After many long days, I’m no longer stuck with this game! It’s now working! … And it was simple too. Basically, I kept putting a semicolon in the install folder. Apparently the game cannot handle this and causes the “missing dll” thing.
Removing the semicolon, finally made the fucking thing launch! When I saw it launch, my jaw dropped to the floor and then I cheered.
So, WOOT!! No more broken game! Anyway, I saw the intro climatic. And here I thought Alduin was a threat. Wow. So Molag Bal (one of the Daedric Princes) is dooming Tamriel).
Anyway, I had to wait a good two minutes after this for the character creation screen to come up. I hope this is just a one time thing.
So I created my char. An Argonian Dragon Knight (because why not?). Plus I have dragon-like abilities (such as the power to fucking breath fire). That measures a 5 on the badass scale.
Starting the game, I found myself in a prison. Because, all Elder Scrolls games start of you being either in a prison or sent to one, and someone saves you. Quite typical. However, this prison isn’t in Tamriel, it’s in the Daedric plane of Oblivion. So you take a sword and get killing of a few things.
Soon you meet a spiritual figure of ‘The Prophet’. You gotta bust him out too. But this is when you’re able to ask questions about where the fuck you are. You’re in a prison called ‘Coldharbour’ (obviously the devs are British, but that’s fine. I like British people), and… you’re “dead”, somehow. Your rescuer (who’s named ‘Lyris Titanborn’) explains how you and several others were a sacrifice of a powerful Necromancer named ‘Mannimarco’ who works for the Daedric Prince, Molag Bal. Somehow, you still have your body (and you’re not a zombie). You literally play as your character’s soul (as his or her soul is gone). Rescuing the Prophet is the only way you and her are getting out of this prison.
First you must do a few things to get access to his prison. And then it comes down to another sacrifice, where she has to let herself be imprisoned in-place of The Prophet. It’s sadly the only way he and I can escape. So I had to let this happen, and freed the Prophet. He wanted to make sure her sacrifice didn’t go in vain, and tells you how you’re just the body without the soul (barely living). And the only way for you to leave and get back to Tamriel is to get your soul back.
So you have to help this guy who is blind, through the rest of the prison (which is pretty short) and you’re able to get your soul back. Then you and him are sent back to Tamriel. You on the other hand, get sent to a different location and end up nearly drowning (which is ironic since I’m an Argonian). You’re rescued, still alive, and sent to a town called “Davon’s Watch”. Though you don’t see this happening, you find yourself in a house with the ghostly version of the Prophet here to greet you.
He says how you must “go your own path” and how “you will find many others that share the same courage and strength in this world” (aka other players). He also mentioned how you should join with them and blah de blah…
So this town is in Morrowind. I instantly knew when I stepped out and saw the ash flying in my face, and also some of those mushrooms which are native to Morrowind.
.
Anyway, having playing for awhile, I was convinced that this was some parallel universe of Nirn, where Alduin never came to Skyrim. Hell, it seemed to be even before the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Because they never said how “a lone hero” stopped a certain powerful Daedric Prince and helped to get the Dragonfires lit. It doesn’t even mention the murder of Sentium(horrible spelling here) the IV. It really does feel like an alternate reality.
But the truth is, this is before the Elder Scrolls series ever existed. It’s before the first game; before the Sentium dynasty. There was also a discussion about “the Dragon Wars”. Which everyone knows from playing Skyrim, it’s when Alduin was banished using the Elder Scroll. Now, Molag Bal (with the help of Mannimarco) seek to pull Tamriel into Oblivion and make everyone their slaves.
Of course you (and everyone else playing the game) need to stop him, retrieve the Amulet of Kings, and relight the Dragonfires to keep Oblivion from tearing into Nirn. As long as the Dragonfires are unlit and the Amulet of Kings is not recovered, the veil between Oblivion and Nirn will continue to widen until Nirn becomes part of Oblivion.
How Molag Bal will do this, there are what are called ‘Dark Anchors’ that come from the sky and grip the world at specific points. They’re powered by the souls that Mannimarco acquires. They can be stopped, but require the strength of allies.
Oh yes, “you will not walk this path alone” the Prophet tells you.
.
Think it’s time for my review of what I thought so far (currently Level 8);
Good:
-First person view that’s similar to Skyrim. You see your hands, your weapon, and you can also harvest nodes in first person. There’s also head bob to really pull me into the game. The only thing that doesn’t work in first person is crafting. Meh.
-UI that’s sort of similar to Skyrim. Minimal HUD. All you get is a compass and a chat window.
-Availability to use your own style of combat, be it a Greatsword, Sword and Shield, Duel Weld.. whatever. There’s no weapon class restrictions.
-I like the interaction window when talking to a quest NPC. However, the NPC tends to look away while still talking to you. It’s still better than the way Guild Wars 2 does it.
-You don’t require a pickaxe to mine ore.
-I absolutely love the “GET OVER HERE!!!!” chain pull ability as a Dragonknight, where I can pull a mob over to me at the cost of Magicka.
-The Armored Scales buff looks epic in third person. You get dragon-like horns on your back.
-Item Weight isn’t a thing in this game (thank the maker). It uses bag space to base on how much you can carry.
Bad:
-3rd person Argonian sprint animation looks like a faster version of the regular running animation. Not a lot of work has been put into this.
-Neutral mobs that you accidentally scare off, disappear into the void when they run away. They literally just fade into nothingness.
-Mobs respawn too quickly.
-No enemy indication on the compass. That sucks.
-How to get side quests is quite confusing. But you basically explore icons that are grayed out (like Skyrim).
-No option to heal myself as a Dragonknight. Don’t even see a heal option in the class talents.
-Combat gets annoying. I kind of expected to automatically cast an ability (like the armor buff).
-The game forces you to use your keys to use your abilities due to how minimal the HUD is.
-Due to how minimal the HUD is, I can’t even see what cooldowns and buffs I’m using. It seems to be all based on how much Magica I have available. Maybe cooldowns don’t exist?
-You have to go to a specific capital city of your faction to reset your skills. Depending on how many you have set, defines your gold cost.
-The game deters you from “abusing” the wayshrine teleporters by making you pay a hefty fee to use it again. However, the cost decreases with time until it goes back to what it was when you teleported.
Neutral:
-Waving my right hand to open doors. This was done by NPCs in Skyrim, and now you do it.
What I don’t know;
-Can you go to all of Tamriel (or is it based of your faction)?
-Player Housing?
-What’s the level cap?
.
I’ll be making another post about mounts quite soon (and how it’s downright unfair to have to pay this much).