Beta: Wildstar

I finally scrounged up a beta key to Wildstar, even though I’ve been in the beta waiting pool since they opened beta sign-ups.  I’m not impressed.  It certainly isn’t going to be an investment I’ll be making, I’ll wait until the game goes free-to-play.

Basically, it is a space Western WOW clone.  The cell coloration is overly saturated and graphics are flat.  It looks like exactly what it’s creators wanted, a WOW clone. 

Character creation is uninspired, too similar between races and nothing truly unique.  Jewelry is excessively large and gaudy, personal opinion obviously.  After you wake up from stasis you take a step and immediately notice how incredibly floaty walking is, and jumping?  Jumping is like being a living, breathing rubber ball.  It is disconcerting, you just float and bounce alone.  Landing on the planet didn’t change that feeling either.

Classes and paths are unique, I will grant the team at Wildstar that but otherwise it is completely forgettable.  The game isn’t fully voiced, which dates it and sets it apart from it’s competition, which is a good thing because dialogue and text never match up.  As for quests themselves, they could have been written by a third grader.  Language and concepts are overly simplistic and dumbed-down to the lowest common denominator.

If you are looking for a game were you can fully customize your character, this is not the game.  The females are all young and skinny.  Boobs have decreased in size from previous pictures I have seen from the game, but seriously look at the size of my characters waist compared to her boobs.  No thanks, I’m not that unrealistically proportioned in real life and I don’t need to perpetuate adolescent male fantasies in a role playing game.

Happily, passing on Wildstar.  If I want a space opera MMO, I’ll stick with Star Wars: The Old Republic it is much more my type of game.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Changes to Cold Harbor

The very first time I logged into beta for the Elder Scrolls Online way back when I was filled with excitement and trepidation.  Would it live up to previous Elder Scrolls games?  Would my fears be confirmed?  Would I fall in love with the game like I did Oblivion?

Amazing how those answers would be so INCREDIBLY different if this weekend had been my first experience with ESO.  Way back then, the game lived up to its predecessors, my fears were unfounded and I loved the game.  Not just loved it, I told my husband that it was gaming perfection for me.  Now, Cold Harbor DESTROYS that experience entirely. 

The original Cold Harbor was an escape from death as all Elder Scrolls games begin.  Only this time, Daedric Prince Molag Bal was responsible and I had to fight to escape his realm.  It was immersive from the beginning.  A creepy old dude appears and not only can I see and talk to him but I escape from my jail cell as a result.  None of that has changed but here after, the immersive aspect disappears.

The old dude, aka The Prophet, tells me to follow the kind Argonian who opens my cell door and to arm myself.  Used to be you ended up in a forge with a large variety of weapons to choose from, as would make sense in a room known as the FORGE.  New version, there is one weapon and only one weapon choice a sword.  Really a sword?  Yes, I know you can use any weapon in the game with any class but if you are like me and get horrible luck with weapon drops then guess what?  That is your weapon until a better one appears. 

Sucking it up, I equip the sword and moved on.  First play through Cold Harbor this weekend, I played it like every other time I’ve gone through it.  That was a mistake.  Chests and enemies are far less, there is no longer a sense of improving through successful battles.  No weapons, armor, books, lock picks, or recipes dropped and I looted every possible urn, crate, chest, and barrel I could.  I rescued the Prophet, not caring for the first time about Lyris and her sacrifice. 

The new boss battle at Anchor Mooring was a pleasant change however.  But of course I was underpowered with the crappy sword and rags I was equipped with.  The fight which could have felt epic in scale and ferocity, instead felt like I had been thrown to the dogs and would succeed only because the Prophet was throwing heals on me.  Boss done, I felt none of the urgency to escape.  I no longer had to collect shards to assemble the Skyshard, Prophet just magically conjured them up. 

Successful escape from Cold Harbor and I land in some house in Daggerfall.  I walk out the door and NPCs are acting like they’ve heard of my fighting abilities.  Really?  They have sources in Cold Harbor that regularly report back to them?  First reaction?  They are in league with a Daedric Prince and I am OUTTA HERE.  Tried to find a way back to the starter island but no luck there.  I was under-geared and under-leveled for the area I was thrown into and I was dismayed.

