Why is so much of the games "newer" dlc content sounds so cringe?

Ordinator199 · May 25

The game is rated 17+, but the dialogue and writing are so cringy in some parts that they feel like they cater to an 8-year-old at best. I just finished the Southern Elsweyr questline, and I had to skip most of it and turn off the audio—especially because of that crowned "Night Mother" cat character, who spoke like she had substance abuse issues. On top of that, the game throws constant "horse simulator" fodder at you. You have to run to one place just to speak to someone, and then immediately run another 2km to the next spot because there is no nearby wayshrine. Teleporting to guild peers fixes the travel time, but it still breaks your immersion. The dragon battles are equally underwhelming and formulaic; the dragon lands, you beat it down by 5% to 10% of its health, it flies up while you fight its adds, and then it lands to repeat the whole cycle (lair of maarselok is the most boring/least played dungeon for a reason). It all felt incredibly low-effort, especially since the game already has artillery present that could have been used in the questline to actually force the dragon to land.

moo_2021 · May 26

I just don't like being forced to play heroes in every quests. Why can't we side with whoever want to destory the world, scam antique collectors, go house to house with scary looking companions to collect protection fees, or take a heavy bag of gold from some shady merchant to murder a good honest judge?

AScarlato · May 26

I actually really enjoyed Southern Elsweyr, and I love Clan Mother Tadali.

Also found the dragons fun.

I do believe we have had writing issues in more recent stories which have been discussed here before, but to each their own.

Blood_again · May 26

Ordinator199 wrote: »

especially because of that crowned "Night Mother" cat character, who spoke like she had substance abuse issues

Jajo human saj +oh kor ahzirr an kujith ahzirr.
Khajiit honor that outlander by speaking his strange language, while they could always speak their native Ta'agra in their motherland and simply use the help of a translator, yes.
Though the outlander doesn't appreciate the hospitality. This one is sharpening one's claws in order to answer the insults.

PrinceShroob · May 26

Your own writing would be significantly improved by using paragraphs.

I'm afraid I just don't think your criticisms of the writing are particularly salient--you're mainly just leveling an accusation of being "cringy" and "for 8-year-olds" without any elaboration or specifics. There's excellent media "for 8-year-olds," like Paper Mario, a personal favorite of mine, and atrocious media for adults that's full of violence and sex and has all the depth of a saucer.

Southern Elsweyr has one of my absolute favorite quests, "Chiaroscuro Crossroads," which I found to be an emotionally compelling story about terminal illness and the capriciousness of Daedric Princes.

moo_2021 wrote: »

Why can't we side with whoever want to destory the world, scam antique collectors, go house to house with scary looking companions to collect protection fees, or take a heavy bag of gold from some shady merchant to murder a good honest judge?

Firstly, a cursory examination of discussions around story-driven single-player games like Baldur's Gate 3 shows that people typically choose the "good" path first. It makes sense to invest the most development time in that path, since the majority of people will see it.

Secondly, due to the reality of this game being a MMO, you can't have huge departures from the status quo. You destroy the world, you're stuck with it that way. What, you want Mehrunes Dagon to atomize Tamriel and then do writs in the rubble? Sometimes it's interesting to have an evil option available if only to make your choice to be good more poignant--but the game doesn't usually offer those because you can't just reload to "see what happens."

Thirdly, there's no shortage of petty nastiness you can get up to, such as robbing roadside merchants or doing the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines. Hell, if you've never met Darien Gautier before Solstice, you can tell him to kill himself.

Ordinator199 · May 28

PrinceShroob wrote: »

Your own writing would be significantly improved by using paragraphs.

I'm afraid I just don't think your criticisms of the writing are particularly salient--you're mainly just leveling an accusation of being "cringy" and "for 8-year-olds" without any elaboration or specifics. There's excellent media "for 8-year-olds," like Paper Mario, a personal favorite of mine, and atrocious media for adults that's full of violence and sex and has all the depth of a saucer.

Southern Elsweyr has one of my absolute favorite quests, "Chiaroscuro Crossroads," which I found to be an emotionally compelling story about terminal illness and the capriciousness of Daedric Princes.

moo_2021 wrote: »

Why can't we side with whoever want to destory the world, scam antique collectors, go house to house with scary looking companions to collect protection fees, or take a heavy bag of gold from some shady merchant to murder a good honest judge?

Firstly, a cursory examination of discussions around story-driven single-player games like Baldur's Gate 3 shows that people typically choose the "good" path first. It makes sense to invest the most development time in that path, since the majority of people will see it.

Secondly, due to the reality of this game being a MMO, you can't have huge departures from the status quo. You destroy the world, you're stuck with it that way. What, you want Mehrunes Dagon to atomize Tamriel and then do writs in the rubble? Sometimes it's interesting to have an evil option available if only to make your choice to be good more poignant--but the game doesn't usually offer those because you can't just reload to "see what happens."

