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Angry Joe Elder Scrolls Online Review

fvng

fvng

Member
I wonder why people aren't as brutal/unforgiving with TESO as they were with FF14.

Not saying TESO isn't getting trashed but certainly not as badly and I don't remember FF14 being as broken as TESO. FF14 didn't feel broken at launch, it's biggest problem was that it felt like an average game.
 
S

Stratn

Member
Freaking love this guys reviews, puts so much effort in to each review, and articulates each point very well. AJ reviews are better than any of the "Big Gaming web sites" when it comes to his reviews, in my opinion.

After this review, I will be staying away from this MMO
 
H

highoffcoffee496

Member
coldfoot said:
38 minutes means it's a great review. It would have been amazing if it were 39.
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83411-I-understood-that-reference-gi-6jlf.gif
 
C

CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls

Banned
HowZatOZ said:
I'd argue the game is far from "DOA" considering every zone I've been in there are numerous people running around enjoying what the game offers them. Of course, this is my opinion from playing the game but yeah, far from dead and far from a terrible experience that people expected coming out of beta.
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Maybe I should rephrase it. In my opinion, it's DOA in that I have no desire to invest my money and time into it like I have with Skyrim. Any MMO is going to have a large influx of players at the very beginning. Especially one with the Elder Scrolls tag attached to it.

Given time, however, I expect there to be a lot of attrition. From what I've heard, the first 10 hours of the game are a massive grind of fetch quests. I expect that to turn new players away. MMO vets--probably not.
 
Fuz

Fuz

Banned
antitrop said:
It's clear this game should have never existed. I don't know why anyone would play this over Oblivion/Skyrim with mods, or WoW/FF XIV.
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Because it's funnier.
I've had it with wow, and ffxiv, after you cap your first class, is just an incredibly boring grindfest of fates.
 
M

markot

Banned
fvng said:
I wonder why people aren't as brutal/unforgiving with TESO as they were with FF14.

Not saying TESO isn't getting trashed but certainly not as badly and I don't remember FF14 being as broken as TESO. FF14 didn't feel broken at launch, it's biggest problem was that it felt like an average game.
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Final Fantasy had a history as an mmo. Also people seem less interested in this generally.
 
B

blankempathy

Member
fvng said:
I wonder why people aren't as brutal/unforgiving with TESO as they were with FF14.

Not saying TESO isn't getting trashed but certainly not as badly and I don't remember FF14 being as broken as TESO. FF14 didn't feel broken at launch, it's biggest problem was that it felt like an average game.
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Might of been because the Final Fantasy fan base is kinda rabid plus it was essentially the successor to FFXI so you had those fans who were also disappointed.
 
T

TekGryphon

Banned
NemesisPrime said:
And why does this give you joy?
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Because it shows Adam Smith was right about the market responding to informed consumer decisions. He wasn't right, because most consumers aren't informed, but it makes us feel good to hope.

This is a mediocre game with the worst combination of rip-off payment mechanics I have ever seen. Full price PLUS subscription PLUS pay-wall for basic features. People who bought this game were the same type of people who bought Sim City.
 
N

NemesisPrime

Banned
Vashetti said:
A Realm Reborn is incredibly polished and leagues better than ESO. A Realm Reborn is keeping that userbase.

We'll see in a few months how many stick with ESO once their bundled 30 days runs out.
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Lol no... Realm reborn is a boring by-the-numbers-MMO that is only popular because the FF fanbase wants something to play since they have had no good FF game for ages TBH.

ESO has a lot of things that old school players like. Maybe it isn't a game for the WoW fans, but it certainly is a game for the AC fans like me. F2P usually f*cks up an MMO anyway... very few do it right (none IMHO) so I prefer my MMOs to be sub based.

This is a mediocre game with the worst combination of rip-off payment mechanics I have ever seen. Full price PLUS subscription PLUS pay-wall for basic features. People who bought this game were the same type of people who bought Sim City.
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Wow... just wow. I think I am out of this thread.
 
P

pooptest

Member
HowZatOZ said:
I highly, highly doubt it will be free-to-play by the end of this year. If Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn can survive on 500,000 with its most likely absorbent budget than ESO can easily do the same. You'll see the console versions at E3.
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Wasn't it announced they have 2m subs with 500k daily logins?
 
fvng

fvng

Member
I really would have loved if TESO was in first person perspective, but then you couldn't do micro transactions on attire and other bullshit since you would rarely see it.
 
J

jtenma

Banned
For all people who don't want to sit through an entire video, just listen to that one segment at 28:17.

What he said seems reasonable, no? No hyperbole, no jokes, no nothing. Just disappointment.

After only playing the beta, being iffy about it, and then seeing this in depth review... I have to side with Joe this time.

TBH, I didnt think they could pull off a multiplayer TES game anyway FWIW.
 
T

Twinduct

Member
I have a friend whose been pimping me on this game. I played the beta with him but really got annoyed with the usual MMO shortcomings (or rather tropes) during my time with the beta and decided against it. My friend decided not to extend his sub until some of the game issues is sorted out.

