AScarlato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I made sure to not do the romance option at the end, it just did not make sense for me. Darien just lost someone he loved and jumping in the sack with my Khajiit who has been has fighting companion through all of the content was not what I would have chosen. I suppose those who wanted that option could justify it in someway that made sense for them. I would bet that the content would have been rated even higher if it had not been split so that is was more timely and coherent.

It made sense to me. Darien cared for Gabrielle but he met her around the same time we did in DC. After the events of Summerset, the Player Character became the person he cared about the most and he states as such in the letter. Gabrielle was absent for all of these pivotal events.

It also makes sense that if you are playing a character who does not have this level of history with him, the romance is simply not on the table.

Naturally, this all hinges on the player's interest in Darien as a romance option, since if you are not then you simply can not pursue it, and it's fairly easy to just ignore those dialogue options if that is the case.

My character has all the history with him that she possibly could. The DC storyline, Coldharbour, Summerset, and now Solstice. As far as Darien is concerned, he has been on ice since Coldharbour with only a brief cameo in Summerset before he is snatched back and the first thing he sees is Gabrielle being killed. It hasn’t been much time since then as far as he is concerned. He chased after Gabrielle’s ghost in one story quest in Solstice and seemed distraught about her. Romance is completely unreasonable at this point in my opinion, but other people may disagree.

The one other thing I forgot the mention in my write up is the lack of information as to how Mannimarco escaped Coldharbour. I chose to let him rot there in the main quest, perhaps his appearance fits the other option of setting him free instead, but I would have liked an explanation. The loading screens show artwork of what I think is Wormblood and others with glowing blue eyes, and the face of Molag Bal above them. When I saw that I really thought Molag Bal had sent Mannimarco back to oversee the events of the story as a sort of prisoner for whatever reason, and the events led him to take Wormblood’s body to do that, but now that I know he had nothing to do with it, it makes less sense.

I liked Part 1, lots of story, lots of interesting places, some nice hidden things. Could have done without all the bugs and still I cannot get all those treasure map leads. Dungeons were fine, although I prefer them easier these days, I am not going to be doing them much, but yes they were great, just not for me. Could have done without the writhing wall event, liked the siege camps, when they eventually worked as intended, the bugs with the rest of the quests and especially that Fortress put me right off the game.

I ignored Part 2 for some time, I am only now calming down from the writhing wall event, I gave them plenty of time to fix any bugs before I accidentally found them. I was not happy it took so long to fix the skyshards, I still had one quest bug out, although I managed to complete it, but it was a disappointment not being able to do all the of quest, I did all the work and only got half the credit. I am sulking, love exploring the new area, but not planning on doing the main quest for some time if ever. My alt accounts are not likely to do anything but delve quests for some time. They will eventually all do the fishing, main account finished it fine, so that at least seems safe to do. As far as I know my main account just has the main quest and a area quest up the top to do, I am not doing the main quest for a while and the area quest I am suspicious of, seems too complex to be without bugs.

Overall it got only 6 because of all the bugs we had to put up with (with all of it), for afflicting us with that writhing wall event, and for treating us like idiots. Level design was great, main story was OK, rest of the story elements were good, that fortress could have been fantastic, but doing it once for each of 3 accounts I was not going to have a fourth go at it, so never found out if they ever got it to work as intended. They better wait a fair while to bring it back for a second round, I still need to forget all the frustration it caused me. Solstice did seem a bit smaller than usual, but perhaps just splitting it in 2 managed to make it seem smaller.

I gave it a 8, but under the following conditions:
I bought the pass in the Black Friday sale for €17.
I completely skipped the Writhing Wall event.
I don't play dungeons and I don't play PVP.
I ignore sub classing; for PVE my main char gets along fine with the pure class.

For €17, I spent a few enjoyable hours in Solstice.
I know some people are bothered by ZOS, constantly bringing back “old” characters, but for me, these old characters were the reason I decided to purchase the pass during the sale.
My favorite side quest was the one in Xor-Hist. I enjoyed the banter between the two characters Mani-Kai and Xica-Ilan. I would actually like to see them again.

I didn't find the writing in general as negative as others did. I don't expect world literature from an MMO. I had the impression that it was better than in the Necrom/Goldroad DLC. But maybe, because I liked the characters much more.

The original price of 50 .. no, it wouldn't be worth it to me, but 17 € was ok.

2025 was by far the worst year for ESO to date. People have already posted most of the reasons why.

katanagirl1 wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I made sure to not do the romance option at the end, it just did not make sense for me. Darien just lost someone he loved and jumping in the sack with my Khajiit who has been has fighting companion through all of the content was not what I would have chosen. I suppose those who wanted that option could justify it in someway that made sense for them. I would bet that the content would have been rated even higher if it had not been split so that is was more timely and coherent.

It made sense to me. Darien cared for Gabrielle but he met her around the same time we did in DC. After the events of Summerset, the Player Character became the person he cared about the most and he states as such in the letter. Gabrielle was absent for all of these pivotal events.

It also makes sense that if you are playing a character who does not have this level of history with him, the romance is simply not on the table.

Naturally, this all hinges on the player's interest in Darien as a romance option, since if you are not then you simply can not pursue it, and it's fairly easy to just ignore those dialogue options if that is the case.

He chased after Gabrielle’s ghost in one story quest in Solstice and seemed distraught about her. Romance is completely unreasonable at this point in my opinion, but other people may disagree.

I'm not really going to argue over your opinion as to whether the romance makes sense for you. But the characters are in a setting where their lives in theory could end at any time. (The game mechanics of there being no actual threat in the story are another matter.) If you cannot foresee romance between two characters that come into each other's lives on multiple occasions, often under intense stress and life & death situations and for one of them, some of the most important moments in their existence, then so be it.

