The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited: A Co-op Experience

Yes, I have previously reviewed The Elder Scrolls Online before, but that was back in the days of yesteryear.  In the days before the Zenimax/Bethesda changed the pay structure from a monthly fee to a pay once to play with no subscription fee.  This was also my first real foray back into the game since I ended my subscription back in June 2014 due to the omnipresent "lack of funds" despite the game becoming subscription free back in March.

But now Conklederp's computer (from 2007) has been replaced and it is capable of running TESO:TU so we finally have been able to, more or less, play Skyrim together.  The first night we put in an hour and-a-half, followed by five and-a-half hours the following day and a few minutes ago (before going back to work), we adventured for about an hour.

Having already played 100 hours with my main character (Nord Dragonknight, Ebonheart Pact) and 13 hours with my secondary character (Bosmer Nightblade, Aldmeri Dominion), For my co-op playing, I created an Aldmeri Sorcerer as part of the Daggerfall Covenant to go with Conklederp's Breton Sorcerer.  Sure, a lot of people will tell you that it's probably not wise to group together with only two sorcerers, but we're not looking to become the Emperor as part of the siege in Cyrodiil, we're just running around exploring, doing quests and trying not to die/be killed/die.

These two are totally trustworthy. . .

Having come from a severely limited background in online gaming (Diablo II, Path of Exile), the experience of questing with someone else (along with umteen thousands of others in the background) has definitely been an experience (we're currently both level 7, as long as we're talking about experience).  The little arrow/crown above the other person's head is a nice touch, which is still visible when looking at the map screen, so finding the other person isn't too difficult.  Dealing with lag on the other had can be frustrating.

This is something that I did experience when I was playing solo, but presently, both Conklederp and I experience some-type of lag somewhat regularly, especially in towns and waiting for dialogue options to crop up.  Exiting out of conversations is always doable, which is sometimes the only way to progress with a quest when we find ourselves unable to continue with a conversation after incessant clicking.  The only other frustrating experience I have had is that I have been kicked off of the server (so out of the game) due to "Error 318."

What is funny/odd/weird about this error popping up, is that the only person I talk to is Conklederp, and since she is sitting right across the table from me, there is really no reason to talk to her in chat when I can just use my mouth hole and throat tube to verbalize what it is that I want to tell her.  Sure, I will often have my character play the lute, do pushups or just sit on the ground while I wait for her to find me or if I wait for her outside of the bank/smithing shop.  And this has now happened four separate times (three yesterday and this afternoon.  Thankfully Bethesda is aware that Error 318 is happening to people like me who have been kicked out.  So all I can really do is every time I have been dropped is to log back in, submit a bug report (/bug) using the chat window and let them know about what I was doing at the time.  I should also note that this has not happened to Conklederp.

Well, when I am not getting dropped from the server, I am approaching my sorcerer from the point of view that my character is fawning over Conklederp's character.  He wants to protect her even though she is a fully capable mage.  He hopes that one day she may fall in love with him, but in the meantime, it's questing time.  I have him wearing a combination of heavy and medium armors (what with trying to be a protector and all) and I have been switching back and forth using either the Destruction Staff and the Bow.  Not having played a magick-type before in any of The Elder Scrolls games, this a quite a departure for me, but for the time being I am quite enjoying the game so far.  I should also say that neither Conklederp or I are paying attention to any of the many guides for how to build the best possible class if you want to enjoy the game.  I guess then we will not be enjoying the game together, to the best of our ability.  N00bs are we!

So, taking TESO:TU, for what it is, I think that I would recommend the game, if Dr. Potts and I were ones to actively recommend games in the fashion that one tends to recommend games.  If the recommendation comes in the form of, "Yes, I will still be playing this game today and tomorrow with Conklederp," then that's exactly what it is.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Move Your Legs To Dance A Soldier Dance

My Decision to Play My First MMORPG.

Apologies for not getting this out yesterday.  I ran out of time before having to leave for work and didn't have any time after returning home.  Had to watch Vikings 2.8 afterall.

Online gaming is a genre that had never really interested me.

In 1995, my friend, we'll call him BunnyBurger, and I tried to coordinate a Warcraft II co-op session over my family's phone line with a 28/8 modem.  That ended with me answering the phone when it rang only to hear his modem beeping and whirring at me.  I never figured out what needed to be done so I stuck with the single player campaigns.

As I have mentioned a few times on separate occasions here, I never got into World of Warcraft despite loving the ever living fecal matter out of Warcraft II.  Back in 2004 when the game came out, I hated the idea of paying an upfront cost to buy the game, then having to pay an additional monthly fee to continue playing said game.  I did not see the appeal in this model.  Even with the North American release of Final Fantasy XI, which until 30 seconds ago I did not know was released 244 days *before* World of Warcraft, I had no interest in continuously paying for a game despite loving (most of) the Final Fantasy series (minus VII, VIII & X).

