A Honest Review (sorry its long)

[paulrgod]

Hi guys,

Posted this up on warcry and linked to it in the open forums for all the peeps who are unsure about buying the game.

Here it is for everyone to take a look at.

Lemme know what ya think

Cheers

[paulrgod]

Okay a quick background check :

I have been playing mmorpg's for many years, my pedigree includes Asherons Call 2, Horizons, Anarchy Online, Lineage 2, Final Fantasy XII and a fair few more.

I came into Ryzom in a similar state of mind as lots of other people i can see here in the forums. A wideley unknown game, the official forums locked out to the general puclic all smelled a bit dodgy to me. I was however very intrigued by the premise of this game, so sat at work checking out the official website and trying to gather as much information as i could about this mysterious entity called Ryzom. Watching the Trailers and such looked very impressive.

Eventually the game was released and curiosity got the best of me, Living in the UK, despite the distribution problems i managed to grab myself a copy from my local 'Game' store. The box art is gorgeous btw, so couldnt wait to get the game home and install it. Sat reading the manual on the bus home to get a little more in the mood, i felt i was ready.

When i got home installing the game was easy, a simple install wizard like many other games, as this was installing i logged onto the website to set up my account, easy peasy no problems here. After about 15 minutes waiting for the install to complete, i used the 'Configure Ryzom' tool to set up the game to look its best on my (modest) system.

Then it was onto launching the game, after a few seconds the splash screen was displayed followed by a login prompt, i entered my details, selected the only server available to me which is 'Arispotle' as i choose to play on the European English community.

The game promptly performed a file check and updated the client, this took around half an hour and went without a hiccup. I was then presented with the
Create Character Screen. 1st Choice to make is which Race?
After reading the introduction of the races and background story i opted to choose the Mysterious Zorai.
When creating your character there is a wealth of possibilities available for customisation, it all works with sliders and is very cleanly presented.
You can change any aspect of your character from the length of each individual horn on the Zorai's mask to how beefy his arms, legs or torso are.
You then have to set up 'action packs' for you character, you can choose 3 out of 4 but if you want to specialise the character you can choose more than 1 of the same. The options here are 'magic' 'fight' 'craft' and 'harvest'
The action packs you choose determine the starting skills for your character.
Im sure there would be infinte possibilities for character creation here.

When i was happy with how 'Atomos' looked it was onto the game. The game starts you off in a Beginner area with a choice of 'base' towns. The initial choice of 'base' town isnt really necessary as theyre all pretty close together and share the same hunting grounds.

I spawned in the town and my jaw hit the floor, the graphics are amazing, everything is moving, trees and plants blowing in the wind (not just rocking backwards and forwards constantly like in many other games, these actually were reacting to some windy force), small animals such as snakes, frogs etc scurrying along the ground. The attention to detail is incredible.
In my time of playing i dont think i have seen the same sky twice, day fades into night, the stars slowly appearing 1 by 1, then the clouds slowly gather and a storm breaks out, truly incredible stuff.

After a few minutes getting used to the 'odd' control scheme i approached the welcomer npc which was next to where i entered the world. He was supposed to give me a quest but i think he was 'broken' as all he woud do was introduce himself. So i decided to leave the town and take a look the general area.

Again my jaw was on the floor, the lush jungle looked incredible, by this time a storm was ravaging the trees and plants as lightening split the skyline in half, it was an incredible sight to behold and something i have never experienced in an mmorpg.
Its also worth mentioning here the seasons change, and after 2 weeks of playing the jungle was covered in a generous layer of snow, this stayed for about a week and melted away to uncover a slightly less lush browner jungle.

I went on and encountered a herd of small creatures called Yubo's i went in for a closer look and was pleasently surprised to see them coming upto me to sniff me and have a look at me, this is a nice touch as this world is meant to and DOES feel very alive. Its quite odd to experience the monsters in a game seeming as curious about you as you are them. Anyway as cute as they are i had weapons that needed........breaking in.

The interface seems at first very Cluttered, but it is extremely customisable, every window can be resized, hidden, locked or unlocked according to your personal preference, you can also set up 4 saved 'desktop' schemes for certain situations. So you could for example have 1 setup for exploration, which would perhaps just show your map and compass. These individual desktops are saved for quick access onto the f1-f4 keys. Also worthy of mention here is the way the interface changes colour depending on time of day, so you can always clearly see it (again colour changes can be set by you)

Using the 'Hands' interface at the top of the screen i equipped my weapon (a small knife) to begin with and reluctantly selected a cute yubo, then selected attack. After a few swipes of my blade the little fella was dead and i had gained a level.

It is worth mentioning here you dont gain levels in the way most other RPG's work, you gain levels in each individual skill, so in this case i had gained a level in 'fight'. These skills branch out at later levels to further define your character, for example at lvl20 in 'fight' this then splits off into 'mellee fight' and 'ranged fight' these then have to be levelled individually.

To begin with combat is simply click on the monster and select attack, wait til either dies, but as you progress and learn better skills this gets much more involving as skills can only be used at certain times and under the correct circumstances. Team play is also an essential if you want to level certain spells and skills. Tactics really are essential for survival when facing larger more powerful monsters.

