Elder Scrolls Online Relying on Lore to Succeed

[James Pinnell]

Sure guys, Lore can be a *big* part of the game, particularly if you are interested in the underlying cause and effect of your actions on a story you love. Frankly, I've always found the lore and story of most MMOs to be pretty cliche and missing a lot of the grittier drama and twists I'm used to. A Mass Effect MMO, however

So while lore might be an element of a great game, a significantly more important factor is the gameplay. Without a decent set of mechanics, it's irrelevant how great the world is if playing within it is stale and restrictive. If you are willing to overlook the fact that this is most likely going to be just another theme park MMO within the TES universe, and accept it for that fact, you might be sold.

Largely, the majority of players are getting apathetic about the same old structure which is why games like EvE are finally growing again and other sandbox titles are getting lots of new attention.

[Nekosan]

I must be the only person in the world who isn't real impressed with the story in Mass Effect, sure I'm only a couple hours into the first game but it's just not all that it was talked up to be.

[Mekon]

So while lore might be an element of a great game, a significantly more important factor is the gameplay. Without a decent set of mechanics, it's irrelevant how great the world is if playing within it is stale and restrictive. If you are willing to overlook the fact that this is most likely going to be just another theme park MMO within the TES universe, and accept it for that fact, you might be sold.

Or perhaps some people look for different things in gaming than you do? Clearly, given that so-called "theme park" MMOs are still making money...

This latest post isn't quite as offensive as "who the **** [plays games for different reasons to me]" but it's still a fairly parochial stance.

[Mank]

Wasn't TOR supposed to be awesome for similar reasons?

[Marius]

I must be the only person in the world who isn't real impressed with the story in Mass Effect, sure I'm only a couple hours into the first game but it's just not all that it was talked up to be.

ME1 starts really slow. ME2 is a better start point imo. You meet Kelly.

I don't even think the first game needs to be played to understand the series. ME3 was more dependent on ME2 references.

[Nekosan]

Marius i think much of the problem is that they throw you into this story that takes ages to develop and you spend the first 3 hours of the game talking to people, at one point i remember thinking "JUST LET ME PLAY!!!!!!". There was too much bs at the start and none of the narrative was well written enough to suck me in.

[Marius]

They fixed that problem in ME2 and ME3. Both games start with action.

The ME2 start is my all time favourite game start.