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. salamalajk
    Dec 29, 2014
    10
    Best MMORPG ever created. I understand some reviews at launch, however Elder Scrolls Online was never a bad game to begin with. It's launch was one of the smoothest ever, when you look at Warlords of Draenor and their struggles for 2 weeks, ESO launched in a perfect state. Also not to mention WoD is just a "small" expansion and not a full game like ESO.

    So what is there to be said that    Best MMORPG ever created. I understand some reviews at launch, however Elder Scrolls Online was never a bad game to begin with. It's launch was one of the smoothest ever, when you look at Warlords of Draenor and their struggles for 2 weeks, ESO launched in a perfect state. Also not to mention WoD is just a "small" expansion and not a full game like ESO.

    So what is there to be said that you don't know yet?

    Graphics -> Best in the genre by a big stretch
    Story -> Tie with The Secret World
    Lore -> Best in the genre, Lotro following close, others far behind
    Combat -> Tie with Tera
    PvP -> Best in the genre, close behind DAoC, and then GW2, others far behind
    Crafting -> Best in the genre by a big stretch
    Immersion -> Best in the genre, nobody even close
    Exploration -> Best in the genre, nobody even close
    Dungeons -> Definitively looking the best, with inovative mechanics, and hard skill cap
    Raids -> Lacking at the moment, however the last trial is atm the hardest group content in the genre
    Costumer Support -> Best in the genre
    Community -> One of the best ever, TSW tops it though

    Overally the game is just by far the best MMORPG currently on the market. Be advised though, this game is not for children, it was clearly made for adults and mature people. Expect realism even though it's a fantasy world. There won't be flying unicorn, 10m chickens etc.

    If you just came out of kindergarten though, then I recommend WoW.    … Expand
  2. Swordguy
    May 29, 2014
    7
    I originally gave this game a better score, but after playing for 2 months, I can say without a doubt that the game at launch is missing a lot of elder scrolls features, but then new features like fishing, which have no reward beside the activity itself, instead of things like crime, thieves guild, dark brotherhood, etc..

    This game needs another year of development, or at the very least    I originally gave this game a better score, but after playing for 2 months, I can say without a doubt that the game at launch is missing a lot of elder scrolls features, but then new features like fishing, which have no reward beside the activity itself, instead of things like crime, thieves guild, dark brotherhood, etc..

    This game needs another year of development, or at the very least 6 months, but at the rate they are developing the game, I'm leaning toward a year.    … Expand
  3. DarkJinks
    Apr 18, 2014
    3
    As a single player experience, it's good but still falls very short of Skyrim quality. As a multiplayer experience, it's practically not there! There is absolutely no teamwork involved in the quests, even if you're in a group, you have to finish quests separately. This means that the only thing other players are good for is getting in your way and stealing your resources. Just play Skyrim!
  4. Nataraja
    May 11, 2014
    6
    This is a revised review given time to play this large MMO more fully and therefore give it a more apt review.

    I am a confessed Elder Scrolls junky - well RPG junky really and a sucker for good lore and story - which is present in this game. The score should be 6.5, but half points are not provided on Metacritic. To fairly review this game one must recognize that THIS IS AN MMO and is    This is a revised review given time to play this large MMO more fully and therefore give it a more apt review.

    I am a confessed Elder Scrolls junky - well RPG junky really and a sucker for good lore and story - which is present in this game. The score should be 6.5, but half points are not provided on Metacritic. To fairly review this game one must recognize that THIS IS AN MMO and is only tangentially related to its single player predecessors. However, the standard of the impressive Elder Scrolls games cannot and should not be set aside.
    -
    Be warned - THIS IS NOT A SOLO EXPERIENCE EXCLUSSIVELY. In that way it is not fair to compare it to Skyrim or Oblivion, for example. Its an MMO and with that is a big sacrifice to the Elder Scrolls experience. Gone is opportunity for quiet reflection looking over a vista (ala Skyrim...) or that feeling of being the one true hero, despite the moments it provides in the main quest line. So if you are looking for Elder Scrolls VI - its not here. This is definitely an Online Massive Multiplayer version and needs to be viewed and reviewed as such.
    -
    With that said the game is mediocre and suffers from an identity crisis. It had a very smooth launch with the megaserver technology, acceptable graphics for an MMO, lots of quests and events, tons of things to do with crafting and fighter, mage and undaunted guilds. PVP is well done and deep (better than GW2 in my book) and as s solo experience its decent EXCEPT it is NOT solo and the solo parts are ruined by the introduction of MASSIVE people doing the same things CONSTANTLY. That is its biggest drawback - it wants to give in depth personal experiences of Elder Scrolls but is unable to deliver. The phasing makes it impossible to group and play with friends in any consistent way as they will never appear to you if you are in separate stages of a quest. Sharing of quests is pointless as if you have done step one but your friend has not gotten the quest yet you are forever separated and unable to play together.
    -
    The issues are Zenimax/Bethesda's occasional technical hiccup and the lack of communication and application of standard IT best practices that hampered the early access experience. The boards were afire during the early access and communication with players was not good. Hopefully that will change.
    -
    My initial thoughts were that ESO would be measured in years of play - not minutes, hours, days or weeks - but the phasing and how the game is structured completely destroyed that possibility.

    Crafting: There is not a good balance there for those who like to craft between materials access and storage. Also absent is a general auction house - instead you must join a guild to be able to sell your wares to other guild members. Quite annoying. Crafting is the only way to get the best gear and that makes craftsmen valuable and crafting valuable (but they really need an auction house - although there are already pure commerce guilds forming).
    -
    Combat is decent and the dungeons require skill when they work. First person is horribly hampered by the very narrow and claustrophobic field of view and third person is just awkward.
    -
    If you want some pleasant but not entirely fresh MMO air this could be it. It is different but is no different enough to justify a subscription. The multiplayer aspects are very poorly implemented, quest breaking bugs have been present since launch and some are a horrible mess. The best part of the game is the PvP but its too vast with underpopulated campaigns which leaves huge open areas and nothing new to offer nor any better than Guild Wars 2 that has NO SUBSCRIPTION.

