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Elder Scrolls Legends - Bethesda's Hearthstone clone

Peter_the_Bard

Educated
Joined
Jun 2, 2015
Messages
62
http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/14/8779959/the-elder-scrolls-legends-announcement-release-date-2015

Will it KILL Hearthstone?

I don't know, Hearthstone has a really big jumpstart and with so much invested by players, including time and money, will people really switch over? I think if they focus on serious lore with pretty but dark art to set a different tone they could have a winner. One annoying thing about HS is the comical, childish lore and one liners on the cards.

A deeper yet similarly accessible strategic depth would help the game win over HS fans. They really need to maintain a f2p aspect though, and make it superior to HS. Playing for 1-2 hours to complete a 60 gold quest can be frustrating.
 

AMG

Arbiter
Joined
Sep 15, 2012
Messages
374
No way it can compete with Hearthstone, it will be the dominant f2p cardgame for pretty much forever. And rightfully so, it's basically the perfect casual game: super simple, while still managing to offer some decisons, stellar presentation and full of lol randumb stories to tell to your friends. And it has free draft mode, which is all you want from these games anyway.

There already exists a better version of Hearthstone, it's called Duel of Champions and it existed even before HS. The game is probably dead by now, bogged down by immense jewery, skeletal crew dev team and general dumbfuckiness.

Also the lawsuit over "Scrolls" cardgame is retrospectively more hilarious.

Also EA has it's own cardgame as well http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-star-wars-card-game-announced-by-ea-at-e3-2015/1100-6428138/

We didn't kill WoW, but we will kill Hearthstone for sure! :lol:
At least this time they are not 10 years late to the bandwagon. Not like it matters.
 

J1M

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
14,616
http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/14/8779959/the-elder-scrolls-legends-announcement-release-date-2015

Will it KILL Hearthstone?

I don't know, Hearthstone has a really big jumpstart and with so much invested by players, including time and money, will people really switch over? I think if they focus on serious lore with pretty but dark art to set a different tone they could have a winner. One annoying thing about HS is the comical, childish lore and one liners on the cards.

A deeper yet similarly accessible strategic depth would help the game win over HS fans. They really need to maintain a f2p aspect though, and make it superior to HS. Playing for 1-2 hours to complete a 60 gold quest can be frustrating.
Lore? :lol:

This game will fail due to greed, just as Hex is failing.

The only real competition out there for Hearthstone will be Grandpa Magic starting in July:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/magic-the-gathering-duels-origins.100538/
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
Probably one of the few people out there who actually remembers the lore.
 

pippin

Guest
Yet another piece of shovelware?
TESO 2.

Weren't Redguard and Battlespire marketed as Elder Scrolls Legends? I wouldn't mind something along those lines - a more compact, non open-world game. Probably too optimistic to be asking for a RPG at this point.

Battlespire was Legend, Redguard was Adventure. I don't know what to expect out of the franchise aymore. Just like Bioware, I'd wish they stopped lying to people and release pure action games.
 

Thal

Augur
Joined
Apr 4, 2015
Messages
413
The letter I wrote was basically, "Dear P.O., I don't know what kind of a company you are, and I really sincerely doubt that writing sci-fi and fantasy stories is any kind of a career people actually do. Against my better judgement, I have decided to send you a copy of my resume and some of the stories I've written. There's not much else you need to know about me, other than I'm a recent college graduate, perfectly normal in every way except when the full moon comes out, I grow butterfly wings and a third eye. Yours Truly, Ted Peterson."

They called me back the next day. Turns out they were Bethesda Softworks and they made computer games.

This explains quite a few things about the steaming turds they have for their guild questlines in TES 4 and 5.
Guess they lucked out with Peterson and MK. Crazy maybe, but it's the good kind of crazy.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...s-resurfaces-with-a-gameplay-trailer-and-beta

The Elder Scrolls: Legends resurfaces with a gameplay trailer and beta

The Elder Scrolls: Legends, the strategy card video game announced during Bethesda's press conference at E3 2015, goes into closed beta today.

