Ryzom
Latest
One Shots: Happy 5th anniversary, Ryzom!
While we work very hard to bring you tons of excellent daily MMO coverage, occasionally something will slip by that we don't catch in time. Thankfully we have some truly excellent readers who send us tips - or occasionally will drop us a screenshot from a celebration! Take, for example, this great image captured by our friend Petter Mårtensson, who writes over on Gamereactor Sweden and is a huge fan of Ryzom. Here's his note: I thought I'd share this lovely picture from the 5th anniversary event which took place in Ryzom [yesterday]. The GMs set up a race in the Zora jungles, but gave it a bit of a twist and shrunk all our Mektoub mounts. (You can see some ordinary sized mounts loitering in the background.) It felt quite silly to race through the jungle on a mount almost smaller than yourself, but it was a lot of fun. The event ended with some giant monster slaying and a party in a secret oasis which normally isn't available to players. Everyone there had a wonderful evening, celebrating the birthday of a great and very different MMO!If you know a game we don't get to look at often - or happen to catch a celebration - we'd love to see some screenshots from it. Just email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick blurb about what's going on. We'll post it out here and give you the love for sending it in. %Gallery-9798%
Code something for Ryzom's new API, win cash!
If you're bored, have some free time, and enjoy coding programs then do we have the contest for you! The team over at Ryzom have put together a brand new API for their game, and they're celebrating its launch with a contest for budding developers! Even better, the prizes are all monetary!What the Ryzom team is looking for is people who can utilize their new API for whatever gadgets, tools, or websites they can dream up. The winning use of the API will be the one that displays innovation, usefulness, ease-of-use, multilingual support, validity and completeness, and optimized coding. Popularity, stability, and availability will be taken into consideration as well with all coding entries.The winning entry will receive 3,000 euros (approximately 4,200 US dollars), second place will receive 1,000 euros (1,400 US dollars), and third place will be netting 500 euros (700 US dollars.)So what are you waiting for? Get coding![Thanks, J3kyll!]
One Shots: Hey guys, over here!
One of the things we really like to do with One Shots is to show off worlds that we don't get to look into very often. Take, for example, today's interesting screenshot from Ryzom that was sent in to us by Prisemy. It's certainly a surprisingly good-looking game for having initially been released in 2004! With a few of his own thoughts, here's what Prisemy had to say. I decided to give Ryzom a try after reading on Massively about the new update and whatnot. I have to say this is the most gorgeous MMO that nobody is playing. These Kami look as perplexed as I feel as I head off newbie island for the mainland. Where is everyone?! Don't they know there is a free trial?If you're playing in a small game that you feel is really underrated by the general MMO populace, why not find a great screenshot of the game and email it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Add your name, the name of the game, and a brief description - links to trials are handy too! We'll post it out here and who knows - you may interest people in coming by to check your favorite game out!%Gallery-9798%
Ryzom's patch 1.5 also brings a brand new roleplaying website
Roleplaying is on most MMORPGs, but it can be hard to find. Sometimes the greater roleplaying community all flocks to one server, leaving you in the dust if you happen to make a character on another server without knowing it. Sometimes they're spread across all servers, only holding events at times you can't make because of your schedule. And still other times there are just very few roleplayers in a game, and that's how it is.Well if you were looking for roleplay, look no further than Ryzom. Accompanying patch 1.5 is a brand new area of Ryzom's website -- a whole site dedicated to the roleplaying community. Roleplaying is pretty big business in Ryzom, so it serves the company well to create a whole series of tools aimed directly at roleplayers.The big part of this announcement is the integration of the animation team with the roleplaying website. The community will be able to work hand in hand with the animators to aid their events and create things that the roleplaying community desires.To celebrate the launch of the site, an event will be held to gather the community tomorrow, June 12th, at 7 PM GMT (2 PM EST.)[Thanks, Petter!]
Ryzom reverting to paid subscription
Ryzom, originally slated to be shut down, was saved from going offline by Winch Gate Property, Ltd. From there, there have been two large updates to fix bugs and add new features to the game over the last 8 months. Now, the team behind Ryzom have let us know that they're ready to move the game back to a subscription model. By doing this, they hope to be able to fund further development on the game for the community, and also allow for more events.The subscriptions will start at $10.95 per month, with a discount for multiple-month subscriptions. Added to that, they're also planning to offer a three-week free trial for current Ryzom players to hook their friends in with! The new trial also doesn't restrict play or levels, allowing any interested new players to really see what Ryzom's 'science-fantasy' world is all about. We're glad to see another MMO staying online, and hope to hear about more exciting things happening in Ryzom's future.
