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Rise and Shiny revisit: Dark Age of Camelot
About once a year I like to take a look back at Dark Age of Camelot, the classic PvP MMO by Mythic Entertainment, just to reassure myself that older MMOs are still some of the best around. Dark Age of Camelot comes from that older crop of titles like Asheron's Call and EverQuest, games that still shine despite their age. Of course the next logical question is, "If these games are still so good, why aren't more of us still playing them?" There's an easy answer, really. First of all, we don't spend time sitting around listening to our favorite albums or watching our favorite movies constantly, but we still appreciate them, possibly more than we did when we first found them. Next, all games are finite for us as individuals. There is no MMO that offers endless content if we take away the endless player-made content that comes from roleplay or exploration. No matter how good a game like Dark Age of Camelot was and still is, many of us have already experienced it quite a bit. It's only human to become slightly bored with something we've played with time and again. But once again, I've spent a week in a game that shows it's always a good thing to check back on our favorites. They just might surprise you all over again.
Rise and Shiny: Mortal Online
There are so many issues and subjects to cover this week, thanks to the limited time I spent in Mortal Online, a free-for-all PvP sandbox by Star Vault. I've played my share of MMOs that are similar to Mortal Online, games like EVE Online, Darkfall, Ultima Online, Wurm Online, Salem, and others. Essentially the idea is to set players loose in a massive, open world that is closer to "realistic" than standard themepark MMOs. Players might spend time farming or fishing or hunting down other players or mobs. It's generally a good idea to prepare yourself for a lot of running around, hiding, and slowly figuring out what to do when playing a FFA PvP sandbox. Games like Mortal Online provoke questions like "Why is nudity an option at all?" and "Why is there stamina (and other realistic features) alongside magic and no permanent death?" I've learned to forget those questions and just take each specific FFA MMO as it is. Mortal Online stands alone in many ways. Unfortunately, being known as a buggy mess is one of those. I've played many buggy MMOs in my time but have enjoyed myself immensely in some of them (remember, I hosted an early Vanguard: Saga of Heroes podcast!), so I wasn't scared of jumping into an MMO that was supposed to be rough to say the least. What did I find? Well, I found a ton -- and I mean a ton -- of bugs. But I also found a pretty cool community (yes, I just said that) and some grand adventure. Let me break it down. %Gallery-167722%
Rise and Shiny revisit: Ultima Online
What can I say about Ultima Online that hasn't been said before? This week, the grandparent of MMOs turns 15 years old. In MMO terms, that's a long, long time. In fact, Ultima Online is the measuring stick for resilience. Think about it: Does any of us believe that many modern MMOs will last even half that long? While it's very possible, it's also very hard to imagine. For many different reasons, Ultima Online still maintains a playerbase, continues to be developed, and even attracts new players. It also runs on a subscription model and will likely continue to do so. If you read the transcript of my recent livestream with the UO devs that was so generously typed out by Ultima Codex, you know that I asked about a free-to-play or freemium Ultima Online and received this as an answer: Actually, there's no use to do free-to-play. We have a good number of key players. So, at this time it's not really something we're looking at doing. That was Producer Bonnie Armstrong. Oddly, I received some form of the free-to-play question from people who are not playing the game currently. The players inside the world seem just fine with the payment model. Has this old-school approach helped the game last this long? I'm not sure, but during this annual return to Britannia, I found the same great game I do every time I visit.
Rise and Shiny: IMVU
I can see now what many of you might say about IMVU, especially after watching the embedded video. I know that many players will find the game, the world, and the virtual social connection nothing but an excuse for strangers to get together to talk dirty. As soon as I saw the game, I knew that it was trying to cover a few different bases, but I never worried about the appearance of virtual sex or sleazy creeps. Remember, I've been playing Second Life since 2004, and even that world is horribly misrepresented when someone says it's "nothing but virtual sex." That's simply not true. IMVU is a much more stripped-down social experience than Second Life, but it still holds its own. I actually found myself enjoying the heck out of certain aspects probably because I like a game to actually work as promised. IMVU runs in a browser-like environment but still looks respectable most of the time. I am as surprised as anyone that I had a darn good time.
