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Holy moly I hate Grahtwood soooo much (rant)

  • Vulkunne
    Vulkunne
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    And yet people flock to it like crazy. I know. It's weird, isn't it?

    Almost like a second Craglorn... almost.
    We Ready. - A no limit soldier said somewhere, probably.
  • AlienSlof
    AlienSlof
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    BretonMage wrote: »
    Grahtwood gets a bad rap because it's the first zone with cliffs and unpassable rocks you encounter. By the time you get to the others you're more or less a seasoned ESO traveller lol. Northern Elsweyr still annoys me though.

    The endless cliffs! They are so annoying! I can see where I want to go, but the cliffs force me to go around half the map to get there. I'm used to playing games where I can climb or fly over them!

    I'm not a fan of any of the Valenwood areas; beautiful to look at, but a right pain to traverse.
    RIP Atherton, my beautiful little gentle friend, my Shining Light. I will miss you forever. Without you I am a hollow shell.
  • LootAllTheStuff
    LootAllTheStuff
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    Glenumbra, Bangkorai, and Rivenspire have their share of impassable cliffs, too. There's that one dolmen where, if you take the nearest wayshrine, it'll be done before you ever get there.

    It's a bit like: "Here's a gigantic open world for you to explore! Wait, you can't go that way!"
  • Glorious_Platypus
    Glorious_Platypus
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    Glenumbra, Bangkorai, and Rivenspire have their share of impassable cliffs, too. There's that one dolmen where, if you take the nearest wayshrine, it'll be done before you ever get there.

    It's a bit like: "Here's a gigantic open world for you to explore! Wait, you can't go that way!"

    No it's a bit like "Here's an absolutely tiny game world for you to "explore" - So we've done everything we can to impede your progress through it to make it seem larger to you !"
  • Glorious_Platypus
    Glorious_Platypus
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    Malabor Tor is actually incredible. Probably my favorite zone so far. Maybe even more than Summerset...? :open_mouth: I won't go that far yet LOL but it's close
  • GeneralGrundmann
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    I really don't get it that people complain about a realistic landscape.

    Cliffs, rivers, boulders, dense trees, oceans, chasms... "natural barriers" exist in real life.

    Personally I would go so far and would say they help making a landscape interesting and giving zones a kind of character.

    Luckily the engine is unable to support flying mounts so we still have to learn how to traverse the terrain of the different zones on ground level.

    And after you discovered all wayshrines in a zone, travelling gets much easier and faster anyway.

    Edit for typo
    Edited by GeneralGrundmann on 17 August 2026 12:39
  • Glorious_Platypus
    Glorious_Platypus
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    I really don't get it that people complain about a realistic landscape.

    Cliffs, rivers, boulders, dense trees, rivers, oceans, chasms... "natural barriers" exist in real life.

    Personally I would go so far and would say they help making a landscape interesting and giving zones a kind of character.

    Luckily the engine is unable to support flying mounts so we still have to learn how to traverse the terrain of the different zones on ground level.

    And after you discovered all wayshrines in a zone, travelling gets much easier and faster anyway.

    Most places in real life don't have nearly the same density of cliffs, chasms and ravines as the areas in ESO. A valley formed by glacier action in Montana or something, would take you all day or multiple days to walk between sides of the valley.

    It's really only National Parks, and even then, small portions within those parks, that might be attractive to hikers/tourists due to their density of natural features, be that canyons or waterfalls or something.

    But in ESO it's just everywhere, all the time, always around the next corner. The whole continent of Tamriel is like that. It's very clearly not a sandbox, it's a themepark. Tamriel could be 10x larger in the game, and it would still be small compared to real life - but it would at least feel less cramped and less artificial as a result.

    I dunno
  • GeneralGrundmann
    GeneralGrundmann
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    Oh, that's something we can totally agree on!

    Tamriel is a cramped theme park.

    It's landscape is not natural realistic literally, but it has realistic natural elements.

    And personally I like that approach and the consequences of this, like zones that are more difficult to traverse than others.

    But like the thread opener declared, that thread is meant as a rant and other players share the thread openers point of view.
    Edited by GeneralGrundmann on 16 August 2026 21:47
  • soldierofzion82
    soldierofzion82
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    My favorite zone is and always will be Auridon, but Grahtwood is great too. Eventually, you will find a home too.
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