The Elder Scrolls Online

 PC
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2703 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,210 out of 2703
  2. Mixed: 447 out of 2703
  3. Negative: 1,046 out of 2703
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  1. Mizuiro
    Jul 22, 2023
    4
    Mediocre MMORPG not because of graphics ( that are bad and boring style by the way) but because of so POOR and boring gameplay mechanics.

    Not even worth it as a free game. An example of how to ruin a great game ( Skyrim , Oblivion, ..) because of not following their main mechanics.

    Also the people everywhere doing the same "unic" quests ruins the atmosphere of "you are the chosen one"..
  2. zcat5
    Jun 26, 2023
    0
    A mediocre MMORPG that wasn't even as good as SWTOR or TERA (lol). A complete failure by Bethesda to compete in the MMORPG genre.
  3. dmitriy_savenok
    May 1, 2023
    1
    "Как же эта игра пытается вас на*бать"
    Первые впечатления, как всегда положительные. Практически тот же Скайрим, только немного упрощённый и с небольшими ограничениями. TES Online, в отличие от других донатных помоек, делает умнее и в первые часы даёт расправить крылья. Как только немного осваиваетесь, начинает душить и вымаливать последнюю копейку и при этом наговаривая:
    - В Скайриме и    "Как же эта игра пытается вас на*бать"
    Первые впечатления, как всегда положительные. Практически тот же Скайрим, только немного упрощённый и с небольшими ограничениями. TES Online, в отличие от других донатных помоек, делает умнее и в первые часы даёт расправить крылья. Как только немного осваиваетесь, начинает душить и вымаливать последнюю копейку и при этом наговаривая:
    - В Скайриме и других RPG ты мог бесконечно собирать ингредиенты ? Ой, у нас же они имеют ощутимый вес. Неудобно ? КУПИ ПОДПИСКУ !
    - Играя с Скайрим и выполняя определённое задание, по пути, ты мог встретить множество путников, выслушать их, записать себе их проблемы (квесты) и когда находил время, выполнял и их. Таким образом ты мог брать и записывать себе бесконечное количество заданий и выполнять их в любом порядке.
    В этом же ПОМОЙНОМ ВЕДРЕ ONLINE, МАКСИМУМ сколько вы сможете записать квэстов - ЭТО 25. 25, КАРЛ !!!
    - Да. в TES Online огромный мир. Быстрые перемещения, как в любой адекватной игре, есть ? Да. НО ОНИ ПЛАТНЫЕ ! Т.е. вы расплачиваетесь своим игровым золотом, которое добывали потом и кровью. МАЛО ТОГО, чем чаще вы перемещаетесь, тем дороже становятся перемещения (со временем цена падает).
    Возможно подумали. Да я прокачаюсь и буду отдавать одну копейку, как за билет в городском автобусе, а *УЙ ТЕБЕ ! Прокачиваясь, дорожает и минимальная цена за перемещения.
    В ИТОГЕ: Когда ты играешь, все эти проблемы, в связке, ставят тебя раком. Особенно, когда большинство крупных кество, происходит, по ходу действия на многих материках. Начал в Даггерфелле, закончил в Скайриме, что бы сдать нужно поехать в Морровинд. В ЭТОТ ЖЕ момент, что бы продолжить (сюжетно) это задание, вам взять квест у мужика, который стоит рядом, а *УЙ ТЕБЕ, у тебя журнал полон. Точнее кусок туалетной бумаги, раз герой не может записать более 25-ти заданий.
    Решение, которое предлагают разрабы, очевидно: Не хочешь страдать ? ДОНАТЬ !
    Обидно, что игроки не могут увидеть другого решения: УЙТИ !
    И это только верхушка айсберга проблем...
    1/10    … Expand
  4. Giero
    Jan 3, 2023
    4
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  5. Gaming_Bear
    Dec 27, 2022
    4
    I'll start of by admitting that I am not huge into MMOs, but this is game just feels so bland and empty. I came to this game because my friends and I all loved Skyrim, but literally all the elements of what made Skyrim great (the story, the detail of the setting, the beautiful music) are all not here. I am struggling to play this game. At lvl 8 and it all just feels meh.
  6. Rickyboblin
    Dec 26, 2022
    0
    They ran this game into the ground. Their “DLC” is like stacking more trash onto a teetering garbage heap with a loose foundation. I played 1000’s of hours and the game has only gotten worse since 2017. It was salvageable if they could have focused on gameplay instead of creating more “content” behind paywalls. Their content is just reskinned zones with fetch quests and a few must havesThey ran this game into the ground. Their “DLC” is like stacking more trash onto a teetering garbage heap with a loose foundation. I played 1000’s of hours and the game has only gotten worse since 2017. It was salvageable if they could have focused on gameplay instead of creating more “content” behind paywalls. Their content is just reskinned zones with fetch quests and a few must haves to stay in the competitive loop. You just feel used for your money when you are paying $15 a month and you have to buy a $60 expansion every year that ends up being free if you buy the chapter next year. They only screw over their loyal base of players. The pvp used to be kinda fun but they completely screwed up the class identity and the pvp content has been the same for 6 years.… Expand
  7. vovik86
    Nov 17, 2022
    0
    I recently tried ESO again and was so disgusted by the direction it has taken that I wanted to leave a warning so hopefully no one else makes the mistake of buying this garbage in its current state. ESO has always been pay to win... unrestricted storage, access to all DLCs as soon as they're released if you pay a monthly fee. In other words you have to pay 15$/month if you don't want toI recently tried ESO again and was so disgusted by the direction it has taken that I wanted to leave a warning so hopefully no one else makes the mistake of buying this garbage in its current state. ESO has always been pay to win... unrestricted storage, access to all DLCs as soon as they're released if you pay a monthly fee. In other words you have to pay 15$/month if you don't want to run weaker suboptimal builds and use your characters as storage banks. I've found ways around this but it's very tedious. It gets worse, though. ESO also changed how loot works to make it much more grindy. Now you have to run the same dungeon up to 30 times (more if you're unlucky) if you decide to use a weapon that you can't craft. There's no other way to get loot that's dropped in dungeons and only the final boss drops weapons. Even players from eastern MMOs would consider this level of grind inhumane.