One can also care deeply about someone they are close with and still be in love with someone else. Hence Darien acknowledging Gabrielle but placing the player character above her in the Summerset letter. Darien's caring for Gabrielle should not be confused as being on the same level that Gabrielle pined for Darien.

Anyway, I just disagree that the narrative is "completely unreasonable" as there are obvious reasons why the romance is actually "reasonable" if a player/character is interested in the romance.

AScarlato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I made sure to not do the romance option at the end, it just did not make sense for me. Darien just lost someone he loved and jumping in the sack with my Khajiit who has been has fighting companion through all of the content was not what I would have chosen. I suppose those who wanted that option could justify it in someway that made sense for them. I would bet that the content would have been rated even higher if it had not been split so that is was more timely and coherent.

It made sense to me. Darien cared for Gabrielle but he met her around the same time we did in DC. After the events of Summerset, the Player Character became the person he cared about the most and he states as such in the letter. Gabrielle was absent for all of these pivotal events.

It also makes sense that if you are playing a character who does not have this level of history with him, the romance is simply not on the table.

Naturally, this all hinges on the player's interest in Darien as a romance option, since if you are not then you simply can not pursue it, and it's fairly easy to just ignore those dialogue options if that is the case.

He chased after Gabrielle’s ghost in one story quest in Solstice and seemed distraught about her. Romance is completely unreasonable at this point in my opinion, but other people may disagree.

I'm not really going to argue over your opinion as to whether the romance makes sense for you. But the characters are in a setting where their lives in theory could end at any time. (The game mechanics of there being no actual threat in the story are another matter.) If you cannot foresee romance between two characters that come into each other's lives on multiple occasions, often under intense stress and life & death situations and for one of them, some of the most important moments in their existence, then so be it.

One can also care deeply about someone they are close with and still be in love with someone else. Hence Darien acknowledging Gabrielle but placing the player character above her in the Summerset letter. Darien's caring for Gabrielle should not be confused as being on the same level that Gabrielle pined for Darien.

Anyway, I just disagree that the narrative is "completely unreasonable" as there are obvious reasons why the romance is actually "reasonable" if a player/character is interested in the romance.

I did say it was unreasonable from my point of view, of course it might be different for others like you.

I guess the whole thing would have made more sense to me if Darien had stayed the ladies man he was before he got attached to Gabrielle, then romance with the player character would have been more believable for me.

it was awful in many ways.

subclassing is probably the best thing about it, and that was hugely problematic for how it impacts the future of the game

the writhing wall event was plagued with issues, and at its core design, was a big miss. no one wanted to wait as long as it took to progress through the stages

the price was insulting. more expensive than a chapter, yet with less content than a chapter? i don't know how they justify that. shrinkflation? well, not buying anything in 2026, that's the result

and it was less content. past chapters gave dungeons, a fully developed zone and an extra zone in q4. we didn't get that in season of the worm cult

so, yeah, what would i like going forward? for sure, a season that costs what a chapter cost. and, a season that's as packed with as much content as a chapter was. a return to cinematics. a return to what eso was before, when reveals were exciting

i'm not optimistic

also, vengeance was awful (not really a part of season of the worm cult, but it's another negative experience to add to the pile)

AScarlato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I made sure to not do the romance option at the end, it just did not make sense for me. Darien just lost someone he loved and jumping in the sack with my Khajiit who has been has fighting companion through all of the content was not what I would have chosen. I suppose those who wanted that option could justify it in someway that made sense for them. I would bet that the content would have been rated even higher if it had not been split so that is was more timely and coherent.

It made sense to me. Darien cared for Gabrielle but he met her around the same time we did in DC. After the events of Summerset, the Player Character became the person he cared about the most and he states as such in the letter. Gabrielle was absent for all of these pivotal events.

It also makes sense that if you are playing a character who does not have this level of history with him, the romance is simply not on the table.

Naturally, this all hinges on the player's interest in Darien as a romance option, since if you are not then you simply can not pursue it, and it's fairly easy to just ignore those dialogue options if that is the case.

He chased after Gabrielle’s ghost in one story quest in Solstice and seemed distraught about her. Romance is completely unreasonable at this point in my opinion, but other people may disagree.

I'm not really going to argue over your opinion as to whether the romance makes sense for you. But the characters are in a setting where their lives in theory could end at any time. (The game mechanics of there being no actual threat in the story are another matter.) If you cannot foresee romance between two characters that come into each other's lives on multiple occasions, often under intense stress and life & death situations and for one of them, some of the most important moments in their existence, then so be it.

One can also care deeply about someone they are close with and still be in love with someone else. Hence Darien acknowledging Gabrielle but placing the player character above her in the Summerset letter. Darien's caring for Gabrielle should not be confused as being on the same level that Gabrielle pined for Darien.

Anyway, I just disagree that the narrative is "completely unreasonable" as there are obvious reasons why the romance is actually "reasonable" if a player/character is interested in the romance.

I did say it was unreasonable from my point of view, of course it might be different for others like you.

I guess the whole thing would have made more sense to me if Darien had stayed the ladies man he was before he got attached to Gabrielle, then romance with the player character would have been more believable for me.

That would have just made a romance with the player as more sudden and out of the blue to me, and worse than the version of Darien who actually started to slowly change in ways during his narrative.

I think you really are viewing the presence of Gabrielle, and their friendship, as deeper than what's actually presented to us. Perhaps if we were discussing a romance with Gabrielle and viewing her feelings towards Darien your perspective would make more sense to me - but not in regards to Darien's view of Gabrielle.

But to each their own.

Yes, that is exactly the way the relationship was portrayed to me, deeper than a friendship. Perhaps I am mistaken about that but that is how both of them seemed to act toward each other to me.