Best ESO stories since 2022

Syldras · April 21

I know there have been threads occasionally over the years asking people which ESO chapter/dlc or chapter/dlc main storyline they liked best. Usually, most people choose Wrothgar, the Morrowind-CWC-Summerset story arc or Elsweyr, with a few outliers.

Which made me wonder: Which stories/quests of the later years were actually well-received, if at all? Not only main questlines, but also side quests, companion questlines, etc.

So: What were your favorites from the last few releases (High Isle, Necrom, Gold Road, Solstice)?

I, personally, found Zerith-var's story outstanding, and also loved Corelanya Manor on Solstice and Tel Dreloth on Telvanni Peninsula (design-wise, I actually also enjoyed the Aldwilne Citadel quest on Solstice, but lore-wise, it left quite a few questions).

LunaFlora · April 21

my favourites are:

Companions
in no order, i just like them all. They are all different characters and i would like 500 more.
- Ember
- isobel
- Azander
- Sharp-as-Night
- Tanlorin
- Zerith-Var

dungeons, trials 2022-25
- Bal Sunnar. psijic, peryite, and time travel is fun.
- Scrivener's Hall.
- Dreadsail Reef.

Solstice
- Everlasting Fair, fun quest with Sanguine the goat.
- Cariel's quest on East Solstice, at Aldwilne Citadel.
she is my favourite base game character and i am happy she finally returned.
But it is odd to return Naemon.
- Carapace Caverns delve

West Weald
- Belienne's quest "Self-Preservation".
- Outcast Inn, ithelia is awesome and i miss her.
- "Seeking Armistice", finally a goblin quest that does not require fighting them and a character that wants to be their friend.
- Weatherleag Estate.
- Vashabar Village, "The Voice of the Village".

Telvanni Península and Apocrypha
- Disquiet Study delve.
- Kemel-Ze.
- Numinous Grimoire Volume 1, 2, 3, and Akacirn the Deathless.

High isle, Amenos, Galen
- Garick's Rest's quest "Race for Honor".
- the Tales of Tribute quests are good, took a long time to complete though due to the Tribute rank requirements.
- Brokerock Mine's quest "A Father's Pride". Meryline Barthel is an awesome character, i want to meet more thaumavocalists.

unsure if there were more, i do most quests at release so it has been years since doing most of these zone's quests.

twisttop138 · April 21

Zerith was a fantastic story. Like most, I was charmed by Corelanya manor. Im going to say something that might catch me some flack. I didn't mind high isle. My wife absolutely loves druids. Her excitement for HI and Galen was infectious. Yes I knew who the bad guy was right away. But it was a cool zone and the story had cool parts. I thought the investigator vale novel running bit was was cute.

I really enjoyed Necrom. I'm a sucker for dark elf stuff. Trying to find out what it was Mora was hiding was interesting. I get so sick of "there you are proxy, I have been expecting you" on my Alts but her character was cool. I loved the Telvanni politics. I didn't finish west Weald yet. I felt forced to do solstice and didn't like the main quest.
I also am liking fargrave but don't remember the year it came out. I was on break of a few years during and After covid. So I'm playing a lot of catch up between raid nights and dungeon groups and guild events and stuff. I'll get there.

It just is a little weird, your question. Before I went on break, right around Elsywer, I would've told you that ESO stories were amazing. You can see the decline though. It stings to think we'll never have another Wrothgar. My favorite story in the game and imo the best stand alone quest line. No world ending threats, just local politics. Also low chance of anything like the deadric war arc. Again, some of the best in the game. I guess we'll see.

AScarlato · April 21

I'm going to answer just based on my gut reactions and without thinking too deeply or critically, or nitpicking everything I would have changed.

Like many, I was a fan of Zerith Var and Sharp-as-Night's storylines.

I just decided to beeline through Solstice ignoring the side quests, and enjoyed the narrative. I am one of those people who likes recurring characters and growing attachments to them. I felt more emotional than expected as characters talked about Gabrielle and I liked having payoff from having done DC and Summerset. The Final Dark was also a fun power trip, and the setting / zone in general appeals to me.

I'm someone who really liked Ithelia - so much my new RP alt I am playing as one of her constructs (but unaware of this). She's really not popular in some RP groups and having her be part of a character's story can be challenging. I personally liked the concept behind her character and enjoyed interacting with her.

