The light under a bushel
Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:45 pm
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 youd 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?
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 youd 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?
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.