Ryzom switching to billing 'soon'
While the players of Ryzom have enjoyed playing for free for the last while, it appears that the time is approaching for that to end. An announcement on the Ryzom forums indicates that they're working on changing the game back over to being under a pay-to-play monthly subscription. After initially seeing the game taken offline last year, then bouncing back, It's been a hell of a ride for the Ryzom faithful. While this most recent reincarnation seems to be doing well, only time will tell if the move back to a monthly subscription model will help it grow further in terms of new content and players or not. That said, if you've wanted to check out Ryzom, you'd better get on the ball. From what their forum message indicates, you only have a few weeks left before its free-to-play status is history. Who knows, you might find yourself enjoying it so much that you roll to a monthly subscription when the time comes too.
One Shots: Sand-free drinks are important
We've often discussed how much we dig the idea of user-generated content, and while there are some MMOs making inroads into it, Ryzom has had user-generated content for some time. Today's lovely and tropical screenshot (perfect for the warm weather of spring) comes to us from Petter Mårtensson, MMO fiend and fellow games writer, who writes in: Thought I'd send you a screen from Ryzom, a game which truly deserves more attention these days. It's my fyros Anioo in her new set of heavy armor, standing outside the bar in Thesos. The bar itself is owned by the barkeep Pecus Cegrips, who always make sure that the drinks are free from sand. Which is a good thing, considering Thesos is located in the Burning Desert in the northern parts of Atys. If you're playing an MMO we don't see often - or even one we see regularly - we want to see your screenshots! Who knows - you may recruit some new players to check out your game. Just email those screens to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game, and whatever you'd like to say about the screenshot. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in.%Gallery-9798%
Ryzom going to monthly subscription
Ryzom has been up and down, with changes in models, cancellation, and being re-launched. Recently, it's incarnation has been a free-to-play game, but word has come down the wire that to continue running Ryzom, they need to reinstitute some type of fees.The good news for those who loved Ryzom before, or who perhaps are newish to this world, is that the fee structure will be less expensive than previous incarnations. The better news is that they will continue the current free-to-play model until the end of January, in case you were considering checking it out but hadn't yet.For month-to-month, you will pay $10.95 (7.95 €, £ 7.75); for three months at a time you'll get a discount down to $10.25 per month (7.50 € of £ 6.98 per month); 6 months will cost you $9.49 per month (6.99 € or £ 6.63 per month); and finally a year's subscription will discount furthest breaking down to $8.83 per month (6.50 € or £ 6.15 per month). With as many folks who are opting to give up on extra MMO accounts due to the cost, the price break may well keep Ryzom afloat - or even attract some players who want to try out a visually exciting new world for a bit less than the $15 many MMOs charge these days. [Thanks, AterNox]
A five-hour look at Ryzom
Ryzom certainly has a very shaky time-line, changing business models, being canceled and then saved. This sounds like a bit of a disaster, but in reality, it's proved that it can survive in the often-harsh MMO industry. A huge part of this resilience is the game's loyal fanbase, and in a recent first-impressions piece over at Eurogamer, it looks like the single server's community is still going strong -- in fact, it might be one of the reasons to give Ryzom a try.The author of the article documented his first five hours with the game, reporting on each hour's experiences. He learned about the lack of restrictions with class choices, the stanza system (which allows players to customize their abilities), and discovered that Ryzom is definitely a lot more hardcore in terms of the hand-holding gameplay hints that most MMOs offer these days. Luckily, he found a lot of real people willing to help him out in learning the ways of the world.This all sounds fine and dandy, but there are a lot of negatives too -- chief among these, the unintuitive crafting system, the grinding to raise different levels, and the harsh penalties associated with failure. These things are apparently bad enough to turn a lot of folks away, but for some, it's easy to look past them and enjoy what is there. We'd be interested to know where our readers stand on this title at this more peaceful stage in its life.
