Despite problems, ESO is one of the best MMORPG ever (immersion, pve)

Athan1

Of course there are a looot of problems associated with ESO but I cannot help but notice it's one of the most immersive MMOs ever.

A lot of people may disagree with this for a variety of reasons, but I think that one the main reasons that draws people to specific games is nostalgia or habit. Take runescape for example. Why is this game so popular given how dated it is? One of the main reason is nostalgia. I would arguably say the same about wow, its artwork and several mechanics are kind of outdated. So I often hear people say how some MMOs are much better than ESO... then I go and try them out and I'm like "whaa.. for real?". I think we don't realise how much past experiences drive us in what we do, may think we like a game because it's "great", but it's often just that the game is "familiar".

I had purposely avoided playing MMOs because I know they are a money and time-sink. During lockdown I made the conscious decision to start one so I researched options. I had zero previous experience with any of them, including TES games, so I was tabula rasa. ESO seemed the most appealing based on analyses I read and footage I saw. So ESO became the first fantasy MMORPG I played and formed my baseline. As a result, I cannot get into any other MMO anymore because they pale in comparison and I have zero nostalgia or familiarity tying me to any game.

Some of ESO's strongest points imo:

• Beautiful realistic sceneries
• Stylised yet realistic character models
• Everything is voice-acted. I can't stress this enough. It's massively more immersive when an NPC runs into you begging for help with her quest, rather than simply reading fine print.
• Perfect English (or whatever language). Most MMORPGs on the market are Asian and as a result all names, skills, etc sound exotic enough in the native languages, but when translated into English they're just cringey. Furthermore, a game written by native speakers for English speakers can utilise word plays, poetry, songs, etc, in a way that other games fail to do due to poor writing or bad localisation (idk much about ESO's localisation though).
• Quests are meaningful and characters have depth. In other MMO's I can't get into their characters not only due to lack of VA but also because they don't have a backstory. In ESO they have a background and a letter behind them explaining their thoughts, there are relations between NPCs in different zones or in the same zone, they are just sympathetic and you get to like or dislike them.
• Similarly, the quests handle mature themes. Side quests in other games are so silly, e.g. in FFXIV I had to fetch someone's sandwhich or something.
• Little to no fanservice. Sure, we did get some hot Darien scenes, but that was about it. Just notice how the Queen Elf is fully dressed and wields a sword! In any other game I've seen, Queens are kawaii and/or half-naked. It's refreshing to have dressed female villains too.
• No obvious tab-targetting. Ugly floating pins kill the mood when you're exploring a zone and tab targetting reminds you this is a game. ESO's hybrid combat feels more realistic, you actually have to aim at your opponent.
• Minimal GCD. Omg 2.5 seconds of global cooldown feel like an eternity! Pair it with tab-targetting and it doesn't feel like a real game at all.
• The ESO world is so fleshed out that you feel like you are entering a real world. The lack of cutscenes limits this, but the lore and books everywhere help. Something trivial that I find important is skill description. In ESO there is lore and flavour text for every skill/mount/costume etc! How can I get into using my skills all the time if they don't feel meaningful and cohesive?
• ESO is truly open-world. This causes other issues, but you can go anywhere and do anything from the get-go. Pretty neat and helps social activities.
• Grinding is optional. Yes, grinding is indeed optional! The CP cap is meant to be hit as a lifetime goal, not sth you achieve in a week. In other MMO's you have to grind since low levels and the level cap (the level cap in ESO is CP160).

Skykaiser_Ọlọrun

Beautiful realistic sceneries
Stylised yet realistic character models

You've got a generous definition of, "realistic".

Similarly, the quests handle mature themes. Side quests in other games are so silly, e.g. in FFXIV I had to fetch someone's sandwhich or something.

The occasional silly side quest aside, FFXIV is probably the worst example you could've used.

Quests are meaningful and characters have depth. In other MMO's I can't get into their characters not only due to lack of VA but also because they don't have a backstory.

I can't think of any MMO worth a damn where that's true.

lolo_01b16_ESO

Yeah, very meaningful quests. In the base game main quest you have to make a really tough decision who you want to sacrifice....But don't worry, no matter whom you sacrifice, they will be back alive later, because reasons.
A least the dangerous villains that terrorize entire regions and require a hero to stop them put up a thrilling fight... As long as the hero is fighting naked and unarmed and maybe has his and tied behind his back, just to be sure.

I agree with most of your other points, which makes this a very good game. The main reason why I started my post with critizism is that I'd really love to do more quests in eso. But every time I do one I end up being disappointed, because the enemies die in seconds, killing all the immersion that is built up by detailed scenery, voice acting and smooth character movement.

