As some of you know, I've been playing Ryzom now for ~6 weeks. This was my third time trying this game, and it finally stuck. I've been having a wonderful time, and I'm here to stay.
After ~6 weeks, I wanted to post about my favorite part of the game itself. Yes, the social aspect is Ryzom's best feature. People of each race are nice, helpful, and sociable. I've met many people and most have been great! Aside from that is the game itself -- and my favorite part of this game is the epic travel from one racial capital to another.
Tonight my trusty guildie Inaeroth and I ventured from the jungle to the lake country. It was the last racial land to which Eppy had not yet been. I had no reason, really, to go, but I figured it would be smart to have a Fairhaven TP pact in the bag ready to go.
We set out from the Umber Grove, through the horrible, icky, messy, violent, bloody, dark, dank, gross, infested Trench of Trials (can you tell I didn't like it there?
), and into the lake territories. That first zone, coming into the lake country from the Trench? Wowie!! It took us 30-40 minutes to get the first 1,000 meters or so. Once we made it into Fount, it wasn't too hard, but getting into Fount was quite tricky.It took us a bit more than 3 hours to get from the Grove to Fairhaven, and I had a blast. In previous trips, Inaeroth had guided me from my birthplace Zora to my home, Pyr, and from Pyr to Yrkanis. Both trips were fun, exciting and exhilirating, but none quite so as this trip to Fairhaven.
Other games just don't have this. Their mechanics are sufficiently different (read: easier) such that long trips can be easily made in stages. Death during such trips doesn't have a real penalty in other games I've played. The lack of respawn points and eligible TP spots on my trip tonight, however, made death an unviable, hours-losing proposition. I've been playing MMORPGs since 1999 and simply put, I have never had exploration induce such constant heart-pounding.
Just thought I'd share.
[Edit: Here's a quick screenshot of Eppy in the Fount during the journey. A Zorai, wearing a mix of Fyros and Matis gear, in the Tryker lands. How's that for racial unity?
One day I'm going to put together and publish a collection of Inaeroth's and my screenshots. We have a lot of them, and some are quite good.]Best regards,
)
