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The Elder Scrolls Online

First person brings emotional impact to Elder Scrolls Online

We talk to creature combat designer Maria Aliprando about first person, killer bats, and post-launch content.

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Creature combat designer Maria Aliprando talks us through what Gamescom visitors experienced in The Elder Scrolls Online, about the first person perspective, and enemy design and progression.

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When it comes to a franchise like The Elder Scrolls change is not always met with a warm embrace and The Elder Scrolls Online has its fair share of sceptics.

"I think that when we say this is the next Elder Scrolls game people are starting to believe us. (laughter) And in fact this is the next Elder Scrolls game. It is the next chapter of the story. Even though it's a thousand years before the events of Skyrim."

On the first person perspective, which was playable for press and public for the first time in Cologne:

"We knew it was going to be a really big thing. And honestly when playing it feels very different from when you're playing it in third person. Cause when you're playing in third person you have an overview of the world, and you can see everything around you. It's probably the optimal view for PvP, being able to see guys attacking you from behind."

"Most traditional Elder Scrolls games the enemies are in front of you, there's nothing behind you, so you can constantly backpedal. Where as in our game you wouldn't be able to do that in first person. But what's really interesting in first person is, when you zoom in the world just kind of, the perception gets really close. And it feels just more visceral when you're up to close to everything. And you kind of just get lost in picking up bottles, opening chests, picking through somebody's drawer in their house. And it really drove home that feeling of an Elder Scrolls game and we knew it was vitally important. But we didn't realise until we started playing it the huge not only perception that it gives but the emotional impact that it brings to the game."

Maria Aliprando's area of expertise is creature combat design and she detailed what we can expect from the enemies of Tamriel this time around. The perspective of a creature combat designer seems slightly askewed as this is how she answered a question about feedback on creature design.

"Unfortunately everyone is playing in Bleak Rock which is a starter zone, so... But I will say there's a bat called Death Claw in the zone. He's got the highest kill rate, so far of players. He's been killing players left and right. Death is in his name so it's a little bit to be expected. Bears have also been taking out people here and there. But it's not really until you get around 8 or 10 when you start seeing monsters working together. And start doing things like calling out to eachother for heals. You start seeing necromancers sacrificing themselves to summon giant undead. You don't see mini dark anger portals just spinning up and spilling Daedra wherever you're standing. So you get that a little bit later on, because by the later levels we want you to have mastered the core mechanics, before we start introducing the tactical mechanics."

Speaking of the road ahead, Aliprando touched on what's coming post-launch in The Elder Scrolls Online.

"We have a pretty aggressive post-launch schedule as far as updating the game goes. Some fo the first things that go in will be the justice system, so for example right now you can take bread and bottles off tables and nobody is going to stop you, nobody is going to say anything to you. The justice system will be part of that system to make it feel a little bit more like the experience you expect. We'll also be putting in The Dark Brotherhood and The Thieves Guild. Right now the Mages Guild and the Fighters Guild are in. They have full questlines as well as full skill lines. So we put in the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild they will also get their entire storylines as well as entire questlines. So as the game continues to grow, you can grow your character as well. So once you hit 50 that's just the mathematical stopping point, but you probably only have about 30 percent of your skills at that point compared to all the skills that you could possibly get in the game."

The Elder Scrolls Online is scheduled for release next year and you can sign up for the beta on the official website.

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