Skyrim

ESO Game Informer article leaked

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The first preview article for ESO written by Game Informer's Adam Biessener has been splashed across the internet through a leak before it appeared in the magazine's print version.

As a respectable modding site Skyrim Nexus will not be linking to the scans on its front page. There are plenty of links to the scans available in the forums including comments on previous ESO news articles.

There is also nothing stopping readers from googling "elder scrolls online game informer scans" and following the links from there. One version is particularly high quality, which suggests that it was a leak of the original pdf, rather than a scan of the magazine. Game Informer has been contacted for confirmation and comment.

Find more through Google.

69 comments

  1. Zonzai
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    One more thing. Those screenshots were awful. They are taking the Old Republic route and turning everything cartoony. Doing that is guaranteed to ostracize a large chunk of TES fans.
  2. Zonzai
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    So I wonder if this was their checklist for ESO...

    Remove active combat - CHECK
    Remove freedom to create any character you want - CHECK
    Remove notoriously high-end graphics - CHECK
    Remove ability to permanently change the game world - CHECK
    Take the thriving TES modding community out of the equation entirely - CHECK
    Insert generic MMO classes - CHECK
    Insert generic MMO combat - CHECK
    Insert a slew of standard kill tasks - CHECK
    Fill gaps with rather generic lore - CHECK

    Don't get me wrong, I love the Elder Scrolls lore. But as much as I love it, I have to admit that it is rather generic fantasy fanfare. Generic lore alone is not enough to make a good game. And honestly, after reading that article it seems clear to me that ESO is nothing but what every other MMO has ever been, with TES wrapping.

    Perhaps even more detrimental than the apparent genericness (that's a word now) of ESO is the lack of a thriving modding community. What is the number on thing that separates TES from other games? The modding community. Take mods out of the equation and it doesn't matter what wrapping you put on ESO, it is nothing special.

    As others have noted, ESO is probably about nothing more than cashing in on the cash cow. Unfortunately, it will probably not be a positive influence on the series or the franchise in the long run. Companies that do this tend to debase their communities in the process.

    Basing my opinion solely on that article, months spent playing Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, all the time I've spent modding and using mods and 15 years of playing MMOs, I don't see anything good coming of this. I don't usually make predictions like this, but unless the article drastically misrepresented the substance of ESO, it will be nothing more than a mediocre success. Bethesda will really have to pull off something incredible to make it anything else.
  3. Arodicus
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    Kalekunai has a valid point, albeit phrased abrasively - games can and should be written to not punish folks with better computers. 3Dmodels can be low-poly on some machines and high-poly on others - the MMO code is totally independant of the graphics. Frankly I'm amazed WoW never figured this out, and it's killing them - they are losing players in droves.

    My only concern though is that its the modding community that makes ES such a great series, so I'm hoping they will alllow private servers to allow custom modding, much like Dungeon Siege did.
  4. Yaktan
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    Maybe a lot of people don't like this because...I've been on ES since Arena and take some pride in the game series. Maybe other long time Elder Scrolls are feeling like it's just being exploited. This was just something I thought of last night. I do take some pride in the ES series..now it's just out there for everyone. And Bethesda is selling out to Microsoft. The times they are a changin'.
  5. syrik77
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    You have a problem posting a direct link, but providing instructions is okey dokey.....LOL.
  6. yafi
    yafi
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    Btw, https Google surfing is more secure.
  7. odculteln
    odculteln
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    lol those scans are so old
  8. nathanj
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    @Sader325...........LOL.

  9. Thoreai
    Thoreai
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    @Kalekunai
    Its ridiculous to say serious gamers are just those, that have high-end rigs..i dont even...what in oblivion are you talking about.

    A serious gamer would know that a games worth isnt lying in the graphical part, sadly this isnt the trend nowadays, as everyone is chasing after shiny graphics.

  10. Sader325
    Sader325
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    "We at the Nexus family of sites do not condone kidnap and murder and would never host content on our website that promotes it. We feel that this would tarnish our reputation as a reputable and law abiding website as well as promoting kidnap and murder, which we believe is not something we believe should be practiced.

    However, if you're interested in kidnap and murder we recommend you visit Google and use its powerful search engine to find some great step by step guides on how to kidnap and murder whoever you wish!"