My experience was very glitchy. Eventually, just trying to talk to people in Stonefalls or trading with a merchant would usually end with a reboot. Crafting was largely out of the question. Logins failed, I got trapped in areas I shouldn’t have been able to access at that moment, sometimes my attacks didn’t affect enemies (and vice versa), and quite frequently, I couldn’t move the camera while moving the character.
In other words, it felt a lot like playing Morrowind. I was playing in the wilds of mainland Morrowind two days ago. I waited a decade to do that. If you played Morrowind, do yourself a favor and make an Ebonheart Pact character.
The music is excellent. Except one melody sounds nauseatingly reminiscent to that of “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. This is intolerable.
Because of the glitchiness and control limitations, I had to stick to using sorcery and a destruction staff. Which is amazing if you’re in the same position, by the way. It’s likely one of the easier combat styles in the game. Keep a summoned daedra around at all times, and when you see an enemy, cast your favorite ranged spell (I think mine was called Shadow Touch), spam with the staff as they charge, then use a fast-acting and powerful spell as they get really close. Almost any enemy you will encounter (in the early days, at least), will be dead before they can hit you twice. Piece of cake, as long as you don’t face three or more enemies at once by yourself.
My laptop is far from top-of-the-line, but the game looked like a slightly enhanced version of Morrowind. Of course, it was a relatively empty version of Morrowind. However, there are apparently skills in the game to obtain which will allow players to perceive things at greater distances, which might make the game feel less empty. Also, I imagine there are plans to flesh it out a bit in the future.
Regardless, I don’t see the emptiness as a bad thing. It’s thrilling if, like me, you’re annoyed by the trend of shrinking sandboxes in each game. In Oblivion and Skyrim, the player character, relative to the world around him, was a giant who moved like a cheetah. Things feel bigger in ESO, and the player character more… proportionally appropriate, I guess.
That’s all I got for now. The Dunmer sorcerer Yewie Espee shall continue his quest for knowledge in the next beta, hopefully. For now, he will continue praying to Azura that his universe becomes free-to-play, as he fears that he may cease to exist if it does not.