    The worst part is recently they changed TOS to allow them to sell your user data. And in usual bethesda anti-consumer fashion (think fallout 76) they are very secretive about it. And if you ask too many questions they will ban you (again, think fallout 76). Pretty sure I'm still banned from posting about this on official forums but it doesn't really matter. Any post on their forums that hurts their bottom line immediately gets locked and deleted anyway... I mean, it's bethesda so why would you expect anything else?    … Expand
  8. Kardinal305
    Sep 29, 2022
    2
    Have played ESO since it’s initial and is definitely of my top player games ever. It used to be amazing but over the years became what it is now; a money grab with predatory systems. Also it’s not only the gamble crates I have an issue with, the developers seem to be out to get the PvP community as every single patch or update they screw over pvp players by an array of unwanted changesHave played ESO since it’s initial and is definitely of my top player games ever. It used to be amazing but over the years became what it is now; a money grab with predatory systems. Also it’s not only the gamble crates I have an issue with, the developers seem to be out to get the PvP community as every single patch or update they screw over pvp players by an array of unwanted changes that require a completely new gear set up on a very regular basis. You couldn’t put this game down and come back to it after a year and use the same load out despite after a certain point all gear is the same level to wear. The developers have never listened to their own community complaints but instead do little streams that they refuse to tackle actual issues brought up in the chat. I wish this game was better, again I’ve loved eso for a very long time, it’s just in such a bad spot right now and honestly could use for a change in leadership… Expand
  9. EptaEpt
    Sep 13, 2022
    1
    Sorry, but positive feedback is not available in your region. At least until your leadership changes the two-faced policy in their actions and statements.
  10. OberiousLocke
    Jul 28, 2022
    2
    Not a bad game. GFX are pretty good, story is good, world is awesome.

    Too bad the combat is jank garbage that nerfs any interest I have in it. If they'd just nut up and fix their animations so audibly clunky crap like weaving didn't exist, I'd probably be more willing to play the game. There is also the complete lack of a sensible Auction House system, so if you don't want to join a    Not a bad game. GFX are pretty good, story is good, world is awesome.

    Too bad the combat is jank garbage that nerfs any interest I have in it. If they'd just nut up and fix their animations so audibly clunky crap like weaving didn't exist, I'd probably be more willing to play the game. There is also the complete lack of a sensible Auction House system, so if you don't want to join a guild, you're SOL.    … Expand
  11. Markski1
    Jul 2, 2022
    0
    Things have improved a lot since launch, and now that it no longer requires paying a subscription, this games makes a looooot of sense to try if you're into TES
  12. LastContrarian
    Jun 13, 2022
    2
    I think the dev team is full of tools, so I might be biased.

    However, you definitely should not buy the game or expansions over a full game, like the guy that asked whether Elden Ring or expansion purchase was a better idea. The expansions are very anemic and lack content, despite what people say (fanboys). Objectively, the game is largely a DPS race. DPS determines almost everything    I think the dev team is full of tools, so I might be biased.

    However, you definitely should not buy the game or expansions over a full game, like the guy that asked whether Elden Ring or expansion purchase was a better idea. The expansions are very anemic and lack content, despite what people say (fanboys).

    Objectively, the game is largely a DPS race. DPS determines almost everything in the game.

    Combat is terrible, esp. PvP. Combat is lifeless and boring, and actually too slow. Most bosses are just hp sponges that soak up damage that you do with little threat or surprises when you know the mechanics, making it formulaic and boring. There isn't really much to pressure the DPS and make the sweat or make DPS skillful besides learning how to "cancel" animatioins -- the less said about that, the better, as it's something you either do and get the DPS increase or don't and possibly flounder.

    PvP this patch amounts to "get Oakensoul" or get toasted. Anyone saying otherwise doesn't know how to build PvP builds nor PvE ones, and I have already started releasing all of the ones on PTS that are nasty and will ruin PvP with one shot or "god-mode" builds. Only a matter of time before you need that ring in PvE to join a trial or PvP to compete.