Something I love about Joe is that there never feels like there is any Bias before the reviews hit. I follow him on Twitter and I honestly assumed this would rate pretty high in his review considering the hype he had for the game before launch and during the review. Granted I weren't waiting on every tweet, so missed a lot of it. But the general feel I got from the occasional glance was positive.

On the game itself, it seems pretty crazy that there is no player housing. Hell real estate is such a staple for the series by now that it's a damn weird absence. Although I imagine this is more of a feature held back for the eventual Expansion.
 
J

jtenma

Banned
fvng said:
I really would have loved if TESO was in first person perspective, but then you couldn't do micro transactions on attire and other bullshit since you would rarely see it.
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What? It is. You can switch back and forth like in the single player games...

Unless they took it out since beta that I played?
 
P

pooptest

Member
dreamer3kx said:
I dont think it sounds bad, it looks like they make you work for a horse which I dont see what the problem is in that, I dont know.
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Nothing was as bad as getting a chocobo license in FFXI. I'm sure many people would welcome an easier time to get a mount.
 
L

Lynq

Banned
He's got the point with grouping... It's silly now. If you want to go through some dungeon with group, everyone have to solve a puzzle to open the same door :p

Also, loot. This game has the worst loot system I've seen in a long time. I just did a dungeon hour ago. First boss - nothing (I mean, standard - soul gem, gold and 5 potions). Second boss - nothing. Third boss - blue axe. Last boss - nothing.

There's just no reason for re-running dungeons. I remember I did many re-runs in GW2 and WoW.
 
SJRB

SJRB

Gold Member
dreamer3kx said:
I dont think it sounds bad, it looks like they make you work for a horse which I dont see what the problem is in that, I dont know.
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There's a difference between working for a mount and grinding 42,000 enemies.

42,000 is quite a lot to obtain a pretty crucial item.
 
H

HowZatOZ

Banned
Vashetti said:
A Realm Reborn is incredibly polished and leagues better than ESO. A Realm Reborn is keeping that userbase.

We'll see in a few months how many stick with ESO once their bundled 30 days runs out.
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I would argue against that from both my playtime in 1.0, 2.0 and ESO, but that is just my opinion :)
BlazingDarkness said:
Game looks like a crock of hot shit.
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Amazing addition to the discussion. I mean, I'm all for opinions and critiquing, but when you add your voice in that kind of respect it just comes across as someone who doesn't give two shits about what anyone else thinks, and goes on face value alone. Should go check out the OT, there are some amazing shots that do the game justice.
 
K

knitoe

Member
How do I cancel this game? On the account page, according to goggling, I am suppose to see a manage subscription link, but I don't have one.
 
N

NaDannMaGoGo

Member
Only watched to the half-point but damn it does this looks like an utter turd of a game. Stuff like low effort put into duping prevention and the like are completely unacceptable. Shit like that immediately destroys large parts of the economy aspects in an RPG and MMORPG especially and apparently just that happened to this fresh game already.

That alone is bad enough. But the gameplay, aesthetics and overall functionality is either garbage or at best serviceable.

It would be bad considered by itself. But looking at the alternatives already on the market? How can anyone say they really enjoy the game much other than rather wanting to enjoy it and saying so to justify their purchase / defend one of their favorite developers/franchise. I mean at least those people who've played a decent MMORPG can't possibly be happy with so many broken fundamentals or inferior game design aspects that they've seen done better elsewhere already.

In two months the amount of subscribers will take a big dive, just as everyone and their mom have always been predicting.
 
B

BattleMonkey

Member
The game has some decent questing, since it's not hub based and not all a bunch of generic Kill X missions, but hes right about so much. The game feels so backwards at times. It feels like they created a stripped down ES game and slapped on the MMO part of it, and did it very poorly. The weakest part of the game is the whole MP part of it all. It feels like everything in the game is poorly thought out or step back from what we have learned over the years playing MMOs. Are they dumb or did they think this was unique to do stuff the way they did? Just playing with others is a pain in the ass, my GF and I are playing and we keep having issues with so many little things that MMOs been doing right for years now.

And yes you have to work super hard to get a mount, and they mostly suck balls
 
V

VariantX

Member
With the way groups work, how did that even ship? If I do something in a group then it should be reflected across everyone in the group.
 
H

HowZatOZ

Banned
SJRB said:
There's a difference between working for a mount and grinding 42,000 enemies.

42,000 is quite a lot to obtain a pretty crucial item.
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That's taking into account enemies that only drop one gold piece at a time, which is very unlikely as you gain in levels. Note that Joe was level five in that small clip, I'm level 27 in Shadowfen and gain at least 25-50 gold per enemy without even considering selling items dropped.

Also that rather hyperbole statement above that ESO is locking away basic features with money incentives is just ridiculous. Why does no one call out World of Warcraft's mount system for $25 a pop? Granted you still need to buy the riding skill, but in essence its still the same translation of locking away game features. Also riding is never a "basic" feature, especially not in ESO. When I can run as fast as the basic horse, it isn't punish me for not having a horse.