High Isle is a charming island but I can't recall anything extra compelling after having completed it. Same with Gold Road, which is a zone I like but also did not find too memorable after having done everything in them. I suppose if I go through the wiki and look at all the quests there were probably some I liked well enough, but since they don't spring to mind they couldn't have been that great to me personally. The last side quest I really loved was probably the Ghost Writer in Gideon which is outside the scope of this thread.

I need to go back and do the side content for Solstice before I can assess.

twisttop138 · April 21

I can't believe I forgot to mention Sharp. Don't tell him. He gets weird.

AScarlato · April 21

twisttop138 wrote: »

I can't believe I forgot to mention Sharp. Don't tell him. He gets weird.

Just dress him up in a new outfit at the outfit station. He loves that

metheglyn · April 21

All the companion quest lines. I do have some I like more than others (Sharp and Zerith-var), but I have a base line appreciation for all of them. I like getting to know these npcs on a deeper level, and I enjoyed every one of their personal stories.

Any quest where it delved into the culture of the area, or a specific way of life. For Solstice that would be the quests involving the Argonian tribes and even the Nord village, because it had some good cultural moments to it (even though I feel the cultural exchange aspect did a disservice to that quest). For West Weald it was the way the Bosmer had set up their society and the interplay/friction between them and the Imperial presence. In High Isle I liked the druid quests, as well as the Steadfast Society aspect--the Manor where soldiers were recuperating from the war--and the knightly orders. For Necrom I liked seeing more of how the Telvanni operate and I love Dunmer lore, so even just seeing the city of Necrom was good.

I really liked Ithelia as a character and enjoyed the quests I did with her--helping her remember and become herself again--even if I was bummed that she didn't get to stick around. I think she is one of the more interesting Daedric Princes because the idea of "the road not taken but what if it had been" fascinates me.

robertlabrie · April 21

NGL I disliked all of them. How we went from:

1. A daedric war
2. Fighting dragons with an imperial battle mage
3. Stopping an ancient Yokudan vampire with some beloved base game characters

To:

1. The ambitions (did we ever find the 3rd one I forget)
2. A talking tree and a randy middle aged wino author
3. Leramil and Gadayn in their tentacle world (yeah ok I know it's from a beloved Skyrim DLC)
4. That creepy looking Ithelia and the lesser Sharp-arrow
5. Whatever happened in Solstice

It's kind bad.

A few positive things from the recent chapters though:

* If you played the game in order there is actually a emotional encounter with Neryu in Necrom that still hit all these years later
* The final battle sequence in Solstice was cool I wish it hadn't been bugged out and time limited I had no idea what was going on but it was super fun
* The rising lava in I think it was the second part of High Isle during an encounter was a cool mechanic and added some much needed urgency to the games encounters

As story arcs though, not been great.

twisttop138 · April 21

AScarlato wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

I can't believe I forgot to mention Sharp. Don't tell him. He gets weird.

Just dress him up in a new outfit at the outfit station. He loves that

He was my first companion and I was not too knowledgeable about the system after returning from a long break. I was...shocked and a little weirded out that my companion shamed me and I lost reputation for going to the outfit station. Now I know to put him away but those early days, I was a little peeved at Zos. Like why would you do this lol.

spartaxoxo · April 21

Most of the companion quest line. Most of Solstice. I liked the Fennorian quest in West Weald.

Malyore · April 21

Out of what I've played, only Zerith-Var's stood out as a truly enjoyable experience.

The main quests have been actually offensive in just how bad they are– made me stop buying DLCs. And I don't recall any side quests standing out in any unexpected way.

@Syldras I tried Tel Dreloth a few days ago because of how frequently you mention it. The quality felt better than the story quests, it was more respectful to the players and genuine in tone. But the scenario was still really predictable, with being able to guess just about everything going on before the characters do.
What was it in particular that you liked about it?

Marronsuisse · April 21

"A Thief to Catch a Thief" at Sailenmora in the Telvanni Peninsula. I dunno, I just liked Rilasi and the Lark. It reminded me of some of the side quests in Summerset where the quests weren't really about you being a hero or a courier, but about witnessing a slice of the NPCs' own adventures and their relationships. And it was just cute. :P

Also Sharp's questline from the same zone.

Umbracat449 · April 22

The guards tell me what I've done. I don't remember much of any of it. Some of it was so long ago now.