    PvP could be good if they bothered to increase more trickplay and counterplay, instead of making it a stupid contest between build stats and holding the block button. Instead they NERF counterplay, they NERF trick play, and they make PvP entirely stat-based and, once again, a DPS race of sorts.

    PvP on the game is extremely bad and skilless this patch, if you want to get the game to PvP, don't.

    Housing, outfit system, etc. are one of the game's stronger points, yet they don't add enough customization to hairs every patch and instead focus on housing that's out of reach for most players with their head screwed on (a digital house for over 100 dollars, then you need ESO+ to get double the space to actually furnish it. THEN some items are only available in the cash shop for furnishing...can't make it up!). It's all setup to make you consume, consume, consooooooooooooom.

    Where ESO is weak, it's weak, and where it's strong and could gain uniqueness, it's neglected or going the wrong direction. It's sad this game is being killed by a totally aloof dev and management team.

    It's sad, because I like the game, but the management is very bad and I don't see the game lasting much longer unless they either wake up and start listening to player feedback or add surprises.

    My guess, they won't do either because they don't care to, or still think they don't have to answer to stakeholders other than themselves (shareholders, and PLAYERS too).

    @ResidentContrarian - former "forum poster" since permabanned by tempermental mods and a dev team that can't take criticism they ask for    … Expand
  13. Capellini
    Feb 23, 2022
    4
    the story is **** didnt understand wtf was happening, i was planing a heist and for some reason i was on a ship traveling the world? dialog is garbage and I could not even find the main story after 10h of pure gameplay. there is just a bunch of things trown at you at the same time and a **** ton of menus, nothing like the single player games and also nothing like other mmos, i dont no ifthe story is **** didnt understand wtf was happening, i was planing a heist and for some reason i was on a ship traveling the world? dialog is garbage and I could not even find the main story after 10h of pure gameplay. there is just a bunch of things trown at you at the same time and a **** ton of menus, nothing like the single player games and also nothing like other mmos, i dont no if there are guilds cause i also could not find apparently race or politics dosnt mean anything and no clear instruction. wanted my money back but just the firsts quest already took more than 2h. Also couldn't find any battles that took affort or at least a friend. I dont know how but gtao is better than this ****… Expand
  14. JackPlack
    Feb 11, 2022
    4
    Too much worse than Skyrim, to boring. Too much reading/skipping dialogues. When skipping whole game is too pointless. Level up system unsatisfying. Ai of mobs to much MMO like. Not much graphics/details, Skyrim is still better, a specially with mods.
  15. JakeFoxUwU
    Jan 22, 2022
    0
    Я как бы всё понимаю, но почему лаунчеру нужен исключительно диск C? Купил в итоге в Стиме за 824 рубля, так и не поиграл.
  16. sealkv
    Nov 29, 2021
    4
    When I bought ESO , nobody no warned me that in this reality I would be attacked by cretins and trolls, who cause healthy irritation in any normal living person, with their defiant behavior. I'm talking about ostentatious idiocy and trolling. Bethesda not doing anything to put an end to this all these 7 years this ESO has existed. More worse. ZOS( ZeniMax Support) help the scoundrels andWhen I bought ESO , nobody no warned me that in this reality I would be attacked by cretins and trolls, who cause healthy irritation in any normal living person, with their defiant behavior. I'm talking about ostentatious idiocy and trolling. Bethesda not doing anything to put an end to this all these 7 years this ESO has existed. More worse. ZOS( ZeniMax Support) help the scoundrels and trolls when they provoke players to respond and write denunciations about them. And ZOS employees receive their money for blocking game accounts due to the fact that some player said something personally in a private chat to some other player. It is enough to tell the troll in the game that he is a troll, and ZOS immediately block the game account of the one who was not afraid to say out loud what is obvious. This is stealing. If ZOS block game account, they DO NOT RETURN your money. What is the connection between the money paid for the game and a private conversation between two adults in a private chat? I pay $ 500 when buying this product 18+ and lose it due to provocation and trolling. This is how they steal money from people. ZOS wrote a letter to me(automatic mailing robot in response to my complaint about trolling by another player) the following: "If another player said something bad to you (in your opinion), you can add it to the ignore list. If you see harsh words, turn on the automatic blocking of swear words in the game." ZOS made it clear to me that this is how they solve these problems. When I write to ZOS a complaint about the actual trolling in ESO, they send me a spit in my face. ZOS send me a robot letter, where they give advice on how to behave with moral monsters and scum.
    ZOS help the trolls in ESO, that's why they hide their names and positions in ZeniMax because they are afraid to meet me on the street one on one, where they will have to return the money that ZeniMax stole from me when blocked my paid account, just for the fact that I expressed my dissatisfaction with the fact that ESO is propagating abomination. I am sure that ZOS are trolling this game themselves in order to provide themselves with a "job". ZeniMax security service is committed to eliminating threats to "business". And the threat to business is public voice over what you do. And when I say out loud that Bethesda are creating problems in this MMO, ZOS began to fight me. Roughly and effectively, they set provocateurs trolls on me. This happens in ZeniMax "Official Forum". This happens in ESO.
    ZeniMax has created an MMO(product and services on the Internet) that promotes perversions and pathology. Necrophilia,satanism,sexual perversions,drugs. Their bosses receive orders from politicians to reduce the population on Earth. They kill people, kill the health of their soul and mind. What I mean? Here's a simple example. You have made it possible in this game when a player puts on the outer shell of a corpse, and in this form is in the reality of the game among other players. This is a product from in-game Store, the name of this product is Skeleton Polymorph outer shell. There are many such examples. "Scary Clown" shell, or Mount "Rainbow Unicorn", and many others, this is a monstrous abomination created by and for devils anti-humans.
