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Bethesda Announces Elder Scrolls MMO

An anonymous reader writes "Today Bethesda announced that their popular Elder Scrolls series of video games will be getting its own MMORPG. It's planned for 2013, and will be available for PCs and Macs. 'Players will discover an entirely new chapter of Elder Scrolls history in this ambitious world, set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm. "It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years," said game director and MMO veteran Matt Firor, whose previous work includes Mythic's well-received Dark Age of Camelot. "The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise."'

16 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. Just hope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    that an arrow to the knee doesn't kill this.

    1. Re:Just hope... by jo_ham · · Score: 5, Funny

      I was going to come here to count the "arrow to the knee" references, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

    2. Re:Just hope... by jo_ham · · Score: 5, Funny

      I tried to get the quote right, but then I took an arrow in the knee.

    3. Re:Just hope... by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah well I (woooosh! *THUNK) OW! Shit, that fucking hurts! This isn't funny!

    4. Re:Just hope... by synaptik · · Score: 4, Funny

      I used to make arrow-to-the-knee jokes, and then I took a vagina to the penis.

      --
      HSJ$$*&#^!#+++ATH0
      NO CARRIER
  2. Interesting and mixed feelings by santax · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I always found it a shame that such a rich world as the elder scrolls has, was only single player. It seemed to be missing that true interaction at times, while it's still and incredible world. I would applaud this, but I think we all know this will be a paid monthly subscription and they will find a way for micro-transactions. Personally I feel that is a shame for such a rich world.

    1. Re:Interesting and mixed feelings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > I always found it a shame that such a rich world as the elder scrolls has, was only single player.

      I've often felt the same. Sometimes standing on a hill looking out over the country side the world felt very empty.

      What I've always felt would have been a killer feature for TES, is a stand alone server and development kit along the lines of the original NeverWinter Nights. Even just to be able to host the main campaign and play through it with small group of friends would be an infinitely better experience than *another* grinding MMO.

  3. Urgh!!! by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Last thing I want is an MMO in Tamriel.

    First, the MMO market is totally saturated and this game just won't get the attention it deservers from fans and the media. As a result, it'll become yet another niche MMO for a few longtime diehard fans of TES.

    No, it won't be the next WoW either. The saturation factor alone prevents ANY MMO from being the next WoW, no matter how uber awesome.

    Secondly, all TES games are inherently FREAKING HUGE!!!! Huge world to explore, hugely deep lore, lots of side-quests. In theory, this would go hand-in-hand with an MMO concept, except for all the technical limitations imposed by current network technologies.

    Case in point: SWTOR. I had EVERYTHING to be a hell of a great MMO, but due to technical limitations, it was watered down to a theme-park-ride MMO. A Star Wars game with on-rails space combat?? Only half-dozen playable races??Seriously??

    DONOTWANT TES MMO, TYVM!!

  4. Not Excited by Missing.Matter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For me, the allure of Elder Scrolls has always been the single player experience and the immersion in a different world this provides. As someone who has played many MMOs, immersion has never really been a word I'd use to describe them. From all the immature annoying players, to the terrible meta game of griding levels and petty guild politics, playing MMOs has always been a chore for me (which is I guess why I don't play them much anymore). Elder Scrolls has always been a beautiful fantasy escape, and while I know there aren't any details released about the game at this point, I can't possibly see how they can replicate that experience in an MMO.

    I mean, look at the play style that characterizes TES. Vast open environments where you can do practically anything. Now imagine this as an MMO. Imagine walking into town to find EVERYTHING had been stripped out of every building. Shopkeepers slaughtered in the streets, two or three bandits with their pack of mule characters, shipping everything off to a stash... no it wouldn't work. The only reason these sandbox games work is because you're the only one in the game causing this kind of mayhem. So I don't know what TES Online is going to look like, but I have a strong suspicion it will include almost none of the allure of a typical TES game, and will be severely crippled by its MMO status.

    1. Re:Not Excited by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not to mention the fact that's it's going to be a little hard to be the Chosen One when everyone else is too.

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    2. Re:Not Excited by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Funny

      "There can be only Ten Thousand!"

  5. woot! Minecraft online by rfioren · · Score: 5, Funny

    I love that Notch guy. Can't wait to play Minecraft online!

  6. Re:Too bad by Missing.Matter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I agree. I would love to explore the land of Tamriel with my friends. I just don't want to do it with 10,000 other people to constantly annoy me.

  7. ARGH! by Anachragnome · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I want to strangle some of these bean counters.

    We don't need another MMO to replicate Skyrim--We just need MULTIPLAYER.

    (and by multiplayer, I mean IP to IP connections that don't rely on your fucking servers)

  8. Re:Lovely. by Adriax · · Score: 4, Funny

    And after respawning you'll have to wade through the horde of "TheLustyArgonianMaid696969" knockoffs all dancing naked on the mailboxes in the starting city.

    --
    I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
  9. Re:That's great and all but... by Kelbear · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope that new studio has better QA than the old one.

    With a release date of 2013, the game will probably be playable in 2014 given their track record. Their games are beloved for an amazing scope, but they have a history of releasing games filled with game-breaking bugs that players tend to forgive for having attempted to achieve so much. Hey, you can always just enter cheats or download mods to fix the problems right?

    This time it's an MMO, and when the game-breaking bug stops your main questline in it's tracks, or empties your inventory, or resets one or more of your stats to 0, etc. etc. etc. You can't hit the command line to fix it.

    I'm excited about the game for sure, but I have absolutely no confidence in them to release a stable MMO. I'll wait a few months or a year after release and let other people deal with the bugs first.