In 2011 I did quest for a short time in Diablo II along with two housemates, but that was more like a short lived LAN threesome.  We'll always have the memories.

In late 2012, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim sucked myself and Conklederpand then I started playing the other games in the series (sort of anyway; some with more success than others).  I knew that I wanted to explore more of this world, its histories and peoples.

Why then have I purchased The Elder Scrolls Online and am an active subscriber, especially in the world we live in where there are any number of free MMORPGs (Neverwinter, WoW, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online)?  The simple reason is that I love the world created for the Elder Scrolls games.  The lore that is told through the various books and tomes throughout the continent of Tamriel are full of histories and allusions to past events and people, mentioning just enough to evoke interest, but not so much that you feel like you are reading a high school history textbook.  There are mentions of races that are either long dead or that inhabit other continents never visited in the games.  To me, it was like a combination of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire.

Story and setting aside, why then opt to pay up front for a game that requires a monthly subscription fee?  Well, partly because Conklederp has been looking forward to the two of us playing Skyrim since she got into the game and this is the only outlet, specifically set in Tamriel.  But, I cannot put this on Conklederp as it was I who signed up for beta access thinking that if I were to ever play an MMORPG that this would probably the one game that would get me to join.

Honestly though, a big portion of it might have been part of Bethesda/Zenimax's overall marketing strategy.  By bringing on people to beta test, they would hook people into buying the game when it came out then subscribing.  Granted the game that I played had bugs here (quest elements would not spawn or spawned before the quest was given and would not respawn once quest began and then could not be completed) and there (falling through stairs and bridges), but in the back of my mind, I knew that the game I was playing/testing was not a completed product so there were going to be things that were not supposed to happen (unable to leave conversation with NPC).

I also understand (now at least) that the cost for Zenimax to operate their "Megasevers" (each regional continent has their own server so that people can all play online at the same time and with each other without having to worry about if everyone is on the same server).  I understand that owning and operating something of that scale does not come cheap.  The cost of the servers themselves, the cost for maintenance, repair, oversight, cooling, building costs, property taxes. . . all of that adds up.  $15 a month subscription (or about 50¢ a day, depending on the month).  I do not mind paying that price for something that I enjoy.

I do still have some reservations about the genre or things that I feel that I am supposed to do because ESO in an online RPG.  One of those reservations centers around the multiplayer aspect, in that I am not out there looking for groups; which apparently has it's own acronym (LFG).  Presently I am playing the game solo and I am pretty sure that I am missing out on some parts of the game because I have yet to join a guild or experienced a "group adventure zone."  In the end, I do not want to feel that I have to be communal in order to proceed.  Yes, I understand the apparent disconnect within the context of that statement.

I'll get into this more on Monday when I give my First Impressions and then on Friday when I'll talk about the music from the game.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Let All the Illusions Just Wither Away

MMORPGs - are they for me?

Or do I just want to play Ultima forever?  What's a cranky gamer to do?

I have a confession to make:  I have very little experience with Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.  Given that Role Playing Games are my favorite genre, and I write for a blog about video games, and MMORPGs are like, the biggest thing to happen to video games in a decade - I think this represents a pretty substantial hole in my game playing experience and perspective.

Now granted, I did play FF XI to about level 20 or so, and gained dual class.  And I've watched 5 seasons of 'The Guild.'  Also - I once lived in a house where three of my roommates split their rooms up so that they all slept in one room, and then the other room was dedicated to WoW.  During that time, I picked some of the MMO experience through osmosis.   So I'm not utterly without knowledge of MMOs.  But I do realize that the MMO experience goes deep, and I just float above the surface, making observations.

But maybe i'm like a pelican or a kingfisher, maybe I can float above the surface, but dive in and grab a fish every so often.  The metaphorical fish being some sort of intellectual point that I want to make, somewhere, somehow.  Anyway, this topic came up because I was writing some thoughts about a game called Ultima: Exodus and going on and on and on-- as I am wont to do-- when I came to a point where I wanted to make a comparison to MMOs, and then make a series of claims about MMOs.  At this point, I felt I should break this subject off to its own post, and focus in on MMO vs Ultima: Exodus.

It isn't unusual to talk about the Ultima series in context with MMORPGs.  Ultima Online is widely credited as the first successful MMO.  In addition,  there's this great article about the Ultima series,  humbly making the claim that it is the most important game series ever.  And giving the series credit for a lot of what became genre tropes for MMORPGs.  For example, open world gaming and multiple choice conversation mechanics. 

