My review of Ryzom.

[indyp]

I played Saga of Ryzom for three weeks, but I have cancelled my account. This post is partly to say why, partly to offer suggestions, and partly just a list of what I liked and didn't like about the game. I'm going to try to be as objective as possible, and only describe what the qualities were. For those of you considering the game, I have grouped the qualities into pros and cons--but that's my personal opinion. If you read this and see something in my 'Cons' section that you think is a 'Pro' (or vice versa), just mentally file it there for yourself. Just because I don't like something doesn't mean everyone else will hate it too. : )

Pros:

--Graphics: the game runs well and looks very nice. The ambiance of sounds are pretty good as well, and although there isn't any music in the game at this time, it has been promised for a later date, and I never listen to the music anyways after the first few days.

--Customer Service: Ok, SoR hit the jackpot here. In my dealings with the GMs, they were unfailingly patient and helpful. If they couldn't solve my problem, they said so, and referred me to someone who could. I've seen some good CS in my time for games, but none as good as here. The forums also have helpful moderators, and it's easy to find posts praising customer service.

--Skill Stanzas. Basically, stanzas allow you to tweak skills--all skills, any skills--to how you want them to be. Much better than other MMOG's, where if you cast a heal, you cast a heal. Done deal. In practice though, I found that there are only 2 or 3 useful enhancements per skill, and 1 or 2 useful penalties. (And see 'Combat' in the Cons section.) The Ryzom devs really need to expand this admittedly terrific concept to include more options. I'm sure if they posted a survey, players could come up with some good and viable ideas. Neat idea, but could have been better.

--Harvesting: You'll see this in the 'con' section below as well; here I'll just deal with what I liked about it. When I heard you could get hurt or even killed from harvesting, at first I didn't like the idea. After giving it a try though, I really like the way Ryzom implemented it. They included skills that can reduce the danger of harvesting--at the price of less materials harvested. This forces you to choose a balance between amount harvested and risk. And the skills are varied enough that you have a large number of options. Plus there's a not-too-small, not-too-large variety of materials, and each of those materials is also graded by quality. Neat concept, mixed execution.

--Crafting: Also a mixed execution. In the 'pro' section here, I like the depth they put into the items themselves: you can harvest materials with certain properties--and have those properties transfer to the items created. So you can max your armour for durability, lightness, dodge, parry, etc. Neat idea, but in practice currently everyone is just maxing one or two stats only (armour for either dodge or parry for example), or not bothering with stats at all. Good idea, but see Cons below.

Cons:

--Combat. Frankly, it sucks. It has potential, but at this time it's nothing more than a game of whack-a-mole. You select your primary attack method, doubleclick, and watch the battle. If a special attack you have lights up, you trigger it. There's absolutely no waiting for the best moment to use some critical skill. There *is* some variety when you group with other players, as to what skills you can use--but really, once you choose what your role is within a group, you're right back to whack-a-mole'ing the appropriate skills.

There is potential for improvement, though. One of my own ideas is to have the hit-location skills produce a different negative effect that offers tactical options. There's a bit of that already; strike certain places an a mob is slowed, or its dodge lowered, for example. But what if you struck the right shoulder and it became more vulnerable to offensive magic damage? Or magical debuffs? Or afraid? Etc etc. Not very logical or realistic--but brings in more tactics. And that's only one idea.

However, CoH has proven that whack-a-mole combat can still be popular with players, so this may not be a negative to others. If it's no big deal to you, ignore this whole section. For me, it was one of the biggest reasons to leave both games.

--Fleeing. Basically, if you've played EQ1, imagine the mobs *never* giving up once you are in combat with them just like in that game--and there are no zones to run to! This royally and utterly sucks--not because it makes the game harder, but because it removes yet another level of tactics from combat. Once you are fighting something, that's it. Don't even bother trying to run unless you're near a guard, because either you or your opponent *will* die. Period, end of story. You could run from one end of the world to the other, and the mobs *will* chase you, and *will* be faster than you (with very few exceptions), and *will* continue to attack you while doing so. This adds to the whack-a-mole combat style; at least in CoH you could run away if things went bad, so you'd be constantly monitoring a difficult battle, wondering if you should flee or risk sticking it out. In Ryzom, there's no choice. If you flee, you die (unless you reach a guard). May as well stick it out. Again, tactics? What tactics?

