Elder Scrolls Universe - Bring me up to speed please

[Justpassing]

So I picked up Elder Scrolls Online as it was on sale, and I like the game so far but I've never really spent much time playing Morrowind or Skyrim and such, so I could use some lore tidbits or a general idea wtf is going on.

Thanks for taking the time to halp me out!

[Sunseeker]

Frankly I've played every Elder Scrolls game and I too have no idea what's going on.

[Eleccybubb]

It's like Game of Thrones just without the nudity and sex.

[Justpassing]

It's like Game of Thrones just without the nudity and sex.

Damn. I shoulda bought Witcher.

[Puupi]

Damn. I shoulda bought Witcher.

You should have subscribed to pornhub.

[Justpassing]

You should have subscribed to pornhub.

So should've the entire Game of Thrones audience? (I personally think they should but your point is pretty flimsy)

[dope_danny]

Honestly the biggest criticism of TESO when it launched is how it butchers a lot of the world e.g ancient gods you are never meant to mention in public on fear of death are namedropped liked a common saying, races meant to be aquatic couldn't breath underwater, ancient elven queens are described as being in their mid 20's, cities made of glass are just regular human buildings and so on. Its not a bad mmo at all, but its really 'soft canon' in a lot of places so you are better off enjoying it in a vaccum blind rather than just reading a list of 'things it gets wrong'.

Go pick pocketing and theiving, always a good place to start being criminal scum.

[theWocky]

Just follow the quests. You need no previous experience of the lore. Basically, most of the races and the world is similar, the rest is separate and follows its own world. I really rate this very, very highly.

[Witchblade77]

SHeogorath is nuts, Molag Ball keeps trying to take over tamriel by merging it with oblivion (coldharbour is in oblivion - the dimention of Daedra, or you could technicaly call them demons, tamriel is the dimension that Skyrim is in) because he thinks it belongs to him, Elder scrolls are basically various prophesies as far as I'm understanding. factions are continuously at war with each other, becasue everyone has their own idea of what's best for everyone else. ESO is actualy set, I think... 300 years prior to events of Skyrim? so it sits in between - after morrowind and Oblivion, but before Skyrim. (though I might be wrong about in between, been trying to figure out the timeline, I do know its prequel to Skyrim)

[Justpassing]

Honestly the biggest criticism of TESO when it launched is how it butchers a lot of the world e.g ancient gods you are never meant to mention in public on fear of death are namedropped liked a common saying, races meant to be aquatic couldn't breath underwater, ancient elven queens are described as being in their mid 20's, cities made of glass are just regular human buildings and so on. Its not a bad mmo at all, but its really 'soft canon' in a lot of places so you are better off enjoying it in a vaccum blind rather than just reading a list of 'things it gets wrong'.

Go pick pocketing and theiving, always a good place to start being criminal scum.

So I should take it as a M&M: Dark Messiah, the MMO, got it.

On another topic: Dark Messiah, that was a great game.

[dope_danny]

So I should take it as a M&M: Dark Messiah, the MMO, got it.

On another topic: Dark Messiah, that was a great game.

Pretty much, its effectively self contained and centuries away from the 'proper lore' games so to speak. Like Swtor, only because its lore is slightly different theres less concrete expectations whereas with swtor we all know the empire loses eventually

[unholytestament]

On another topic: Dark Messiah, that was a great game.

Yes. Yes it was.

[Witchblade77]

ESO is at 2E 582
Morrowind is at 3E 427 (Over 7 centuries after ESO)
Oblivion is shortly after at 3E 433
Skyrim is at the 4E (year 201)

Most of the other games are also in the late 3E (It ends at 3E 433)

so yeah, prequel to all of them, basically.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Pretty much, its effectively self contained and centuries away from the 'proper lore' games so to speak. Like Swtor, only because its lore is slightly different theres less concrete expectations whereas with swtor we all know the empire loses eventually

It plays so far before other games that there is practically no reason to think about it.
I wish they would just make a new proper TES game without the online bullshit :/.

[mickybrighteyes]

IT predates Talos....

Talos' coming will end the ESO era =/ though cyrodiil alreayd resembles a post Talos period so...

[dope_danny]

It plays so far before other games that there is practically no reason to think about it.
I wish they would just make a new proper TES game without the online bullshit :/.

after skyrim and fallout 4 im content to enjoy daggerfall, morrowind and oblivion with mods forever and file bethesda away with bioware as 'they use to make things i liked' to spare future dissapointments

[Sorrior]

after skyrim and fallout 4 im content to enjoy daggerfall, morrowind and oblivion with mods forever and file bethesda away with bioware as 'they use to make things i liked' to spare future dissapointments

While I agree they remove alot of good stuff they at least did not do ESO and to my knowledge ESO is non Cannon. Whole bunch legal craziness birthed it

[Thoughtful Trolli]

A long time ago there was a continent, Tamariel, and stuff. To this day, nobody knows how big the world is, or if there's more continents.

ALL of elder scrolls happens in Tamariel. The only stuff we learn about outside of Tamariel is: There's constellations, and then there's other dimensions. That's it. There isn't another planet or planetoid so far.

The native hominids of this planet have fought for eons and there's tons of stories you can read in game, as well as outside the game through resource compendiums. They pretty much account for everything over the long course of their time. Some are interesting. You learn more about it every day, even to little tidbits like how the Bosmer are completely carinvore and cannibal, except for one that took over an apple orchard.

Long story short, The Elder Scrolls are scrolls created by some powerful entity and they show you the guaranteed future but make you blind using them. The dwarves (dwemer) found a way around this, to read without going blind, and for that the gods killed em all. The games are each of the scrolls stories, and they become very entertwined and convoluted to a degree that, like at the end of Daggerfall, all the outcomes are TRUE and happen AT ONCE and nullify each other all at the same time.

Anyway long story short, most of their games are the telling of the scrolls, which END WITH THE DRAGON WHO DIES IN SKYRIM, WHICH IS THE LAST SCROLL, AND NOW I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FRANCHISE IS GONNA DO! Oh and btw, there exists a constant fight between the indigenous populations of every territory and the empire in the middle to rule it all.

[I Push Buttons]

While I agree they remove alot of good stuff they at least did not do ESO and to my knowledge ESO is non Cannon. Whole bunch legal craziness birthed it

ESO is canon.

https://twitter.com/TESOnline/status/372017971423498240

I think narrative of ESO is way better than Skyrim and Oblivion... The stories, the characters, etc... I enjoyed them all far more in ESO.

[Vrothgar]

I am trying to not post here, but OP you have entered a strange yet beautiful place, btw there is no shortcut and remember: Daedra is not always bad