Accompanying the launch of the closed beta is a gameplay video, below, that shows off how it all works.

There are plenty of mechanics Hearthstone players will find familiar, including player heroes having 30 health points and an Arena mode.

But there are a few key differences, such as the board being divided up into two lanes, the ability to train your cards, and runes that protect your avatar. Every time you lose five health, a rune around your avatar breaks and you draw a card from your deck. If that card has the Prophecy ability, you can immediately play it for free.

So, if you stack your deck with more Prophecy cards you can increase your chances of interrupting your opponent's turn. Drawing a Guard could stop your opponent from killing you. An Action card could give you extra health.

It's all set in The Elder Scrolls universe, of course, so expect to see cards based on characters, creatures, deities and lore from the series.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends is for PC and iPad. Bethesda said additional platforms are to be announced.

 

Night Goat

The Immovable Autism
Patron
No Fun Allowed
Joined
May 6, 2013
Messages
1,865,441
Location
[redacted]
Codex 2013 Codex 2014
TFW you see a thread about an Elder Scrolls thing in the Gazebo...and it's not a tabletop RPG. Why are they leaving all that money on the table?
 

Eirikur

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Messages
1,126
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
I received a beta invite one day after signing up, four days ago. Give it a try if you're interested. I'm enjoying it very much so far.

 
Self-Ejected

Ludo Lense

Self-Ejected
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
936
Magic:The gathering Hp with Duel Master Shields, simplified Star Wars TCG lanes and Hearthstone progressive resource.

I think they are innovating too much.
 

Elzair

Cipher
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
2,254
Seriously, it seems like every game developer is making these fucking card games nowadays. What gives?
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


The Elder Scrolls reveal the past, present and future of Tamriel. Told through the eyes of a moth priest named Kellen, The Elder Scrolls: Legends will allow you to change the course of Elder Scrolls history through its rich story-driven campaign and strategic card-based gameplay.

Learn more about the story in the intro cinematic for the campaign mode, revealed during the BE3 2016 Showcase.
 

Zeriel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
13,383
Magic:The gathering Hp with Duel Master Shields, simplified Star Wars TCG lanes and Hearthstone progressive resource.

I think they are innovating too much.

Eh, I'm in the beta, it's not that different. It's like a halfway house between Duel of Champions and Hearthstone--and it's closer to Hearthstone. Imagine Hearthstone without the stupid RNG and with 2 lanes (instead of DOC's MANY) and you pretty much have it.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/08/01/the-elder-scrolls-legends-alpha-impressions/

Impressions: The Elder Scrolls – Legends

legends1.jpg


If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the team behind The Elder Scrolls: Legends[official site] must be great fans of Hearthstone. Much of this new collectible card game will be instantly familiar to those who’ve played Blizzard’s Warcraft-based equivalent. There’s a gradually increasing pool of magic points with which to play cards. The same attack value and health stats, with most creatures being unable to strike on the turn they’re summoned. A slew of common special abilities that break the base rules, such as allowing for an attack immediately after being played, or having a one-hit shield to protect them from damage. Sure, everything has a different name, like “Guard” instead of “Taunt”, but the initial sense of deja vu is overwhelming. Thankfully, that fades.


The respectful borrowing doesn’t stop with Hearthstone. Developers Dire Wolf Digital count some hardcore Magic: the Gathering players among their team and you can see the influence of that game in Legends too. A number of the keywords used to explain rules are recognisable from Magic, such as “Breakthrough”, which deals any leftover damage from an attack on a creature to the opposing player. Each card also has a colour which, like Magic, represents a broad category of play style. Red ‘Strength’ cards, for instance, tend to be hard-hitting and aggressive, whereas green ‘Agility’ cards revolve around debuffs and movement. Decks can be composed of one or two colours, and anywhere between fifty and seventy cards, allowing lots of flexibility in deck building.

legends4.jpg


After a few battles of the solo campaign, you’re likely to be left with an impression of familiar ideas from other games that have been recombined into something that. It’s fun, but seemingly devoid of its own creative spark.

