A Subscriber's Look on Ryzom
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:29 pm
Hello everyone,
Just wanted to give those who are thinking about buying the game a little info about Ryzom and also an opinion from one of its subscribers.
I have been involved in The Saga of Ryzom since the open beta in August. That may not be as long as some other players, but I feel it's long enough to qualify me to give a reasonable opinion on the game.
The Saga of Ryzom is a fantasy/sci-fi MMO in which you choose from 4 races to play in order to defend you and your civilzation from the recently unearthed Kitin. Many of you may have seen the movie "Starship Troopers" and the in-game enemy can be closely associated with the insect-like aliens who swarm in and attack the human troops.
The Saga of Ryzom, to me, is a completely unique experience and a unique game that really seperates itself from other MMO's like Everquest, Lineage 2, and other games made by larger corporations. For one, Nevrax is a fairly new, independently run studio. From this it can be said that the company does not have the same budget as other companies like SOE or NCsoft. The beauty of this game is that Nevrax took what little money they had to work with and made a game that is as good as, if not better, than any other big co. game on the market.
Nevrax being an independent studio, has some important benefits. One is that Nevrax isn't pressured by a parent company with extremely tight deadlines and/or quotas. They aren't rushed and therefore the product they deliver is stable and consistent. Expect a patch with bug fixes and other various, smaller features every week or so. "Patch 1" is due out any day now and can be closely related to the "Free Expansions" NCsoft puts out for CoH and L2 every few months. This provides newer, bigger, and more important content. Since Nevrax isn't rushed to push out large amounts of content in small amounts of time, they can balance their concentration on producing new content AND fixing past boo-boos to the code, something which companies like SOE and Lineage 2's NCsoft has not done (Cryptic develops CoH, not NCsoft).
Now just because Nevrax isn't rushed doesn't mean they're slow to get new material out. They aren't. The employees seem to be less interested in making as much money as possible in the shortest period of time *cough* SOE *cough* and more interested in providing a good gaming experience for its customers. They are timely and efficient.
One of the greatest aspects to come out of this game is the extreme amount of attention the developers and customer service representatives give to their players, you know, the customers that pay them to? The developers acknowledge players' suggestions and have a lot of times used them. Your opinion will not go unheard given that it has a constructive and maturely presented reason.
Customer Service is above and beyond any MMO and that is saying a lot since I have witnessed some great CS from games like City of Heroes.
Now about the game:
Like I said before, Ryzom produces an MMO that is truly unique. It is different than most other MMO's out there. With that being said, not all players will fit in with the game's style. If you're looking for an excellent gameplay experience with vibrant graphics, a lush, living, breathing world, and a lot of features that break the mold of other kill-loot-level MMO's, than this game is for you. If you're less interested about the gameplay and more about the hardcore "elitism", you'll find a lot of things you like here, but you may become frustrated with some other things. That shouldn't scare you away though because each player is different and therefore have their own opinions about the game.
The skill system is broken into 4 sections (Fight, Magic, Craft, Harvest) which later breaks into several other different sections as you progress. This provides each player a chance to be completely different than other players in the world and it rids of the "cookie-cutter" feeling. In simpler terms, Ryzom takes what Star Wars Galaxies did wrong, and made it right, and then added on a whole lot more depth and reason. As you progess, you gain Skill Points in which you can use to earn better stats and better stanzas (actions specialized to your skill). You can combine these actions into your own custom made actions which provide for a deeper gameplay.
The enemies adapt to its environment, so if you leave an area untouched, certain types of enemies will swamp that area and take it over for themselves. There are also raids in which a certain type of mob attacks a Homin city en masse. Fame also plays a semi-important role in the game as it will later be the deciding factor in the story to come in future patches.
If you do decide to pick up Ryzom, I seriously suggest you find a good guild because, like most other MMO's, it makes the game twice better. It's more-so the case in this game as your guildmates can help you out by providing you with materials for crafting and/or fitting you with weapons and armor. Of course, always remember to return the favor (you little mooch you!).
My last thought will have to be on Ryzom's player community. It's extremely friendly. Most people who play this game are mature and polite and will not hesitate to lend you a hand with any problems or questions you have. This is especially true if you're apart of a guild. Do't be afraid to ask questions or even ask for help. The community is a tight knit group of people and you will quickly become familiar with most of the players in game.
