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The Elder Scrolls Online is perfect for consoles

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Elder Awesome Online

MMOs on consoles is a somewhat new concept to get used to, it is however a reality and will be something seen more and more in the future. The Elder Scrolls Online will make it so.

While taking an MMO like World of Warcraft to console might not be possible, games like Tera prove that MMOs can be played with a controller. The Elder Scrolls Online is heading to next-gen consoles as well as PC and Mac. The way the game is designed makes it the perfect candidate for consoles.

In the video below the lead designer of The Elder Scrolls Online, Nick Konkle discusses some console details.

As Konkle explains, because you’ll only have six key abilities in the game it makes it perfect for consoles and playing with a controller because of the controls mapping. These six abilities will define your character. In many other MMOs players have various spells and abilities to choose from, although if you’re a seasoned player you’ll only be using a handful of them anyway.

The difference between console and PC MMO play is that on console players won’t be able to make use of macros as many players do on PC, but with your limited amount of abilities in ESO you probably won’t need any macros.

You can tell from the gameplay in the video that ESO will have very similar combat and gameplay to Skyrim, something else that greatly contributes to the game being suited for console. The biggest challenge for the developers will be getting patches and updates out on time for consoles. The other factor to keep in mind is subscription, as gamers will have to pay monthly subscription to Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus to be able to play multiplayer games online.

Last Updated: July 18, 2013

42 Comments

  1. Argentil

    July 18, 2013 at 11:40

    I strongly dislike this game 🙁

    Reply

    • Ultimo_Cleric N7

      July 18, 2013 at 11:44

      Why?

      Reply

      • Argentil

        July 18, 2013 at 11:54

        NPC models are poor, no physics to speak of (Aion had character physics back in 2008), comically horrendous (but patently Elder Scrolls) animations, over-used motion blur to conceal sub-standard graphics. Not to mention, the initial screenshots were much better looking than any of the preceding gameplay footages. None of the features or mechanics are new, there are no animation locks so the torso and legs function independently (a pet hate of mine), the studio has no pedigree, and the hype around this game is at GW2 levels.

        As someone who isn’t a huge fanboy of the series, the game looks bland and barely above the level of a f2p mmo. And to top it all off, as someone who isn’t vaguely interested in the game, I have an ES fanboy friend who is driving me nuts about it – no matter how thorough my put-downs are, he is unrelenting about convincing me to play it.

        P.S. Robes attached to legs are so 2004.

        Reply

        • Ultimo_Cleric N7

          July 18, 2013 at 12:06

          hahaha.There’s a lot of hurt behind those eyes……
          I see your point though. But complared to WoW, the graphics look like the Sistine Chapel.

          Reply

        • Theo Steenekamp

          July 18, 2013 at 12:13

          Also I want EPIC looking armour. Like something everyone can see that guy has gone through some shit to get that shit. This game everything looks… generic

          Reply

          • RinceWind

            July 18, 2013 at 12:14

            If you purchase it, it will come… MICROTRANSACTIONS BABY!

          • Unavengedavo

            July 18, 2013 at 12:31

            Remember most of the stuff they show you now is still in development, I am sure they will add epic items so people know what you had to go through to get it. Or at least I hope so

          • Argentil

            July 18, 2013 at 13:10

            My thoughts as well. Lots of grimy, dull armour design. The environments are dull also.

          • anon

            March 19, 2014 at 06:12

            You kidding, I understand if you feel the character models, and animations are outdated, but the envionments look far more fantasy like and magical than skyrim. I played the beta myself so I’m a first document source, the new art style looks great, at least in terms of environment. Stonefall is alot more interesting to explore than skyrim because it looks so interesting with the art design.

        • John Ambitious

          July 18, 2013 at 12:29

          Wait wait, let me just get it right. So you DON’T like it?
          The robes thing I must totally agree with though

          Reply

          • Argentil

            July 18, 2013 at 13:10

            Don’t tempt me, I could write a thesis on not liking this game 😛

  2. Warren Ross

    July 18, 2013 at 11:41

    I dunno. The idea of an Elder Scrolls MMO just doesn’t appeal to me. I like my NPCs to remain in character, for one thing (none of this “WTB EPIXXX!! L0lFTW1!!!1” in a magical general chat channel that the whole world can somehow hear).

    A large part of these games has always been the care with which the designers created the game-world and sculpted the NPC interactions to afford maximum immersion…I don’t think an MMO is going to do anything to further that, and I’ve never felt like I needed other players with me in Skyrim.

