The Elder Scrolls: Legends – Preview
Follow Genre: Card battling
Developer: Dire Wolf Digital
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC

The Elder Scrolls: Legends – Preview

Good: Lots of content even for a beta
Bad: Droning of one liners can become monotonous
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What happens when a game company tries to bet on all fronts on their IPs? Well, you pretty much get what Bethesda is currently doing. Initially they started up their own MMORPG based on the ‘The Elder Scrolls’ franchise, and now we reached the next stage of their master plan, namely the creation of a card game. Currently The Elder Scrolls: Legends is in the fases of beta-hood, nonetheless, this current build feel like it’s well beyond its infant stage.

The premise of The Elder Scrolls: Legends is that the High Elves started waging war on the empire. They murdered every Imperial blade, calling themselves the ‘Aldmeri Dominion’ and even forcing the Emperor to scamper away with his tail between his legs, like a wimpering coward. Cyrodiil was left all to the High Elves. That’s where your story starts. You are the Empire’s most influential politician who realizes his actions caused the whole ordeal and is now out to reverse the damage his actions and words have done. All of this might have been an interesting premise. Nope, that isn’t it. This is an Elder Scrolls game, so of course you start of as a captured underdog, having to fight his or her way out of the gutter until he or she has climbed the mountains of success and stands lonely on the top defying every and all enemies. No new things on how the story starts, but the writing is really well done. It’s witty at times and yet balances the tone of the game perfectly to its own witticism. The actions during the game in between chapters also affect the story, well not really the overall story, but the choices you make affect what cards you are offered. It somehow makes the story more ‘personal’.

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The cutscenes are semi animated drawn art. Every time you finish a chapter in the story mode, you’ll be greeted by a short intermission. Here you’ll see how your actions affect the overall story. They are a little more flashy than just stills, but somehow they don’t always look so finished. The art sometimes tends to pixelate, making it look rather messy than artful.

When it comes to the musical score, it could be qualified as a miss. Not because the music is bad, it is actually rather nice, but it didn’t really change as things changed for the better or the worse. It would be nice if the music turned more menacing or more elated when you are really low or high on hitpoints. Right now it’s a single soothing melody. It helps you focus on one hand but it doesn’t feel like the ante’s been upped when you are fighting against the odds. There’s some really stellar voice acting in the story mode and even when a card attacks, the voice acting is really well done, even if they are just one liners.

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The Elders Scrolls: Legends is a card battling game. It’s currently still in beta, but even so, the game is really well worked out. You start off in the game’s story mode and upon reaching certain points in the story, you unlock more parts of the game. This makes it so that you are eased into the experience. The thing about it is that this makes the game extremely accessible to even a beginner to the genre. You aren’t treated like a twenty year veteran, but the game also doesn’t hold your hand too bad. There’s some tutorial messages showing you the path, but once you’re halfway the first chapter, the game lets you do your own thing.

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The question on how the game is played still hasn’t been answered, however. The game starts off with a player going first, both players are given a certain amount of mana, the first turn being 1, the second, 2 and so on. There are some items that can boost either of your mana, like a mana flask, which has three uses every battle and grants you + 1 mana that turn. Every card has a certain cost. If you’ve only have 3 mana left, then it’s impossible for you to play a 4 mana card. So playing strategically is a big part of it. Are you going to play a 2 and a 3 mana card one on each lane – there are two lanes, left and right – or are you going to play that 4 mana card and let 1 mana expire? Cards on a lane can only attack cards on the same lane, however it’s always possible for a card to directly attack your opponents life points or for your life points to be targeted directly, unless there’s a ‘guard’ card. This type of card guards your life points as every creature in that lane is forced to combat it until it’s out of defense points and after that your life points are again wide open. Slapping monsters and just attacking your opponents lifepoints is a surefire way to lose as a smart opponent will set up on you and make it possible to wipe you out in one turn, making it a really humiliating experience.

Conclusion

With the game still in beta, it’s a miracle there’s so much content to already be played. When you’ve fought your way through the story mode, you can sink your teeth into the online modes and test your own built decks against other players. If you are into card battling games, or are on the fence about them, definitely give The Elder Scrolls: Legends a spin. However, if you aren’t into this genre, then don’t think this is going to win you over.

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Q


First game ever was Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped, ever since then, gaming has been something that I've gravitated to. Reading's fun but not as interactive. Always up for a bout of online multiplayer. If that multiplayer is co-op. So if you are up for a friendly co-op session, hit me up. Rahenik's the name to search on PSN.

1 Comment

  1. […] The Elder Scrolls series was started in 1994. So the game series is 23 years old. The Elder Scrolls is usually developed by Bethesda Softworks. However The Elder Scrolls: Legends has been developed by Dire Wolf Digital LLC, who are known for Lanterns, Clank and Cardcraft among others. So they aren’t new to card based games. Our original preview of Legends can be read by clicking here. […]

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