I played through Cold Harbor three times since Friday morning and it hasn’t gotten any better.  Now I just rush through to get to the end of a dismal experience that isn’t immersive and isn’t worthy of being in an Elder Scrolls game.  I miss John Cleaves as Caldwell because I flat out don’t believe that Molag Bal has stolen my soul or that I am in any mortal or immortal danger.  I finish the Cold Harbor mess always under-geared and thrown into some random location not caring. 

Luckily, I know how incredibly good the game is but if I were a new player I would be done with the game after this experience.  I wouldn’t give it five more minutes of my time and I would tell everyone not to waste their time as well.  I get that the developers wanted to make skipping “starter” islands a possibility but they implemented that choice in the worse possible manner.  The story is no longer cohesive, immersive, and it makes no sense. Now it is just another random MMO in a sea drowning in random MMOs. 

The forums are filled with other players equally upset with the changes.  I’m praying the developers come to their collective senses in time to save the mess they have turned the game into. 

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Xbox: Thief

Thief is quite honestly the biggest gaming disappointment in the last six months and that is saying quite a lot. 

I will admit I got sucked in by flashy videos and pretty graphics.  The game is disappointment from the moment it fires up.  Seriously Eidos and Square Enix you couldn’t give users the option to adjust in-game gamma?  No, you require that I destroy my finely tuned video settings on my television.  Didn’t happen for my game nor for my husband’s. 

Actual game play is atrocious.  I don’t have a great love of the series so I have no nostalgia that would keep me playing the game.  The story is abysmal.  Wait correction, what little story there is makes no sense and is just a series of words strung together in sentence format.  Or as I described the story earlier today, Plants v. Zombies: Garden Warfare has a better story and there is NO story whatsoever in that game.

Then there is the issue of Garret the master thief who must carry an gnome fence in his pocket who immediately purchases the items Garret loots.  And those items our master thief loots?  Yeah, they are so sparkly that every damn magpie bird in the game would have already made off with the items in question.  And a master thief that steals tea saucers and letter openers?  Seriously, he isn’t a master thief he is a petty thief.

Actual stealth is a joke as are his abilities.  He can scale some walls that make no sense with his “claw” tool but that average size fence, no way our alleged master thief would ever be capable of scaling such an obstacle.  Environments aren’t open, there is a definite approved path to accomplish tasks, there is only one “right” way to finish.

I only managed to finish the introduction and first chapter of the game.  I tried to play through the second chapter this morning but I flat out don’t have the time or patience to pull my hair out just to say I finished the game.  The game was a waste of $60 bucks and undoubtedly it will go on sale shortly on the game store and I will be irritated and pissed off even more. 

Honestly, save your money take someone you love to the movies or out for dinner.  The game is utter crap and unworthy of even 1 star out of 5, so I will get a 0 of 5 stars. 

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Xbox: South Park: The Stick of Truth is …

South Park: The Stick of Truth is truly amazing.  It is a game that was well worth the delays and wait.  It is like being in an episode of South Park.

If you aren’t a fan of South Park then skip the game.  No seriously, skip it.  You won’t find foul mouthed, rude, fourth graders funny or the game enjoyable.  But if you enjoy the show, then you will enjoy the game immensely. 

You play as the ever silent New Kid in town who first meets Butters went sent outside to play by your parents.  You are then immediately recruited into Cartman’s human army against the Drow Elves led by Kyle.  What happens next is an old school RPG set in the South Park universe. 

The are some truly epic battles in the game.  Not epic because they are difficult or you are forced to make complex and difficult moral choices, but epic in the scope and breathe of the level of destruction wrought by fourth grade boys on the rampage.

The characters you know and love are in the game, unless they are already deceased in the series.  Always despise Principal Victoria or Mr. Garrison?  Have no fear, you can hit any character with your weapon without impunity, well unless they are an enemy, and they don’t get pissed off at you. 

The interface is simple and intuitive, not overly complex constant stat weighing and convoluted quest lines.  Weapons are clearly indicated to be an improvement or not, armor is a personal decision (although I highly favor the Friar’s and Bishop’s robes) and quests are go there and do that.

