The Elder Scrolls Online: Travels In Tamriel – First Steps

As I took my first steps into The Elder Scrolls Online, things felt rather familiar. A prison breakout, an unknown hero and a thousand quests ahead. This is unmistakably The Elder Scrolls. I’m a Dark Elf in this world, as I always am in these games, and I’ve named my character Blairwin. That’s rubbish, I know, but I didn’t want to waste any time so I just merged my real name and my main goal, to make something sound as though it would fit in the world.

But I don’t fit in the world, not really. This is an MMO, a genre which, like Peter, I’ve had very little experience with before. I can ease myself in here, and inhabit my character, but mention a guild that isn’t the Thieves’ Guild and you’ll see a confused look on my face. I am much like my character, a person without lots of experience thrust into a world with lots of new experiences. So, in this (hopefully) continuing series, I’ll be exploring the world of Tamriel alongside Blairwin for as long as I can.

You’ll probably notice it yourself, but when italics are present, that’s from his perspective in the world, alongside my own real-world thoughts, so it doesn’t get too much like fan fiction.

I’m free. Yesterday morning, I found myself in prison. Admittedly, I belonged there. I’ve wronged people, I’ve wronged myself and I’ve had my second and third chances, but here I am again, and I’m free. An en-mas breakout led me to something unbelievable. Battles raged, prophets spoke. I’m free, yet I’m trapped in a world which has changed since I went inside. A great force rises, I can sense it. But here I sit, free.

The first section felt quite constrained. There were definitely others present, and I had a task, but this was a Borderlands-esque area rather than an open world, as I’m used to in RPGs. So, my task? To destroy an eye, similar to Sauron’s ever-watching gaze, though much smaller and a lot less fiery. I’m not sure why, but I destroyed the eye anyway, noticing Michael Gambon’s voice coming out of someone dubbed the Prophet on my way, before finding a John Cleese mimic.

It was a strange experience, especially as I had yet to embed myself in the world. I felt like an outsider, constantly noting things in my head and thinking about the game, rather than exploring this new world. I couldn’t, really; the first section was far too linear, where I had to destroy this eye, and then enter and attempt to sneak through a cave.

A cave full of spikes and traps is no ordinary sight, but it was my only way through. I fought feral creatures, avoiding the traps they had laid while opening urns and such – I’m a thief by trade – to find trinkets and even clothing. A ladder formed the exit, and what I saw next was quite incredible indeed.

After speaking to a man – no, a Prophet – a demon from hell itself was summoned. I heard it referred to as the Child of Bones, but this was no child. A large, hulking creature of disembodiment stood before me, and my mace seemed far from an ideal solution. With the Prophet’s healing on my side, I smashed its skull in (the one located on its thigh) and it fell before me. This was Molag Bol’s doing, and I had to escape this dungeon. Thankfully, the Prophet led us out in ethereal form. Quite a strange experience indeed.

Okay, so the game was now setting things up, showing me massive monsters quite soon after playing. That was good, and I was ready for what was next. A disbelief-shattering “Complete Quest” appeared, and once again I was forced out of Blairwin’s body and into my own. I gained XP and levelled up, but not before being told that there were others who could help and others that would need help.

It’s an obvious way of reinforcing that this is ultimately an online game, and that I should be working with others as soon as I left this building and headed into Daggerfall, but it’s good. So far, I’ve found that I’m just playing a new Elder Scrolls game, and the extra dimension of a living world with sentient beings controlling some of the characters could be quite exciting. But that’s something I’ll have to wait to find out.

The Prophet spoke of others after we left the cave, and an otherworldly sense told me that these others were not just any type of people that I’d see every day. He said that these people would offer me help, and that I could share my kindness by offering them help, but it was in our best interest to work together. These are, after all, people like me, and every time I look at someone I know how they feel – I know they’re not local, but from distant lands.

I left the Prophet and left the building we were in. I found myself in Daggerfall, crouched down writing this letter, hoping that one day it will reach you. I was advised to follow the marker on my map, but an unknown force stopped me and I headed into town, to meet the people there, delaying an important quest. I knew this mattered to someone other than I, and it was my only choice.

So, as ever in a game such as this, I went right, instead of following the marker on the map. It’s always better this way – it’s about finding the world for yourself rather than following an exact quest or route, and I’ve decided that I won’t change my play style for this, so it was my only choice.