March 2014 - Alternate Image Gaming

Elder Scrolls

1-10: First Day Impressions

March 31, 2014

[read to the end for some tips on bugged quests]

The first day went mostly as one would expect. The downside of playing the beta is that the launch becomes a little bit less of a surprise. I created a Daggerfall Covenant Nightblade (as I had leveled most in beta). Of course, a large point of why I played in the beta was to identify what I’d like my “main” to be for the actual game, but it takes a little out of the new abilities. However, I was able to make a few different decisions regarding my talents and quest choices. Even as a Nightblade, which essentially the “rogue” character, I immediately went into archery in lieu of starting off with dual wielding and wasting skill points as I did in the beta. Once I hit level 14 or so, I’ll probably pick up another weapon and start using it a little to prepare for the weapon swap ability that comes at level 15. The swap skill also swaps all slotted skills so you can have two totally different builds for the different weapons.

The Good (more…)

Elder Scrolls

The State of Things

March 3, 2014

I’m not going to lie. My hopes for ESO are incredibly high. I love the MMO concept; the persistent, massive world; the social environment inside a game, but I’m running out of something to play. I’m a long time World of Warcraft player and it’s a great game, but… Oh, it’s such a but. The game is old. And I don’t just mean that the graphics engine is primarily 10 years old (which, honestly does get to me occasionally). The game is tired. It’s worn out. We’re on episode two hundred and whatever of Dragon Ball Z and while we keep getting new bosses it’s all the same. The interface and features are the best – there’s no arguing that. No other MMO out there matches the quality-of-game improvements that have happened over the years. But you can only polish the same gem so much. It’s still the same. This is where WoW finds itself, it’s the most polished MMO (excluding graphics) but it’s lacking something new to drive interest. So, what else to turn to? TERA looks great but the only unique part (live action combat) feels more gimmicky than a feature. The Secret World has basically the coolest premise out there, but the simple -fun- of game play is so much lower. A friend of mine described Knights of the Old Republic game play as exactly like WoW from 5 years ago. But look… on the horizon is a game that promises to exceed all of them. (more…)

Elder Scrolls

Distractions – ESO

March 1, 2014

So, I haven’t and probably won’t end up playing much WoW this weekend, because, well. Elder Scrolls Online beta!! Not only am I playing it a bit, but also trying to make some handy youtube videos. For your viewing pleasure (or displeasure, but you can view them regardless), here are some of ESO Beta footage I’ve recorded and posted.

Here’s a video on all the character customization options. WoW players take note of what (more…)