The Elder Scrolls Online Preview
28 Nov 2013- Details
- Category: Games
- Written by BuckGB
- Hits: 191
The folks at PC Gamer have slapped up a hands-on preview of The Elder Scrolls Online after checking out the ongoing beta testing of ZeniMax Online's ambitious MMORPG firsthand. It's more of an environmental tour of one area of the game rather than a gameplay-filled preview, but it's still a welcome addition for interested parties of TESO, I suppose:
As you might expect in a world wracked by three-way civil war and the depredations of a soul-stealing demigod, the people of Khenarthi's Roost are eager to enlist the aid of an experienced adventurer. Cultists with the power to command the fury of the sea lurk in hidden caves and tide-swept grottoes. Intrigues are brewing, and both the local population and my Aldmeri compatriots have suffered a series of mysterious disappearances.Add a comment
The way each of these narrative threads weave in and out of the area's central plot makes the prospect of sticking to the main quest-line more attractive than I'd have expected from an Elder Scrolls game. Khenarthi's Roost is balanced on a knife-edge thanks to the machinations of the maormer, a race of sea elves thought to be extinct by the time of Morrowind. They're outraged by the Aldmeri Dominion's attempt to win over the locals, citing an ancient treaty that gives them ownership of the island. It's an intricate, morally grey political intrigue similar to Skyrim's Stormcloak rebellion or the interplay between the major houses in Morrowind. These are narrative flourishes that I've always admired in the series, and I was delighted to encounter similar depth in my first few hours here.
I am conscripted by the local Aldmeri Dominion commander to find a peaceful solution to this potential flashpoint. Investigating the whereabouts of some missing Dominion troops, I come across a blood-spattered sacrificial altar in a secluded grotto. After dispatching the cavern's guardian a ravenous serpent large enough to swallow me whole I examine the remains. It becomes clear that the maormer are working with the sea-cultists to expel the Dominion.
