The light under a bushel

[rakehell]

I've been lurking the forums for about a year or so. Decided to start SoR about 3 weeks ago and was lucky enough to signup for a full sub 3 days before the cut-off. As a casual player I'm not a fan of grind games and SoR seemed very much a grind game.

However, the pros:
Good community
Intriguing storyline & setting
Classless system (classes ALWAYS lead to balance problems & I tend to play hybrid classes anyway)
Player based economy (crafting & material gathering are actually important)
User content system
Optional PvP system (I like PvP, but the gankfest of kill-the-newbies open PvP doesn't appeal to me)
Detailed character creation system
Decent graphics

Outweighed the cons:
Grind isn't player friendly for a 10-hour-a-week player
European based servers, maybe too much lag for US players

The character creation was even better than I thought. The button that animates the character was a great touch.

My first impression of the Ryzom world was overwhelming. It's incredibly pretty and realistic looking - screenshots & low-res trailers don't do it justice. Ran around a bit, no lag at all with many, many moving objects and effects (most are client side I know, but still there were a lot animals and PCs - dialog, trade & skill windows all opened quickly). Ping wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. Cranked up the graphics from the default settings to high for nearly everything and the world just got even better looking and with no performance hit that I could tell.

The most important thing is that Ryzom feels ALIVE. The rain looks and sounds like rain. The snow really looks like snow and not some computer animation. The lighting changes are great; so is the wind effect and the seasonal changes. The animals act like animals (Bodoc migration - wow). Though you’d think the Yubos & others would be more afraid of homins by now considering how many we kill. The buzzing insects, butterflies, birds, and whatever that glowing, flying creature is all add to the feeling. The horizon and sighting range seem realistic and way better than anything I've ever seen in games before.

Tried all the skill trees. Only foraging was kind of frustrating - had to ask for help on the zun amber. Supposedly, I was only 1m away and couldn't find it with the 5m/fine materials only prospecting stanza. I was even able to sell some of the low-level items I crafted through the NPCs to actual players - bought some too.

Making the stanzas was easy & very flexible, especially once you get to about level20.

The community has been very helpful, only once could I not get a rez - and I die a lot. I'm still on the island and can't wait to see the mainland.

You guys have a great game here. It won't appeal to everyone, but it should appeal to a fair sized portion of the mmo market. It might not be a WoW-sized, but 10% of the WoW player base is still a lot. I hope that however this receivership thing turns out that whoever picks up the game will get some more marketing and advertising rolling. Time to take the light out from under the bushel.

Adventures of the Foolish Homin near Silan

Hmmm... Find some bark or collect some bones. Haven't much luck with foraging and have no idea where this bark might be. On the other hand, I can probably find these Javings easily.

I wonder what those flying things are... Oh, that's them. Ha, newborn Javings and only 1-star. I can kill 1-stars with two or three hits.

Ah, there's one a bit separated from the others. I'll hit it with a killer snowball... (Resisted).

That just made it mad, I'll root it...

Whoa they're fast, rooted it too close... back up a little, try an acid bath on it...

Not much damage and it's not rooted anymore. Time for my trusty ax. Whack, whack...

Hey, where'd my ax go!?

Acid... (Interrupted)

Dang, these things hit hard. Self-heal.

Acid... (Interrupted)

Acid... (Interrupted)

Yikes, where did that other one come from... Crap, another one's coming too.

Time to run for it... Self-heal, self-heal... I hate recast timers...

"er... Anyone near Silan have time for a Rez, please?"

Hmmm... Those were newborn Javings and they were too tough. I wonder if I can kill them in egg-form?

[gretchen]

It is a great game, and the news item saying it was definitely in line to get bought is the first solid good news amidst all the hints and speculation.

Javings are sooo annoying Getting ganked by gingos are enough but at least it's a carnivore so understandable...but Javings just slap your weapon out of your hand and mock you.

[ashling]

The rain looks and sounds like rain. The snow really looks like snow and not some computer animation.

My favorite are the storms, I just love the lightning

[soulsnatcher]

I still miss the sandstorms

[buupi]

Adventures of the Foolish Homin near Silan

Hmmm... Find some bark or collect some bones. Haven't much luck with foraging and have no idea where this bark might be. On the other hand, I can probably find these Javings easily.

I wonder what those flying things are... Oh, that's them. Ha, newborn Javings and only 1-star. I can kill 1-stars with two or three hits.

Ah, there's one a bit separated from the others. I'll hit it with a killer snowball... (Resisted).

That just made it mad, I'll root it...

Whoa they're fast, rooted it too close... back up a little, try an acid bath on it...

Not much damage and it's not rooted anymore. Time for my trusty ax. Whack, whack...

Hey, where'd my ax go!?

Acid... (Interrupted)

Dang, these things hit hard. Self-heal.

Acid... (Interrupted)

Acid... (Interrupted)

Yikes, where did that other one come from... Crap, another one's coming too.

Time to run for it... Self-heal, self-heal... I hate recast timers...

"er... Anyone near Silan have time for a Rez, please?"

Hmmm... Those were newborn Javings and they were too tough. I wonder if I can kill them in egg-form?

Haven't laughed for a long time, as I did with this experience, so thankee

This pretty much describes how it's on start (i still remember that after 2 years), and I still luv it.

Game can be hard on start, because game is pretty different that any on market, but with hard work and some "oh i bite dust again" -experience most of that can be adapted
Downside is that players with short concentration span will never see lot of good sides this game have.

Hope you will enjoy game as i've, and wish you safe journey on lands of Silan and Atys.

Astovidatu

[acridiel]

*nods* 3 Weeks of testing against 30 minutes...
Which Player do you think has a better chance to realy get to know a game and then get to like it

Welcome to Atys then.
And I swear you´ll get used to the taste of dirt once your face has hit it the about 200th time

Ah and Souls, I´m with you man. *sigh*
Even though I only know them from a Video and they blew through walls

CU
Acridiel

[praha]

I still miss the sandstorms

QFE!

And I miss the true 12 hr day, 12 hr night. Makes it hard diggin exc mats that are night only and the desert just isn't as beautiful as it was in beta. The desert night sky was often fun to watch.

[omsop]

I still miss the sandstorms

Gah Nooooooooo, i hate to say it, but i... i... i must agree with souls there, i too miss the Sandstorms.

make the most of it Souls, it will be only time i agree with you.

[vguerin]

I still miss the sandstorms

Yeah, I haven't had to use my "L" key since those vanished

[philu]

The desert night sky was often fun to watch.

I still enjoy watching the sunsets over FF.