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Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:14 pm
by borg9
Welcome new homin, hope you get half the fun out of Ryzom I have!
I have always loved the subject of content in Ryzom. The mere mention of it drives a large proportion of the players into frenzy.
I am currently off playing other games for a huge number of reasons and I am currently playing the newly released in Europe, Dungeon Siege II. I was a huge fan of the first one as I saw it as a 'Better Diablo'.
The above is relevant to what comes next...
Ryzom ever since I started playing (testing) in April 2004 was a breath of fresh air. It wasn't Linear. It didn't matter what time I played or how long I played for each day. It was a very social game, much more about interaction with people and the world itself than quests or story. The game rules and systems were simple to grasp, but very complex master. As you learned more you found there was much more to learn. Crafting is the best illustration of this as it has very little to do with 'making the item' and more to do with what you put into the item. This meant to understand crafting you needed to understand materials (mob and harvest). To understand materials you need to get them. To get them you needed to understand Harvesting and Hunting. To hunt and forage you needed equipment. So the circle of knowledge requirements was completed. DS II is almost the exact opposite, linear and total quest driven (life expectancy 1 month, replayablity maybe 3 times)
I have always believed that the 'simple' mission system was great because of its simplicity.
An in-game mission can only ask you to do something that is written into the game. From a game perspective we can visit, escort, give, hunt, dig or craft. No matter how you dress the text it can always be reduced to these simple terms. Chaining the missions adds a level of complexity in the whole but not in the actions themselves.
Playing DS II reminded me of what had drawn me into the Saga of Ryzom, Its linear, sending me back to town or making me revisit a location doesn't make something 'non-linear' it just makes it frustrating! Not allowing out of the south gate till I have met a set condition just means the game can't cope with you 'rushing ahead'. There is no difficulty level in Ryzom you can do something or you can't and the stuff you can't do is usually due to you not having the required skill, level or friend(s) at that time. Learn the skill, gain a few levels make a large enough group of people and the thing you couldn't do is now possible (within the game system rules). All game driven content is exhaustible, where as player drive tends to be more alive and dynamic and ongoing.
The content that is in Ryzom from my perspective:
The mystery of the game system:
Harvest - Learning how to do it in the best way possible.
Hunting - how to make it fun and still live.
Crafting - mix and matching materials.
Boss mobs - how to trigger them or kill them.
Fame system - how the tribe interact and how to become famous (with in the game system)
Exploration:
Visiting everywhere and wondering why there are ruins in the roots or faces in the walls.
Watching:
Studying the flora and fauna.
Watching Bodocs come to drink at the lakes in the evening.
Watching the AI kick in when Tobacs split a herd and hunt as a pack.
Plus the missions, the player driven market for items, rites, PvP, GvG, etc
Basically, Ryzom is a sandpit full of building blocks with no instructions, just a note stating 'Imagination not included'. The community is full of people that are happy with the currently provided building blocks and make castles out of them and when new blocks are added run around with glee and excitement. It also has is fair share who would really like red building blocks, but these people tend to follow the pattern that if they are given red blocks, now want green ones or state that the red ones are not the right shade of red. There are others that would prefer the building block to be 'all the same size', not require anyone else to help them build something. An other group that say these building blocks aren't anything like the building block I am used to, I want Meccano (tm) not Lego (tm). All of these 'types' and others are welcome and a lot are a mixture of these types. (An exception will prove the rule)
Ryzom is full of player driven, DIY content, but doesn't really contain any of the content that would make it a clone of everything that has been done before. A guild leader asking a new member to collect stinga buds is content, player driven content. Racing the length of the canyon is content. Trying to find someone to team with is a quest in its own right!
This post was brought to you by Neun. A player who has sadly had his view of the game changed by the community.
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:41 pm
by sprite
borg9 wrote:This post was brought to you by Neun. A player who has sadly had his view of the game changed by the community.
