Stonefalls : Altkiller

Amdar_Godkiller · August 2017

Stonefalls is the only enjoyable zone 1 region, at least as far as the main quest goes. Fresh off the boat from noob island, you show up in Davon's and it's like, "Here's a sword. there's an invasion going on down the street and there are giant demonic-looking insects called Dreughs that are also impaling both sides indiscriminately. Go show them what you're made of. Oh, and watch out for the ancient evil Dark Elf Spirits on the west side of town." The whole zone is basically the fantasy genre equivalent of Rambo as you wage a one man war against a vile foreign regime. It's literally the most riveting part of the entire ESO story, and it feels way more "Elder Scrolls" than the other two openings, which are basically overly corny and cartoonish (AD), or just monotonous (DC). DC gets better by zone 3, but I could have done without Glenumbra and Stormhold's narrative altogether.

RaddlemanNumber7 · August 2017

Amdar_Godkiller wrote: »

Stonefalls is the only enjoyable zone 1 region, at least as far as the main quest goes. Fresh off the boat from noob island, you show up in Davon's and it's like, "Here's a sword. there's an invasion going on down the street and there are giant demonic-looking insects called Dreughs that are also impaling both sides indiscriminately. Go show them what you're made of. Oh, and watch out for the ancient evil Dark Elf Spirits on the west side of town." The whole zone is basically the fantasy genre equivalent of Rambo as you wage a one man war against a vile foreign regime. It's literally the most riveting part of the entire ESO story, and it feels way more "Elder Scrolls" than the other two openings, which are basically overly corny and cartoonish (AD), or just monotonous (DC). DC gets better by zone 3, but I could have done without Glenumbra and Stormhold's narrative altogether.

I totally agree.

Stonefalls' action and story lines hang together well, and fit well with the lore and the meta game. It's good fun and it makes sense. I have put 6 EP characters through the quest lines in Stonefalls, and several others doing Cadwells. I can keep repeating those quests, no problem.

Not so Auridon and Glenumbra. I managed to do the quests a couple of time each, but since then my characters have not done the quest lines when working through those zones, not even when it's their home zone. I just don't enjoy them. They feel wrong. The stories are shallow and not well thought through. Why, for instance, are the homelands of the two most magicka-oriented races in the game being ruled and defended by proto-fascistic groups of heavily armoured sword swingers? It makes no sense.

And I just can't abide that self-regarding cat. He's so far up himself you couldn't get his attention with a long stick.

Ceridwynne · August 2017

Alik'r Desert. I enjoyed learning about Redguards but there was so much nothingness and the quest line really annoyed me.

"Oh no we are being attacked by undead! Let's just let them kill us because we can't dishonor our ancestors. Oh and lets not forget to treat the people who protect us from the undead like dirt, except you Vestige, you're cool."

The Covenant is my favorite alliance but it is a little disheartening to know that one of our allies can be completely taken out with just a few necromancers.

Hallothiel · August 2017

Coldharbour. Hate hate hate Coldharbour.

And Alik'r. Dull questline, dull environment.

Linaleah · August 2017

I'm with you, OP, i despise stonefalls. absolutely despise it. and not because of the quests - quests are great, and i actualy don't even mind the look of it even though volcanic areas are not my fave, I just absolutely, utterly irrevocably hate the map design and how incredibly annoying it is to traverse, with all the random rocks, and lava in a way. the only other zone I hate as much as i hate stonefalls and for much the same reason - is Bankorai. which is funny as one of my fave houses is in Bankorai.

its also probably one of the main reasons why I love One tamriel as much as i do. because now I can skip stonefalls and Bankorai on alts

Carokube · August 2017

Most of AD makes my head spin. Auridon has a few places that every single time I find myself running around for an hour just trying figure out where the heck I'm supposed to be going (yes, I'm dumb). Grahtwood is annoying to get around with all the rocks and walls. Greenshade, so boring I do not even remember it. Malabal Tor........just a nightmare to get around. Reaper's March is the only redeeming zone, at least the terrain is finally a little different.

I'll say the first time I played through AD questline, it was fine. Every subsequent time I eyeball scrape.

Rivenspire is the one zone I could do over and over again, and I don't even care about vampires

Ratzkifal · August 2017

Malabal Tor, for a very simple reason. You finish the Altmer paradise island and feel refreshed as if you were on vacations. You explore Grahtwood and admire the large Eldentree and explore the swamp. Then you come to Greenshade which is more of a Savanna only to return into the same swampy mangrove region and get yet another Bosmer zone. I like the Bosmer but three zones of their stupid green pact and woodorcs that are attacking them is just ...infuriating.