    This is game had a lot of promise but like Star Wars the Old Republic it simply fails as a multiplayer experience. For one of the first times ever I really have to agree with Angry Joe - skip it or wait for it to go to buy to play and if you miss it entirely you won't miss much. Far better to stay in Skyrim and enjoy the free mods from the vast community that has formed around that game. Or better yet, anticipate the next installment of Fallout or perhaps Elder Scrolls 6 as I hope they will return to what they do best - free roaming player driven narrative games and not this poorly designed MMO.    … Expand
  5. gcd872000
    Apr 17, 2014
    2
    I can't take it anymore. At first I gave this game a positive review after like 2 days of play. I realize the error in my ways because it only took one week for the game to become completely boring. The combat is like dragon age 2 where you just button mash and use random abilities. Ranged combat is pretty much useless(no more sneak attacks from 50 meters away like skyrim) to use the bowI can't take it anymore. At first I gave this game a positive review after like 2 days of play. I realize the error in my ways because it only took one week for the game to become completely boring. The combat is like dragon age 2 where you just button mash and use random abilities. Ranged combat is pretty much useless(no more sneak attacks from 50 meters away like skyrim) to use the bow you have to be pretty much right ontop of the enemy which defeats the point of using a bow. The world they created is beautiful and has plenty of diverse creatures too bad the only thing to do in it is run around and kill random creatures, you can only interact with certain objects like herbs and ore deposits. The quests are mostly all kill and fetch quests. The leveling and skill system makes no sense at all, the game randomly increases skills that you have equipped on your action bar, even if you don't use them. They totally ruined the simple crafting system that skyrim had implemented. Now you have to find schematics to make certain things and of course they and the materials are really rare, of course you can buy them from other players but why would you they'd probably charge you 10 thousand gold. Its like the developers all sat down an said "Lets take all the positive improvements skyrim implemented and just throw em away. This game is not worth $14.99 a month this game is not worth the $59.99 initial price.… Expand
  6. SBM
    Apr 5, 2014
    5
    Anyone waiting for the next great MMO will likely be disappointed. I had high hopes for ESO, I quite liked Skyrim and Morrowind before it, and the idea of a multiplayer installment was very appealing. However ESO doesn't break free of the MMO mold at all, in a lot of ways it's a step backwards. WoW is still better, heck The Old Republic is better. This game will not survive with aAnyone waiting for the next great MMO will likely be disappointed. I had high hopes for ESO, I quite liked Skyrim and Morrowind before it, and the idea of a multiplayer installment was very appealing. However ESO doesn't break free of the MMO mold at all, in a lot of ways it's a step backwards. WoW is still better, heck The Old Republic is better. This game will not survive with a subscription fee, I highly doubt I'll even use my free month of play time. I'll try and breakdown what's wrong with it, along with what they did right.

    The bad:

    Gameplay - Levelling solo was very boring for me, a friend or two may have helped, but I digress. It was admirable of the devs to try and break away from the kill X enemies or collect X of Y, but the quests still end up boring and samey. Combat, which has never been great in Elder Scrolls, is actually a step back from Skyrim. The combat feels floaty and requires you to aim in the general direction of an enemy when attacking. For an MMO with lots of enemies and chaos, this is just annoying. Levelling feels way too slow, and there's no good reason to even want to get to the end game. Dungeons are just a harder variation of the same boring crap you'd be doing solo. The Cyrodill PvP could be fun, but it usually ends up as one faction dominating the other two.

    Some essential features are also missing or just plain done wrong. There is no auction house, nor is there even a dedicated trade chat. You are stuck either trying to peddle your goods in the main chat channel, or to your guildmates. Speaking of which, you can join 5 guilds. Who wants 5 different guild chats spamming their screen at once? One guild has been standard for MMOs and for good reason. If WoW has too many features then ESO has far too few.

    Another note: The animations and lip syncing are fairly awful, of all the things to carry over from Elder Scrolls, why bring the terrible animations?

    The game economy - They took an interesting route with crafting, but it seems unbalanced. Also resources are very scarce, making levelling your crafting skill slow and expensive. Certain things like mounts cost far too much, it really seems like Zenimax wants you to shell out real cash for the imperial edition horse or the palomino. It's just too hard to earn enough money, I wouldn't be surprised to see gold available in the cash shop soon.

    The not terrible:

    Graphics - Pretty decent, not amazing, but about what you'd expect for a modern MMO.

    Sound - Probably my favorite thing about this game is the soundtrack. There are a lot of familiar tunes along with some new ones, I enjoyed the music. Voice acting was a mixed bag, certain voices were way overused, remember that guy who voiced half the Nords in Skyrim? He's back voicing half the Nords in this game.

    In Conclusion:

    This game is not horrible, clearly a lot of work did go into designing the game, but it went in the wrong direction. A lot of the Elder Scrolls features they stuck in this game were the wrong ones. Of the paid MMOs, this is the weakest by far. Even the free to plays like SWTOR and Neverwinter are better in my opinion. If you are like me and looking for a fun new MMO, you won't find it here. Save your money.    … Expand
  7. nefariousfiend
    Apr 23, 2014
    3
    It's very disappointing spending 80 dollars on a game plus a 15 dollar subscription per month I expected a lot more out of this game. It's about half the speed of wow and twice as dull if you ask me. The caster classes are underpowered and mana starved. you only get 5 abilities at a time unless you switch weapons then you get another 5 but lose the previous 5. The options are very limitedIt's very disappointing spending 80 dollars on a game plus a 15 dollar subscription per month I expected a lot more out of this game. It's about half the speed of wow and twice as dull if you ask me. The caster classes are underpowered and mana starved. you only get 5 abilities at a time unless you switch weapons then you get another 5 but lose the previous 5. The options are very limited as to what you can do. Bag space fills very quickly and you have to do a lot of crafting and grinding mats yourself to better your gear etc. It's much more of a grind than I expected. Lets not even get started on the bugs and downtime you will experience. The PVE really isn't social based in any way. It's more like playing a console game with a few random people running around with you. The quilds are a joke and not necessary in any way people just start one up and invite as many people as they can. Helpfulness for questions is pretty much non existent from my experience, your better off google searching. The chat in the game for Zones is pretty much bots spamming to sell gold power level and immature kids. Think of the crossroads in wow add 3/4 spam then the zone chat and you have a good idea of what to expect. The group dungeons etc is picking up random people and running through a quick 10 minute dungeon with little to sometimes no reward unless you count a little xp. Gear drops... what gear drops? It's make your own and improve it or run around in greens and maybe a few blues that you don't really want since they don't really help with your whole whopping 5 abilities. With the lack of abilities, the lack of social play, bugs and slow leveling, grinding and constant annoyance of running back and forth to clear bag space, and immature nature of chat and spam, I rate this game a 3. I feel it was a complete waste of money and time. Unfortunately, what's done is done. I just hope to save the next person 80 dollars or 60 depending on what version you buy.… Expand
  8. archanjo
    Mar 4, 2016
    3
    god this game is terrible.. where should i start with...ok lets see hmmm oh got it
    pros: has uninstall button
    cons : the rest