    I am a healthy adult, raised in a traditional strict family, in the correct religious and moral traditions. And I openly say that Bethesda are creating a product that can only please psychopaths and freaks who are actively trying to change this world, making it as ugly and scary as they are. In fact, they create the conflict situations yourself in this game. This is an MMO game. Players kill each other here. All know that. This means ESO is bought by those who want to kill people. That's why they came here.
    Here's what's going on. I meet in the game location another player who has put on a suit of a rotten corpse. Yes. These are the kind of players that walk in your game. And ZeniMax call it "Halloween Party". What kind of holiday is this? It is an abomination that causes anger and nausea, it is a walking corpse, it is a spit in the face of Nature and God. And my normal reaction to that is to destroy this abomination. But they have calculated it all in advance. This is provocation. They have deliberately created this situation. They know perfectly well that walking corpses are an abomination that causes hatred among normal people. And they deliberately create this to incite hatred and conflict in ESO. And when this happens, ZeniMax takes the side of the devils, and block the normal person's game account. I already wrote a letter to Bethesda about this. They are waging a war against normal people. They have created a "troll factory", ESO is a garbage dump, a ghetto for drug addicts, maniacs and freaks and other evil spirits, this is a stinking grave.
    The Bible says, "Judge the tree by its fruit." Judge a person by his actions. So who are Bethesda if these are their actions?    … Expand
  17. OceanoPiTi
    Aug 17, 2021
    0
    acho que ja vi aquele veio do flame ( um tal de pandinha) falando sobre esse tal jogo, deve ser um lixo iogual a ele
  18. blazinfool
    Jul 26, 2021
    2
    Great story, terribly made game. This the only game that has given me so many issues. The game is built very poorly. Lots of disconnect issues. Lots of crash and lockup issues. Too many bugs, there are quite a few missions that cannot be completed due to bugs, Some are main story quests that you cannot complete. The events they run are so badly done. I think this company must be anGreat story, terribly made game. This the only game that has given me so many issues. The game is built very poorly. Lots of disconnect issues. Lots of crash and lockup issues. Too many bugs, there are quite a few missions that cannot be completed due to bugs, Some are main story quests that you cannot complete. The events they run are so badly done. I think this company must be an inexperienced startup, because they don't know how to build and deploy a working product. Do not invest time or money into this product.....such a shame!… Expand
  19. Dan224
    Jun 26, 2021
    0
    this game evokes hatred of the LGBT community, there is a lot of LGBT content in the game, the developers and their streamers launch streams where they subscribe streams for gay, LGBT, gay, if someone asks they immediately block it, all this toxicity causes aggression towards LGBT
  20. Fergusonz
    Jun 20, 2021
    0
    This game is trash in terms of a combination of bugs, lags, ping for people live in "wrong" part of earth. The release of monotonous content, the lack of pvp and arcade pve, etc.
  21. MAX90
    Jun 7, 2021
    0
    the game is filled with toxic LGBT content, it creates a bad image for LGBT people
  22. ruslannikulin
    May 15, 2021
    3
    Постоянные вылеты и отвалы серверов в PvP и в подземельях. Игре уже больше 7 лет, а они ни как не сделают стабильное соединение. Но самое забавное, это когда после отвала сервака вы не можете вновь зайти на очередь подземелья или PvP-арены, так как вам причисляют штраф за дезертирство. То есть за свои косяки они игроков штрафуют. Серьёзно, Зеня, серьёзно?!!Постоянные вылеты и отвалы серверов в PvP и в подземельях. Игре уже больше 7 лет, а они ни как не сделают стабильное соединение. Но самое забавное, это когда после отвала сервака вы не можете вновь зайти на очередь подземелья или PvP-арены, так как вам причисляют штраф за дезертирство. То есть за свои косяки они игроков штрафуют. Серьёзно, Зеня, серьёзно?!!
  23. Kadirov
    May 10, 2021
    0
    Бездушное говно. Играя не чувствую себя как "дома", в отличие от Skyrim. Какое-то отторжение к игре испытываю, что-то очень коммерческое и не ламповое. Своих денег не стоит. Дропнул на 15ой минуте, ибо очень скучно и нет сил дальше проходить.Бездушное говно. Играя не чувствую себя как "дома", в отличие от Skyrim. Какое-то отторжение к игре испытываю, что-то очень коммерческое и не ламповое. Своих денег не стоит. Дропнул на 15ой минуте, ибо очень скучно и нет сил дальше проходить.
  24. dontezz
    May 4, 2021
    0
    I would only recommend this game to my enemies..
    I am a returning player from 2015. Played since Beta for a yr or so.
    Heard some good and some bad about returning.. Took my chances and lost, this game is not worth coming back too or starting new. It is plagued by so many GAME BREAKING bugs, Severe Lag, and Disconnects. The Mail System Bugs and Inventory Bugs are a few of these. All of    I would only recommend this game to my enemies..
    I am a returning player from 2015. Played since Beta for a yr or so.
    Heard some good and some bad about returning.. Took my chances and lost, this game is not worth coming back too or starting new.
    It is plagued by so many GAME BREAKING bugs, Severe Lag, and Disconnects. The Mail System Bugs and Inventory Bugs are a few of these. All of these start on PC then get pushed to Consoles without getting fixed creating new problems. While ESO pushes that next big Release. This game is a Bugged Hollow Shell of what it use to be.    … Expand
  25. Andizzzzy
    Apr 19, 2021
    0
    I've thought about whether to give this game a good review or not. I almost did, but it would be unfair to the gaming community as a whole, as I would be advocating online gambling and loot boxes essentially saying that it is OK to include that in games. The most painful issue I have with this game is the in-game shop and the way that this game has been monetized. ZOS claim to only sellI've thought about whether to give this game a good review or not. I almost did, but it would be unfair to the gaming community as a whole, as I would be advocating online gambling and loot boxes essentially saying that it is OK to include that in games. The most painful issue I have with this game is the in-game shop and the way that this game has been monetized. ZOS claim to only sell cosmetics and conveniences, however both of these things clash with the core gameplay of ESO.