Wolfpaw

Athan1 wrote: »

Of course there are a looot of problems associated with ESO but I cannot help but notice it's one of the most immersive MMOs ever.

A lot of people may disagree with this for a variety of reasons, but I think that one the main reasons that draws people to specific games is nostalgia or habit. Take runescape for example. Why is this game so popular given how dated it is? One of the main reason is nostalgia. I would arguably say the same about wow, its artwork and several mechanics are kind of outdated. So I often hear people say how some MMOs are much better than ESO... then I go and try them out and I'm like "whaa.. for real?". I think we don't realise how much past experiences drive us in what we do, may think we like a game because it's "great", but it's often just that the game is "familiar".

I had purposely avoided playing MMOs because I know they are a money and time-sink. During lockdown I made the conscious decision to start one so I researched options. I had zero previous experience with any of them, including TES games, so I was tabula rasa. ESO seemed the most appealing based on analyses I read and footage I saw. So ESO became the first fantasy MMORPG I played and formed my baseline. As a result, I cannot get into any other MMO anymore because they pale in comparison and I have zero nostalgia or familiarity tying me to any game.

Some of ESO's strongest points imo:

• Beautiful realistic sceneries
• Stylised yet realistic character models
• Everything is voice-acted. I can't stress this enough. It's massively more immersive when an NPC runs into you begging for help with her quest, rather than simply reading fine print.
• Perfect English (or whatever language). Most MMORPGs on the market are Asian and as a result all names, skills, etc sound exotic enough in the native languages, but when translated into English they're just cringey. Furthermore, a game written by native speakers for English speakers can utilise word plays, poetry, songs, etc, in a way that other games fail to do due to poor writing or bad localisation (idk much about ESO's localisation though).
• Quests are meaningful and characters have depth. In other MMO's I can't get into their characters not only due to lack of VA but also because they don't have a backstory. In ESO they have a background and a letter behind them explaining their thoughts, there are relations between NPCs in different zones or in the same zone, they are just sympathetic and you get to like or dislike them.
• Similarly, the quests handle mature themes. Side quests in other games are so silly, e.g. in FFXIV I had to fetch someone's sandwhich or something.
• Little to no fanservice. Sure, we did get some hot Darien scenes, but that was about it. Just notice how the Queen Elf is fully dressed and wields a sword! In any other game I've seen, Queens are kawaii and/or half-naked. It's refreshing to have dressed female villains too.
• No obvious tab-targetting. Ugly floating pins kill the mood when you're exploring a zone and tab targetting reminds you this is a game. ESO's hybrid combat feels more realistic, you actually have to aim at your opponent.
• Minimal GCD. Omg 2.5 seconds of global cooldown feel like an eternity! Pair it with tab-targetting and it doesn't feel like a real game at all.
• The ESO world is so fleshed out that you feel like you are entering a real world. The lack of cutscenes limits this, but the lore and books everywhere help. Something trivial that I find important is skill description. In ESO there is lore and flavour text for every skill/mount/costume etc! How can I get into using my skills all the time if they don't feel meaningful and cohesive?
• ESO is truly open-world. This causes other issues, but you can go anywhere and do anything from the get-go. Pretty neat and helps social activities.
• Grinding is optional. Yes, grinding is indeed optional! The CP cap is meant to be hit as a lifetime goal, not sth you achieve in a week. In other MMO's you have to grind since low levels and the level cap (the level cap in ESO is CP160).

I think most will generally agree with you, & it shows considering ESO popularity.

I'm a mmorpg fan, not so much a Elder Scroll fan. I find ESO characters & story bland.

My personal favorite pve over the years was GW2 living story.

iksde

meh, eso is nothing to real TES series, in eso is enough already lore breaking things, I find games not worse than eso and better build and developed than eso like simple osrs (oldschool runescape) along with current runescape, gw2...even warframe which started to have problems is still better managed

kalimar44

As much as I like ESO, nothing will come close to the days of playing EverQuest. The game caused people to loose there job and marrige! True facts

ThoughtRaven

Yes the core of the game is one of the best ever when the game is functioning properly, and when the devs aren't constantly hitting the playerbase with giant nerfs/changes that shake up the game before the players have even adjusted to the last set of drastic changes.

Unfortunately that is a very tiny fraction of the time.

