Elder Scrolls Online News: Console Version of Games Previewed

The Elder Scrolls Online is the hottest new MMO that will be hitting the PC this year, but not much has been made of the game being ported over to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Some gamers are worried that the traditional Elder Scrolls experience will be tarnished by having so many others living in the game's world, while others feel as though the MMO experience will not translate well to console gaming. Matt Firor, executive producer of ZeniMax, spoke to IGN about the game, and revealed that the game is designed with experienced MMO players in mind, yet has an ease of use for new people to the genre:

"We definitely wanted to make the game very accessible to Elder Scrolls (RPG) players, and make sure that ESO doesn't hit you with too much jargon, interface, or options in the beginning...Experienced MMO players will find most of the gameplay they are used to, but it is definitely filtered through an Elder Scrolls-type interface and experience. And yes, the more that the game feels like Elder Scrolls, the better we've reached our goal."

This is seen in the combat for the game. The game has been designed to translate well from PC to consoles, with six button slots controlling combat for both the PC and consoles. This simple combat is part of the appeal of Elder Scrolls Online for console gamers, Firor explains:

"As you use abilities (class, weapon, guild, other), they get better, and eventually you can morph them into more powerful versions of the base ability...There's plenty of choice -- and remember, your base attack, heavy attack, and block abilities are performed with the mouse buttons or gamepad, not with the ability bar."

While MMO's have not done well on consoles in the past, the next generation of consoles and Elder Scrolls Online may start a new trend of console MMOs in the future.