Combat in The Elder Scrolls series has never been brilliant, despite the fact that it's been integral to each title's design. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion introduced a more action-based system, while The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim built upon that formula, keeping the basics in place, while refining the rest. Combat became weightier and seemingly more brutal, but it still lacked a certain depth that's perhaps to be expected of such a popular franchise.
With The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, the traditional system has been grafted onto the structure of a massively multiplayer online experience – a process that has understandably come with its own set of challenges. For starters, it has to be a central component of a balanced and fair system, especially since there are player-versus-player activities. Next, it needs to be somewhat less reliant on action and overall player skill – not just for technical reasons, but because it has to tie into a gigantic world that offers hundreds of levelled enemies and quests. In other words, it needs to supplement a gradual sense of progression that's integral to what's expected of the genre.
And so, we're left with a combat system that'll feel familiar to Elder Scrolls fans, while also adhering to the necessities of an MMO that strives to be balanced, fair, and purposefully structured. It's relatively unique to the genre in the sense that it's still action based; it requires you to move, attack, block, and space yourself correctly, all while watching and reading your opponent's actions.
Staying in line with what we've come to expect of Bethesda's property, you're able to equip either one-handed or two-handed weapons. You may opt for a sword and shield combo, a two-handed great sword, or even a magic staff, but regardless of what you choose, the control scheme stays the same. R2 is your attack button, holding it down will charge up a power attack that drains stamina, and L2 acts as your block.
As far as MMO combat goes, The Elder Scrolls' underlining mechanics mean that the whole thing's surprisingly accessible. As a result, those who have perhaps previously felt intimidated by the myriad systems and rows of hotkeys found in other MMO games might just find this approach refreshing.
Speaking of hotkeys, they make an appearance here, too, and arguably, they're actually a welcome addition. In previous Elder Scrolls titles, your abilities have been limited by what weapons you currently have equipped. For example, in Skyrim, you couldn't run around shooting fireballs while also wielding a claymore, because both of your hands would be used to hold the sword. Likewise, if you wanted to mix archery and magic, you couldn't, purely because bows required the use of both hands. In some ways, the system made sense purely from a logical point of view, but it felt a little bit stifling as a result.
Here, however, there are branching skill trees made up of magical abilities, physical techniques, and passive buffs. Your equipped weapon still determines some attacks – for instance, you can only make use of heaving great sword moves if you're busy wielding one – but class-specific abilities and even some magic attacks can simply be placed on your hotkey menu, which is tied to the DualShock 4's face and trigger buttons. This means that you're free to make up your own ideal set of techniques, where pressing the corresponding button fires off the desired attack, regardless of what you currently have in your hands. It's a neat, accessible system that actually manages to, in some ways, improve on what's come before.
But how does brawling actually feel? Well, as mentioned, things are a little more routinely structured. Enemies have visual cones for certain moves that you'll have to step out of to avoid the impending offensive, while other basic facets are equally reactionary. If your opponent's about to whip out a power attack, blocking the incoming blow will stun them, and then you can knock them down with a power attack of your own. Fights are far more to-and-fro than what fans of the franchise will be used to, but again, it's a system that seems to work quite well – especially when you're bringing out specific abilities and even ultimate techniques to keep fights flowing in your favour.
Combat as a whole is bolstered by how your character grows, too. There are dozens of skill trees and branching paths to invest in, although at the same time, some elements have been streamlined. For example, not all of your skills increase through practice like in previous Elder Scrolls titles. Instead, defeating enemies and completing quests grants you experience, which, in turn, goes towards developing your currently active skill trees. So, if you're running around slaughtering bandits with a massive axe, your two-handed tree will be bolstered with experience, as will your overall class skill tree, and your preferred light, medium, or heavy armour skills. When these separate skills level up, your overall experience level rises, too, and every time that that fills, you'll level up in the more traditional sense, and you'll be granted a skill point which you can use to unlock yet more abilities.
On top of all this, you'll also be finding, looting, buying, and crafting equipment, which, of course, bolsters your strength further. As such, even from just our limited time with the beta, it's clear that there are countless ways to build your hero, developing them to perfectly suit your playstyle. And, since foes don't scale to your level, you'll need to strengthen your avatar effectively, so that you can progress to new areas and take on more dangerous tasks.
Much like questing and exploration, The Elder Scrolls Online's combat and character progression don't appear to be anything special, but once again, what's here is well worked, accessible, and surprisingly addictive. Taking to the field and grinding out a couple of levels is a satisfying way to pass the time, and the weighty feel of Skyrim's combat has made the transition relatively unscathed. Proceedings are more methodical, then, as you'd expect from an MMO, and although the action lacks a bit of intensity, we can't help but feel the need to jump back into Tamriel and continue to whack increasingly powerful monsters with big bits of metal.