--Harvesting. This is probably the aspect of Ryzom I like the most--but there's one glaring flaw (for me) that detracts from it. That is that there is *no* way to determine where a resource is without prospecting for it and then (at the lower levels) harvesting. So at least in the beginning, you're stuck with running around prospecting and harvesting at random, or relying on other people to tell you what they found when *they* did that before you. And the in-game map has a very limited number of markers, so you're left with writing down landmarks, using triangulation, or memorization. There was talk of some sort of object on the landscape denoting a resource, but I never learned the skill, perhaps because all I played was Matis. And even if you do learn the skill, all it tells you is that *something* is there, not *what* is there. There are seeking skills that help you find certain items, and this might help alleviate the problem--but they have a limited range, and apparently they currently don't work, or at the least are like an old car, in that they need a 'certain touch' to work properly. This is a big turnoff for me--but may not for some, and admittedly could be fixed in a limited manner later on.

--Crafting. It's a case of 'narrow and deep'. The *only* things you can craft in the game are weapons and armour (including jewelry). Period. That's it. There isn't even eye-candy clothing. There certainly isn't any potions, unique items, construction, etc etc, nor is there any intention to ever add them. Basically, what they did was done reasonably well, but I want more breadth.

--Bugs and general state of the game. There are a *lot* of bugs in the game at the moment. Let me hastily add that few of these bugs are game-breaking, and the devs have already squashed most (*not* all) of the worst of them--and from what I can see, they're generally showing good judgement in how they handle the bugs: get rid of the worst of them, or the easiest to fix, first. But the statement that comes up again and again in reviews of the game is that it has an unfinished feel; I'd have to agree. It was released too soon. (Yeah yeah, so have 3281947132 other MMOG's, shut your trap, it'll get better, be patient... But the fact is, *at this time*, the game seems to be...incomplete.) Time will tell on this one, but if you want a smooth-running game with all the features already there, this isn't the game for you.

--Game imbalance. Primarily, this refers to ranged weapons. They are a total and utter joke, with *ZERO* word from the devs as to if or when they will be fixed. I don't need to go into details; a quick search would tell you all you need to know. But if you are primarily a ranged player, AVOID THIS GAME LIKE THE PLAGUE! Just don't touch it. There are other, minor issues of game balance, but really aside from ranged weapons, I haven't found anything too extreme. This would, in fact, probably be a 'pro' if it weren't for the ranged weapons fiasco.

So, this is my review of Ryzom. I probably forgot some points, and some people will disagree with me of course. I'm moving on, unfortunately--I would have loved this to be my new home--but many are staying. I wish you the best of luck. And above all:

Have fun!

--IndyPendant

Edit: also posting this in General for prospective players. This was my home tho, so I thought I'd post it here. : )

[mikwana]

Doubtfull that you are going to read this, but even afer only 3 weeks of playing, you are barely scratching the surface of the game. Good luck in whatever you are going to, but I'd love a single example of a MMO (note, none of them so far is quite what I'd term an RPG, though Ryzom is getting close), that isn't 'whack-a-mole'.

[korin77]

I read up to the part where you said you were leaving. Thats about it. I have no wish to read anything someone says who is leaving. Since you are no longer going to contribute to the game I really don't care what you say afterwards. There is no point. They are going to eventually fix everything, they always do. Anything you say isn't going to change anything at all.

[lyrah68]

If you had read the forums, especially ALL the player made guides...you would KNOW that there are ways to find a harvesting node without GUESSING. In newbie lands at least, which is about ALL you are going to get to in three weeks, Trykers have "jellyfish" looking spots on the ground, Fyros get the "pebbles" or "freckles" and Matis get the Red Elm leaves not sure about the Zorai, but...if the other three have a "tell" then I DOUBT the Zorai were left high and dry.

