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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. EdicusMaximus
    Apr 20, 2014
    7
    As a long time fan of the Elder Scrolls series, I would have to say this game is good, really good, but not great. While it is impossible to please both the Elder Scroll fans and the MMORPG fans, they gave it a really good try.
    Some of the highlights here are the open world and the immersion. One reason I kept going back to WoW instead of all the pop-up MMORPGs that came along is because    As a long time fan of the Elder Scrolls series, I would have to say this game is good, really good, but not great. While it is impossible to please both the Elder Scroll fans and the MMORPG fans, they gave it a really good try.
    Some of the highlights here are the open world and the immersion. One reason I kept going back to WoW instead of all the pop-up MMORPGs that came along is because I felt connected to that little cow running around casting spells. One thing ESO got right is that they kept that deep immersion that all Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind are known for. If this game beats WoW hands down in anything, it's the immersion. Also the incentive to not just go from quest to quest but rather explore the world is awesome and fresh for an MMORPG. Once again this is a trademark of the series, and the people that complain about the quests are probably missing out on all the content in between. The world looks good (not great) and is fun to explore.
    For the bad there is plenty, but a few really put me off. First there is like one healer class capability amongst all the classes. I'm not sure why the went against the typical Elder Scrolls model of fighters, mages, and thieves. They could have used these as master classes with sub classes in between. They could have gotten really creative (like the fighter class that uses bandages to heal, or the mage who uses force-fields and barriers to tank). Not saying the classes aren't neat and different, but I think this could have been so much better.
    Another down is the grueling questing and fighting you have to do for minimal reward. This actually is a trademark of the Elder Scrolls games, but in the past we just modded it to our liking and went about our business. Obviously this isn't a possibility when playing an MMORPG. I think the missing persuasion /intimidation system (once again, a trademark of the series) could have provided max flexibility for the series.
    Finally, I want to say the provisioning system sucks. Who goes around rooting in barrels and crates looking for stuff to make meals? The Elder Scrolls series has always been about being able to peek into every crate and barrel, but this is one area where I think they could have been a little more "WoW-ish" about how they do things. No point in reinventing the wheel.
    There are other big likes and many many other little dislikes (the potion crafting system, the long waits for research, etc., etc., etc.) but all in all I think if you like to control a little guy who performs mechanically in a dungeon than WoW and it's millions of copycats are your deal. If you are more the role player, then ESO will be your game. I think once the MMORPG-driven people fall of the server and the standard-for-every-game introductory bugs are worked out (along with a bit of process improvement) ESO will be an awesome experience!    … Expand
  2. Liquidfire
    Apr 27, 2014
    9
    Lovely game, A fresh look upon MMOs, and one that has caught my attention after my last MMO (Wish).
    Exploring is awesome, not feel to rush to level 50. There are a few down sides though, but I am sure they fix them soon.
    1. Auction House + Bots and goldsellers(but that's just programmer vs programmer). 2. Some minor bugs, which can easily happen in complex games like this. A lot of    Lovely game, A fresh look upon MMOs, and one that has caught my attention after my last MMO (Wish).
    Exploring is awesome, not feel to rush to level 50. There are a few down sides though, but I am sure they fix them soon.

    1. Auction House + Bots and goldsellers(but that's just programmer vs programmer).
    2. Some minor bugs, which can easily happen in complex games like this.

    A lot of people are whining here, because they don't have patience. It's by all means not a bad game, and don't let the negative review, let you think that.    … Expand
  3. Neizir
    Apr 28, 2014
    9
    Here's my review:
    Questing: Can be either good or bad depending on whether or not you care about a game's story. If you actually care about the story, you're in for a real treat with questing in ESO. Every quest is fun and immersive if you listen to the story. Simple fetch or kill quests (There are very few of these, by the way.) will actually have some meaning towards them and sometimes    Here's my review:
    Questing: Can be either good or bad depending on whether or not you care about a game's story. If you actually care about the story, you're in for a real treat with questing in ESO. Every quest is fun and immersive if you listen to the story. Simple fetch or kill quests (There are very few of these, by the way.) will actually have some meaning towards them and sometimes don't even feel like they're "grindy" quests at all even though they clearly are. For example, "Kill 6 bandits because they killed my family." feels like less of a chore than "Kill 6 bandits because pigs can fly.". If you just whiz through the dialogue and go straight to the objective, you won't like questing and everything stated above will just go ahead and contradict itself, feeling like a typical MMO grind. In my opinion questing is good fun if you're not a rusher who skips as much as he can to get to the end of the game. 8/10 for Questing.

    Combat: For a real-time system, ESO's combat is sort of a mixed bag. Melee combat is excellent. Hits feel like they have an impact, thanks to screen shaking and collision detection and "Ouch"-sounding sounds. Blocking and interrupting, however, don't really feel that necessary, except when the enemy charges up a special attack. Bow and Staff combat isn't brilliant and feel like they need to have more of an impact through both sound and sight. Combat is generally fun but more can be worked on regarding ranged combat. 7/10 for Combat.

    Graphics and Visuals: Aboslutely stunning, the only other MMO I can think of that looks better is Planetside 2, and that uses something along the lines of the Unreal Engine. The textures are very high quality, and shading and lighting can't get any better than what they are now. Even in PVP, where there are hundreds of players and effects on the screen, my R9 270X, the equivalent of a GTX 660 Ti, maintains a solid 30 FPS. The art style, however, really hinders how visually appealing ESO really is. If the art style were on par with Skyrim, ESO would easily beat Skyrim by a country mile in terms of graphics. 9/10 for visuals.

    Exploration and World Design: Exploration is one of ESO's greatest strengths. There is no sitting in cities waiting for an LFG queue to pop, in fact sitting in a city at all gets you to somewhere equivalent to where a penguin would get if it tried to fly (In short, nowhere at all.). Even if you use the game's built-in LFG tools, you and your group still need to walk to the entrance of the dungeon and need to discover it before teleporting to it again. The game's brilliant megaserver helps make this possible. Sure, if you just wander off for miles you won't really get anywhere either, but level scaling like in the other TES games isn't possible in an MMORPG. There's still lore books, skyshards, quests every step you take, solo dungeons, world bosses and more. There's an infinite supply of content in this game.
    Speaking of the megaserver, I think it really promotes that sense of community in the game and brings me back to the old days of WoW, where someone who was found trolling or being nooby was called out and never got invited to a group. Plus the technology embedded into it prevents overcrowding while at the same time maintaining a healthy number of players in the game space. 10/10 for exploration.

    PvP: Absolutely nothing negative can be said about PvP in this game. It's just...literally flawless. Seriously, how can you dislike hundreds of players battling it out for hours over a single fortress with siege weapons like trebuchets and their faction's might? A single castle isn't all; there's 18 forts across the 16 square mile area for you to ransack, as well as ancient Ayleid ruins, NPC towns, Dark Anchors etc. Thanks to these PvE objectives, you don't have to march with all your factions' might to another keep, you may unexpectedly find a player of the opposing faction in the town or ruin you're exploring encouraging small-scale PvP for those that want it. It's also balanced perfectly, maybe thanks to ESO's nearly-classless style of character building. You don't even have to be a high level to be viable, you can go in at Level 10 and have your stats boosted to match a level 50s, bar maybe a few passives. 10/10 for PVP.

    Game Systems
    There are still a plentiful amount of bugs in the game, and bots and gold sellers run rampant throughout the zones (particularly Stonefalls, Glenumbral, Auridon and Coldharbour). Customer Support itself is very responsive and I know they do alot of things to stop these bots. I've even seen a Game Master physically manifest in a dungeon and caused bots to disappear. However, the amount of bugs and bots are not good at all. 6/10 for Game Systems/Customer Service

    Endgame and Longevity
    Raids that are actually hard, Heroic Dungeons, Adventure Zones, Veteran Rank questing, PvP, lorebooks, Skyshards, questing... What else is to be said? There's a ton of things to do in ESO. 9/10 for Endgame.
    9/10.    … Expand
  4. arreyanne
    May 12, 2014
    4
    Can you meh. While the game has the Lore its very much your standard Theme Park. The phasing while in groups in the open world doesn't work to the players benefit.

    There are just no "OMG That was awesome" moments in this game like the Singel player versions
  5. TinEater
    Jun 8, 2014
    4
    This is really a fantastic game. That game is called Skyrim. Except Skyrim doesn't charge a subscription, and doesn't have gold spam bots swarming all over the dungeons and resource nodes. The game goes out of it's way to separate players from one another, one upping WoW: Cataclysm's baffling decision to "phase" all it's players into isolated bubble version of the game world. ZenimaxThis is really a fantastic game. That game is called Skyrim. Except Skyrim doesn't charge a subscription, and doesn't have gold spam bots swarming all over the dungeons and resource nodes. The game goes out of it's way to separate players from one another, one upping WoW: Cataclysm's baffling decision to "phase" all it's players into isolated bubble version of the game world. Zenimax was trying to make each player the hero of the story, but all they succeeded in doing is creating a strange feeling of isolation. The question is, why is that worth paying $15 a month? You'll get the same experience playing a single-player game with a Twitter window open.… Expand
  6. merquis00
    Jul 28, 2014
    0
    I Played every beta, closed and open, while the game itself was "ok" the price and p2p subscription is unfathomable.

    I'm not stupid (at least i don't think i am) i know the game requires income to stay online, but the current box price (and even digital download) combined with the high subscription makes this game costly, and for what you get it is not in any way worth it. The loot    I Played every beta, closed and open, while the game itself was "ok" the price and p2p subscription is unfathomable.

    I'm not stupid (at least i don't think i am) i know the game requires income to stay online, but the current box price (and even digital download) combined with the high subscription makes this game costly, and for what you get it is not in any way worth it.

    The loot is mediocre and the PvP gets old fast - the game almost feels like a a solo game trying to enter into the Elder scrolls universe, almost a rip-off if you will (like GTA clones) But Lacking the graphics and being double the price of its rivals, which is madness.

    Like many, if the subscription drop's its price a little (or it dies and goes free to play) then i would give it a second chance - but for now i will just stick to skyrim + mods.    … Expand
  7. strangefruit
    Jun 12, 2015
    0
    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!
  8. DRMtookMYlife
    Apr 26, 2014
    6
    The big question here is: Is it worth the price? In short, no. $60 up front and $15 a month thereafter is not a fair price for the quality of this game. The game isn't bad certainly but the bugs can be seriously aggravating. There are few things I can think of that are as extremely frustrating as dying because my attack inputs weren't responding. Because the series is known for havingThe big question here is: Is it worth the price? In short, no. $60 up front and $15 a month thereafter is not a fair price for the quality of this game. The game isn't bad certainly but the bugs can be seriously aggravating. There are few things I can think of that are as extremely frustrating as dying because my attack inputs weren't responding. Because the series is known for having bugs is no excuse when this much money and effort was put into producing the game. Combat is a bit too drawn out and not quite fun enough for me. The most enjoyment I get out of this game is exploring the vast world. The cities are large and interesting and I'm excited to see more of it. I just wish combat breaking bugs and slow leveling were addressed better.… Expand
  9. JoshW
    Apr 25, 2014
    6
    Pros

    * Lore - Story is amazing * Voice Acting - The best of any MMO, by far * Crafting (Very detailed, lots of options to customize) * Addons - Whatever gaps there are in the UI, users are fixing it and making game more manageable. Graphics (with SweetFX enabled) * Incredibly Immersive * Support - ZOS has responded to 90% of my tickets, very polite and very responsive. * Questing    Pros

    * Lore - Story is amazing
    * Voice Acting - The best of any MMO, by far
    * Crafting (Very detailed, lots of options to customize)
    * Addons - Whatever gaps there are in the UI, users are fixing it and making game more manageable.
    Graphics (with SweetFX enabled)
    * Incredibly Immersive
    * Support - ZOS has responded to 90% of my tickets, very polite and very responsive.
    * Questing - Quests are plentiful and fun

    Cons

    * Micromanagement - From inventory to repairs, it consumes a lot of time (When I'd prefer spending that time playing rather than managing it). If you love micromanagement, this is for you.
    * Chat interface - I find it clumsy and outdated. Hard to notice when someone's talking to you.
    * Questing in group - This is the biggest let down... if you've already completed the quest you won't be able to see where your buddy is going. If you're the one completing the quest, your friend will feel like a hireling; if your buddy is completing the quest you'll find yourself thinking "There are better and more effective ways to grind".
    * Key Mapping - Yes, you'll have to manually setup each and every char... Unless you're sticking to Zenimax' default setting.
    * Replayability - Once you reach 50 you'll have to go PVP or you'll feel like you've got little else to do (Unless you really love the lore and you want to complete all quests and play with different factions, which’s not my case)
    * Customization - Crafting is really fun and very complex. That's where you'll be able to customize your existing char, because as of today, you can't change skins nor dye your armors and weapons.
    Monthly Fee - I prefer F2P with a game store... I usually spend more than 15 a month, if the items offered make a difference (customization, commodities, benefits)
    * Upgrades - Did you click on the wrong Horse upgrade? Suck it up and either discard the horse or just cope with it. I personally made 2 mistakes and that was it, I'm stuck with those mistakes.
    * Daily stuff - This is my personal opinion but I don't like how the game forces into connecting to it (or fall behind) with your chores. This is not an issue with ESO alone... most MMOs I've played have the same problem.

