fairly derivative gameplay when it was new, let alone now, meaning it’s the strength of the brand and the goodwill it enjoys in the eyes of consumers that has allowed the title to earn enough money from subscriber revenue to become the most profitable title in the Final Fantasy series.
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It’s undeniable that World of Warcraft is casting a long shadow; with eight years of iteration and fresh content under its belt, asking anyone to pay the same for a new release seems ludicrous.

This is an important realisation and one that a number of companies need to embrace this year. 2013 will (supposedly) see at least two big MMOs based on established franchises go live, with both seemingly keen to charge subscription fees.

The first will almost definitely impact the future fortunes of Final Fantasy XI; if Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a success, it’ll likely supplant the former game as the go-to option for FF fans seeking a persistent online world. It’s been confirmed that the relaunched title will require a subsciption fee, but what’s more interesting are the reasons given for this decision. Producer Naoki Yoshida claimed in an interview with VG247 last year that monthly payments would be kept in a bid to “regain the trust of our players” following a disastrous launch, rather than due to any business decisions. This is fair enough; It’s undeniable that many gamers have an innate distrust of free-to-play games.

To my mind, it seems the future standing of the genre rests squarely on the shoulders The Elder Scrolls Online. Bethesda has opted to remain tight-lipped so far on whether it’ll be free-to-play or not, but considering development on the game started some time ago, it’s safe to assume it was designed with a subscription fee in mind. This means the company faces quite the quandary; it could probably get away with keeping the sub fee both as a mark of quality and thanks to the franchise’s pedigree, but this would place a lot of pressure on the game to launch ready to compete with the likes of Warcraft rather than allow for the teething period that most MMOs go through.

The alternative isn’t much better. Take Star Wars: The Old Republic as an example: from development until a significant time after launch, EA and Bioware were both swift to rebuff the notion that the game would embrace F2P as it had been designed with a sub fee in mind. When the eventual decision was made to make the switch, it was dogged by a number of mistakes and misjudgements along the way. What this shows is that it’s by no means easy to seamlessly integrate freemium revenue streams into a game not designed for them. SWTOR’s entire infrastructure was designed to be supported by a calculated number of subs; taking them away meant the company was forced to try and crowbar a sufficient number of changes in to maintain the same level of service.
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Case in point: despite being put on a pedestal as the MMO Messiah for months before release and enjoying a well-received launch, my copy of Guild Wars 2 hasn’t been touched for months.

While it can be done, especially if the game didn’t cost such an obscene amount to make, it’s far more likely that the end result appears unjust and exploitative in a bid to coax money out of players, as was the case with SWTOR’s action bar fiasco. Similarly, aside from reassuring players that the game is a constant focus for the developer, sub fees also foster the compulsion that gamers should be playing the title. It may be a pretty depressing admission, but if I pay for a game every month then as well as feeling that the developer had a responsibility towards me, I feel for my part that I should be playing the game specifically because I’m paying for it, and it’s wasted money if I’m not. On the plus side, this obligation dynamic makes the servers busier, and the world feel more vibrant and enjoyable.

Case in point: despite being put on a pedestal as the MMO Messiah for months before release and enjoying a well-received launch, my copy of Guild Wars 2 has been gathering dust since October, primarily because I’m not losing anything by not playing it. It’ll still be there in six months, though the expansive player-base required to make it an optimum experience may not. Making players feel obligated to play due to continual sub fees may be a bit of a dirty trick, but it’s an irrefutable component of Warcraft’s success.

One thing seems certain. If The Elder Scrolls Online opts to forgo the sub route, any future MMOs are going to have to think long and hard about what they can offer that an Elder Scrolls game can’t to justify extra costs beyond that of the box.

While this may all sound a bit bleak, it’s important to distinguish that the demise of the subscription model that was the norm for so long doesn’t equate with the death of the MMO genre. Though far from easy, ditching your subscription fee can be a lucrative move for companies. When The Lord of the Rings Online became one of the first to do this back in 2010, Turbine announced that the game’s revenue tripled and it became the third most-played MMO of 2010. More recently at the tail-end of last year, Funcom saw a 30% rise in sales of The Secret World and 400% increase in player activity once it ditched the compulsory monthly fee for the Lovecraftian MMO.

We don’t know what the future holds for the MMO genre, but it’s a mistake to think that this marks a fundamental shift in player mentality, and that they won’t pay subscription fees under any circumstances. What’s important is that companies don’t become too hung up on innovation around the business model whilst delivering the same old tropes and gameplay features. If the genre is to keep moving forward rather than stagnating it’ll be what we get to do rather than how we pay to do it that’ll dictate what the next 12 months hold.

 

Sign ups for beta testing Bethesda’s upcoming MMO The Elder Scrolls Online are now being accepted.

Anyone who registers to try out the game ahead of launch will be eligible to become a beta tester, though not everyone will be asked to participate. It also isn’t clear when the testing will actually begin, though the company has said timing and details of playtests will be provided to those who register at a later date.

A new trailer for the game has also been released containing more details, which you can check out below. It introduces in depth the three main alliances battling for control of Tamriel and the Imperial City: the Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant, and Ebonheart Pact.

