I was in the Beta for The Elder Scrolls: Legends; but never got around to finishing my "First Impressions" article on it [as is how it usually goes for me and posting, heh]. Legends has been out of Beta for a few months now, and if I could summarize the game in one paragraph, I would say that Legends is a Virtual Collectible Card style game, that is 'both Single-Player and Multiplayer' (you can play against other human opponents, in matches and "Arena" rounds - but you don't have to, you can entirely play against the computer AI both in single matches and in 'Arena playoffs', if you desire). It is actually more of a "Card Collecting" game than a "Trading Card" game - as I have not seen a way to trade with human players yet - but that is similar to other 'virtual card games' of this genre, like Hearthstone and Gwent ("World Of Warcraft" Lore and "Witcher" Lore -based virtual card games, respectively). The game cannot be played Offline and you don't actually get any 'Real Life' Cards of any form; but that again, is the same for the other virtual card games mentioned.
After playing a little bit when it was first Released, I didn't play Legends for a few months, only recently picking it up again to play a bit - and boy was I in for a surprise!
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| The computer AI as it is now, offensive and ticked off (Cropped Screenshot of art by Bethesda Game Studios) |
Perusing the Updates for the game (which there seems to be one of every few weeks, a nice thing to see for a game!) - there was an Expansion for the game released at the end of June 2017 (Heroes of Skyrim) - but nothing that says, "We felt the AI was a little too easy to beat, so we beefed it up a bunch and it also will pull cards out of it's
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| Judging by the recent changes to the Computer Opponent A.I., get used to seeing this screen more often... |
Legends is a fun game still, with it's flashy effects and nice sounds, not to mention the wonderful Elder Scrolls-style 'realistic' art on everything; I personally don't mind if I am going to be losing to the Computer a lot more; but it would have been nice to see a more obvious notification of it somewhere - or a way to perhaps adjust it (via a Slider or Dial or anything..).
I do think the AI was 'just a little too easy' at first, making simple moves and not many combos, losing a lot more than it won against me - but now it seems pretty darn hard - almost too hard, pulling multi-combos everywhere and buffing cards a lot more and getting 'the perfect card' or 'just what it needs' at times, to pull off a win (as though, instead of the AI having a prepared set of cards, cards seem now 'generated as the game goes', to "keep it competitive"). I can still win once in a while against the AI in Solo Play and Solo Arenas - and I understand that Bethesda might want to make things 'a bit difficult' to encourage selling Card Packs; but... Dearest Beth: It's "Just A Little Too Much" Now... [in my opinion]
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| The 'new' Computer Opponent A.I. at work, busy buffing its' cards to no end |
I won't stop playing, of course - and I won't stop getting Card Packs once in a while (for all three of the Collectible Card Games mentioned above, when I can) - but I just wanted to mention this, for others too; that if you noticed the Computer seemed 'tweaked' lately and is now pretty darn hard to beat as an Opponent in Legends - It's Not Just You™...
If I play some Versus matches, which I do from time to time - See You In The Game!
Addendum
Changes Seen:
- Increased Combination plays (Buffs, Debuffs, then Attacking)
- Increased Healing cards (Health added to Opponent)
- Highly Increased 'instant-kill' or 'unsummon' type "Destroy A Creature" cards (Piercing Javelin, Lighting Strike, Execute, Cast Out, etc)
etc.
