That's true yeah, but WGT is clearly made of a similar material to the rest of Imperial City, which is very similar (if not the same) material that the Ayleids made all their cities out of. Adamantia is supposed to be metallic.And I swear I read somewhere that WGT looks like Ada-mantia because it was made in imitation by the Ayleids, rather than "oh it's lazy they just reused the WGT model instead of making something". So like duh they look the same.
RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »They copy the original "Divine" style of the Adamantine Tower but have to use inferior materials for the fabric.
AlboMalefica wrote: »This whole thread makes me sad, I've been dreaming of the Adamantine tower & how it can be made into a trial for years
Oh definitely. Hope they pick up on this and fix everything soon
Yep, can confirm that they have addressed most of the concerns. The tower model used in the preview has been updated, it is no longer a direct reuse of the White-Gold Tower asset.
Still doesn't look like it's made of Adamantium as it doesn't look metallic - looks like Direnni stone (although the fluting might be metal even if the outer bit isn't), so I would say close enough.
The room we go into is the Keywright's Gallery and not the Foundation Vault, so that's fine, and the asset that was previously called the Zero Stone is now just referred to as an arcane helix, so no problem there either.
The fact that Balfiera has been used as a level select gimmick remains an issue, but since they haven't actually used Adamantine Tower itself, there's still scope for that to appear in the future.
All in all, lorewise, good job ZOS! I will cover the tutorial and the level select feature itself elsewhere.
TheRimOfTheSky wrote: »Climate being the same as stormhaven/glenumbra is somewhat disappointing, its supposed to be different (tropical/mountainous) from High Rock due to its proximity to Hammerfell's deserts(palm trees, beaches)
(climate map)
psychotrip wrote: »So instead of asset reuse, they just spent money on a new design that looks nearly identical.
Somehow, this is even more disappointing. How many times has The Elder Scrolls hyped up a mythical building only for it to be a grey stone pillar? I'm just tired of this bland, repetitive art style ESO seems obsessed with.
TheRimOfTheSky wrote: »Climate being the same as stormhaven/glenumbra is somewhat disappointing, its supposed to be different (tropical/mountainous) from High Rock due to its proximity to Hammerfell's deserts(palm trees, beaches)
(climate map)
psychotrip wrote: »So instead of asset reuse, they just spent money on a new design that looks nearly identical.
Somehow, this is even more disappointing. How many times has The Elder Scrolls hyped up a mythical building only for it to be a grey stone pillar? I'm just tired of this bland, repetitive art style ESO seems obsessed with.
It does not look like a grey stone tower - from what I see it actually does look metallic to me
That said it's still not a good tutorial.
At the start it's established that you randomly fell out of a portal with a Harvester following in close pursuit.
However, that doesn't make any sense actually because that provides no context for new players.
"Wait I came out of a portal and along with a Monster?"
It would make sense if Balfiera was the New Starter Island that you arrive at after escaping Coldharbour. I could see ZOS wanting to give players a more interesting starter island after Coldharbour, which was by far the best introduction.
However, if Zos were to do this then the island would have to be expanded to have various side quests and locations, also have a wayshrine.
I mean this -
is clearly different from this
Remember that WGT is based on the Direnni Tower. The shape is still there but there are clear differences in materials, finer details, several architectural choices (like the top & base of the tower), and overall construction between the two.
I got my own issues with re-skinning content but in this case it is actually in lore for the towers to be a similar shape. Perhaps one day we will get a closer look
psychotrip wrote: »I mean this -
is clearly different from this
Remember that WGT is based on the Direnni Tower. The shape is still there but there are clear differences in materials, finer details, several architectural choices (like the top & base of the tower), and overall construction between the two.
I got my own issues with re-skinning content but in this case it is actually in lore for the towers to be a similar shape. Perhaps one day we will get a closer look
Right but remember that this is a game made by people who determine the art direction. Sure, we know the towers are all based on adamantine, but who said that had to be so literal?
We've clearly seen that many of them have their own unique look. Some of them are trees and mountains for Christ's sake. Why not get more creative with the most important tower of all?
This is just a recurring theme with ESO since its inception: choosing the most basic, surface-level interpretation of the lore possible. Unless they have a previous game to piggyback off of (see: Morrowind) they just seem committed to making Tamriel as plain and normal as possible.
So yeah we got another grey building in a generic forest. Woo.
psychotrip wrote: »VaranisArano wrote: »Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »WTF is a Anthor Avalanche Dog?
Anthorbred Avalanche Dog - "With this loyal dog at your side, you have a companion who can help you make it through even the most treacherous of avalanches in Pale Pass and other mountainous areas … even if it has to pull you out from under a pile of fallen snow and detritus".
I see nothing unnatural in this dog. Seems to be quite good to any highlander.
Its a St Bernard that doesn't really have anything to do with anything really, they just wanted to put it in, so they tacked a random lore name on it and called it a day. Its the same with a bunch of stuff in the crown store that you will see - reskinned dogs and bears with lazy names tacked onto them. Tell me what a Snowhawk mage is, for instance? The place doesn't exist in ESO's version of Skyrim, and if the concept had any sort of substance to it other than a random hat-drawn lore-name to it, why don't we know about it? Ways can be found to contrive reasons or whatever, but when you're working with something that hasn't really been handled with much thought at all, it feels forced and unsatisfying.
Snowhawk is in TES Arena - not the first time ESO has referenced Arena. (Selene's Web, Fang Lair, Halls of Collosus, etc. ) https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Arena:Snowhawk
And while Arena's lore wasn't developed enough to say this, Skyrim's lore leads me to suspect that "in-universe" the "hawk" is a reference to Kyne, as she's frequently represented as and associated with hawks. Alternatively, if we assume that the "Snowhawk Mage" is indeed specifically associated with the Arena town, TES 1 says their rival is Solitude, which we find out in Skyrim is known for the hawks circling around the Blue Palace. Maybe a fun bit of town rivalry?
Now, sure, you can handwave that away as a fan making ESO's slapdash lore make more sense than the Marketing Department did.
Personally, I suspect its a lot more likely that the TES Arena writers employed the time-honored D&D method of naming places by "making stuff up". Later writers looked back at their old lore and went "Hmmm, how can we build to this?"
In the same way, can I really criticize the ESO designers for thinking "You know, all the dogs in TES V look alike, but it would make sense that the Nords would have dogs that they bred and trained to deal with the mountains, right?"
I mean, don't get me wrong: Meeko's cute. But I'm pretty sure he's not the only dog breed in Skyrim.
You guys do so much brilliant work making this nonsense make sense that it honestly makes me wish YOU were the ones in charge of making these decisions.
But here's the harsh truth that I've learned after spending most of my life as an ES fan:
No one with any influence in the decision-making process has thought of this anywhere near as deeply as you. I'm positive the hard working writers at Zenimax try their best to make this all work but they have very little control over this stuff.
At the end of the day most of ESO's decisions are based around marketing and live-service engagement, not storytelling.
This isn't 3D chess. They wanted to sell players a cute pet and they slapped a vaguely familiar name so that people like the poster above would do their job for them. That's the extent of it. It's a similar process for ada-mantia, cyrodiil, pretty much everything they dont want to admit as a retcon or marketing decision.