    But I’m sure it will be hugely popular, at least for a while, with lots of other people.

    Reply

    • Argentil

      July 18, 2013 at 11:44

      Hah, your exposure to MMO chat has been tame! Every freaking game is plagued by general chat infused with “Go back to WoW noob!” “*Perverted insults here*” “Dis gaem is gong to FAIL!”

      Reply

      • Warren Ross

        July 18, 2013 at 11:56

        I’ve experienced all that too. 🙂 IMO all of that stuff goes a long way to breaking the immersion in MMOs.

        Reply

        • Argentil

          July 18, 2013 at 11:57

          Ja, I know. Kinda miss the days without global chat, lol. That rubbish was limited to Barrens chat.

          Reply

  3. Tarisma

    July 18, 2013 at 11:42

    So EOS is buggy and broken?

    Reply

  4. Umar Kiiroi Senk?

    July 18, 2013 at 11:43

    I love skyrim, but oooh boy was the combat sucky

    Reply

    • Trevor Davies

      July 18, 2013 at 11:50

      So true. I was hoping they’d learn something from Dark Messiah but instead they basically duplicated the boring Swing-And-Miss from Oblivion. Way to innovate guys.

      Reply

      • Warren Ross

        July 18, 2013 at 11:54

        Well, Morrowind was a lot stiffer than Oblivion, and Daggerfall was even worse from what I can remember. Hell, Arena had a “click & drag” type attack…awful stuff.

        At least they’ve made some progress, but perhaps Bethesda would do better to farm the actual combat mechanics out to someone else, and focus their teams on what they do best.

        Reply

        • Trevor Davies

          July 18, 2013 at 12:03

          That could work. They really do make beautiful worlds, Skyrim is one of the few games where I was stopping just to look at the scenery.

          Reply

          • HvR

            July 18, 2013 at 12:56

            During first week of release with graphics on full:
            “why is it so laggy?”
            “it isn’t lagging my GPU is stopping to admire the environment”

    • Theo Steenekamp

      July 18, 2013 at 12:09

      Like Argentil pointed out. It’s not the same studio making this, so hoping on better combat. And yeah, Skryim combat was….clunky.

      Reply

      • Argentil

        July 18, 2013 at 14:03

        I wouldn’t be too elated. They’re a completely unproven studio. It could be a disaster. Remain cautious, but hopeful. Especially where MMOs are concerned.

        Reply

  5. Trevor Davies

    July 18, 2013 at 11:54

    I’m not really all that excited about this simply because I found Skyrim got boring very quickly, and it’ll probably be more of the same. I hate saying that because I loved Morrowind & Oblivion, and I did enjoy Skyrim while it lasted. But I’ve felt zero urge to go back to it after finishing the main story & guild quests. Even the DLCs haven’t piqued my interest. 🙁

    Reply

    • Argentil

      July 18, 2013 at 11:56

      Well, if it makes you feel any better, the studio behind this game isn’t Bethesda. The studio is Zenimax Online Studios, and this is their first game.

      Reply

    • Warren Ross

      July 18, 2013 at 12:09

      Morrowind is my favourite: it somehow managed to feel so different despite the classic fantasy underpinnings. Oblivion was way too “vanilla fantasy” for my tastes, but the main quest storyline was just interesting enough to keep me playing (and the Oblivion gateways were always fun, even after you’d seen 20 of them).

      Skyrim was somewhere in the middle, and is probably my second-fave TES game. Great overall main quest line (how many other games have really done dragons so much justice?) and fairly intriguing side-quests and characters.

      I think if you’ve played one of these games, you’ve played the template for them all: I’ve just started a replay of Fallout 3 because I’m a post-apocalyptic junkie, and I’m struck by how it’s really just a dressed up TES game. But it’s that dressing that makes all the difference!

      Reply

  6. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    July 18, 2013 at 12:17

    Only 6 abilities? ag no come on! Don’t destroy Elder Scrolls now guys! 🙁

    Reply

    • Unavengedavo

      July 18, 2013 at 12:34

      I think the 6 slots are to make it viable on consoles.

      Reply

      • John Ambitious

        July 18, 2013 at 12:38

        That’s a bit ridiculous though. I’ve played it on my PC with an Xbox controller and I really don’t see why that’s necessary.