    Bottom line, this is an innovative game that has an awesome lore and it feels like a fresh start compared to other MMOs. However, it's not awesome enough to keep me playing it on a subscription model. I have already cancelled it and the game has been uninstalled.    … Expand
  10. Sloanster
    Jan 25, 2015
    9
    It's almost been a year since the game dropped, and ESO has changed. Yes, it was bugged at the start and there were some major gameplay issues corrupting everyone's experience. After a good amount of time, I can safely say TESO is one of my favorite MMOs I have played yet. The community is fantastic, and I find the questing to be very fun. Graphics aren't very important in an MMO, but theyIt's almost been a year since the game dropped, and ESO has changed. Yes, it was bugged at the start and there were some major gameplay issues corrupting everyone's experience. After a good amount of time, I can safely say TESO is one of my favorite MMOs I have played yet. The community is fantastic, and I find the questing to be very fun. Graphics aren't very important in an MMO, but they still look beautiful. If you can keep you mind open, and remember not to compare is to Skyrim or the previous Elder Scrolls games, you might actually enjoy yourself. I only give this a 9/10, because there are still some issues in gameplay mechanics, but the developers have promised fixes will be on their way.… Expand
  11. bungler
    Mar 15, 2015
    9
    Post Update 6 Review:

    Pros:
    - Currently the best graphics out of any MMO
    - Solid combat system (post Update 6)
    - TONS of content
    - Excellent armor customization
    - Active and friendly community

    Cons:
    - PVP still needs work
    - Broken group finder
  12. Shellback
    May 2, 2014
    6
    The best thing about ESO is the music and sound effects.On the negative side it takes hundreds of hours to unlock weapon traits (800 hours total for all traits). This is obviously a tool used by the developer to keep people playing for months so they can get subscription fees. If you played Skyrim and thought the melee combat didn't give you the feeling of a hard enough impact on aThe best thing about ESO is the music and sound effects.On the negative side it takes hundreds of hours to unlock weapon traits (800 hours total for all traits). This is obviously a tool used by the developer to keep people playing for months so they can get subscription fees. If you played Skyrim and thought the melee combat didn't give you the feeling of a hard enough impact on a Drauger's skull, then this game is an improvement. The sound effects and impact of weapons are better. However, the quests can be confusing. Sometimes I had to restart the game in order to activate an item or quest. It's buggy.The player does not have that "Hero" feel of Skyrim. Once again I got suckered into the pre-game hype. For those of you contemplating buying this game, Listen to the reviews. If you are not an MMO fan don't waste your money. Go play play Skyrim again. I leveled 3 characters over level 20. I wanted it to sinks its claws into me like Skyrim did and have me wanting more. It never happened. The game is very buggy. If you do decide to waste your money I highly recommend the High Elf Sorcerer. Auridon's music and environment is much better then the other two guilds. The Sorcerer is super powerful with morphed perks. It wouldn't suprise me if Bethesda is just using this game as a test platform for the new single player Elder Scrolls game that they are rumored to be working on. I own every triple AAA game made in the past 10 years. I've been gaming since DOOM came out in 1993. If you are not an MMO fan don't waste your time and money.… Expand
  13. Rowrin
    May 15, 2014
    6
    The game is a diamond in the rough (well, really rough, but a diamond none-the-less). Going past the launch issues (the worst of which appear to have been fixed), which arguably were some of the worst seen in a game launch (players logging into other players accounts by accident, banks and inventories being completely wiped, main quests not working etc), the game still has some very coreThe game is a diamond in the rough (well, really rough, but a diamond none-the-less). Going past the launch issues (the worst of which appear to have been fixed), which arguably were some of the worst seen in a game launch (players logging into other players accounts by accident, banks and inventories being completely wiped, main quests not working etc), the game still has some very core issues.

    At the moment, PvP, the fight for Cyrodiil and the right to sit upon the throne is very lacking. The zone has a lot of potential, but the way campaigns are set up at the moment, and the lack of smaller objectives have most of the zone completely empty. Worse yet, most of the campaigns are completely dead, with no one playing on them. This is largely because everyone moves to the campaign where their faction is dominating, and all other campaigns are ignored. There is a lot of potential to be had in Cyrodiil, but at the moment it is a missed opportunity.

    The game also suffers from a plethora of bugs still. None quite nearly as game breaking as what was seen in the first month, but still annoyances. Class abilities and tool-tips are either broken, incorrect or do not work (such is the case most evident with Nightblades). Several quests are still broken as well.

    Bugs completely aside, the game also lacks some key features and concepts. For instance, grouping with friends becomes a total disaster due to phasing (which Zenimax is working on now). But there are several other design philosophies that are archaic. For instance, having quest objectives non-player instanced. What this means is that in some areas where you have to gather x objects laying around the world, you will be competing with every other player around you, including your friends. This type of mechanic has since been removed in many games since 2007 and it is boggling to see its return.

    What the game does right however is the story, writing and voice acting. Playing through 1-50 and doing the quests were the best parts of my play through. The story and atmosphere experience was enough for me to keep playing, even through the harshest bugs during launch (I personally had my banked wiped twice and was mistakenly banned by the automated system).

    That said: unfortunately, after doing the main quest, I have very little incentive to put up with the additional bugs and lack-luster PvP at the moment. The rest of the game just is either too broken, empty or uninteresting to play after absorbing all the story and voice acting.    … Expand
  14. PrincessRose
    Sep 20, 2014
    5
    The game is fun at first, love the questing and story, but once you complete your first zone it becomes rather tedious levelling through the veteran levels, but you keep pushing on as you want to see if the endgame is good. Huh endgame? There isn't any endgame worth mentioning.

    After 6 months of playing and reaching max lvl there is not really any pve endgame to keep you entertained,    The game is fun at first, love the questing and story, but once you complete your first zone it becomes rather tedious levelling through the veteran levels, but you keep pushing on as you want to see if the endgame is good. Huh endgame? There isn't any endgame worth mentioning.

    After 6 months of playing and reaching max lvl there is not really any pve endgame to keep you entertained, after the story runs out, the rest of the game feels boring, you don't feel rewarded for your efforts even when completing all the quests in each of the 3 faction areas, all you get is a worthless blue necklace and I became bored. This game is severely lacking in varied gameplay. All there is to do is pvp and maybe trials and arena, which feels pointless. Overall this game is rather disappointing and lacklustre.

    A promising game that does not deliver.    … Expand
  15. Ultrabonz
    Sep 30, 2014
    8
    Good and underrated MMORPG.

    If you hate this game, it's probably because you've expected a follow up to Skyrim. The thing is: If you wanna play Skyrim, then play Skyrim. This is not Skyrim, or Oblivion. This is an MMORPG taking place in the Elder Scrolls universe. Don't compare this game to singleplayer RPG's, compare it to other MMORPGs. As an MMORPG, I can highly recommend TESO to    Good and underrated MMORPG.

    If you hate this game, it's probably because you've expected a follow up to Skyrim. The thing is: If you wanna play Skyrim, then play Skyrim. This is not Skyrim, or Oblivion. This is an MMORPG taking place in the Elder Scrolls universe. Don't compare this game to singleplayer RPG's, compare it to other MMORPGs.

    As an MMORPG, I can highly recommend TESO to anyone who doesn't just rush to the next higher level, but is willing to explore the world, find its secrets, and talk to NPCs. TESO offers more story in 5 hours than WoW in 50 hours. If you don't care about story or dialogues or characters and just want to level up as easy and as fast as possible, then stick with WoW. This game is different.

    The stories and quests don't reach the level of Skyrim or other good singleplayer RPGs, but the standard here is way above WoW and most other MMORPGs. The only other MMORPG which offers the same kind of elaborate and interesting quests is Secret World. Again: If you prefer generic, repetitive quests which only serve to level up your character, then look elsewhere. I play TESO to experience the world and its stories, levelling up is just a nice sideeffect for me.

    If you skip all the dialogues anyway and never take your time, then you miss the essence of what makes TESO better than WoW, imo. In TESO, it pays to be an explorer and it pays to be patient. You don't just follow the quest marker to your next quest/quest hub. Instead, you wonder what's behind the tall rocks to your left or how you can get to that small island in the top left corner of your map.

    I would have preferred more solo instances, though. When you enter a huge palace in order to poison some guy and steal his key to a chest where you find the document you need to obtain, it sadly becomes quite absurd when three other players are doing the same thing at the same time in the same "realm" as you are. Since houses and dungeons are loaded separately anyway, why not make them instanced to you or your party? This would have made a lot more sense and the way it is done now really kills the immersion sometimes.

    Also, fast travel could be improved. There are waypoint shrines scattered across the map. I expected to only be able to fast travel from waypoint to waypoint, but once you've discovered a particular waypoint, you can fast travel there from anywhere on the map, which doesn't make a lot of sense and again hurts the immersion.

    Also, you can always see the whole map right from the beginning. There is no "fog" on the map which disappears once you enter a new area. This is something WoW does better, imo.

    The graphics are good for the most part, especially the lighting. Only downside are washed out textures which don't look so good when you get close. World design is very interesting, with a rather realistic look and enough landmarks which stand out and help your orientation. Music is solid but could be better.

    Combat system is a step up from the typical MMO/WoW formula. Maybe that doesn't say much because let's be honest: combat in WoW is not tactical at all - just spam your skills over and over again, that's all.
    The combat in TESO might not have alot of depth, either, but at least it's entertaining.

    Just look at all the 0 and 1 reviews here. They often hate TESO for not being like Skyrim or WoW or both of them. Well, TESO is TESO, folks! It is different. If you want the same thing you've already played, why don't you just play WoW of Skyrim again? Don't be stupid: We all want the "Übergame" which offers the best of WoW and Skyrim and The Witcher and any other RPG. But this is not going happen. TESO is pretty good at what it does. And if you just rushed through the game in two weeks and complain about the lack of endgame content, then let me tell you this: I don't give a fck about the endgame. I wanna play the game, not the end of the game. You guys probably didn't give a fck about the NPCs and quests, because you're used to WoW, where they both don't matter at all. But that only means you missed half of the game. Then maybe TESO just isn't the game for you. But "completing" the whole game and then punish it with a 0 or a 1 is just really dumb and says alot more about you than about the game. I could never get past lvl45 in WoW, because it just became really boring and mindnumbing repetitive.

    Why some people want to complete and reach the endgame of an MMORPG they totally hate is beyond me. What I do know: Their opinion is best to be ignored.    … Expand
  16. Noshido
    Oct 14, 2014
    10
    A lot of people have given this game a lot of grief. To be perfectly honest I really don't get why. I have been playing this game since its early release, and it has been one of the best game experiences I have ever had. This game has massive environments to explore, its fully voice acted, and has an entertaining combat system. I have already leveled 7 characters to veteran ranks, and evenA lot of people have given this game a lot of grief. To be perfectly honest I really don't get why. I have been playing this game since its early release, and it has been one of the best game experiences I have ever had. This game has massive environments to explore, its fully voice acted, and has an entertaining combat system. I have already leveled 7 characters to veteran ranks, and even with the few bugs that exist, have yet to see a real show stopping issue. Something else to consider is that this game has good graphics for an MMORPG. Now I am not saying there the best, Crysis 3, Witcher 2, or other similar one player games will always hold that title, especially since they don't have to give you thousands of hours of content to play. A person can blast through Crysis 3 in a day, but an MMO has to give you more and ESO does. In its category it stands out for its visual appeal, and yes there are bugs, but when you think about the monumental scale of work they have done its nothing worth complaining about. I have been playing video games since the original Nintendo, and have played just about every genre of game from tactical to rpg to shooters and more, and I can say that this is the best game I have ever played. Don't listen to the people who tear this game down, try it and you might just be surprised.… Expand
  17. Holy187
    Oct 15, 2014
    2
    one of the worst games i´ve ever played. the game is so boring, wasted money. and then u have to give them ur bank details or u cant play. thats not normal. shame on bethesda
  18. Forrrge
    Mar 18, 2015
    8
    I came to this game very late, in fact just a month before it was due to make the subscription optional. Therefore the game has had a years worth of bug fixes, patches, content updates, balances and refinements. I've played many MMORPGs over the years, some with a subscription, some free to play and some with the same model being used here, in my personal opinion it is right up there.I came to this game very late, in fact just a month before it was due to make the subscription optional. Therefore the game has had a years worth of bug fixes, patches, content updates, balances and refinements. I've played many MMORPGs over the years, some with a subscription, some free to play and some with the same model being used here, in my personal opinion it is right up there. Heaps of quests, all voice acted and to a high level, large areas to explore, easy and meaningful crafting (I normally avoid like the plague) and a great atmosphere, its the most fun I've had in a game of this type for a long time.

    There are negatives however, if grouping is your thing, they do make it difficult i.e. people in the same area will see different things depending upon where they are in the quest e.g. mobs may be friendly to them and not to you. I would almost go as far to say that its an enhanced single player game that has multiplayer elements (which suits me). Highly recommended.    … Expand
  19. TobiasKen
    Oct 25, 2015
    4
    If you are looking for an MMO, sure - get this game. If you're looking for an Elder Scrolls game - you can forget about it. I'm not even going to bother giving this a normal review like I usually do. Let me just tell you that this is the worst in the Elder Scrolls Series. I know what you might be thinking - this is an MMO FIRST, then Elder Scrolls. But you can't call it Elder Scrolls whenIf you are looking for an MMO, sure - get this game. If you're looking for an Elder Scrolls game - you can forget about it. I'm not even going to bother giving this a normal review like I usually do. Let me just tell you that this is the worst in the Elder Scrolls Series. I know what you might be thinking - this is an MMO FIRST, then Elder Scrolls. But you can't call it Elder Scrolls when it simply isn't. It is lacking oh so much stuff, and wants you to buy DLC and crowns even after paying for the full game. You're even locked out of an ENTIRE RACE UNLESS YOU GIVE THEM MORE MONEY. Seriously, the combat is worse, you barely get anything out of looting people.

    If you're looking for an Elder Scrolls game, I repeat: DO. NOT. BUY. THIS. GAME.    … Expand
  20. santiagodraco
    Apr 14, 2014
    5
    A word to the wise... if you see a review that refers to ESO as a "Warcraft reskin" realize two things. One, the author of said review is a complete idiot and two the author is a complete idiot.

    ESO has it's faults but a Warcraft clone it ain't. It has the best storytelling and quest narration of any MMO ever, the combat and skill systems are very unique and the game world and audio    A word to the wise... if you see a review that refers to ESO as a "Warcraft reskin" realize two things. One, the author of said review is a complete idiot and two the author is a complete idiot.

    ESO has it's faults but a Warcraft clone it ain't. It has the best storytelling and quest narration of any MMO ever, the combat and skill systems are very unique and the game world and audio is nothing but spectacular.

