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Fans of The Elder Scrolls Online have had some good news of late, and even if the recent leaked details of the Imperial Edition of the game didn't come from the publisher directly, their timing couldn't be better.
Nothing sells a subscription model better than the promise of greatness, and the first cinematic trailer for TESO left our jaws dropped for days afterward. Luckily, a brand new trailer for the MMO continues the CG spectacle, while teasing the kinds of enemies and supernatural terror players can look forward to experiencing.
The new trailer, dubbed 'The Arrival' continues right where the previous one left off: warriors representing the Aldmeri Dominion, the Daggerfall Covenant and the Ebonheart Pact (three major alliances in the fiction of The Elder Scrolls) squaring off for a fight. But the new footage shows the arrival of yet another threat - and one that might actually cause them to set aside their differences for once. All done justice thanks to the animation team at the legendary Blur Studio (whose recent work can also be seen in the prologue of Marvel's Thor: The Dark World).
That common enemy, for those who may not be up on their Elder Scrolls lore and simply enjoyed the trailer's action, happens to be the Daedric Prince of Domination and Enslavement, Molag Bal. With nicknames like 'father of vampires' and 'god of schemes,' it's no surprise that Molag Bal is up to no good. His next plan, as shown in the trailer, is to deploy a number of 'Dark Anchors' throughout Tamriel, and merge the world of the living with his own realm in Oblivion.
The studio has already released a gameplay walkthrough showing how groups of players will remove these anchors from the world, and predictably, it's not quite as epic as the trailer's version. However, the new trailer does make a few attempts to infuse the actual spells and area-of-effect attacks that define MMO gameplay. They may not be as high-fidelity in-game, but that should get fans of the genre more excited than a simple CG action movie.
Stunning cinematics aside, which parts of The Elder Scrolls Online are you intrigued by? The story behind the events, the voice cast bringing it to life, the chance to play with (or against) your friends, or whether the Elder Scrolls name is strong enough to help the game succeed despite the subscription and pay models? Sound off in the comments.
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The Elder Scrolls Online releases April 4, 2014 for PC and Mac, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 ports set to debut in June.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.