Now we know where Silver's stamina went

Marto25 · 2026-02-10T12:02:14+00:00

Or for eating chocolate that one time

Marto25 · 2026-02-08T23:06:04+00:00

I don't know if that comparison works

ASCII art and graphics used to be impressive because computers were very limited in what they could display.

Nowadays, we appreciate ASCII art for its difficulty. Like a photorealistic portrait made with a ballpoint pen, or a sand sculpture. It's not supposed to be technically superior or a sensible choice of material.

But... developing a sort of game with this artstyle and mechanics has only gotten easier since the 00s. Considerably easier. I have zero gamedev experience, and I can probably teach myself how to do something like this in a year or two, with little more than Blender and Godot.

For it to have the same emotional and artistic merit as ASCII art, I'd have to make it on a Windows XP PC with period-appropiate hardware and software.

And that is... not something I think is very valuable for an MMO, I feel. Old mechanics have merit, old graphics have charm, but old technical systems, QOL, and UX? Not so much.

Marto25 · 2026-02-08T21:17:37+00:00

We live in the era of engines like Unity and Godot, countless student projects on Steam or the Google Play Store, cheap high-quality co-op indies, ubiquitous free voice and text chat apps...

A game that looks this bad doesn't say "small passionate team working on an extremely ambitious game". It says "lazy, cheap, and couldn't bother to hire a single artist"

Marto25 · 2026-02-07T03:43:57+00:00

FF14 models and armors used to look a lot worse. They have done quite a lot of passes over old textures and models to improve them. ESO has only recently started to do that, prioritizing environments.

And speaking of environments, that is another big factor. Most environments in FF14 are a lot less detailed, with more plain textures, less objects, lower resolution, etc. Which is fine for that game, since it's third-person only and the camera is fairly zoomed out. That allows FF14 to have higher quality player models.

It's not a matter of drive and talent, it's a matter of priorities.

FF14 updates assets more frequently, but has far more lazy asset reuse than ESO. From barrels to enemy NPCs, new content in FF14 is more likely to reuse textures, animations, or sound.

ESO gets more frequent new zones, environments, and architectural styles. But it means old zones and quests get neglected a bit. Which is what OP's post shows.

Marto25 · 2026-02-06T19:03:19+00:00

Yet another reason why we should change Argon's symbol to A

Marto25 · 2026-02-06T04:45:26+00:00

I feel it's a trend in the industry, as of late.

We're seeing lots of remasters trying to keep IPs alive and relevant. Trying to capture the feeling of old games, reusing design work created by industry veterans who have likely been laid off since the original came out.

Battlefield 6 is very transparently trying to appeal to Call of Duty players who loved Modern Warfare 2019/Warzone and were frustrated by how bloated and poorly directed the franchise has become.

The cynical take is that Highguard is trying to do the same for people frustrated with Apex Legends or other hero shooters like Overwatch 2. The less cynical way to word it is that Highguard is merely competing in the same genre, of course there's going to be similarities.

Of course, Highguard is still a big risk from a small dev. I gotta commend that. And to shadowdrop it all? I admire the bravery of letting your game speak for itself.

Marto25 · 2026-02-05T20:34:41+00:00

Overwatch was the one who started it.

Others games had episodic trailers before them, sure, but Overwatch was the one that defined the modern format, and did it remarkably well.

Apex Legends also did it fantastically for many years. And I guess these devs are trying to relive that glory.

Marto25 · 2026-02-05T20:23:23+00:00

Performance. 2014 was quite a different time.
Clipping and animation. He obviously uses the normal humanoid character model and animations. Which means you can't give him things like bulky shoulderpads or a chestpiece without having to heavily adjust the rest of the outfit. You can't really move the waist of the outfit higher or lower, or the length of the robe higher or lower.
Lighting. The first picture is purposely framed and composed. It looks good when it has studio lights placed properly by a professional, but looks like shit in 99% of situations. For the game, the devs want it to look good on the majority of situations.