And as I girl, my inner nine-year old girl truly jumped for joy when the girls appeared.

The game is quite literally laugh out loud hysterical if you have a sense of humor and have learned to laugh at anyone and anything.  It is a game for you inner nine-year old to play and enjoy.  Indulge!  Life is too damn short and too damn stressful not to enjoy when the opportunity presents itself.

Quite easily this game is a 5 out of 5 for both of us.  I wouldn’t let children under sixteen play it however.  There are most definitely adult themes and situations that are in no way suitable for young children.  But for adults, the game is incredibly funny and a trip down memory lane.  Thank you Trey Parker and Matt Stone for making what is truly one of the best video games of 2014.

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Xbox: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

We all know two things, I’m no superstar when it comes to first person shooters and I have no deep and abiding love of anything zombie related.  That caveat in place, I absolutely adore Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare on the Xbox One.

It isn’t blood, guts and gore like the realistic first person shooters like Call of Duty or Battlefield.  There is no gore or disgusting graphics that you usually find in zombie games.  Instead it is adorable sweet plants battling equally adorable zombies.  There is no single player campaign it is just straight up multiplayer mayhem that makes me giggle and laugh every time I fire up the game.

There are incentives for cooperative team play, you revive a fallen team member and you remove a point from the opposing team.  You can change “professions” anytime you die and respawn rather than waiting for a revive from a teammate.  What that means that if you have too many healers or ranged dps, then you can switch up on the fly. 

There is the opportunity to change the look of your character through unlocks earned via the sticker system.  There is no cash shop and therefore no pay to win argument.  You earn “coins” in game to purchase sticker packs which you can then purchase to unlock character customizations, consumables, and rare characters.

The game is sweet and just enjoyable.  I would have no trouble having a younger member of the family play the game.  There is no overt violence that would make me cringe as a parent.  Sure the plant or zombie is trying to kill the opposition but it isn’t a game focused on the killing so much as the importance of teamwork than the one elite dude running around sniping everyone regardless of objectives.

The game is going to be my go to for multiplayer for the spring and summer.  There is just something relaxing about coming in from working in the garden and slaughtering zombies (aka weeds) as revenge.  I admit it the gardener in me is very vindicated every time I blow-up a zombie.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Rumors

The lifting of the NDA is going to prove to be a blessing and a curse for Zenimax and Elder Scrolls Online.  It is a blessing because true fans of the Elder Scrolls can now openly express their opinions of the game.  Sure, there are purists who go into beta with a preconceived disposition to hate the game because it isn’t single player but if they drop their preconceived expectations, they come to love the game for what it is.

Now for the curse and it is a dozy, the rumor mill of what is and isn’t happening in the closed beta is now running rampant.  There is currently a rumor that starting islands are being removed from the game.  Since no beta invites have been issued yet for the much anticipated and hoped for beta this weekend, it can only be assumed that the rumor was instigated by someone in the ongoing 24/7 closed beta testing group or an individual with malicious intent. 

Personally, I’m thinking that the rumor was started by someone in the 24/7 beta test group who violated their NDA.  Now there is the expectation that the starter islands are gone and that players will immediately go from Cold Harbor to the first city of their faction. 

What the rumor actually states is that the starting islands are now optional.  This will be a boon to those individuals who rush to the “end game” and then begin to whine and moan about how the game is a failure because they’ve reached level cap and there is nothing for them to do.  Sure, starting islands aren’t going to make that much of a difference to those that rush, which begs the question why make them optional in the first place?

Making the starter islands optional does provide and element of freedom that has been present in all of the single player games, I freely admit this benefit.  But this isn’t a single player game and those couple of levels that you gain on the starter island may mean a shift in your play style you didn’t anticipate when you made your character.  You may discover that you hate the way that the Assassination line plays while fighting creatures of equivalent levels or that you are breezing through enemies as a Dragon Knight utilizing a Restoration staff.  Making those discoveries as a level three player against creatures several levels against you will not be a pleasant experience.

