PC Gamer - Latest Review of ESO

Phinix1 · July 2014

This article is a perfect example of what Facebook recently proved about mob think with their negativity experiment:

Get a few vocal minority saboteurs out there posting negativism enough times, and pretty soon it becomes contagious and blown ridiculously out of proportion, whether it is true or not. People start parroting the negativism because they become subliminally convinced that they are supposed to.

This article smacks of negative conditioning and personal bias:

"A week after E3, I logged into Elder Scrolls Online expecting the worst" ... "I'd all but convinced myself that mine would be the only name shining on my favorite guild's roster" ... "other players shared the same begrudging affection for it as I do (read: convinced I am SUPPOSED to not like it because it is the "cool" thing or the "popular" thing)" ...

To be fair, he does redeem himself with a generally good article after that, almost like the opening was a confession that he allowed himself to fall in with the quitter crowd without thinking for himself. Still I disagree with most of his points

Veteran zones ruin my "for the Horde" experience!

The one about the veteran multi-dimension concept shattering the sense of shared cultural is only true if you totally lack imagination, or have never played an Elder Scrolls game. In the Elder Scrolls, not everything is handed to you. You are instead given fragments of lore and subtle hints in dialogue to help you create the roleplay scenario that makes sense in your own mind. It encourages creative thinking and imagination. But if you suck at that, I guess it could be a hurdle...

To me, it is all laid out pretty plainly. Cadwell offers you the ability to use Aedric powers on loan from the gods to experience an infiltration mission as one of your enemies/rival factions. He TELLS you that is what is happening.

If you aren't able to imagine that everyone else sees you as a *insert appropriate race here* and role with that, then vet content will be the least of your problems in an Elder Scrolls game. Besides, you can return to your faction zones any time you like.

The coolness of Trials is diminished by the emphasis on completion time.

To be fair I sort of had the same impression before I actually ran trials. I still haven't, so I will reserve judgement on that one. But I did sort of cringe at the notion that we might be seeing another situation like WoW where everyone just facerolled through content, left people behind, didn't pay attention to strategy or player-roll interplay and just rushed/exploited to the boss, skipping most of the content to get that epeen fapping leaderboard status.

From what I hear that isn't how they did it. People say trials are fun and challenging and force you to work together, so like I said I will hold off on passing judgement.

Everyone is wearing dresses and my manhood feels threatened!

"Play what you want how you want." It goes both ways, bro.

Its the little things...

I absolutely agree on this one, and wholly expect to see more like this in the future. I expect small skirmish PvP battlegrounds (Arathi Basin, etc.), and things like this which patch some of the gaps in the sense of factional culture for when you hit the other zones.

Sadly I have not seen a single post on this thread! It was lost to the sea of reactions to their nerfing vet content. XD

Surinen · July 2014

Mordria wrote: »

Isn't it nice that everyone can have a different opinion. I think they look great in ESO and really didn't care for the "alien" look at all.

no! different opinions carry the will of Padomay. first and foremost function of speech is to persuade to our opinions - but this is mannish talk, change and chaos roam these words. there is only Order, only one point of view and it belongs to me! there is no persuasion, there is conviction! you agree with me, even if you do not see it now! those who do not care for 'alien' look are the ones who have low standards and get satisfied with pretty faces of the 'elves',

Altmer are Mer and they should have stayed this way! in both spirit and appearance

Mordria · July 2014

Surinen wrote: »

Mordria wrote: »

Isn't it nice that everyone can have a different opinion. I think they look great in ESO and really didn't care for the "alien" look at all.

no! different opinions carry the will of Padomay. first and foremost function of speech is to persuade to our opinions - but this is mannish talk, change and chaos roam these words. there is only Order, only one point of view and it belongs to me! there is no persuasion, there is conviction! you agree with me, even if you do not see it now! those who do not care for 'alien' look are the ones who have low standards and get satisfied with pretty faces of the 'elves',

Altmer are Mer and they should have stayed this way! in both spirit and appearance

Umm.. sure.

Surinen · July 2014

Mordria wrote: »

Umm.. sure.

this is what I call good answer!

time to play Skyrim, inhale gradients of the unmodified Altmer of mine. His beauty carries the power of mundicide.

Blackwidow · July 2014

AlienDiplomat wrote: »

Veteran zones ruin my "for the Horde" experience!

The one about the veteran multi-dimension concept shattering the sense of shared cultural is only true if you totally lack imagination, or have never played an Elder Scrolls game. In the Elder Scrolls, not everything is handed to you. You are instead given fragments of lore and subtle hints in dialogue to help you create the roleplay scenario that makes sense in your own mind. It encourages creative thinking and imagination. But if you suck at that, I guess it could be a hurdle...

To me, it is all laid out pretty plainly. Cadwell offers you the ability to use Aedric powers on loan from the gods to experience an infiltration mission as one of your enemies/rival factions. He TELLS you that is what is happening.

