STACK Jun #128

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JUNE 2015 JB Hi-Fi
064
visit FEATURE GAMES
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited proved to be a success when it released on PC. It’s finally coming to
Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this month – and you don’t have to caught up with ZeniMax Online Studios’
Game Director Matt Firor to pick his brains about Tamriel’s reinvigoration.
The
Elder Scrolls:
W e’ve seen Tamriel before – the Elder
Scrolls games have been around since
The Elder Scrolls: Arena in 1994 – but
we’ve never seen it on this scale. The previous
game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, received
multiple Game of the Year awards, as well as
topping many a “best games ever” list; The
Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited (ESO:
TU) has big boots to fill.
Tamriel Unlimited offers the entirety of
Tamriel for players to explore, and we will
“see parts of Tamriel that have not been in an
Elder Scrolls game since Arena”. Game director
Matt Firor confirmed what most of us already
assumed: “The sheer scope of the playable
area of ESO: TU is massive... We need many
different art biomes – from desert to swamp
to the soaring snowy mountains of Skyrim. It’s
all explorable in the game, so we had to create
it all”.
Set 1,000 years prior to the events of Skyrim,
ESO: TU will pay its respects to series veterans.
According to Firor, “you’ll find Daedric Princes,
cultures, and places that you’ll remember
from past Elder Scrolls games, especially
Oblivion and Skyrim”, as many of them
are immortal or near-immortal. “Careful
reading of in-game books and paying
attention to quest dialogue will show
you how some of the stories and
situations in future Elder Scrolls games
got their start”.
Given that this is the first of the
Elder Scrolls series to feature online
multiplayer, there were of course
questions as to how far this extended.
“This is a multiplayer game from the
ground up”, Firor explains. “You can talk
to [other players], group, form guilds, trade, and
much more. And of course if you are in Cyrodiil,
the war zone in ESO: TU, you’ll be able to kill
them”. Firor also outlined a voice chat system
for the console version of ESO: TU that will
“allow quick and easy communication” and feel
“familiar” to XBO/PS4 players.
When The Elder Scrolls Online was first
released, it required a paid subscription service
to play. Now, however, the fees have been
waived, and the game rechristened Tamriel
Unlimited. “This change has been very popular
with our players so far, and we hope to see
the same reaction from our new console
community”, notes Firor. However, there is a
paid service you can opt into known as ESO
Plus. “DLC will be available for free for ESO
Plus members”, so perhaps that’s persuasive
enough to get players to cough up some gold.
While Firor recognises “it’s always more
fun to play games like this with others”, he did
confirm that the main quest, as well as fighters
and mages guild quest lines, will be done solo.
“Most quests in ESO: TU can be completed
with friends, but we do reserve a couple...
so you can ‘be the hero’ by not having other
players interfere”. Good news for those hoping
to tackle Tamriel with their mates.
With events in ESO: TU leading up to the
later games of Oblivion and Skyrim, the lore of
The Elder Scrolls must be carefully adhered to.
“We have a dedicated Loremaster (Lawrence
Schick) here at ZeniMax Online Studios, who
makes sure that everything that happens in
the game is consistent with Elder Scrolls lore”,
Firor explains. “He communicates regularly and
often with his counterparts at Bethesda Game
Studios to make sure that everyone is always
on the same page”.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
is ZeniMax Online Studios’ first game, and it’s
an ambitious one at that. The game director is
looking forward to seeing the impact ESO: TU
will have on the console community, following
its rampant success in the PC market.
“Putting this together and making it fun
and awesome was (and continues to be)
a huge task and I couldn’t be prouder of
the team”, says Firor. “Making games
isn’t easy, and games of this type are
among the hardest to pull off. We’re
very happy to finally rea
launch on consoles so
the rest of the audience
can see what we’ve
been up to”.