I won’t be skipping starter islands, there is too much to experience and figure out on them.  I have enjoyed the stories and quests on every single starter island.  I will have done them multiple times by the time the game releases and I still won’t be skipping them.  If you aren’t an Elder Scrolls lore junkie, then skipping the starter islands won’t help you get immersed in the world either.  You won’t meet characters whose families were devastated by the last war with the Akaviri (2E 572) or meet soldiers stranded by a hurricane out of nowhere.  Personally, meeting these characters made the MMO version of the Elder Scrolls feel like an Elder Scrolls game.

There are plenty of places to roam and explore on the starter islands.  I have yet to feel constrained because I landed on a starter island and couldn’t “escape” until I completed the requisite quest chain.  It’s an Elder Scrolls game after all.  Quest chains are how the story progresses and moves forward.  Quests and the non-player characters are what gives any Elder Scrolls game it’s “flavor” and character. 

Personally, I think making the starter islands skippable is a mistake on the part of Zenimax.  It caters to the crowd that rushes to the end game and in the end, that same crowd destroys the game in the long run.  This move is the first in what is a slippery slope for Zenimax in catering to the “wishes” of the loudest whiners.  I pray that it isn’t a slippery slope they traverse long and that Zenimax stays true to their vision of the game and doesn’t try to continual edit a game based on popular opinion.  That is the slippery slope of doom and will destroy the game.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Lore Tidbits 2

The environment of Elder Scrolls Online is littered with unassuming crates and barrels, much like the ones pictured above from Skyrim.  Don’t assume these are meaningless debris scattered about to fill blank spaces.  Crates and barrels often contain crafting materials, like food stuffs, lock picks, and if you hit the jackpot on occasion a gold or two.  Often in ESO these vessels will be marked as empty but don’t despair chances are that someone looted them before you got there.  Don’t stand around and wait for them to respawn either, just be aware that if you run across them then loot them if you have inventory space.

Lock picking is the bane of my Elder Scrolls love but essential.  First word of advice, always have lock picks on you.   If you think you have sufficient lock picks, purchase more.  I’ve figured out lock picking in ESO, thanks to my hubby, but it isn’t easy and I’ll admit I miss the force feedback from the Xbox Controller.  But as difficult as lock picking can be, it is a thousand times worse when you come upon a chest only to discover you have no lock picks on you and you are forced to walk away from what was obviously the greatest chest of all time because you were too lazy to stock-up on lock picks.

Soul gems are essential.  A filled soul gems are used to refill the “charge” of a magically enchanted item or to resurrect a fallen player in ESO.  Different levels of soul gems refill items to varying degrees and the level of the player dictates the level of soul gem required to resurrect them.  Soul gems are available for purchase either empty or filled in any town of decent size.  Filled soul gems are far more expensive than empty ones, so stock up on empty ones when in town too.  It is not funny when your weapons run out of charge in the middle of no-where and your inventory is devoid of soul gems. 

Soul gems are filled with the use of the Soul Trap spell that all players have access to, it is a good idea to keep this spell on your spell bar.  In addition to filling a soul gem, it is also a damage over time spell available to all players even if the creature fails to die before the Soul Trap spell expires. 

Black Soul Gems are used to store the souls of humanoids in Elder Scrolls lore.    I haven’t personally seen them in ESO but it is a safe assumption they are in the game, it wouldn’t be an Elder Scrolls game without them.   Levels 1-10 in ESO require only petty soul gems to resurrect a player, by the way this is the only way to resurrect a player.

Repairing your own gear is possible in ESO.  General merchandise vendors and others sell repair kits.  Repair kits will prevent your gear from breaking out in the field.  Any vendor in the game can also repair your gear when the store inventory menu is open.  I haven’t yet tested the repair kits in the beta but if they work anything like Oblivion, then the kits are of limited use (i.e. the kit will break as well).  I’m also not sure if the repair kit will level the Armorer stat like in previous games, I will test this in the next beta.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Lore Tidbits for New Players

The fearsome creature above is a mudcrab and in previous games they were deadly.  No seriously, first thing you’d do in Oblivion after escaping the prison and sewers was go beat up on mudcrabs.  They were more than capable of killing you as you leveled up hand-to-hand combat or if you were running around without clothes.

