Atlantica Online

This is a post that I've been meaning to write for some time now but have been putting off. But seeing the negative posts recently on some of the blogs I frequent, I thought I'd balance them out with a positive one.

I have to admit my first impression of this game wasn't a favorable one. I went in, as is my wont, having no previous knowledge of the title except that it was a F2P MMO of Asian design (I would later find out the developers are Korean). This explained the light anime graphic influence and the bad text translations to English. Neither of which were exactly endearing to me. The turn-based combat system was a pretty novel idea for a MMORPG but past experience has taught me I'm fairly bad at those types of games. Adding a timer to such a system certainly didn't help either. Instead of the typical MMO single character model, AO has you controlling up to 9 characters at once in a fight. These other characters are mercenaries that you can recruit or are given to you as a quest reward. About the only thing that impressed me right off the bat was the auto-move system. It was one of those now why don't more games use this feature moments. I would later have many more of those moments after spending some time with Atlantica Online.

So the game languished forgotten on my hard drive until I read this post and this post on Syncaine's blog. Wow, that certainly sounds interesting...what game was that again? Oh right, I already have that installed. Maybe I should take another look and see for myself some of these novel features he's talking about. I decided to do some research and find out more about this game. This led to a decision to reroll which wasn't that hard to make considering my original character was only around level 10 I believe. I began to get the hang of the combat system and I started to appreciate some of the unique features AO had to offer. The auto-move and enchanting system were just the tip of the iceberg. People actually are rewarded for being nice to noobies. I was bombarded with gifts in the mail containing gold and equipment and offers from strangers to be my mentor. Since I had done my homework, I knew that there weren't any strings attached like there would normally be in other games. Gift-givers get an XP reward based on a percentage of the gift's monetary value and mentors gain mentor points as well as a substantial gold reward after their students turn 30.

You know those other MMO's that seem to want to punish you for grouping for some reason? Not so here. There's no reason not to ever group as everyone gets additional XP as well as small XP books which can be saved up or used at your convenience. This system works even if the party is not in close proximity to each other and is typically known as LDP's or Long Distance Parties. Be careful of leechers and it's best to check with guildies first when doing this. Speaking of guilds, there is comprehensive support for guilds in this game. Guilds can control a town and multiple guilds can band together into alliances called nations. Nations can even go to war with one another which can result in players suddenly being able to attack one another. Other perks for guilds include access to guild dungeons and training centers as well as being able to add buildings to your growing town if you are the guild leader. The rank and file can also help out by convincing wandering NPC's to move to your town, doing town quests, and contributing to the guild crafting by killing mobs. But guild crafting is also a two-way street as everyone gains crafting XP as well just by being around when a guild crafting job is finally done. I've gained levels from different crafting skills without having to scrounge up one scrap of material because of this.

The graphics, especially the landscapes, can be stunning at times and not even the aforementioned auto-move system can detract from this. It actually enhances it, in my opinion, as you have more time to gawk at your surroundings when you don't have to worry about if you're heading in the right direction or not. The setting is a hodge-podge of eras from the real world with Spartans and Vikings fighting at your side along with the steampunk gunpowder might of Gunners, Cannoneers, and Inventors. The world map is very familiar as is the names of the cities and towns within it. Even the familiar is not to be taken for granted as I learned when I fought some camels with bulbous mouths for humps which spat out some deadly cannonballs.

This game's design reminds me a lot of Eve Online without the sandbox. In fact, there is a central storyline quest which will teach you everything you need to know about this game. But, like Eve Online, this game has features that dare to be different from your standard MMO. And all those features are tightly woven to produce a very complex MMO.

You say you want a revolution? Well, are you willing to make some time to play one then? If so, give Atlantica Online a serious try.

A Clean Slate

That's what Tabula Rasa means in Latin.

Before the news broke about Tabula Rasa shutting down for good in February of this year, I really hadn't heard much about this game. What I did hear consisted mainly of advice to stay away from it and what a huge steaming pile it was. Since I like to form my own opinions, I decided to check this title out for myself before its self-destruct date. According to the official website, they had opened up free play from last month to February 28, 2009 which would be the last day for TR.

Here's the link with all the details. You will need to create a PlayNC Tabula Rasa account first. Then, you go to their support site and ask for an activation code. You can download the game client from the link or if you already have the PlayNC launcher installed you can install it that way. The request took just a few minutes for them to give me a code even though they warn that it could take up to 7 days because of the backlog of requests.