    Issues exist however and many are game breaking. Zenimax coded many boss fights to instant spawn and drop loot every time. So you just sit and farm bosses and get loot galore. What's funny is how long they let this go on, just long enough to allow the Zenimax developers to get their toons to Vet 10 and then they are patching. Seems to be a common occurance.

    Oh and let's not forget all the broken quests that halt progression for many of us past 50 and they have not once tried to fix it for any player.

    A great game with major bugs. I can't decide if I should love it or hate it.    … Expand
  21. Nesj3
    Apr 4, 2014
    7
    From Skyrim to this, im not quite sure about how to put this.. the combat, graphics, the firstperson and thirdperson, in skyrim i only played in firstperson because of the beautiful looks and textures. In ESO, the firstperson is kinda, ****
    Haven't played it that much yet, but i hope it will improve.
  22. cronuss
    Apr 8, 2014
    10
    This is the most fun I've had with an MMO since UO, DAOC, and WoW beta.

    The world is beautiful and immersive, the story is engaging, and the combat is epic. I'd go as far sa to say that the combat in this game is better than some single player games, including the other Elder Scrolls games. The scope of this game is just massive, and that trait carries into PvP as well. Giant armies    This is the most fun I've had with an MMO since UO, DAOC, and WoW beta.

    The world is beautiful and immersive, the story is engaging, and the combat is epic. I'd go as far sa to say that the combat in this game is better than some single player games, including the other Elder Scrolls games.

    The scope of this game is just massive, and that trait carries into PvP as well. Giant armies don't just smash together and zerg it out, but rather erupt into entire battlefields of skirmishes, flank attacks, and retreats. The castles are massive and can be attacked on any side via various siege equipment.

    I showed the game to some friends of mine who are burned out on the MMO genre, and base don what they saw they agreed to give it a try. Now that we are all playing, I swear the phrase, "I can't believe this is an MMO" gets thrown out at least 10 times a night.

    So glad I didn't let the trolls or 1-star-kids sway me from this game, and you shouldn't either.

    I'm excited to feel like a kid again. Thanks, ESO. ;)    … Expand
  23. drcritspam
    Apr 21, 2014
    3
    This game is complete garbage. I'll list off some of the worst issues with this game:

    1. This game uses insane money grabbing tactics. Keep in mind that you have to pay 60 dollars+ 15 dollars a month just to even start this game. Do you want to be able to play all 3 factions? (A required feature in all MMO's) Do you want to start the game with a horse? (if you don't pick this option    This game is complete garbage. I'll list off some of the worst issues with this game:

    1. This game uses insane money grabbing tactics. Keep in mind that you have to pay 60 dollars+ 15 dollars a month just to even start this game. Do you want to be able to play all 3 factions? (A required feature in all MMO's) Do you want to start the game with a horse? (if you don't pick this option you'll have to kill 17,000 monsters to get a horse.) Do you want to play as every starting faction? (again, an option that is required in all MMO's.) Well you'll have to pay 20$ for the "collectors edition." So you have to pay 20$ more for basic features and a horse. So that's 80$ to start up the game. And you have to pay 15$ per month. Paying for basic features is unacceptable. But even the game that's under all of these paywalls is pretty terrible.

    The grinding is insane, even for MMO standards. You have to pay 17,000 dollars for the most crappy horse in the game. While players of MMO's may consider this to be a small amount, this grinding is magnified because every monster only drops 1 gold coin. Bosses only drop 2 gold coins. No matter where I've gone in the world, the gold drops stay the same. I also have friends who tell me its the same at higher level quests. This goes for all items in the game.

    This game's matchmaking/party/group quest fails to meet industry standards. You can't EVER replay quests with your friends (this sucks if your trying to get a noob up to your level quickly). You can only see and play with people from your own faction(unless you play PvP). Unless you're in a dungeon, good luck trying to play with your friends. The pVe grouping in general sucks on every level. People can randomly jump into your dungeon when your playing with friends and steal all of your loot. In fact i've gone to multiple dungeons with my friends only to see that the boss is being farmed by a pack of elite players. The phasing is terrible, it feels like you're playing a single player game with your friends hovering around.

    The quests are bad. Quests in this game either fall into 2 categories, they are either incredibly easy and boring, or they're battles that should of been awesome, but were turned into 10 minute skirmishes against pockets of NPC's. The epic castle siege stage that was plastered all over this games ad campaign literally lasted 15 minutes. And those 15 minutes were just spent taking on weak monsters in single file order.
    The UI is too minimal to convey info to the player. But you can use mods to circumvent it.

    The game doesn't have any of the free-roaming experience that made the original elder scrolls great. Though because this game is an MMO i believe that this was more of a concept problem than an implementation problem. Still a major issue.

    Overall, this game is just... bad. It's a blatant cash grab. It's buggy, boring, and repetitive. Don't listen to these 10 out of 10 reviews, i assume the devs payed them to review this game. This. game. sucks. avoid at all costs.    … Expand
  24. kheas
    Apr 28, 2014
    9
    I started playing this game in Beta and was immediately interested in pre-ordering the game. I am glad I did. This game gives me everything I liked about the single player Elderscrolls games but with a larger area to explore and more options than ever before. I am thoroughly enjoying myself and look forward to the future expansions to come.

    This is the MMO for fans of the    I started playing this game in Beta and was immediately interested in pre-ordering the game. I am glad I did. This game gives me everything I liked about the single player Elderscrolls games but with a larger area to explore and more options than ever before. I am thoroughly enjoying myself and look forward to the future expansions to come.

    This is the MMO for fans of the Elderscrolls series and play style. It is not the MMO to replace WOW but one that will appeal to those of us that like the solo game-play of Elderscrolls and would like the option to play with others. If Bethesda were smart they would market this game more toward the non-WOW players and try to bring on board people like myself, solo gamers.

    I cant give it a perfect 10 but it comes darn close (9.75 if I could). Great game, beautiful graphics, excellent controls and UI. A few glitches and bugs but overall I Love it.    … Expand
  25. Judas_IV
    Apr 26, 2014
    10
    This game follows the Elder Scrolls series It pulls in references from Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.
    The look of this game is astounding! The game play is familiar if you've played any MMO before.
    The ability to have such an open ended creation tool to create any type of character is far better than the constraints of other MMO's or even single player games. The questing is very    This game follows the Elder Scrolls series It pulls in references from Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.
    The look of this game is astounding! The game play is familiar if you've played any MMO before.
    The ability to have such an open ended creation tool to create any type of character is far better than the constraints of other MMO's or even single player games.
    The questing is very story driven to where you'll have a chain of quests before it resolves, and gives questing much more significance than simply grinding animals for pelts.

    I love this game and despise the folks that feel entitled to play with out paying for quality in a subscription based model. To them I say....If you can't afford it, don't blame the game. I hope it keeps out the haters and whiners that plagued WoW for so long.

    If you like Elder Scrolls and MMO's, then this game is going to make you very happy.    … Expand
  26. Reaverwind
    Apr 23, 2014
    1
    The good: well designed-world and good musical score, some well-done quests and voice-acting
    The Bad: borrowed the worst aspects of the single-player games - horrible GUI, laughable quest design, face-palming dialog, average gameplay
    The Ugly: Worst customer service I've encountered for ANY business, far too much client-side trust making the game a paradise for hackers and botters, and    The good: well designed-world and good musical score, some well-done quests and voice-acting
    The Bad: borrowed the worst aspects of the single-player games - horrible GUI, laughable quest design, face-palming dialog, average gameplay
    The Ugly: Worst customer service I've encountered for ANY business, far too much client-side trust making the game a paradise for hackers and botters, and terrible community. The game's quest design actually punishes grouping for PVE. As a side note, Zenimax plays fast and loose with their account suspensions (which also lock customers out of canceling subs).

    Caveat Emptor folks    … Expand
  27. JackandJoe
    May 4, 2014
    0
    So very disappointing. ESO is just so terribly bland and uninspired particularly with the endless, boring, on-rail quest chains and character progression, broken and poorly thought out grouping mechanics, dull, empty world with almost zero exploratory value, etc., etc., etc. Zenimax have tried to make both a single player Elder Scrolls game and an MMO in one, and in doing so have rippedSo very disappointing. ESO is just so terribly bland and uninspired particularly with the endless, boring, on-rail quest chains and character progression, broken and poorly thought out grouping mechanics, dull, empty world with almost zero exploratory value, etc., etc., etc. Zenimax have tried to make both a single player Elder Scrolls game and an MMO in one, and in doing so have ripped out almost everything that is enjoyable in each. A real black eye to a beloved franchise.… Expand
  28. Duroga
    Apr 27, 2015
    3
    I couldn't even manage to get to mid level on this one. The graphics and sound are OK, but the gameplay is probably the most horrible I've ever experienced. A complete waste of $60
  29. moholdt
    May 5, 2014
    0
    I keep logging in and try to enjoy the game, I want it to be good. I really do. But it is so boring. It feels like a very slow single player game with other players annoying the **** out of you. Looting chests you want to loot, grabbing ores before you get it. Everything is expensive so you have to grind money. Stay away from this game.
  30. pXel
    May 1, 2014
    0
    The most horrible MMO released in past years. The story is nice as always, but still not as good as other TES. The progression of the character is blocked often by lots of game bugs, and sometimes you don't have any options to where to skip. As you progress more and more the game gets more and more unfinished. I've been goggling for information from other players on how to find a way pastThe most horrible MMO released in past years. The story is nice as always, but still not as good as other TES. The progression of the character is blocked often by lots of game bugs, and sometimes you don't have any options to where to skip. As you progress more and more the game gets more and more unfinished. I've been goggling for information from other players on how to find a way past problems, but there isn't much information on this topic available or none at all. The only option is to rely on the game's support team.

    When you contact the support team(I have good reasons to think there is only a guy hired) you get a few fast copy-paste answers from their poor FAQ section of the site that sometimes is not even on the topic, he also provides you with the link for the FAQ section. They don't even bother to analyze if the answer they provide will be able to help you at all or point in the right direction. When you are completely blocked by game bugs you expect some fast help or a workaround to unlock your progression. I've replied to the poor answer from the support team, and asked for a real solution to get past my problem. The reply was even worse than the first on, complaining that their job is hard and they are doing humanly efforts. The guy still didn't analyzed my problem and try to find a solution on how I could skip to the next map, he just brought in some more excuses. Also you would expect to talk to the support team in-game, but this guy got all my contact information name, email etc. without my consent in order to be able to contact me.

    Regarding maintenance time you will be shocked. They start unplanned maintenance quite often and the scheduled maintenance is sometimes planned the prime time of the evening. I remember one time after wasting all evening waiting for the maintenance to finish, they installed a bad patch and the server crashed, resulting in another 2 hours of wait, followed by server flooding when everyone tried to log in resulting in massive server lag.

    The PVP is a little disappointing, first of all they have a "mega sever" technology, but that doesn't mean your player wont have to join one of the many PVP servers (they call them "Campaigns"). They were smart here by putting some nice names to fool the players into thinking they invented something. In order to play PVP, you have to choose a PVP player that you will not be able to change for 3 months, unless you pay for it). The PVP servers are unbalanced, and when a server get full(they get full!) you have to wait in line to enter. When you enter a full server you'll first notice the mass PVP is a crap because the "mega server"™ can't take the load and lags horribly. The only thing you'll be playing is spamming skills/spells and wait a few seconds to see if the target is dead, or he got healed etc.

    The dungeon/group finding is very poor, at least at middle and end levels, you get only in some group setups that always fail, some even disband before the dungeon is started as people know that the setup will fail gloriously vs the difficulty of the dungeon. Also the wait time is huge.
    The economy of the game is poor due to bugs/exploits.

    Compared with rival games:
    - the number of content blocking bugs is huge, with no chance of getting around some(no one will help you);
    - the customer support is embarrassing(on other games I was really happy with the outcome of the discussion with the support team) ;
    - the cost of purchase and monthly payment is higher;
    - their so praised server is a joke;
    - the PVP is not like you would have expected it because of technical issues(multiple servers just like any other MMO, full servers are extremely lagging, servers that re not full are boring)
    - a lot of time wasted during maintenance that occurs mostly when you have free time to play
    - dungeon grouping is very poor, I doubt you will enjoy doing group dungeons in this game
    - economy is broken

    Conclusion: If you are big fan of TES and want to try it, you have been warned this is not really TES, this is a horrible copy-cat version of TES with lots of problems developed and maintained by an inexperienced team of blunt people. I won't recommend it to anyone, TES fans or not.    … Expand
  31. alien5
    Apr 14, 2014
    10
    Not perfect by any stretch, but certainly the MMO i can recommend most out of the last 5 years. Reviewing after playing to cap and doing a fair amount of pvp

    -No cooldowns means youre actually managing 3 resources instead of mindlessly spamming abilities -Active attacking, blocking, dodging, and interrupts, the ultimate system, two swappable weapon sets with their own bars, all make    Not perfect by any stretch, but certainly the MMO i can recommend most out of the last 5 years. Reviewing after playing to cap and doing a fair amount of pvp

    -No cooldowns means youre actually managing 3 resources instead of mindlessly spamming abilities
    -Active attacking, blocking, dodging, and interrupts, the ultimate system, two swappable weapon sets with their own bars, all make the combat a lot more visceral than 95% of MMOs out there, and with the above, makes it better than just about everything, combat wise, save TERA imo
    -Questing gets rid of the "hub" design and instead brings you to different towns/villages/forts/settlements/etc that have a specific problem going on that needs to be solved
    -Many quests you options on how to resolve them, some even having interesting (read: not GOOD OR EVIL?!?!) moral decisions to make
    -Character design is pretty detailed. Certainly less ugly than Oblivion or even Skyrim as far as models go
    -Character building is second to none as far as MMOs go. While not the same as the classic TES system, you end up with an amazing amount of flexibility and options
    -TON of solo content. I've had to play a ton to get to cap within the two or so weeks by launch, and am now given the option to play the OTHER two territories for content.
    -PvP isn't quite DAoC, but the adjustments to siege equipment and respawning certainly make it better than WAR or GW2, imo. Massive area to fight over, generally very awesome.

