TES Legends - did it drop the ball?

[Pilaf The Defiler]

I haven't played TES Legends yet myself. I watched a youtube video of the first 19 chapters, which gives me a decent idea of what the story is about. One member of the lore community, the author of "How to Become a Lore Buff", really didn't like it at all. This thread on Reddit spurred some heated discussion on the topic.

My personal feeling is that while each game draws off pre-established lore, they're all self contained adventures, especially the side games like Legends and Adventures. On the other hand, this game gets a few things right, so the fact that the Thalmor are suddenly Boethiah cultists of all things is something I really hope they didn't get from Bethesda's actual story handlers, because to me that's a tad on the generic side. It wouldn't completely rape the lore or ruin my enjoyment of the games by any stretch, since the lore is about 50% of what I enjoy about them (I love the exploration and RP aspects of them just as much), but it would be kind of illogical and fly in the face of what's been established about the Dominion previously, both in game and out of game.

The one positive thing about it, if it's true, is that it would give them a bartering chip to use with the Dunmer, which might make future games interesting. It would be kind of lame to have all of Morrowind join the Dominion, but maybe a civil war or some other kind of social unrest. It's not the best possible way to use Morrowind in a story but it would certainly be different from the last adventures and stories set there, while still keeping the theme of competing Houses and cultural friction. Imagine a storyline where Hlaalu attempts to make a comeback by allying with Summerset for supplies and troops. That wouldn't be completely awful and it would match the conspiracy from Dragonborn.

[legoless]

Not the biggest fan of the story either, and I share most of Lady N's concerns. Seems like the lore is locked in place at this stage of development though so it's something we have to live with.

I get that they wanted to fill in that time period but the retcons they employ definitely do end up diminishing the story if the Great War. The one thing I'm exceptionally displeased about is the lack of flavour text on cards - random loot in ESO has more lore than 90% of this game!

[MetaCthulhu]

So by trying to explain away the Emperor wielding Goldbrand and Lord Naarifin being carried away by a Daedra, they basically retconned the entire Great War? That's what is called a Voodoo Shark.

[The SheoDovah]

That is more then a vodoo shark if they have retconned the entire great war. It is an atomic shark that is being eaten by a Dragon and jumping said dragon. It also retcons Skyrim as well, the Great War and it's after effects causes the Civil War in Skyrim. Without it, the Dovahkiin is never captured due to no Civil war and well, everyone dies because of Alduin.

The Thalmor being cultists of Boethiah is well, rubbish. I mean, it's..... lacklustre and kinda comes off as a half baked explaination to something they have no real intention to answer.

"Oh that? Oh, they're cultists. Stop bothering me now."

We may have a bigger retcon thread when it is out of beta and a full release. :-/

[legoless]

the Dovahkiin is never captured due to no Civil war and well, everyone dies because of Alduin.

I don't think it's that kind of retcon.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Er, yeah...the War still ends pretty much the same way in Legends as it did in the background lore for "Skyrim". It's just the whole Naarifim thing was expanded, and not necessarily in a good direction.

[legoless]

The Oblivion gate at the end is a little off-putting. Looks a hell of a lot like a stable transliminal portal to me, which should be impossible in the Fourth Era.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Do they just straight up use a Gate, like the ones in TES IV?

I mean, some of this is semi-excusable because it's a third party game, but compared to the ESO writing team, these guys clearly didn't do as much of their homework. They're trying to lift and carry something bigger than themselves.

[legoless]

Do they just straight up use a Gate, like the ones in TES IV?

Straight up a Gate. I can get a screencap if you'd like. He even has flame atronachs coming out of it...

Edit: In case it wasn't clear from my posts in this thread, I don't actually find any of the Legends campaign particularly objectionable. Sure it's a little sloppy in places (particularly this Oblivion Gate thing) but mostly I had a good time with it. It really does make you feel like a TES hero, which is quite a remarkable feat of storytelling when you compare it to the likes of Hearthstone adventures.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Well, yeah. I liked most of what I saw, especially in that there were branching quest lines. Meaningful choices existed that (I presume) affect the ending and how certain quests unfold.

That's something that wasn't nearly common enough in Skyrim, to be honest. There are several glaring examples in that game of why it's more Action than RPG, but the biggest one is that every single main quest line in the game has one ending. That's it. You can be a Companion and wipe out the werewolf hunters, but you can't do the opposite. That's a problem if you're marketing your game as a roleplaying game, IMO. I think Bethesda could learn a few things from Obsidian in that regard.

[legoless]

The quest decisions were great, much more than just a card acquisition gimmick. The choice in Act 3's Interlude almost makes me want to play it again just to see what happens with the other option.

[Br3admax]

I'm not sure if it's possible to drop the ball with ES, lorewise. The story isn't among my favorites, and from the little I've played myself that won't be changing anytime soon, but as far as lore goes ES is pretty flexible. I don't prescribe to the nonsense about C0DAs, and what have you, but Bethesda does for some reason. And after a good 10 years of this, I've come to the point where I've accepted that anything can happen and likely will happen in some form or another, just not necessarily in the same way if told by someone else. For there to be retcons, there would have to be a continuity or canon to begin with, and ES has tried its absolute hardest to not establish one.

[Lady Nerevar]

especially in that there were branching quest lines. Meaningful choices existed that (I presume) affect the ending and how certain quests unfold.

The only impact those decisions have is on the dialog immediately following and on the card you get (even then, you can always obtain the other card through crafting or a random draw). They are not mentioned at any part afterward.

The quests themselves, apart from the main story, are ones like "summon X creatures in the shadow lane" or "win X battles in the versus arena."

[legoless]

The quests themselves, apart from the main story, are ones like "summon X creatures in the shadow lane" or "win X battles in the versus arena."

Whoa, where did you get that? We haven't had much luck datamining Legends so far.

[Lady Nerevar]

That particular document appears to be a dude recording his experiences, rather than data pulled fron the game files. I found it on the bethnet forums.

I'm sending you a PM about the data mining.

[Cursegrind]

I liked a lot of the artwork.