    so so so bad....i died a little inside
  9. mastershakez
    May 7, 2014
    2
    If you're a big fan of Elder Scrolls, you will more definitely hate this game. If however you're just a fan of MMORPGs, well you'll likely think this is below par at best...who was this game targeted to again? On the plus side, you can play as an Imperial for the low low price of $95 for your first month!

    Final score: TotallyNotACashGrab/10
  10. Isca
    Apr 5, 2014
    4
    EXTREMELY disappointing. This game does still have huge potential to be worth playing, but at launch there are some major issues spoiling it:

    - For an MMO, it feels BARREN. There is little interactivity with other players due to the nature of the chat set up. It is very confusing to see who sent a message, and all you see is 'shells' of other players darting around. You are mostly    EXTREMELY disappointing. This game does still have huge potential to be worth playing, but at launch there are some major issues spoiling it:

    - For an MMO, it feels BARREN. There is little interactivity with other players due to the nature of the chat set up. It is very confusing to see who sent a message, and all you see is 'shells' of other players darting around. You are mostly ignored if you try to interact with them. Sure, you can join guilds and clubs, but unless you know the person, every other player is an annoying distraction that can't or won't interact with you.
    - For an RPG - the character development is linear and confusing. You feel like you are controlling something that already has its path laid out ahead, rather than having control of its destiny.
    - The quests are EXTREMELY BUGGED, at least 1/3 quests have NPCs missing, or they are doing something so that you can't forward the quest. The quests themselves are mostly childish 'put this here' 'take that there' kind of affairs. Even Runescape has more engaging and challenging quests.
    - The enemies and bosses are virtually impossible to beat without dying several times over each time, which makes continuity impossible. It's like water torture trying to kill some of them (doing the same routine 20 times over, until you feel like punching your PC monitor). Mudcrabs level up along side you?? Really? All of a sudden the mudcrabs that were lvl 2 when you were lvl 2 are suddenly lvl 20 ... just as you hit lvl 20. This is the same for all PVM - There's no advantage in leveling combat skills.
    - There's little interactivity with the game world. You ask why your character can't pick up the countless weapons, armor and supplies that are just sitting around for the taking, while you struggle to find the right stuff to make a lvl 2 iron knife. Ridiculous.
    - Lag spikes are common. The servers seem to like them
    - There are too many items than you can pick up, store or bank, without any indication as to whether they are useful. The tooltips are pathetic. This will be OK for seasoned players, but for newbies it is very testing.

    On the plus side, the graphics are gorgeous, the soundtrack/ sound effects are amazing, and there is plenty of scope for personalizing your character.

    I was wishing for so much better. It really is a shame.    … Expand
  11. CoreDave
    Apr 4, 2014
    4
    Its not terrible, its just very disappointing coming from the heritage of a game series that dared to be different from the crowd and define its own genre of open sandbox rpg gaming. Elderscrolls online just leaves me feeling like the makers really just wanted to make a new RvR game in the same mould as DAoC or WAR. Its so standard MMO, so been there done that, so uninspired it just hurts.Its not terrible, its just very disappointing coming from the heritage of a game series that dared to be different from the crowd and define its own genre of open sandbox rpg gaming. Elderscrolls online just leaves me feeling like the makers really just wanted to make a new RvR game in the same mould as DAoC or WAR. Its so standard MMO, so been there done that, so uninspired it just hurts. Where there is an attempt to incorporate some of the elements of the single player games it feels clunky or doesn't quite work because the fundamental starting point was your bog standard MMO the like of which we've seen time and again for the last 10 years. Take questing. full voice, lots of effort put into back story you say? Well yes, but because the questing and character advancement model is essentially the same as most MMOs (That being you advance by completing quests which give you xp to spend on level ups), the world is necessarily packed with quest givers, most of whom give 5 min quests which we've all done a million of before, kill 5 bears, pick 10 flowers, blah blah blah. The end result is all the fancy voice acting and back story just wastes your time because the fundamental activity is so mindless. I could go on and on about the disappointments in ESO, but it all boils down to one thing. Its nothing new, its not in the spirit of the single player games, its just another near enough carbon copy of a gameplay model that doesn't fit with the IP that's been forced into it. Come on Devs, can't you be a bit braver than this. If Bethesda had just copied the successful model of the time then Arena would of been a scripted on rails experience like Final Fantasy. The MMORPG world is crying out for something new, something different. Enough with the era of the WoW-a-like.… Expand
  12. InsidiaGaming
    Apr 9, 2014
    3
    First of all if you are going to compare this to WoW you are going to have a bad time. WoW has had nearly a decade to get things right, tweak things here and there to find out what works and what doesn't work.

    If you played the ESO beta you'll remember bugs in it (as you do in beta) and some of those bugs are still there. Several times now I've logged out in frustration because of quest    First of all if you are going to compare this to WoW you are going to have a bad time. WoW has had nearly a decade to get things right, tweak things here and there to find out what works and what doesn't work.