    There are a number of rewards which are only obtainable through purchasing crowns with money, and with extremely expensive costs too. The game is objectively worse off by the existence of these things. I can count on one hand the number of mounts you can collect in game, but the number of mounts you can buy or obtain through ZOS's loot boxes is closer to 100. This gives players less things to actually play for, less things to collect and fewer targets to set for themselves.

    In addition, you can buy time-savers which grant you ability points (if you've collected them on other characters), experience scrolls, mount training and the research scrolls for professions. The issue I take with the existence of these items is indicative of the fact that ZOS are aware that these grinds are a slug. They are literally time-gated; you can learn one mount training skill every 24 hours, of which there are 180 skills to spend. That is half a year of spending points to max out your mount training. This grind must be done on each character. The research scrolls speed up the rate at which you research a trait in a weapon. When researching a trait, you must wait an increasing amount of actual time before unlocking it and researching another. My main character has gotten to the point that she must wait 20+ days to learn a new trait in some professions. Or I can throw my wallet at ZOS and get it done instantly. ZOS, I want to enjoy your game, but you're making it so hard. This game has become a chore for people who cannot afford pay-to-win "cosmetics", but has become a breeze for new players who have the money to spend in the Crown store.

    The largest houses you can buy typically sell for around 14,000 crowns (a whopping $140 JUST FOR A digital HOUSE!) and are unobtainable otherwise... - just stop and think about that. On the other hand the housing system in the game is alright. However, it suffers when considering how expensive furnishings actually are, especially when compared to how little gold you actually get for just playing the game. While players can obtain some furniture pieces through playing the game, these are extremely few and far between when considering just how many furniture pieces there actually are in the game (majority of which are sold in store - because "cosmetics". The nicer furniture pieces are often priced at 10,000 gold, up to 100,000 for the fanciest pieces. When you only get 300 gold for completing a quest, as a player, you must look to get money through other systems if you want to engage fully with housing and furnishing. ZOS, PLEASE increase the amount of gold you get from quests. This leads me to the auction house in-game, and ESO plus.

    The best way to obtain money in this game, is by engaging in the auction house. I love the auction house system in the game, and the way it forces players to be a part of a guild(s). One thing to help you make gold is the use of the extra bank storage and (literally infinite) crafting bag you get when subscribing to ESO plus. If you plan to sell any crafting materials and you don't have the crafting bag, be prepared to have a full inventory every 10 minutes. It's like ZOS are aware that not playing with the crafting bag is a handicap, and so they move it to a pay-wall. There are other ways to make money in the game, such as farming for rare item drops for hours on end, hoping that one will eventually drop which you can sell for a lottery cash out

    ZOS are masters at creating problems and selling you the solution - if there is a way to make money, ZOS will find it. The in-game store and the monetization is in direct conflict with the soul of this game, and I never feel satisfied playing this game. I want to engage in the housing, but the rate at which I can actually buy furniture, if I just do quests is extraordinarily slow. The crowns I get with the ESO plus subscription make it a bit better, as they allow me to buy furniture and housing with crowns instead of gold, but I can't help but feel like this doesn't have to be a problem at all.

    ZOS, fix... no improve your monetization such that the game still has a soul, that it still offers players many more chances to obtain amazing loot by just playing the game, reward players - stop putting every damn thing in the Crown Store! I paid for this game and like many/every other PERSON that has also paid, we keep paying for every new chapter as well, let us play it without locking features behind time-gates and pay-walls.    … Expand
  26. Zycomag
    Apr 14, 2021
    3
    I just started playing ESO as a free monthly offer on Play Station. I enjoyed Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim a lot, so I am quite familiar with the ES universe.

