[mobile] Elder Scrolls Blades

[Skinypupy]

So I'm in the early access for the new Elder Scrolls Blades mobile game. Started playing last night, a few initial impressions.

The basics:
- The game is structured into different quests, and each is it's own instance. Quests will have you run through a dungeon/town/cave to kill the boss/rescue prisoners/find the doo-dad, then you're teleported back to town once it is complete. The quests are short (so far, at least), only taking 5-10 minutes to complete. You collect resources during the quests (gold, wood, stone, etc.) by finding chests or as you go through each instance, and use those resources to build or improve facilities in the town.

There's also apparently some sort of multiplayer area, but I haven't unlocked it yet.

The good:
- It looks amazing and really captures the feel of a full-fledged ES game. It's tap to move and navigating around the world feels very smooth. There were a couple time I got turned around and wasn't sure where to go, but for the most part, the game looks fantastic.
- Combat starts off a little awkward, but gets pretty fun once you get the hang of it. You simply hold your finger on the screen to attack, hit a shield button to block, and use another button for abilities.

The bad:
- Bethesda has gone full-on "mobile" with this game. Treasure chests either take a set amount of time to open, or you can spend gems (that you buy with real $$) to speed up the process. Basic chests take 5 seconds, but I've read that the top level Legendary chests can take multiple days to open...unless you pay to open it. There is a stamina timer that allows you to do a certain number of quests, then you either have to let it refresh by waiting, or - of course - pay to reset it. Town buildings that add functionality can only be improved by using resources found in chests so you're either waiting hours or days to get them, or you're paying for it. Better equipment is also usually only found in chests, which you can either wait to open or pay...you get the idea. The balance is fine in the early game where opening chests is nearly instant and building or leveling up the town doesn't take a ton of resources. However, I can see this one becoming either 100% pay to win or incredibly tedious at higher levels.

I'm really hoping they figure out a way to strike a good balance, but I"m not very hopeful. As it stands right now, Blades feels like nothing more than a very pretty, ES branded version of the bazillion other pay to win RPG's that are out there on mobile.

[Skinypupy]

So I've spent LOTS more time with this over the weekend, and it has really grown on me. I'd still say that if you're fundamentally opposed to a mobile game with timers, you'll probably hate this.

However, if you can live with gaming in short spurts and being a little patient for things to happen, there's a hell of a lot to like here. The bite-sized quests are a blast, the combat has become much more interesting the further I get (around level 10, you'd better git gud or you're dead), building and upgrading the town is fun, and the whole thing is pulled together with in a truly excellent Elder Scrolls wrapper. It looks and sounds seriously incredible. I was incorrect in my initial comments, as there is no stamina timer. Quests have a difficulty rating which gates you pretty well from advancing until you're truly powerful enough. The timed chest opening mechanic still tests my patience a bit, but I'm finding that I can grind out quite a bit while waiting for the chests to open up with better loot and gear, allowing me to progress. There's a few things that still feel like they need some balancing (repairing gear feels way to expensive for how often you have to do it, for example), but I'm sure they'll continue to work on that for release.

This is one of the few iOS games that I think I prefer to play on my phone, but I like the option that the cloud sync will transfer immediately over to my iPad when my phone battery gets low.

In short, I'd give it a strong recommendation (especially for Elder Scrolls fans)...with the caveat that you're willing to have some patience for timed events.