Elder Scrolls Online has removed the mudcrab threat from Nirn, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that mudcrabs haven’t yet become the dangerous and fearsome creatures of games set later in the timeline.  Mudcrabs are now non-hostile, peaceful creatures and a companion pet for those that purchase the Imperial Edition.

The Slaughter Fish or the Chihuahuas of the water, swim to deep or too far and you will be fighting slaughter fish.  Buried treasure at the bottom of the lake or river, safe bet it will be guarded by slaughter fish.  Not really paying attention and swimming, be prepared to be slaughtered by the slaughter fish.  They exist in fresh and salt water bodies and usually your first indication that they are there is the bright red bloom of blood as they take a chunk of your flesh as payment.

 

Don’t be surprised if you come across a player in ESO that stares down at formations like this and looks baffled.  In previous games, this formation would net you loot that sold for a decent amount of gold when you first escape the prison.  Many a time I would be low on cash in Oblivion and I would never fail to stop of loot the seashells.  Now, they are very fond memories of the hundreds of hours I’ve spent in Elder Scrolls games.

Books are scattered about Tamriel all over, in dungeons, in bookcases, on top of barrels, etc.  Don’t blindly pass them by for you never know what book might contain a skill up or amazing and consistent lore throughout all the games.  Reading in Elder Scrolls games is important, only a fool passes up the chance to pick up a book and read.

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Elder Scrolls Online: PvP & the Rest

PVP

I haven’t had the opportunity to participate in PvP the last couple of betas, however I can honestly say it is incredibly enjoyable.  I don’t have any PvP screenshots to share either but the battle are huge and intense. There are quests to do in Cyrodiil in addition to battling the other factions. 

PvP is a viable alternative to leveling via questing but that is something I will skip.  You can enter PvP at level 10 and begin your quest to become Emperor.

The Rest

The game isn’t perfect, but then again it is still in beta and I expect to discover and report bugs.  I have stumbled across and reported more than a couple and I’m fine with that.  Unlike the so-called “professional” reviewers who gave every impression that the game was all but unplayable.  That being said I have not run across any bug that was game breaking or that has caused me to rethink the purchase of collector editions.

I have a wish list, like most players, but nothing on my wish list is so earth shatteringly important to me that it will prevent me from playing and loving the game.  Sure, I’m love a cosmetic armor slot and armor dyes but I won’t find my game diminished if they aren’t included.

I don’t have problems with the combat either.  I don’t get all of the complaints that the combat is “floaty” or fails to connect to the enemy.  I’ve experienced none of that.  If I push a button, the game always responded in a timely manner as expected. I love being a Dragon Knight wielding a restoration staff while effortlessly killing enemies or my heavy plate wearing, damage over time Nightblade battle mage with duel daggers of doom. 

Classes are more of a starting point then anything else.  Oh the complaints and moans from alleged healers that tried to heal standing back and standing still.  Let’s be clear, that healing style doesn’t work in this game and hallelujah for that.  Healing is mostly area of effect based and in melee ranged.  It is a blast to play to be honest.  Mages are incredibly powerful and again a blast to play.  Bow skills are fun and overpowered.  Healing on my Nightblade is fun  and a breeze.  To be honest, healing isn’t complicated or magicka intensive if you think and understand that standing back and healing is the path to failure.

The game is so immersive and challenging that it has brought out my inner role player that I didn’t know existed.  No I won’t be roleplaying in game, but I will definitely be chronicling my characters adventures and exploits.  I’ve got the blog space reserved already (just not set-up yet) and now I just need the ability to reserve character names to get started.  It’s a journey I can’t wait to begin! 

So, ignore the negative reviewers who don’t know what they are talking about.  Journey to Nirn and discover what Molag Bal has planned and experience Elder Scrolls Online for yourself and decide.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Crafting & Economy

Economy

Let’s be clear, stuff isn’t inexpensive and frankly it shouldn’t be.  Armor, weapons, and potions can be purchased from NPC vendors but you will pay the price for having access to NPC produced goods.  Prices aren’t unreasonable but they aren’t meaningless either. 

