So Summerset's been out for a while. What do you guys think of the environment?

psychotrip

zaria wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

People shouldn't make this an argument about realism, because it isn't. It's purely gameplay.

Vvardenfell in TES3 had vastly different biomes. So did Cyrodiil in TES4, and Skyrim in TES5. Frankly I can't think of any RPG that doesn't offer different environments to explore. It's mainly for the enjoyment of the player to see different places.

ZOS did a great job with it in Wrothgar and Vvardenfell - the smaller DLCs didn't lend themselves to a lot of environmental diversity, although there still is quite a bit in Hew's Bane and the Gold Coast.

The only reason the base game zones aren't really diverse are developmental constraints: Instead of creating a larger diversity within each zone, they decided to make every zone distinct from each other. Which is fine, zone borders are basically biome borders.

So holding Summerset to the same standard as any other RPG, including the ones in the main TES line and content released by ZOS previously, is not too much to ask.

It would make no sense for Summerset to have an cold north part like Wrothgar or Eastmark. Reapers marc goes into desert as you move east.

Cyrodil and Oblivion has an frozen northern part even if south of the Rift, probably as they wanted more variation in Oblivion . Southern part of Oblviion was tropical.

They can have chillier mountain areas, it's nothing unusual even in warm countries.

Good point about mountains who we know it has.
Have we seen shots from that area yet.

Yes. I posted an image of a city on the highest peak of Summerset in my original post. See if you can even tell which pic it is.

Spoiler alert:

psychotrip

Here's some new gameplay footage. God, it looks even blander in action. Ignore the cool stuff at the beginning. It's "all just a dream" of course:
https://youtu.be/uU-fq3T-eow?t=404

JD2013

psychotrip wrote: »

Here's some new gameplay footage. God, it looks even blander in action. Ignore the cool stuff at the beginning. It's "all just a dream" of course:
https://youtu.be/uU-fq3T-eow?t=404

I think it looks very pristine and cool. But different strokes for different folks.

psychotrip

JD2013 wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Here's some new gameplay footage. God, it looks even blander in action. Ignore the cool stuff at the beginning. It's "all just a dream" of course:
https://youtu.be/uU-fq3T-eow?t=404

I think it looks very pristine and cool. But different strokes for different folks.

I respect your opinion, but it just looks so bland and washed out to me. I mean, do we really not have enough forests with gray, medieval European cities in Tamriel? Either way, I can't imagine playing through an entire expansion (or "chapter) with just one environment. They couldn't even bother to make the cities look different.

Even Cloudrest, supposedly at the peak of the highest mountain, feels indistinguishable from the shoreline. It's just boring and repetitive to me to me.

TelvanniWizard

It seems Auridon II.

psychotrip

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

It seems Auridon II.

Even Auridon's cities felt less humanish than this.

Synthwavius

yup and male elves are still ugly just like everywhere in Tamriel

TelvanniWizard

psychotrip wrote: »

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

It seems Auridon II.

Even Auridon's cities felt less humanish than this.

True. Sad and true.

platonicidealgirlfriend

wild, it's almost like there's numerous references to the altmer terraforming the isles or something

Narvuntien

I get that it is particularly standard fantasy fair, still looks great though.

I'd of preferred a lot closer Aylied style and lot more magical looking, Fareygyl fort has floating rocks.. I am kind of hoping for some extremely magical looking places. It doesn't have to be the main cities I mean not every Altmer is a mage but there has to be wizard zones (beyond the Psyjics).

I am also really hoping for more of the dark side of the altmer. The altmer have kinhouses just like dumner and they are extremely selective.

TelvanniWizard

I just saw the video featuring the new tutorial. That dreamy kingdom where you start really feels magic and special. God, they could have done something similar with the island.

CatchMeTrolling

Thread filled with people wanting what they feel like summerset should be rather than realizing its based on lore, not realism or meant to compete for what looks the best in game.

What looks the same is the architecture and environment and there's nothing wrong with that nor is it the only area in the game like that.

Aliyavana

CatchMeTrolling wrote: »

Thread filled with people wanting what they feel like summerset should be rather than realizing its based on lore, not realism or meant to compete for what looks the best in game.

What looks the same is the architecture and environment and there's nothing wrong with that nor is it the only area in the game like that.