Thirdly, there's no shortage of petty nastiness you can get up to, such as robbing roadside merchants or doing the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines. Hell, if you've never met Darien Gautier before Solstice, you can tell him to kill himself.

[snip]

You’re proving my point without realizing it. You wrote three paragraphs defending the concept of simple writing instead of addressing why ESO’s actual dialogue constantly sounds sanitized, predictable, and emotionally weightless.

Nobody said media aimed at younger audiences can’t be good. Paper Mario works because it has charm wit timing, and confidence in its tone. ESO writing often sounds like it was filtered through five layers of corporate HR review until every character speaks with the same safe, Marvel-style cadence z generation style.

And pointing to one decent questline out of years of content doesn’t really refute the criticism. Every long-running MMO has isolated moments of good writing. The issue is the overall pattern: endless “quirky” dialogue, zero meaningful player agency, and villains who monologue like they’re auditioning for a Saturday morning cartoon.

Your BG3 comparison also kind of hurts your argument. People choosing the good path first doesn’t mean evil paths shouldn’t exist or shouldn’t matter. BG3 is praised precisely because it respects player choice enough to let people roleplay beyond “generic helpful adventurer #482.”

The world doesn’t react in a meaningful way, your character doesn’t meaningfully diverge, and five minutes later the game shoves you back onto the same rails anyway.
[edited for trolling]

Silaf · May 28

It's not a recent problem. Our character is treated as a mentally challenged individual in many quests.
Npc feel the need to repeat the same thing over and over and give you false choices that lead to the same result.

ZOS people that rush trough quest will simply not bother give the ones that follow the feeling of being heroes not fetch dogs.

emilyhyoyeon · May 29

Yeah I never understood the hype of the Southern Elsweyr MQ. Alfiq characters in particular feel like their existence is just le meme too often. Kinda feels that way for all of the khajiit forms tbh other than the basegame standard cathay, or cathay-raht in the case of Zamarak, who does not suffer this issue.

I think the side quests were good, especially the one in Black Heights.

tomofhyrule · May 29

emilyhyoyeon wrote: »

Yeah I never understood the hype of the Southern Elsweyr MQ. Alfiq characters in particular feel like their existence is just le meme too often. Kinda feels that way for all of the khajiit forms tbh other than the basegame standard cathay, or cathay-raht in the case of Zamarak, who does not suffer this issue.

I think the side quests were good, especially the one in Black Heights.

I have long thought that a large percentage of Khajiit, and the Alfiq in particular, were put in specifically because of the internet's "i can haz cheezburger" love of funny/cute cats. A lot of the time, that does fall really flat for me, but I know that I'm in the minority of the playerbase on that front (who would probably change everyone to Khajiit if they could).

I still remember struggling through the High Isle storyline (the worst one by far), finally making it to the Firesong story, which was significantly better, and then needing to talk to Za'ji to start the epilogue. I let that quest sit for a full year because I just couldn't bring myself to deal with that clown again.

ESO's writing though has been on a downturn for a while. I get that everyone has different standards and that some people like lighter and some like heavier and the like... but I really don't think we've had something like Orsinium since. Every line lately is just chock full of MCU-brand writing, a flighty plucky companion to explain everything to you like you're five, and an utter lack of brain cells. I'll admit, I almost choked on my drink when the reveal stream stressed that ESO was "going back to its strength: the storytelling," which I think has been its weakest point for years now.

mrreow · May 29

Look mate, this is the game for the broadest, lowest common denominator, all kinds of people. They cannot make it into some sort of philosophical, serious quest line because... most people would give up after second reference to Hegel.

So they just peddle some drivel that anyone will be able to easily process and forget about it the next day. This is the safest route.

Dracane · May 29

It gets so much worse later.

blktauna · May 30

I really object to the talking down and the constant repetition like I have the attention span of a gnat. They guy they have in charge of story has failed hugely and unless some real effort id made folks will stop bothering.

Hopefully now that the timelines are eased, this will allow for vbbetter story development.

ZOS_Icy · May 30

Greetings,

We have recently removed some unnecessary back and forth from this thread. This is a reminder to keep the discussion civil and constructive. Please keep our Community Rules in mind moving forward.

The Elder Scrolls Online Team

CatalinaWineMixer2 · May 30

People have different tastes when it comes to storyline/themes. While I prefer a more serious type of theme, a lot of people are into cute little bunny rabbits and unicorns. In their defense, I wouldn't want to see these things diminished or taken away. I honorably accept this aspect of the game.

As far the sense of feeling like the story is being repeated by the npc, I think its really to accommodate and reinforce an understanding. And also for the super casual players. They may begin a zone or quest and not revisit it for a week or even a month.

I do think Zos takes a lot of feedback into consideration for future content. I really do not see them changing any of the pervious content unless it's to expand upon it or for quality of life or bug fixes.

Athory · May 30

[snip] [snip] ... Yeap, just that.