Some more Tabula Rasa details

[schild]

16. How many characters can I have per world?
Every account, or player, can have multiple “avatars” on each world. However, every avatar is a manifestation of the root character, and as such, every avatar on an account shares money, inventory, reputation, and a customizable home on a celestial estate.

Well, it's about fucking time.

19. Does Tabula Rasa have a crafting system?
Tabula Rasa offers a crafting system accessible to all players, no matter what level or skills they possess. Crafting requires ingredients found during the course of adventuring or through trade with other players, which are then combined based on a variety of recipes. One of the exciting components of the crafting system allows for adding specific properties to the weapons in the game, giving players vast opportunities for customizing their prized equipment.

Sounds a lot like the Guild Wars crafting where anyone can craft providing they find the recipe. As far as customizing goes, I assume it's particle effects/color and possibly different types of damage mods.

12. Is there a variety of player races?
No. At launch, player characters are humans from Earth in a near future setting.

Well. Fuck. The customization better be at least as good as SWG, but CoH should be the benchmark. I assume loot will radically change the way you look.

Here's a link to the website.

They also mention testing beginning in Late summer/early fall. That implies less than 4 months of testing before the supposed release this winter/christmas. Who wants to make bets on this release being nowhere near as good as "City of Heroes."

I really like the graphics. But ya know, all of about 40 screenshots have been released and there's no movie/trailer yet. So it's tough to call. Some of the mob design is great though.

[HaemishM]

One of the things that preview said was that clothing would be highly customizable, both in look and in properties, but there would be no armor. So it sounds like even though you are human, you might have a lot of options to get your look just right without worrying about how it effects your gameplay. All good things.

As for the release, I'm starting to realize that NCSoft might just have what it takes to ensure stable launches for all its developers. Maybe they are instilling some good practices on their developers by ensuring that stability comes first where release candidates are concerned.

[daveNYC]

They also mention testing beginning in Late summer/early fall. That implies less than 4 months of testing before the supposed release this winter/christmas. Who wants to make bets on this release being nowhere near as good as "City of Heroes."

Maybe they'll throw some cash at Cryptic and buy some of their code.  Heck, I think the first telling of ATITD is winding down.  Maybe they can hire those guys for six months.

[WayAbvPar]

They also mention testing beginning in Late summer/early fall. That implies less than 4 months of testing before the supposed release this winter/christmas. Who wants to make bets on this release being nowhere near as good as "City of Heroes."

That screams deadline slippage to me. I am thinking Q1 or Q2 2005.

[Shockeye]

According to Firingsquad.com, Tabula Rasa is not for "hardcore shooter fans". That is, anyone who wants skill to play a major part in combat.

Though dubbing itself a first-person shooter style MMO, Tabula Rasa is still more RPG than action game, with the results of combat being decided by dice rolls. Player actions, movement and weapon choice of course have effects on the rolls, but this isn't World War II Online or PlanetSide where it's all in the hands of the player. Still, from the demo it actually feels as if the game has struck a good balance and shouldn't alienate all but the hardcore shooter fans.

[Mi_Tes]

I hate to say this, but I liked last year's version of TR better than this year's.  I wanted a "future fanatsy" game (with a flying horse), not the future only shooter it has become.  Yes, the harp weapon was silly - but they could have easily changed the odd weapons, changed the avatar looks, given the game more depth and it would have been something at least a little different than what is already out there (planetside).  I still plan on trying it out (like the language idea and the voice chat), but not as excited about it as I once was.

[schild]

I like the harp weapon. It reminded me of the spoony bard.

[Daydreamer]

Ah, man, I miss those old Square localizations.  Cheap, innacurrate, confusing, and funny as hell.

[WindupAtheist]

*long-dormant inner Garriot fanboy stirs faintly*

[ahoythematey]

I'm excited about Tabula Rasa mainly because I still have, for some reason, the thought of it's combat being somewhat like System Shock(where player skill really didn't matter much either).  I'm pretty stupid.  Often.