Hey all! I just thought I'd ask a quick question prior to beginning the game.
I was just curious to see what everyone made of the story, is it good? I'm hoping to get immersed and enjoy both the alliance and main storyline. No spoilers please!
I would say so. For the first time through, the Main Story is pretty good, standard Elder Scrolls fare if you've played any TES games before. The Alliance Storylines have their ups and downs but are primarily well written as well.
I like the main story later in Coldharbour very much, searching for lost ones and building up an army against Moal Bal.
And the one guy with his special hat. Love him.
My favorite thing about ESO is the writing. I've laughed out-loud at the dialogue in several of the quests, and many of the characters are memorable (most notably Cadwell and, in Aldmeri, Razum Dar).
I think the Five Companions questline is average to bad, being predictable at the best of times and grating at the worst. Sole exception being
the part where I got to kill off Varen.
The Alliance questlines for the Dominion, Covenant etc. tend to be better. I think Stonefalls was the worst, and the Glenumbra questline was really too disjointed for me to enjoy, but over all better than the Five Companions line.
The primary story (which is identical no matter what alliance you join) is actually pretty interesting and very fun. It does have some replay value too but replay is meh.
The alliance stories DO have a primary and several large story lines. To summerize, they do the alliance justice by setting tones, themes, motivations and illustrating setting VERY well and all three alliances have great immersion.
Daggerfall Covenant
Pros: Great characters (each zone has at least one character that you will fall in love with), story, puzzles, and the geography is very very manageable to travel through and see.
Cons: Story can get annoyingly political at times. Bankorai. Leveling is very non linear so you might get lost and accidentally wander into higher level areas by mistake.
Aldmeri Dominion
Pros: Great character development (fewer overall primary characters than Daggerfall but they develop so much better), BEAUTIFUL scenery, decent quests, and good voice work overall.
Cons: Too many phased environments, and the geography is extremely mountainous making travel annoying and way shrines are bizarrely laid out. Can be difficult to leave some zones on foot.
Ebonheart Pact
Pros: Dark Elves, very dramatic scenery, and very easy to navigate.
Cons: Many. The quests are very lack luster, main story line is predictable and kinda boring, and the voice work on the nords and argonians use the same few actors making everyone sound the same. If you played skyrim, you will recognize them.
Of all the alliances I enjoyed playing through DC more, but liked the AD characters better. EP was a struggle. I hated nearly every aspect of it except the scenery and a small number of quest lines that were really good. The vast majority of my toons are in DC and some in AD. I've since deleted my EP toons because I couldn't stand it.
The story in this game is terrible.Its has no substance and extremely shallow.
Which story are you talking about?! Rivenspire and Reaper's March, for example, have some of the best and most involved storylines I've ever experienced in a game.
I found quite a contrast between alliances. It felt like a lot of Daggerfall Covenant quests had light hearted elements and humour. Ebonheart Pact seemed on the other end of the spectrum. The (albeit incomplete) parts of it that I did were quite serious and sad. Razum'Dar is memorable for my experience with Aldmeri Dominion so far. Queen Ayrenn seems like the most likeable leader though possibly a bit naive.
I thought much like the Nords, a lot of the Altmer sound like they are voiced by the same guy. The Bosmer have cockney London accents (but of course, why wouldn't they?).
My Characters
Xargothius: Breton - JOAT / Magsorc | Orchid the Fair: Orismer - Crafter / Heavy Tank | Voneri Vox: Dunmer - Magplar Healer | Rexorgiana: Imperial - Temptress / Magblade Phirkius: Altmer - MagSorc | Rexorigus: Imperial - Med Tank / StamKnight | Sven Svedishchef: Nord - Provisioner / Stamplar | Finds-All-Fungi: Argonian - Alchemist/ Stamblade Emerald-Wild-Guard: Bosmer - Wyrd / StamSorc | Nates Datum Festi: Imperial - Light Tank / StamKnight | Magnolia Desert-Blossom: Redguard - 2 Handed Stamplar | Shadow-Softpaw: Khajiit - StamBlade Sorcerer | Dragon Knight | Templar | Night Blade