REVIEW| The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle brings a good political plot to the MMO

Although it is a series with decades of existence, The Elder Scrolls has not yet managed to fully explore all the territories that were imagined by its creators. One such case is the Sisters Archipelagosite of many important stories and events for the world of Tamriel — it was here that one of the greatest naval fleets of all time was formed, for example.

While the location has already been mentioned in games in the franchise, it’s only in The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle that we can finally explore it in its entirety. Unfortunately, the reason for our visit is not to enjoy its beautiful countryside and the pleasures of high society, who use the island of the High Isle as their own private vacation spot.

Soon after our arrival, we discovered that the site will host a secret meeting held by the three great leaders of Tamriel, who vie with each other for the empty emperor’s throne. Planned by the Society of the Steadfast, the event aims to bring peace to the world through diplomatic, something that is not approved by the Ascedant Ordera mysterious organization that sees prolonging the war as a chance to maintain its power.

Using sinister features, adversaries summon a storm that causes the leaders of Tamriel to be lost, jeopardizing the future of the meeting — and of the continent as a whole. This is where the player comes in: as a neutral piece in this context, he must helphelp ensure that peace talks take placewhile discovering who runs the Ascedant Order and working to stop their plans.

More politics than magic

Here there are no demons acting to corrupt humans and elves

One of the main differentials of High Isle in relation to the other stories told by The Elder Scrolls Online is its political context. Here there are no demons acting to corrupt humans and elves, but powerful people who are working for their own interestseven if it does not mean the common good.

While the plot in general knows how to exploit this feature of the script, I feel that There are many missed opportunities along the way.. For example, the game suggests that you can’t really trust anyone and that betrayals are just a matter of time. However, when this happens in the main plot, the situation is quite predictable and has little impact on what the player has done so far.

In return, the way the script develops is satisfactory and manages to connect well the exploration of the different corners of the Syster Achipelagos, avoiding that feeling that you’re only going to a place because the developers wanted you to look at them. In practice, including it’s easy to ignore much of High Isle’s newness by sticking to the “main” path.including the druid stories and the meeting of the expansion’s new companions.

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In addition to allowing exploration of the High Isle, the game also makes it possible to discover the mysteries of Amenos, an island turned into a kind of penal colony. Bringing in a greater amount of enemies, the location also offers quests that explore slightly different mechanics for ESOincluding stealth sections that rely on using disguises to complete.

While the game’s automatic leveling system doesn’t make the secondary island a really dangerous place, the way its setting is constructed proves to be convincing. I really enjoyed exploring the side quests offered there, which revealed interesting secrets and the ways in which the local population lives with the dangers and limits imposed by the region’s jailers.

I don’t find the MMO’s enemy combat particularly appealing

Amenos is also the stage for some of the new dungeons in The Elder Scrolls Online that, I confess, I didn’t get to explore in such depth. This because I don’t find the MMO’s enemy combat particularly appealing: as everything is leveled to match the player’s power level, the real challenge ends up only coming in some bosseswhich are widely scattered throughout High Isle’s content.

Generally, the new story was quite satisfying to me, especially in its final stretch, in which the pieces of the Ascendant Order mysteries begin to fall into place and more action setpieces emerge. Without getting into spoilers, I’ll just comment that the cue for future scripts is good and makes me want to return to the MMOeven if it is to check the continuity of what is about to happen.

Tales of Tribute: love it or hate it

Another novelty of High Isle is the fact that the expansion introduce Tales of Tributea new card game that, despite having a story line of its own, isn’t exactly influential on the overall gameplay of The Elder Scrolls Online. The game was made as a simple way to pass the time.giving players an activity that wasn’t necessarily tied to leveling up or strengthening skills to participate in PvP.

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The introduction of the hobby is being a point of contention among the ESO community: Many of the critics claim that this is just “another card game” from Bethesda, which could have devoted its resources to fulfilling other requests made a long time ago. for my part, I find the addition interesting, even though my initial experience with it wasn’t the best..

during the tutorial, my instructor’s lines were cut in half

When starting the narrative line that introduces Tales of Tribute, I ran into a problem right away: during the tutorial, my instructor’s lines were cut in half. As a result of the bug, I had to turn to some YouTube videos to at least try to understand the basic rules of the game, which, trust me, is too complex to understand “just playing”.

After I went through this barrier, I came across a fun game, even though I’m far from mastering it. Bethesda did a good job of leveling opponents’ skills (a beginner NPC really does feel like a beginner), and gives players good openings for them to discover for themselves their favorite strategies and how each of the available decks works.

This does not necessarily mean that Tales of Tribute is revolutionary., and I have my doubts if it could sustain itself as a unique experience. At the same time, it provides a good layer of fun and is an interesting alternative way to pass the time and receive some rewards. I understand anyone who prefers to ignore this mechanic, but at the same time, I don’t see its addition as doing any major detriment to the MMO.

High Isle continues the MMO success story

Com The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle, Bethesda maintains the successful trajectory of the MMO and is successful in bringing a plot with very different aspects to what it has explored in the past. Despite not solving old problems — such as the lack of a Portuguese translation, for example —, the new content manages to bring an air of freshness to the gameespecially from a narrative point of view.

Here, there’s a little bit of everything for different audiences: dungeons for those who like to play alone, new challenges for groups and more rare items for those who are collectors and want to maximize their characters and test their luck in PvP. Developer Zenimax Online managed to fulfill the tough mission of making additional content for a game as massive as this sounded not only necessarybut consistent with what was previously available

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And the best of all: even those who are new to the MMO (or the series in general) will be able to enjoy most of the content, even if one or another difficulty arises. High Isle is certainly an enjoyable chapter and one that motivated me to keep following its future updates — I just don’t know if my career in Tales of Tribute will survive long beyond the intermediate levels..