Tabula Rasa: Saving the game
Between desperate battles against the Bane, about all anyone can talk about in Tabula Rasa right now is the impending shutdown of the game service. Website efforts are being touted to solicit ideas for rescuing the game from shutdown, people are discussing the operating costs for the game, some are hoping that Richard Garriott might rescue the game from NCsoft, while others blame him personally for the game's shutdown. Some are hoping that a player consortium can raise enough capital to buy the game assets from NCsoft itself, much as was attempted with Ryzom (and very nearly worked, until they were outbid by another company which resurrected that game anyway). Low signup rates have largely been balanced out by attrition from a lack of ongoing endgame content. The focus on trying to improve early and midlevel experience, which caused uncertain, multiple rebalancings of the game six to eight months ago left top tier players, well, falling off the end a bit. "People had done it all," says level 50 player Paddy Oshea, "I know I was one of them."
One Shots: The unchanging desert
It was here, it was gone, now it is back again. No, we're not talking about the seasons -- we're talking about Ryzom! We're glad to see that it was brought back online, and as of August, was allowing new players to check out the world again. Today's One Shots comes to us from the very strange lands of Ryzom, and was sent in to us by Zxy of Arispotle. Zxy tells us more about the above screenshot: Desert is always the same. Summer or winter, rainy or fair weather - you always have sand, wind and sun mixed in a constant proportion. Locals will never understand what we, raised in the Forest, feel when a sudden glimpse of green emerges from behind the nearest dune. For a second you put away your digging pick and dream of home. We love seeing worlds that we don't get to see often, so if you're playing a game that hasn't gotten love (or even if it has) we'd love to see your screenshots and hear your tales. One Shots is a great way to discover interesting looking games -- or to show off the cool games you love to play. Just send some screenshots to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name/server/guild and a brief description -- or a more in-depth story about the image. We'll show it off to the world and give you the credit!
Vanguard vs Ryzom: Is "harder" better?
Ryzom is a game that has surely seen its fair share of peaks and valleys throughout its lifetime. It has closed and reopened several times, but the reasoning for this is up for debate. Is the game too hardcore or just too "hard"? Over at the Voyages of Vanguard blog, Beau Turkey (former host of Ryzom Radio) takes a comparative look at the two games he knows the best: Ryzom and Vanguard. In this comparison, Beau explores the idea of Vanguard utilizing some of the difficulty of Ryzom. That's not really to say that Ryzom is a particularly difficult game in terms of gameplay, but as Beau points out, many of the game's mechanics make it more hardcore than others. This includes no real definitive class structure, map travel options and non-repairable loot that deteriorates over time. Would Vanguard players be able to handle a Ryzom-type world, or would Vanguard itself benefit from being more "hardcore"? Check out the complete article for Beau's prognosis.
Ryzom devs describe plans, promise free play through October
Ryzom (or the game formerly known as The Saga of Ryzom), came back to life a little over a month ago. Rumors of its death had apparently been greatly exaggerated. Now the development team has published a document detailing its plans for the immediate future.The first item on the agenda is "to get profitable." Good plan! Money will surely be helpful. The second item: "To get all our new Developer Teams up to date with the Ryzom code," a task that is apparently quite difficult because there are millions of lines of code to get used to. Finally, the team is putting together a development schedule for adding new missions, content, and features to the game.Our first impressions of the re-launched game were positive. It's a bit laid-back compared to other titles. We're glad to see that some clear goals are being set for the game's future, but of course until the dev team manages "to get profitable," that future will remain uncertain. If you want to give it a try, though, the devs say it will remain free at least through the end of October.
The week in Massively features
A World of Warcraft player's guide to Warhammer OnlineWhether or not you see many similarities between Blizzard's epically popular title and Mythic's Warhammer Online, the reality is that World of Warcraft players are going to feel very comfortable in the brand-new game. Much of the framework that has made the world of Azeroth so successful over the last four years is in full force within Warhammer. Questing as a central component to leveling, an intuitive user interface, and combat very much like that found in Warcraft are all going to be great handrails to incoming players. The newest Guild Wars companions explainedWith the recent news of two new allies joining the fray for Guild Wars, you may be excited about the new game mechanics that both the M.O.X. hero and the Fire Imp helper bring to the game. We may even go so far as to say that these game mechanics could be a glimpse into what's to come with Guild Wars 2 game mechanics. ArenaNet has already said that there will be a 'sidekick' in Guild Wars 2, but is the Fire Imp a precursor to that? First Impressions: RyzomOfficially called just Ryzom now, the MMO previously called The Saga of Ryzom is back from a brief hiatus. Featuring amazing design aesthetics,this game has its own unique style. Despite the fact that it was developed by a French studio, the English translations read, in many ways, better than some native American titles. We spent a couple of hours playing Ryzom, and here are our First Impressions. Remember, this is not a guide of any sort; this is merely our experience in dropping into a new title.