        Reply

      • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

        July 18, 2013 at 12:44

        Look, I can understand 6 quick slots. But why limit the game to 6 main abilities? That’s very limiting 🙁

        Reply

        • John Ambitious

          July 18, 2013 at 12:47

          Exactly. I thought the whole big deal these days was about offering variety. So much for that.

          Reply

          • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

            July 18, 2013 at 12:53

            It really bugs me hey. And this is why consoles are slowly starting to overtake PC’s. Not because consoles are better but simply because PC players are becoming less and less interested in these games because they are all made for console and rob them of their choice that they normally would have. So where as little johnny would have bought the game he no longer does because “why must I be stuck with only 6 abilities when in other Elder Scrolls games I could have as many at hand as what I was willing to train in”

          • John Ambitious

            July 18, 2013 at 13:01

            Exactly dude. Look what happened to FEAR. Great before it was made for console and then it got dull.

          • Unavengedavo

            July 18, 2013 at 13:01

            6 Skills can be used at any one time:
            The first two are weapons skills.
            The next three are class skills.
            The final skill is the Ultimate Ability.

            Read this article, it explains that you will have more abilities to choose from. The best part being you can choose them to suit your play style.

            http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/25/how-combat-works-in-the-elder-scrolls-online/

          • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

            July 18, 2013 at 13:05

            Ok, sounding better. I can deal with that I think

          • Unavengedavo

            July 18, 2013 at 13:17

            The only thing I hope is that it doesn’t en up like WoW where you only have a set way of building your character and if you don’t do it the same as everyone else then you won’t get anywhere.

            From what I have read so far on this game is that you have freedom to choose how you want to play your character.

          • Argentil

            July 18, 2013 at 13:29

            Such is the MMO market at the moment. Cookie cutter builds are present everywhere, no matter how many options there are. There will always be one BEST option that the MMO community feels they should enforce. If you want to play hybrid builds you need to choose the right group of people who won’t be all hardcore about min-maxing your character 🙁

  7. Unavengedavo

    July 18, 2013 at 12:28

    Am I the only one who is excited about this game?

    No more cookie cutter builds and people harassing you about how your character should be. Skills level up the same as in the all the Elder Scroll games. No specific gear as all gear is randomly generated with different stats, so all characters of the same “Class” wont look exactly the same!

    I agree that the battle system of Skyrim wasn’t the best, but at least in this MMO if you shoot an arrow/fireball at me I can dodge it, not like the “heat seeking” arrows or spells of other MMOs. Battle is in real time and you have better control of your character. As far as I know you will have a skill bar with only 6 slots to use for the abilities you prefer and your main abilities will be set to your “hands”, so you don’t have to use exactly the same as the next guy.

    The mobs actually have AI and react to the number, type of characters and skill sets within your party. No more generic mobs which means that every encounter would be different.

    If I am wrong on any of these points please correct me 😛

    Reply

    • bmanmilsap

      July 24, 2013 at 08:18

      I’m excited for it man. Sadly you can’t please everyone though. Some pc gamers are whining because, they think console will be better for this game. I think it’ll be good no matter what abnd im a ps4 guy. People are also judgeing it before it even comes out, and before its fully polished.

      Reply

  8. Melasco

    July 18, 2013 at 14:24

    I’m not sure if this is what I’m looking for as a console gamer.. It looks ok I guess, I’m just not ‘feeling’ it… Now, lets talk Destiny… There’s a game I can’t wait for!

    Reply

  9. iPrimal

    July 19, 2013 at 00:23

    graphics, and all mechanics aside, I’ll only play mmo’s if I have at least one real world friend to play them with. I was fortunate enough to have that happen with DC Universe. If I can’t get someone to dive into this with me, I have Skyrim, and Oblivion to hold me over.

    Reply

  10. bmanmilsap

    July 24, 2013 at 08:25

    Honestly i think this game will be good. Im not going to sit here an judge based off some shitty shown beta gameplay, or a not so polished game. The beta stuff that was shown was badly shown by retards.They are still in the works with this game so stop whining, and wait an see what happens. Sad reality people this won’t be like other Elder Scroll games 100%. So get over that its an mmo now. so not everything about the game will have originality. Yes the the history of these games as a single player was great, but ive always wanted this to be a multiplayer mmo. If your a true Mmo or Elder Scrolls fan you’ll play it, and stop nit picking. Or just wait and then judge 🙂

    Reply

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