    If you played the ESO beta you'll remember bugs in it (as you do in beta) and some of those bugs are still there. Several times now I've logged out in frustration because of quest bugs (such as the boss is supposed to jump down from a balcony to fight you, and ends up getting stuck and floating in mid air). The game is riddled with bugs here and there, putting it simply you'll run into some form of bug probably every 10-15 minutes whether it be a graphics bug, npcs half fallen into the floor, npcs that are "stuck" in combat, audio bugs you name it. This is the main reason why i'm giving it a low score, harsh possibly for bugs but there are that many bugs and at the moment Elder Scrolls Online is flawed and is heading in the same direction as other MMO's. At this rate it'll be free to play in around 8-10 months just in time for everyone to stop playing anyway and play the next WoW expansion when it's released at the end of the year.

    People should not be paying 39.99 for a game, then 8.99 on top of that for a monthly subscription for a bug riddled game from what is meant to be a top studio.

    The graphics are nice, but I've failed to see anything that captures you like that of Skyrim.

    The combat system is buggy, at times I've had to re-position myself because my blade just kept going through the mob and not hitting it (although naturally it could hit me). Even as a caster it just doesn't feel right.

    Character Creation, nothing more than average. Not bad, but nothing special either with a load of wasted templates you'd never use.

    Conclusion: You are not missing anything and chances are you won't gain anything at present only a forever burning hole in your wallet. Big let down from Bethesda who should know better than this, they had the betas, they had the players for it, they had the feedback and it's still ****    … Expand
  13. bugnguts
    Apr 5, 2014
    10
    First I will get two important points out of the way.
    1. ESO is an MMO. This means if you don't like MMOs you will likely not like this game. If your haven't tried MMOs but are fans of the ES universe then you just might like it.
    2. Pay model is monthly subscription. You may or may not like it but rating a game up or down several points based on this alone is ridiculous. Rating    First I will get two important points out of the way.
    1. ESO is an MMO. This means if you don't like MMOs you will likely not like this game. If your haven't tried MMOs but are fans of the ES universe then you just might like it.
    2. Pay model is monthly subscription. You may or may not like it but rating a game up or down several points based on this alone is ridiculous.

    Rating scale: (++++I stand in awe, +++ Excellent, ++Great, +Good, ~So-so, -Poor, --Bad, ---Terrible and ----Pure crap)

    Visuals
    Graphics +++ Compared to other MMOs ESO has perhaps the best.
    Art ++++ The detail and variety of art work is amazing. The artist quality of this game is 2nd to none.
    View Distance +++ The large VD makes the areas feel big. Hi/Lo texture transitions blended smoothly.
    User Interface+++ Clean and efficient. I especially like how the compass is used. For +or- there is no mini map.
    Graphics scaling +++ If your computer runs 21/2 year old Skyrim well, it will run ESO well.
    Graphic Options+++ ESO allows considerable tweaking including options like "Depth of Field".

    Sound
    Voice acting++The voice acting is quite good. Occasional audio glitches mutes the voice over.
    Music+++ ESO music like other ES games is top notch and implemented nicely.
    Ambient Sounds +++ Be it footsteps, NPCs, casting or etc ESO's soundscape it immersive.

    Controls
    Accessibility+++Hot keys and shortcut keys are straight forward. Just remember the "E" key is affirmative and is used a lot.
    Combat++For an MMO, ESO has great combat controls. It is not overly complex yet there is a rewarding learning curve. I do feel a few changes and or tweaking could make this go from great to excellent.

    RPG and Character Development
    Skill trees++++I feel Zenimax nailed this. Race, class, armor, weapon and misc skill trees distinctly affect your character but no single set defines your play style or role.
    Leveling+++You gain experience and skills through exploring, questing and using skills/equipment.
    Customization++ There are quite a lot of choices at character creation to customize your face/body. Though each race has a different style of armors and weapons there are no color schemes you can customize them with.

    Misc
    Game world+++ ESO's Tamriel is large and open. Lootable containers bookshelves etc are everywhere. There are many nooks and crannies that can be explored.
    PVE+++I think I might be playing a different game them those that complain about boring quests. This game's quest are creative, varied and entertaining. ESO uses phasing quite well to make you feel your actions matter. Will you still have to complete 100s of quest to level to 50 yes.
    PVP+++ I would like to experience more PVP, but the siege battles are epic and the three faction dynamic really adds depth to the PVP. The PVP in ESO is shaping up to be the best since Dark Age of Camelot. Though I need more time to tell and Zenimax will need to continue to evolve ESO's PVP.

    Most importantly
    Life draining+++ My wife and really enjoy playing ESO. We've played in beta and early access. We've spent way to many hours playing various MMO's. We like both PVE and PVP. We haven't been pulled into an MMO like this since Burning Crusade came out for WoW.

    There are many other fun and refreshing aspects of the game like lock picking. I will not cover them all.
    If you like MMOs and the Elder Scrolls universe this game is intoxicating. If you want a single player romp like Skyrim wait for TES VI. There is nothing earth shattering new or different about ESO compared to other MMOs. Yet small unique things like a very lootable world, 3 faction PVP, locking picking along with the other refined elements makes ESO a joy to play.

    I rank ESO at a 9.4. Overall its an excellent game. It used to be Metacritic was a great place to see gamers opinions. Now too many axe grinding trolls found the site and flippantly give a 0 with little to no reasoning why. That leaves users users that actually care the choice to rank the game higher to offset the trolls or give what they honestly feel is a reasonable score.    … Expand
  14. Mastershank
    Apr 4, 2014
    5
    Here we go again...another generic MMO grind fest. Just watch the streams on twitch of people playing this game and you will see how boring it is. Sure you will like this game at first. You'll be excited to try out your new skills and you may even try to follow some of the story. But before long you get the skills you need to have a complete character and you start skipping the questHere we go again...another generic MMO grind fest. Just watch the streams on twitch of people playing this game and you will see how boring it is. Sure you will like this game at first. You'll be excited to try out your new skills and you may even try to follow some of the story. But before long you get the skills you need to have a complete character and you start skipping the quest dialog, because none of it has any bearing on anything, then on to begin the long grind to 50. Once you reach 50 you'll have 10 veteran levels to grind out also.

