The narrative arc of Gates of Oblivion, the Gates of Oblivion, started with the dungeon pack Flames of Ambition, continues as usual with a substantial expansion, Blackwood, which adds the region of the same name to the already huge map available to players of The Elder Scrolls Online.
The expected zone DLC was released on June XNUMXst on PC and Mac, and on June 8 on the usual line-up composed by Stadia, PlayStation 4 e Xbox One, to which are also added Xbox Series X | S e PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility.
This time, however, there is a substantial change for those who play on consoles: ESO Console Enhanced, a version of The Elder Scrolls Online dedicated to the owners of PlayStation 5 e Xbox Series X|S, which we will see in detail later. Meanwhile, you catch the launch trailer for Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood.
With Blackwood the gates of Oblivion open
If you are going to replay The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which by the way I absolutely recommend, this time you have an alternative: in general the chapter of ESO: Blackwood rather closely resembles the beloved action RPG released in 2006, in spirit if not specific plot.
Set approx 750 years before Oblivion, 747 if I have not miscalculated between the Second and Third Era, the DLC Blackwood sees our character, presented as a mercenary, struggling with a dense plot of Imperial palace conspiracies, seven of murderers, cultivated daedric, arcane tomes, a series of… artifacts, and in the background the secrets of a dynasty of emperors and above all the aims of Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction and Change. Sounds familiar, right?
THEnostalgia effect in Blackwood it will be quite noticeable for those who adored Oblivion, but this does not detract from the experience of the novice adventurers in the boundless universe of The Elder Scrolls.
ESO veterans themselves will recognize some elements already present in the base game: the plan of Molag Bal, main antagonist in the vanilla game and Daedric Prince of Domination and Slavery, consisted in merging his own plan of Oblivion, Coldharbour, with the world of Nirn.
Mehrunes Dagon he must have stolen the idea, I suppose, or maybe it is true that the ultimate goal of the Daedric Principles is always the same. When in doubt, let's see the return of Lyranth, a Dremora that helps us in the base game and in the DLC Flames of Ambition, As well as of a mysterious daedric tome we met in Oblivion and, in passing, also in Skyrim. And no, I'm not talking about good old Hermaeus Mora's Oghma Infinium.
Blackwood, a new explorable region
Unlike some of the previous zones introduced by story DLC, that of Blackwood it is not characterized by the presence of a single playable ethnicity or race: we find Imperial alongside Argoniani e Khajiit, which coexist without too many problems.
The region, enclosed between Elsweyr, Murkmire e Cyrodiil, includes two main cities: Gideon, more linked to the swamps of the Argonians and their ancient civilization, e Levi, a larger and essentially a commercial hub between the Empire and the Black Marsh province.
However, as we have already glimpsed in the previous dungeon pack, the new chapter of the adventure of Gates of Oblivion above all it leads us to explore the Deadlands, the inhospitable and fiery reign of Mehrunes Dagon: rivers of lava, crimson sky and many, many flashbacks of the first time I have through a Daedric portal in Oblivion. Lacrimuccia.
My varied experience in the Blackwood moors
I state that, as regular readers will already know, I belong to the category of named gamers completist bastards: I complete even the most vulgar of fetch quests, but in the meantime I mumble, grumble, swear, grumble and grind my teeth.
The DLC Blackwood took me away well over 30+ hours expected, because in addition to exploring every proverbial nook & cranny I also went to look for me with everyone with lanterns the very valuable casual encounters, not marked on the map, with NPC peculiari and memorabili: Not only for the secondary dialogue that adds variety, but also for the occasional as well as hilarious graphic glitch.
From seer charlatan, who in exchange for about seventy gold coins throws us a cryptic message that could be valid for any adventurer, at couple looking for advice on the outfit to wear for his anniversary, up to the magician able to chase away an alleged presence that has taken possession of us, and who seemed a blatant scammer until he actually managed to reveal the spirit of a witch that was anchored to our soul.