I have noticed everyone is so sure of themselves, and I liked Ithelias uncertainty and struggle, and fury. I couldn't finish her quest, because I didn't want to be part of helping Mora against her.

I think some greek tragedy story lines- doing the right thing but wrong by the gods, or Shakespeare's tragedy, failing thru a human flaw we all have, could be an interesting way to do a bad guy. Less of the James Bond world ending bad guys stuff.

emilyhyoyeon · April 22

2022
-Death's Valor Keep delve quest
-The Firepot delve quest
-Steadfast Manor

2023
-Anchre Egg Mine delve quest
-Fathoms Drift delve quest
-Ald Isra (but I think using Naryu here was boring; I want to meet new people--Nirn is a whole planet and Tamriel is a whole continent. Are her and Ashur the only two people who work for the Camonna Tong? I rarely like using repeat characters. IMO please stop doing that)

2024
(I genuinely forget almost all of this year other than the MQ which, yeah no)
(I remember kind of liking Silorn's delve quest)

2025
Tainted Leel delve quest
Broken Light Temple
Corelanya Manor
Ashbound Hall

The few previous years aside, I have a huge preference for quests that feel like you're experiencing and learning about the lives of normal people and their cultures in the world of The Elder Scrolls; and importantly, that it is all taken seriously by itself. I've seen a couple posters articulate this kind of sentiment, especially OP Syldras.

Tesman85 · April 22

The High Isle chapter's story was a disappointment in some ways, but it had some enjoyable characters so was barely on the plus side overall. Of the side material I enjoyed Isobel's storyline, it was nice, light-hearted fun with an adorable character. Tales of Tribute quests were fun, too. Rigurt's quest was a hoot; I was in tears from laughter. The Long Game with its maniacally competitive and backstabbing thief couple was amusing, too.

Special mention goes to the A Father's Pride quest. I loved Meryline as a character, and hope to see her again in some future storyline.

I enjoyed the whole Ithelia saga very much. Torvesard's tormented quest to remember was well portrayed, and the mystery was revealed gradually in such a way that I eagerly looked forward to understanding it all. The quest line was refreshing in that it wasn't exactly such happy ending like the other chapters have tended to have. Instead, the story was a tragedy the likes of which haven't been written for ESO since the Orsinium DLC. I felt very bad for both Ithelia and Leramil, for instance. Personally I didn't mind Leramil and Gadayn "in their very own tentacle world" as some other poster put it. The romance thing added some colour to Leramil's otherwise rather enigmatic character, and added to the tragedy of the whole (can Leramil ever be sure that the Gadayn that was returned to her is the same that disappeared?).

There was some excellent side content in both Necrom and Gold Road, also. Sharp-as-Night's companion quest line is in a literary way the best I have played so far. Just everything clicked in it: The text with its tight plotting and a sense for nuance, the excellent voice acting (especially for Mevei, whose actor portrayed Mevei's vulnerability and emotional journey wonderfully), the character designs. Just superb all over. Azandar's quests were good, too and I enjoy that companion overall.

For other Necrom side quests, Lovesick was good as were Castoff Destinies, Piteous Envoys (especially) and Turning the Page. The rest were okay enough, but haven't stuck to memory as much as those mentioned above. Gold Road's highlight was Belienne's quest, since it was so well written and well acted. Other entertaining quests were Where There's A Will, A Matter of Propriety, Faded Scarlets and Seeking Armistice.

The average level of writing wasn't for a period as good as in since Morrowind or Summerset chapters, but has improved considerably from the Blackwood and High Isle slump in my opinion.

AScarlato · April 22

I'm happy to see several people show appreciation for Ithelia here. In my other circles it's mostly criticism.

I kinda hope for an Ithelia house statue like the others we can get. I know that may not work with her lore unless you are roleplaying a very specific time frame, but I would really like that.

metheglyn · April 22

AScarlato wrote: »

I'm happy to see several people show appreciation for Ithelia here. In my other circles it's mostly criticism.

I kinda hope for an Ithelia house statue like the others we can get. I know that may not work with her lore unless you are roleplaying a very specific time frame, but I would really like that.

They could give us an Ithelia statue without naming it as such, and the flavor text could mention something along the lines of it being a statue of an unknown, yet compelling, figure. That way the Vestige could recognize it (since Mora "allowed" us to keep our memory of her), but having it in our house wouldn't break lore, because no one else would know who it was.