If you aren't able to imagine that everyone else sees you as a *insert appropriate race here* and role with that, then vet content will be the least of your problems in an Elder Scrolls game. Besides, you can return to your faction zones any time you like.

Except you are not thrown into mix with the other players of that realm. That was the sad part for me. It would have been a much better experience if you got to work with and explore with the other players. All they had to do was lower our stats in that land to match the area.

Also, that would have kept the 1-50 area very full for Vets to play with others.

Or, this could have been a different phase of the same land, so we are not doing the same exact quests we already did on our alts. We should have been given a whole new set of quests, so it did not get so old and tedious for a lot of the player base.

Everyone is wearing dresses and my manhood feels threatened!

"Play what you want how you want." It goes both ways, bro.

Clearly he was saying groups were not taking people not in robes, using staves.

I have no clue if this is really true, but that is what he was claiming.

Laura · July 2014

its a bitter sweet review and reflects what a lot of us feel.

Its a mess but its the style we want and we cling on to hope. Somehow we see a light at the end of the tunnel and only time will tell if its a train or if its something glorious.

Caroloces · July 2014

This 3-month-later review is pretty objective, but I can see the ZOS fanboys won't like it because anything that isn't fawning over ESO is to be ignored.

I'm a fanboy in the sense that I truly enjoy the game, and I believe Zos is working hard and in good faith to make improvements. I thought the article was well-written and fair.

Arsenic_Touch · July 2014

Raash wrote: »

You need a hug mate? There was nothing wrong with that review, none at all. you just dont agree with it.

Better put on a helmet, you're not towing the company line.

Gedalya · July 2014

FYI, this isn't a review, it's simply an op-ed; we get tons of these opinion pieces here on the official forums.

Phinix1 · July 2014

Laura wrote: »

its a bitter sweet review and reflects what a lot of us feel.

Its a mess but its the style we want and we cling on to hope. Somehow we see a light at the end of the tunnel and only time will tell if its a train or if its something glorious.

No offense intended, but for some reason your post makes me suspect this entire industry is just one big Facebook style social experiment in manipulating people's emotions and mob-think for kicks, or to see if they can predict the next profit opportunity.

But I digress. A lot. XD

Blackwidow · July 2014

charles.cavanaughub17_ESO wrote: »

This 3-month-later review is pretty objective, but I can see the ZOS fanboys won't like it because anything that isn't fawning over ESO is to be ignored.

I'm a fanboy in the sense that I truly enjoy the game, and I believe Zos is working hard and in good faith to make improvements. I thought the article was well-written and fair.

I'm sorry, we need your fanboi badge back.

You broke rule one, you used reason.

Ser Lobo · July 2014

Gedalya wrote: »

FYI, this isn't a review, it's simply an op-ed; we get tons of these opinion pieces here on the official forums.

I'll be honest, I've never read a single review, no matter the product, that wasn't an opinion piece. Which is generally why review systems on Amazon and whatnot are so popular: you can garner multiple peoples opinions about something.

There is very little distinction in modern journalism between an editorial, and news, and there is NO distinction between reviews and opinion pieces.

Armianlee · July 2014

Not a bad review, I can agree with most of his points. Not sure which camp you would put me in (fanboi and whatnot) as I love the ES series and have since I was 15 or 16 getting my hands on Arena for the first time; I am definitely a huge FAN of the series. Though I can see that ESO does have a lot that needs tweaking and most of that review is spot on.

kevlarto_ESO · July 2014

Well it is review based on opinion mostly, and thats ok, the last section sums it up, even though the writer was a bit negative, he did not paint a picture of gloom and doom, and thinks the game has merit, and hope to rise up from it's problems, only time will tell if that is to be the case. For me ESO is still fun and as long as I see ZOS trying to patch and fix issues I plan on staying around, to be honest for me there is no other mmo on the market, worth playing at this time.. so I play ESO or nothing, or back to single playet games../shrug

Phantax · July 2014

The thing, is any review, by definition is going to be opinion based. A poll or survey covering a wide demographic will be the only true way to get an non biased / accurate description of a games success/popularity.
As players we have to read what we can, absorb what we need and try to make an informed decision depending on the available facts !

mutharex · July 2014

Phantax wrote: »

The thing, is any review, by definition is going to be opinion based. A poll or survey covering a wide demographic will be the only true way to get an non biased / accurate description of a games success/popularity.
As players we have to read what we can, absorb what we need and try to make an informed decision depending on the available facts !

But.. if you are playing the game, why would you need someone telling you about it?

Desdemonte · July 2014

Fair review, IMO

Reevster · July 2014

Seems a fair assessment, hey I am pro ESO and even I think ESO has a ways to go but I am still playing because even with all its flaws its still a cool game.

