Salem: an F2P permadeath colonization MMORPG from Paradox

[Sky]

I got a beta invite for this today. I dug around and didn't see any sort of NDA.

I am scared to try it after watching those videos.

Dude.

Radicalthon that bitch.

[Xanthippe]

Ok. I couldn't even look at that. Is that cobblestone or a missing texture?

It's so ugly :( Don't show it yet! Stop!

Those people look like big adult head babies. It's unique, I'll give it that.

[schild]

I'm in the beta. I tried playing it. There were lots of people standing around the first town/area that you portal into and frankly, I don't even know what in the nine fucks was going on. There's no tutorial to speak of, the UI is a nightmare, and the game is just strange. Though, performance was good with a bunch of people on screen and the whole game might be java-based.

I don't know why this game got funding. I don't know why this game __________. You can say almost anything there and it works.

[Yoru]

I'm in too. It is as terrible as Schild reports. You know that bit in the video where he's all "now to find a smooth stone" <screenwipe> "ok, so now I right click on my smooth stone"...

That screenwipe must've cut out 30 minutes or more of aimless wandering through muddy-textured "forests". I still haven't found one. Rule ONE of MMOs is to have enough newbie items for all the newbies. We had this shit handled back when Anarchy Online launched, for fuck's sake.

Fuck this game.

[naum]

I'm in the beta. I tried playing it. There were lots of people standing around the first town/area that you portal into and frankly, I don't even know what in the nine fucks was going on. There's no tutorial to speak of, the UI is a nightmare, and the game is just strange. Though, performance was good with a bunch of people on screen and the whole game might be java-based.

I walked around for like an hour, found one *smooth stone* before my phlegm meter went down to zero (not kidding, instead of health/mana, you have 4 gauges going called "black bile", phlegm, I forget the other 2, etc.…).

I could deal with the blocky tile graphics if the water actually looked like water, or the screen would not flicker different colors. Sounds like an interesting world for an MMO, but the implementation here is more amateur than most browser games or even indie efforts like Dominions 3 that sport better map graphics and UI.

[Paelos]

I don't know why this game got funding. I don't know why this game __________. You can say almost anything there and it works.

I tried a random word generator. Here's what it came up with:

I don't know why this game moved my faucet.
I don't know why this game flagrantly mucked up the aquiculture
I don't know why this game has no flavorful primordial fouls
I don't know why this game has no endearing coroners
I don't know why this game responded with incomprehensible projects

[schild]

I don't know why this game moved my faucet.
I don't know why this game flagrantly mucked up the aquiculture
I don't know why this game has no flavorful primordial fouls
I don't know why this game has no endearing coroners
I don't know why this game responded with incomprehensible projects

These are all completely reasonable.

I can't tell you why it mucked up my aquiculture and has no flavorful primordial fouls - but sure enough, it did and doesn't.

[Tairnyn]

Got a key for this and have been giving it a try. I've barely seen anybody since it looks like the initial rush of people has died off. It's reminding me of A Tale in the Desert but with more skills and items, but with worse graphics, a terrible interface and no real help for new players.

Based on screenshots I've seen it looks like they've improved the graphics, but the textures are still pretty hard on the eyes without some form of mipmapping. I actually like the skill system, but the bile system for energy is a bit annoying and it's pretty cryptic about how to get more max "stamina" for activities. After about 6 hours of play I have barely started being able to work with wood and I spend quite a bit of time wandering looking for resources.

The developers are still pretty adamant that PKing will be uncontrolled (although the skills to do it well are pretty time-consuming to invest in) and that any sort of law will be entirely player driven. I can see how it could be fun with a group of people, but playing alone is pretty depressing. It hasn't turned me off completely yet, but I'm getting there.

[Sky]

(although the skills to do it well are pretty time-consuming to invest in)

WHAT COULD GO WRONG THERE

Talk about zero casual use.

[Tairnyn]

I've been spending quite a bit of time on this and I'm just about done with it. At any given time there's only about 80 players on and they seem to be inviting more people to beta just to keep some semblance of people actually playing. Everyone who joins runs into the same confusing mechanics and the developers are baffled as to why they aren't reading the walls of text they call tutorials. It has a nugget of potential that is eclipsed by the terrible interface and looming cloud of being able to be killed and lose all of the progress you've made building your character because someone who catassed before you got there is bored.

Before I started playing there was a purity stat on every consumable item that was a multiplier on its effects. This made skilling up quite a bit easier because the primary means of getting skill points is to consume curiosities that are crafted. Before I got my key they removed purity and now where it took 1 or 2 items to boost a skill it now takes 10 or more. Additionally, food can be used to boost your stats (HP, stamina, etc..) and some players exploited the purity system to get insanely high stats, which are uncapped. As a result there's maybe 5 to 10 really powerful characters who still play from before, desperately holding on and hoping things get better. Most new players flounder as they try to figure out the system and quickly disappear once the awful grind sets in. They say they plan to reintroduce a new purity system, but that does nothing to make the game enjoyable enough right now to continue grinding even to test the mid-tier content.