Iccotak

I'd find the main story quests more meaningful if the Story Boss encounters were actually tough, and not just for very new players

Chips_Ahoy

Athan1 wrote: »

[*] Quests are meaningful and characters have depth. In other MMO's I can't get into their characters not only due to lack of VA but also because they don't have a backstory. In ESO they have a background and a letter behind them explaining their thoughts, there are relations between NPCs in different zones or in the same zone, they are just sympathetic and you get to like or dislike them.

the only thing I hate about this game is the quests.

Why do I always have to make a decision? can't the characters make decisions for themselves? I just met them 5 minutes ago and they trust me to decide between the destiny of a life, a town?

[snip]

[edited for baiting]

Sephyr

Oh. Oh your serious. Welp.

SilverBride

Skykaiser_Ọlọrun wrote: »

Beautiful realistic sceneries
Stylised yet realistic character models

You've got a generous definition of, "realistic".

The character models in ESO are proportioned correctly, unlike games like WoW where the characters' hands are bigger than their heads.

Snowstrider

Cmon i love ESO but the character models is not the selling point since they look like creepy raggedy puppets

SilverBride

I think my characters look pretty good. And I absolutely agree with the OP.

zvavi

Such a great immersion, where the strongest threats that will destroy entire cities are less dangerous than an overgrown guar sitting outside the village. And die before they can even finish their dialog.

Magdalina

I do agree...to a point. ESO just...'clicks' with me. I love the graphics, even if they are getting dated too (still, compared to WoW....), I like the realistic-ish style (aiming for the right proportions, using not overly bright, natural-like colours, etc), I love the voiceover (was instant turn away in other MMOs for me. Secondary quest not voiced? Wut? How? ESO spoilt me there), I find the combat very immersive too - I like that I have to block, dodge and light attack manually. I felt super weirded out by this auto light attack/block/dodge in some other MMOs. I mean, I want to actually play the game, not watch my toon play it automatically. I do like having only 5 (well, 12) skills and having to actively use them as opposed to 50 skills on cooldown, I find that way more immersive, fluid and intuitive-feeling. While there're many fetch-and-kill quests, there're also some very good stories there, in base game and dlc alike, and I love how they've been trying to make even secondary quests kinda fun in dlc/chapters lately.

Now for the bad...all this beautiful, awesome, immersive world coupled up with great music is just RUINED by the 'fighting' open world mobs, including whole storyline bosses, put up these days. So much drama, such touching storyline, good npcs dying so you can make it so far...and then you accidentally 2-shot the main baddie without even hearing their full dialogue. I tried to look at it like at a visual novel kind of things but really...no. Just no. Couldn't bring myself to do any questing since Greymoor. Now I only enjoy my dlc dungeons quests because I can do them on vet and actually rightfully feel like I just defeated an epic enemy.

WiseSky

I love the IP and Esthetics of ESO and the use off addons is quite useful.

SickleCider

What brings me to ESO:

1. Atmosphere, an attempt at "realism" was made, there are lovely ambient sounds, you can find quiet places to go have a wander.
2. Speaking of wandering, being able to go almost anywhere I want is appealing to me.
3. Minimal UI. Yes, this matters. I don't need ads flashing in the corner, tiny icons and text littering every available piece of real-estate. Other MMOs have a very claustrophobic HUD that makes me anxious.
4. Skeleton vignettes. I just. Love all the skeletons you find. I'm a big fan of environmental story telling (I come from Soulsborne games) so all the silly skeletons that tell a story really warm my heart. I love all the little shrines, camps and picnic areas you find, too.

Lugaldu

I can very well imagine that how you feel about ESO depends a lot on whether or not someone has already played (and loved) the older parts. When I take myself, ESO just feels like "home" and I don't think it's dated in terms of graphics either, since I've seen the development from TES III onwards. ESO is graphically appealing to me, it's subtle and natural, what I like. And the music is fantastic, a very important point, even if Jeremy Soule's music was unbeatable. The only other MMORPG I've played is GW, but I hated those fancy characters design and other aspects. Also, as someone who has been around in Tamriel for a long time, you know the lore and feel more connected to the world than someone who jumps from game to game and just takes a quick look at ESO. For various reasons I feel no need to play anything else.

Raegwyr

I love how OP states there is almost no fan service yet 4 out of 5 chapters are based on nostalgia xD

Athan1

Raegwyr wrote: »

I love how OP states there is almost no fan service yet 4 out of 5 chapters are based on nostalgia xD

As explained in the point, my definition of fanservice was naked or half-naked main characters.

