How Good Is the Story?

ThumbtackJ

That is what I'm most interested in. I'm a huge lore nerd when it comes to TES and I'm super interested in finding out all the major lore points from the quests and lore books scattered about.

 

I played in very early closed beta, and didn't like the combat all too much (but to be fair, I haven't liked the combat in any TES game all that much, even though it's my favorite series, with Morrowind being my favorite game of all time). So much sounds potentially interesting. I know it takes place in the second era, during an interregnum between the Reman and Septim empires, and that there were invasions from Akaviri forces in Skyrim and Morrowind. As well as the founding of Elsweyr. I'm assuming this takes place after the assassinations of the Akaviri leaders, and sometime directly in the middle of the era, a few centuries before Tiber Septim rises to power?

 

Uhg. So much going on and I feel like I need to know. So, for all you lore buffs out there: Is the story alone worth $30 (and maybe a month or two of subscription costs, assuming I don't stay long)?

Maelwydd

It is an MMO...

You are THE hero...along with hundreds of thousands of others....

MrMelGibson

Originally posted by Gorwe
I haven't played it, but:

The mere fact that they pushed some Daedric invasion that didn't exist in, as well as the fact that there could be hundreds of emperors just rubs me the wrong way you know? What I heard about lore is that it is ok-ish(perhaps on Arena levels, or a bit less). Don't expect Morrowind-that ship has sailed(sadly). Neither playerbase(except the small niche) nor Bethesda want such a game anymore. Now they are more focused on wandering and combat. And I wouldn't say any of those are of any note in ESO(perhaps it should be compared to Oblivion in this regard).

After the red, everything else should be taken with a grain of salt.  

 

Now, to answer your question OP.  MMOs typically don't have the greatest storylines (compared to some great Single player RPGs).  I played ESO from 1 to 50 and enjoyed the storyline.  It really wasn't any worse then skyrim or any other elder scrolls game imo.  Just give the game a try.  You might end up really enjoying it.

 

P.S.  This site has a small but very vocal minority that hates on this game on every single post.  Also take these with a grain of salt and find out for yourself.

Belgaraath

Originally posted by MrMelGibson

Originally posted by Gorwe
I haven't played it, but:

The mere fact that they pushed some Daedric invasion that didn't exist in, as well as the fact that there could be hundreds of emperors just rubs me the wrong way you know? What I heard about lore is that it is ok-ish(perhaps on Arena levels, or a bit less). Don't expect Morrowind-that ship has sailed(sadly). Neither playerbase(except the small niche) nor Bethesda want such a game anymore. Now they are more focused on wandering and combat. And I wouldn't say any of those are of any note in ESO(perhaps it should be compared to Oblivion in this regard).

After the red, everything else should be taken with a grain of salt.  

 

Now, to answer your question OP.  MMOs typically don't have the greatest storylines (compared to some great Single player RPGs).  I played ESO from 1 to 50 and enjoyed the storyline.  It really wasn't any worse then skyrim or any other elder scrolls game imo.  Just give the game a try.  You might end up really enjoying it.

 

P.S.  This site has a small but very vocal minority that hates on this game on every single post.  Also take these with a grain of salt and find out for yourself.

I only played through Aldmeri and I agree with the poster above. Nobody is going to be able to tell you if you will like it or not. IMO, it was standard fare for these kind of games. Nothing spectactular, but not nearly as generic or boring as games like Rift, Wildstar, GW2 etc. I think it was better than Age of Conan too. SWTOR story is just as good in my eyes, as was Lord of the Rings Online.

Sovrath

I've enjoyed the main story. As the above poster indicated, it's no better or worse than other Elder Scrolls stories.

Some of the smaller quests/stories are hit or miss but I will continue my subscription as I'm having fun.

Iselin

It's one of the better and most cohesive stories I have ever seen in a game and to me the best ever in an MMO. 

 

Some story lines are global, some are regional and some are personal to an individual or group. Some are serious some are quite sad (the Wilderking/queen story line in the AD comes to mind) and some are humorous--but I can't think of any where the humor is forced.

 

The global stories compare well to LOTRO (and that's saying something) and the individual and regional stories are far better than LOTRO.

 

The main thing for me is that the stories don't assume I'm 12 and talk to me at that level like many other MMOs do.

ThumbtackJ

Thanks all. I think I'll definitely pick this up today then. Even if the absolute worst is to happen, and I hate everything about it, even the story, I'm only out $30, and that's basically not getting Chinese takeout for a weekend. 