So you didn’t purchase the Imperial Edition and you want to buy a horse?  Then be prepared to save all your gold because the most basic mount will run you 17,500 gold.  That price does not include the price to feed your one active mount once a day either. 

There has been a lot of complaints about the economy in beta and honestly I think it is all bunk.  In single player Elder Scrolls games, having a horse was a luxury and a rarity.  That same behavior should carry over to the MMO game, failure to do so diminishes the franchise as a whole.  Horses are actually more of an impediment to immersion then they are a necessity in ESO in my experience.  You are MUCH more like to miss lore books, hidden quests, etc. when on horseback then if you are out and about wandering the countryside on foot.

There has also been a lot of talk about the lack of an auction house/broker system.  I have no problem with this being “missing” from the game.  A character can join up to five guild (this does NOT include guilds like Fighter’s or Mage’s) and guilds can establish guild stores.  Guild stores allow you to purchase things from other guild members who may be willing to sell you stuff at prices lower than NPCs. 

Crafting

Crafting is not the over-simplified creation of meaningless goods that exist in other games.  Crafting has six choices: Alchemy, Enchanting, Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Woodworking, and Provisioning. 

So far in beta weekends, you can have every crafting profession.  However, crafting is resource intensive for all skills expect Provisioning.  It is much easier to acquire goods to craft food and beverages because these items are easily located in the crates and barrels all Elder Scrolls players know to scavenge whenever they can.

Nodes do not magically glow out in the wild, until you place a skill point in the profession to make a node glow.  If you fail to pay attention to your surroundings you will miss that maple log or jute plant you could have harvested.  And just because you harvested the raw materials doesn’t mean you can open the crafting menu out in the middle of nowhere and make yourself an upgrade.  No, you need the appropriate crafting station to even open the crafting menu in the first place.  Once again, planning ahead and thinking are required.

Crafting is very fulfilling.  It is complex without being overly so.  It pulls goods from your shared bank storage to craft which is extremely nice.  There is also the chance to fail when crafting an improved item.  That’s right, there is no guarantee that when you go to improve an item it will be successful unless you put enough of the raw component to improve the item into the recipe.  That chance of failure makes the successes all the more sweet.

Crafting will keep you in weapons and armor appropriate for your level that will allow you to succeed, even with the common white level weapon or armor that isn’t improved.  Ignore crafting at your own peril my friends.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Questing

And thus begins your questing experience in Elder Scrolls Online.  Simple, clean and minimal to begin with and yet perfect for the setting of the first quest of the game. 

The prison setting is being called trite and over used by critics but the setting fits with the Daedra at the heart of the main story line.  If Molag Bal were the villain and the story began anywhere else, it would just instantly not make the game an Elder Scrolls game.  So, yeah the game begins in a prison environment but get over it, that’s where it should start.

A common complaint among gamers is that quests boil down to nothing more than, as my husband likes to phrase it, do my laundry bitch quests.  I have yet to run into a single quest that had me go kill ten of this or fetch ten of that.  Quests are far more involved than fetching and retrieving.  I’ve saved a village from a father determined to protect and feed his vampire son.  I’ve acquired tomes of arcane knowledge to help free a mage.  I commune with spirits and defied the express wishes of the undead. 

Quests are varied and unique and make the world and environment come to life.  Do you stop and aid the merchant along the road?  The environment is filled with quests that will never be discovered by standing in town waiting for the quest givers to come to you.

There is no central quest hub crowded with players trying to grab quests and run.  Sure places like the Fighter’s and Mage’s Guilds can be crowded at times with players but stop and think about it.  If your home was under attack from the god or gods that were regularly worshipped and were known to take personal interest in the lives of the world’s inhabitants wouldn’t you be rushing to the nearest organization you thought could help to protect the one’s you love?  So, yeah congested quest givers isn’t a problem for me on those rare occasions it does occur.

The quest dialogue is fully voice acted and isn’t overly long but isn’t too short.  The quests don’t hold your hand and led you from point A to point B.  Players have to think, listen, and figure things out on their own.  There is a directional pointer on the HUD to aid the player, identical to Skyrim in fact, but that is the only “help” in questing that exists in the game.