    only real complaints
    -peak hours have made loading times awful at points (they're "working on it")
    -hate not having nameplates above players
    -need more guild customization options
    -Vampires/werewolves don't have near enough drawbacks to be balanced
    -need better chat options for PvP for coordinating the faction
    -wish i didnt have to use addons to get proper dmg and buff feedback    … Expand
  32. Dragos1130
    Apr 13, 2014
    10
    I've stood by long enough and watched too many reviewers judge this game too quickly for, quite frankly, mostly ridiculous reasons. Don't let other people dictate your view of this game (even me) but if you want to know my opinion, the game is wonderful so far. If you take the time to get involved in the stories and dialogue and not try to be the first one to reach max level, trust me, youI've stood by long enough and watched too many reviewers judge this game too quickly for, quite frankly, mostly ridiculous reasons. Don't let other people dictate your view of this game (even me) but if you want to know my opinion, the game is wonderful so far. If you take the time to get involved in the stories and dialogue and not try to be the first one to reach max level, trust me, you will have a lot more fun. Zenimax really did an excellent job and put the work in. It does have flaws including some bugs but for the most part I haven't found anything so damning as to give this game a rating any lower than a 9 or 10. If you are expecting this game to be at all like WoW, it isn't. If you think it is a clone of Guild Wars 2, it's not. That being said, you simply have to judge the game for yourself. On a side note, if you played the game and didn't like it that is fine and your criticisms are worth reading but your pitiful hatred and tantrums over, say, the monthly subscription fee (I shouldn't have to explain this but sub fees help fund company employees who work on the game and continue to make it better) are worthless and a waste of everyone's time.… Expand
  33. MaxArena
    May 4, 2014
    0
    Countless game-breaking bugs, reprehensible balance issues, absolutely laughable server performance, numerous unscheduled (further gamebreaking) hotfixes and maintenances, disappointing story-lines (Compared to EVERY other Elder Scrolls game), boring voice-actors (Cadwell excluded), a hideous economy system where everyone can craft everything they are ever going to need, end-game contentCountless game-breaking bugs, reprehensible balance issues, absolutely laughable server performance, numerous unscheduled (further gamebreaking) hotfixes and maintenances, disappointing story-lines (Compared to EVERY other Elder Scrolls game), boring voice-actors (Cadwell excluded), a hideous economy system where everyone can craft everything they are ever going to need, end-game content not even worth speaking of -- abhorring beyond belief: all of this is fused together into one of the most disappointing games I have ever had the misfortune of squandering 60$ on.

    I'd continue my checklist on the things that completely destroy this game and its title, but I'm confident that the character limit will not suffice. From one devoted fan of the Elder Scrolls series to another: DO NOT EVEN LAY YOUR EYES ON THIS GAME, IT IS NOT WORTH A SINGLE FRACTION OF THE DOSH IT ASKS FOR.

    That they even dare ask for a subscription fee for this average piece of **** is beyond me. I'd give this title a four, maybe even a five for the temporary entertainment it provided, but because of the franchise reputation it fails so miserably to uphold, it receives a 0. One can only hope that Bethesda issues immediate plans to meld this title with a free-to-play plan in the coming months in order to save what little dignity it still has.

    TL;DR:
    **** No.    … Expand
  34. Bakfyre
    Apr 12, 2014
    9
    In "Open Beta", there were still bugs, and people complained. They weren't allowed to play Skyrim, and people complained. It took more than an hour and a half to reach level 10, and people complained. Sooooo...all in all, well done. Though Skyrim is an awesome game, it can't be 'the same' and be a MMO. The quests (though, yes there is some grinding), are interesting and actually fit inIn "Open Beta", there were still bugs, and people complained. They weren't allowed to play Skyrim, and people complained. It took more than an hour and a half to reach level 10, and people complained. Sooooo...all in all, well done. Though Skyrim is an awesome game, it can't be 'the same' and be a MMO. The quests (though, yes there is some grinding), are interesting and actually fit in the lore completely.… Expand
  35. Jerkamie
    Apr 13, 2014
    10
    I was a bit flustered at the start with this game, but once I took the time to learn how to play, wow. I've never had so much fun. It needs work, but you know what? they are working on it? This game gets a 10 from me.
  36. auntumleaf
    Apr 15, 2014
    10
    The questing is intriguing and fun. The game developers put a work into it. Very enjoyable playing in the game world. Alliance vs alliance battle is a lot of fun.

    Zenimax stick to their vision of the game but still listen to the playing community to make good improvements. Some bugs are to be expected in the first couple months of a new MMO launch. They have been moving very quick    The questing is intriguing and fun. The game developers put a work into it. Very enjoyable playing in the game world. Alliance vs alliance battle is a lot of fun.

    Zenimax stick to their vision of the game but still listen to the playing community to make good improvements. Some bugs are to be expected in the first couple months of a new MMO launch. They have been moving very quick to address the issues.

    For those who hating on the subscription model, you do know in life you get what you are paying for. This game is worth it.    … Expand
  37. Untouchable763
    Apr 10, 2014
    6
    This is the most average MMORPG you will ever play in your life. The game is riddled with bugs and while you instantly think I'm being too hard on the game, I'm not. This game has so many bugs that just pull you completely out of the experience to the point of just logging off when they occur.

    Pros: -Quests which avoid the normal pick up 10 items for the most part. -Voice overs are    This is the most average MMORPG you will ever play in your life. The game is riddled with bugs and while you instantly think I'm being too hard on the game, I'm not. This game has so many bugs that just pull you completely out of the experience to the point of just logging off when they occur.

    Pros:
    -Quests which avoid the normal pick up 10 items for the most part.
    -Voice overs are beautifully done.
    -Crafting is what makes this game playable IMO.

    Cons:
    -The UI which is an embarrassment to all MMO's
    -The sheer amount of bugs which places this game around early beta in reality.
    -$15 Subscription to beta test their game
    -Graphics which were a huge disappointment. This game looks like it was made around consoles because the graphics are very dated. Feels like you're playing oblivion when you're questing sometimes.
    -The trading/guild store/guild bank. To begin the trading in this game is a complete pain especially selling items through the guild store. Using the guild store is really your only way of selling items but the problem is that it doesn't have a SEARCH BAR. You will spend over 50% of you time in the guild store just trying to price check items or buy a specific item that you cannot find. Finally lets go over the guild bank where you will deposit your items and 10% of them will magically vanish.

    To conclude the only reason I'm playing this game right now is the fact that I have 30 days free. Other then that from what I see right now it was the biggest waste of $80 I've ever spent on a video game.    … Expand
  38. wimmy1
    Apr 16, 2014
    8
    People hate on this game because it isn't enough like Skyrim. Well, let me tell you something, this game innovates on the typical MMO experience and is a lot of fun. The environments are beautiful and the gameplay is fresh. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Skyrim, but thought it was overrated. Because it was.
  39. Jeevin
    Apr 21, 2014
    4
    What experience do you want from an Elder Scrolls game? The lore? Deep characters and stories? Epic quests? The freedom to loot or steal anything? Freedom to explore? Buying and kitting out your own house in your favorite town? Organising your book collection? Just to lose yourself in the immersive world of Cyrodiil? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before you play TheWhat experience do you want from an Elder Scrolls game? The lore? Deep characters and stories? Epic quests? The freedom to loot or steal anything? Freedom to explore? Buying and kitting out your own house in your favorite town? Organising your book collection? Just to lose yourself in the immersive world of Cyrodiil? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before you play The Elder Scrolls Online because it fails on most of the above and is almost certain to disappoint.

    The Elder Scrolls Online ditches the key elements and freedoms that this much loved series is known for in favor of the money grubbing mmo business model. The story is shallow. The questing serves to string you along for as long as possible, this is especially apparent in the latter "zones" where the quests send you all over to greatly extend your play time. Crafting whilst easy to get into and feels rewarding is once again designed to string you along for the most longest time possible through research. Research time for traits on crafted gear can take weeks. Yes weeks. And you can only research a couple of items at a time in any craft. It would take months to fully research a craft in this game. You waste alot of money and time just unlocking inventory and bank space! And upgrading your horse! In fact you can see the business model comes before game play in every aspect of this game. How people get sucked into this crap is beyond me.

    The game lacks immersion too. Quest writing ranges from quite good to just plain dumb. Quest givers are surrounded by other gamers who are also busy being the only possible hero to help. Enemies respawn thirty seconds after being killed, this is especially frustrating in dungeons where you decided to read a book you saw, only to have enemies you only just killed start smacking you! At the end of dungeons other players are lined up waiting for the boss to spawn and your lucky to get a shot in to claim the kill. The world is static too, you can't pick up things you see, see that sword there? Well it's glued to the bench thats glued to the ground. The list goes on!

    You can't blame Zenimax for wanting to make the most money possible by making an mmo it's just a shame they used the Elder Scrolls IP to do it.    … Expand
  40. geogeof
    May 26, 2014
    0
    Game had enough problems to begin with then they brilliantly decide to release a big patch before a holiday weekend that broke more than it fixed. This is not some fly by night F2P game. This is supposed to be a AAA subscription based game and it is a massive failure down to it's core. Even when it does go F2P I doubt I will waste any more of my time with it. Zenimax=amatuer hour.
  41. Ferdinand
    May 19, 2014
    0
    I´m a big fan of Skyrim and Oblivion and I´ve played SWTOR and WOW. I played this game till I´ve reached lvl 50. Having said that I´ll try to explain why I give a 5 score to this game.

    The Best: —It is very entertaining: A lot of quest to do and some of them are puzzles, riddles, etc. Not only kill-ten-bandits. —Good graphics for an MMO. —Combat: It can be suited to your taste. Many    I´m a big fan of Skyrim and Oblivion and I´ve played SWTOR and WOW. I played this game till I´ve reached lvl 50. Having said that I´ll try to explain why I give a 5 score to this game.

    The Best:
    —It is very entertaining: A lot of quest to do and some of them are puzzles, riddles, etc. Not only kill-ten-bandits.
    —Good graphics for an MMO.
    —Combat: It can be suited to your taste. Many ways to fight enemies.
    —Re-playable
    —Huge map to explore.

    The Worse:
    —You can´t get into the game because of the huge amount of players playing it. This is the worse thing not only because of this but also because the game get a lot of lag that make the game unplayable at moments. In my case my Mac crashes to desktop a lot of times.
    —The group finder tool dont work very well. You have to wait a lot to make dungeons even now when there are a lot of player playing this game.
    —If you want to play this game for a year you have to pay almost 200 euros. If you want to play Skyrim forever with all DLC's and with all the mods you want you only pay 30 euros or less. And Skyrim is way better than this game and more replayable. Play for a month TESO = 55 euros and you don't own the game if you quit paying monthly fee. Without monthly fee this game is 7,5 score, no more.    … Expand
  42. JD1983
    Jun 12, 2014
    0
    This game is completely awful and broken. The economy is broken, the quests are broken, PVP is broken, party play is completely broken, in fact the only thing that isn't broke is the developers. I haven't seen such a blatant cash grab since ET was released for the Atari.

    This is not a good Elder Scrolls game, it is too linear and the story line is too dull. It also isn't a good MMORPG;    This game is completely awful and broken. The economy is broken, the quests are broken, PVP is broken, party play is completely broken, in fact the only thing that isn't broke is the developers. I haven't seen such a blatant cash grab since ET was released for the Atari.

    This is not a good Elder Scrolls game, it is too linear and the story line is too dull. It also isn't a good MMORPG; the way party play for questing is so messed up that actually playing with other people is discouraged. I regret buying this game, but thankfully I didn't spring the extra cash required to play as an Imperial... something that was already in-game at release but still behind a paywall, same as the horse that is almost a requirement since this game contains vast expanses of absolutlely nothing. Pay and pay and pay to play? No thanks.    … Expand
  43. Rnadmo
    Jun 4, 2015
    5
    It looks pretty but ultimately it just doesn't do anything that another MMO doesn't do better. If you like the idea of solo and occasional group play with cool exploration, pick up GW2, for example.
  44. Xon
    Aug 20, 2014
    7
    Not the worst game ever, but nowhere near the standard set by Skyrim or Oblivion. That said, I have never before played a MMO and probably wouldn't have if not for ESO.
  45. Lionaeron
    Jul 20, 2014
    1
    You only need to see the 50% steam sale and locked forum for only people who have bought the game to see the the desperation of these so called developers. Zenimax online will end up where ninja theory is after DMC, making app games for mobiles haha.
  46. Alsvha
    Apr 25, 2014
    6
    Decent attempt at a MMO but ultimately falls short leaving a mediocre experience.

    The good; Crafting is good, but whether it's useful outside food buffs and potions I'm not so sure about. But crafting from the bank so you don't have to haul materials around - nice. Shared bank. But this should really be a mainstay 'quality of life' feature by now anyways, so I'd say if it wasn't there    Decent attempt at a MMO but ultimately falls short leaving a mediocre experience.

    The good;
    Crafting is good, but whether it's useful outside food buffs and potions I'm not so sure about. But crafting from the bank so you don't have to haul materials around - nice.
    Shared bank. But this should really be a mainstay 'quality of life' feature by now anyways, so I'd say if it wasn't there it'd be a detractor.

    The potentially good;
    PvP has potential but whether it becomes more than ranged zerg vs ranged zerg with quick death is the crux. The PvP is also hurting due to the lack of combat feedback in the game. (Reliance on mods from the community to make the game playable).
    The class system seems interesting but while the game boasts of 'play as you want', cookie cutter setup is still going to be a focal point for 'end game' giving the feeling that there's not enough skills in the game per class.