AScarlato · April 22

metheglyn wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

I'm happy to see several people show appreciation for Ithelia here. In my other circles it's mostly criticism.

I kinda hope for an Ithelia house statue like the others we can get. I know that may not work with her lore unless you are roleplaying a very specific time frame, but I would really like that.

They could give us an Ithelia statue without naming it as such, and the flavor text could mention something along the lines of it being a statue of an unknown, yet compelling, figure. That way the Vestige could recognize it (since Mora "allowed" us to keep our memory of her), but having it in our house wouldn't break lore, because no one else would know who it was.

That would be a good way to handle it. To others it could just be another statue - like many we have of unknown people.

Malyore · April 22

AScarlato wrote: »

I'm happy to see several people show appreciation for Ithelia here. In my other circles it's mostly criticism.

I kinda hope for an Ithelia house statue like the others we can get. I know that may not work with her lore unless you are roleplaying a very specific time frame, but I would really like that.

I had many, many disappointments with how they treated ithelia.

I think the largest issue I have is that they wrapped up the story as soon as it was opened. I was very much hoping, when they first announced it, that they would keep her around for a few chapters and serve as a gray character that has a brand new impact on the world. It could have been really interesting to have her around for a few chapters, even if not at the forefront of content.

As it is, I can't even remember much about her (good work, Hermaus).
She sat at a bar, I made her a drink (because that's what players want to do when meeting a new daedric prince...) she got all angsty about a fruit of the loom or whatever and then got put in the box of shame again.

I hyperbolize, I can remember some of the overall plot points. But compared to the beautiful dialogue and interactions I had with Sotha Sil, which still is held in my thoughts all these years later... It's like they tried to make Ithelia as forgettable as possible.
Is that meta?

She had so much potential.

Syldras · April 24

@Malyore I finally found time to answer your question! I hope it's no problem it took me a few days, but I wanted to make sure I have enough time and peace to write something reasonable.

So... I've been wondering if I should mention Tel Dreloth or not. It's true it was rather predictable, I also think the questgiver's behavior is a bit weird (like not to mention some crucial aspects to us until later in the story - one can speculate, why - is she really that naive or did the perhaps omit those things on purpose because otherwise we possibly wouldn't have agreed to help her?), but I still generally enjoyed the whole atmosphere. I must admit it's also a bit of a personal preference thing, though. The themes and presentation of this story had a bit more of a "classic literature" feel to me, specifically early 19th century (Dark) Romanticism, which I'm quite fond of. At least I see several different references to works of that era there, the most obvious probably to Nathaniel Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter (in case anyone reads this now and likes it - I'd also suggest reading The Cremona Violin by E.T.A. Hoffmann). I think it also fit the setting in Tamriel quite well. I also enjoyed exploring the more or less ruined location. It was just a nice and atmospheric narration for me overall.

Though, thinking more about it, there are actually some clear aspects as for why I have the feeling that this story stood out positively, specifically if I compare it to how the writing often looked like in the past few years:

- They didn't resort to some clichéd black and white characterization. It didn't become a simple "Evil Telvanni being evil because they're evil (who knows what they even do those weird experiments for - possibly because they're evil and like to torture people or something)" villain story. There was nuance. They showed us a bit of a different facet of Telvanni life there - that some also have families and children, and it's not all just power and murder.

- But, at the same time, they also didn't water it down too much, and didn't make it completely harmless. It's not a "Look, they're like everyone else, they're normal and okay too!" story either (Which is something I've criticized a lot last year and earlier this year, when it came to Solstice and also the Mara festival, and how Daedric Princes were depicted there: Nothing very dangerous anymore at all, and people also somehow being okay with demonic beings walking among them, for some reason - but that's a different topic).

- No moralizing, and no horribly obvious "educational statements" either. This is something I really, really appreciate a lot! There was no moral commentary on the experiments the Telvanni mother was conducting. Players could completely freely make their own judment about it.

- No weird quips and no jokes inbetween at all. It was a tragic and slightly gloomy story, and players were allowed to immerse into that atmosphere without forced attempts to "brighten the mood" every three seconds. If one compares that to the Solstice story - it feels almost like a different game.

