Elder Scrolls Online Relying on Lore to Succeed

[News Portal]

"Even now, I come across lore that I didn’t know existed. It’s just so deep," says Matt Firor of The Elder Scrolls Online in an interview with EDGE. "People play games for different reasons, but the people who respond to Elder Scrolls the most like to get immersed in a world so that they feel they’re living there. They like to have freedom of choice to do what they want to do, and that’s the part that resonates with us the most." Firor went on to discuss the freedom that Zenimax gave them to create events in the lore, as well as how to reward players for exploration. Read more at EDGE Online, or find out what The Elder Scrolls Online is all about in our massive feature.

Source: EDGE Online

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[James Pinnell]

If I can be frank, the Elder Scrolls MMO have been talking so much ****. Lore? Who the **** keeps playing an MMO because of Lore?

It's like they're just so **** scared of talking about the actual gameplay that they feel the need to talk about *everything* else so everyone forgets about that.

[yeapal]

This MMO will fail. What a waste.

[Novocaine]

If I can be frank, the Elder Scrolls MMO have been talking so much ****. Lore? Who the **** keeps playing an MMO because of Lore?

It's like they're just so **** scared of talking about the actual gameplay that they feel the need to talk about *everything* else so everyone forgets about that.

I still play WoW. I love the story progression from WC1 to WoW. Granted it's not the only reason I play the game but it is one of the reasons that still ties me to the game.

[James Pinnell]

If I can be frank, the Elder Scrolls MMO have been talking so much ****. Lore? Who the **** keeps playing an MMO because of Lore?

It's like they're just so **** scared of talking about the actual gameplay that they feel the need to talk about *everything* else so everyone forgets about that.

I still play WoW. I love the story progression from WC1 to WoW. Granted it's not the only reason I play the game but it is one of the reasons that still ties me to the game.

To be fair, you are one of a very, very small contingent. Frankly, Lore is not one of the biggest strengths of TES, free roaming and self-created stories are.

[Novocaine]

With that said they are going to need to make an enjoyable game outside of pure story to have any kind of success. If it's going to be a generic GCD based MMO then I hope they don't go too overboard with development costs, they might lose a bunch of money.

[Novocaine]

To be fair, you are one of a very, very small contingent. Frankly, Lore is not one of the biggest strengths of TES, free roaming and self-created stories are.

I agree, I barely pay attention to the storyline when I play TES games, I'm more interested in trying to steal some guys pants while he's asleep.

[phewcha]

I think one of the best things about TES is the lore, no doubt.. with that said, Lord of the Rings was amazing when it came to lore, it also had spectacular acting, great production value, costume design, set design, writing and script, director and overall goodness..

If i was bethesda I would cancel this quickly before they have the opportunity to release another WOWMMO clone(I am not normally a sour gamer).

[Mekon]

Who the **** keeps playing an MMO because of Lore?

Me (edit: and apparently others)?

I primarily play MMOs for the lore (aka story and setting). I don't PvP, I don't particularly like end-game raiding, I like the journey.

It's why I play LOTRO; it's why I'm particularly interested in Secret World; it's arguably why I played WoW for so long. It is also pretty much the only reason I played SWTOR, and even that wasn't enough to keep me interested for long.

That said...

Frankly, Lore is not one of the biggest strengths of TES, free roaming and self-created stories are.

I agree. The story and setting of the TES franchise isn't particularly memorable, IMO.

[Matty]

While not an MMO, I'll be buying AC: brotherhood and revelations for the lore. Sometimes I just want to know what happens.

However, I wont be buying this MMO for the elder scrolls lore. I was never really taken in by the TES lore.

[MunchY]

I love TES Lore. Haters gonna hate.

[Nekosan]

Gotta agree with James, any company who thinks their MMO can be a mainstream success based on "the lore" is in need of a pretty big reality check. People might come for the lore or for shiny graphics but at the end of the day the thing that KEEPS the majority of subs is gameplay, it needs to be both fun and addictive or the # of subs will just decline dramatically.

To be really successful I think an Elder Scrolls MMO needs to have that same level of sandboxiness (so not a word) that early UO had (or more even), I'm not sure how the main strengths of the series can translate into a balanced MMO (earlier pants stealing quote applies). My biggest fear is that they'd just make something that's WoW shoehorned into the ES setting.

[meji]

There is a tonne of lore in TES series and I can easily see it filling a hell of a lot of content - especially given that they have licence to add or change whatever the see fit.

Things like Dwemer lore and what not will hook those players from the Morrowind + era of TES games at the very least.

But, I think the developers might be thinking something that is enticing ie Exploration, lore and the real fun and unintended aspects of the game - ala pantstealing (Oh how I loved that in Morrowind ^_^ ), lots of creativity with spell effects etc.. will keep people playing for years. TES games are all about the player being the all-conquering reincarnation of *insert local legend/hero who becomes global legend/hero*. An MMO can't support every players as the only superhero on Tamriel. Now we may find that it will not concern many players as they realise this will be a shift from the traditional TES character, or we may find that it is infact a massive part of what makes TES so successful.

I'm intrigued to see if they can pull this off, it would have to be very, very good though to make any sort of dent in the current MMO market.

[Spooler]

I hate to be one of "those" people but this game will not succeed.

I just hope it dies quickly and we can all put this nonsense behind us

[sifter132]

If I can be frank, the Elder Scrolls MMO have been talking so much ****. Lore? Who the **** keeps playing an MMO because of Lore?

It's like they're just so **** scared of talking about the actual gameplay that they feel the need to talk about *everything* else so everyone forgets about that.

Not sure I play MMOs BECAUSE of lore, but I quit them if im not really interested in it. Guild Wars was a perfect example - I was way more interested in the WoW, AoC, warhammer or LOTRO universes than Guild Wars. Same for RIFT, never thought about getting it.