Are the cities in ESO more accurate, or in the other TES games?

TheQueenOfWorms · August 2019

In ESO the cities are really big. In Skyrim (the actual game) they're really small. For example Riften. I mean, obviously they're bigger in ESO because it's an MMO, but lore wise, are the cities in ESO more accurate, or in the other Elder Scrolls games like Skyrim and Oblivion? I've been thinking about this for a while.

psychotrip · August 2019

In terms of scale eso is closer. In terms of everything else the other games are closer. ESO copy pastes the same assets across every city per race. That's not how the cities look in lore.

Bruccius · August 2019

Scale and residents? ESO.
Detail? Main series.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · August 2019

Everything is of course bigger lore-wise, so whichever is bigger is more accurate in scale. Although, the cities are even bigger than they are portrayed in ESO. Using Riften as an example aswell. I highly doubt that such a main city of Skyrim that has quite a focus on trading, is not even 100 people.

gepe87 · August 2019

Abah's Landing scale should be the model for all Chapters main cities.

Aristocles22 · September 2019

The only places where ESO gets the city details correct is (probably) on Vvardenfell, where they had models from TES II: Morrowind to go off of, and the grown "buildings" in Valenwood. The mainland city buildings in ESO's Morrowind are basically copy-paste versions of the ones seen in Mournhold, apart from the Tribunal Temple, of course.

Nestor · September 2019

Did you ever play Daggerfall? Cities are huge in that game. And map distances such that you have to fast travel. So, for look and feel, that game has cities that feel like cities, and distances that are more Lore correct.

Every other game uses the scale model train method of providing a representation of the city.

Now, which is better? Daggerfall had lots of empty buildings, and walking around the cities gets old real quick. As for overland, a lot of it was riding through nothing. I prefer the more representative model myself, playing on a map that is denser with content is more efficient

psychotrip · September 2019

Nestor wrote: »

Did you ever play Daggerfall? Cities are huge in that game. And map distances such that you have to fast travel. So, for look and feel, that game has cities that feel like cities, and distances that are more Lore correct.

Every other game uses the scale model train method of providing a representation of the city.

Now, which is better? Daggerfall had lots of empty buildings, and walking around the cities gets old real quick. As for overland, a lot of it was riding through nothing. I prefer the more representative model myself, playing on a map that is denser with content is more efficient

If only one day we could get the best of both worlds...

ArchMikem · September 2019

TheQueenOfWorms wrote: »

In ESO the cities are really big.

No, they're really not. No game has shown cities in their proper size as a city of thousands or tens of thousands would be. Take Wayrest in ESO. It's a major trading port for all of Iliac Bay. If it were the size it should be realistically, the city itself would take up half of all Stormhaven in-game.

The closest ZOS has come to creating cities that "feel" like legitimate cities, is Orsinium, Sunhold, and Orcrest. The funny thing is two out of my three examples are public delves, meaning ZOS got away with making those cities much larger and more dense because they have their own world space separate from the overworld. Orsinium doesn't, and because of that when Wrothgar first launched, the overwhelming demand on people's systems would cause them to crash horrifically every time you got near the place until ZOS ironed out the performance.

I really do wish cities were as large as they should be, and you could spend a good hour real time wandering their streets. But that's just not the game we have. Or ever had.

Ajaxandriel · September 2019

"Are the cities in ESO more accurate, or in the other TES games?"
Accurate regarding what? The scale? Obviously yes.
Each game show us a representation, thus a model, a mockup, of the "ideal" fictional place, but the more game engine power there is, the more detailed.

Anyway the different games have us experience different versions - and moments - of the TES universe.
One should play at ESO, with ESO representation as the standard (and other games as "expanded universe" background). And one should play a TES game with this TES game representation as the standard (and other games including ESO as "expanded universe" background).
Everything is accurate as a point of view, I'd say.

vilio11 · September 2019

Nestor wrote: »

Did you ever play Daggerfall? Cities are huge in that game. And map distances such that you have to fast travel. So, for look and feel, that game has cities that feel like cities, and distances that are more Lore correct.

Every other game uses the scale model train method of providing a representation of the city.

Now, which is better? Daggerfall had lots of empty buildings, and walking around the cities gets old real quick. As for overland, a lot of it was riding through nothing. I prefer the more representative model myself, playing on a map that is denser with content is more efficient

The problem with High Rock is not that diverse as biomes and architecture. The provinces are suppose to be an alliance of city states and in every zone in High Rock there are only one big city(the capital).And there are not cultural difference between in the zones and between the zones( Glenumbra,Stormhaven, Rivenspire and Bangkorai) exept Wrothgar

Anumaril · September 2019

gepe87 wrote: »

Abah's Landing scale should be the model for all Chapters main cities.

I would amend that to say "should be a model for all cities". Something I can't stand in this game is how most cities feel so artificial, as if barely anyone lives there or hardly any houses exist in them. Another thing I've noticed are the MASSIVE streets/paths that exist in this game compared to the single-player ones.
Abah's Landing has its fair share of out-of-place boulevards but it also has a great deal of smaller streets/alleyways, and feels like a proper city with a nice amount of buildings in it. Other cities like ESO's Rifen are eye-sores that I prefer to stay away from at all costs.

The Elder Scrolls Online

Are the cities in ESO more accurate, or in the other TES games?

Best Answers