Some thoughts from a returning player
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:57 pm
Hi all,
Just dropping in to say hi and say that, man it's cool to see this game actually getting another go. That they're adding a subscription is, in my opinion, a good thing.
Some quick background... I first learned of SoR back well before it went into beta. I was taken by the style, the look and feel of the game. It was so "wierd" to me... in a good way.
The game came out and I had my retail boxed copy the first day I could. Opened my account, logged in and started playing.
Without going into too much detail, I've been back a few times in the years since and left for various reasons. Once was because of the over-the-top increase in difficulty of mobs after that first patch, and other times were for other reasons. I left the last time and thought it was the last time, since Ryzom went down for the first time not long after.
I kinda gave up following it at that point as, already having been through the death of two other MMOs I really enjoyed, Asheron's Call 2 and Matrix Online (well, MxO isn't "dead", technically.. but it may as well be; SOE's done almost nothing with it since they picked it up. But I digress...), and I didn't want to go through it again. I chalked Ryzom up as another truly original and great game that deserved to succeed, but didn't.
In the interim, I've jumped around to myriad other MMOs, mainly sticking to FFXI (my mainstay) but trying out others.
I just came back to Ryzom last night (welcomed with server down time lol... typical of my timing :-p )
After running around a bit, exploring the scenery again, doing a bit of fighting and harvesting, and experimenting with the stanza system to re-familiarize myself with it... I have to say...
If you really want to appreciate what Ryzom offers all over again, spend a few months playing some of the derivative, unoriginal, uninspired, shallow and repetitive excuses for "MMOs" that other companies have been churning out over the past couple years. All the "me-too" wanna-be's fighting in their own "clone war" for the bigger piece of that pie called WoW.
I swear, it'll make you appreciate Ryzom - or any MMO that didn't pop out of that "me-too mold" - all the more.
That said, I've read that the new developers plan to make changes so the game will appeal to "as many people as possible" (to paraphrase). This statement worries me a bit... because there's no specifying just how they intend to do this - at least not that I've seen.
In other games, when the developers have made statements like that, saying they want to "make the game more accessible" and "easier for players to get into" or any other variation, it's usually meant that it was simplified to play more like WoW. The freedom of a skill-based system was replaced with pre-determined classes. Crafting systems were simplified to become almost mindless. Instead of players having to seek out NPCs for quests, etc, suddenly there were "!" and "?" over NPCs heads. Everything that made the games unique was sucked right out of them and they became nothing but yet another "me-too" copy of a dozen other MMOs already out there.
In all cases that I'm aware of, the results have never been what the developers had in mind. It didn't bring in many more new players. Those it did bring in saw it was nothing new or different from what they'd seen before, and left. And the real kick in the shin... it drove away loyal players they already had. In short, it back-fired.
So, I *hope* that's not what the new devs have in mind.
A great example, I think, of a MMO that's in the same category as Ryzom (sandbox, class-less, etc) that has done very well, is Eve Online.
CCP started "small", stayed focused, and have steadily developed a loyal following without ever compromising what the game is about. They seem to really value the loyal player base they have and I've heard them state that they have no intention of "painting it pink" (their words) or "dumbing it down" to attract more players. Instead they've worked at streamlining it for those who would play it anyway for what it is. And for sticking to their guns, and not hopping on the "me too" bandwagon, they've got 250k loyal players logging in.
It took them a few years to get where they are... but they've done it. And they've so without selling out or compromising their vision of what they want the game to be.
SE has done the same with FFXI. Just recently, they underscored that dedication by stating they wouldn't add teleports directly to certain locations because they want getting there to "require some effort by the players". That's noteworthy because to many in the MMO scene these days who want everything handed to them, something "requiring player effort" is like offering kryptonite to Superman. SE is well aware of this. However, they know the kind of experience they want FFXI to be and they value the loyal players they have, so they're not straying from their path. Again, there's a niche game whose developers have not and will not dumb the game down or make it easier just to get more players. SE's integrity and focus has been rewarded with ~500k players, year after year, who stick with the game for what it is.
If handled right, I see no reason why Ryzom can't do the same. It's had a really rough start and was, for all intents and purposes "dead" for a time. However, it's also been off people's radars for a while and there are many who haven't even heard of it. So, there's a whole new group of players who could be introduced to Ryzom for the first time... and I think the time is right because I'm seeing more and more people who are looking for something different and new, instead of the same old routine.
So anyway... I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here and some might be wondering where I get off coming here posting such things when I haven't been around the whole time. Well, I speak more as a fan of MMORPGs at large, but particularly those like Ryzom, or Eve or FFXI, or any other that doesn't "hand-hold", has depth and detail and requires the player to exercise their brains as much as their reflexes. In my opinion, this genre is stagnating in its own unoriginality, and needs another game like Ryzom.
So, I guess you could say I hope SW is intending to make the game more appealing to the kind of people who would play a game like Ryzom anyway, by making it more accessible, but without changing what makes it what it is.