Honestly though, this is the problem with reviews (don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Joe or anyone else). They offer slices of content to review, but forget that - especially with MMOs - the user does in the end need to experience the content themselves to better understand. Of course, that can't be done without buying the game, so therein lies a problem as well. I just feel like with these previews and reviews the ability to properly judge a game doesn't necessarily translate well, and as such you get comments like "well it looks like shit on Joe's review, therefore its a bad game."

I hated the beta, and I played for a solid week to ensure my opinion was backed up by consistent playtime. Hell it was a joke to me and I was looking more towards WildStar as my MMO saviour to sweep me off my nostalgia feet, but since launch I've been logging in every day playing ESO, and I don't know what changed but it definitely was for the better. Is it an average game? Yeah, most definitely and hell I'd be super eager about it if they went the Guild Wars route and had buy-to-play, but I'm comfortable in paying $15 a month and enjoying my time in Tamriel. Does this mean everyone should shutup and stop critiquing the game? God no, please rip it to shreds because that's the beauty of it all. But, I'd like to see more informative takes rather than a simple dash into a thread to yell "lol this looks shit."
 
A

Asd202

Member
VariantX said:
With the way groups work, how did that even ship? If I do something in a group then it should be reflected across everyone in the group.
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Well it's obvious the questing was done with single player in mind which is weird considering this is an MMO.
 
C

Cipherr

Member
fvng said:
I wonder why people aren't as brutal/unforgiving with TESO as they were with FF14.

Not saying TESO isn't getting trashed but certainly not as badly and I don't remember FF14 being as broken as TESO. FF14 didn't feel broken at launch, it's biggest problem was that it felt like an average game.
Click to expand...

I don't know. I found all that I played of TESO in the beta to be garbage. I still don't even understand why its an MMO. Feels like with some effort they could have just made a single player spinoff.

Its awful as an MMO, and not really good as a game in general either. Folks are being extremely lenient with it. No idea why.

NemesisPrime said:
Lol no... Realm reborn is a boring by-the-numbers-MMO that is only popular because the FF fanbase wants something to play since they have had no good FF game for ages TBH.

ESO has a lot of things that old school players like. Maybe it isn't a game for the WoW fans, but it certainly is a game for the AC fans like me. F2P usually f*cks up an MMO anyway... very few do it right (none IMHO) so I prefer my MMOs to be sub based.
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Im an old school MMO player, including AC, and I have no otherworldly idea what in the heck Im supposed to be seeing in this mess of a game that makes me want to pay a sub for it. Different strokes and all, but please don't use the 'Old school MMO gamers understand!' card, because that really doesn't fit here at all.
 
D

Dysun

Member
Shameful Display! Killed me lol
The money grabbing seems exactly that, the beta was pretty generic so I have no desire to play it
 
H

HowZatOZ

Banned
Cipherr said:
Its awful as an MMO, and not really good as a game in general either. Folks are being extremely lenient with it. No idea why.
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Check out the OT, people aren't laying on their stomachs enjoying being trod over, a lot of people have voiced their opinions but obviously the more outspoken are heard louder. As I've said before, its an average game with faults and flaws, but that doesn't necessarily mean its awful by definition.

I guess people are just enjoying the game, and as such good on them for doing so. I don't like what Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn offers but I can see its an interesting game that has a fanbase that enjoys it, despite its flaws and faults.
 
B

Bilzac

Neo Member
Is it common to start a new thread for a single review? Shouldn't we simply add this to the OT of the game - with all the other review links?
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
Bilzac said:
Is it common to start a new thread for a single review? Shouldn't we simply add this to the OT of the game - with all the other review links?
Click to expand...

When it comes to Internet Personality reviews they usually warrant a thread.
Since they won't actually be added to metacritic and the like.
 
B

BlazingDarkness

Member
HowZatOZ said:
Check out the OT, people aren't laying on their stomachs enjoying being trod over, a lot of people have voiced their opinions but obviously the more outspoken are heard louder. As I've said before, its an average game with faults and flaws, but that doesn't necessarily mean its awful by definition.

I guess people are just enjoying the game, and as such good on them for doing so. I don't like what Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn offers but I can see its an interesting game that has a fanbase that enjoys it, despite its flaws and faults.
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At least FFXIV isn't locking a whole race behind a pay-wall >_>
 
G

Gothos

Member
VariantX said:
With the way groups work, how did that even ship? If I do something in a group then it should be reflected across everyone in the group.
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You're saying it like games always ship as a complete product :p It's even worse with MMOs in that regard :)

As for the review itself - spot-fucking-on. Great review, glad I sold my account. TES MMO as a theme park game is a terrible, terrible idea.
 
M

Mononoke

Banned
As someone that has put 40 hours into TESO, I'm finding myself agreeing with a lot of his points. Most of the missions are bland/boring and it's not that fun. It feels hollow. Probably going to cancel my sub.
 
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