With the blood of the Yubo still staining my blue hands, i decided to venture further out and take a look at some more creatures of this land, i ecountered several other creatures here in the training grounds, some will attack on sight and others are just curious like the mektoubs which, will come to have a look at you but stand on their hind legs in order to see your face - captivating.

As this was not long after launch there was not many people in the beginner lands but everyone was really helpful, i met up with someone called Twitches (heya mate) and we teamed up and helped each other level. When we each reached a lvl 20 we decided to head ff to the mainland.
I am now part of Guild called 'Atysian Sentance' and having lots of fun.
The community is getting more everyday as i constantly see new faces everywhere.
The gm's are also very courtious and helpful, i have only had to ask for their assistance 2 times and each time has been answered in under 5 minutes.

After a Couple of weeks of playing there was a patch, this seemed to introduce a lot of lag, this has since been fixed and the game is totally lag free. There has been 4 patches since launch fixing several bugs and such.

As i have already mentioned the graphics are amazing, the sound is worth noting too, while there is not currently an music, the sound is very atmospheric (and in 5.1 dolby surround), you only have to be harvesting near a herd of Kippee, 1 of them roars and it sends shivers down your spine.
(on a side not here music is due to be introduced in the 1st major patch)

This gamne does contain PVP but is currently limited to consentual duels and an arena in the matis lands. Guild wars and outpost battles and such are promised later though.

There are currently no quests. this is a big downer for me there are however short missions to keep you occupied and you can always set yourself goals. Proper Quests are promised in the first major patch along with several other things this game desperately needs such as NPC vendors and such. As the game currently stands though i am enjoying it vey much and it is a breath of fresh air in the stagnant MMORPG market.

Graphics - 10/10 Gobsmackingly Beautiful
Sound - 8/10 (hopefully the music will be good enough to raise this to a 10)
Interface - 8/10 (not immediately intuitive but very customisable)
Playability - 9/10 As good as it gets for MMORPG's - will be better with proper quests.
Lastability - 10/10 With 8 years of content planned, count me in.
Community - 10/10 A pleasure to be with such nice, helpful people.

[p46985]

I agree with every word Great review!

[andreaw]

Hi guys,

Posted this up on warcry and linked to it in the open forums for all the peeps who are unsure about buying the game.

Here it is for everyone to take a look at.

Lemme know what ya think

Cheers

Really well thought out and written review in my opinion. You have a very descriptive style of writing which makes the review even nicer to read and enjoy. Ever thought of starting up a journal for Atomos in the Roleplay Forum? Maybe you already have so I'm going to have a look now

[paulrgod]

Really well thought out and written review in my opinion. You have a very descriptive style of writing which makes the review even nicer to read and enjoy. Ever thought of starting up a journal for Atomos in the Roleplay Forum? Maybe you already have so I'm going to have a look now

Hehe now theres an idea, might consider starting this While still a young Zorai, Atomos has had some really great adventures

[lazarus]

Good review, mirrors the feeling and experience of many players I think.

Glad to see this is available on another forum where everyone can see, but I hope the gloom and doom naysayers don't use it as another excuse to attack the game (that most of them have never played btw).

Good job

[miths999]

I absolutely love this game and agree with most points in your review, but did you invent your character scale only for use with this game?

The graphics are amazing, the community has been wonderful in my experience as well - but perfect 10s? Certainly does not leave much room for future improvements or even comparison to current and future games. But perhaps you really do feel that those categories are up there with the best ever seen in computergames (or mmorpgs if we restrict the scale a bit)?

Nah, I am just kidding a bit , but truth be told, I think I personally would have been a bit more conservative with my scores even in graphics.

[miths999]

Good review, mirrors the feeling and experience of many players I think.

Glad to see this is available on another forum where everyone can see, but I hope the gloom and doom naysayers don't use it as another excuse to attack the game (that most of them have never played btw).

Good job

I still find it funny to see how apparantly 90% of those "naysayers" posting in the questions forum are unregistered. I can accept that people might make a first post before getting around to registering, but when they participate in heated debates (aka flamewars) stretching over a day or more without registering on the forums, it is plain obvious that they do not own the game - thus their only reason for being here can really be to slam a game they have not played just for the sport of it.
I really do not get some people .

Another vote of confidence for the great (registered) Ryzom community, that the vast majority of the, fairly few, negative posts you see in the non-public forums are generally solidly backed up by listings of the specific points of complaints and usually even suggestions for fixing them. All, generally, presented in a much more mature manner than is usual on mmorpg boards (any game boards really ).

[paulrgod]

Glad ya liking the review fellas

As for the scores i gave Ryzom, thats what i believe to be appropriate, i also gave reasons for the scores i have given.

Cheers.

[borguk]

Glad ya liking the review fellas

As for the scores i gave Ryzom, thats what i believe to be appropriate, i also gave reasons for the scores i have given.

Cheers.

Obviously you really like Ryzom, but no offense I think its one sided.
Look on all the forums and you will see repetitive themes in areas where the game is lacking, its a shame that you didnt include those for a more balanced view. Still made an interesting read, always glad to see other ppls opinions.