The Elder Scrolls Online Reviews
Overall, Elder Scrolls Online does not revolutionize MMOs but is a solid entry in the genre. If you don't like MMOs or are getting burned out from them this probably won't change your mind, especially given its slow start. If you like the genre and also enjoy Elder Scrolls-style combat, however, then this game will likely be more your cup of tea.
A few launch hiccups aside, the issues that are and will continue to dog Elder Scrolls Online are entirely down to perception. If your hope for a sixth Elder Scrolls was always for a sequel set across a hitherto unexplored region of Tamriel; a game in which you could be the focus and aspire to be the sole hero, developing exclusive and ancient powers along the way, then Elder Scrolls Online was never going to cut it. Likewise if you're the kind of veteran MMO gamer who has to hit the level cap as quickly as possible to forever grind raids to attain the best gear, TESO's slower pace and exhaustive content may well feel tiresome and laboured.
The Elder Scrolls Online is a solid, meaty title. It has hours of gameplay, satisfying character trees, and a wealth of online role playing experiences to churn through. It's safe and secure. It serves up the classic habitual MMORPG experience, albeit with a "Tamriel Twist". And for many gamers, this will be fine. But Bethesda have created an example - not an evolution - of the genre.
The Elder Scrolls Online combines the best of Elder Scrolls with the worst of the MMO genre.
Zenimax and Bethesda have gotten their baby out of the first gate. Despite the flailing and wailing of some impossible to please souls about the downtime and what they were owed, everything has been handled cleverly and carefully.
[I]f you can stick through the starting areas to around Level 10, find several friends to group with, and stomach the litany of technical flaws, The Elder Scrolls Online will more than grow on you. Whether it remains that way will be determined when I review the endgame content more thoroughly several weeks from now.
Whether or not The Elder Scrolls Online is for you will depend entirely on what you're looking for out of it. If you want a true Elder Scrolls experience, with all the freedom, exploration, and immersion that comes with it, you're likely to be disappointed.
Where The Elder Scrolls Online fails is when it doesn't break enough from the traditional MMO formula, which is the same mistake other massively multiplayer games keep making, but the only places I've felt that weakness so far are in the monster behavior and quest systems. If the endgame and player-versus-player content I haven't gotten to yet also stick too close to typical MMO formulas, then it's going to be difficult for Bethesda to justify the cost of a subscription for The Elder Scrolls Online unless additional, fresh, and substantial story material is regularly added to the game for high-level players, maybe even on a monthly basis.