Immersion in the game is complete and total because of the quests.  They suck you in, they make you care about not only your character but the NPC characters.  The quests are by far the best I’ve experienced in any MMO to date and questing is my thing, it is something that makes or breaks a game for me.  I cannot stress how well done the quests are or how well they’ve managed to completely immerse me in the content.

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Elder Scrolls Online: User Interface, Graphics, & the User Experience

The User Interface

There is the User Interface while fighting.  Minimal, non-intrusive, non-immersive breaking, and clean.  There is a complete absence of clutter on the screen, which is how the single player Elder Scrolls games play and look.

No mini-map, no numbers flying by, just simple and clean interface.  The beauty behind this clutter free UI?  Players are more involved in what is going on than they are concerned with the amount of damage or a mini-map which points out every little detail for them.  To be honest, more than once I’ve forgotten to hide my UI when taking a screenshot and it hasn’t diminished the beauty of that screenshot.  That says A LOT about the quality and functionality of the UI.

Just like the single player games, ESO rewards the player for exploration.  Chests tucked away in far off little corners of the world, Skyshards in unexpected locales, or on object or NPC that leads to some amazing quest chain you wouldn’t have discovered just standing around in town.

This is the UI when you have your inventory open (yes, I’m riding my Imperial Edition horse.)  This interface too is simple to understand and uncluttered.  I cannot begin to tell you how much the clean and simple UI has grown on me, every other game’s interface is now cumbersome and tedious.

Graphics

The game is stunningly beautiful.  More times than I can count I stopped just to take a screenshot, just because it was so pretty.  The environments are amazing, details like snakes slithering through grass or frogs and toads frolicking in the water or swamp.  The world is a living and breathing place and your character feels like an integral part of that world.

The User Experience

The user experience is fantastic if you understand that this isn’t your typical MMO.  If you play ESO and expect everything to be face-roll easy with everything handed to you then you will be extremely displeased and disappointed.  ESO expects their player base to think and be willing to explore and figure things out.  Do not expect to play ESO and be able to spam a dungeon finder queue to level your character, and may Zenimax Online never make the mistake of placing a dungeon finder system in the game.

Questing is awesome but more on that in an upcoming post.  The overall user experience is superb.  NPCs are humorous or having their own petty squabbles that do not involve the player at all.  There has been a consistent concern that given the MMO aspect of the game, how is it possible that your character can rise to be the hero?  To be honest, my experience has been that I forgot that the other player characters are doing things similar to my character. 

There are fights that are vastly more difficult than others, and the assumption that you should be able to kill a quest level boss because you are of equal level is an invalid assumption.  Fights can be quite challenging and I love it.  I love that if I’m lazy or careless my character will die.  I love that failure to think strategically or tactically results in a far more difficult fight than if I thought about it or paid attention to boss mechanics during a fight.  Any game that rewards the careful and intelligent player is doing it right.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Does it feel like an Elder Scrolls Game?

Simple answer is yes.  More detailed answer is that it has all of the components of an Elder Scrolls game that make Elder Scrolls games so immersive and compelling.  The  grandeur of Ayleid ruins is present, the lives of NPCs is present, the environments are lush and alive, the interesting little clues about the lives surrounding you that you know nothing about, and the presence and interference of the Aedra and Daedra in the lives of citizens of Nirn.

You just know that there is a story behind this items, left out in the wilderness by some unknown NPC on the starter island for the Aldmeri Dominion.  My characters who have gone through the starting area for the AD are intrigued and wanted to know more.  There are little touches like this all over the place, just like any single player Elder Scrolls game.

Humor is everywhere throughout the game.  More than once hubby and I would bust out laughing at something a NPC said.  The sarcastic, dry, humor is present all over the place, not just in quest dialogue.  I love the NPC in the first village in Morrowind named Fetches Glitter. 

Next up, the graphics, UI, and user experience. 

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Entitled Gamers: Stop the Insanity

Zenimax Online and The Elder Scrolls Online have gotten nothing but hate and flames for keeping their NDA for all but a select few in the media, not having an open beta, selling copies of the game, and going with a subscription model.  Well, those are just a small portion of the recent whines that have been flying around in the last week or so.  And then there is a praise Sony is getting for selling ALPHA access to Everquest Next: Landmark. 

