Chris InglisThe Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle is this year’s major chapter update to the eight-year running MMORPG. Back in April we were given access to a hands-on preview of High Isle which you can read here. The chapter update is set for release next week, June 6 on PC/Mac and then June 21 on Xbox and Playstation, and features two major explorable areas of High Isle and a prison island called Amenos. We were fortunate enough to be invited to an ESO Guided Tour of the new zones with two of Zenimax developers, Zone Lead Ed Stark and Lead Content Designer Jeremy Sera.
I have been playing this game from the very beginning back in 2014, and very much enjoy the annual chapter releases like this one. It’s great to explore brand new zones, fight new monsters and get lost in exciting and enthralling new stories. However, to be given a tour of the new zone with two of the game’s developers was an amazing experience. It was inspiring to hear of their design philosophies as we moved around the two main explorable areas in the new zones located in the Systres Archipelago in West Tamriel – High Isle and Amenos. There is a third island called Y’Fellon which is on the northern end of the archipelago and features an active volcano called Mount Firesong, however we didn’t get to visit it.
The main explorable island of High Isle is home of the Bretons and is the perfect getaway destination for alliance delegates to take on peace talks that would put an end to the Three Banners War. While the summit is hosted by the noble Society of the Steadfast, players should beware of The Ascendant Order and their chaotic motives. Players will experience the chivalric culture of the Breton people firsthand as you traverse deeper into the island and its mysteries, see its spectacular locations such as the two public dungeons and take on challenging quests.
We started our tour at the central wayshrine of Gonfalon Bay, the major player hub on High Isle where players will find all the merchants, crafters, daily quests and more. As we looked out over buildings, we could see a large hulking statue of Admiral Bendu Olo who hasn’t been seen in an Elder Scrolls game before. He was in command of the All Flags Navy and led the campaign to wipe out the Sload from the coral kingdom thousands of years ago. We could also see the architecture used across this town as we see some older structures with thatched rooves. This area was first built up to support the All Flags Navy as they built their navy ships, and as we ran down through the streets to the docks, we could see ships under construction.
In our tour we didn’t interact with any of the major NPC’s or start any quest lines, it was all about visiting key locations around this new zone. We were given some brief information and history about key characters we ran past such as Lady Arabelle, a key player in the main story, and a npc called Bragas who is voiced by Billy Boyd (Pippin from The Lord of the Rings) who teaches players how to play the new Tales of Tribute game added with this chapter update. One cool thing we got to see were large ships sailing in the distance which we haven’t seen in ESO before. There’s a variety of sizes of ships sailing past, including small gondolas through the waterways which made the area feel very much alive and immersive.
We then headed out of Gonfalon Bay and jumped on our mounts to start exploring the wilderness heading west. As we rode along behind Ed, he explained there are three biomes to see in High Isle, the first being the Sapphire coast featuring low-cut grasses and had a Mediterranean and tropical feel with the sun shining brightly at the time. We came across the first of the new world events, Volcanic Vents which are very similar to Abyssal Geysers from ESO: Summerset. Events that occur through completing the main story quests will alter the appearance of these Volcanic Vents which is great as it gives you more reasons to revisit them as you progress through the zone. I’m excited to see how this plays out.
We headed north and ran past a heap of different types of creatures we will encounter in the game and ran through a heap of sunflowers strewn across the plains which were great to see. We came across one of the world boss locations, The Sable Knight. We did aggro him but as most of us were fresh PTS characters, we backed away quickly and moved north-west past Steadfast Manor and into the second biome area, Oakenvault which featured thicker forests and looked like it had a cooler climate and storms off in the distance. A couple of us had lagged behind a little, distracted by shiny things to collect and Ed made comment that he still catches himself running through the zone collecting resources and killing things along the way. Even though he works on the game full time, he still enjoys exploring these new zones as they’re being designed and tested.
The next location in The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle was Castle Navire which features tournament grounds. Players will be sent here during the questlines of one of the new companions added in this chapter, a Breton Knight called Isobel Velois who is voiced by renowned voice actor Laura Bailey. Moving further North we moved into one of the delves called The Firepot. Delves are small zones that can easily be soloed and often have a questline, a boss and a skyshard to collect. At first it looked like any of the hundreds of delves already in the game, until we explored further and came across a huge chasm of magma, stalactites and Vulk’esh flame creatures. It reminded me of playing in Dreadlands during last year’s Blackwood chapter, and we were coming to learn that lava and fire were going to be big parts of the overall story in this zone.
We then teleported across the map to Stonelore Grove, one of three druid circles we will encounter throughout our High Isle journey. Stonelore Grove is one of the oldest settlements on the island dating back to when the Druids first arrived on High Isle. Jeremy explained the Stonelore druids are the main circle players will be dealing with through the year-long Legacy of the Bretons adventure, with the other two druidic circles we will encounter being Eldertide and Firesong.
Jumping across to the prison island of Amenos, we were met with a vast change of scenery in this third biome which had rain falling in thick jungle forests, sharp cliffs and a central town called Amenos Station. Outside of town, we came across a fort run by a major prison gang called the Green Serpents. On we ran to one of the public dungeons called Ghost Haven Bay. I had played through this area previously and was fascinated with how detailed the zones are, and this one had a ghostly pirate theme to it.
We explored a little more of Amenos on the north-western edge of the island and we saw a huge ship graveyard area with large ship wreckages strewn along this area wedged between cliffs and thick with fog. Thus ended our outstanding High Isle guided tour. I was intrigued as to how a zone of this magnitude is designed, so I asked how they start to implementing a zone like this.
Zone Lead Ed Stark explained: “When the lead writer and world builders talked about what High Isle and Amenos were to be like, we had a lot of freedom as the Systres Archipelago was something that hadn’t been defined in Elder Scrolls before. We started with the storyline and then worked with the world builders to come up with terrain and landscapes that fits.”
Lead Content Designer Jeremy Sera added: “The story and location often drives things. One of the things we really wanted to do was expand on the Breton culture. If you look at our map, there’s not a lot of space to expand. So, this was a great opportunity for us to tell a story that was about the Breton culture without contradicting some of the other places we have been, as well as expanding on the idea of what the Bretons are. I think many people see Bretons as like our generic race when that’s not actually true. They are super steeped in culture and are descendants of elves, they just seem like our normal fantasy fare.”
A big thank you to Ed and Jeremy for their time, and to the team at Bethesda ANZ for facilitating this guided tour. I am very excited for The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle releasing next week, June 6 on PC/Mac and then June 21 on Xbox and PlayStation.
#roundtablecoop