Best of luck to all!
Just wanted to give those who are thinking about buying the game a little info about Ryzom and also an opinion from one of its subscribers.
I have been involved in The Saga of Ryzom since the open beta in August. That may not be as long as some other players, but I feel it's long enough to qualify me to give a reasonable opinion on the game.
The Saga of Ryzom is a fantasy/sci-fi MMO in which you choose from 4 races to play in order to defend you and your civilzation from the recently unearthed Kitin. Many of you may have seen the movie "Starship Troopers" and the in-game enemy can be closely associated with the insect-like aliens who swarm in and attack the human troops.
The Saga of Ryzom, to me, is a completely unique experience and a unique game that really seperates itself from other MMO's like Everquest, Lineage 2, and other games made by larger corporations. For one, Nevrax is a fairly new, independently run studio. From this it can be said that the company does not have the same budget as other companies like SOE or NCsoft. The beauty of this game is that Nevrax took what little money they had to work with and made a game that is as good as, if not better, than any other big co. game on the market.
Nevrax being an independent studio, has some important benefits. One is that Nevrax isn't pressured by a parent company with extremely tight deadlines and/or quotas. They aren't rushed and therefore the product they deliver is stable and consistent. Expect a patch with bug fixes and other various, smaller features every week or so. "Patch 1" is due out any day now and can be closely related to the "Free Expansions" NCsoft puts out for CoH and L2 every few months. This provides newer, bigger, and more important content. Since Nevrax isn't rushed to push out large amounts of content in small amounts of time, they can balance their concentration on producing new content AND fixing past boo-boos to the code, something which companies like SOE and Lineage 2's NCsoft has not done (Cryptic develops CoH, not NCsoft).
Now just because Nevrax isn't rushed doesn't mean they're slow to get new material out. They aren't. The employees seem to be less interested in making as much money as possible in the shortest period of time *cough* SOE *cough* and more interested in providing a good gaming experience for its customers. They are timely and efficient.
One of the greatest aspects to come out of this game is the extreme amount of attention the developers and customer service representatives give to their players, you know, the customers that pay them to? The developers acknowledge players' suggestions and have a lot of times used them. Your opinion will not go unheard given that it has a constructive and maturely presented reason.
Customer Service is above and beyond any MMO and that is saying a lot since I have witnessed some great CS from games like City of Heroes.
Now about the game:
Like I said before, Ryzom produces an MMO that is truly unique. It is different than most other MMO's out there. With that being said, not all players will fit in with the game's style. If you're looking for an excellent gameplay experience with vibrant graphics, a lush, living, breathing world, and a lot of features that break the mold of other kill-loot-level MMO's, than this game is for you. If you're less interested about the gameplay and more about the hardcore "elitism", you'll find a lot of things you like here, but you may become frustrated with some other things. That shouldn't scare you away though because each player is different and therefore have their own opinions about the game.
The skill system is broken into 4 sections (Fight, Magic, Craft, Harvest) which later breaks into several other different sections as you progress. This provides each player a chance to be completely different than other players in the world and it rids of the "cookie-cutter" feeling. In simpler terms, Ryzom takes what Star Wars Galaxies did wrong, and made it right, and then added on a whole lot more depth and reason. As you progess, you gain Skill Points in which you can use to earn better stats and better stanzas (actions specialized to your skill). You can combine these actions into your own custom made actions which provide for a deeper gameplay.
The enemies adapt to its environment, so if you leave an area untouched, certain types of enemies will swamp that area and take it over for themselves. There are also raids in which a certain type of mob attacks a Homin city en masse. Fame also plays a semi-important role in the game as it will later be the deciding factor in the story to come in future patches.
If you do decide to pick up Ryzom, I seriously suggest you find a good guild because, like most other MMO's, it makes the game twice better. It's more-so the case in this game as your guildmates can help you out by providing you with materials for crafting and/or fitting you with weapons and armor. Of course, always remember to return the favor (you little mooch you!).
My last thought will have to be on Ryzom's player community. It's extremely friendly. Most people who play this game are mature and polite and will not hesitate to lend you a hand with any problems or questions you have. This is especially true if you're apart of a guild. Do't be afraid to ask questions or even ask for help. The community is a tight knit group of people and you will quickly become familiar with most of the players in game.
Best of luck to all!
Gives you a kind of walkthrough.