    Since then I got hooked by the Soulsborne/Sekiro serieswhich I absolutely adore - especially Bloodborne - and kind of set as a standard for myself. That said, after playing ESO for a week now (no worries, I spent literally    I just started playing ESO as a free monthly offer on Play Station. I enjoyed Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim a lot, so I am quite familiar with the ES universe.

    Since then I got hooked by the Soulsborne/Sekiro serieswhich I absolutely adore - especially Bloodborne - and kind of set as a standard for myself.

    That said, after playing ESO for a week now (no worries, I spent literally days there due to the pandemic), rising to level 30, I think this is quite a boring game with some really annoying mechanics. Mind you, the landscape is beautifully done, the characters are well designed and the interaction a real progress to the older games. The myriads of tasks and story lines that are thrown at you contain some gems, that make the game fun in the beginning (and even made me buy the Greymoor Addon. I can’t tell if I’ll be motivated enough to play it after experiencing the downsides of ESO. And there are a lot for me).

    First of all it’s the unnerving map. Apart of the (black and white. Why not give them colours at least?) symbols being so tiny and only zoomable to a slightly bigger, but still hardly distinguishable size, I run around a lot, travel to the wrong places, pay to get to another wrong place till finally finding the quest I am looking for. If I don’t get distracted by another task. That in itself can be part of the fun, motivating you to explore the area. What’s off-putting is, that if you accept a quest it’s automatically set as your new goal. Not a huge problem as you can switch your actual quest in the Journal. But more than once I didn’t find the original quest that I went on. So I had to run around and search for the place I was supposed to go to. You get help though to not getting lost totally, as arrows on the quest bar show you the direction. Which still can be confusing as they don’t tell you if the quest is in the same area or in another part of Tamriel.

    The second, and probably for me the biggest issue, are the fighting mechanics. Unlike e.g. Soulsborne games, where you have to time very precise moves to hit someone, which makes a win often so difficult, here in ESO I just run around between foes and push buttons, not really knowing what I’m doing (actually I do more or less, but it feels random). Really infuriating is, that sometimes enemies attack from 10 meters away and still hit me. There is no way you can foresee if someone is able to strike you down or not (not talking about the red AOE markers!). It’s just awful. Well, I don’t blame anyone who thinks a game like Sekiro is too hard. I don’t mind going for something easier, but hell, at least you want a fight to feel a bit more realistic and challenging, no?

    A ridiculous blow to the atmosphere is that if you get attacked standing in a group of people, they don’t bother AT ALL. You swing your weapon in all directions, no NPC gets hit, but hey, why should they, if a fight for life or death doesn’t affect them.

    Then, if you finish a quest by slaughtering enemies, more of them still pop up and attack you even when the quest tells you that you pacified the area. Or, attacking one single baddy, you find them miraculously multiplying into 2, 3, sometimes more enemies. Yes, ridiculous!

    The various guilds and the possibilites to develop and train certain skills like alchemy, cooking, clothing, woodwork etc. are kind of nice in the beginning, but get also kind of boring after a while. I just don’t care anymore to decide if I keep some random plant and throw something else from my inventory, not having enough space (which you can expand and is probably no issue anymore later in the game).

    As mentioned above some quests are more interesting, sometimes even funny, some are short (and often too easy), some quite long (and can lead you into more difficult territory). But did I find any quest up to now thrilling or scary? Making me yearn to go on? Naw. Running through a swamp, fighting crocodiles and hags, looking for a dangerous witch, could be creepy. Not not here. It seems that they really go for quantity at Bethesda, not for quality.

    I can’t say too much about the PVP or groups as I’m in general a solo player. It might be more fun in a group tackling the real baddies that are indeed hard for one alone. So if you are a group person you might have a lot of fun in Tamriel.

    I will keep playing for a while, even have a look into Greymoor. But I guess that will be about it. If I change my mind at some point, I will revise my review. For the moment I’m not a fan.    … Expand
  27. furiouslog
    Mar 3, 2021
    2
    I've played this game for about two years now. Here are the pros and cons:

    Pros: 1. Elder Scrolls IP (if that is something that appeals to you). 2. Beautifully designed graphics with an immersive quality (particularly newer content) 3. Multiple ways to play the game with highly customizable build options that are very accessible to newer players. 4. Very flexible for single player    I've played this game for about two years now. Here are the pros and cons:

    Pros:
    1. Elder Scrolls IP (if that is something that appeals to you).
    2. Beautifully designed graphics with an immersive quality (particularly newer content)
    3. Multiple ways to play the game with highly customizable build options that are very accessible to newer players.
    4. Very flexible for single player and multiplayer content – there is something for everyone here.
    5. Combat is very dynamic and requires some practice and skill to master.
    6. Your abilities in the game are not contingent on paying any additional money. The only thing investment gets you is inventory control convenience and cosmetics.
    7. The community is, on a whole, very friendly, and the guild options make it possible to meet people who engage with the game on a variety of levels and interests.
    8. There is a very active and creative third party addon community.
    9. There are many ways to engage with the game, including the housing features, single player, multiplayer for 4 man and 12 man content, role play, and a number of PVP options.