    At some point you'll be asking yourself why you're doing this boring grind. Is it for the great loot you'l get later? No..this loot is more boring than Diablo 3 loot. Is it for story? No..the story is forgettable and makes no difference in this game. Is it to explore new and interesting areas? No..the areas are a little varied but nothing to gawk at. Then what? Well I don't know. I was hoping ESO wouldn't be a cookie cutter MMO but it is and that's that. Perhaps pvp can save this game, I'm not sure because I don't get into that.

    So you have a $60 game that costs $15 a month that is not innovative in the least. I predict the new game excitement will wear off within 3 months and this game will start having trouble keeping people.Too bad too, I was hoping Zenimax learned all the lessons of past failed MMO's but I guess not.    … Expand
  15. Acidosis
    Apr 10, 2014
    4
    I followed this game way from early January 2013 till now...and I am heavily disappointed. The things they promise such as impact-full quest, smooth active combat/game-play, elder scroll's feel, adventuring, player significance in the world and other player feedback during early alpha was not taken into full consideration. The quest in this game is lackluster and doesn't impact theI followed this game way from early January 2013 till now...and I am heavily disappointed. The things they promise such as impact-full quest, smooth active combat/game-play, elder scroll's feel, adventuring, player significance in the world and other player feedback during early alpha was not taken into full consideration. The quest in this game is lackluster and doesn't impact the game/npc in anyway, the combat still feels floating and animations are terrible for a 2014 game, elder scroll's feel aspect of it only comes from environment and music and adventuring is heavily controlled not to mention the dungeons mechanics are one of the worst I had seen. Players would rush to loot chest in dungeons and get all the loots instead of helping the group to make it through the dungeon. Even if you were to kick the player, the player will still exist in the same instance of dungeon and will continue to troll you and your group. It is a very terrible experience and it has been happening more frequently now.

    I will justify why I only give this game a 4/10

    One point is for their soundtrack/in game music.
    Second point is for their immense voice acting, which always make an mmorpg more lively.
    Third point is for recreating previous ESO game locations and make it look awesome
    Fourth point for me fan-boying till now. I really wish the game is more polish, solid and better but it isn't

    I can't give it another 6 points because I didn't enjoy any of the beta testing, broken promises which i stated above and the game isn't polished enough. The persistent in-game bugs are one of the worst I had encountered in all the mmorpgs i had played. They even beat GW2 in bugs award. SWTOR, Neverwinter and FFXIVARR were almost bug free even during the beta testing.

    I had a group of friends who were hyped up for the game as me but everything just fall flat. It may not be much but 11 of us including me will not be playing this game anymore. Five of us bought it and all of them regretted it.    … Expand
  16. Uxz
    Apr 11, 2014
    6
    The game starts out nicely, but once you start reaching higher Levels bugs upon bugs will ruin you game experience, at this moment in this you cannot Reach max Level (You will get about half ways there). Veteran Ranks are being blocked by a main story quest that is not possible to do, this has been bugged for 7 days now and there is no fix in sight. Several thousands of players are campingThe game starts out nicely, but once you start reaching higher Levels bugs upon bugs will ruin you game experience, at this moment in this you cannot Reach max Level (You will get about half ways there). Veteran Ranks are being blocked by a main story quest that is not possible to do, this has been bugged for 7 days now and there is no fix in sight. Several thousands of players are camping the zone without any content to do as they are blocked. The customer service offers little to no information and no solutions. This is not just a bug affecting one player, but all -early rushers and levelers managed to get past before the quest bugged out.… Expand
  17. game_over
    Jan 31, 2019
    8
    Poor inventory management, bad pings unless you happen to be close to their _one_ server location in the US, slow zoning, crates(gambling), slow loads (even with an SSD), and sometimes unforgiving group play.

    v.s. Great graphics, compelling quests, lush and diverse zones, and (generally) large amounts of content. This was one of the last AAA mmorpg(s) to be made before companies    Poor inventory management, bad pings unless you happen to be close to their _one_ server location in the US, slow zoning, crates(gambling), slow loads (even with an SSD), and sometimes unforgiving group play.

    v.s.

    Great graphics, compelling quests, lush and diverse zones, and (generally) large amounts of content.

    This was one of the last AAA mmorpg(s) to be made before companies decided they could make a crapload more money from mobile gaming at a fraction of the upfront/maintenance costs.

    ****The game is better now than it was at release. You can group with any friend, in any alliance, and any level in PvE. You can port to any zone, in any alliance and do quests there. The horrid grind after 50 isn't really that much of a grind anymore.

    If you are a subscriber the inventory management hell is somewhat mitigated.    … Expand
  18. CptFlippy
    Apr 11, 2014
    2
    Re-reviewing this game after a week of normal play and it is still disappointing.

    As to be expected with the release of games these days there are a ton of bugs, some that are seriously crippling, like everything in your bank disappearing or that really cool epic armor on your head just disappearing. Quests are broken and it seems that the higher level you get the less testing seems to    Re-reviewing this game after a week of normal play and it is still disappointing.

    As to be expected with the release of games these days there are a ton of bugs, some that are seriously crippling, like everything in your bank disappearing or that really cool epic armor on your head just disappearing. Quests are broken and it seems that the higher level you get the less testing seems to have been done, which makes sense as they had a limited beta.

    It doesn't even have the feel of a normal MMO because they gave it the base Elder Scrolls GUI but then cut back on its functionality. You have 7 slots attached to keyboard keys, 1-5, Q, R, 1 special R which is really lame as the power builds up while you fight and drops when you are not which means you rarely use it in PvE. The 7 slot Q is attached to a quick slot which means you can have several items on that, but can only use them one at a time and there is a cool-down timer on them. So that epic battle in Skyrim where you clicked through 30 potions, not going to happen in ESO.