Lol

psychotrip

Narvuntien wrote: »

I get that it is particularly standard fantasy fair, still looks great though.

I'd of preferred a lot closer Aylied style and lot more magical looking, Fareygyl fort has floating rocks.. I am kind of hoping for some extremely magical looking places. It doesn't have to be the main cities I mean not every Altmer is a mage but there has to be wizard zones (beyond the Psyjics).

I am also really hoping for more of the dark side of the altmer. The altmer have kinhouses just like dumner and they are extremely selective.

So far I haven’t seen a single reference to kinhouses. It’s like in Auridon where there’s kinlords and kinladies but that’s it. I think the whole kinhouse thing was scrapped in favor of more normal medieval european nobility.

psychotrip

So, we’ve seen a bit more of the game in action, and it still looks like this entire DLC only features one climate / environment.

I still can’t understand why they’d do this. It’s just repetitive and boring. Imagine if Skyrim was nothing but a frozen wasteland like people feared? Or if Morrowind was nothing but volcanoes?

Summerset is an entire country with one biome. This is just poor worldbuilding, and personally I’m going to get bored of generic european forests pretty quickly.

Earlier posts have demonstrated that islands can have more than one biome: frozen mountains, tropical beaches, grassy plains, jungles etc.

It just feels like, compared to Morrowind, Zenimax is really dropping the ball when it comes to lore and atmosphere. How did we go from the visual diversity of vvardenfell to an island with one city-style, one environment, and a totally derivative culture?

madchuska83

I want Hawaii with tall elves.

psychotrip

madchuska83 wrote: »

I want Hawaii with tall elves.

Well, we're definitely not getting that. Hawaii is far more environmentally diverse.

https://huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/big-island-climate-zones_n_6866828.html

starkerealm

@psychotrip, did you see the livestream on Twitch yesterday?

InstantNoise

Wasnt summerset a landmass that fell out of the aetherius and all of the the humans/elves ancestoral race lived on it? It somewhat makes sense to have it all as one biome in that case. Also Zenimax has very little authority over how diverse a preset world is, the same for the nations and landmasses of that preset world.

psychotrip

starkerealm wrote: »

@psychotrip, did you see the livestream on Twitch yesterday?

I watched a bit of it, but I was at the grocery store when it was happening so I was mostly listening to it. What I saw seemed like more of the same, however.

Did I miss something big? Seriously, I know I'm being crazy negative, but I seriously want to be wrong on this, so if I am please let me know!

InstantNoise wrote: »

Wasnt summerset a landmass that fell out of the aetherius and all of the the humans/elves ancestoral race lived on it? It somewhat makes sense to have it all as one biome in that case. Also Zenimax has very little authority over how diverse a preset world is, the same for the nations and landmasses of that preset world.

That's not really what happened with Summerset, no. There wasn't much of a description for Summerset's geography beyond some basic very basic ones. Every game so far has expanded upon a province's initial descriptions anyway. Zenimax could have done the same here. Summerset was specifically nebulous in terms of how it looked. They had an opportunity to get creative with it.

Legoless

psychotrip wrote: »

Kodrac wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Kodrac wrote: »

It is an island after all.

So is Vvardenfell. I don't see your point.

An island doesn't typically cover more than one climate.

And yet Vvardenfell has volcanic rivers, ashen wastes, green plains, swamps, archipelagos, lush forests, craggy scrublands, etc. It also has more than one city-style.

Being an island doesn't excuse a lack of environmental diversity. Why does Sumerset get left behind?

Vvardenfell was the setting of an entire game, which lends itself to that island's higher-than-average diversity of climates. Summerset is a pristine garden in lore, so what we've seen so far checks out.

Faulgor

So, after checking out most of the island on PTS, I think I can say that yes, Summerset looks the same everywhere.
There are two smaller areas that are a bit different. East of Sunhold has a slightly denser forest, and there's a bit of a swampy area in the northwest. Area is quite a generous term though, both of these places aren't larger than maybe Shornhelm.

Overall, the zone reminds me a lot of Stormhaven. A tropical island this is not.

newtinmpls

psychotrip wrote: »

Sure, you can argue that Summerset doesn't cover enough land to have much diversity, but look at Vvardenfell.

And Vvardenfell is a pale, pale shadow of what was done in TES III Morrowind with much less computer graphical power available.