- There was actually a dilemma and a tragic situation. A smaller, personal tragedy, that's true, but still more interesting and meaningful than babysitting some weird Count who's playing with his pet bear while his county was invaded by daedra or similar... It made sense for the world, the setting and lore.

- The depiction of attraction in this story. While it might seem mundane, it stood out to me that the description how the young lovers fell in love with each other actually was about shared interests and thoughtful gestures: How the Imperial girl was singing while working in the garden, and the Telvanni son was trying to impress her by playing the lute. How he always wrote notes and letters for her. How they sang or read books together. Sounds normal, of course, but it's sadly a stark contrast to how romance was mostly depicted in ESO at that time: either as crude innuendo, or completely clichéd and only based on looks. There are several quests about some shirtless buff guy, where a woman is swooning immediately how he was the love of her life, and thinking of marriage and spending the rest of her life with him - because he's "handsome". Because being shirtless seems to be an important quality when deciding if one wants to live together and possibly start a family or something. I always found that rather clichéd and silly. The description in the Tel Dreloth quest felt much more mature and less shallow in comparison.

So. It's late/early right now. I'm going to reply to some other posts in this thread later today.

katanagirl1 · April 26

Zerith-var’s quest was probably the most well done of all of the quests I have ever completed. I’m fond of Khajiit anyway and the questline gave us a deep dive into their culture, their relationship to Azura and their view of the afterlife. I like Sharp as a companion because I always liked Garrus in Mass Effect but I didn’t really enjoy his questline.

I also liked Garrick’s quest in High Isle. I don’t remember all of it but the fact that the quest was a test made it more interesting to me. The contest between your character and the Khajiit necromancer and Garrick helping you to win was entertaining.

I liked the quests about the Tide-Born and Stone-Nest Argonians in Solstice. The Tide-Born portrayed as Argonians who are given another chance at life (like the questgiver believed one was her egg-kin from her youth who died tragically) resonated with me a lot. The Stone-Nest were part of the main story, and the Voskrona guardians being used against the necromancers after learning about their use in history was a nice touch in my opinion. Also being able to control one and do the fighting was something different.

There are probably more sidequests that I enjoyed but right now I can’t remember them. They re always better than the main quests in my opinion.

magnusthorek · April 28

I have the memory of a goldfish but, the few I can recall were not main quest of a specific map, but side-stories on them, like Stibbons and Lady Laurent's, and the random encounter "The Fan", both in Blackwood; or the Public Dungeon Nchuthnkarst in Blackwood Greymoor Caverns with the Time Traveller (if I'm not mistaken)

moderatelyfatman · April 28

Syldras wrote: »

I know there have been threads occasionally over the years asking people which ESO chapter/dlc or chapter/dlc main storyline they liked best. Usually, most people choose Wrothgar, the Morrowind-CWC-Summerset story arc or Elsweyr, with a few outliers.

Which made me wonder: Which stories/quests of the later years were actually well-received, if at all? Not only main questlines, but also side quests, companion questlines, etc.

So: What were your favorites from the last few releases (High Isle, Necrom, Gold Road, Solstice)?

I, personally, found Zerith-var's story outstanding, and also loved Corelanya Manor on Solstice and Tel Dreloth on Telvanni Peninsula (design-wise, I actually also enjoyed the Aldwilne Citadel quest on Solstice, but lore-wise, it left quite a few questions).

Honestly, I think post 2021 is a relative wasteland compared to what went before it (at least regarding the Chapters).

Finishing to solo quest and moving onto the small scale political intrigue is Orsinium was a good way to centre the player after saving the world. Then they were brought to Morrowind, got to meet Vivec and got to involve in a major (but not world ending) event. Follow this by the small yet truly deep Clockwork city and finally ending in Summerset.

That was the best multi-year story arc that built up with each expansion before delivering in spades. Nothing since comes close in my opinion although as self contained chapters, Elswher and Greymoor were very enjoyable.

Zodiarkslayer · April 28

The side quests are generally more enjoyable than the main quests.
I liked Ithelia as a tragic character, though. She is the kind of antagonist that you feel sympathy for.

The main quests have become very uninspired and formulaic. Above all they are artificially drawn out. Butter stretched over too much bread.

twisttop138 · April 28

I've set a new goal to 100% each zone, going in order, so my character is a pact dark elf, so starting with the pact zones. I'm interested to see the difference between vanilla ESO, dlc ESO, earlier vs later and side quests vs main story quests.