DreamyLu

Personally, I prefer another MMO that is my main, and that I really do love. I like ESO. I use it to chill solo, with no stress and no big objectives. I touch easy content only and get enough fun this way, wandering in explorable, doing quests/delves once in a while when I feel for it, doing daily equipment crafting, farming chests, stealing, scrying... I like that very much. However, there are by far too many things I dislike, out of which some really bothering me on a daily basis: those are a roadblock to me, preventing me from playing ESO more seriously.

grizzledcroc

Damn if you really malding over someone being happy and knowing theres issues you need help

gariondavey

Athan1 wrote: »

Of course there are a looot of problems associated with ESO but I cannot help but notice it's one of the most immersive MMOs ever.

A lot of people may disagree with this for a variety of reasons, but I think that one the main reasons that draws people to specific games is nostalgia or habit. Take runescape for example. Why is this game so popular given how dated it is? One of the main reason is nostalgia. I would arguably say the same about wow, its artwork and several mechanics are kind of outdated. So I often hear people say how some MMOs are much better than ESO... then I go and try them out and I'm like "whaa.. for real?". I think we don't realise how much past experiences drive us in what we do, may think we like a game because it's "great", but it's often just that the game is "familiar".

I had purposely avoided playing MMOs because I know they are a money and time-sink. During lockdown I made the conscious decision to start one so I researched options. I had zero previous experience with any of them, including TES games, so I was tabula rasa. ESO seemed the most appealing based on analyses I read and footage I saw. So ESO became the first fantasy MMORPG I played and formed my baseline. As a result, I cannot get into any other MMO anymore because they pale in comparison and I have zero nostalgia or familiarity tying me to any game.

Some of ESO's strongest points imo:

• Beautiful realistic sceneries
• Stylised yet realistic character models
• Everything is voice-acted. I can't stress this enough. It's massively more immersive when an NPC runs into you begging for help with her quest, rather than simply reading fine print.
• Perfect English (or whatever language). Most MMORPGs on the market are Asian and as a result all names, skills, etc sound exotic enough in the native languages, but when translated into English they're just cringey. Furthermore, a game written by native speakers for English speakers can utilise word plays, poetry, songs, etc, in a way that other games fail to do due to poor writing or bad localisation (idk much about ESO's localisation though).
• Quests are meaningful and characters have depth. In other MMO's I can't get into their characters not only due to lack of VA but also because they don't have a backstory. In ESO they have a background and a letter behind them explaining their thoughts, there are relations between NPCs in different zones or in the same zone, they are just sympathetic and you get to like or dislike them.
• Similarly, the quests handle mature themes. Side quests in other games are so silly, e.g. in FFXIV I had to fetch someone's sandwhich or something.
• Little to no fanservice. Sure, we did get some hot Darien scenes, but that was about it. Just notice how the Queen Elf is fully dressed and wields a sword! In any other game I've seen, Queens are kawaii and/or half-naked. It's refreshing to have dressed female villains too.
• No obvious tab-targetting. Ugly floating pins kill the mood when you're exploring a zone and tab targetting reminds you this is a game. ESO's hybrid combat feels more realistic, you actually have to aim at your opponent.
• Minimal GCD. Omg 2.5 seconds of global cooldown feel like an eternity! Pair it with tab-targetting and it doesn't feel like a real game at all.
• The ESO world is so fleshed out that you feel like you are entering a real world. The lack of cutscenes limits this, but the lore and books everywhere help. Something trivial that I find important is skill description. In ESO there is lore and flavour text for every skill/mount/costume etc! How can I get into using my skills all the time if they don't feel meaningful and cohesive?
• ESO is truly open-world. This causes other issues, but you can go anywhere and do anything from the get-go. Pretty neat and helps social activities.
• Grinding is optional. Yes, grinding is indeed optional! The CP cap is meant to be hit as a lifetime goal, not sth you achieve in a week. In other MMO's you have to grind since low levels and the level cap (the level cap in ESO is CP160).

Well said, and I also think these are all excellent selling points to eso. They just need better server performance and better communication with players and it would be way more successful.

cheriella

Simply put … Me likey eso so far 💜💜

NoxiousBlight

kalimar44 wrote: »

As much as I like ESO, nothing will come close to the days of playing EverQuest. The game caused people to loose there job and marrige! True facts

I tried EQ again about a year ago (both P1999 and the live TLP). I don't think it held up well to the test of time.

It was the best when I was 15 and had unlimited time. But now as an adult I find it difficult to get into it. Especially when finding a group could take upwards of an hour. Some days I only have an hour to play - ESO works much better for that.

Either way, I agree, in 1999/2000 EQ was the love of my life. I loved it more than I could ever love ESO, but that is mostly rose-tinted glasses talking. Man I miss those days.

Ackwalan

There are has not a lot of competition for several years. These types of games take a long time to make, so companies don't like to invest the time and money needed.