    The bad:
    Questing is dull and feels grindy. I found myself speed clicking through the dialogue because it was just a few lines of chatter before I had to start running after quest markers.
    The UI is awful. Yes, I know they wanted it "minimalistic" and wanted the users to make the quality UI, but its a bad idea for a MMO. The lack of feed back makes combat dull and disconnected for example. And while you can use mods to make it better it shouldn't be up to the community to actually make the UI. They should just add flavour to it. Relying on the community to make the game playable seems more lazy than minimalistic.
    The lore is like questing rather dull and the fact that pre-orders can be any race in any alliance just further waters out any distinctiveness of choosing a side which is not so good.
    There's also the distinct problems for the developers to keep on top of gold sellers and bots which ruin much of the starter zones for everybody.
    The economy is hard on new comers due to very low reward for killing mobs (which adds to the grindy feeling of the game).

    All in all a mediocre MMO which greatest achievement is making me want to play previous MMOs again for the various parts. I - like many other - do suspect a F2P future for this game within a relative short time span (from a MMO point of view), and especially when the next Elder Scrolls single player game comes out.

    So - in my opinion it's a 6/10 game.
    Stay away unless you're REALLY into MMOs and need a new one to try out or you're really into Elder Scrolls game and just has to play them all.    … Expand
  47. Subxaero
    Apr 28, 2014
    1
    No..Just no. I play the game 25 days now...Apart from the first week which normally gave me the impression of something new, the game is a huge let down
    1:) Sluggish combat system ,range bold bad-melee feels like nothing connects to the enemy and sometimes u need to check his hp bar to make sure
    2) The UI is beyond terrible, u cant see anything,hp-names-least of information 3)Quests at    No..Just no. I play the game 25 days now...Apart from the first week which normally gave me the impression of something new, the game is a huge let down
    1:) Sluggish combat system ,range bold bad-melee feels like nothing connects to the enemy and sometimes u need to check his hp bar to make sure
    2) The UI is beyond terrible, u cant see anything,hp-names-least of information
    3)Quests at first sight look good(no grinding etc, nice dialogues) but then as u level up u realise actually u get no chalenge at all, go talk to someone then to someone else, i expected at least a bit of a challenge at higher lvls..Only 2-3 voice actors,after sometime u easily realise it
    4) Brightest spot here-graphs are awesome i'll give em 8/10
    5) Crafting is very interesting with a few inovations , difinitely above average, especially the trait research is something new and fresh
    6)Game economy is beyond bad...U need to be on at least 3 guilds to have a decent amount of items to buy and respectively people to sell to
    7)PVP is decent, i like the big map and AvA thing, still has many flows though and the lag is insane, sometimes u cant move
    8)Bugs.. oh my god..people compare it with WoW and they forget they have 10 years if difference which is equal to a century in terms of tecnhology,bots?...dozens in public dungeons and dozens in open world u cant even touch the mob sometimes
    Overall it doesnt worth the sub FOR SURE, i wont say dont buy it, because its a big release and personally i never regret testing and buying big releases, i tried to like this game much but i just cant    … Expand
  48. HotGeekCity
    Apr 29, 2014
    7
    Wow. Harsh reviews are harsh. The game isn't amazing, but it's an MMO in it's FIRST THREE WEEKS. Lol. Calm down there, haters. ;) It's far from perfect, yes. Many bugs still, and the game seems to almost want you to play solo except for dungeons and raid instances, and I can't even comment on the PVP yet as I've only rolled 2 low end characters, but the game is fun! Big, prettyWow. Harsh reviews are harsh. The game isn't amazing, but it's an MMO in it's FIRST THREE WEEKS. Lol. Calm down there, haters. ;) It's far from perfect, yes. Many bugs still, and the game seems to almost want you to play solo except for dungeons and raid instances, and I can't even comment on the PVP yet as I've only rolled 2 low end characters, but the game is fun! Big, pretty vistas. Good, solid combat. Quests are semi interesting and not just your usual MMO fetch or kill quests all the time. There's definitetly some things that could be fixed or tweaked, like the sense of realism they try to bring to the game sometimes makes playing it difficult (why can't we find vendors on the map?!? Why is there no auction house?!?) but for the most part the game works well. Feels a lot more like an Elder Scrolls game if you play in 1st person, but I almost never seem to find myself doing that as it's a bloody MMO and I can see more in 3rd person. Lol

    Overall, it's worth checking out if you're an Elder Scrolls or RPG fan. Good, but room to improve. Even if you just get it on sale and only pay for a month of game time, I'm sure you'll have fun. :)    … Expand
  49. Chidawg66
    Jun 4, 2014
    4
    I really tried to love this game. I came in with an open mind and played it slowly through the storyline which everyone said the AD is the best story. The story was okay. The combat system was okay. But after you finish with the story line, it gets really boring. I don't know really what else to do. The endgame is non existent. There really isn't too much to do in this game forI really tried to love this game. I came in with an open mind and played it slowly through the storyline which everyone said the AD is the best story. The story was okay. The combat system was okay. But after you finish with the story line, it gets really boring. I don't know really what else to do. The endgame is non existent. There really isn't too much to do in this game for endgame. After you play through the story, which most of my friends couldn't even finish, there isn't much to do. We all decided that this game is just too boring. Not enough content and it is BUGGY. They fixed a lot of the buggy issues, but it is still buggy.

    The whole phasing idea was a neat idea but it is stupid. I played the game when everyone else was leveling with me. How annoying is it when you are trying to get into the game and follow the plot and after doing all the story correct, you enter in a zone where people have already started the boss fight by the time you hit the boss once, you've completed the quest. I didn't even get to see the opening scene of the fight.

    Dungeons are SUPER boring. OMG. Every solo dungeon pretty much looks like every other solo dungeon. Group dungeons are pretty easy and basically doesn't require much skill. This game really doesn't require much skill. There is also no really great gear. Everything is crafted, and the loot isn't all that great.

    I really had low standards for this game, and enjoyed it somewhat during the lvling from 1 - VR1, but was it worth the $100 I spent on a 3 month subscription and game? Probably not.    … Expand
  50. taijutsumike
    Jun 7, 2014
    9
    This is an early play review, but I thought it important to put out there based on all the mixed reviews so far.

    Installation This was a really simple deal. Much like any other MMO, you download the 130mb launcher and then sign in so it can download the other 23gb. There is a security feature, different from others i've seen where it will ask you for a code if you log in from an    This is an early play review, but I thought it important to put out there based on all the mixed reviews so far.

    Installation
    This was a really simple deal. Much like any other MMO, you download the 130mb launcher and then sign in so it can download the other 23gb. There is a security feature, different from others i've seen where it will ask you for a code if you log in from an unfamiliar IP location... the client and website does that, so if you forget your password there are some extra security steps that can seem frustrating.

    Also the client downloaded 23gb, installed it then wanted to download another 5gb. I can't be sure if they were doing this because the second 5gb was an additional patch, some people are reporting that the client / patch system is a little off right now. so dont pay too much attention to the % bar.

    Looks
    Let it be noted that this is the first game in MMO history that gave me the best settings for my laptop, off the bat. I did adjust the graphics up a little, but even on medium settings the game looks pretty. It has oblivion style graphics with a skyrim interface... its not super mind blowing pretty, but it looks pretty good. I haven't been to Daggerfall since '97, so seeing it rebuilt here was really refreshing. I've been to Daggerfall, Stros M'Kai and some alied ruins, which all look like they should from their respective games. Its worth noting, that for me, the first log in time and one time when I changed a graphic setting, it took a long time to get into back into the game (maybe 2 - 5 mins or so)

    Gameplay
    My major fault with pretty much every MMO - especially with SWTOR - is that in order to survive the main storyline, you have to do every single quest just to be able to participate in the main story line. When I left the first location I found a woman who wanted to chat (these use Skyrim "undiscovered markers" to let you know that someone can give you a quest). Turns out this was one of main story quests. We went on a good 2-3 hour series of quests that led me back to daggerfall. Sometimes the quests can seem kinda basic and the quest locations kinda linear, but the plus side to that is that once you get done with a minor quest, you are ready to get back out there into something else.

    My main gripe with a lot of MMO's is that either you don't know what you're supposed to be doing (WOW gives you a solid quest line for the first 5 levels then just puts you out there feeling lost) or I get completely anxious because I am running around for hours on side quests while everything is focused on end game content for the people that get to the level cap in three days. ESO doesn't feel like that - I have been happily running quests, bumping into the occasional person and not feeling worried about what I might be missing out on.

    Combat is pretty awesome so far. Its not quite like skyrim where a block guarantees a blocked attack, but you can block the major - interruptable attacks. Im playing with a dragonknight and a happy with the sword and shield combat style, fire based attacks I have chosen. Part of me wonders if I should have gone for a healer type for later stuff... but again I don't get class envy that I have in other MMOs.

    ESO doesn't have the complete freedom that Elderscrolls games usually boast... yet. But I don't feel like thats anything I need to feel concerned about. There is plenty going on.

    I'm really enjoying my time here so far and have had nothing but positive experiences. Yes its a little on the expensive side, but its new... and It feels worth every penny.    … Expand
  51. forrealzzzz
    Jun 13, 2014
    4
    Elder Scrolls Online online is really hard. I died against Edward Norton multiples times while the queen of elves did nothing to save me. She and her Clan of Pusays wouldn't even walk down a dark flight of stairs to help me. Something about shin splints. Elder Scrolls online is like Crimson Skies. But not fun.
  52. TheFredinator
    Jan 13, 2015
    2
    Nothing hurts more then how disappointment feels. The Elder Scrolls Online was going to be the hit MMO that everyone was going to be playing! Instead we got a game that was poorly made and abandoned after launch. In the beginning you are told that "You are the chosen one" and that its up to "Only you" to save the world. Then you see a bunch of other chosen ones run through the same portal.Nothing hurts more then how disappointment feels. The Elder Scrolls Online was going to be the hit MMO that everyone was going to be playing! Instead we got a game that was poorly made and abandoned after launch. In the beginning you are told that "You are the chosen one" and that its up to "Only you" to save the world. Then you see a bunch of other chosen ones run through the same portal. I got so bored with this game. I played it for a few weeks and just got so bored. The combat is really different then what you would expect. Its a game that Bethesda said "Hey! You know what would be cool? Oblivion and WoW put together!" Yeah that would be cool except that's nothing close to what it is. I'm really sorry because I tried so hard to like it. Really I did. And wouldn't you know it? There is still no word on the console version.

    Elder Scrolls Online gets a 2/10    … Expand
  53. bjenkies
    Jul 23, 2014
    1
    Over all I didn't find this game to be anywhere near what i had expected or hoped for. Several, SEVERAL bugged quest lines, poor character development, and very repetitive MoBs. There isn't anything special about this game at all. In fact i would say this is a pay to play version of the game Two Worlds.

    Even while you are questing with your friends it does not feel like you are sharing    Over all I didn't find this game to be anywhere near what i had expected or hoped for. Several, SEVERAL bugged quest lines, poor character development, and very repetitive MoBs. There isn't anything special about this game at all. In fact i would say this is a pay to play version of the game Two Worlds.

    Even while you are questing with your friends it does not feel like you are sharing the same quest. You still have to complete your whole quest ( say you had to kill 10 boars, your party mate kills 5 and you kill 5. Normal MMOs your quest would be done. Not this one, you both still need to kill the 5 each. Same goes for any other quest.) Half the time my friend and i couldn't even see each othr while we were questing.

    This game could have been a LOT better.

    If you are going to play a great MMO, I recommend FF:ARR    … Expand
  54. Godric
    Aug 2, 2014
    7
    OK so the game isn't Skyrim lets just make that clear, Now that we are past that hurdle lets rate this game objectively without harking back to the over hyped and much beloved skyrim. (Not saying its a bad game just think we could stand to loose some of the Fan boy mentality when playing new games and rate them on its own merits.)

    This is an MMO which carries with it a subscription    OK so the game isn't Skyrim lets just make that clear, Now that we are past that hurdle lets rate this game objectively without harking back to the over hyped and much beloved skyrim. (Not saying its a bad game just think we could stand to loose some of the Fan boy mentality when playing new games and rate them on its own merits.)

    This is an MMO which carries with it a subscription charge and this for many is a fairly major issue.

    The benefits of that subscription charge however are significant and it must be understood that this game requires an immense infrastructure to provide the MMO experience you as consumers expect.
    Not only does your subscription get you the use of the infrastructure though, you also get the support when you have difficulties (Support I rate very highly from personal experience). Now I also realize this cost can be prohibitive, particularly for younger gamers without a stable income, however when you take into account the aspects of the service I just mentioned It really isn't that much, you could easily spend more on magazines or fast food or other luxuries, it's just a matter of what you want to spend your money on. Falling in at just £7 (I calculate that at around $12) a month for the 6 month subscription option I find that pretty reasonable and this is literally the exact same monthly cost when compared to other leading MMO's such as EVE online or the industry leader World Of Warcraft. The only other viable industry standard for a mainstream MMO of course being the free to play profit by micro transaction option and I could see many angry Elder Scrolls "Pay to win" reviews coming from that alternative scenario..

    So with that cost implication covered what do we get for our money other than the use of the game and the support?

    Well, you get a vibrant and visually stunning first person MMO with a rich and varied array of characters and Lore to bring the universe to life. The voice acting is fantastic and really draws you in to the story in a way other MMO games have failed to do for me in the past.

    The game play feels distinctly Elder scrolls and the art style is sympathetic to previous incarnations of the game firmly cementing the idea in your mind that this is Tamriel the continent gamers have loved for years.

    I have found myself Levelling without really thinking about levelling, this is because I am more engrossed in what I am doing than in what is to come. This unique feeling is something I haven't encountered in an MMO to date with the daily "Grind" in other games feeling more like a chore than a fun and engaging experience. Safe to say there is more to this game than going in to the woods and "Killing Boars" for 50 levels.

    The first person combat suffers from the same difficulties it has experienced in previous entries in the franchise however when compared to other MMO games you feel much more involved and in control rather than mindlessly clicking through your abilities to optimize your damage.

    The world itself is sufficiently varied and works to keep the player interested. Enemy mobs are scarce enough not to hamper exploration without leaving the wilderness "safe" for unwary travellers.