In short, thirty hours yes, but only if you keep going, ignore the extras and above all you have the ESO Plus Crafting Materials Bag, which cancels the pachydermic timing for inventory management.
Speaking of crafting: the new commercial hub of Levi it is, in my opinion, one of the best meeting points for lovers of professions. In a single square they are located all workbenches: carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, charmer, jeweler, alchemist and cook workbench are a stone's throw from the bank, from the respec altars and from the Wayshrine, and not far away we also find a fence and stable boy dedicated to the endless trickle of improving the riding skills of each character.
Just as I was thinking of buy a house nearby, i realized that the inn of the place he wanted to give me a room, to be added to the quick navigation menu and thus bypassing the Wayshrine as well. And what more do we want?
Apart from this, Blackwood copes with some depth alcune classic themes, as the inevitability of fate that characterizes the Greek tragedy, and others more related perhaps to the genre of Sci-Fi, as the range of possible futures but not yet written.
In summary, this expansion offers us a rich texture, chock full of deceptions about betrayals, placed behind devious plans against the backdrop of other betrayals. Stuff so convoluted as to bring out my -more than justified- role-playing paranoia, especially in the finale, after reading some of the options available in the dialogues. HMMMM.
We also have the option of recruit some of the factions for which we carry out side quests, to help us in the epilogue which I would define ... pitched. And finally, arachnophobic, I would like to mention the infested underground labyrinth giant demonic spiders that are lowered down from the ceiling: what are you doing, do you deprive yourself of it?
Recapponi, possibly avoidable infodumping and gnashing of teeth
No work of human ingenuity can satisfy all its users in every aspect: even unshakable cornerstones such as Red Dead Redemption 2, which - with a very guilty delay - I finished just before starting to write this review, they left me a few grains of sand in my teeth. I'm looking at you, mouse and keyboard controls.
But let's get back to The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood, come on. Even in this albeit much appreciated expansion I found some jarring notes: first the soundtrack that accompanies us in the quests set in the Deadlands.
Ok, I understand the need to convey the disquiet of the Daedric setting, but how many hours of high-pitched, dissonant and penetrating choirs can they be endured before changing the soundtrack? In my case about 12 minutes. When instead you go back up Nirn, in a nutshell the world of mortals, the epic songs and also make their triumphal return heroic soundtracks. Everything becomes more pleasant ... at least until the next picnic in theOblivion.
Another personal pet peeve of mine, which - perhaps with presumption - I believe shared by most of the passionate players of role-playing video games, it concerns l’infodumping: the avalanche of lore and information that, in bulk, is poured on us during the quests. TO a less thorough play this aspect it can also slip on you, but those who read parchments, books, slips of paper and cards will soon find themselves having to put their hand in the case of eyeglasses.
Always in the same category he fallsto the phenomenon of the recappone: this frequent summary of previous episodes it can be useful, given the long duration of Blackwood's experience which, for obvious reasons, must be spread over several days of play, but this time perhaps so many repetitions are a bit excessive.
Every single phase of each quest is followed by the same goal: you have to talk to Eveli Sharp-Arrow, the NPC who acts as Virgil in this Dante's journey in the plane of Oblivion, which will administer to us he explains it. Even in the prettiest and most carefree conversations, the monster of the recappone.
È a very understandable expedient, since it is still a MMORPG and not of a single player videogame, and above all the story is rather complex: you start with a small phrase in code on the page of a diary, and you end up getting entangled in the layered planes of one of the most powerful Daedric Princes. Just an ordinary day in The Elder Scrolls Online, I imagine.
The Oblivion Portals: a new type of world event
Continuing to talk about the very personal experience of my anything but optimized Nord Magplar, which is around 300 CP but which has a billion non-existent style points, let's move on to new type of world event: the Oblivion Portals, overland multiplayer activities that unite hordes of characters laden with food, potions and evil intentions.