*hugs Neun*
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 3:17 pm
by riveit
When I first did missions, I thought they were horribly dull and insipid. I avoided them for more than a month. But as I've done some missions to gain advantages from rites, they have grown on me. They can have a sort of crossword puzzle fascination. Do random rites and a new encyclopedia entry opens up. Follow leads and soon you will have to be asking people or peeking at the Ballistic Mystix website. I'll take a mission from a hunter and then he wanders off, causing me to search an entire region meter by meter (I was carrying rotten meat for the Smugglers for a week). Do some rite steps and then find that you don't have enough racial fame to proceed, so there you are hacking away solo at whole tribes of bandits to gain fame. Interesting things can happen, like wandering into a tribe camp and chatting with the tribals while they are wiping out the rest of your team because of your differing fames.
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 3:33 pm
by philu
borg9 wrote:This post was brought to you by Neun. A player who has sadly had his view of the game changed by the community.
Was it something we said?
We still love ya Neun.
*joins Spriteh in hugging Neun*
P.S. Very nice post that, couldn't have summed up the beauty of Atys/Ryzom better. Just sitting and hanging out and watching the fauna is one of my fave pass times in Ryzom.
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:01 pm
by acridiel
*looksarounthecorner*
I... I consider the Events quite good contet lately...
*points to the roadmap and runs off before he´s beaten to a pulp by contentdeniers*
Acridiel
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:20 pm
by danadita
Group hug!! *hugs Neun* Miss you!
sprite wrote:*hugs Neun*
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:40 pm
by rushin
lovely post, but:
borg9 wrote:This post was brought to you by Neun. A player who has sadly had his view of the game changed by the community.
if you let a small minority of any community change your view of it as a whole, to such an extent, then unless you can find utopia there are going to be big problems..
the real world isn't perfect; not us, not nature, nothing. there are always bad things happening and bad people around it's just how things are. Find the most perfect apple tree and among the ripe, juicy apples will be a maggot somewhere. Life isnt perfect, SoR isnt perfect, and it's community sadly isn't either. Some of us will abuse/cheat/harass, but there will always be more who help/share/fill the world with kindness. The balance here i think is pretty good
-)
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:56 pm
by katriell
*looksarounthecorner*
I... I consider the Events quite good contet lately...
*points to the roadmap and runs off before he´s beaten to a pulp by contentdeniers*
Acridiel
Ditto. *pokes roadmap and runs off too*
Basically, Ryzom is a sandpit full of building blocks with no instructions, just a note stating 'Imagination not included'.
Great statement. ^_^
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 6:54 pm
by irenicuz
borg9 wrote:
There is no difficulty level in Ryzom you can do something or you can't and the stuff you can't do is usually due to you not having the required skill, level or friend(s) at that time. Learn the skill, gain a few levels make a large enough group of people and the thing you couldn't do is now possible (within the game system rules). All game driven content is exhaustible, where as player drive tends to be more alive and dynamic and ongoing.
How does this make Ryzom different from other MMORPG's? The level you have as player in Ryzom is actually the level of the highest skill you have (say you have magic lvl 20 makes you actually a level 20 character when compared to other games). And this makes you able to kill more or less mobs around lvl 20 (collored blue with 1 star at that point) with your magic skills. Equipment u can use also has a lvl requirement, it is only called Quality. How is this different form ANY other MMORPG?
borg9 wrote:
Ryzom is full of player driven, DIY content, but doesn't really contain any of the content that would make it a clone of everything that has been done before. A guild leader asking a new member to collect stinga buds is content, player driven content. Racing the length of the canyon is content. Trying to find someone to team with is a quest in its own right!
Having content in other games does not mean u cannot do these things you describe here in these other games. Because there is no content here there is not mutch more to do then work on your skills, chat with ppl, explore the world etc etc etc not? Still you are also able to do this in other games.
The one thing that is "unique" to Ryzom as u describe it might be the fame system. Though it does sound a lot like the Reputation used in World of Warcraft.
Am is missing something here? I truly would like to know what makes this game so unique when compared to all the other MMORPG's out there.
Re: Content?
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 7:17 pm
by rushin
irenicuz wrote: Am is missing something here? I truly would like to know what makes this game so unique when compared to all the other MMORPG's out there.
the difference is Atys is alive, the only way to understand that is to experience it.