    Here come the drawbacks.

    The game feels "staged" in places and your exploration is limited by your level progression. The areas are enjoyable but I feel that there is very much a "plan" for how the designers intended the player to progress and this detracts from the sandbox experience I had hoped for.

    Much of Tamriel cannot yet be explored and I can see various expansions coming in the near future to add these areas.. at a cost.

    The return of the popular races of tamriel offers a great choice during the wonderfully varied character creation stage. However limiting the races to there "home" factions may lead to conflict among friends who wish to play together but find themselves in opposing camps (The pre-order "explorer's" pack negates this however it appears this option for any race in any faction will not become available for general consumption)

    Fast travel is instantaneous and cheap, it may just be me but there is something special about real time travel which show cases the wonderful world you have created soaring on the back of a griffon or other means of travel rather than just “fade to black” then reappear somewhere else.

    There is no “Free” trial period which to me seems counter productive. If a company has faith in its product it should offer a sample in the hopes to entice possible buyers rather than closing its doors to criticism from the wider public.

    But in light of these flaws I intend to continue playing this game and remain hopeful that future additions and expansions will enhance my already enjoyable experience in ESO. Happy gaming.

    Regards,

    GODRIC    … Expand
  55. aradapilot
    Aug 16, 2014
    1
    An insult to the franchise. Tedious. I thought maybe I had made a bad choice in character design, went back from a completely different angle, just as boring.
  56. dwgr8ergolfer
    Aug 31, 2014
    4
    You can't go from Skyrim to Elder Scrolls Online.... Bethesda and Zenimax dropped the ball on this one. This game had so much potential to be great but Zenimax and Bethesda clearly did not test it nearly enough and just released a game that just doesn't feel good to play.
  57. Mastodon
    Dec 4, 2014
    3
    The best word for this game is "Average." Aside from graphics which are decent but not top notch everything else is just anti-climatic. To a run of the mill WoW player this game is probably good... but to a Skyrim or Oblivion player it is simply awful.
  58. kartharian
    Sep 3, 2014
    10
    Made an account just to let my voice be heard. Great game. Hands down the best MMO ive played since wow in 2008. The devs go their own way and dont follow the MMO trends of the EQ/WoW clones. Watch some gameplay videos and even a questing video and see for yourself
  59. peekatracked1
    Oct 14, 2014
    0
    this is just rubbish not worth your money at all.
    i'm a elder scrolls fan, but this game is only made for your money, every month you need to pay otherwise all your hard work will be for nothing. you really need to buy a horse or else you just wander around in EMPTY landscapes, and don't think you will buy a horse soon, no no because you get 1 coin from each dead enemy.. and a horse cost    this is just rubbish not worth your money at all.
    i'm a elder scrolls fan, but this game is only made for your money, every month you need to pay otherwise all your hard work will be for nothing. you really need to buy a horse or else you just wander around in EMPTY landscapes, and don't think you will buy a horse soon, no no because you get 1 coin from each dead enemy.. and a horse cost 20.000 coins, only with the imperial edition you have a horse.. but yeah, its your money again    … Expand
  60. XandWacky
    Jan 11, 2015
    10
    I enjoyed this game. All the things that were in Skyrim and other Elder Scrolls will be making their way with content patches. Onto the real review: This game is amazing. This game is immersive. This game feels and looks like time was put into this. It doesn't even feel like a theme park ride, it feels sandbox. If you are looking for a new MMO or game in general, you should give this a try.
  61. Vidicus
    Nov 8, 2014
    2
    Bugs and bots. That sums up this game. So many issues and broken quests, so many bots running around the world. Solid music and graphics but bad programming and implementation.
  62. Big_Bear
    Nov 26, 2014
    4
    A huge disappointment. DO NOT believe any of the positive 10/10 reviews, they are complete bs. You could judge this game as either an ES game, an MMO or even both, but regardless of what you decide this game is, the fact is that it is very poor.

    Like most devoted ES fans, I was very excited about this game, but unfortunately, we haven't been given an ES game, only another poor generic    A huge disappointment. DO NOT believe any of the positive 10/10 reviews, they are complete bs. You could judge this game as either an ES game, an MMO or even both, but regardless of what you decide this game is, the fact is that it is very poor.

    Like most devoted ES fans, I was very excited about this game, but unfortunately, we haven't been given an ES game, only another poor generic WoW clone set in Tamriel.

    Good - Graphics are decent, the increased scale makes cities feel more like actual cities than ES games like Skyrim etc. Character creation is decent and the concept of crafting is good; the idea of crafting multiple sets of the same level gear but differing in appearance depending on faction style really should have been in every scrolls game.

    Bad - as with all MMO's, the role playing element is extremely diluted to the point that it doesn't feel like an RPG at all. The map is unremarkable and generic; ES fans should be loving the fact of seeing mainland Morrowind for the first time but it has nowhere near the impact of the offline scrolls games areas like Skyrim or Oblivion, its just meh. The combat sucks.

    Verdict - Once again an MMO developer has been too afraid to create a unique game and has tried to copy much of WoW in order to steal some of their fan base. What they should have done was appeal to ES fans instead and give us another great scrolls game instead of this mess. 4/10 at best.    … Expand
  63. Regnan
    Nov 28, 2014
    2
    I'm a die hard Elder Scrolls fan (from 1995 ARENA their first game) and World of Warcraft. My friends and I used to daydream about how awesome Elder Scrolls online 'would be'. I'm sorry to say the game designers and animators are the most to blame for such an embarrassing boring failure of a game. My Dad, friends tried to play, couldn't see each other half the time and just quit afterI'm a die hard Elder Scrolls fan (from 1995 ARENA their first game) and World of Warcraft. My friends and I used to daydream about how awesome Elder Scrolls online 'would be'. I'm sorry to say the game designers and animators are the most to blame for such an embarrassing boring failure of a game. My Dad, friends tried to play, couldn't see each other half the time and just quit after one week. Foremost, the quests are boring, dry and do not let you interact with friends at all time. Second, the animation is the next crime, every creature and character moves like a 'Borg Drone' with no life, stiff lifeless animation. Like corpses with no personality that kind of move. When you interact with NPCS, it reminds you of visiting a teller at a bank. The Art Director and leadership of this game dropped the ball hard, being 'blinded' by the beautiful environments and thinking that would carry the game. No, No that does not. There are also not enough classes, and all classes can 'self heal' and do not even need the help of your team mates. There are no roles that make you feel vital in a team (healer tank ranged dps etc). They also removed the tried and true SUCCESSFUL classes from their first two games (Arena / Daggerfall) in favor of a watered down 'dog mutt' system of character class. A true, sad disappointment to fans like myself who were 'crazed fans' since 1995.… Expand
  64. ZenterX
    Dec 5, 2014
    3
    The 3 different factions you can choose from all have different backgrounds but the same repetitive missions. Though some blame the TES "fanboys" for the negative reviews, this game has an unbelievable amount of similarities and references to Skyrim where it fails as a predecessor. I did not like this game at all, the only "plus" to this game is the massive high quality environment andThe 3 different factions you can choose from all have different backgrounds but the same repetitive missions. Though some blame the TES "fanboys" for the negative reviews, this game has an unbelievable amount of similarities and references to Skyrim where it fails as a predecessor. I did not like this game at all, the only "plus" to this game is the massive high quality environment and splendid soundtracks.… Expand
  65. htreharn046
    Dec 11, 2014
    0
    This game could have been so much more than what it is, even for an MMO. It's way overpriced for what it is, there's having a subscription to worry about paying after already buying a $70 game. Animations are horrible, immersion is terrible, and combat is terrible. All in all, very disappointing.
  66. antihax
    Jun 7, 2016
    0
    I've been playing for six months and this game just keeps getting worse. This latest patch was the last straw since the PvP is now unplayable due to all of the bugs and exploits.

    1000+ ms lag spikes, abilities which don't fire, being flung across the map, repeated crashes to desktop, random load screens 2-3min long. Rampant cheating (unlimited ultimates, flying in the air, invincible    I've been playing for six months and this game just keeps getting worse. This latest patch was the last straw since the PvP is now unplayable due to all of the bugs and exploits.

    1000+ ms lag spikes, abilities which don't fire, being flung across the map, repeated crashes to desktop, random load screens 2-3min long. Rampant cheating (unlimited ultimates, flying in the air, invincible players, keep jumps) only to get a slap on the wrist because they are paying customers. Exodus of players (recent merge of servers and reduction of pvp campaigns is a clear sign). Getting decent gear requires months of grinding the same dungeons over and over.

    Each successive patches adds more bugs and exploits.

    Do not waste your time and effort, there are better games out there with much better communities.    … Expand
  67. X0R
    Apr 7, 2014
    9
    This is one of the first games in a decade that has kept me up all night, when I see the time that passed it shocks me. The gameplay & exploration bring me back to Asheron's Call & vanilla WoW, but the graphics are very neat. Is this game for everyone? Obviously not, but it fits what I crave. So many places to read reviews already, videos you can watch - so I'm not going to review itThis is one of the first games in a decade that has kept me up all night, when I see the time that passed it shocks me. The gameplay & exploration bring me back to Asheron's Call & vanilla WoW, but the graphics are very neat. Is this game for everyone? Obviously not, but it fits what I crave. So many places to read reviews already, videos you can watch - so I'm not going to review it myself blow-by-blow. It's always exciting running over the next hill to see what's over the ridge, the landscapes are brilliant with all settings maxed - which I get no lag but I see occasional crashes still. Work in progress like every other game at release. There are aspects I really like, and things that I hope they change. It's not as stupid-easy as WoW, so I hope the monthly fee keeps maturity-challenged slugs behind a fence for a while. For me, the box price & subscription are worth every penny. Will it survive more than a few years with a subscription? Go buy a magic 8-ball and we'll see.… Expand
  68. MercyKilling
    Apr 6, 2014
    10
    The game has some bugs, but what MMO at launch didn't? It's visually stunning, easily besting any MMO currently on the market in that category, yet remarkably easy on low end systems to achieve said graphics.

    Literally dozens of times over the past week I've been on my way to a quest and gotten sidetracked by looking off into the distance and seeing something and going, "OOO...that    The game has some bugs, but what MMO at launch didn't? It's visually stunning, easily besting any MMO currently on the market in that category, yet remarkably easy on low end systems to achieve said graphics.

    Literally dozens of times over the past week I've been on my way to a quest and gotten sidetracked by looking off into the distance and seeing something and going, "OOO...that looks great!! Let's get a closer look!!" and being led into yet ANOTHER adventure/quest.

    Zenimax has said there are further content updates coming out in weeks of the launch. WEEKS. That's great news.

    Content locusts have already hit level 50+Vr10(basically you get to cap and start working on "veteran levels" so level cap is basically 60) but hey. PvP is engaging enough to be a stopgap filler until new content comes out.    … Expand
  69. Kenmei
    Jun 11, 2014
    5
    This is my second and final review for this game. The veteran content completely lost me as the amount of XP required to level up is beyond ridiculous that you have to have some serious dedication to make it to the cap and about 95% of people won't have it. The game became to much of the same old thing everywhere you looked. The same enemies, the same quests, etc. And I suppose that is theThis is my second and final review for this game. The veteran content completely lost me as the amount of XP required to level up is beyond ridiculous that you have to have some serious dedication to make it to the cap and about 95% of people won't have it. The game became to much of the same old thing everywhere you looked. The same enemies, the same quests, etc. And I suppose that is the case with every MMO out there but the combination of rehashed content with the exorbitant amount of XP required to gain a level in vet content made me lose interest in this game, to the point where I won't be resubscribing for the near future. This game had alot of potential but it seems like the fact that the devs made such a poor decision with the vet content was a way to circumvent adding end game raids and stuff like that. Even though the first end game "raid" is out now, I don't have the interest to continue with it, and neither do the people I was playing this game with. It was good for awhile there but it suddenly and very quickly lost all of its mojo it had. Not terrible, but severely lacking in the "things to do" department later in the game.… Expand
  70. The88thknight
    Apr 12, 2014
    9
    This game deserves all the praise it gets and more. You can really see the effort and care that Zenimax put into making this game. It's such a good blend of traditional MMO play and Elder Scrolls play. If you completely expect one or the other then you are going to be disappointed. For once in an mmorpg I am just playing to adventure and learn about as much lore as I can. I hardly evenThis game deserves all the praise it gets and more. You can really see the effort and care that Zenimax put into making this game. It's such a good blend of traditional MMO play and Elder Scrolls play. If you completely expect one or the other then you are going to be disappointed. For once in an mmorpg I am just playing to adventure and learn about as much lore as I can. I hardly even look at what level I am. Feels less like a job or a chore to quest and more like an adventure.… Expand
  71. Graay
    Apr 23, 2014
    4
    Decent PvP. Acceptable audio. Average combat. Mediocre visuals. Awful PvE.

    The Elder Scrolls Online is a thoroughly average MMO with a thin veneer of TES paint. The only thing more disappointing than the quality of the game is my fear that this will negatively impact Bethesda's core series. Much like SW:ToR, this game has no heart or soul and is obviously a cash-grab using namesake alone.
  72. xilc
    May 18, 2014
    0
    As a huge elder scrolls fan, this has to be the most disappointing title they've ever pushed out. I don't need to go on and on about this and that, but simply say it's the bots. The bots have ruined the game completely and the developers can't do anything about it. They built the entire game up around crafting yourself armor and making yourself your own armor, but the hundreds uponAs a huge elder scrolls fan, this has to be the most disappointing title they've ever pushed out. I don't need to go on and on about this and that, but simply say it's the bots. The bots have ruined the game completely and the developers can't do anything about it. They built the entire game up around crafting yourself armor and making yourself your own armor, but the hundreds upon thousands of bots get every node before you can even blink.