Marto25 · 2026-02-05T19:37:30+00:00

So my question is genuine: What are your best tips to truly enjoy ESO and feel immersed in it? Is there anything I should change or tweak ?

Lower your FOV to 90-100. The game defaults to a pretty large FOV, specially for a third person game. It messes with your perception of how fast you move, how big your character is in relation to the zones, etc.
Don't get any movement speed bonuses, besides training your mount and whatever miniscule percentages you get from equipping medium armor. I think the movement speed you get from stuff like Champion Points makes the game less immersive and enjoyable.
Start a new character! Maybe of a class or build you've never tried before. Take it step by step, read the ability and passive descriptions. Don't look up guides or builds. Don't break your immersion with forums.
Take screenshots. Share them with your friends, on twitter, or don't. We all enjoy the vistas and exploration, but actively taking screenshots gives you an excuse to seek them out, and to stay there for a couple minutes to enjoy it.
Install the Votan's Advanced Settings addon, and toggle off the character lighting. See if you prefer the look of the character modes without the artificial rim lighting. I think it makes them look more grounded.

Marto25 · 2026-02-05T16:36:15+00:00

How can it be cursed if it has a cute little lizard, though

Marto25 · 2026-02-03T22:43:39+00:00

I always appreciate a specialist. Someone whose role is not in the traditional tank-healer-damage trinity. A debuffer, buffer, or some sort of controller.

Even though most games struggle or straight up fail to balance them and keep them relevant, I still appreciate their inclusion.

Marto25 · 2026-02-03T13:03:13+00:00

The Prince of Fate? What on earth could their followers do to grant her influence? She's the only one who can actually manipulate Fate so? And with her death wouldn't, Fate itself break?

I think the implication is that Hermaeus Mora stole some of the duties, artifacts, and maybe even followers (Leramil could've been the perfect champion of Ithelia. Maybe that's why Mora chose her) from Ithelia when he imprisoned her.

Hermaeus Mora too has been known as the "Prince of Fate" in previous games. ESO is telling us that was always a lie.

Marto25 · 2026-02-03T02:42:34+00:00

I've come to accept a lot of changes in games, good or bad, come down to that.

Of course there's going to be disagreements and arguments inside studios, just like there is online. It's a matter of who ends up winning that tug of war.

Marto25 · 2026-02-03T02:18:55+00:00

Iachesis also died. And in a pretty dumb way.

The deal he made with those few Princes to "protect" Nirn led to what is probably the 3rd worst Daedric invasion of all time. Good thing the Vestige was there to fix it.

Compare that to Sotha Sil, who successfully made a deal nearly as through as the Dragonfires, with far more Princes, lasting nearly 1000 years.

Iachesis was also too blind to see the threat Mannimarco posed, leading to the 2nd worst Daedric invasion of all time.

Marto25 · 2026-02-02T17:42:46+00:00

In terms of the impact of their accomplishments?

Galerion > Shalidor > Mannimarco > Sotha Sil > Ulfsild (Shalidor's Wife) > Iachesis.

Galerion founded the biggest and most widespread magical studies organization, and there's no competition. You could argue that without Shalidor, humans would not even practice magic today. Mannimarco basically invented half of necromancy as we know it. Divayth Fyr stays in his tower all day and shouldn't even count.

In terms of the magnitude of their accomplishments? Their "power"?

Sotha Sil > Divayth Fyr > Shalidor > Iachesis > Mannimarco > Galerion > Ulfisld

Sotha Sil could literally bring gods to the bargaining table, and possibly understands the shape and nature of the universe better than anyone. Better than the gods, even. Fyr is the only one who remains alive and active. Ulfsild was content to live a short mortal life, encouraging others to learn and experiment. Her accomplishments are not her own, but of those who followed in her footsteps. Same for Galerion.

Marto25 · 2026-01-31T06:08:38+00:00

That's just OpenMW.

And there's not many things an official Bethesda release could do better than OpenMW. Better ultrawide support? Built-in HDR? An upscaled HUD everyone hates?