The Elder Scrolls Online is the first title in the popular franchise to venture into the MMO space. One of the more interesting features that Zenimax Online has promised will be part of the game is the introduction of “Megaserver technology”. This means that you won’t have to make sure you and your mates select the same server or shard when starting the game in order to play together, but will instead be able to constantly interact through one connected world.

The game is currently only planned for release on PC and Mac in 2013, though we have heard previously that a console version hasn’t been ruled out. It’s also worth noting that it hasn’t been announced whether the game will require a subscription fee or not.

 

Just to get it off my chest, let me count the ways in which Elder Scrolls Online isn’t like Skyrim, Oblivion, or Morrowind – the series’ most recent (and famous) entries. Merchants don’t have limited supplies of money, and you don’t trudge along as though you’re carrying the world once your bags are filled. You can’t attack friendly NPCs, and the folks you can kill don’t drop the exact items they were wearing. Elder Scrolls Online lets you rummage through most crates and collect items such as skill books, but you can’t physically pick them up and drop them at your leisure. Role-play lovers, despair: you can’t sit in chairs. Most heartbreaking of all, you can’t revisit low level zones and still find a challenge even at the highest levels. That’s already a pretty hefty grab bag of caveats that may turn off a chunk of the Elder Scrolls fanbase, but it’s a testament to the quality of the work that ZeniMax Online has done here that I felt as though I was playing a genuine Elder Scrolls release nevertheless.

They certainly get the ambiance right, beginning with my arrival on the parched island of Stros M’Kai via a ship in the vein of Morrowind, as well as in the countless NPCs I encountered with fully voiced choice-based dialogue options. Moments of beauty were many, particularly when I made my way to the leafy orcish island of Betnikh around level 5. The serene interface recalls the immersive simplicity of Oblivion’s display of health, magicka, and stamina, although number-conscious MMO veterans can activate a more cluttered interface by clicking the Alt button. What little I saw of crafting – cooking, specifically – involved a system of experimentation similar to that found in Skyrim. The questing, too, went far beyond throwaway text to justify killing the pirates of Dwemer I encountered; at times it affected the development of my own story progression. In one, for instance, I helped rescue a thief named Jakarn from prison and then recapture his stolen gem, only to find a grumpy orc named Moglurkal waiting outside the dungeon for us and demanding the return of the jewel. In contrast to other MMORPGs, I had the option to lie about having the jewel, and I took it. Had I not, I wouldn’t have seen Jakarn popping in to help me and give me new quests on Betnikh.

My four or so hours of hands-on gameplay in ESO brimmed with moments like these, and the choices felt much more meaningful than the simple light/dark options of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Even better, you don’t have to worry about your punky leveling buddy forcing story decisions on you that you don’t want to make. I saw this most prominently when a colleague I was grouped with made different decisions as to how to handle a poisoned ship captain; I gave her an antidote and let her live, she let her die. But even though we were grouped and in the same room, I saw events unfold differently, and later, the captain came to my aid when I needed her help. I’m looking forward to seeing how it unfolds throughout the whole game, as I found that ESO offered a rewarding single player storyline that never comes close to ditching social elements so vital to MMOs. In fact, with open mob tagging, shared servers, and spell combos that require two or more players, it promotes it.

Sword Play

The combat feels very much like what you’d find in an Elder Scrolls game; the bad news (particularly for melee-oriented players) there is that means it’s subject to the series’ signature stiff animations. But here’s the thing – I felt as though I was actually hitting stuff. Playing with a sword and shield, I reveled in the familiarity of using my left mouse button to both block and bash for spell interrupts, and immediately found myself holding down the right mouse button for power attacks and merely clicking it for lighter ones. It’s fun, but I was dismayed to learn that I couldn’t play Elder Scrolls Online as I usually play Skyrim – specifically, as a stealthy archer who whips out either daggers or swords in close quarters. I could use the bow (although the arrow’s trajectory looked more like I was tossing it than firing it), I could sneak by pressing Control (although stealth bonuses, I’m told, won’t unlock until I’ve leveled medium armor a ways), but I still found myself frustrated when I couldn’t whip out my sword when my quarry finally reached me. For that, I was told, I’d have to wait until level 15 when weapon swapping unlocks.

The concept could work well, particularly since a new action bar pops up every time you equip a new weapon, and Elder Scrolls Online’s take on this mechanic offers a far greater range of customization than what you find in Guild Wars 2’s similar interface. Indeed, there’s another reason why I’m looking forward to trying it out in the future. By far the biggest announcement of the day is that Elder Scrolls Online will feature first-person combat after all, and while my experience with it was limited to watching a minute-long video of an early build set in a graveyard, I loved what I saw, particularly for the promise it holds for archery.

Alas, one reason why the first-person perspective sounds enticing is that I never really warmed to the appearance of the Breton I chose out of the three available races from the Daggerfall Covenant (along with orcs and Redguards). His muddy features suggested he’d be far more at home in Oblivion than Skyrim, but I nevertheless appreciated the way I could make the most minute adjustments to everything from his build to how he squints. Elsewhere, the freedom of development was well-suited to my fairly rushed playthrough to level 7. True to Elder Scrolls (particularly before Skyrim), the three available classes of Dragonknight, Sorcerer, and Templar were more like suggestions than set-in-stone templates, and I appreciated the ease with which I was able to transform my Sorcerer into a bow-wielding, medium armor-wearing ranger. If that isn’t Elder Scrolls, I don’t know what is.