    A pitiful excuse for a "game."    … Expand
  73. The_Butcher
    Sep 24, 2014
    0
    90% of all those who give this game 10/10 only have 1 review that is this game, there are hundreds of them on this site, apparently some noobs / retarded from zenimax trying to deceive people into buying this game, some of them are copy/paste from others so funny.
    All should give this game 0/10 to balance the 10/10 seriously if you guys want people to buy this game, go improve it not just    90% of all those who give this game 10/10 only have 1 review that is this game, there are hundreds of them on this site, apparently some noobs / retarded from zenimax trying to deceive people into buying this game, some of them are copy/paste from others so funny.
    All should give this game 0/10 to balance the 10/10 seriously if you guys want people to buy this game, go improve it not just hire people to Spam this site with fake accounts and fake review that this game is perfect....

    This game is not worth a dime ... total rip off and waste of money, filled with bots who Spam bosses and auto tele around maps and auto harvest the item nodes on their site... the developers don't bother themselves to fix the security holes and only go make more advertisements (recent one on torwich site) and close their eyes on the dreadful bugs and hackers / unplayable quests....

    piece of advice, rate this game ZERO 0/10 and don't bother buying the game... 90% of positive review are fake (if not more than 90%) BEWARE, wait till its free to play then buy (if you want to try)    … Expand
  74. MrMT
    Apr 15, 2014
    9
    This is the best new MMO to come along for some time. The skill system is excellently flexible, allowing a great range of playstyles with each of the 4 core classes. The world is enjoyable to explore and quest in, the crafting works well, the combat is meaty and satisfying. I would say this is a pip above Guild Wars 2 at this stage; we'll have to see how it feels in a couple of months.
  75. fatoldsun_98
    May 12, 2014
    0
    This game is dead, the console versions have been delayed 6 months. This puts it in direct competition with Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition even though they are not MMOs; MMO'ers do not like TESO and single player lovers of the TES series aren't buying into it. If they expect the console versions of TESO to beat out Witcher 3 and DA Inquisition in the fall they will be sadlyThis game is dead, the console versions have been delayed 6 months. This puts it in direct competition with Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition even though they are not MMOs; MMO'ers do not like TESO and single player lovers of the TES series aren't buying into it. If they expect the console versions of TESO to beat out Witcher 3 and DA Inquisition in the fall they will be sadly disappointed. Plus $15 freaking dollars a month subscription? Come on man!… Expand
  76. AstroCat
    Apr 8, 2014
    9
    The game is super fun so far, having a blast. I see playing this one for a long time.

    The subscription fee is refreshing, encourages positive development and discourages undesired players and buy to win schemes. The graphics are gorgeous and the art style right on perfect. The character development is really deep and very flexible. The quests and story are totally interesting and the    The game is super fun so far, having a blast. I see playing this one for a long time.

    The subscription fee is refreshing, encourages positive development and discourages undesired players and buy to win schemes. The graphics are gorgeous and the art style right on perfect. The character development is really deep and very flexible. The quests and story are totally interesting and the game really encourages exploration. It's the best mmoRPG I've played to date by far.

    There are some bugs, which can creep up but for an mmoRPG launch this is the smoothest I've ever encountered and I've seen a lot, going all the back to NWN, UO, etc..

    Importantly, of course some people are not going to like it, that's awesome in my book because if they did I probably wouldn't, plenty of other MMOs for their kind. If you don't like it, or just want to be "hipster hater trash" then I suggest moving on, because the game is solid and gonna disappoint you in your need to hate to feel good about yourself. ;)    … Expand
  77. epoc
    Apr 13, 2014
    8
    I have been looking forward to this game for ages! Sure as an Elder Scrolls Fan I should have been concerned that it was an MMO, but I still had hope. And oh boy has it paid off! While the graphics are a step backwards from Skyrim, Online makes up for that in sheer size! For the first time in 20 years we can finally explore all of Tamriel, a world so rich and detailed that it needed this.I have been looking forward to this game for ages! Sure as an Elder Scrolls Fan I should have been concerned that it was an MMO, but I still had hope. And oh boy has it paid off! While the graphics are a step backwards from Skyrim, Online makes up for that in sheer size! For the first time in 20 years we can finally explore all of Tamriel, a world so rich and detailed that it needed this. And for all those saying its just a World of Warcraft clone well you're wrong! Online has a fleshed out combat system, excellent progression system, and the dynamic quests that made Skyrim a joy to play. One minute you'll be heading to your next PvP event, when suddenly you're approached by an Argonian warrior, promising a reward if you can find his lost family relic. And yes you read that correctly - PvP! ITS AWESOME! Thousands of players going up against each other in an epic siege battle nether gets old. But the games greatest strength is how ( like Skyrim) is that everything is interesting. The armour, the quests, the locations and many more. In addition to this, comparing city's and locations in this game from others is an absolute blast! However the game is held back by bugs, and some ridiculous pay walls from Bethesda. Like paying to be an Imperial? WTF? Despite this, this game is top quality, and one I recommend to everyone.… Expand
  78. Izzy_C
    Apr 8, 2014
    9
    This game has definitely lived up to the hype surrounding it. As an avid World of Warcraft addict I had been worried about major similatarities between the two, but ESO has proved to be one of the best MMO's I have ever played. I enjoyed Skyrim but this game is such an improvement - the combat is the best I've seen, the character creation is more in dept, but this games best factor is theThis game has definitely lived up to the hype surrounding it. As an avid World of Warcraft addict I had been worried about major similatarities between the two, but ESO has proved to be one of the best MMO's I have ever played. I enjoyed Skyrim but this game is such an improvement - the combat is the best I've seen, the character creation is more in dept, but this games best factor is the superb voice acting. Skyrim and WoW felt as if ten people voiced the entire cast of characters, it may not bother some people but it bores me. ESO is worth buying, even though it's pricey. It's also dangerously addictive...… Expand
  79. Lycus
    Apr 22, 2014
    3
    Honestly, I feel the idea and concept is fantastic, but execution is not quite as great as you would expect from Bethesda. In truth, the game just does not feel like a 'The Elder Scrolls' title, it feels like a third party has taken the brand and made an MMO based on the Bethesda franchise. Of course, with this being a Bethesda game, this is not the case. It is certainly a step towards aHonestly, I feel the idea and concept is fantastic, but execution is not quite as great as you would expect from Bethesda. In truth, the game just does not feel like a 'The Elder Scrolls' title, it feels like a third party has taken the brand and made an MMO based on the Bethesda franchise. Of course, with this being a Bethesda game, this is not the case. It is certainly a step towards a good game, but it falls short of being the big titled MMO that was expected. I am sure I am not the only one that was searching for and expecting similarities between the previous The Elder Scroll's games, but with suitable changes making the game appropriate for the MMO format, yet I feel that many of the key aspects that give the series up to now its personality and enjoyability seemed to have been missed.

    When playing the game it simply feels unfinished, the vast amount of items and interactivity found in the series Single Player titles is not present to even near the same level, and with the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood missing from the initial release, you feel as if Bethesda are holding features (perhaps already made) back to release at a later date to justify the hefty monthly fee they charge to pay. As mentioned above, key aspects of the previous titles seem missing. One of which is the variety of items and the feeling of being able to find some awesome items that may be useful in any chest. I went through the whole of the initial area finding water alone in almost every chest, with a few having some type of food in it. After leaving the first section and entering the outside world, I decided to explore, look around - yet there was no such enjoyment of being able to find secret caves, chests and secret items, the most I stumbled upon was some nirnroots. The traditional encouragement to explore seemed to have disappeared, with it being easy to navigate into territory not suitable for your level range where death comes quick and easy, and no real incentive to even do so, because most the places found seemed to come with quests that gave little to no rewards and many seemed to come up as destinations in chest chains anyway.

    On top of this, but the connection to characters just was not there either. When playing Skyrim, Oblivion or even Morrowind, you felt a connection with some of the characters; you felt sad if one died or such as in Oblivion, if a Mage's guild is destroyed. Yet TES Online stirs no such connections up, at one point I got a choice of two parties of which I could save only one. Despite having been with these people for a while, I had little knowledge of one party and could not careless about the other. The choice to me seemed to be there to feel like the player got the power to impact the flow of the game, yet no matter the choice I made, the outcome was the same, just with different people stood about at the end.

    Overall the game has some great points and it occupied me for a good few hours. However there is no justification to be spending so much monthly on it what-so-ever. I feel that may be if I were to pay in a year or so, when many releases had been made, bugs fixed and much needed balancing sorted, may be it would possibly be a bit more worth it. The main issue with this payment system is the later you start playing and paying, the better the worth of your money, because the game is bigger when you first begin.    … Expand
  80. mec1234
    Apr 22, 2014
    0
    Pants, Pants and more Pants. Boring by the numbers MMO, not much new to see here. Sad rip off of the Elder Scrolls world. If you want a good ES game buy Skyrim if you want a good MMO buy GW2
  81. intruder313
    May 4, 2014
    5
    Very average in most respects but the myriad broken quests (reported broken in Beta but launched anyway) bring it down further.
    The world may be large but I found it barren and as I'm not a big PvPer there was not much to do beyond the usual, turgid quest line.

    Needs more time in development to add content, but first they need to fix the stuff that they knew was broken at launch.
  82. SickSigma
    Aug 10, 2014
    4
    This was the worst possible way to adapt TES to the MMO category.
    They've essentially added network capability to a really bad Elder Scrolls game, sucked out all the flavor and atmosphere, made everything generic, and made everything into a gold grind.

    I am embarrassed for Bethesda.
  83. xTobyMc
    May 4, 2014
    7
    The game is great, but I just feel the price to play the game and repetition of gameplay isn't worth my time anymore. I've been playing the game since beta and from initial release, but exactly one month later I'm quite frankly bored of the game. The look and feel of Elder Scrolls is definitely there, but it lacks the interesting NPC's and everything feels too non-interactive andThe game is great, but I just feel the price to play the game and repetition of gameplay isn't worth my time anymore. I've been playing the game since beta and from initial release, but exactly one month later I'm quite frankly bored of the game. The look and feel of Elder Scrolls is definitely there, but it lacks the interesting NPC's and everything feels too non-interactive and unrealistic. For example, characters show no facial expression and the quests they give you aren't interesting at all. It quite literally consists of speaking to someone, walking somewhere, collecting some stuff, killing a few people, then going back to the person you talked to. This is all the PvE seems to offer, over and over again. Personally I'm not a WvW or PvP fan either, so that doesn't interest me anyway. I'm also a solo gamer, and this game is definitely tedious if you don't have friends to play it with.

    I'm not going to slate the game and give it 1/10 just because I don't get along with it, because I know that many people will enjoy this game and I'm sure in a few years it'll be a very solid game. However, I would rather not be paying the subscription fee for what it's worth. If it was like Guild Wars 2 without subscription fees, I'd definitely reconsider playing it. I think I'll probably leave the game for a good few months and perhaps see how it progresses over time, perhaps they'll reduce/eliminate fees or make vast changes to the game.    … Expand
  84. ISB5223CDN
    Jun 26, 2014
    4
    Started with hope, ended with failure. Everyone who has ever played an elder scrolls game, wanted this to succeed. I knew it was in trouble when the community board had an official poll regarding "would you still play if eso went f2p". That was after one month of it being live. Shortly after that, they announced it would be delayed for consoles. This game had promise and made promises andStarted with hope, ended with failure. Everyone who has ever played an elder scrolls game, wanted this to succeed. I knew it was in trouble when the community board had an official poll regarding "would you still play if eso went f2p". That was after one month of it being live. Shortly after that, they announced it would be delayed for consoles. This game had promise and made promises and both were broken repeatedly. The group system is farce. This is the first MMO that doesn't have shared progress. I play with my son, and through the hundreds of quests, I believe we found 2 or 3 that had shared progress. The veteran system is not solo-friendly. As opposed to the 1-50 which is very solo-friendly. It feels like they actually designed the game to force soloists to conform to group play after 50. It's not impossible to level solo, just hard and be prepared to grind creature kills. There is another way though, the pvp daily quests, but your faction better control the majority of the map for that. The pvp is a game of capture the flag akin to any fps title out there, only here, gear and levels matter. Also pvp has a huge flaw with the mage aoe groups. They run in packs, and I mean run, so they are hard to target with siege machines and ground aoe. I could go on about veteran, but I'll end it by saying, get in a pvp guild if you want to war in Cyrodil and level like you did pre-veteran. The scenery is nice, but it's not skyrim quality. So I end this (cause I could go on) by saying "A lot of expectations, very few of them met."… Expand
  85. Astealoth
    Jul 21, 2014
    0
    This is disappointment of the century. Zenimax Online was given a license to work with that could really shine in this genre. Then they plastered on every MMO trope known to man. Here's what needs to happen to make this game work. Fully refund ever player every cent ever spent on this game with a 5% cash bonus as an apology. Fire every person who had a hand in designing this game. Hire aThis is disappointment of the century. Zenimax Online was given a license to work with that could really shine in this genre. Then they plastered on every MMO trope known to man. Here's what needs to happen to make this game work. Fully refund ever player every cent ever spent on this game with a 5% cash bonus as an apology. Fire every person who had a hand in designing this game. Hire a team consisting entirely of people who have played an actual Elder Scrolls game for at least an hour. Give them two years to rework this pile of crap into something that isn't trying to be Guild Wars 3.… Expand
  86. Maycus
    Aug 21, 2014
    2
    1) Combat was really bad, clunky bad. No feelings, nothing at all. Sometimes your blade goes through the mob, and nothing happened.

    Every character is bound to specific abilities, which is really boring. 2) Crafting/Professions is purely for nothing. Sure, it is useful at first, but you're stuck with that armor or weapon for hours until a Quest gives you a newer one. 3) Quests    1) Combat was really bad, clunky bad. No feelings, nothing at all. Sometimes your blade goes through the mob, and nothing happened.

    Every character is bound to specific abilities, which is really boring.

    2) Crafting/Professions is purely for nothing. Sure, it is useful at first, but you're stuck with that armor or weapon for hours until a Quest gives you a newer one.

    3) Quests are buggy, to the extreme where they can not even be done. You don't see your reward at the end like most other MMO's do. There's quests that send you through a Solo-Dungeon, that has a boss in there that can kill you in 2 swipes, and you do nearly no damage on him/her.