Rise and Shiny: There
I remember years ago staying up very late, usually on the weekends, chatting about politics or religion in a wonderful social MMO called There. My wife and I would join a bunch of online friends to haunt parties and other gatherings, often getting booted out because we would bring up sensitive topics or would act too silly. There was a great world to cut my social MMO teeth on. I had already been playing Ultima Online and EverQuest starting around '99, but There was a brand-new experience. I loved it. Social MMOs are a rare thing, often ruled by half-naked people and driven by mature themes. While There did have its "private parties" (if you know what I mean), it was generally a friendly place with a better creeps-to-normal-people ratio than other social MMOs. The game shut down in 2010, and I honestly thought it was gone forever. Somehow I missed the fact that it relaunched not so long ago, and this past week I was able to not only log in to the game but resurrect my avatar from all those years ago. Unfortunately, the game seems largely empty, but I do normally visit MMOs during the day. Still, I took a few screenshots and compared them to older ones just to show how things have changed. What a week. What a nostalgic, wonderful week.
Rise and Shiny: Knight Age
Knight Age is an adorable new Anime MMO brought to us by Joymax. I want to emphasize the word adorable because the game is perfectly designed to illicit a reaction that is something along the lines of "Awww, look how cute that is! My head is explo.." and it really does have that effect. In fact I love the graphics of Knight Age so much that I would give anything to see an MMO developed that looks like Knight Age yet has the hardcore ruleset of, say, a Wurm Online or Darkfall. Yes, I am entirely serious. Strange how many players tend to think that "serious" or "hardcore" titles need serious or machine-taxing graphics. That's simply not true; just ask a World of Warcraft raider. The point is that the graphics of Knight Age are one of my favorite things in the entire universe. The characters are chunky and solid, the animations are smooth, and the game runs like butter. Does this mean I do not like more realistic graphics? No, it means that I like all sorts of graphics and all sorts of gameplay. It's possible for a writer to enjoy different things. I know, crazy huh? But what does Knight Age offer other than amazingly awww-rific graphics? Some interesting gameplay, that's what, and a soft grind. Allow me to explain.
Rise and Shiny revisit: Order and Chaos Online
It's been over a year since I last officially looked at Order and Chaos Online. The funny thing is that when I reread my older article, I immediately notice how my experience has not really altered since then. I pretty much had the exact play experience. What has changed is my appreciation for much of what the game does. I am still impressed by certain parts and quite bored by others, but overall the presentation is where the mobile title shines. There have been a few developments over the last year but not many. One of the biggest was the addition of mounts. I checked them out and basically spent my time between the two servers: one for Android players and another for iOS. I even struggled with streaming the game from my iPad!
Rise and Shiny: Vendetta Online
For the record, Vendetta Online has been in development since 1998 and launched an alpha in 2002. EVE Online was released in North America in 2003. So although it might be too close to call or lost in the foggy details of gamer's memories, it's safe to say that EVE Online did not invent space, spaceships, speedy space travel, trading, or ship-to-ship combat. Still, feel free to post fill the comment section with "EVE-clone," a common phrase that pops up whenever Vendetta Online is mentioned or shown. Now that we have that out of the way, what is Vendetta Online? It's a multi-platform, twitch-based, science-fiction universe that offers free-form travel and character development. At least that's what I have read. So far in my time with the game, I have experienced only a smattering of what it seems to offer. I've traveled a lot, gunned down a few enemies, and read a lot of text. While I know I have touched but the tip of the iceberg, I still had fun this week. And yes, I pretended to "fly" my spacecraft by running through the house while playing on my Nexus 7 tablet. And yes, I provided the WOOSH and BRAKKA BRAKKA sounds myself. (That's how you know it's space.)
Rise and Shiny: Darkblood Online
If you are a fan of action-based MMOs like Rusty Hearts and Dungeon Fighter Online, then you might want to check out Outspark's new title Darkblood Online. Not only does it hand out the same bang for the buck, but it does so with a unique and flashy style that I haven't seen before. I spent the last week chopping up monsters, shooting demons, and conquering dungeons. I saw some of the weaknesses of the title as well, but overall it possesses an honesty about its intentions that helps to keep the good times rolling. There is definitely a persistent nature to the game. It's an MMORPG, so don't worry. It's not a MOBA or social game with multiplayer elements even though a player could spend much of her time soloing areas. The whole thing is balanced between an arcade grinder and a living world. But I'll try to not get ahead of myself.