Smasherx74

psychotrip wrote: »

shadelon wrote: »

And Vvardenfell is much further north. Summerset is in a tropical climate.

Except it doesn't appear tropical at all?

ThumbtackJake wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Kodrac wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Kodrac wrote: »

It is an island after all.

So is Vvardenfell. I don't see your point.

An island doesn't typically cover more than one climate.

And yet Vvardenfell has volcanic rivers, ashen wastes, green plains, swamps, archipelagos, etc. It also has more than one city-style.

Being an island doesn't excuse a lack of environmental diversity.

I think that's mostly due to volcanic eruptions causing the different environments.

Volcanic eruptions only explain the lava and ash. And even so, does this really justify Summerset looking so samey? Am I just crazy?

Uh, sorry but no. Volcanic eruptions lead to more than just lava and ash.

LittlePinkDot

Kodrac wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Kodrac wrote: »

It is an island after all.

So is Vvardenfell. I don't see your point.

An island doesn't typically cover more than one climate.

Not true. There is usually a windward side and a leeward side on the island. A dry side and a rainy side, like the big island of Hawaii

Lysette

Well, I have seen about 3/4 of the island on the PTS, it's visuals are basically Auridon 2.0 with a different architectural style. I have done none of the quests yet, I just wanted to have a quick overview about what the island is like. So don't expect something special from the landscape, at least I haven't seen anything what could not as well fit into Auridon.

If this is a bad thing or not is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Does it look pretty?- Yes, it does and who enjoyed Auridon might like this as well - but so far I do not think that it deserves to be a chapter, to me it looks more like a DLC content, given that I haven't done any questing there yet. So I really hope the quest content will make it worthwhile.

MLGProPlayer

xaraan wrote: »

Looks like an elvish/forested version of Southern California climate/weather wise: which makes sense looking at it's location on the map.

I was expecting more palm trees and dried junipers (like those in the Gold Coast). It's a little too "temperate climate" feeling for an island located so far south.

Seraphayel

Lysette wrote: »

Well, I have seen about 3/4 of the island on the PTS, it's visuals are basically Auridon 2.0 with a different architectural style. I have done none of the quests yet, I just wanted to have a quick overview about what the island is like. So don't expect something special from the landscape, at least I haven't seen anything what could not as well fit into Auridon.

If this is a bad thing or not is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Does it look pretty?- Yes, it does and who enjoyed Auridon might like this as well - but so far I do not think that it deserves to be a chapter, to me it looks more like a DLC content, given that I haven't done any questing there yet. So I really hope the quest content will make it worthwhile.

We all knew it would be Auridon 2.0 with better textures. But the unbiased streamers said it is soooooo different and sooooo fresh and soooooo new. Guess what, it's not.

The better question is how much of the map is inaccessible. 20% or even 30% like rumoured?

Faulgor

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

xaraan wrote: »

Looks like an elvish/forested version of Southern California climate/weather wise: which makes sense looking at it's location on the map.

I was expecting more palm trees and dried junipers (like those in the Gold Coast). It's a little too "temperate climate" feeling for an island located so far south.

I think that there's not a single palm tree on the whole island surprised me the most.
Hew's Bane looks further south than Summerset.

Coming to think of it, Hew's Bane has also more varied terrain, flora and generally more interesting world design with lots of explorable nooks and crannies. Summerset is very open in comparison.
I hate to say this, but it is, at least for exploration, the least interesting zone since the base game.

MLGProPlayer

Faulgor wrote: »

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

xaraan wrote: »

Looks like an elvish/forested version of Southern California climate/weather wise: which makes sense looking at it's location on the map.

I was expecting more palm trees and dried junipers (like those in the Gold Coast). It's a little too "temperate climate" feeling for an island located so far south.

I think that there's not a single palm tree on the whole island surprised me the most.
Hew's Bane looks further south than Summerset.

Coming to think of it, Hew's Bane has also more varied terrain, flora and generally more interesting world design with lots of explorable nooks and crannies. Summerset is very open in comparison.
I hate to say this, but it is, at least for exploration, the least interesting zone since the base game.

Hew's Bane is still my favourite zone in the entire game. Gorgeous, vertical environment, detailed textures and assets, and the largest and most intricate city in the game (although I still haven't been able to log into Summerset to compare with Alinor because ZOS's download server died).