What is sad is that I really like the skill system and crafting tree they are using, it's just a god-awful interface coupled with a development team that seems to take a Toady-like pride in making things as difficult as humanly possible and delight in catering to their existing niche crowd. If I had the time, artwork support, and experience with gaming netcode, I would be so tempted to take some of the excellent ideas and work on a proper crafting and economy-based game that doesn't blatantly treat new players like fodder to feed the hardcores.

Based on the outcome of their previous title, Haven and Hearth, when this game goes live there will probably be around 3 main towns that you either join or get curbstomped. Even now the best policy when you see someone you don't know is to run or log off immediately and hope they're gone when you log back on. The folks who played the beta to the endgame content will know how to find the best spots to claim, skill up the fastest, and quickly band together to corner the economy. The more malicious thugs will team up and delight in killing everyone they see. Now, with permadeath, people just won't come back after they lose the many hours of skilling up they invested.

I'll probably keep an eye on this for some major changes that introduce Teh Fun, but for now I don't know why this game flagrantly mucked up the aquiculture.

[Kageru]

One of the other gaming forums had a relatively organized presence in the game that evaporated when the purity nerf happened, so thanks for explaining the mechanics of that.

[Tairnyn]

Server wipe, new map, new version. Some new content has been added and the newbie experience is slightly more gentle now. The skill grind was made extra grindy by introducing diminishing returns on studying the same item multiple times for a skill up. Most notable improvement is that they replaced the god awful ground textures and you can actually see things on the ground.

Having a sufficiently good time working on a town with a group of players that know what they are doing and have a plan. I'm still pretty newbish as far as game knowledge goes so I mostly forage for needed materials and work on leveling my skills. Trying to play as a hermit again (my mostly preferred playstyle) would be soul-crushingly tedious.

[Xanthippe]

I don't think I can get past the way the avatars look. Manbabies creep me out too much!

[Ginaz]

If anyone is interested, mmorpg.com has some beta keys available. 
http://www.mmorpg.com/giveaways.cfm/offer/388/Salem-Beta-Key-Giveaway.html

My advice...don't bother.  It is horrible.  The man babies should have been my first clue to uninstall.

[ZenScrotum]

  As someone who was with Salem from the Alpha to now (And is friends with the Devs), I can tell you to not bother. paradox is more than likely axing this in the near future. instead, wait for development to re-start on haven and hearth or check out Topia Online.

[Lucas]

Now in Open Beta:

http://www.salemthegame.com/

[Xuri]

Watched one of their trailers on the front page and saw a humanoid horse-like creature with wings skipping along in the background. I had to do a double-take when I noticed it had some kind of extra hand sticking out of its crotch-area.

[Yegolev]

[Mrbloodworth]

I Can't help thinking the first game in this concept they made had more charm.

  Haven and Hearth

[Cadaverine]

I'm kind of surprised that it's made it to open beta.  I would have thought the game would have slinked off to the corner to die some time ago.

[Sparky]

Tried the game because the idea of world shaping, intricate crafting & permadeath was intriguing.  There's the germ of an interesting game here crushed by very odd design decisions.  Mainly the grind is utterly horrific and there's a WoW style powercurve.  A high level dude can destroy a whole city of noobs and there's jack shit they can do about it no matter how organised they are.  Combining a huge grind, open PVP and a WoW powercurve is just a bizarre decision.  People will poopsock like mad until they're basically untouchable then go on murder sprees while the victims quit because they're fucked with no chance of catching up.

I'm told the devs designed H&H the same way so don't expect many adjustments, they're obviously very fond on the internet psycho with infinite free time niche.

e: if anyone hates themselves enough to play, use the custom client it has a much better camera and interface: http://forum.salemthegame.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=50

[Stormwaltz]

Paradox dropped it, Seatribe to continue development.

http://forum.salemthegame.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6800

[Teleku]

When Paradox refuses to fund your crazy indie title, its time to just light yourself on fire and go out in a blaze of glory.

[Kageru]

From a population thread on the forums it looks like the average players online is about 40-50 for each of the 3 servers.

Didn't see that coming.

[Falconeer]

I would be interested in interviewing those 40 - 50 folks. Make a documentary about them.

[HaemishM]

You've have to get permissions from their doctors first. 

[Teleku]

Well, now we know what Grunks been playing.

[K9]

The pvp gameplay isn't exactly what you'd call exciting

[HaemishM]

Why are those three midgets humping each other? And did they shop for those ginomrous hats at the same Sombrero store?

Also, FUCK ME at the number of buttons on that sidebar.

[Samprimary]

what an absolutely terrible game in all respects.