Standing in a field of sunflowers, looking over the landscape of High Isle, I find myself a bit conflicted. On one hand, I really have been adoring the world that ZeniMax Online Studios have built with this chapter of The Elder Scrolls Online. From the port city of Gonfalon Bay to the massive castle Navire, High Isle's landscapes evokes a more sophisticated and high society feel of Breton culture. The idea of exploring a place not seen before in any Elder Scrolls title before it has a ton of allure for me.
On the other hand, though, as I play more and more, I can't help but feel like the formula ZeniMax has used to build these Chapters year after year has started to lose its magic with me. It's become too routine, too formulaic, to the point where, as much as I'm enjoying the stories being told or the addition of the new card game, I can't help but feel like this is too safe for the developer.
Sailing to High Isle
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle takes players to the Systres Archipelago, an island chain owned by the Bretons, removed from the Tamriel mainland. As a result, the culture that has sprung up on High Isle itself has seen itself taking the form of Breton culture in its purest sense. It's a realm of castles, lords and ladies, knightly orders and where chivalry rules the actions of many of its inhabitants. It's also an island where the rich spend their time, vacationing from the Tamriel mainland.
Noble families run High Isle, with the island official neutral in the Three Banners War, the giant faction war that has dominated the story of The Elder Scrolls Online since the MMO launched almost a decade ago. Some of the visual flourishes the studio has brought to High Isle are quite nice and help fill the world in well, such as the roaming knights on horseback and patrol the roads of the island. Standing in Gonfalon Bay, the major settlement in the south of the main island, you'll notice boats sailing in the harbor, bringing some life to the world in a noticeable way. I just wish objects in the distance didn't look so muddy and blurry. I've always wished the draw distance in ESO was farther with more detail, especially compared to older MMOs like The Lord of the Rings Online. High Isle would have been a great time to push that out farther, especially with the towering statue in Gonfalon's harbor as such an anchor point visually.
I don't know, it would just be more impressive I feel if I could clearly see the statue.
I absolutely adore the landscape and the cities themselves, though. Gonfalon Bay might be my favorite new area in The Elder Scrolls Online, with its harbor-front views, thatched-roof houses, and resplendent mayor's house. It's impressive, and when you consider that it's overshadowed by some of the great houses on the island itself, showing clearly where the real power is on the Systres, I'm definitely eager to see more as I explore.
Why we're on High Isle in the first place is to help uncover the plot of the mysterious knightly order, The Ascendant Order. The leaders of the Three Alliances were invited to High Isle as a neutral standing ground to talk peace in the Three Banners War, but a mysterious storm has sent their ships off course. Now the representatives are nowhere to be found while the Ascendant Order makes its move.
It's a story that is more down to earth compared to recent years - something the team behind The Elder Scrolls Online were eager to get across. On one hand, I appreciate this. I love the fact that my favorite player race, the Bretons, are finally getting their chance in the spotlight. I want more political and character-driven stories - not necessarily stories that find their roots in whomever one Daedra roulette this week.
However, I also feel that ESO, and The Elder Scrolls series as a whole are at their best when they're at their weirdest. Morrowind is my favorite mainline Elder Scrolls title - and ESO chapter, in large part because it's so weird. The landscape is truly fantastical.
I'm not finding anything weird about High Isle, unless you consider the inclusion of the Driuds, precursors to Tamriel's Wyrd. I'm hoping as I play through more of the campaign it starts to open up. While the Ascendant Order thus far as making for interesting antagonists, as I explore more of High Isle itself and its sister island, Amenos, I am looking forward to seeing what twists and turns the developers have thrown my way.
Too Familiar
Like the landscape of High Isle itself, the formula of the chapter is starting to become a bit too familiar, however. The Elder Scrolls Online has a way of building chapters so they can release them yearly, and it works. But it's also starting to feel a bit stale. While each chapter has something big that's included, whether it's a new class or a new side activity (this time a tavern game called Tales of Tribute - more on that in our next RIP), the real meat and potatoes of each expansion follows a similar formula.
You've got a certain number of delves, dungeons, world bosses, world events, and campaign quests to complete. While this is a gross simplification, it's starting to feel a bit like "build a chapter by numbers."
The thing is that there is nothing ZeniMax is doing that is inherently bad. Each chapter in recent years has been good. But the formula is starting to lose its luster for me.
While there are new additions - the new area, the new tavern game - nothing really feels like it propels the game or the genre forward. Hopefully, by returning to the more down-to-earth storylines here, ZeniMax can take a look at ESO as a whole and find areas where they can make meaningful changes to the formula to ensure that future chapters don't feel stale and routine like High Isle is feeling for me right now.
The thing is, while I'm definitely feeling burnt out on the formula, I am still enjoying my time in High Isle. So it clearly works and it makes sense why ZeniMax has kept up with this. But it's starting to feel too safe, too routine, and I hope that there will be that adjustment moving forward.
Looking Ahead
I'm still feeling like I'm scratching the surface of the main story quest in The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle. I'm too busy helping to find a missing apothecary or track down an overly-attached shepherd's lost sheep, to say nothing of the time spent at the card table, playing Tales of Tribute. We'll have more thoughts in the coming days as we move through our review of the latest Elder Scrolls Online expansion.