Have you managed to get into The Elder Scrolls Online beta? Do you agree with our analysis of the combat? Swing low in the comments section below.
Comments 19
Sounds good to me, can't wait to get this. Been wanting it ever since it got delayed last year. Do you know if it has the new champion or justice systems are in yet? And are you going to give impressions on the pvp? Curious as to how it runs on the ps4. Thanks.
@NeverGoFulRetard The justice systems are in the beta. You sometimes see random players trying to murder NPCs and then getting caught and killed - it's pretty funny.
As for PVP, I'm not sure. I haven't had a good look yet, but from what I can tell, it's the most unstable part of the beta. The next and final piece I write will be about how the game looks and runs on PS4, so it might get covered.
EDIT: Damn my phone's autocorrect!
@ShogunRok haha. Thanks look forward it.
Yeah, the combat is pretty decent, again its not mind blowing but well designed. Maybe because I played most of my time as a short chunky orc it felt like I lacked any real agility. On a side note the PSN Imperial edition is now up for sale at £70, the physical collectors edition is £90, glad I ordered the collectors edition.
I thought I had signed up for the ps4 beta... Guess not. Sounds like it's worth the one-time purchase to me. I'm more interested in learning the ancient lore than fighting baddies, I wonder how many books and things like that will end up in it
@charlesnarles I put in about ten hours of casual play, there didn't seem to be a great deal of lore/books etc, there were plenty of odd bits in bookshelves and such but nothing more than probably a hundred words. I'm looking forward to everything it has to offer, also hoping huge PvP doesn't break the game.
Are there not classes? you can just put points where you want a build your character? Is it solo-friendly? Can I out level a dungeon and just solo it?
I can't decide if I want this one or not. I did not liked Skyrim but I do like MMORPGs. Not having a subscription is a big plus, but I think that if I can't solo dungeons and/or story mode, it's a really bad thing.
I'm liking what I've played so far, the only down side to me seems to be a hell of a lot of talking but still when I'm killing things and epic failing in being a thief haha, it's fun and I've played solo as my friends didn't get a code and from playing on my own it's been really fun so here's hoping that with friends it will just be better!
Sounds boring, so I'll wait for Dragon's Dogma Online.
@Gemuarto I wouldnt say it was boring but sometimes it does feel like it lacks atmosphere, all the missions i completed were pretty interesting and well written and thought out
@Midzark I had a lot of fun and I imagine than when its been ploughed through for a month or so and there are huge pvp battles going on across tamriel its going to be pretty epic for the PS4
@Melucine there are classes and they define where your special skill trees go, I'm assuming there are lots of class specific skills but I only played as four different night blades, I believe most of the story and missions are solo, the group stuff is more for PvP and being a general nuisance to others
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi
Nice, thanks for the info!
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi @Melucine Adding to what's been said, the majority of the game's content can be done alone. This includes 'public dungeons' which are designed for a group, but if you're powerful enough, you'll be able to get through by yourself.
And yeah, at the start of the game you pick from 5 classes, and each of them has 3 separate sub-class skill trees. It's quite well done, to be honest.
@ShogunRok
Nice, thank you too for the info. I hated at FF XIV that it scaled you down and couldn't do solo dungeons
@Melucine Yeah, it's one of my only personal complaints about FFXIV, that and the fact the story requires you to find people to do the dungeons with. Nothing technically wrong with that, but I think I would have rather had a story that could be done solo, with the co-op stuff on the side.
Nice, I like the ability to solo dungeons if I over-level for them. Some times when playing MMOs not many friends are on and most pick up groups can be more trouble than they're worth.
So far it's sounding worth the price of admission.
I have access to the ESO beta and whilst Im having some fun with it I much more prefer Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim.
I may pick this up but that will depend on how many of my friends picking it up. For now I'll be happy with The Witcher 3 and the hope of a Fallout 4 announcement.
I'm still not sure if I should get ESO TU for PS4 or PC. Apparently there is no native controller support for the PC version, and is supposedly going to be implemented after the launch of the consoles. I watched a recent clip of gameplay footage on the Xbone and so far looks great. IMO playing a 3rd person RPG with a controller feels better and more comfortable than keyboard and mouse. Would've been nice if you guys couldv've recorded your gameplay for this article though.
@EWolf For our final article (which we'll likely publish tomorrow) we're planning on recording around 10 minutes of general gameplay to go with it. Hopefully it'll be informative!
@NeverGoFulRetard yes that champion and justices systems are on their that's why it tamerial unlimited and its such big patch its like a45gig game with like 15gig patch
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