The point of the activity: breaking into the realm of Mehrunes Dagon in the plan of Oblivion, commit Daedric genocides e close these fiery crimson constructs threatening Nirn's people… at least until the next respawn.
Where before there were Dark Anchor, where they later have been and dragons, now I'm here the Oblivion Portals. Much cooler, in my opinion.
ESO: Blackwood Prizes and Rewards
In addition to outfit, To reminder and to style which, as usual, are received with the purchase of the DLC, if any pre-order di The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood he also brings home the pucciosissimo non-combat pet Nightmare Bear Cub e la mount Nagahide Welva Ravager, which is objectively massive although it doesn't particularly tickle my personal taste.
Moving on to Collector’s Edition di Blackwood (thanks, Zenimax and Bethesda!), instead, what to say: it made me get the spectacular mount Battlefield Nightmare Senche, whereby my PCs automatically receive THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL, and the pocket version of the feathered snake Quetzalcoatl, the comb Jewel-Feathered Sep Adder.
Once the game is downloaded and installed, however, we can sweat it another set of rewards, including a roundup of achievements, collectibles and several new equipment sets of Daedric inspiration, both droppable and craftable or obtainable through the system of Antiques, as well as an additional pet tramite l’achievement Lost in the Wilds: Bog Dog.
They must absolutely be mentioned the title Champion of Blackwood, with which my Templar is bulla when he goes to bow to the corvée of the loot and material management, e l’emote / Offer Weapon, which has become one of my favorites.
The all-new Rockgrove Trial
Not everyone is asocial about MMORPGs like myself, and the couple Zenimax – Bethesda has also thought of you extroverts of multiplayer: Rockgrove Trial is a new trial, in fact, a raid that brings together 12 players to save the village of Rockgrove from the aims and the corrupt clutches of an argonian cult dedicated to the veneration of daedra.
In addition to achievements and collectibles, the rewards include six sets of equipment or, to be more precise, three sets and the related ones versioni Perfected obtainable in mode Veteran:
- Bahsei’s Mania, un set Light da Magicka damage dealer;
- Perfected Bahsei’s Mania, obtainable in Veteran and Heavy version;
- Saxhleel Champion, a Heavy Tank set, which seems to me designed for a NecroTank;
- Perfected Saxhleel Championthe same
- Stone-Talker’s Oath, a support Light set;
- Perfected Stone-Talker’s Oath, ditto.
I Trial they appeal to me very little, after a teens spent tanking in 25 WoW raids, so I'd say we can safely move on to something I've got to touch more closely. Understand me.
A system of daily and weekly businesses is on the way
Before moving on to something really, really substantial, I have to spend a few words on the very fresh Endeavors system: a series of tasks and feats that, every day and every week depending on the type, will reward us with experience, gold and above all Seals of Endeavor.
These seals are, in summary, a new form of currency, which allows us to purchase items and collectibles previously only available through Crown Crates. Yes, it will no longer be necessary to shell out real money to get the items from the crates: it will be enough to farm businesses through l’Endeavor System, introduced by Update 30 and activated on June 17th.
THEUpdate 30in addition, he also added an unprecedented Tutorial system for new players: the introductory quest will see us grappling with Direnni ruins on theBalfiera Island, and at the end of the short adventure we can choose where to start the journey of our character, through a series of portals connected with the starting places of the three factions of the base game and with those of the expansions we have.
The companion system
Okay, so far we've joked: the novelty that got my ears pricked up is the companion system. Yes, that's right, now we have NPCs, specifiable and equipped at our discretion, which will accompany us in the vast majority of our adventures.
Has been added a special tab in the Collections panel, and these companions are so versatile that they can fill any role: I tried to set them as tank, healer, damage dealer melee e damage dealer ranged, and they have not missed a beat even in the darkest depths of the darkest Daedric subterranean.
Coming from a fairly long experience on Star Wars: The Old Republic, which has a similar system, I was immediately at ease with the new companion system on ESO. I personally recommend the specializations from damage dealer ranged o al limit da healer, even if my Magplar does not need treatment but it likes a lot of speeding up the clashes.
