The Elder Scrolls Online: The Next Great Fantasy MMO?

[Cody Bye]

There are few intellectual properties left in the world quite as appropriate for creation into a massively multiplayer online game as the Elder Scrolls series. When ZeniMax Online Studios was announced back in 2007, there were a number of press outlets that began guessing about the future of the studio and which IP the studio would be pursuing. Now with a Fallout MMO being firmly talked about by Interplay, Ten Ton Hammer's Cody "Micajah" Bye turns his eye towards an Elder Scrolls-based MMO and what such a game would look like.

Basically, I imagine that The Elder Scrolls Online would take place shortly after the events of the last Elder Scrolls game, Oblivion. To make a long story short, the rightful heir to the Imperial throne, which is located on the continent of Tamriel, has died and has left the throne empty. For any fantasy aficionado, this is a prime set-up for a huge struggle as a variety of combatants struggle to emerge victorious in the vacuum of power. Can we say PvP-based confrontations anyone?

To read the rest of the Elder Scrolls Online editorial, click here!

[Barbarious]

I completely support an Elder Scrolls MMORPG. However I support it only if Bethesda stays true to their game.

Elder Scrolls has always been amazing because of its open-air, sandbox type gameplay and their ability to offer completely open situations. Theft. Murder. Assassination. Betrayal.

The sheer open world of Elder Scrolls and the ability of the player to function almost freely in it is what makes those games great.

Hence if they do make an Elder Scrolls MMORPG they need to continue that heritage into a multiplayer environment.

If they water down the Elder Scrolls series with some kind of restrictive governing then the game will just become an epic flop.

Open PvP. Theft. Looting. Etc.... Keep it real Bethesda.

If any of those features are left out - don't even call it Elder Scrolls. Just call it "Bethesda's Dumbass WAR/WoW Clone."

The last thing the world needs is more forced Factions. "Horde Vs Alliance" , "Order vs Destruction" , "Sith Empire vs Republic". I think the whole world has had quite enough of this kind of gameplay. Or at least I have.

None of the Elder Scrolls games has featured this kind of forced combat. You can join the Thieves Guild and then turn around and kill them (with obvious ramifications). You can join the Mages guild then loot their pockets when they're not looking.

That kind of sinister underbelly is what the Elder Scrolls has been founded upon.

Please. Please. Please. Do not try to turn a game series into something it's not.

[Cody Bye]

I don't think forced faction will be the forte of Elder Scrolls Online - I think it will be more of an option for players to tinker with. Much like what you can do with older MMOs, you'll be able to switch sides in an Elder Scrolls MMO, but the developers will probably find some way for you to engage in some "faction-based" PvP.

[Mikes]

I've never played an Elder Scrolls game, but I'd assume it would be just as relevent a universe as any well thought out fantasy universe. Personally, I'd rather see a Midkemia MMO from Raymond Feist's novels (before he stopped caring).

[unholyblackdeath]

OH NO! Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and now The Elder Scrolls? If anyone else announces plans to make a game I HAVE to play, then I think my head may explode. How am I ever going to make it in to work?

[bobfish]

Well, there is that Fallout MMO license knocking around somewhere as well.

Though walking away from licenses, there are plenty of quality titles in production, nothing massive perhaps, but all shaping up to be good at what they aim to do.

[JustaGuy]

Originally Posted by unholyblackdeath

OH NO! Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and now The Elder Scrolls? If anyone else announces plans to make a game I HAVE to play, then I think my head may explode. How am I ever going to make it in to work?

I think the editorial was speculation--no game has been announced yet.

That said, The Elder Scrolls would definitely make a cool game. I've played Morrowind and Oblivion. The thing I love most about them is that the possibilities, just as Barbarious said, are pretty endless--you can be whatever you want, do whatever you want, and there are a seemingly endless number of quests to take up your time, from the shorter main storyline quest to all the side quests and faction quests. If Bethesda could pull that off in an MMOG it would be sweet.

[Combover]

I remember losing a lot of sleep to Daggerfall. I'd make one character to try to play the story, but I'd have others that did their own thing. Maybe one just worked odd jobs for the Thieves' Guild. Another might be a cat burgular.

One problem I see with going MMO with Elder Scrolls is trying to support all of those play styles in a persistent world. But the pvp could be really fun.

[CHEWNIE01]

I have nothing to add other than to say.....

[Eliphas]

I too would like to see an Elder Scrolls game, but i doubt it will ever go online with the single player engine. It's just too heavy, even for new high end computers with a trillion gfx cards on them. Plus what Elder Scrolls made them better games than the others, was and is the modding community that supports them throughout the years, purring tones and tons of mods, sometimes small and sometimes huge. I've always said to myself that if you take away the mods, then it isn't too much of an Elder Scrolls game...unless Bethesda takes it to the next level and makes up a system where players can put mods on the game. :P Sounds far fetched, but, isn't it the time to make some new improvements to the MMO genre? I for one am too fed up with all that swamping in the MMO genre after WoW came (generally speaking)...