Is The Elder Scrolls Online worth playing in 2022?
Hello everyone and welcome to The Elder Scrolls Online game review, in which we will be looking at the game in an unbiased manner until we reach a fair and honest conclusion to answer the question: is it worth playing?
About The Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Online, or ESO for short, is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) where you go on adventures in the world of Tamriel with thousands of other players. Being an entry in The Elder Scrolls franchise, fans of the previous games, such as Oblivion and Skyrim, will feel right at home in ESO with the all too familiar locations and lore elements.
Originally released in April 2014, the game is still receiving regular updates and major expansions to this day, with the arrival of the latest chapter, High Isle, earlier this year. ESO is one of the top MMORPGs currently in the market, with over 150.000 daily active players and 3 million on a monthly basis, and in this review, we will be looking at the many reasons that contribute to this immense popularity.
Story
Many storylines unfold in The Elder Scrolls Online, and while there is a main story that the player can follow, players may also choose to follow other paths and forge their own adventures. Each zone and expansion have its own stories, with intriguing plot elements, superb writing, and, on top of that, everything is fully voice-acted. Even smaller locations such as dungeons and delves have their little quests that help with player immersion and explain the events that are happening in the place, so you’re never left without context.
If the player so chooses to follow the main story, they will be engulfed by the intriguing plotline of escaping the ethereal realm of Coldharbour and fighting against the malicious Daedric Prince Molag Bal. If you enjoy a fantasy adventure with high stakes at risk, then you won’t be disappointed.
Watch the Cinematic Trailer of The Elder Scrolls Online:
Gameplay
The Elder Scrolls Online is one of the MMORPGs that allow the most freedom to the player when it comes to customizing their character. On the character creation screen, you will be able to select your race, which will define your PvP faction, your class, and your appearance with an extensive list of options. Once you enter the world of Tamriel, you can then select your weapon and armor type, each with its own set of passive and active abilities, allowing for an incredible number of possible combinations between class, weapon, and armor choices.
There are almost endless possibilities in The Elder Scrolls Online, whether you want to be a powerful warrior, defeat challenging bosses, compete against other players in PvP, or invest in a crafting profession to become rich. PvE challenges include world bosses, dungeons, delves, trials, and plenty of quests, while PvP options include many battleground modes, duels, and the large-scale war of Cyrodiil.
One of the most interesting aspects of ESO is the fact that you can go to any zone of the game at any point of your journey, with open-world challenges being scaled to your current level. That scaling means that you are free to follow the path that you choose instead of being forced into the same linear progression as every other player. Your adventure always feels unique and the world of Tamriel is huge, with countless zones populated by charismatic NPCs waiting to share their story with you.
Watch a playthrough of The Elder Scrolls Online:
Combat
Combat in The Elder Scrolls Online happens through an action combat system, meaning that there is no targeting like in old school MMORPGs, instead being a system that feels more dynamic and skill-based, with manual aiming and active dodging.
Characters progress in strength through their mastery or expertise in a certain skill line. For example, if you choose to wield a Two-Handed Weapon, you will gain experience points in that skill line and eventually unlock new abilities. Players can change their weapon and armor types at any point, however, they will have to gain experience in their new skill lines of choice to unlock their abilities.
While the max level in ESO is level 50, from that point onwards your character will earn Champion Points, which can be used to unlock permanent passive enhancements, providing further customization and freedom to the player when making their builds.
There are many elements to be enjoyed in ESO’s combat system, but it certainly isn’t perfect. The game counts with animation canceling, meaning that you can cancel the animation of certain moves with other inputs, allowing players to do more actions in less time. While this can be interesting to veteran and highly skilled players, it makes for a somewhat clunky combat system, with animations that don’t look good at all because they are constantly being stopped by other animations, to the point of looking buggy and very confusing, especially in PvP.
The dynamic and chaotic nature of ESO’s combat also means that players with higher latency simply won’t be able to compete against players who are in North America or Europe, since the game doesn’t have servers located in any other part of the world.
Watch a showcase of the combat in The Elder Scrolls Online:
Quest/Mission System
One of the most enjoyable parts of The Elder Scrolls Online is the questing system. Every NPC in the game is fully voice-acted, providing great immersion and making the dialogues feel less stale in comparison to games that don’t have this feature.
Major questlines will take you through the story of important NPCs and zones of the game, but the true magic of ESO lies in the many interesting side quests scattered around Tamriel. There is a unique quest to every dungeon and delve in the game, and some of them are really enjoyable too. You will be helping unlucky Argonians to reverse polymorph spells, free talking ravens from their own hubris of staring into mirrors, raid vampire lairs to defeat powerful blood lords, and much more.
Graphics
For a game that is almost 10 years old by now, The Elder Scrolls Online certainly holds up in the graphical aspect. Character models are realistic and the world of Tamriel is very beautiful, with many unique landscapes for you to discover.
The same cannot be said about the animations though. Combat animations, in particular, are very bad and lack the impact necessary to make the player feel proper feedback. More often than not, characters are flailing their arms around like ragdolls without any weight to their movements.
Developer
If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last decade, then you’ll know that The Elder Scrolls franchise is developed by the juggernaut that is Bethesda. With such a huge company backing the game, it is no surprise that they have the budget and talent to create long-lasting high-quality content. However, there have been some issues when it comes to player feedback and communication between the player base and the developers.
Price
The base game of The Elder Scrolls Online costs $19.99 and can be acquired on PC through their website or Steam, as well as on the consoles PS4, PS5, Xbox One e Xbox Series X|S. It is very common to see the game at great discount prices from time to time, so keep an eye out for that.
On top of the base game, you can also buy DLCs or subscribe to ESO Plus. DLCs range from minor content such as single dungeons to major expansions like story chapters, with varied prices depending on the size of the DLC. ESO Plus subscriptions give you access to every DLC in the game, except for the latest story chapter, for as long as you have an active subscription. There is also an in-game cash shop that sells cosmetics and services such as character appearance change tokens, thankfully, with no pay-to-win elements present.
With so many options, ESO is one of the games that offer the most freedom to the player on how much money they want to spend on the game
Final Verdict: 8/10
The Elder Scrolls Online is absolutely worth it when it comes to MMORPGs in 2022. It remains a popular and relevant title in the genre, with up to date graphics, amazing story, and a fun combat system once you get the hang of it. There are many PvP modes and plenty of challenging PvE content, plus a lot of crafting professions for you to choose from, making this a great recommendation for any sort of MMO player.
Pros:
- Players can enjoy their own unique adventure without level restrictions in zones;
- Every NPC is fully voice-acted, adding a lot to the immersion of the game;
- The main story and side quests alike have very interesting plot lines and characters;
- Great customization freedom is given to the player when building their character;
- Many PvE and PvP options such as world bosses, dungeons, delves, trials, battlegrounds, and Cyrodiil;
- Flexible payment options;
- Graphics have held up pretty well for a 2014 game.
Cons:
- Graphics that aim for realism at doomed to become dated given enough time;
- Combat Animations look very ugly and clunky, especially with animation canceling;
- Latency issues are very common, with servers located only in North America and Europe;
- Grinding is very time-consuming if you want to be a competitive player, both in earning Champion Points and upgrading your gear.