Currently companions available there are two:
- Bastian Hallix, Imperial and more or less Magician, obtainable through the quest Competition and Contracts in Deepscorn Hollow;
- Mirri Elendis, a Dark Elf archaeologist and Daedra expert, who joins us as we complete the quest Shattered and Scattered in Doomvault Vulpinaz.
We can purchase basic equipment from NPC vendors, or we can drop improved versions of it even in normal loot overland. The role player in me, however, was particularly pleased with the presence of a system of relationships with these companions.
In addition to leveling and getting new skills in various branches of specialization, a bit like the real PCs, our new adventure companions they will like some of our actions and be horrified at others, and they will offer a long series of comments, sometimes hilarious, and downright they will give us advice when they see us in trouble.
In Mirri's quest, for example, I was able to choose between a direct but risky approach and a tortuous but certainly safer one, and Mirri had a lot to say both ways.
As the relationship with them increases, they will keep us more and more company, they will open up to us and tell us about them, their past and what they seek from our collaboration.
The best part, however, is that the level reached by the companions is account wide: we will not have to level them from scratch for each PC, but it will be enough to unlock them to have them at the maximum level reached by the account.
A gem: we can make them wear the costumes we have unlocked, but above all we can assign them mounts present in our collection. Matching team armor and mounts is my guilty pleasure.
If on the one hand this system encourages us to participate in group activities and side-quests, on the other it goes to further burden on the already problematic inventory management, at least for those who do not have the bag of materialsESO More.
Another small catch concerns the positioning of the partner, who often goes to place himself between the cursor and the NPC or object we wanted to interact with, thus intercepting the interaction and dialogue, and the thing becomes rather frustrating if we also add the NPC who acts as Cicero, in this case the sweet Eveli.
About this: it must be said that in the course of the quests only the accompanying NPC is considered and involved in the dialogues, Eveli Sharp-Arrow, while our partner (Mirri or Bastian) is completely ignored. Even when a change of dress was required for an elegant party, let's say, poor Mirri was not calculated at all.
In any case, I am sure that these little things will be smoothed out with the introduction of other companions who, incidentally, I can't wait to find out what they will be. And the funny ones will certainly be fixed too, but fortunately rare glitch like this: I suddenly found myself out of textures.
ESO: Console Enhanced
Although I've always played The Elder Scrolls Online on PC, I know that the spanish community its console it is active and thriving; well, it's coming for them Console Enhanced, a version of ESO that will revolutionize the way you play this MMORPG su PlayStation 5 e Xbox Series X|S.
If you have purchased at least the base game, Console Enhanced is available for free for you, and it should dramatically increase the quality of your gaming experience - it should bring the FPS to 60, and improve textures, reflections, antialiasing, draw distance and so on.
Who plays on PlayStation 5 will have to supload manually this version on ESO's game hub, while for users of Xbox Series X | S the process is automatic. I leave you a presentation film of ESO: Console Enhanced, to make you aware of the graphic improvements made.
I prossimi DLC di The Elder Scrolls Online
In addition to the next generation console version, the event Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase also brought us the announcement of the next steps for The Elder Scrolls Online.
As we already knew we will have a new dungeon pack in the third quarter of 2021, which will follow the final adventure of the narrative arc of Gates of Oblivion: we are talking about The Elder Scrolls Online: Deadlands, an expansion like Blackwood.
Deadlands it will take us even deeper into the namesake realm of Oblivion, over which the Daedric Prince reigns unchallenged until now Mehrunes Dagon: the Deadlands, in fact, they will be added as a real explorable area, a bit like already done for Coldharbour, home sweet home of Molag Bal.
In short, we can reasonably expect to see more and more Oblivion inside The Elder Scrolls Online, and I don't think anyone minds that. My Nord Templar it is already preparing in the nearest temple.
