{"id":22235,"date":"2014-02-07T10:39:24","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T15:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=22235"},"modified":"2014-02-07T11:00:39","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T16:00:39","slug":"experienced-points-the-surprising-things-about-elder-scrolls-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=22235","title":{"rendered":"Experienced Points: The Surprising Things About Elder Scrolls Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NDA is lifted, so we’re free to discuss The Elder Scrolls Online<\/a>, which is exactly what I do in today’s special Friday column<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And yes, it’s pretty good. Go figure. I know I predicted a disaster for this thing, and I’m happy to see I was wrong. <\/p>\n

However, after spending 1,200 words or so praising the game, let me offer a gripe:<\/p>\n


\nThe person responsible for washing out the colors in this game should be flogged.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is what the game looks like:<\/p>\n

Eh. That’s not too bad I guess.<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

When it really ought<\/strong> to look like this:<\/p>\n

WOW. Okay, that’s nice.<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

Skyrim had the same problem: Gorgeous visuals that were reduced to a pale, watery mush out of some irrational pursuit of “realism”. Except, it’s not even realistic. I can look out my window right now on an overcast winter day and see a more vibrantly blue sky than the one in ESO. <\/p>\n

This is a crime against art. The deserts of Stros M’kai should be warm orange. The snowy crevaces of Bleakrock isle should be cool blue. The lush tropical beaches of Auridon should be vibrant green. The depths of Oblivion should be… well, I guess that can look however you like. Purple fog, deep red light, whatever. Instead, they all have the same shy, lifeless color palette. <\/p>\n

The art is good. The individual areas are varied and interesting. But this color filter is the death of joy. It reminds me of some other games<\/a> I might mention. If I was an artist on this team I would have assaulted the art director over this. It’s just… there’s no reason for it. <\/p>\n

Still in beta. Maybe if the community makes a fuss this can be changed. One can hope, anyway.<\/p>\n

EDIT: Also, there’s a complete lack of any kind of soundscape. No sloshing water on the beach, no calling birds, howling wind, creaking wood, rustling trees, or chattering wildlife. I think I heard some crickets at night, though. Still, I hope this is something that will get taken care of before release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NDA is lifted, so we’re free to discuss The Elder Scrolls Online, which is exactly what I do in today’s special Friday column. And yes, it’s pretty good. Go figure. I know I predicted a disaster for this thing, and I’m happy to see I was wrong. However, after spending 1,200 words or so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[336],"class_list":["post-22235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column","tag-elder-scrolls-online"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}