The Elder Scrolls Online might not be what the fans wanted out of an MMORPG but Zenimax Online still manages to pull all of those doubters in and deliver a fun story-driven experience that many MMORPGs lack these days. This time around, the developers take us back to a little place a lot of Oblivion fans call home, the deadlands… Let’s jump in!
Blackwood is the next chapter in the Elder Scrolls Online narrative experience. It’s 800 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Gates of Oblivion and it’s all about discovering the dark twisted plans of the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon. You start off your journey, investigating a conspiracy that ties a cult with the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon and leads us to the dreadful Deadlands.
Blackwood is a great addition to the franchise but let’s talk honestly, don’t expect something mind-blowing. You’ll find a new adventurous path that’ll take you to familiar and even mysterious unknown lands that’ll impress those veteran Oblivion players but in the end, the game still offers the same gameplay mechanics after years passed. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy my time in Tamriel and the total game offers a tremendous amount of gameplay hours but it just feels too much of the same thing.
“But all of this just feels okay and nothing too fancy!”
Look, this expansion will draw a lot of veteran players back into the game with the Oblivion portals, the Daedric Prince, The Dark Brotherhood, … etc. Besides these familiar characters and environments, the chapter also offers a 12-player trial where you have to confront the invading tribes before they summon Mehrune Dagon’s great army. The oblivion portals are a new way to introduce fresh world events that are scattered through the region of Blackwood. You can enter these portals and strike down the Daedric army from the inside out and hopefully come back alive. There are companions that can fight against your side, with their own talent tree and characteristics. A huge selection of items, achievements, collectibles, … etc. has also been added. But all of this just feels okay and nothing too fancy!
I love how the world event system is all about the Oblivion portals. It suits the lore perfectly but the portals feel “less special” than I thought I would. Yes, there’s a new world behind these portals and all of these portals show different environments but the excitement for entering these portals quickly fades away. These portals feel very linear but with just a notch of randomness. The fiery landscape feels like an instance being used every time with a few more details or re-arrangements of map elements.
The companions’ feature is a love-hate relationship. I like the fact that there’s an NPC following in your footsteps but I feel like we’re losing the “MMO” in MMORPGs. It’s a Massive Multiplayer Online type of game where you need to group up to overcome certain dungeons or even bosses in the digital world. Even though I understand that the developers want to give a little backbone to the less social players who play these types of games but they just don’t feel “right for the job”. The companions aren’t as smart as real players and in the end, these NPCs feel replaceable. There isn’t a real connection between me and them. They’re just a mindless puppet that does my bidding in the worst way possible. They’re cannon fodder.
However, I do appreciate the fact that these companions have their own experience bar and skill tree. There’s even a way to push them in the role you want them to be, either a DPS, tank, or support. They also have their own items that they can equip to max out their stats in some way. There’s also a way to get matching outfits with your companion, so that’s a plus as well. Your companion also has a kind of “good and/or evil” tracker but this doesn’t really influence your quest in the slightest bit. The tracker is more to make your companion stand out with its own characteristics and thoughts.
“I also find my companion less convincing than I would like it to be.”
I do find that the game doesn’t take these companions into account like it’s supposed to be. Blackwood is your standard MMORPG with a standard quest like “go here”, “go from A to B”, “search that area” and sometimes “battle against”. The companion needs battles to gain experience and the only way to achieve this gain of experience is by killing monsters and complete world events. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to push players out in the world and do these public events but this “gaining of experience” could have been more streamlined within the main quests.
I also find my companion less convincing than I would like it to be. Like I said before, they’re brainless husks with emotions attached to them but some mechanics could have been worked out more properly. Your character can be “stowed away” or when crossing a river, the companion will automatically teleport itself to the other side of the river.
The game runs smooth as it has before. There were only a few hiccups but nothing a small patch can’t handle. We also cannot forget that ESO is an MMORPG that offers a lot of things in a single chapter. In other words, in-game bugs are normal for an MMORPG this size. What I’m trying to say is that there were a couple of hiccups but it didn’t hinder me with my gameplay experience.
I also like the fact that they’ve reworked the whole tutorial area. This time around, a player will wake up in a prison and being freed by a mysterious stranger that needs your help. You’ll wander around the ancient ruins of once a majestic place doing a couple of objectives that’ll teach you the basics of the game. In the end, you’re offered to choose a starting point that allows you to play the chapter you want from the beginning. This allows players to choose the starting storyline area and play the adventure that they truly want instead of crawling their way through all of the chapters that have already been released in the past. It’s a great way to start your adventure.
“There’s a choice you can make between “performance” mode and “fidelity mode”.”
Owning both games on the PC and Console, I must say I like playing the game on both of my systems. The Console Enhanced edition for ESO is just a must-have when you own a PlayStation 5 of the Xbox X Series. The enhanced edition improves performance as well as the visual aspect of the game. There’s a choice you can make between “performance” mode and “fidelity mode”. The fidelity mode will give you the best visual experience in 4K resolution with a stable 30 FPS. The “performance mode” will offer you 60 FPS on a 1440p resolution with the best texture and shadow settings. Both modes have their advantages but I like the performance mode a bit better because of the butter smooth experience the mode has to offer. I do find it a drag to download a 90GB file to “activate” this experience. These games are getting bigger every day…
In other words, there have been some decent graphical improvements and a decent cut in loading times. There are also voice chat upgrades and better draw distance, textures, reflections, … Zenimax Studios made the right call, developing a next-gen upgrade. It only makes the game even better and more enjoyable.
Conclusion:
I had a great time during this new chapter because of the link the game had to offer with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The lore, the setting, the deadlands, … they are all amazing adds to the game. ESO (on its whole) offers a serious amount of content and an enjoyable experience. It’s a great game to pass some time when you’re in the need of chilling. Blackwood offers some new appreciated features and a great build-up on the previous chapter. However, it doesn’t get me hooked. Yes, I’ll play it again from time to time but I’m still waiting for that “next new thing” the game has to offer. ESO has a decent combat system and some fun classes to play but where’s that “fix” that gets me going? ESO just got a little better and that’s definitely a good thing. Veteran players will like the Blackwood chapter due to its familiar lore and characters but the developers made sure that the new players didn’t feel left out. With their new tutorial zone, they’ll manage to attract a lot more new players than they have before and this can benefit all the players and developers. Blackwood is a great addition to the ESO storyline with some interesting changes to the original base game. Now it only needs that “new exciting thing” that will make the game stand out from all the rest.