First Impressions: Ryzom
Officially called just Ryzom now, the MMO previously called The Saga of Ryzom is back from a brief hiatus. Featuring amazing design aesthetics,this game has its own unique style. Despite the fact that it was developed by a French studio, the English translations read, in many ways, better than some native American titles. We spent a couple of hours playing Ryzom, and here are our First Impressions. Remember, this is not a guide of any sort; this is merely our experience in dropping into a new title. Peruse the Gallery to read what we thought about Ryzom! Go to the first image >> %Gallery-31718%
Ryzom opens free accounts to new users
With the recent news of Ryzom's slow rebirth, allowing previous subscribers to reactivate their accounts for free, we're happy to report that free accounts are open to new players as well. This new account reactivation is happening in increments though, so if you've unsuccessfully applied previously, be patient! These activation stages will occur when each previous limit is reached, gradually bringing the populations back up in the game.This new player activation is completely free, but they say it won't last long. If you've never tried the game and were put off by the reports of its untimely death, now is your chance to see what all the buzz is about.
The rebirth of Ryzom
After the recent onslaught of bad news coming from the MMO industry, with layoffs, cutbacks and closures, it's uplifting to finally hear some good news on the return of an MMO. Nevrax's Ryzom has pulled itself up through the ashes and announced its return to the MMO playing field. For the past few weeks, they've re-launched the website and re-opened the servers to all former Ryzom subscribers with completely free VIP access. Now they've decided to open this VIP access to anyone who had an active account, including free trials. However, Ryzom is still closed to new accounts at this time, but they plan to reopen the account activation pages shortly.If you're not familiar with Ryzom and its history, now is a great time to do some research before the new account activation begins. Keep your eyes glued to Massively for all the latest information on when new accounts are allowed and the game is completely re-opened.
The Daily Grind: Which deceased MMO do you miss the most?
It's official: Flagship Studios' Mythos beta has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It is, in fact, an ex-MMO. Hellgate London subscriptions have halted, and it might soon join Mythos in the great void. There are hopes that they'll be back under a different banner -- or that Hellgate might not close at all -- but if only the worst happens, these two games will certainly be missed by many.They are not the first ones we've lost, though. Underlight, Earth & Beyond, and Asheron's Call 2 have all gone the way of the 8-track tape. Saga of Ryzom went under as well, though it looks like it might make a comeback. Think about those games for a moment, or any others you've lost; which lost MMOs do you want back the most? Do you want them back because you played them and now you miss them, or because you never got to play them at all?Consider this the Flagship Studios memorial Daily Grind!
Saga of Ryzom forums quietly come back online
A couple weeks ago, the official website of The Saga of Ryzom mysteriously returned to operating status. The game was shut down back in February when Nevrax, the French company that operated it, experienced a financial crisis. When the site came back, nobody knew exactly what was happening. All we got was a splash page that said "Ryzom will be back soon."Well, now we have more. The official forums have come back online -- including posts and accounts from before the shutdown. It's as if they had never gone. Community manager boroshi posted a rather short note promising that "everything else" will soon follow. Note that boroshi was around before the shutdown, so it looks like the people behind the game's return are at least some of the same folks who were running it before.If you're an old Ryzom player, go ahead and reunite with old pals. Klients is back, too.
Official website teases the return of Ryzom
The Saga of Ryzom met an untimely end in February. Its players were scattered around the MMO universe -- a diaspora of Ryzomites without a country to call home. History has shown us that not all MMO deaths are final, though, and Ryzom might be coming back.The official website relaunched with the message "Ryzom will be back soon!" hastily typed in three languages (English, German, and French) over a screenshot from the game. Researching the site's domain reveals that the last known owner was Nevrax -- the original creator of Ryzom. Thing is, Nevrax no longer exists. It's likely that the whois data hasn't been updated yet.A couple months ago, we reported that an organization called Spiderweb International Unlimited had placed a bit for the Ryzom property, and that fans of the game were trying to raise enough money to outbid them so the source code could be released to the public. We haven't seen any news since then, so we're not sure what ended up happening, but we'll let you know as soon as new info comes up.[Via WarCry]