Rise and Shiny revisit: Allods Online
Before I get into the details of my week revisiting Allods Online, the "controversial" MMO published by gPotato, I'd like to say that I am fully aware of its less-than-stellar launch. I'd go so far to say that I have heard a lifetime's worth of theories and discussions over the overpriced cash shop and odd death mechanic. I saw the players who worshipped the game during the beta and later screamed about the fact that someone had to pay for the game. I have my own theories, mainly one that says many Western MMO players' first experience with a free-to-play MMO was Allods Online. These players were not used to cash shops and scoffed at for paying something that was previously free in beta. The cash-shop prices were too high. We know this. The developers and publishers both talked about it and continue to do so when asked. The death mechanic was over the top, and players could literally spend thousands of dollars on the game. This is all known; I have heard about it from the publishers' mouths myself. So here we are. The game has been tweaked and patched. The prices were adjusted; the silliest of the death mechanics have been removed. Players can still spend thousands on the game, but those same players can spend thousands in any number of MMOs. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, allow me to tell you what I thought about the gameplay during my revisitation.
Rise and Shiny revisit: Face of Mankind
It's hard to believe, but the last time I took a good look at MMOFPS Face of Mankind was almost a year ago! I've been wanting to go back and look at a lot of the games I've covered in past Rise and Shiny columns, but I was shocked to see that many of them have been shut down. Face of Mankind, however, is still chugging along, and a recent spate of PR emails and developer shout-outs had me intrigued. Let this be a lesson for any indie developers who are reading this: Reach out to the press. Even in all of my searching, I still miss updates and game changes. So have things changed much since I last visited? I can't say for sure, being that the last time was sort of a blur of gripey FPSers who did little more than yell at me and shoot me in the face. I had fun with some of it back then, according to the article, but I'll be honest and say that I did not expect to have as much fun as I did in this third visit. If there was ever a doubt about the importance of revisiting titles from the past, it's long gone.
Rise and Shiny: Family Guy Online
Let me just say this, right off the bat: I cannot stand the Family Guy television series. I know, I know, it's full of shocking, edgy humor and wacky character like the elderly child molester and the sex-crazed neighbor, so why shouldn't I love it? But I've seen the style of humor many times, and it's always, well, non-funny. I've said this before and I still mean it: Seth MacFarlane is this generation's Adam Sandler. They both do one voice and have made millions of dollars from it. So when I decided to see whether Family Guy Online is a real MMO or just a vehicle for the new movie The Watch, (it's plastered throughout much of the game), I was ready for plenty of potty humor, jokes that tried to offend me, and essentially a horrible time. Oh, I found the horrible time easily enough (and forgave much of it because of the game's beta state), but I also found some pretty cool gameplay. Some, I said.
Rise and Shiny: Dragon Eternity
I have a fondness for War of Dragons, a sort of two-dimensional action-based MMO from Mail.Ru. When I looked at the game before, I enjoyed the design elements and artwork more than anything, but the grindy nature of the game basically turned me off. Still, there's something cool about a semi-graphical MMO that runs in a browser. So when I took a second, deeper look at Dragon Eternity, an MMO that resembles War of Dragons in many ways, I expected about the same outcome. I came out of this week with a bit more of an appreciation for both games mainly because I was able to see Dragon Eternity as what it is: a simple game that can become more complex with time. It's not exactly a "fun" game, but it's different.
Rise and Shiny revisit: Uncharted Waters Online
It's been a year and a half since I last looked at Uncharted Waters Online, a nautical adventure MMO that will probably remind many of you of EVE Online or Pirates of the Burning Sea. I was excited to see how things have changed, but the gulf of time between the last time I really dived into the game and now has made it so that I've forgotten a lot about my initial experience. Chalk it up to growing older, I guess. Luckily, the game is still as fun as it ever was. It seems, on the surface, pretty simple and straightforward. Its Anime characters and simple yet effective, graphics might give players the feeling that they are embarking on adventures that only younger players would enjoy, but the true depth of the game emerges soon after you begin. This game is complex. It's not impossible to figure out, but it was nearly impossible for me to revisit in just a week's time all of the old stuff I remember and the new stuff that has been added to the game since my first voyage.
Rise and Shiny: Aardwolf MUD
This week I dove into yet another MUD in the hopes of finding even better gameplay than I found in titles like Gemstone IV and Threshold RPG. It's a bit of a daring attempt for me, especially considering that I often suffer from migraines when I have to concentrate on text on my monitor so much. Funny enough, when I get a MUD client set up just how I want, I have no issues and can play for a few hours at a time. MUDs are relaxing much of the time and don't feel as rushed as standard MMOs do. That relaxation must help with the migraines! At first, I was bit hesitant in saying Aardwulf MUD is akin to the titles I have covered in the past. Something about the site, and the fact that the game did not force roleplay, turned me off, and I was determined to find it lacking. Luckily, I was proven wrong and even suckered fellow Massivelyite (Massivelyian?) Jeremy Stratton into the game; he's contributed a few of his thoughts today too.
