I’m going to start this review with a quick moan about the 15BG update file to get that out of the way – it sucks. If I buy a game, crazily enough I would actually like to play it at some point on the day of purchase. However, this is an MMO and there would need to be constant patches to work out the bugs so I guess I do understand, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. That’s depends on how you approach the idea of “Elder Scrolls”. Is Elder Scrolls a collection of characters, places, and lore that adds up to a rich universe for Bethesda to build stories in? Is Elder Scrolls an open-world you can explore to your heart’s content? Or is it a specific style of gameplay with arrows to the head, spells to cast, and companions to help you?

What probably impressed us most was just how accessible the whole thing is. By and large, many would-be MMO players are intimidated by steep learning curves, the need for online etiquette, and monthly subscription fees. It’s refreshing, then, that The Elder Scrolls Online gold won’t require the latter, and its action-based gameplay means that it’s easy to pick up and play. The majority of the content that’s on offer can be done alone, too, so there’s no need to worry about finding allies and grouping up to progress through the story. Sure, this may seem a little counter-intuitive for an MMO, but it’s a design choice that stands firmly in line with the title’s focus on accessibility.

That’s not to say that TESO is anything short of a great game and stellar experience. By the time you hit level 20, you’ll likely enjoy playing through well over 100 quests, each of which has fully voiced dialogue and even occasional moral choices to make (although I’m skeptical that your choices carry any weight in game). You’ll probably do dungeons in a small group, PvP in Cyrodiil alongside dozens of other players, and even explore entire continents all by your lonesome. What’s odd, though, is that throughout all this, despite the constant banter going on in Zone Chat, you’ll rarely feel connected to the other players. cheap eso gold for sale feels a lot like a multiplayer Skyrim mod. It seems to have been designed as a single player game, with the multiplayer content being tacked on, but still exceedingly well done.

Combat is a disconnected, masquerading as something more complex via simplistic counter mechanics that offer little to think about and less to do. Maybe it could show its strengths in the well-meaning PvP if it wasn’t a constant zergfest of human rivers, meaning singular combatants have no effect. First-person control is nothing more than a gimmick, being vastly inferior in all but novelty to third-person. ESO’s attempts to bring its namesake forward provides some of its most frustrating, impossible-to-understand decisions. The full cast of actors is impressive, but repeating voices are quick to appear. The soul gem system is back, serving only to depower players and punish them for using awesome gear.

On the plus side of this super-duper king-sized online expedition, the well-detailed scenery is graphically appealing, the musical underscore is beautiful, the relatively deep storyline zigs and zags satisfyingly, and the varied quests don’t seem quite as grinding and repetitive as your typical MMO. But like the rest of the series, there’s also a dark and nasty armored boot that always drops. Some of that is likely discernable from what I’ve told you already. Add to that twisted spiritual challenges involving interactions with the dead, the undead and all manner of zombie-demon-ghosty-creepy creatures that want to make you dead. (Or, more accurately, dead again.)

The newbie island and the area that follows varies mildly from alliance to alliance, but each is achingly dull. I found myself strained not to skip the voice over dialogue, mashing the first option repeatedly just to get to the next leg in the quest line. You realize after a short period of time that the first option in every single dialogue encounter is the speediest way to get to the next part of the bland step-and-fetch-it quests that never, ever end and seem to have no meaning beyond dragging your character along a linear theme park-style ride from point A to point B. You can certainly venture off the beaten path as a loading screen tip prompts you to do, but you’ll find vast stretches of nothing punctuated by moments of mediocrity. Even in those few mild points of interest, it’s just make-work, empty-quest fodder.

Given that console owners get the most up-to-date version of the game with all updates and patches since the PC launch, and a constantly evolving game shaped by player feedback and participation, and it’s easy to see how ESO can provide hours of entertainment for those willing to dedicate serious time to adventuring in the online Tamriel community.