Saltatio Mortis is collaborating with Bethesda to create a music video and a new song for the MMORPG Elder Scrolls Online. Thematically, it fits in with the new High Isle expansion and the world of the gods. We at MeinMMO were able to talk to the band and find out what fascinates them about the MMORPG.
What happened at ESO? On June 6th, High Isle was released as the latest expansion for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online. But it not only brings new items, an exciting story and open dungeons, but also exciting things that happen outside of the game.
Among other things, the band Saltatio Mortis was brought on board to produce a new song suitable for ESO. Included is an elaborate video and an event, which is accompanied by Bethesda. The event as well as the song itself is called “Pray to the Hunter”. You can win tickets for gamescom and a sailing trip with the band, among other things.
updated: We conducted the interview on June 7th and updated the article on June 10th with current links and the final video.
The premiere of the song and accompanying video took place on June 10. However, fans had the opportunity to watch the new clip together with the band in the Schauburg in Karlsruhe on June 9th and then chat about it (via schauburg.de).
In the video you should also see very similar armor as in the new High Isle trailer:
Newest ESO expansion High Isle is here – Shows exciting battle with mighty knight in the launch trailer
Who are Saltatio Mortis? The currently 7-strong band has been focusing on the Middle Ages since it was founded 22 years ago, always accompanying exciting stories with rocking tones and groovy bagpipes. It was only in 2020 that they released their 4th number 1 album in a row with “Für immer frei”.
But the group is not far from the gaming world either. At the beginning of the pandemic, they also became active on Twitch. In addition to Dark Souls, they also streamed in the just chatting category and had an appearance in the medieval camp of streamer Knossi and rapper Sido.
And you might have heard them aside from their music, as some band members lent their voices as well as their names to NPCs in the role-playing game The Dark Eye: Drakensang. Because in addition to their real names, the members of Saltatio Mortis are often known by their stage names.
Who spoke to us? As part of the collaboration between Bethesda and the band, we also had the opportunity to conduct this interview. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Jörg Roth aka Alea, the modest one, as well as shawm and hurdy-gurdy player Gunter Kopf, better known as Falk Irmenfried von Hasen-Mümmelstein, answered our questions.
They tell us what fascinates them about MMORPGs, why Elder Scrolls Online of all things serves as the basis for the song and how a fishing quest can become the most beautiful MMORPG experience.
“I’m now on tour with my laptop and playing Elder Scrolls Online”
MeinMMO: As is well known, you feel at home in the Middle Ages and the world of fantasy and legends. But how did the jump to gaming as a model for your music come about?
Falcon: It’s actually not that far away. For the most part we are all role players, at least pen & paper and board players. Each of us has already gone through one or the other online adventure. This has always been a topic that we wanted to do something with.
We just never found the right partner who said, “Okay, let’s take the risk” and work with a band as intensively as Bethesda has done with us now. And that’s just so killer cool. In principle, we can really do what we want and we get good feedback. It’s a fantastic collaboration and it couldn’t have gone better. That’s why it was perhaps a good thing that we didn’t just try it beforehand.
Alea: What else can be said at this point – Falk and also Timo, who used to be in the front row with us, our copywriter. They even wrote stories for pen & paper games. Namely for Shadowrun and The Dark Eye.
Falcon: Exactly, still the old black eye. And they also released Aventuria PC games and we were even spokespersons for them. So I dubbed at least 30 complete branches. That was awful, well… not awful, but awfully great.
MeinMMO: From Pen & Paper to MMORPG is a big jump, especially in terms of the number of players. Which 3 points do you like most about the MMORPG genre?
Alea: Well, I have to say that until I started Elder Scrolls Online a year ago, I always said, “I’m someone who just wants to experience this story alone.” The first game I really got lost in was Daggerfall back then. Then you walked from village to village, in real time! Nothing happened for a few hours, but you were a few steps closer.
During the Corona period, I fully discovered gaming for myself. This fever, which I had then, has now totally caught up with me again. And then we had this event with Bethesda where, of course, as a Skyrim and Daggerfall fan, I was like, “Wow, how did this happen?”
Then we played Elder Scrolls Online for the first time in the stream. And that got me so excited that I actually spend hours in ESO several evenings a week now. The guys have already experienced that I now sit backstage with my laptop on tour and play ESO. It must be then.