When I was in Shadowfen for the first time I felt myself reminded of it. It was still different, but it's definitely my second most disliked zone.

(I haven't done Rivenspire, Alik'r and Bangkorai yet)

Best zones are either Auridon or what little we get to see of Falkreath hold in HoTR. ALL OF THIS is so beautiful xD

Amdar_Godkiller · August 2017

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

Amdar_Godkiller wrote: »

Stonefalls is the only enjoyable zone 1 region, at least as far as the main quest goes. Fresh off the boat from noob island, you show up in Davon's and it's like, "Here's a sword. there's an invasion going on down the street and there are giant demonic-looking insects called Dreughs that are also impaling both sides indiscriminately. Go show them what you're made of. Oh, and watch out for the ancient evil Dark Elf Spirits on the west side of town." The whole zone is basically the fantasy genre equivalent of Rambo as you wage a one man war against a vile foreign regime. It's literally the most riveting part of the entire ESO story, and it feels way more "Elder Scrolls" than the other two openings, which are basically overly corny and cartoonish (AD), or just monotonous (DC). DC gets better by zone 3, but I could have done without Glenumbra and Stormhold's narrative altogether.

I totally agree.

Stonefalls' action and story lines hang together well, and fit well with the lore and the meta game. It's good fun and it makes sense. I have put 6 EP characters through the quest lines in Stonefalls, and several others doing Cadwells. I can keep repeating those quests, no problem.

Not so Auridon and Glenumbra. I managed to do the quests a couple of time each, but since then my characters have not done the quest lines when working through those zones, not even when it's their home zone. I just don't enjoy them. They feel wrong. The stories are shallow and not well thought through. Why, for instance, are the homelands of the two most magicka-oriented races in the game being ruled and defended by proto-fascistic groups of heavily armoured sword swingers? It makes no sense.

And I just can't abide that self-regarding cat. He's so far up himself you couldn't get his attention with a long stick.

I always start my toons out in Stonefalls as well, then skip to Shadowfen, so I can open up the Rift and Eastmarch and because more than any non DLC zone, I seem to get kicked offline in Deshaan. Orsinium is probably the only worse city in that regard.

Auridon in general just feels a little too bloated with storylines and sidequests. I like the zone, but wish the main quest had a little better pacing.

Spacemonkey · August 2017

I can't stand shadowfen. just can't . The map, the quests, everything irks me.

emilyhyoyeon · August 2017

I haven't done all of the alliance zones yet, but I really hate Coldharbour. It hurts my eyes because everything is more or less the same color. The environment is just so ugly even though some of the quests are interesting

phileunderx2 · August 2017

The only reason to quest in malabal tor is to unlock Velyen Harbor as a home base.

Khumbu · August 2017

Alikr desert is one of my favorite zones. The empty space makes it feel more realistic and less themepark-ey. Also it's a DESERT, if it was brimming with activity it would feel off. Then again my #1 "meh" zone is Stormhaven and a lot of people disagree, different strokes

I fully agree with Coldharbour, though. Eye searing blueness, annoying and sometimes buggy quests, dreary and depressing music, and the storyline feels disjointed there. Awful zone.

Rainraven · August 2017

I started out in DC. The Glenumbra quests were so bad I almost quit the game (I love the zone, just not a fan of "run in a circle, now run in that circle again, ok now run in that circle again" type quests). So I made alts in EP and AD to see if they were any better. They were.

One Tamriel was the best thing ever. So much freedom now, the only quests I dislike that I really have to do anyway are in Coldharbour.

BlackSparrow · August 2017

I can generally push through any zone, but there are a couple zones that I find it harder to get back into than others.

Shadowfen: The whole thing just feels dark and wet, and you can't walk two steps off the path without running into a crocodile. Also, the storyline just doesn't capture my imagination... the questline just feels disjointed to me.

Auridon: Make no mistake: the zone is gorgeous and has one of my favorite characters in the game, but I have played it through six times now. There are no surprises left in that zone for me, and honestly, Queen Ayrenn, as a character, bores me to tears, and it just gets worse with each repetition.

Stormhaven: Stormhaven feels like just an extension of Glenumbra, so setting fatigue generally sets in sometime between Koeglin Village and Wayrest. And I already find the setting pretty samey with many other fantasy games, with nothing neat or different to make me want to stay there longer than necessary.

There are things I like about each zone, even these, but yeah, when my alts get to these zones, I tend to look forward to finishing it and getting to the next one.