Anyways... my umm... several cents :-p
Just dropping in to say hi and say that, man it's cool to see this game actually getting another go. That they're adding a subscription is, in my opinion, a good thing.
Some quick background... I first learned of SoR back well before it went into beta. I was taken by the style, the look and feel of the game. It was so "wierd" to me... in a good way.
The game came out and I had my retail boxed copy the first day I could. Opened my account, logged in and started playing.
Without going into too much detail, I've been back a few times in the years since and left for various reasons. Once was because of the over-the-top increase in difficulty of mobs after that first patch, and other times were for other reasons. I left the last time and thought it was the last time, since Ryzom went down for the first time not long after.
I kinda gave up following it at that point as, already having been through the death of two other MMOs I really enjoyed, Asheron's Call 2 and Matrix Online (well, MxO isn't "dead", technically.. but it may as well be; SOE's done almost nothing with it since they picked it up. But I digress...), and I didn't want to go through it again. I chalked Ryzom up as another truly original and great game that deserved to succeed, but didn't.
In the interim, I've jumped around to myriad other MMOs, mainly sticking to FFXI (my mainstay) but trying out others.
I just came back to Ryzom last night (welcomed with server down time lol... typical of my timing :-p )
After running around a bit, exploring the scenery again, doing a bit of fighting and harvesting, and experimenting with the stanza system to re-familiarize myself with it... I have to say...
If you really want to appreciate what Ryzom offers all over again, spend a few months playing some of the derivative, unoriginal, uninspired, shallow and repetitive excuses for "MMOs" that other companies have been churning out over the past couple years. All the "me-too" wanna-be's fighting in their own "clone war" for the bigger piece of that pie called WoW.
I swear, it'll make you appreciate Ryzom - or any MMO that didn't pop out of that "me-too mold" - all the more.
That said, I've read that the new developers plan to make changes so the game will appeal to "as many people as possible" (to paraphrase). This statement worries me a bit... because there's no specifying just how they intend to do this - at least not that I've seen.
In other games, when the developers have made statements like that, saying they want to "make the game more accessible" and "easier for players to get into" or any other variation, it's usually meant that it was simplified to play more like WoW. The freedom of a skill-based system was replaced with pre-determined classes. Crafting systems were simplified to become almost mindless. Instead of players having to seek out NPCs for quests, etc, suddenly there were "!" and "?" over NPCs heads. Everything that made the games unique was sucked right out of them and they became nothing but yet another "me-too" copy of a dozen other MMOs already out there.
In all cases that I'm aware of, the results have never been what the developers had in mind. It didn't bring in many more new players. Those it did bring in saw it was nothing new or different from what they'd seen before, and left. And the real kick in the shin... it drove away loyal players they already had. In short, it back-fired.
So, I *hope* that's not what the new devs have in mind.
A great example, I think, of a MMO that's in the same category as Ryzom (sandbox, class-less, etc) that has done very well, is Eve Online.
CCP started "small", stayed focused, and have steadily developed a loyal following without ever compromising what the game is about. They seem to really value the loyal player base they have and I've heard them state that they have no intention of "painting it pink" (their words) or "dumbing it down" to attract more players. Instead they've worked at streamlining it for those who would play it anyway for what it is. And for sticking to their guns, and not hopping on the "me too" bandwagon, they've got 250k loyal players logging in.
It took them a few years to get where they are... but they've done it. And they've so without selling out or compromising their vision of what they want the game to be.
SE has done the same with FFXI. Just recently, they underscored that dedication by stating they wouldn't add teleports directly to certain locations because they want getting there to "require some effort by the players". That's noteworthy because to many in the MMO scene these days who want everything handed to them, something "requiring player effort" is like offering kryptonite to Superman. SE is well aware of this. However, they know the kind of experience they want FFXI to be and they value the loyal players they have, so they're not straying from their path. Again, there's a niche game whose developers have not and will not dumb the game down or make it easier just to get more players. SE's integrity and focus has been rewarded with ~500k players, year after year, who stick with the game for what it is.
If handled right, I see no reason why Ryzom can't do the same. It's had a really rough start and was, for all intents and purposes "dead" for a time. However, it's also been off people's radars for a while and there are many who haven't even heard of it. So, there's a whole new group of players who could be introduced to Ryzom for the first time... and I think the time is right because I'm seeing more and more people who are looking for something different and new, instead of the same old routine.
So anyway... I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here and some might be wondering where I get off coming here posting such things when I haven't been around the whole time. Well, I speak more as a fan of MMORPGs at large, but particularly those like Ryzom, or Eve or FFXI, or any other that doesn't "hand-hold", has depth and detail and requires the player to exercise their brains as much as their reflexes. In my opinion, this genre is stagnating in its own unoriginality, and needs another game like Ryzom.
So, I guess you could say I hope SW is intending to make the game more appealing to the kind of people who would play a game like Ryzom anyway, by making it more accessible, but without changing what makes it what it is.
Anyways... my umm... several cents :-p
... But that would be a ways down the road anyway.
But we all know "Saga of Ryzom" was more descriptive of how the game was in its heyday and how it hopefully will be in the future.