Lack of variety between zones.....

starkerealm · February 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Grahtwood and Malabal Tor are uncomfortably similar. Also parts of Greenshade to start to look a lot like parts of either. It makes sense, but it's also fatiguing. I can pick between them in screenshots, there are differences, but those three do really run together.

Stormhaven and Glenumbra are the same way. There's differences, but because of how they're playing off stock medieval European countryside with castles, they feel more generic than they actually are.

I'll admit, I don't get the people that lump Rivenspire in with those two though. The instant you come north, the game shifts from stock fantasy to horror fantasy with an almost audible clunk. Where Stormhaven and Glenumbra are summer days in the countryside, Rivenspire is late October when horrible things have started crawling out of the woodwork to kill.

I completely agree with your assessment.

On the DC side I'd also say that Betnikh feels very similar to Glenumbra and Stormhaven, with just enough differences due to the fact that it's dominated by Orcs for it to be not quite "more of the same". Stros M'Kai and Al'Akir are very similar to each other for obvious reasons, and Bangkorai is half similar to Glenumbra and Stormhaven, and half similar to Al'Akir.

On the AD side I'd say that Auridon somewhat stands alone. It's kind of similar to Greenshade, and a bit less similar to either Grahtwood or Malabal Tor (the 2 of which I think are the most similar zones). Khenarthi's Roost is like a cross between Auridon and Reaper's March. Reaper's March, of course, is very different from any of the other zones, except for the small part of it that is near Malabal Tor.

On the EP side, Bal Foyen, Stonefalls, and Deshaan are very similar. Shadowfen stands alone as being quite different from the other zones, while Eastmarch and The Rift are quite similar to each other.

I'm not sure I'd lump the Morrowind zones together. Bal Foyen is the blending point for Shadowfen and Deshaan. But Stonefalls, and it's active volcano are something entirely different.

Though, I'm also a veteran of Morrowind, so that might be coloring my perceptions there.

Either way, I'm not too worried about it going forward, since the previews we've seen so far have been of massively different environments.

Anvos · February 2015

Only really AD has this problem in my opinion since there is so much forestation fairly consistently and its also the alliance of misleading maps with so many sheer cliffs.

Seraphyel · February 2015

theroyalestpythonnub18_ESO wrote: »

cyclonus11 wrote: »

I wish each delve was different. Too many of them use identical layouts.

Really? Even the revamped ones? I know this was a hot topic in the early few weeks of the games life when some dungeon layouts were essentially identical, but imo that's vastly improved. Delves have gotten a lot bigger, and it's fairly easy to get turned around if you get distracted. More easily than it was in Skyrim, I've found.

If the issue is the reuse of assets, then that's inevitable, and has been an issue in every Elder Scrolls game I've ever played.

Delves are just boring copy and paste content. Yes, even the revamped ones.

I think within each factions the diversity of zones is... limited. DC and AD are very similar (within their zones, not those two factions), nobody can deny that. Just because you have a zone that's different (Alikr Desert or Reapers) doesn't lead to big diversity. Both factions are quite similar in their first zones. Only EP got a big diversity from start on. Diversity starts when you enter other factions but unfortunately that happens only at 50.

UrQuan · February 2015

starkerealm wrote: »

I'm not sure I'd lump the Morrowind zones together. Bal Foyen is the blending point for Shadowfen and Deshaan. But Stonefalls, and it's active volcano are something entirely different.

Actually, that's a good point. The volcanic activity in Stonefalls does have a significant effect on the terrain and the "feel" of the zone. It's got similar flora to the other Morrowind zones, but much less of it, and it's got all the lava and such all over the place.

LtCrunch · February 2015

It's just you.

Valmond · February 2015

Personally i've found the zones to be quite different, and there is plenty of variety when playing, in all factions.
Sure, they are not like night and day from each other, especially when travelling from one zone to the next one, but variety is there, and each zone in a faction does their own thing.