And YES, the game is NEW...it isn't finished. If you want finished...may I suggest a Console OFF line game for you, or a PC OFFLINE game. Online games are KNOWN for evolving over time. Is EQ the same as it was when it came out? Heck no (and YES it still has some four or FIVE YEAR old bugs that will get you killed, throw your corpse into an area you either can't get to or among hostile guards. And YES the devs in EQ KNOW about...but can't fix them, or won't).

This game ADMITTEDLY has a HIGH learning curve, which I am glad for. It keeps the Ubber leet dewds OUT of this game, and tend to limit the selfish JERKS that plagued EQ to NO end at a minimum.

I have grouped and soloed, I have crafted and foraged. And YES soloing is basically wack a mole, but grouping most assuredly is NOT. Where do we pull to? Do we try for two at once or just one at a time? Who is the better healer? Who is the main tank, and who needs better armor and should NOT taunt? just a few of the questions you have to ask in a group. Well at least a pick up group. If you get into a guild group or a group that you know and level MOST of the time with...those questions get asked and then you don't really need to ask all of them again.

I appreciate that this is YOUR opinion...sorry you didn't like the game. I am sure WOW will either please or make you barf. Have fun *wave bye*

[elfmatic]

Combat -- what currently available game has a more enjoyable combat system and how do they achieve it?

Fleeing -- I like not being able to burst run, or SoW run, or what have you. The very real mortality makes it exciting, and makes experience with a region worthwhile.

Harvesting -- There is a lot too harvesting, I just think you haven't explored it enough yet. Even still it's being seriously looked at and some big changes are coming in patch 1.

Crafting -- There is so many IMPORTANT things to craft, and they take so many mats and time why bother with the other crap now? SWG went overboard with that, and 'potions' are actually SAP crystals made my mages. If you really like intensely overdone crafting try SWG, there is PLENTY in that game.

Bugs -- WAY better than SWG, no worse than the EQ launch. Period. If you refute that you're delusional.

Game Imbalance -- The problems with ranged combat alone do not constitute an overl problem with game balance. Now everyone I know who's tried ranged has griped so I'm sure there are problems with it. I personally think that it's a skill that is very difficult in the beginning but has a big payoff in the end, but that's just my opinion and has no basis of fact. Either way, a problem with ONE specialized skill does not equate to a game wide imbalance problem.

~Elf

[tayster]

Sound like you got to lvl 30 in some skills and said "screw it".

[swayzo]

UUHMM DUH DUH DUH use speed burst. To get away from a mob after your whole group is dead though.

[kamagi]

The original poster seems pretty well on the mark to me.
I can't see why you all disagreed with him so much.
I am still playing the game but I call an ace an ace and a spade a spade.
More feedback from developers is critical for the well-being of the game atm.
Nevrax can not afford to keep the playerbase in the dark in regards to things like ranged combat plans etc etc, not with so many great MMORPG's coming out very soon.

[kamagi]

hehe I remember when I was in the starter island once I was travelling from one town to another and had attracted the attention of a few dogs.
I had no problems with them because they couldnt do much damage to me but the funny thing was I logged out when I got inside the town I had been running to because I was busy in RL.
When I logged back in maybe 20mins later one of the dogs turned up in town and started nipping me - it got destroyed quite quickly by guards.
The funny thing is tho that mobs on Ryzom dont even stop chasing when you log out

[mosdef]

Doubtfull that you are going to read this, but even afer only 3 weeks of playing, you are barely scratching the surface of the game. Good luck in whatever you are going to, but I'd love a single example of a MMO (note, none of them so far is quite what I'd term an RPG, though Ryzom is getting close), that isn't 'whack-a-mole'.

after 3 weeks enough of the surface has been scratched to make the decision on whether to stay with or leave the game. if it can't capture you by the first month, it may never have another chance to do so espcially b/c there are tons of other games to play.

btw, why is it never stated "3 weeks isn't enough time to claim you love the game" ?