    The limited key functionality and simplicity that they have is clearly been done to make the titles transition to consoles easier. The greatness of the Elder Scrolls series is the graphics and how fantastic the game looks. ESO misses this mark completely, the graphics just are not there and seem like they maybe that way for console release.

    The interesting thing about player and bank inventory space is that you can see where they could put a F2P or P2W system in place immediately without having to adjust game mechanics. It is almost like the expect this game to go F2P at some point.

    With that in mind, there is no ground breaking systems here that are just the best thing ever, there are gold farmers, bots and spammers in the chat. With nothing really holding people other than the PvP which again is not ground breaking, and the hope of future releases of new lands I do not see a financial sustainability in the 15 dollars a month plan. I suspect before the one year mark either an announcement or the actually change to a F2P model. I hope that Bethesda sees this not as a title to build off of, but as a third part release for the MMO market.    … Expand
  19. Zenzukai
    Jun 20, 2014
    7
    Played since launch. Good, but incomplete. Game crashes frequently, and has so many hair pulling bugs.

    Many core mechanics are inspired and fun, but the game built on top of those mechanics isn't complete. Another game rushed to retail unfinished. PROS: Good core combat mechanics, great pvp mechanics, very fun group play in Cyrodiil. Pretty graphics. CONS: -No balancing, two    Played since launch. Good, but incomplete. Game crashes frequently, and has so many hair pulling bugs.

    Many core mechanics are inspired and fun, but the game built on top of those mechanics isn't complete. Another game rushed to retail unfinished.

    PROS:
    Good core combat mechanics, great pvp mechanics, very fun group play in Cyrodiil. Pretty graphics.

    CONS:
    -No balancing, two classes that are good, two classes that are very bad.

    -BUGS, so many quests will go unfinished, even main ones. Expect this a lot.

    -Closed world. Feels less open than every mmo and every Elder Scrolls game I have ever played. Big zones with invisible walls everywhere, don't expect immersion that comes from other Elder scrolls games or other MMOS.

    -Cheaters, with so many bugs running in the game it's no surprise some of those bugs got abused by players to get a head. Many first guilds used exploits to max characters day one, no punishment for any of those. This is because they lost so many subscribers early on if they kicked the cheaters they would probably cut down player base by half.    … Expand
  20. Enigma_Syrus
    Apr 4, 2014
    8
    I've played Daggerfall, Redguard, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. Elder Scrolls Online bears little in common with them aside from art and lore. With that said, it is still a unique game in its own right. I've seen people claim the leveling system is similar to other games, but it does allow a good amount of customization at the cost of grinding. It is very unlikely you'll find twoI've played Daggerfall, Redguard, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. Elder Scrolls Online bears little in common with them aside from art and lore. With that said, it is still a unique game in its own right. I've seen people claim the leveling system is similar to other games, but it does allow a good amount of customization at the cost of grinding. It is very unlikely you'll find two characters with the same build unless they're running a cookie cutter spec from a forum post. Quests are usually close together and generally have a story tied to them. Sure, there are fetch quests, etc. but there the story sets it apart from the elephant in the room (WoW). The quest/story concept has more in common SWTOR.

    A criticism and a boon (depending on the side of the fence you're on) is the phasing system. If you make a choice during a quest, your instance of that quest will differ from others. You may receive NPC help, or be fighting a different mob. It also allows you to have quest affect the area around you. If you're into solo play or you group before you begin quest and make the same choices, this is great. If you've already started a quest, others will have to catch up to join you. If you've already completed a quest, you're out of luck...

    This is a shame as you're not able to join up with friends in some instances. Sure, there are other places to go, etc. but it would be nice to be able to repeat quests at reduced xp / no xp.

    ESO is a good game, but know what you're getting into. Don't believe the hype and safely ignore the whiny "it isn't what I wanted" group. Taken as its own game, it is an above average MMO and will consume a good deal of your time. Even if you don't plan on sticking around, it will hold you over until another game comes along. I don't believe the subscription model is obsolete, I believe commitment to a specific game is.    … Expand
  21. thedirtyrussian
    Apr 10, 2014
    1
    Had to make an account to say.... this game is bad. It has surprisingly boring combat for an elder scrolls game, not to mention repetitive quests. There are many quests throughout the game, and the voice acting for them is very good, but you're so bored with the game you don't even care about the quests. The graphics are good too, but $60 for the box then $15 a month after? You won't beHad to make an account to say.... this game is bad. It has surprisingly boring combat for an elder scrolls game, not to mention repetitive quests. There are many quests throughout the game, and the voice acting for them is very good, but you're so bored with the game you don't even care about the quests. The graphics are good too, but $60 for the box then $15 a month after? You won't be getting $15 from me.… Expand
  22. Musta
    Apr 4, 2014
    9
    If you are going to play this like an MMO, you may not enjoy it. There is not a huge hotbar, the combat takes actual skill, there's no grinding, classes aren't that dedicated to a certain role etc. If you want an in-depth review, this is it. I've played about 50-60 hours in the game and am level 24 right now.

    Questing: Quests are pretty much exactly like an Elder Scrolls game. Fully    If you are going to play this like an MMO, you may not enjoy it. There is not a huge hotbar, the combat takes actual skill, there's no grinding, classes aren't that dedicated to a certain role etc. If you want an in-depth review, this is it. I've played about 50-60 hours in the game and am level 24 right now.

    Questing: Quests are pretty much exactly like an Elder Scrolls game. Fully voice-acted with interesting stories. This is the only MMO I have ever played where I didn't just skip through the quest descriptions, so you remember what your character is actually fighting for. There are also three different factions with their own exclusive areas, meaning that even if you do every quest on your faction, you can make other characters in the other factions and do a ton of different quests as well. The story is actually good and gets you into the quests and the people you meet. It makes you actually care about the world. Rare for MMOs, I know.

