[Elder Scrolls] The Elder Scrolls Online

I'm a big fan of the Elder Scrolls series of games from Bethesda, specifically the console versions for Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. I've played Morrowind, Oblivion, and most recently Skyrim. I even tried the earlier computer game, Daggerfall, although I lacked an instruction manual and found it a bit challenging to play when I didn't know what I was doing.

I enjoy the open world, and the opportunity to play solo without having to ever follow the main quest if I don't want to. I've spent hours collecting alchemical ingredients and crafting armor rather than fight bandits, explore dungeons, or slay dragons. The game offers so many opportunities for the kind of play style I enjoy that I've never actually completed the main plot of any of the three games I mentioned above.

When Bethesda announced a few years ago that it would be producing a MMO version of Elder Scrolls, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I've never played any MMO; the horror stories of ruthless experienced players being awful to 'newbies' made me reluctant to try, as did the thought of having to team up with random strangers to complete certain activities. In addition I don't have a computer setup that would make playing such a game comfortable or fun. I was  disappointed because I feared this meant there wouldn't be any more solo open-world console games set in Tamriel, the world setting of the Elder Scrolls series.

The ESO MMO has been out for several years now, but just this week Bethesda announced an opportunity for players to try the game free for a week. Because it's now possible to play on Xbox or PlayStation through online services, my spouse decided to give it a try. I confess I haven't tried it out myself, I've only been observing while he plays. But here are a few of my observations.

The play experience has many things in common with Skyrim, the last ES console game released prior to the MMO. It has all the races, the various ethnic groups, and many of the same types of monsters and quests. The controls are a bit different since the game was designed to resemble other MMOs like World of Warcraft. You can play solo, but if you want to explore some dungeons you have to team up with other players; there's a function that will find you some people to team with if you don't have friends you can join. Like Oblivion and Skyrim, the NPCs you interact with are fully voiced, some of them by some well-known actors like Michael Gambon and Malcolm McDowell and others by some of the same voice artists who worked on Skyrim. But of course your character doesn't speak. You select responses when in a conversation. As in Skyrim, you usually only have two or three response options.

My mate didn't spend much time in the character creation menu, which is my favorite part of ES games. But it looks like there are plenty of options to individualize your character to suit your taste. Sadly the game's designers made the online elves look more human (and in my opinion less interesting) than the elves of the console version. The online game also introduces classes, which were something that existed in Oblivion but not in Skyrim. You also have to choose a faction, which really only comes into play if you choose to engage in PvP (player-versus-player) battles, which represent a war that is currently taking place in the game.

One of the big differences from the console/PC games is that there's a whole world out there to explore, not just one country or province. Skyrim limits you to the Imperial province of Skryim, which is Tamriel's Scandinavia analogue. Oblivion kept you in Cyrodiil, seat of the Empire, and Morrowind took place in the homeland of the dark elves, a land of strange plants and animals not found elsewhere in Tamriel. The MMO doesn't offer access to every part of Tamriel at present, but perhaps it will eventually. It does let you visit Morrowind and Daggerfall, and if you want to experience PvP combat you can visit Cyrodiil. If you're in other parts of the game world you can't attack other players and they can't attack you, which eliminates the issue of rude players killing your character for experience points that has been a problem in other MMOs.

The notable differences between the MMO and the console games include not only the bigger world and the menu options, but the presence of other players. You do see other players, lots of them. They run or gallop past constantly, never stopping to interact. Sometimes they run right through your character, having no effect at all. They suddenly appear to fight a monster your character is fighting and then go on their way. They stand in the middle of a street practicing their spells or attacks, or perhaps they're fighting an enemy you can't see. It feels a bit odd. You have to pretend that they're not really there, since you never speak to them and you can't fight them. This oddness becomes most obvious when a Daedric Anchor suddenly appears and every player in the region swarms to it to fight the daedra and gain experience and loot. If you're not within easy reach of the Daedric Anchor, there's no point in going because all the other players will have wiped everything out and eliminated the Anchor by the time you get there.

The 'boss' monsters and NPCs are also leveled, so it's possible to take on a quest that your character just isn't ready to face, and the game won't give you any obvious sign that you should wait until you're higher level to pursue that quest. I watched my spouse repeatedly fight one level boss and die until he gave up and went off to follow other simpler and less dangerous quests. This has happened to him several times. That's not something you usually face in other ES games; it's possible for a very low-level character in Skyrim to kill a dragon if you make sure to keep an eye on your health. My husband was either hitting a bug or a game limitation that wouldn't let him use a healing potion while fighting the level boss, which made it especially frustrating for him. I expect that if I try playing the MMO, I'll probably spend a long time taking on minor quests to gain experience and better equipment/magic before I attempt some of the bigger quests.

Overall the experience of ESO seems very similar to playing Skyrim. You can still craft potions, cook food, make armor and weapons, and there are some new skills to learn. You can use magic and weapons freely, you can wander all over the landscape, you run into lots of random monsters, you can eventually have your own home. You can join various organizations to gain benefits and supplies. The big advantage of the online game is the ability to keep playing in that wonderful expansive setting. Now that it's possible to play the game just the same way I would play the console version, it's tempting me to give it a try myself.