    Cons:
    1. Constant changes and tweaks to gear, gameplay, and mechanics make it near-impossible to settle down and hit your stride. Once you get used to playing a certain way with an optimized build, the rug gets pulled out from underneath you and you are starting over.
    2. Viable participation in endgame is locked behind so many grindy requirements that it can take a new player months to get to the point where they are even teachable for veteran trial content.
    3. The combat system mechanics are inscrutable and difficult to learn. In order to understand your characters and their builds, it literally takes hours of research on third party sites to get to the point where you comprehend the interplay of character stats and how that affects your in-game performance.
    4. The PVP offerings in the game are broken. Cheaters are not rampant, but definitely present, and the game design does not make it easy for ZOS to put walls in place to prevent exploitation. Each third party script or bot that gets produced needs to be individually researched and the code re-written to prevent cheating, so it’s prevalent. Furthermore, performance of PVP with respect to the servers is truly awful. Lag is such a bad problem that ZOS has literally been running player tests for months wherein mechanics are drastically changed in pursuit of identifying the root cause of the lag, and after all of that, they still have not figured out what the problem is. During some battles in Cyrodiil (a large PVP zone), the lag can get so bad that it almost acts like turn based combat.
    5. Many of the changes that ZOS makes causes considerable harm to the veteran player and their gaming experience, because the changes are meant to accommodate newer players and make endgame more accessible. The principle of accessibility is not the problem – it’s that after you have played for a certain time and achieved a certain level, you are not guaranteed to retain what you have earned in the game, forcing regrinds of content you’ve done over and over again just to get at parity with where you were prior to the change.
    6. The game is almost unplayable without the addons that the player community provides. You can technically play it, but the time wasted without the addons is such that it would be ridiculous to make an attempt to play without them. Console players: you are SOL.
    7. The “crown crates” that drop various cosmetic items are a third party currency gambling black box. 8. If you run a guild, the cash outlay to provide offerings to your guildmates (such as crafting stations, practice dummies, and various conveniences) can run into hundreds of dollars. You don’t have to do that, but people who want to run a successful guild by providing attractive offerings to retain membership need to be aware of the stakes.

    Despite the positives, I’m not recommending this game because, ZOS as a company does not listen to their customers. When changes are made, it’s obvious that part of their motivation is to force more seasoned players to keep grinding over and over again to recapture what they had prior to the change. They keep moving the finish line, both to attract new players, while also willfully and needlessly punishing veteran players for their loyalty in the name of increasing veteran player screen time in order to increase the probability of cosmetic sales. These players are essentially exploited.
    If you love the story and world of Elder Scrolls, and want a single player experience with casual multiplayer engagement, then none of this will matter, and I’d recommend the game. But given that it is an MMO, whose ultimate objective is to better your play to a point where you can clear difficult content and/or play against excellent players in a competitive setting, the journey is ultimately not worth the destination.    … Expand
  28. Mnobody
    Feb 23, 2021
    0
    Im a major ES fan. I tried this game in 2014 when it first released. I hated it then. I tried it again recently in 2021 thinking it might have improved and bought the heavily discounted expansion set. It did not.

    I hate this game for its most critical aspect - the combat. I tried playing as Dragonknight and Necro - two classes supposedly ranks as the "most fun". Yet the combat stayed so    Im a major ES fan. I tried this game in 2014 when it first released. I hated it then. I tried it again recently in 2021 thinking it might have improved and bought the heavily discounted expansion set. It did not.

    I hate this game for its most critical aspect - the combat. I tried playing as Dragonknight and Necro - two classes supposedly ranks as the "most fun". Yet the combat stayed so painfully tedious and grinding that there is no joy in playing at all. Fights follow the "let me spam 3 skills" 20x for mobs that are on health steroids and offer no notable rewards or exp for it. It will feel like literal minutes to take down 1 basic mob and get that "generous" 2 xp. Occasionally I got a monster part for fishing or 5 gold - wtf in 8 hours i didn't even find anything to spend gold on and never discovered any fishing spots. Currency seems worthless until you get about 10k - that's about 20000 mob kills assuming you get a drop on 25% of them. After 8 hours of tedium and mostly quests, i hit lvl 5. Woo. My joy in leveling was being able to unlock a new skill that seemed to make no difference in grindy combat. I couldn't tell if i was killing mobs faster or not v. continually swinging my junk sword in basic attack mode.

    Trying to just run by mobs doesn't work either. Mobs will pursue you relentlessly where they seem to hit regardless of where you are in and youll usually die. UI is extremely frustrating and I did not appreciate it at all. I could never find a map, so couldnt tell how far quests are, I have to "unlock" levelup rewards (why?!), no way i can tell to summon mounts or equip pointless costumes (and yes, I had them with the special edition). What a great consolation that you can have a pet that literally does nothing but stand by while you grind and/or die; it wont fight or help you in anyway. It is literally a roaming decoration. No comment on the in-game store - rip off city. $30 some dollars and you can have another decorative pet that does nothing. $20 to get a quest you don't want. Yay. What bargains. Id rather buy bitcoin.