Gwarok · July 2014

PC Gamer how shall I say, is a joke; a rag mag that has been is burned out from since the late 1990's that lines their pockets with Blizztard's bribe cash for bad "reviews". Nice try though OP.

Enkil · July 2014

Falmer wrote: »

PC Gamer is generally spot on for most single player games in their reviews. However, I always take their MMO reviews with a grain of salt. Whoever does their MMO reviews has played WoW for many long years, which means they obviously liked it. So if they also really LOVE an MMO, I know its generally not for me.

When someone makes a review intending to be negative, "Its not like WoW", then its an MMO worth checking out to me.

Perhaps you are the one concentrating too much on WoW... I never played that game and never would. However, I feel like the reviewer could have been reading my mind on most of his points.

Blackwidow · July 2014

mutharex wrote: »

Phantax wrote: »

The thing, is any review, by definition is going to be opinion based. A poll or survey covering a wide demographic will be the only true way to get an non biased / accurate description of a games success/popularity.
As players we have to read what we can, absorb what we need and try to make an informed decision depending on the available facts !

But.. if you are playing the game, why would you need someone telling you about it?

I'm a smart person. I like to hear what others have to say.

Wisdom.

naturn · July 2014

It is a fair review with no real bias.

Sakiri · July 2014

Erock25 wrote: »

Brandalf wrote: »

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

Brandalf wrote: »

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

This reads exactly like their first review and exactly like their preview: someone with an axe to grind.

I don't know if ZO didn't send enough fruit baskets, or what, but PC Gamer has been responsible for some of the shoddiest journalism surrounding this title. Period.

This was actually a fairly positive article that is honest about this game's failings and it's massive potential for the future.

It was misinformed and badly written, just like their prior two articles/features on the game. I don't even care if they had some positive things to say; it's no excuse for a journalist to write like a high schooler. The writing staff there has gone downhill, and if people hadn't figured that out after their abysmal excuse for a preview during press beta, they should figure it out by now.

For example:

..and they've done a good enough job to warrant forgiveness for missing their ambitious update schedule.

What a pointless sentence. More importantly, what an inaccurate one. They've actually kept to their update schedule. 1.1 came at 6 weeks, 1.2 came less than 6 weeks after that. One would hope a reporter would know these things.

That's just like your opinion, man.

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Rude and Insulting comments].

The hell?

Put it down man. Put the bowl down and step away.

Soloeus · July 2014

Phantax wrote: »

Wouldn't like to choose if this is a fair review or a sneaky attack, but either way this certainly isn't going to do ESO any favours !

http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/2014/07/03/the-state-of-elder-scrolls-online-3-months-after-launch/

Oops ! Not exactly a glowing review !
@Zenimax did you guys not give the PC Gamer guys VIP seats at Quakecon or something?
You obviously did something to upset them...rofl

PC Gamer? Oh I guess Zenimax didn't pay them for a good review.

PC Gamer is the Fox News of Gaming Reviews.

DeLindsay · July 2014

Love how the poster talks about how ESO is only focused on the big picture and says it's the little things that count more in MMO's. ESO is absolutely chalk full of "the little things", more so than ANY MMO I've played in the past 7 years, including the ones mentioned, WoW and LotRO. I'm not saying the general scope of the post is wrong, but come on at least get the details right, like "the small things".

Cogo · July 2014

He wasnt talking WoW, he was talking about me! Ia m the one who has 6 million subscribers and makes very thing easy!

Honfold · July 2014

Seems like a fair and overall positive review to me. Cant really explain why I like the game this much, but I could list off many features/bugs I dislike. Something about the game is just fun.

Snit · July 2014

That's a fair review. I say this as someone who likes TESO and plans to stick around. TESO has flaws, however, and the writer does a fair job of analyzing some of the big ones. He also avoided any of the usual internet hyperbole and memespouting.

I'll also note that, unlike the vast majority of MMO reviews, that guy played to (or at least near) the level cap.

sagitter · July 2014

So many stupid comments in that article, many ppl even not tryed yet Eso , complaining there is a monthly sub, and they can't realize that sustain 2 megaserver + all employees fixing bugs, and adding new contents like craglorn for free, with eso dynamics for thousands of player it's impossible with just the initial price( not now, maybe in the future when the game is more stable) , that now u can easy find cheaper than before, when there are ppl that are still playing and paying the *** of wow no ava and *** graphics, with all the expansion for an higher price.

Phantax · July 2014

Gwarok wrote: »

PC Gamer how shall I say, is a joke; a rag mag that has been is burned out from since the late 1990's that lines their pockets with Blizztard's bribe cash for bad "reviews". Nice try though OP.

Nice try for what???

mutharex wrote: »

But.. if you are playing the game, why would you need someone telling you about it?

I never said you would. Common sense would dictate that comment was for people who hadn't played or heard of ESO.