Coldharbour cutscene updated but the characters themselves weren't

RealJobasha

The new cutscene is great, Mannimarco and the Worm Cultists use the Worm Cult armor, and It was surprising to see when I started the main quest on my new character today. So naturally, I expected the characters' armor to also be updated in game, and, well...

It presents a discontinuity in a game where no one changes their clothes (unless they've been brought back for a DLC). Mannimarco is supposed to be your executioner but he looks different here from when you were introduced to him in the intro cutscene, and new players who aren't aware of the history of the game are faced with yet another potentially confusing aspect of the story, of which there are more and more of with each year of new content and changes. I think the Companions should be wearing their updated armors from the DLCs they were brought back for, and Mannimarco wearing either the Worm Cult armor like in the new cutscene, or he should get his own updated armor to go along with the other 3. And if Manni gets new armor, I think I speak for everyone when I say he should get something that much more resembles that badass armor he had in the original cinematic trailer from way back in the day. I also never understood why Varen was not wearing the Emperor's Regalia even though he's the emperor.

Touching up the base game is very much needed when the detail and quality is night and day

xeNNNNN

"Touching up the base game is very much needed when the detail and quality is night and day"

Yep and I have one thing to say to that; "Rocks"
and another; "Cliffs"
and one more: "Mountains"


These are all purely environmental of course but you know I've been playing for so long that I hadn't actually realised just how old and eye-sore like the rock textures and mountain shapes were in this game - I think I just put it out of my mind while running around.

For example if you go to the rift and just explore for a bit with no HUD on just look at the rocks and the mountains in the distance and at the edge of the map. Like all of it needs a redo, they don't look like mountains or rocks in a lot of cases it just kind of looks like they stretched the initial mesh they had for creating a mountain, kind like how you would do it in any creative 3D space say like the Jurassic world video game while modifying the terrain by using the creation tools there to make the own land mass to your liking. It seems very low effort.

The rocks themselves just seem more like misshapen blocks half the time and then if you look at the textures on the whole you can see where multiple textures connect with dividing lines and so forth. Its even visible on trees.

I know environmental uplift probably wasn't the point of your thread but I do think an environmental update for the base game is in order. At least with anything regarding rocks, cliffs and mountains at the very least (maybe some of the trees too).

Everything else is fine really. I do wish they also updated a lot of the old NPCs armors to be higher res, most of the base game NPCs still seem blurry.

cynicalbutterfly

I also never understood why Varen was not wearing the Emperor's Regalia even though he's the emperor.

Because he isn't currently the Emperor. He also spent quite a bit of time in Coldharbour and before that he was with the Moth Priests living a simple priestly life. This was all very well explained in the main quests. As far as the story goes, he's either currently dead (if you sacrificed him) or wandering about somewhere.

Anywho, the base game does need some updating visually. But story wise, I'd rather it stay as is. You can do the quests at any point of your gameplay but there is supposed to be a timeline to when they took place. The main quests precede what is currently going on in Blackwood so yes there's going to be differences. But that's just my opinion.

Oakmontowls_ESO

Seeing how we unlock Mannimarco's outfit in game, he kind of has to be wearing the old one

RealJobasha

cynicalbutterfly wrote: »

I also never understood why Varen was not wearing the Emperor's Regalia even though he's the emperor.

Because he isn't currently the Emperor. He also spent quite a bit of time in Coldharbour and before that he was with the Moth Priests living a simple priestly life. This was all very well explained in the main quests. As far as the story goes, he's either currently dead (if you sacrificed him) or wandering about somewhere.

Anywho, the base game does need some updating visually. But story wise, I'd rather it stay as is. You can do the quests at any point of your gameplay but there is supposed to be a timeline to when they took place. The main quests precede what is currently going on in Blackwood so yes there's going to be differences. But that's just my opinion.

No I'm not talking about the Prophet, I'm talking about Varen in that flashback when you enter his mind. He's "The Imperial Emperor, Varen Aquilarios" as The Prophet says. Yet he's wearing generic imperial armor.

RealJobasha

xeNNNNN wrote: »

Like all of it needs a redo, they don't look like mountains or rocks in a lot of cases it just kind of looks like they stretched the initial mesh they had for creating a mountain, kind like how you would do it in any creative 3D space say like the Jurassic world video game while modifying the terrain by using the creation tools there to make the own land mass to your liking. It seems very low effort.

The rocks themselves just seem more like misshapen blocks half the time and then if you look at the textures on the whole you can see where multiple textures connect with dividing lines and so forth. Its even visible on trees.

I have a hunch that Zenimax wasn't sure if ESO was going to do well and so the project was a bit on the low budget end in case they couldn't recoup their expenditures in the event the game flopped. And it's sorely seen when you compare Vvardenfell rocks to Stonefalls rocks, or Greymoor rocks to Eastmarch rocks. Or how 90% of base game armors are just a retextured skin over the body mesh. Compare ESO, a game released in 2014, to titles like Dragon Age Inquisition and Thief, which also released in 2014 and were large open world games, and it looks like there was a decade difference. Now that ESO is by far the most lucrative Elder Scrolls game and the most Lucrative ZOS game, I think some money can be set aside to revamp the base game whose potential was undercut by uncertainty.

SeaGtGruff

The scene you posted with the Companions is a memory of an old event, yes? Why can't Mannimarco and the Companions be wearing different armor and clothing than they are in the present day? Is Varen wearing the same thing?

RealJobasha

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

The scene you posted with the Companions is a memory of an old event, yes? Why can't Mannimarco and the Companions be wearing different armor and clothing than they are in the present day? Is Varen wearing the same thing?

Because the new armors are direct remakes of their old armors.