I found I had very little trouble through the single digits and into the teen levels. The occasional level had some minor grind spots for difficulty, but nothing too bad. The early 20's levels however, started off pretty rough. Granted, this was in part because around level 19, I chose to re-spec skills towards light weapons and magic. Learning curve with magic converting to it later in the game was a bit harder, so more enemies beat me around.

The real sweet spot from my current play came around level 23-24, when most of this gear combo below came together.

It turned out to be an amazing gear set all the way to level 29. The two pieces of gear that received bonus enchantment of extra healing effects were key. With that extra healing, food in missions healed a lot. With the third piece being the gauntlets, I was regularly doing 4-5 Skull missions without issues, as long as I kept dealing damage I could out-heal my opponent.

Finally, I generally combined that with the basic Absorb spell:

Which would cover the minor gaps in healing occasionally needed if I had a round of good blocks from the enemy killing my combo or damage output. The rest of the fighting was mostly combo damage with a weapon matched to the opponent, and the occasional spell with the right damage type.

As I continue playing, my next grind and really challenging point was when I hit level 29. At twenty-nine, all the sudden the difficulty jumped and I was struggling to out heal the damage a lot of opponents could deal. For the most part I simply had to slow down my pace of fighting and be a bit more defensive then I was being.

Now, I'm sitting at level 31, and my newest gear that is chewing through opponents has been a Glass Dagger, enchanted with the bonus combo damage. Previously all my weapons were elemental damage, but with a fast weapon, that bonus combo damage is laying waste even to enemies resistant to slashing damage!

Beyond that, my town is coming along nicely, my various production buildings are between level five and seven. I'm just starting to work into Glass and Charus gear, and already eyeing beyond it towards Ebony with the level eight smithy.

I'm curious what the long term future of the game will be, if the Arena will turn it into an aggressive pay-to-win formula, or if they'll be able to add more exploration and story element so that the end-game is not just Arena matches.

#MobileGaming #iPhoneGaming #ElderScrolls

—Scott

In Brief

It’s really good. It looks absolutely gorgeous on my iPhone 8, and only slightly less so on my older iPad Air 2. Character design is more flexible than most mobile games, and starting out, it does actually have a story. Unfortunately, it is Free to Play model, but it feels fine. It’s definitely worth a try for Elder Scrolls on the go!

Game-play

The controls are perfect! It’s better by a long shot in portrait mode, where it’s all one hand, one finger really, playable. The excellent execution of the controls really helps make the game.

Free roaming around your own town is vivid and alive, and you’re going to be rebuilding it to your style. The story is off to a good start, I expect they will keep fleshing it out as the game leaves Early Access. Outside of the story there are always quick quests to do to find better gear and resources for your town. It’s not full world free-roaming like a full PC Elder Scrolls game, but it’s also not static menu’s or walk-on-rails.

Visuals

Nothing to say, it looks better than I expected, so here is a trio of shots that are at least Oblivion level, I think HD Oblivion texture level, at least on iPhone 8.

What I Want Next?

• More Quest Text: Flesh out major story, and add more story to minor/job quests. Bethesda’s writers are well known, so I expect they’ll apply this as the game expands.

• Additional Free Roam: I like what it has now, as the game grows I expect they’ll add more options to customize the town further, and I would like to maybe have a small area outside the town walls to free roam. I think this is likely if the game does well for Bethesda.

What I Dislike?

• Unfortunately, it is a “Free to Play” model, but it’s not too invasive. I have not seen any dreaded advertisements or “watch ads to do X faster” options, so kudo’s to that decision. I will likely do some small purchases to support Bethesda, as the F2P has not been in my face or prompting in any way.

There you have it, I think Elder Scrolls: Blades is off to a good start with the Early Access tag. It has some good potential, looks great, didn’t murder my battery life and the Free to Play model is not invasive at all and has no advertisements.

#MobileGaming #iPhoneGaming #ElderScrolls

—Scott