Here's an awesome site that will help you take your first few steps in this game. I've got to say that the limited time I was trying out this game made me sad that it would all be going away soon. The art direction and the world looks incredible. The unique FPS/MMORPG hybrid really works due in no small part to the work put into making a UI that would be comfortable to players coming from both genres. I understand that it's been polished quite a bit from its rough start which was responsible for scaring off the player base. If so, now's the perfect time to try it out before it's too late.

My Gaming Year in Review

I started off this year where I had been for the past 4 years: in World of Warcraft. My guild was close to finally killing Illidan Stormrage and moving on to Sunwell Plateau. In between hardcore raiding and mats farming, I was leveling up the 7th or 8th of my 9 level 70's. After killing Illidan and putting Black Temple on farm status, I started to feel an ennui which even tackling the new challenges of Sunwell Plateau couldn't dispel. Around May and after finally leveling the last of my level 70's, I bid my guild goodbye to seek greener gaming pastures elsewhere.

The first stop was Age of Conan, based on the positive experiences I had during the Open Beta. Unfortunately, the experience I had during Open Beta which had a level cap of 20 proved to be the shining moment for this MMO. You know that standard warning for online games where they say: Game Experience May Change During Online Play? That's exactly what happened after level 20 in AoC. It soon became clear that the title was rushed out into production before important MMO mainstays like content and polish were applied. I think I lasted until level 63 before I stopped logging on which took about a month or so.

While I was waiting on Funcom to fix their game, I downloaded the trial for Eve Online. When I found out I was having more fun with the free trial than my subscription to AoC, I knew it was time for a change. In the second week of my 21-day Steam trial, I applied for and was accepted to Eve University. This was around June and Eve consumed my playing time as I strove to learn everything I could about this complex MMO. Started reading and following the various Eve blogs which inspired me to try my hand at this here blogging thing.

Around August, intrigued by the reports of various gaming blogs of the unique features of the upcoming game, Warhammer Online, I decided to pre-order the game which allowed me access to the Open Beta. Before this, I thought I might play this title but wait until a few months had passed in order not to repeat my AoC experience. At literally the last moment, I decided to apply for Casualties of WAR and they were foolish enough to accept my application.

Events after that have been covered already on this blog so I won't go into them again. I do want to mention that I've trialed some more games recently that were on my to-do list. Among them were Vanguard, Everquest II, Lord of the Rings Online, and even Tabula Rasa. Sadly, the title that I was most impressed with turns out to be Tabula Rasa which will unplug for good in a few months. I don't think I can ever get over the art direction in Vanguard and EQII enough to actually enjoy the gameplay offered. In my younger years, I would've jumped at the chance to live in Tolkien's world but now I just yearn for a good game to play and I don't think Middle Earth can really provide that for me. But we'll see as I still have some time left in the free trial.

I can't wait to see what the next year holds for the future of WAR and other MMORPG's.

Dying is Easy

Comedy is hard. Which is why I have the utmost respect for the work that Yahtzee puts into his weekly shows. I have watched every one of them and await each new one every week despite the fact that I don't really own a console or know most of the games he talks about. When I heard that Eve Online was next on the chopping block, I eagerly awaited his thoughts on my latest muhmorpigguh obsession.

Let's get one thing straight. I really couldn't care less if he likes a game or not. Anyone who bases their decision to play a game on a ZP review deserves whatever fate awaits them in their choice of gaming purgatory. Much like the roast of a beloved celebrity, I was anticipating many belly laughs as he skewered one propped-up facade after another.

Only there wasn't much laughter to be found at all. Okay, I admit I chuckled a bit at the nerd reference and the Coke/Pepsi thing. I knew he was only going to be playing a 14-day trial, but the whole thing sounded like he played the game for a few hours, got his ship blown up in a mission, then when he found out he didn't have the skills or money for a new one, promptly said F it and wrote his review. There's a reason Eve gives you double the usual 7-day trial offered by competing MMORPG's and you can even get a 21-day trial from Steam if you go that route. It's because Eve Online absolutely is capable of bad first, second, and even third impressions.

But still, where was the guy who persevered through Condemned 2 to discover the much funnier rot in the second half of the game or the one who paraded around AoC as a naked Stygian Necromancer? I wasn't really expecting him to do research to uncover such comedic gems as patches that kill entire operating systems or devs who cheat ingame for their corp buddies. But a few comments about the unfairness of PVP, market machinations, or even the boredom of mining would've shown he at least played the game in question.

Heck, even something about Jita lag would've been nice.