The campaign is a series of fights against A.I controlled opponents held together by an initially forgettable narrative and the first chapter serves as the game’s tutorial. By the end of those eight battles however, those initial judgements have to be revised in the light of the final mechanics to be introduced.

For starters, it becomes clear that the solitaire experience is fairly sizable. Not only does it span several chapters, each composed of encounters with a variety of decks under interesting temporary rules, but you can even play the game’s draft mode solo. In yet another borrowing from Hearthstone this is called the arena and it’s the same concept: build a deck from a series of card choices and see how many battles you can win with it. You might presume this would be an easy task, but this alpha version of the game presents a solid enough AI algorithm to keep you engaged as you try and grind out wins to earn bigger rewards.

legends2.jpg


There are also points in the story where you’re offered a choice of how to react to a situation, and you gain a different card for your collection depending on your decision. At one point after defeating a spider I found a high elf merchant bound in the creature’s web. Faced with a tempting bounty of gold for looting his pockets or a fairly weak card for rescuing him, I opted for the card out of sympathy for his grisly fate. Obviously, for me at least, these decision points helped to make the narrative more engaging.

However, the biggest new trick in Legend’s book is also something it’s arguably taken from outside the world of digital card games: the concept of lanes, as seen in MOBAs. The battlefield is split in two, and when you play a creature you have to decide which half it goes in. Most of the time one lane is labelled a Field lane and plays normally, with the other being a Shadow lane in which creatures are safe from attack on the turn they’re played. In occasional solo games you’ll also find a Wind lane which blows minions out into the other lane at random.

legends3.jpg


It’s like playing two games at once from the same hand, and the impact this has on strategy is enormous. One approach, for example, is to try and overwhelm one lane while just throwing the occasional damage-controlling spell or Guard minion into the other. Or maybe you could throw high-damage, low-health creatures into the shadow lane and hope their one-turn protection lets them live long enough to swing the game. Alternatively you can riff on combos, such as placing one of the yellow Willpower cards that boost or gain boosts from summoned creatures in one lane with lots of cheap minions in the other. Or mix and match to your heart’s content. It’s early days, but right now Legends looks like a deep well of potential.

There are other aspects to the game you’ll have seen before, like the ability to upgrade cards in your collection and to trash cards you don’t want in exchange for soul gems to spend on cards you do. And just as you think there’s nothing original at all on offer, you’ll get hit with runes and prophecies. See, Legends has a neat mechanic to boost the losing player because each five damage you take nets you a free card draw. And then if the card you pull has the Prophecy keyword, you get to play it for free, too, which is a far less neat mechanic that can lead to massive, game changing swings of fate. We’ll see if this concept survives the beta unscathed.

legends5.jpg


Chances are it might, because in spite of all the extra depth from lanes and a bigger keyword dictionary, Legends is currently a game that can swing suddenly and hard. Limited amounts of direct damage and card removal, together with Shadow lane protection, means big creature plays that turn the tide in your favour are very much a feature. And that’s okay, because most of the time you earned that swing through good planning and clever play. It’s only when your opponent gets handed such a turn thanks to a powerful prophecy that it feels unfair.

Legends feels slower and more serious than the majority of its competitors. There are more things on the board, more mechanics to deal with, more to think about. Even the art and sounds have a more somber, realistic tone than Blizzard’s card battler, and games take longer. At first, the thought of taking longer to climb a steeper learning curve doesn’t seem too appealing, especially with less of an addictive buzz.

After a good few hours with the alpha though, I can begin to see the game unfurling before me like a map of Tamriel, and the scale is impressive. The huge scope of Betheda’s RPG’s might be offputting for some. But the same approach to a CCG has the potential to pay big dividends.

You can sign up for the upcoming Legends beta right now.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
Warcraft has better lore... although the Hearthstone devs like to shit on it with each passing expansion/adventure.
 

Zeriel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
13,383
Warcraft has better lore... although the Hearthstone devs like to shit on it with each passing expansion/adventure.

Shit nigga, there's bantz, and then there's taking it too far.
 

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