Dreamo84

The story is actually amazing. Best questing in an MMO by far.

The rewards for doing all the side quests is great. Not the item or exp I'm talking about but you'll learn extra things about the main quests from doing side quests. It's really well done and not meaningless like most MMO quests.

Cougan

Lack of memorable characters is my personal gripe, they really bring a good rpg story to life. Only the noble explorer and the werewolf really stood out for me.

 

There are well written questlines though and a whole city to fill with NPCs from questing around level 40, a bit like Suikoden

SgtPepperUK

I personally didn't really feel the magic with the main quest, though that could be marred by the NPC allies, who are supposed to assist on some of the quests, who don't really help much at all - I think with some tweaks to those NPCs these quests would just feel that bit more epic.

 

Beyond that, the regional quest chains, and the overall factional story arcs that they form, are pretty damned good. General quests too were, on the whole, quite well done.

 

Some quests also give options as to the outcome; whilst they don't generally impact the game or your character in any meaningful way these are pretty interesting and, being someone who likes to pick the option that represents doing the right thing, at times these were often not black and white and I had great difficulty in choosing which option to go for. The difference between a good choice and not so good one (and possibly bad ones in some cases) could be quite subtle.

 

Additionally, I think some of the NPCs we meet were very well written and more than a few showed some kind of personality. I tended to skip the voice acting during quests in previous ES games, as well as the Fallout games, but here I did actually find myself listening to the voices, rather than just reading the text and clicking through.

 

In fact, I daresay, imo the quests in ESO are a notch above those in Oblivion and Skyrim.

udon

For all the crap that phasing gets I think it does lend itself to improving the story experience a lot.  Personally I think SWTOR's story was better but with phasing I would say ESO implements it better and really pulls you into it a lot more than any previous MMO has done.  It's much more like a SPG in that regard.

ThumbtackJ

Originally posted by udon
For all the crap that phasing gets I think it does lend itself to improving the story experience a lot.  Personally I think SWTOR's story was better but with phasing I would say ESO implements it better and really pulls you into it a lot more than any previous MMO has done.  It's much more like a SPG in that regard.

I really like what story I've played through in SWTOR so far. Level 24 Imperial Agent and I've loved every moment so far (combat gets a bit boring, but I'm loving the story). Just rolled a Republic Trooper because I found out the Timothy Omundson (who plays Lassiter on my favorite show, Psych) does the voice acting for Jorgan.

 

Anyways, thanks again all. Went ahead and grabbed it. It's gonna be a while.

Paske

Buy it OP and enjoy it.

 

Nothing more can be said.

Scot

Questing is a strong point of the game, but if you have played too many MMOs like me it can get a bit 'have we not been here before'. But then I have said that about every MMO since Lotro.

codejack

I quit paying any attention to the story around level 10. It is boring and unoriginal.

 

In retrospect, I would not have bought it, but as the guy above pointed out, I'm only out as much as a weekend of eating takeout would cost, so /shrug

MsPtibiscuit

The main story is meh.

They could have done a good twist with Mannimarco, but they shut it down too quick, and the story continues with the boring vilain, Molag Bal. If you're into the ES lore, you will scream at how the end rapes the established lore, but if you're a "casual" ES player (no negative connotation) it will be okay.

The final combat is only there to satisfy the ego of the 13 years old, though.

The regional story are decent, I liked them, they don't really progress in the main quests, they generally just make you defeat a villain that has no real connection with the rest.

The quests' story are decent too. After the level ~40, they become kind of repetitive, and you can feel that they re-use the same story-scheme for 4 or 5 quests with just different places/characters/villains. Zeni covers that with good and lengthy dialogs. Personnaly, I enjoyed them

Orious

Not only is the main stories pretty intriguing (you have ideologies to consider EVERYWHERE...mmos usually don't include good enough reason for anything)... you also have interesting stories in each big dungeon. So pay attention to those as the story continues further in the veteran versions of those dungeons.

Bigdaddyx

Compared to story in TSW and SWTOR? pretty average.

Scot

Originally posted by Bigdaddyx
Compared to story in TSW and SWTOR? pretty average.

 

I partly agree, but then SWTOR has the best class quests I have seen and TSW has a unique setting and quests to match. That's a high pedigree. TESO is not in my top three questing MMOs (Lotro is number 3) but that's a pretty high bar for any MMO to reach in my book.