Rise and Shiny: Divina
Ah, another week; another Anime-inspired free-to-play game, right? Well, not so fast. I've become pretty dismissive lately in my minimalist-gamer haze, but games like Divina, the title I looked at over the past week, are some of the only titles that are quite reliable. Sure, there are hundreds of these games now and hundreds more coming soon. It's important to take each one individually, just as I would any title, and judge it on its own (mostly) unique parameters. In other words, sure it looks similar to other games I've seen before and plays like a lot of other games I've seen before, but it's a free game with a cash shop on top, a reliable formula especially in this day and age of complicated tiered programs and "semi" subscription games. Also, games like Divina can be plain fun -- and fun to look at. Of course, I'm simplifying, so allow me to tell you about my week and you can judge for yourself.
Rise and Shiny: Tynon
Ah, social gaming. Some call it Facebook gaming or even casual gaming. Honestly, I don't like any of those terms, at least not most of the time, simply because there is so much variety and so many different player types when it comes to these games that no one term can cover them all. This week I am covering a casual -- er, social -- game. I was told that there are MMOesque mechanics in the game, and there are, but Tynon is not an MMO. Forgive me; call it my contribution to Not So Massively. Instead of debating the good and bad of the social, Facebook, or casual market, I would rather take the neat parts of Tynon and explain how MMOs might benefit from them. It's important to note that my playtime was a press-only beta of sorts, so the cash was flowing and I grew rather fast, without really noting much about how I grew. Either way, let's get to it.
Rise and Shiny: Illarion
If your plan in life is partially to cover indie MMOs, a niche within a niche, you're bound to come up with some odd games once in a while. You're also bound to come up with boring, bland, bad, horrible, incomplete, waste-of-time, hideous, and of course, amazing games. I went back to my recently thrown-out roots and grabbed a game at random for this week's column: Illarion. Did I find a bad game or an incomplete game? A bit of both, but the game and its creators deserve an explanation. Making MMOs is hard. We all know this, or at least we should. If you don't, and if you are one of those players who get upset every time their favorite free-to-play title asks them to spend five dollars (usually every six months or so), then you really need to understand that making MMOs is hard. I understand this, but I still have to cover games honestly. So let me first say that what I found in Illarion was honestly confusing.
Rise and Shiny: Doctor Who: Worlds in Time
Somehow, a new title by Three Rings, the maker of some of my favorite MMOs like Puzzle Pirates and Spiral Knights, slipped through the cracks. I pride myself on knowing about every new MMO that is coming out, even if I don't play them much. For some reason, though, Doctor Who: Worlds in Time slipped under my radar. Hey, nobody's perfect. Needless to say I was excited to check out the title even though I'm not a fan of the current Doctor. (Tom Baker fan, all the way. After that they all seemed too goofy. The theme song is still the coolest ones in sci-fi, though.) Doctor Who is like prog rock: tolerable only in small amounts, unless it's Rush. Once I logged in, I found a clever little game that utilizes many of the same mechanics of Puzzle Pirates and Spiral Knights. It's got familiar, puzzle-based, real-time group gameplay that I wish other games would implement. Star Trek Online could solve its ridiculous problem of having only single-player ships by giving players unique "jobs." Those crew members could sit at individual stations and solve puzzle in real time to help do their part. It works in Puzzle Pirates beautifully. Doctor Who: Worlds in Time uses the same instant group mechanic that Spiral Knights does, but it has other problems. In the end, I was a bit confused and often bored by the title.
Rise and Shiny: The Pride of Taern
I have to be honest. Well, you should hope I would have to be honest each week, but let's just say that I often need to cull the many thoughts I have about some of the games I find, simply for sake of space. I try to avoid using too many general terms or categories about MMO gaming because there are always exceptions to every rule. In this case, however, I have to be very general. There is a certain subsection of MMOs that seem to come from some foreign land; they have an odd name, possibly host broken-English text on their websites (loose instead of lose is one of the earmarks), and are hard to figure out. I'm possibly the most open-minded and schooled dude you could meet when it comes to MMOs. I'm proud of that, but when I see one of these odd ducks, I cringe. I know I'm in for a week of suffering through bugs, figuring out the very basics of the game, and trying to find an ounce of fun to report on. Also (and this is the bad part), they always seem to come from places that are blond and cold. Like Norway. Or Sweden. You know, the places really great, dark death metal comes from. It turns out this game is from Poland, but that's still very cool. So when I found The Pride of Taern, I thought I was in for another week of busted English, horrible gameplay, and not an ounce of fun. At this point, however, I've had a freaking blast.