    Combat: You pick a class which offers different skill trees. These skill trees are unique to your class. However, any class can use any armor and any weapon, and these weapons/armors have their own skills and passives. If you wanted to, you could fill your skill bar completely with Weapon and Guild skills (Skills that are from the Fighters/Mages guild, soon Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guilds too). At this point, your class wouldn't even matter. Want to roll Sorcerer to buff your dual-swords with extra fire damage while wearing full plate armor? Go ahead, being a Sorcerer doesn't limit use. Want to play a Nightblade but be a caster? The Siphoning skill tree allows you to use magic are a range, couple that with Mages Guild abilities, weapon abilities and others, and you can be a Nightblade Caster. There's also Werewolves and Vampires which you can turn into after getting infected (You can reverse the effect in a quest or keep it), unlocked a whole nothing slew of skills.

    Combat: Combat is very skill-based in this game. Gear matters, of course, but not like in other MMOs where everything is stats. If your enemy is charging a heavy attack, you can block it and stun them. While stunned, if you hit them with a heavy attack, they will be knocked down. If they are charging an unblockable attack, you can shield-bash (All weapon types can do this though) your opponent to stun them. You can block, dodge roll, do light/heavy attack etc. You have 6 skills per weapon, and can have two weapons that you can swap between, giving you a total of 12 skills to use. Two of these will be an Ultimate, bound to the R key, which are very deadly attacks that use their own resource pool. There are no cool-downs on any abilities, everything is based on resource management. You'll run out of mana in 6 casts or so, so you need to watch your resource costs carefully. Sneaking is in the game, and every class gets it. It even works in PvP. If you are behind a person and are sneaking, they will not see you, even if they are in third person mode. Bonus damage is dealt upon hitting from sneak. Combat uses a soft-lock system, meaning you have to actually aim at your enemies to hit them. Spells and arrows will still home-in, per balance (and latency) reasons, so there is no boredom to be found, even if doing a quest that you may not find too interesting, the combat is always there to enjoy immensely.

    Graphics: Quite beautiful. Alongside this, it runs very well. I run at 80-90 frames, and in an area with lots of fighting and 50 others players, I stayed at a constant 80FPS. Large battles in Cyrodill run surprisingly well, as opposed to GW2 where everyone would drop down to 20FPS.

    Crafting: Very extensive. You have different levels requiring different materials. You can make different "Styles", which are how your equipment you make looks. It's based on race, and each race starts with their own (You can learn the others later through rare lore-books you find as drops/in cupboards/dressers etc). Not only this, but the rarity (Green, Blue, Purple, Gold) affects how the items look! You can have the exact same item, but improving it to the next level can drastically change the appearance of the item. This allows huge re-playability.

    Cyrodiil: Cyrodiill is the Alliance vs. Alliance vs. Alliance mode, reminiscent of Dark Age of Camelot. I don't have much experience right now as it's incredibly unbalanced due to most people just PvEing, but it seems fun.

    If you are tired of the run-of-the-mill MMOs and are ready for a revolution in MMO games, this is the game. Elder Scrolls Online is the change the industry needed. I recently hit max level in WoW... again, and I realized that even at Endgame, it just was not fun at all. The journey to endgame is worse than the endgame. But ESO, it's actually a fun journey. It's basically an Elder Scrolls game (Specifically Skyrim), but online. I've played around 60 MMOs, and I have played nothing like this. It is truly worth the subscription fee and base price.    … Expand
  23. Taruine
    Apr 4, 2014
    0
    If you buy you this game you continue to support the degradation of not only MMO's, but games in general. This is the most shallow cash grab attempt to come out of an AAA developer in some time.

    The game tries horribly to combine the SP game and MMO together. Unfortunately since the developers already had a vision of the MMO they wanted to create, which had nothing to do with Elder    If you buy you this game you continue to support the degradation of not only MMO's, but games in general. This is the most shallow cash grab attempt to come out of an AAA developer in some time.

    The game tries horribly to combine the SP game and MMO together. Unfortunately since the developers already had a vision of the MMO they wanted to create, which had nothing to do with Elder Scrolls gameplay, they managed to take the worst possible elements of each to come up with this garbage.

    The game is linear, without an open world, no real exploration, with bad MMO elements to boot. Everything is forced so the developers could create their PvP game with an ES skin. The PvP isn’t even that good. The game is completely on rails, and doesn’t try to hide it. Level 50 mudcrabs? I mean come on, you just took the same level 1, level 4, level 10, level 16....ect mudcrab skin and put it in a zone and level scaled it to the area. Lazy. This is the way it is with all the mobs though, if you’re in x area, everything is x level. Trash mobs are facerollable without even thinking. Skills are limited, there is no real magic. Classes are forced, and designed poorly. No utility spells, skills or anything like that to give depth to the game. Garbage game, don't contribute to this crappiness.

    The marketing and customer service is even worse, just go to the official forums if you want to see what I mean. What is up with the cash shop? It’s stupid on top of a sub game, and they charge 15 bucks for a horse? I smell desperation to try to turn a profit on this game before free to play.    … Expand
  24. SamuelJJ
    Apr 16, 2014
    8
    I've been playing this game now since the launch date and it's an incredible experience, the amount of content involved in this game is phenomenal. However, the game does have its downfalls but they are minor, specially considering how bad people review this game. The game is being slated for such stupid reasons, therefore I am writing this review.
    Bad stuff first:
    Price you pay.. they    I've been playing this game now since the launch date and it's an incredible experience, the amount of content involved in this game is phenomenal. However, the game does have its downfalls but they are minor, specially considering how bad people review this game. The game is being slated for such stupid reasons, therefore I am writing this review.
    Bad stuff first:
    Price you pay.. they could at least make the game itself £30 or F2P after purchasing. Generally I do not like spending more than £20 for a game, though I made Elder Scrolls an accept ion and was pretty surprised. Yeah, it's good fun; but you should not buy this game if you're going in for "a new WoW MMO". You will be disappointed.
    I personally prefer playing this game alone and questing. The multiplayer is somewhat irrelevant, boring and frustrating at times, specially when players are doing the quests you are playing.