The Right Moves

It’s too early to make judgments, but even in its current form, I could see myself logging into ESO regularly to satisfy my personal craving for more Elder Scrolls content. I’m also happy to see that the design so far seems focused on exploration and questing rather than grinds. There are no raids, after all – “That’s not Elder Scrolls,” says Game Director Matt Firor – but there are four-man dungeons and three-faction open PvP with sieges in the beleaguered province of Cyrodiil. From the live dungeon run I saw, they play with a dynamism akin to what you find in Guild Wars 2 but with a welcome degree of control, springing Elder Scrolls Online’s embrace of the so-called trinity of heals, DPS, and tanks. ”Dark Anchors” – a dynamic grouping component – also open from Molag Bal’s plane of Oblivion, but in all honesty, they bore such a striking similarity in both concept and appearance to Rift’s titular rifts such that I worry they’ll get old fast.

For all the risk that an MMO presents for a franchise that’s been rock-steady in its adherence to the MSORPG (massively single-player role-playing game) discipline, I’ll say this about ESO: I wanted to keep playing. I wanted to find out what lay at the end of an unmarked riddle quest I’d found in a half-buried treasure chest, and I wanted to find adventures lay in wait in the alleys of Daggerfall. All this is but a scratch of what I encountered in Elder Scrolls Online over four hours of gameplay, and if ZeniMax can maintain that drive to keep exploring up to and past the level cap of 50, their creation might just be worthy of the Elder Scrolls title after all.

 

Titanfall won six categories in the Game Critics Awards, including Best of Show. Respawn Entertainment’s online shooter also brought home the Best Original Game, Online Multiplayer, Action, PC, and Console awards.

Other winners of the GCAs, which are determined by 30 industry outlets including IGN, can be seen below. Titanfall also won IGN’s Best of E3 2013 award.

Game Critics Awards winners:

Terraway for Best Handheld Game
Oculus Rift for Best Hardware
Watch Dogs for Best Action/Adventure
NHL 14 for Best Sports Game
The Elder Scrolls Online for Best RPG
Need for Speed: Rivals for Best Racing
Total War: Rome II for Best Strategy
Fantasia: Music Evolved for Best Social/Casual Game
Transistor for Best Downloadable Game

Oh all you poor deluded ps4 fanboys your not getting titan fall because,believe it or not, the play station isn’t powerful enough. The devs specifically said they rely on the power of Microsofts cloud to run titanfall and it wouldn’t be able to port it to the ps4, you won’t even get dead rising 3 because Microsoft is publishing it

According to a survey answered by 30,000 IGN readers, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the RPG users are most interested in. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt recently won IGN’s E3 2013 People’s Choice Award and is among the finest next-gen games we’ve seen.

The survey also revealed some interesting information about IGN’s hardcore RPG players, specifically those who stated they play role-playing games “almost exclusively.”

Most notably, Watch Dogs and Destiny transcended genre favoritism to beat both The Witcher 3 as the games RPG fans are most interested in playing.

Open-world action game Watch Dogs was voted as the game most anticipated by those who play RPGs almost exclusively. Bungie’s shooter Destiny, which ranked second among hardcore RPG fans who took the survey, is perhaps less surprising — RPG fans may be attracted to its role-playing elements, such as character progression and class system.

Also of note among the survey, in which users who play RPGs almost exclusively ranked the games they’re most interested in, is that RPGs ranked comparatively low compared to other genres. Next up, users chose Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and Infamous: Second Son as their most-anticipated games.These three action games garnered more interest from RPG players than Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy XV, and The Elder Scrolls Online.

Behind those games is Battlefield 4, which ranked higher than RPGs such as Tom Clancy’s The Division and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Keep a look out for more on survey respondents reactions to next-gen consoles, games, and more soon here on IGN.

Data used for this article was collected over a 2 day period on IGN.com on June 25 and 26, and will carry any skews associated with the IGN audience. Respondents were not compensated for participation and limited to those over the age of 13 years old. The results, however, are not restricted to the United States and contain representation from a global audience. n=30,000; margin of error < 1%.

If you’re a fan of The Elder Scrolls Online, you were probably glued to the livestream earlier this month. But a single stream doesn’t give you nearly as many answers as you’d like to have. So the development team took the opportunity to answer questions that potential players had about the stream, from game mechanics to elements as innocuous as UI components. And even if you were watching the stream with rapt attention, there are probably details that you missed.

For example, the answers reveal that the game no longer includes a minimap, using a compass instead to encourage more player exploration. The party seen in the dungeon was also roughly level-appropriate, meaning that the healing and damage on display was roughly indicative of what players can expect from actual combat. Several of the animations shown were more or less finalized, but other elements (such as first-person mode) are still being tweaked. You can catch a few more tidbits from the full set of answers on the official site.