    In short. I hate this game. I wish it never was made. It feels like a game made for an iPad and I can only imagine the depraved people who enjoy playing this. I guess if you never had video games before nor got over the WOW addiction, this seems like heaven. For me, the resources that went into this junk game should have beenspent making a proper tribute to Elder Scrolls in the traditional RPG format. At any price, this game is a fail.    … Expand
  29. iaai1001
    Jan 23, 2021
    2
    So many bugs that absolutely nothing works properly!
    It is now January 2020. I have played this game for 1.5 years and yes it is very entertaining. But what about its future? as it costs money to play. It can be played for free but, imo, there is that appeal for addicts, which costs money.
    Shortly after starting my adventure, the Patch for "threading" came out. After several months, it    So many bugs that absolutely nothing works properly!
    It is now January 2020. I have played this game for 1.5 years and yes it is very entertaining. But what about its future? as it costs money to play. It can be played for free but, imo, there is that appeal for addicts, which costs money.
    Shortly after starting my adventure, the Patch for "threading" came out. After several months, it basically works but currently players complained about the increased "lag," which ZOS said they would fix but 1.5 years later the same lag is there. ZOS has a tendency to say that they will fix something but that may never occur and be down the road many years away. There are still serious problems with threading where consecutive actions are out of order, e.g. there is an execute ability that can be used when your enemy's hit points are less than 25% and frequently the execute ability occurs out of order giving damage at 1/300 of what it should be: there are many more examples.
    The last major patch is Update 28, which was advertised as an inventory overhaul. There was no overhaul but a significant inventory UI improvement. There are many minor inventory problems like doing a writ quest where the searches are inaccurate (you have an item but the game doesn't know it), increasing your armor rating from 4 stars to 5 and getting a 20% reduction in DPS where the displayed base weapon damage has increased by over 100 plus many increased damage increases.
    But I digress, as the key problem today is what I describe as "the bug threshold." With the Update 28, it appears that ESO has hit the "bug threshold," which I define as the point where a software package has so many bugs that programs can no longer code normally as everything they now write is a work-around the existing bugs to accomplish a stated function. And the end result is a choice between the new bugs and the old bugs, which does the most damage to the game. Recently ESO had an Undaunted Event where they delayed the launch by more than a week to fix dungeons. They did significantly improve the dungeon queueing system that works most of the time but left the dungeon CTDs (crash to desktop). Then ZOS announced that they couldn't fix this. Also during these famous/infamous Updates a slough of fixes are announced. Often after a few days some or many of these so-called fixes are removed because they cause CTD"s or more significant other problems. These removals are not acknowledged by ZOS and may never be addressed again except possibly by luck. As Microsoft has purchased ZOS and has a software personality where bugs are fixed instead of writing work-arounds (of course they don't fix all bugs for games), what will happen to Bethesda's beloved Elder Scrolls? Where does one start with trying to fix the massive amount of bugs and obvious work-arounds to create a working game? First you would have to delete the work-arounds, recording and retesting what actual bugs you have, which would be an awesome task. Plus the new chapters and DLC's that are now composed of significant work-arounds would basically have to be rewritten from scratch.
    The current status of Daily Dungeons is that CTD's occur frequently and ZOS said they cannot be fixed. There is a player work-around from your CTD and that is to log out of the game completely and then relog and rejoin your team: takes about 2 minutes, which can occur to any team member in a dungeon that is experiencing this bug and multiple times as long as your teammates have not kicked you from the team. But of course this is better with the current dungeon queueing system, which generally works, tha it worked before.
    Regards,    … Expand
  30. Xonerix
    Jan 15, 2021
    3
    Garbage mmorpg, a very bad gimmick of Elder scrolls games. Nothing in the game is interesting enough to keep you playing for long.
    The world map is huge in ESO, but it's literally blueprint copy paste regions everywhere, if you fully completed at least 1 region, then you can count it as if you played the whole game.
    Even though PVE is not p2w, PVP is pay to win, because you can buy DLCs    Garbage mmorpg, a very bad gimmick of Elder scrolls games. Nothing in the game is interesting enough to keep you playing for long.
    The world map is huge in ESO, but it's literally blueprint copy paste regions everywhere, if you fully completed at least 1 region, then you can count it as if you played the whole game.
    Even though PVE is not p2w, PVP is pay to win, because you can buy DLCs that you can complete to gain more powerful skills to use in combat, which gives you unfair advantage over other people that didn't buy that specific DLC.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
14
#14 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 64 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 36 out of 64
  3. Negative: 1 out of 64
  1. CD-Action
    Jul 23, 2014
    60
    Eight years of development, a team consisting of even 250 people at some points, budget reaching hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s a pity that this ‘Skyrim Online’ disappoints both fans of previous Bethesda games and MMORPG veterans who expected some fresh air in the stale genre. [06/2014, p.44]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jul 8, 2014
    60
    A well done MMO that can lure players not familiar with the genre. But if you've played MMOs before, this one doesn't offer anything new, nor anything exciting.
  3. DarkStation
    Jun 16, 2014
    50
    60 days was more then enough time for me to determine that I would rather spend my time elsewhere.
    Read full review
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