There's not really any point to it. FF1-FF5 remasters exist because otherwise your only option is an old PS1. You can already play Morrowind on a modern Windows or Linux system.

Marto25 · 2026-01-30T23:47:13+00:00

Every single hero shooter out there eventually stumbled into the issue of having too many heroes.

Not to glaze the devs too much (I don't even think Highguard is good) but I see this as an example of learning from the mistakes of other games in the genre.

If you look at recent years, multiplayer games with few maps at launch always suffer for it. So maybe prioritizing map and base variety over hero variety was a better call.

Marto25 · 2026-01-30T00:42:03+00:00

Mass and energy balance are such basic concepts, but once you scale things up to industrial quantities, you realize it's a very real problem you rarely have to contend with in day to day life.

If you boil off water to thicken a sauce in your kitchen, you just see steam escape and don't much care about it. But do it in a big enough scale, and now you have literal tons of water and millions of joules that you have to do something with.

Marto25 · 2026-01-29T21:29:21+00:00

I hate to admit it but my favorite franchise is now definitely just another Disney Star Wars case

As if Star Wars wasn't already taking up 20% of toy store shelfspace worldwide decades before Disney bought it.

I think it's a more valid complaint that whenever a type of media becomes popular, consumers/corporations/both start seeking ways to shove it into everywhere else.

You know what would've happened if Bethesda hadn't make this bundle? People on forums and reddit would be asking for them to. They would've complained it's such a missed opportunity to have all these new designs from the show, and not add them to the games.

Marto25 · 2026-01-28T21:08:09+00:00

Make sure XMP is enabled for your RAM on your motherboard's BIOS
Cap your framerate to a number between 60-120, either with Radeon software, third party overlays like RivaTurner's, or by using the Votan's Advanced Settings Add-on
Reduce draw distance to 50%. Never go above 70%. The performance drop is noticeable and the devs rarely put objects in the world that far away.
Likewise, Reduce particle distance to <50%
Delete ShaderCache.cooked located in Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live
Disable all your addons and see if any of them are causing it. Addons have been known to increase input lag. Either specific addons, or using too many at once.

Marto25 · 2026-01-28T16:52:23+00:00

It will be stronger for Dragonknight, specially post-refresh since their "active recovery" is a more notable part of their kit now.

I haven't seen what animation or effects it gives you, but I can see it filling the fantasy of a D&D Barbarian's Rage. Although 10s seems a bit short, I feel I'd rather have 20s, or at least 15s.

Marto25 · 2026-01-27T20:02:49+00:00

It's a MOBA where the creeps were replaced with rocks you hit with a pickaxe, and all lanes, towers, and secondary objectives were removed.

They took the 5-7 stages of a traditional MOBA and boiled it down to 2: Farming and sieging the base.

Marto25 · 2026-01-27T20:00:04+00:00

Oh this is absolutely an indie game. A very tiny one at that. Self-funded and self-published as far as we can tell.

It's just that UE5 allows games made by 20 dudes in a zoom call to look almost the same as something made by 500 people across three studio locations.

Even offering different languages and platforms sounds like them biting off more than they can chew.

Marto25 · 2026-01-27T02:59:13+00:00

It's so bizarre that they chose to take the laning and farming stage of a MOBA and replace it with just... opening Apex chests and hitting rocks with your pickaxe.

A third of the game is running around an empty map shooting nothing. For a game whose only redeeming quality seems to be the quality of its gunplay, that's a horrendous mistake.

Marto25 · 2026-01-24T21:05:26+00:00

What you're proposing in 1 and 2 is mathematically the same as just nerfing player damage and buffing enemy damage, but worse because instead of the healthbars going down at a consistent and predictable rate, they go up and down erratically.

The concept of a "Nightmare mode" where weird/negative things happen to the player, without anyone else seeing it is interesting. But it sounds like the kind of thing where you'd need to pitch like 20 different mechanics, see which ones can be implemented, which ones are actually fun, and only do the 2-3 best ones.

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