I wanted to take a minute and talk about The Elder Scrolls: Legends. I got to mess around with the beta the other day and I’m not really sure where to place this game. I guess that I should first address the elephant in the room, though. There’s a lot of talk about TES Legends being an attempt by Bethesda to make money from the Hearthstone craze. And though I love free markets, I’m not sure that Legends does enough to stand out on its own. There are a lot, and I do mean a lot, of similarities between Hearthstone and Legends. The things that it does differently, however, are mostly taken from Magic the Gathering. There is one game feature that doesn’t appear in either game, though, the idea of putting creatures into lanes, but it was lifted from another card game that came out about two years ago called Infinity Wars. Now, I will give them points for making the battlefield a little more interesting with the different effects, like creatures getting stealth for their first turn, or randomly moving a creature to the other lane, but again, I think Infinity Wars does it better.
So, that’s the bad part. You take these three games, mush them together, and you get The Elder Scrolls: Legends.
But does that make it a bad game? Or is it actually a good thing?
My way of rating games is based simply on how much fun I have while playing it. I had fun playing Legends. Everything felt familiar to me and I didn’t need to look at instructions or anything, I could just pick it up and go. And I enjoyed it. I got slaughtered in the PvP – so some work on matchmaking would be appreciated, but we’re also in the closed beta right now so that part may not be ready yet. That’s why I won’t count that as a negative until later on. The campaign is actually kinda neat, too. I wish I knew why everyone was fighting with trading cards in what would appear to be a situation that would require weapons.
I think that my biggest concern with The Elder Scrolls Legends is that I don’t know if there’s really an audience for it. Hearthstone pretty much owns the CCG market right now, with Magic the Gathering taking up the rest. These are both well-known franchises that have been around for decades and appeal to two very different player groups. Hearthstone wants the more casual player and Magic still holds massive tournaments where players have access to over 13,000 different cards that they have to actually pay for in packs that may or may not – usually will not – contain the one that they want. It’s a very serious and complex game and people love that about it.
Then there's Elder Scrolls Legends. They've tried to combine the two games (with features from some other games like I mentioned before) and create what they deem to be the super game. You have the complexity of decks like you see in Magic, but many of the same simple mechanics of Hearthstone. Magika instead of Mana, for example. The game is a hybrid, based on yet another popular franchise - The Elder Scrolls – so it’s similar in that case, but the problem is, though, I don't know if people are really looking for a hybrid. The majority of players that I've spoken with are either adamantly opposed to the simplicity of Hearthstone or terrified of the complexity of Magic. I hesitate to get back into Magic for that very reason, much like I didn't like DOTA, but enjoy LoL and HotS.
We can look at the player bases for games like Infinity Wars – granted people have several complaints about that game have don’t have much to do with gameplay – or even Might and Magic Duel of Champions. Sure, there are some people that play those games, but it’s nothing compared to the main two. Going back to our MOBA example, it’s like Smite or Paragon.
So, again, I don’t think the game is bad and I really did enjoy my hours playing it, but I worry that it’ll burn out like so many other games that try to go after this mixed market and don’t succeed. I worry that it will turn into something like The Elder Scrolls Online – which went free to play not too long ago after I spent $100 on the collector’s edition. That could be the root of my worry, too. I was hurt in the past and I don’t want to get hurt again.
Anyways, The Elder Scrolls Legends is still currently in closed beta. There are links in the description to where you can sign up for the beta if you wish, or await the official release which is supposed to happen sometime this year.
Check out the gameplay that we have here on the channel and take a look for yourselves and make your own decisions. If you want a game with similar mechanics, take a look at Infinity Wars – there’s a link to our review in the description as well. Try to enjoy the voice acting. It’s a lot better if you think they’re trying to be funny.
That’ll do it for me, though. My name is Triston with Lava Dragons and I will see you in game.
Mentioned Links:
https://www.infinitywarsgame.com/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/256410/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh2foHSYgqg (TESL Gameplay)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ermtxRD7DCg (Infinity Wars)
https://legends.bethesda.net - Beta Signup
*************************************
Want to learn more about growing your YouTube channel? Visit: http://bit.ly/tristonseo
For cheap games, visit: http://bit.ly/2aXI2cE
So, that’s the bad part. You take these three games, mush them together, and you get The Elder Scrolls: Legends.
But does that make it a bad game? Or is it actually a good thing?
My way of rating games is based simply on how much fun I have while playing it. I had fun playing Legends. Everything felt familiar to me and I didn’t need to look at instructions or anything, I could just pick it up and go. And I enjoyed it. I got slaughtered in the PvP – so some work on matchmaking would be appreciated, but we’re also in the closed beta right now so that part may not be ready yet. That’s why I won’t count that as a negative until later on. The campaign is actually kinda neat, too. I wish I knew why everyone was fighting with trading cards in what would appear to be a situation that would require weapons.
I think that my biggest concern with The Elder Scrolls Legends is that I don’t know if there’s really an audience for it. Hearthstone pretty much owns the CCG market right now, with Magic the Gathering taking up the rest. These are both well-known franchises that have been around for decades and appeal to two very different player groups. Hearthstone wants the more casual player and Magic still holds massive tournaments where players have access to over 13,000 different cards that they have to actually pay for in packs that may or may not – usually will not – contain the one that they want. It’s a very serious and complex game and people love that about it.
Then there's Elder Scrolls Legends. They've tried to combine the two games (with features from some other games like I mentioned before) and create what they deem to be the super game. You have the complexity of decks like you see in Magic, but many of the same simple mechanics of Hearthstone. Magika instead of Mana, for example. The game is a hybrid, based on yet another popular franchise - The Elder Scrolls – so it’s similar in that case, but the problem is, though, I don't know if people are really looking for a hybrid. The majority of players that I've spoken with are either adamantly opposed to the simplicity of Hearthstone or terrified of the complexity of Magic. I hesitate to get back into Magic for that very reason, much like I didn't like DOTA, but enjoy LoL and HotS.
We can look at the player bases for games like Infinity Wars – granted people have several complaints about that game have don’t have much to do with gameplay – or even Might and Magic Duel of Champions. Sure, there are some people that play those games, but it’s nothing compared to the main two. Going back to our MOBA example, it’s like Smite or Paragon.
So, again, I don’t think the game is bad and I really did enjoy my hours playing it, but I worry that it’ll burn out like so many other games that try to go after this mixed market and don’t succeed. I worry that it will turn into something like The Elder Scrolls Online – which went free to play not too long ago after I spent $100 on the collector’s edition. That could be the root of my worry, too. I was hurt in the past and I don’t want to get hurt again.
Anyways, The Elder Scrolls Legends is still currently in closed beta. There are links in the description to where you can sign up for the beta if you wish, or await the official release which is supposed to happen sometime this year.
Check out the gameplay that we have here on the channel and take a look for yourselves and make your own decisions. If you want a game with similar mechanics, take a look at Infinity Wars – there’s a link to our review in the description as well. Try to enjoy the voice acting. It’s a lot better if you think they’re trying to be funny.
That’ll do it for me, though. My name is Triston with Lava Dragons and I will see you in game.
Mentioned Links:
https://www.infinitywarsgame.com/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/256410/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh2foHSYgqg (TESL Gameplay)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ermtxRD7DCg (Infinity Wars)
https://legends.bethesda.net - Beta Signup
*************************************
Want to learn more about growing your YouTube channel? Visit: http://bit.ly/tristonseo
For cheap games, visit: http://bit.ly/2aXI2cE
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