    World bosses are scattered around the lands and they are easy, boring and give very little satisfaction.
    PvP is good, but it's basically a world vs world cut from GW2. Hopefully Zenimax will apply world PvP or some unique hack and slash arena content later to this game to make PvP more exhilarating.
    Good Stuff:
    Combat mechanics are really good and it's a new implement to an MMO, I like not using a cursor to click and attack, its a major bonus to the game.
    I have only stumbled across one bug and people say "the game is very buggy". This is Bollo****. It doesn't make the game bad at all, the developers will obviously fix these minor issues so stop typing nonsense. The bug I encountered was a quest NPC who instead of speaking English, spoke German; it was quite funny tbh.
    The landscapes are beautiful and you can tell they put a lot of time in to creating this.
    So many quests are on the menu to choose from which are voiced and have decent story lines to them. Some of the quests include single player boss fights which separate you from other players and I really enjoyed this as there is tactical fights which are fairly hard.

    All in all, I have had a really good experience in this game and I would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy adventure. Do not enter this game expecting an amazing MMORPG, because in all fairness; for the price you pay, it's really not.    … Expand
  25. uizueite
    Apr 4, 2014
    9
    Would give a 10 if it the game wasn't shush a money grab fest. However ill pay the monthly fee cause its worth it more then wow that i played for 4 years. I'm actually reading all the quests texts from NPCs cause they are imersive. Game is what i expected and more. I know even there are a few bugs and the end game isn't still perfect i trust Bethesda to know that they will solve gameWould give a 10 if it the game wasn't shush a money grab fest. However ill pay the monthly fee cause its worth it more then wow that i played for 4 years. I'm actually reading all the quests texts from NPCs cause they are imersive. Game is what i expected and more. I know even there are a few bugs and the end game isn't still perfect i trust Bethesda to know that they will solve game issues. They worked hard to get the game at an acceptable level at the release and hearing the community was they banner.… Expand
  26. Alcapwn
    Apr 5, 2014
    9
    After reading through the negative reviews I can tell the majority of them are due to either the subscription model, pre-purchase incentives, or the reviewer played for 10 minutes and didn't get immediately hooked. I'm not going to talk about the preorder stuff even though I don't agree with what they did. The gameplay is what's important and it's fantastic. The quests have the greatAfter reading through the negative reviews I can tell the majority of them are due to either the subscription model, pre-purchase incentives, or the reviewer played for 10 minutes and didn't get immediately hooked. I'm not going to talk about the preorder stuff even though I don't agree with what they did. The gameplay is what's important and it's fantastic. The quests have the great writing and backstory that is familiar to elder scrolls fans and they are varied enough to keep things interesting. The problem is the weak beginning. The game didn't really hook me until level 15 or so which is disappointing since that is several hours into the game. The amount of content is crazy and couple that with one of the best crafting and pvp systems I've seen in a long time and I think this will be a very popular game with a hardcore following.… Expand
  27. Heeko
    Apr 4, 2014
    10
    Best PVE I ever seen on a MMORPG, if you like elder scroll games you will love it. Best RVR since Dark Age of Camelot. Intelligent mix between old school and "new school" mechanics. Seriously, if you like elder scroll games, mmorpg, and real RVR, you have to try it.
  28. putzler88
    Apr 5, 2014
    9
    Is it Skyrim II? No. If you are expecting an online version of Skyrim, you will be disappointed.

    Is it an MMO? Yes. If you enjoy playing MMOs and like/love The Elder Scrolls series, this game is a good bridge until TES VI. The graphics are great and the gameplay is good. It is still version 1.xx so it won't be as polished as other MMOs that have been around for years. it's    Is it Skyrim II? No. If you are expecting an online version of Skyrim, you will be disappointed.

    Is it an MMO? Yes. If you enjoy playing MMOs and like/love The Elder Scrolls series, this game is a good bridge until TES VI. The graphics are great and the gameplay is good. It is still version 1.xx so it won't be as polished as other MMOs that have been around for years. it's inevitable that any new MMO will be compared to WoW right? ESO has has promise if given time to bloom.

    I haven't reached max level yet so my opinion may change when I hit end game but I like what I've been playing during the past week (in early access through launch). Btw, smoothest launch of a major MMO ever?    … Expand
  29. Anoners
    Apr 4, 2014
    6
    Totally addicted already. I'm not sure why people are so angry about the sub. If that's a problem, don't buy the game? Not fair to give it a low score based on that. I play pretty much all the MMOs that are out there, and this one is def. one of the best.
  30. anMMOplayer
    Apr 4, 2014
    10
    The Good:

    It's one of the best AAA MMO's currently available. Large scale PvP is best in class. PvE is quite good, lots of variety, very high quality execution, and there are substantial PvE challenges available for solo and group play. The game looks beautiful. The games crafting system is excellent. It supports extremely varied character customization via its character creator.    The Good:

    It's one of the best AAA MMO's currently available. Large scale PvP is best in class. PvE is quite good, lots of variety, very high quality execution, and there are substantial PvE challenges available for solo and group play. The game looks beautiful. The games crafting system is excellent. It supports extremely varied character customization via its character creator. Lore and storytelling are strong points. For a game with themepark features it does a good job of supporting exploration, esp. once you get past the starter zones. The combat gameplay is very active, situationally driven, and rewards skillful play in many ways. The gameworld evolves substantially as you quest due to phasing. Solid in game LFG function. The level 15+ zones and the PvP zone are massive.

    The not so good:

    The games richness comes with substantial complexity. Grouping can be awkward for solo PvE content where phasing is involved. Minimalist UI will not appeal to many competitive gamers that want more information access. 1st person is immersive, but largely impractical for PvP and harder PvE content (the forthcoming addition of a PoV slider should change this for the better). The starter islands (currently optional) provide a decent introduction to gameplay, but are more guided and simplistic in their content presentation than the later zones (basically the gameplay opens up with each subsequent zone).

    The Meh:

    There is a lot of Elderscrolls in it, but it is an MMO. There are many confused reviewers that insist on reviewing it as a single player title (hint, it's not). It has a subscription. On the plus side, this means the developers should be focused on keeping players subscribed rather than being focused on thinking of gimmicks to get players to spend cash in an item shop, on the minus side, well, you need to pay a subscription fee.    … 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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