Elder Scrolls Online: Logging in

Yes, sometimes I play games that have just been released. Try not to faint.

And yes, “Logging in” is possibly the lamest blog title that has ever been written by anyone anywhere. I don’t care. It’s appropriate.

I’m only about 30 or so minutes into ESO, and at Level 3 if I recall correctly, so I won’t talk too much about the quality of the game or compare it to WoW or anything like that.

I will talk a small amount about one particular thing that ticked me off.

To start, Bethesda made my favourite game ever, Fallout 3. Second, I got ESO for sale on Steam for 1/2 price ($30) including 30 days of playtime. Excellent deal. Third, Skyrim was the most fun I’ve had gaming in a LONG time. I haven’t played any earlier Elder Scrolls games (though Morrowind and Oblivion are among the long list of Steam games I own but haven’t played).

Thus, Elder Scrolls Online has a lot of rope with me.

BUT.

You freakin’ guys.

I couldn’t login to the game after I bought it. Seriously.

Normal steps in playing a game you buy from Steam:

1. Buy the game (why not? you got a sweet deal, else why are you buying the game?)
2. Download the game.
3. Hit ‘Play’
4. DirectX auto-installs… again…
5. Steam pops up your game key
6. You Cntr-C said game key because, hey, sometimes you need it.
7. If the game is kinda lame, you go to its website to create an account… *cough* EA *cough*
8. The game fires up, you enter your account info.
9. BOOM you’re playing the game and shooting zombies or whatever.

That’s like 9 steps max. More like 3 if you’re not an idiot.

ESO has a secret step.

Enter your game INTO THEIR WEBSITE TO ACTIVATE YOUR ACCOUNT or some BS like that. And, oh yeah, you can’t login until you do that AND IT DOESN’T EVER TELL YOU TO DO IT OR GIVE YOU AN ERROR IT JUST SAYS “ACCOUNT INFO NOT RECOGNIZED”.

Good Gord, what a piece of crap sign-in process.

After that, I had a freakin’ blast creating my Lizard-man stealthy guy.

PS – watch this video shared to me by Rocketbouchard.
Megaman + learning about learning in games = super-rad times.

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Awesome sites, volume 1: Retro-Sanctuary

I’ve depended heavily on Retro-Sanctuary for their Top 100 game lists in getting prepped for this blog, which feature really interesting snippets describing each game. It’s also just really cool to read through thorough lists like this, particularly for genres/ systems that I didn’t get into or have a chance to play as a kid.

That site must be run by real aficionados!

http://www.retro-sanctuary.com

For example, here’s the blurb for their #1 Sega Genesis game: Sonic 3:

Bigger and better than all those that came before it Sonic 3 heralded larger and more interesting levels that seamlessly joined on to each other, an improved co-op where Tails could actually do something useful, a proper running narrative, the ability to save, loads of set-pieces, completely re-designed graphics and more depth than ever with it’s different paths, it’s as though Sonic Team had really looked at their previous games and spent a long time improving on every aspect they felt lacking, quite simply one of the greatest games ever made, make sure you play it as intended with Sonic and Knuckles attached too.

Awesome!

Their list of top 100 lists is here: http://www.retro-sanctuary.com/Top%20Games%20Main.html Check them out. Do you have any favourite sites? Throw them into the comments!