The Elder Scrolls Online Preview and Interview

It seems like we’re getting our first non-GameInformer coverage of The Elder Scrolls Online, as a few previews and interviews are slowly starting to pop up online.

PC Gamer has a quote-laden preview on the title’s combat:

(Your first two slots are derived from your weapon. If I pick up a bow they’re bow attacks and if I pick up a sword then they’re sword attacks. Anyone can do that and anyone can be good at it. That’s sort of a touchstone of Elder Scrolls games, and we wanted to make sure we included that in here.

(Your first two slots are derived from your weapon. If I pick up a bow they’re bow attacks and if I pick up a sword then they’re sword attacks. If I continue to use that weapon over a period of time, I will get better with it, which will give me a wider variety of things that I can potentially do with my weapon attacks. So I can gain mastery of it by virtue of having it equipped, but I can still pick up any weapon in the game and be good with it. And that’s true of anyone.

(On top of that, if I continue to use that weapon over a period of time I will get better with it which will give me a wider variety of things that I can potentially do with my weapon attacks. So I can gain mastery of it by virtue of having it equipped, but I can still pick up any weapon in the game and be good with it and that’s true of anyone. I think that’s an essential part of it.

(Your next three slots are derived from your class. You will have over the course of your progression many abilities and spells that you will get, more than three. But you want to pick the three that you think will support your weapon loadout in an interesting way.

While EDGE chatted with game director Matt Firor:

Can you say a bit about the exploration side of the game? Rather than just relying on quest trees, players are encouraged to explore the landscape with just their compass, Skyrim style?

That came out of our internal playtest. Our original model was still exploration-based, but not as much as it is now. Our original model, we didn’t have quest hubs, but we had NPCs in strategic locations around, and we left it to you to find them. Then, through playtest, we had people in the office who were not MMOG players, and they said, ìI can’t find the content.î We realised somebody had already solved this problem for us, and it was Skyrim and the compass, and it just made sense that the compass points you to those NPCs, and they give you the quest.

What do you think truly makes this an Elder Scrolls game?

Lore. Even now, I come across lore that I didn’t know existed. It’s just so deep. 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. This is what makes the IP so great for an MMOG already: people already know it’s the kind of game where they can head out and explore and be rewarded for it. That’s the one thing that player will learn immediately that’s different about us: if you see something in the distance, you can go and investigate and be rewarded for it.