In addition, outside of said article, I have made my own observations from playing Exodus.  One is the sort of 'guild' element:  the option to have up to 20 custom made characters with which to build a party. This element served my household well, as there was enough space for me, my two sisters and my Dad to all have four seperate characters.  In practice, this led to a lead party, the original party that we delved into the game with.  This one would have the highest levels, the strongest gear, and progress the furthest.  Then there were the splinter groups:  characters we would make just because making characters was fun.  They might not progress very far, or gain much gear.  But if we liked a particular character or party, we could boost them up with some grinding, into a legitimate party option for the lead team.  This actually turned out to be a pretty good idea, as there are certain class differences that can become primarily important in the game.  For example, I think the Mystic Sword may only be able to be equipped by a Fighter or Barbarian.  I remember getting to a point and realizing that I couldn't equip it to anyone in my party.   In addition, you may find that your party just needs a bit more brute strength or a bit more magic to accomplish a given goal.  So it is really helpful to have additional characters leveled up.

All of this contributed greatly to a 'team effort.'  The younger kids might not be up to the task of raiding the tougher dungeons, but we were a match for the goal of grinding away and raising characters to decent level.  This allowed our family team to, in effect, accomplish multiple goals at once.  Similar, I think, to MMORPGs of today.  Though, of course, Exodus was neither massively multiplayer or online.  But it was Multiplayer on a small scale, it just required taking turns rather than simultaneous play.  And why not?

So this brings me to confront my ignorance about MMORPGs.  Like, do any MMOs have similar elements to what I described above?  The only example that pops into my head is "Realm of the Mad God."  Which does a lot of things right.  I like the 8-bit graphics.  I like the team play.  I'm not wild about the shmup style action.  I know it sounds strange, but I kind of wish for a turn-based MMO, even if that seems counter-intuitive.  Also, Mad God doesn't do much for customization, as far as I can tell.

Alright, at this point, I should mention that I am feeling very rigid.  Like, what I really want is just for Ultima: Exodus, NES version, to be online so I can play it with my friends in exactly the same way I played with my family.  I realize this is not going to happen and it borders on delusional.  But I still want it.  I mean, what are video games if not escapism?  What's more escapist than a deluded fantasy about reliving my own childhood- today?  Anyway, maybe there's something deeper in there, but if you'll excuse me, I've got to go to work.  

-D

P.S. Big Congrats to Jaconian and Conklederp for being awesome!

Currently Playing 2: Realm of the Mad God

This game is great.  It's free, simple, original, quick to pick up, and it has some depth.  The learning curve is not too harsh, the reward system is steady and it expands the game.  This game is a "hardcore" game, by Diablo standards - which means that when your character dies - he's dead.  No resurrection, no saving, just dead as a doornail.  I think that's actually pretty cool, and rare in games.  In addition, when you start a new class, you start over from level 1, so the player is regularly going through the learning curve, and the game becomes easier to progress through, easier to set goals and achieve them.

The game is basically a non-stop level and loot fix.  In addition to the loot fix, the goal system is a big part of the appeal.  There are about a dozen different classes, and each one is opened by playing an existing class.  It goes: wizard, priest, archer, thief, knight... and so on (that's as far as I've gotten).  These classes are opened up when you get to level 10 on the previous class in the order, so level 10 priest gets you archer, level 10 archer gets you thief, and so on.  And while you are playing through as one class, you will encounter equipment drops for other classes that you have yet to play as. This is encouraging:  I want to know what a sorcerer plays like, or an assassin.  I believe he gets to carry a skull, which is cool.

The game is also co operative.  I haven't had much experience with this element, but I'm getting the drift that it may be the way to go.  Possibly the next step on the learning curve.  Because this is how it works:  You don't party up in any formal sense, but player share experience for enemies killed in the same vicinity.  So it is in everyone's best interest to work together.  I think it may be the key to the higher levels (I've capped out at level 12).  

So, cooperation is a level of depth I haven't yet reached in this game, and I am eager to see how it contributes to gameplay.  Human beings are always an interesting addition to any game dynamic.  There are rules about loot acquisition, and I've witnessed some real tantrums about loot theft.  On the other hand, I've also had a level 15 guy stop my little level 1 character and just hand him a bunch of great equipment.  That was totally rad- refreshed my faith in humanity.  You are able to save up to 8 items in a vault from one game to the next, and thus share your with your other classes, or, if you want, other players.  

Realm of the Mad God.  Came out of nowhere, free to play, mouse and keyboard and you can play it in your browser.  Rating:  Highly Recommended.