Sony is basically selling ALPHA access and thereby getting free game designers to build their next game instead of hiring and paying talented game designers and artists a decent salary and benefits.  Sure, Sony improves the bottom line but in the process becomes a bad citizen, deprives the local economy of growth, nickels and dimes their “customers” to death and consistently produces crappy, bug filled games.  Everquest 2 still has bugs that were there upon release, Planetside 2 was almost unplayable upon release, and Sony just announced the closure of four games this year.  Why on earth would any reasonably intelligent gamer invest money in any product Sony tosses out there? 

Zenimax on the other hand, hasn’t sold beta access and has refused to release the NDA to the overwhelming majority of their beta testing community.  This isn’t hiding what may or may not be a crappy game, it is controlling the out of control entitlement of the gaming community that is notorious for vomiting hate for any game that doesn’t meet preconceived notions.  ZOS is in a no-win situation no matter what road they travel down.  The majority of released media reviews are less than favorable but a careful read of those opinion pieces makes it clear that the reviewer had their review written prior to ever playing the game.  If ZOS lifts the NDA for those who have been included in the beta but aren’t press, the positives reviews will undoubtedly increase but so will the incessant whining.  Keeping the NDA in place allows ZOS to build and create TESO and let the market decide upon release.

Now for the real problem, the gaming community is the problem.  The never ending demands for content and then the accompanying complaints when the content is buggy; the hardcore versus casual ceaseless debate; the end game is all the matters crowd; and the refusal to let game developers and publishers design, build, and test the game they spent all the time and money producing.  Gamers are responsible for being nickel and dimed to death by free-to-play games because they are too eager to buy their way through content rather than relax and play the game.  If you can’t afford the box fee and a monthly sub of a mere $15 dollars (which by the way hasn’t changed in over a decade) then you shouldn’t be gaming.

NDA’s exist for a reason and betas are not free previews to play until the game releases.  Betas exist to track down and quash bugs, problematic combat, typos, etc.  They are not there for gamers to play for free, trash, and then move on to the next beta to wash, rinse and repeat.  If you play a beta and are under NDA and aren’t enjoying yourself, then move and and go spend your time doing something you enjoy.  There are always plenty of beta testers who are willing to test, report, and live happily under the terms of the NDA.

Gamers are responsible for buggy games and rushed content releases because of their incessant drive to burn through content as quickly as possible and then demand yet more new content.  Gamers, not gaming companies, are responsible for the state of games today.  The sense of entitlement and personal hurt when the game isn’t exact what they envisioned it to be is an endless black pit cesspool of garbage.  Unless you are a game designer and work for a gaming company, no game will ever meet your expectations completely.  If you don’t like a game, then move on and play one that suits your play style.  There is no reason to demean those that enjoy something you don’t. 

Look, I strongly, no vehemently, oppose the selling of alpha or beta access by any company but if there are gamers that enjoy what they pay for great.  Just don’t expect sympathy from me when the game doesn’t meet your expectations.  I will support any game I play with my monthly subscription, when I stop enjoying it I will cease to pay for the game.  I will also support any gaming company that keeps their beta locked down and their testers under NDA.

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Xbox: Fable Anniversary, Hit or Miss?

Yesterday we picked up Fable Anniversary, is it worth the $40 bucks?  Well, that is a matter of opinion but overall no, skip it.  Sure the graphics have been immensely improved from the original game released ten years ago but otherwise, the game is better suited to a phone or tablet.

Picture on the left is from 2004 and the one on the right is from Fable Anniversary.  There is no denying that the game is beautiful.  However, improved graphics and lighting cannot save simplistic and linear game play that is heavy with load screens.  I’m only a couple of hours in and I’m bored.  Bored with endless needless clicking on loot cards, through dialogue statements, and quests that are poorly written.

Sure, the interface changes are nice and the smart glass integration is the best done in any game so far.  But UI changes and tablet integration aren’t enough to keep you from falling asleep while playing.  So, take that same $40 and go have a dinner out with the one you love.

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