Therefore, and this is the absolute thing for me, why I play ESO – the community. The community is abnormally nice, that’s crazy. I’ve really never experienced that. Mentioned in one of my streams recently that I’d like to save up for a werewolf bite and just asked if anyone could give me one. It didn’t take 2 minutes before the news came pouring in. That really wasn’t a problem at all.
Or when you’re in fights. They support each other, someone you don’t know at all uses their healing abilities so you don’t die. Or just reviving one once in a while if you screw it up because, like me, you’re a noob. And I’ve never experienced that in any online or multiplayer game before. All I’ve ever experienced is that the people who log in as a team support each other. Whether it was in Battlefront or Alien Fireteam Elite – I always had the feeling that someone got annoyed very quickly when you played so badly.
And here you get messages that give you tips. It’s just a generated name. I don’t get these messages because I’m the Alea now, but because someone notices there’s a new player who’s just starting out, who hasn’t leveled up very far yet, I’ll just help him now. That is beautiful.
Falcon: That’s definitely a reason. The second reason for me: I think it was 1997, we’re in the Ultima Online era. That was my start for MMORPGs, back then you just didn’t even know what it was that you were doing. But you were online with other people and you could talk.
There’s nothing hotter than interacting with other players. And if you’re playing on an RP server and you can really roleplay, then that’s just fine. What excites me about it is that you’re not just gambling on your computer at home for your high score, you’re creating something bigger than the game you’re currently playing.
You deal with people, with people and you have emotions on the other side. you create memories And I will never forget sitting around the “campfire” Ultima Online and talking to people about all things life. Things actually happened there that screwed me up for anything single player and beyond Diablo.
Alea: As a 3rd point, for me, also because I’m on the road so much in ESO right now, is the depth of the story and the sheer size that it all has. I’ve now completely played through Vvardenfell and the story was great. It had exciting twists and cool situations.
It’s a playable world in its own right, with great people, and I just think this size, the different countries, the most diverse quests that are somehow related and the mega lore that comes with it, that’s what fascinates me the most.
The community was the reason for leaving World of Warcraft
MeinMMO: What was the best moment for you that you experienced in an MMORPG?
Falcon: Oh dear, maybe I shouldn’t even say that here. But for me it was when I was fishing Old Ironjaw. And anyone who knows the name I’m mentioning has played through every fishing quest in WoW. For me, that was the most unnecessary, but most absurd moment. I can’t even describe how cool that was.
Because I was really half a year behind on completing this quest. And then, by accident, I caught the first of two rare fish that can be fished in Orgimmar as an alliance player while we were fighting our way through. I once threw my fishing rod into the lake, caught the fish and thought: “Shit, now I need the other one too.” I just wanted to have them all. It’s such a minor detail, but that was just the Pokémon effect.
Alea: For me it was now the first transformation into a werewolf in ESO. I was so happy about it and it was so much fun just running around as a wolf. Just the feeling that when you howl once as a wolf, enemies that you would never have managed before suddenly run for cover in fear.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Werewolf or Vampire?
MeinMMO: Looking at the other side: Have you had particularly negative experiences in gaming or MMORPGs in particular?
Alea: over watch Simply Overwatch. I thought the design was so cool. I used to play Genji and thought it was so cool and I really wanted to play this game but I’m sorry. After the 30th insult from an unknown person, I just thought no. No, then leave it alone.
I’m also of the opinion that someone who brings a game onto the market should make sure that something like this doesn’t happen. Bullying just happens there and I think it’s really bad. That’s bad in real life, but when there are some hooligans and you don’t even know who’s sitting there and they write things like “go die”.
You have no way of knowing when you’ll catch someone sitting in front of you and gambling. Someone who just had a shitty day and just wants to switch off and gamble a bit, and then they say something like that. I think that’s really bad.
Falcon: Yes, that’s exactly why I left World of Warcraft behind me. After they changed that instances just randomly beam you in. Then there was the situation that you play with people who just grind and the whole talk just became negative.
I kept playing because roleplay is so important to me and because it’s important to me that you have cool encounters. When, as a Horde player, you meet an Alliance player at three in the morning who is also mining his copper, and you get into a role-playing situation and you try to communicate somehow. I always thought it was super beautiful, but I just really couldn’t take it anymore.
Also find there what Alea says, that the people who put it online and run the game also have a responsibility and have to see what it’s all about.
Page 2 of the interview is about the idea of writing music about video games and what excites the band most about ESO.