    4) Dungeons are just... Unprepared. They were quickly added in. Why did I say that? Take a look at some. It looks like they threw in a bunch of hills, grass, maybe some water, boxes/crates/barrels, some "trash" and finally a boss, who is just sitting there looking dumb and normally solo. Easy alone, but becomes extremely difficult when a trash appears. Not to mention, most of the time, the Bots got to him before you. So you're waiting, with the bots, for him to respawn just so you can try to kill him/her. Make sure you're faster than a bot.

    5) Player and Parties. Okay, most MMO's like to have player interaction, right? This game doesn't. You can add people to a party, for no extra benefits. Except for probably a group dungeon. Here's the kicker, if you remove them, they're still there in the same instance. They'll continue doing what they were doing which made you kick them. Worthless. Not to mention, you don't really share loot, it's assigned to one person and all of it is theirs.

    6) Now, I enjoy this profession a lot, and a lot of people hate it. Fishing. Extremely bugged. You catch fish that are worth about 3 gold (wow, so little) and you finally caught a rare fish. It disappears and you never really got it. Now, where's that excitement? Gone, and turned into anger. Those fish are worth a lot of Gold. Plus Bait is difficult to obtain. I mainly mean the Worms. Guts and Insect Parts are fairly common. Worms on the other hand must be gathered from plants, and other players are farming them as well.

    7) The game is $59.99 box price that comes with 1 month free. Okay, sounds fair... However, that 1 month free is worthless and will not activate, if you don't buy a month. Which requires a credit card, or a game card from a store (which I still haven't found) So great! You were not informed you needed a credit card, and just wasted about $60 for a game you can't play because you don't have a credit card, or the stores do not have a game card. Genius Elder Scrolls strikes again! -.-
    You can't even register your game online without a credit card, so worthless, once again.

    8) What kind of graphics are these??? I normally don't judge a game on graphics, but once I do, something is wrong. It doesn't even look as good as Skyrim's graphics, which is a older game. This is 2014, why give us a crappy looking game that doesn't play well? Not to mention, a lot of players, including myself, get a lot of graphical errors and it isn't pretty.

    9) Some of the voice acting... SUCKS. Example, talk Brackenleaf, whose a tree in a zone (don't remember). Yeah... it's a human's voice, not modified either. Doesn't sound like a tree would at all.

    10) Remember the professions? Yeah, you have to get recipes just to progress further in them. And they're about a 1% chance to find inside houses... Yeah... Have fun. Oh cooking and fishing? You'd think they go together, right? NOPE. Completely useless. In fact, fishing, though I enjoy it, is useless in the game if it has no use in cooking.

    Positives?

    1) The nature and towns in this game is great. Honestly.

    2) Story isn't too bad, but could have been a lot better. Quite boring honestly.    … Expand
  87. ollof
    Jul 23, 2014
    0
    The developers totally failed to capture the essence of the elder scrolls. On top of that, it is by a country mile the worst MMO I have ever played. The combat is dumb-witted and lacks feedback, the quests are dull beyond belief, the game is riddled with bugs, you will struggle to group up as its bugged to hell, and you will feel the overwhelming regret of wasting your money. TESO is aThe developers totally failed to capture the essence of the elder scrolls. On top of that, it is by a country mile the worst MMO I have ever played. The combat is dumb-witted and lacks feedback, the quests are dull beyond belief, the game is riddled with bugs, you will struggle to group up as its bugged to hell, and you will feel the overwhelming regret of wasting your money. TESO is a strong contender for the worst MMO of all time. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY, AVOID AT ALL COSTS.… Expand
  88. Patches13
    Mar 27, 2015
    2
    Do NOT be fooled by this game and it's false advertising!

    CONS: 1. Puritan armor design that gets more prudish the higher lvl you are (worse armor I've seen in a MMO) 2. Unbalanced classes with the Sorc class being totally forgotten about 3. Frequent game crashes for a lot of players 4. Frequent FPS lockups and stutters for a lot of players 5. Race choice makes a significant impact    Do NOT be fooled by this game and it's false advertising!

    CONS:
    1. Puritan armor design that gets more prudish the higher lvl you are (worse armor I've seen in a MMO)
    2. Unbalanced classes with the Sorc class being totally forgotten about
    3. Frequent game crashes for a lot of players
    4. Frequent FPS lockups and stutters for a lot of players
    5. Race choice makes a significant impact on ability
    6. No real endgame content with little benefit from doing any of it
    PROs:
    1. Fully voiced (when the sound doesn't cut out)
    2. Active combat
    3. Ton's of quests (mostly standard go kill X or go fetch X)
    4. 3 faction's with interweaving story    … Expand
  89. sapuramura
    May 29, 2014
    1
    It's not made by the same people who gave us the elder scrolles, it's not elder scrolles, It simply is an attempt to earn some money on an already famous title.
    If you’re hankering for Scrolls, I recommend modded Skyrim. If you’re after an MMO, I recommend any other, cause this project has no soul, only greed, greed and greed.
  90. snickets
    Jun 3, 2014
    4
    I feel betrayed by Zenimax. 2 Months after launch and Nightblades are still trash, combat is terrible, support is nonexistant. I really wanted to love this game, made a fansite myself, got all my friends to play it with me, but Zenimax decided to push out more content instead of fixing the stuff that was out already. The only decent part of this game is the questing and the music, which isI feel betrayed by Zenimax. 2 Months after launch and Nightblades are still trash, combat is terrible, support is nonexistant. I really wanted to love this game, made a fansite myself, got all my friends to play it with me, but Zenimax decided to push out more content instead of fixing the stuff that was out already. The only decent part of this game is the questing and the music, which is all that kept me leveling until Veteran rank 3, that and the hope that they would fix these issues. So many broken promises. Do yourself a favor and try wildstar, or even WoW. Developers shouldn't be rewarded for putting terrible, unfinished games like this to market.… Expand
  91. jonatron5
    Jul 19, 2014
    0
    This game was harealded and marketed as an elderscrolls title which it is not. It is nothing more then a generic mmo with an elderscrolls theme to it. IT seems like the only people who defend it at this point is everyone that preordered the bonus pack ( the one that gives you access to basic elderscrolls content ie THE FING IMPERIAL RACE) and somehow feel morally invested in it becuase ofThis game was harealded and marketed as an elderscrolls title which it is not. It is nothing more then a generic mmo with an elderscrolls theme to it. IT seems like the only people who defend it at this point is everyone that preordered the bonus pack ( the one that gives you access to basic elderscrolls content ie THE FING IMPERIAL RACE) and somehow feel morally invested in it becuase of that. There is zero depth whatsoever. if you enjoy playing wow runescape age of connan or other generic mmo then sign up here. There is no well defined deep elderscrolls story just generic mmo grinding. with the soul enjoyment to be gained in showing off how many hours youve put into it over others.… Expand
  92. 0437590
    Apr 16, 2015
    0
    Not worth your time. If it isn't the bugs or glitches closing your game, you will be because it is amazingly boring and dreadful. I am a long time Elder Scrolls fan and have played Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim with such enjoyment and fun. I have also played some brilliant MMO's like WoW and Guild Wars 2 however ESO is nothing on this and is painful to play. Even though its nowNot worth your time. If it isn't the bugs or glitches closing your game, you will be because it is amazingly boring and dreadful. I am a long time Elder Scrolls fan and have played Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim with such enjoyment and fun. I have also played some brilliant MMO's like WoW and Guild Wars 2 however ESO is nothing on this and is painful to play. Even though its now free-to-play it is still glitchy as ever and the loading times have gotten even worse. I highly recommend NOT getting this game. Bethesda and Zenimax have really taken a massive **** on their fans with this one.… Expand
  93. mmdc
    Jul 3, 2015
    0
    I bought this on PS4 on Thursday and prepare to play it on weekend. Played it 2 hours on Friday (game play very laggy), then got disconnected and cannot login for 8 hours. Took the disc off and never want to play it again.
  94. inoxcopia
    Apr 6, 2014
    9
    I could write many things about this game, but i don't want to over-analyze things. The most striking thing about ESO is the leveling experience and feeling. It's by far the best if have seen/felt in a mmo and this opinion comes from a person that is playing GW2 and WoW and has also played Star Wars the old Republic and Rift. I also want to mention that i really pushed myself really hard,I could write many things about this game, but i don't want to over-analyze things. The most striking thing about ESO is the leveling experience and feeling. It's by far the best if have seen/felt in a mmo and this opinion comes from a person that is playing GW2 and WoW and has also played Star Wars the old Republic and Rift. I also want to mention that i really pushed myself really hard, to level 2 characters in beta weekends in Wild Star and almost died from boredom. One final thing, Skyrim is one my favourite
    single player games.

    You will read very disappointing reviews/opinions about ESO, the funny thing is that most negative reviews are not from persons that are currently playing the game(!). I have read reviews from persons that have tried this game only in very early beta. I have read reviews from persons that gave this game 0/10 just because is not F2P and i have read reviews from persons that never ever played another mmo, but have the gall to give negative score to ESO only from the videos they have seen in YouTube(!)

    My advice, read carefully reviews and pay zero attention to those that come from people that didn't even scratch the magic of this game.    … Expand
  95. Vorch
    Apr 23, 2014
    5
    It's a good game.

    However, it is definitely not worth the subscription for more than 3 months, imo.

    AvA is probably the most unbalanced I've seen...and you will be stuck there for 3 months...

    PvE is pretty good, I personally enjoyed the story.

    All in all, try it yourself.
  96. Pickle-Tickler
    Apr 26, 2014
    8
    This game is neither amazing, nor terrible. It is decent. If you are a hardcore elder scrolls fan looking to get into MMO's, give it a shot. If you are a hardcore MMO fan (WoW player) don't bother. The money that Zenimax want you to pay to play this game is absurd. If you want someone to pay 80 bucks for the game then a $15/month subscription fee, the game has to be better than any otherThis game is neither amazing, nor terrible. It is decent. If you are a hardcore elder scrolls fan looking to get into MMO's, give it a shot. If you are a hardcore MMO fan (WoW player) don't bother. The money that Zenimax want you to pay to play this game is absurd. If you want someone to pay 80 bucks for the game then a $15/month subscription fee, the game has to be better than any other MMO on the market, and the bottom line is, it isn't. When they eventually drop the subscription fee in the future, DEFINITELY pick this game up, so much content and fun to be had in the game. PvP is arguably the strongest aspect of the game, but if you are really into the Elder Scrolls lore, the PvE in this game is made for you. Taking price out of the equation, 8 is my score. If I would rate in the current price for the game, it would be a 6.… Expand
  97. Garfoodle
    Apr 1, 2015
    7
    With the launch of Tamriel Unlimited, I can finally say that TESO is at least worth trying out. The lack of a subscription fee, the ability to steal, kill NPCs and some other minor things make it an alright game. Don't get me wrong, TESO is still the worst modern ES game to date. Without full modability, ie making costume armors, weapons and maps, we are in fact stuck with whatever theWith the launch of Tamriel Unlimited, I can finally say that TESO is at least worth trying out. The lack of a subscription fee, the ability to steal, kill NPCs and some other minor things make it an alright game. Don't get me wrong, TESO is still the worst modern ES game to date. Without full modability, ie making costume armors, weapons and maps, we are in fact stuck with whatever the Devs want us to have. This usually results in very drab weapons, armor and mounts. In addition, the combat is still dull at best. There isn't a whole lot to say here exept that a lot of the game is, in fact, governed by the server and your ping. The cash shop isn't too overbearing. So far, you can purchase mounts, pets, and a few potions, if your so inclined. The whole stealing mechanic dosent seem worth it just yet, though. The skill bar for that still progresses incredibly slowly, and the rewards for pilfering someone's pocket normally don't add up to some food and a Barbie that you can sell for 30 gold. Killing is, much like stealing, pointless, because you will be at a loss for gold soon after your first kill. That, and guards are overpowered as hell. But I'm digessing, quite a bit. The point is that at the very least. TESO is worth picking up for $30 on sale. Don't expect too much, but don't set your expectations too low, either,… Expand
  98. Glyxhormon
    Apr 27, 2014
    10
    Das Spiel ist vor knapp drei Wochen erschienen.
    Ich verstehe den ganzen Ärger der Spieler nicht. Es macht sehr viel Spaß, ich spiele teilweise vier oder mehrere Stunden am Tag. Es ist eindeutig das bessere Skyrim.
    Ich bin 26 Jahre alt, meine Freundin und ich spielen es gemeinsam. Es sind zwar nach wie vor Fehler im Spiel, das ist wahr. sie arbeiten bereits an den Problemen. Aber man    Das Spiel ist vor knapp drei Wochen erschienen.
    Ich verstehe den ganzen Ärger der Spieler nicht. Es macht sehr viel Spaß, ich spiele teilweise vier oder mehrere Stunden am Tag. Es ist eindeutig das bessere Skyrim.
    Ich bin 26 Jahre alt, meine Freundin und ich spielen es gemeinsam.

    Es sind zwar nach wie vor Fehler im Spiel, das ist wahr. sie arbeiten bereits an den Problemen.
    Aber man muss den Entwicklern eine Chance geben, sie geben sich große Mühe.
    Allgemein, welches Computerspiel hatte nach der Neuerscheinung noch keine Fehler?    … Expand
  99. Dagi
    May 22, 2014
    2
    One more theme park game. Bugged and bad graphics annoyed me so much I ended to level 15 and had to delete the game. I can cant understand these 10 score givers. Even you are a fan you can clearly see its not worthy to pay. I think this game is free to play end of this year and closed down after few desperate expansions. Honestly It gets 2 points from me only as it had so nice cinematic.
  100. DrunkenPirate
    Jun 6, 2014
    2
    Graphics, balance, classes, PVP, PVE are terrible. TES lore is just being raped. Lots of bugs, ugly world etc. Avoid it at all costs, its not worth the price they are asking for it. Better go play another horrible WoW expansion, you may get more fun than this piece of whatever.
Page:

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
See all critic reviews »