Needs more 30 second reviews.

[doubleplus]

Here's mine. I type slow, so deal.

http://eqlive.station.sony.com/ - Everquest. Probably the most successful American MMORPG and without a doubt the most refined. It's guilty of causing a lot of duplicate games to release using the same systems they use, and people think less of it for that.

http://uo.com/ - Ultima Online was the first, but lots of problems with PKs and bad management really brought this down from whatever on high position being the first would normally give you.

http://cityofheroes.com/ - City of Heroes is a ton of fon for about a month. Then you burn through the content. It also suffers because the game doesn't really seem like a world - just a game.

http://worldofwarcraft.com/ - Blizzard's first attempt at an MMORPG. I don't like that they've done so far and they're really beginning to not come through on a lot of the promises they originally made. I was really hoping there would be better things to say about it, but there's just nothing impressive to really state.

http://ryzom.com/ - The Saga of Ryzom is being developed in France and brings a lot of interesting new things to the table. It merges skill-based stuff with level-based play and does it well. You're also able to customize attacks and other actions which makes every character unique. I'm not entirely involved with the community, but it seems to be pretty good too. Definitely not an EQ clone, which is refreshing, and the graphics rock.

http://anarchyonline.com/ - The new expansion is coming out, which looks nearly as pretty as Ryzom. Getting leet pets is also incredibly funny. I'm beginning to think about subscribing again, but the bad taste of the horrible launch as well as the bugs with the Shadowlands have me very worried.

[Mesozoic]

You're new here.

[stray]

Well, I probably wouldn't have looked at Ryzom if he hadn't mentioned anything. The trailers look pretty good actually. Graphics look OK, character models aren't terrible, but there's an attention to detail with everything. It looks like there's a wide variety of mobs and environments too.

There are couple things that have convinced me it may actually be a good game. I prefer skill systems already, but the Modular Action System has me curious.

No bullshit dependency on a player economy: There's crafting as well weaker itens from loot and NPC vendors.

There's at least some form of PvP (dueling, arenas, and later on faction PvP).

Combat sounds interesting, or at least what's written about it. Example: Warriors

Damage in Ryzom is localized. The damage inflicted by a strike to the legs will depend on the armor worn on the legs, and so on. [snip] Some of the special moves that the players can learn (or invent) incorporate an 'aiming' component, altering the chance of hitting a given location on the adversary.

Warriors can also make use of the 'defense' interface. This interface allows the player to select a defense method (parry or dodge) and decide whether to favor protection against attacks to a given location (legs, arms, etc). [snip] As the game progresses the player may come across opponents with a more subtle behavior, requiring them to switch their defense strategy reactively.

Oh, and this in particular caught my eye:
 

The RAID (Real-Time Army Invasion Deployment) Engine is a unique component to the offerings of the Saga of Ryzom, which allows the servers to create and run NPC invasions with hundreds of attacking creatures working together.

Dynasty Warriors? Probably not. But still pretty cool.

[TripleDES]

Regarding Ryzom, since you made me surf their site again (I'm going to pull this OT, kthx), it has been bugging me in the past in adverts already, but it's on their gameboxes now too.

What the fuck does that purple haired "normal" human character in a scifi-esque spandex suit have to do with Ryzom? I saw her on bigass adverts all the time, now on the gamebox. Wouldn't I know better, I'd assume it'd be some techscifi game, but no, instead you'll be facing a treehugger scifi game. Not to mention that none of the races comes even close to a normal looking human.

[stray]

I guess the Matis are the only race that sort of resembles a standard human, but not really. In other screenshots, they look like Elves. Could just be a stylistic thing (but a bad job at it).

Now after taking a second look, I have to say that the races and lore suck in this game. If it wasn't for everything else, I may change my mind about trying it. Kind of like AC in that respect (except this one has spaceships). If you're writing fantasy, just rip off Tolkien or D&D and be done with it.

[AOFanboi]

What the fuck does that purple haired "normal" human character in a scifi-esque spandex suit have to do with Ryzom?

Ryzom mixes sci-fi and fantasy in that peculiar European way. When I tried the beta, though, guns were pointless in the newbie zone at least, because making ammo was damn expensive, and reloading slow-ish.

[TripleDES]

I'm that far too, but the promo human doesn't fit into the actual game at all.

[Morfiend]

Inless they drastically speeded up movement speeds, I wont be playing this. I was in the beta, and I was walking around, going damn, this is really fucking slow, where is the run button. When I finally found the run button, and pressed it, I started moving WAY slower. Turns out I had auto run already on. No thank you.

[SurfD]

Actually, from what I remember from my brief run through beta (may reinstall and kick around again to check out the improvements when i get my new rig on Tuesday), the purple clad spandexed human character is a representative of the Ultra High Tech npc faction.

 There are 4 PC factions, and two NPC factions.  One NPC faction is the Fantasy/Magic/Nature element, and the other is the Sci-fi/Technology/Science element. The idea being that the characters can decide who they want to ally themselves with as they progress, for diversification in the later skill trees.

And personally, I find their overall world history/story to be facinating.  I mean, nothing like living on a continent sized giant fucking tree.

[MrHat]

Yes, but how does it play?

[ajax34i]

My only complaint with Ryzom is their UI, it looks like crap.  It's a bunch of grey-blue and grey-green boxes like something put together with DOS-graphics.

Note that they're very careful to NOT show the UI in any of the screenshots.

[MrHat]

My only complaint with Ryzom is their UI, it looks like crap.  It's a bunch of grey-blue and grey-green boxes like something put together with DOS-graphics.

Note that they're very careful to NOT show the UI in any of the screenshots.

Yes, but how does it play?

What I mean is should I waste time on this or not?  I've read up on it, but I'm afraid of resurfacing my inner-fanboi for anything these days.

[schild]

What I mean is should I waste time on this or not?

No.

To elaborate, there is something fundamentally wrong with the game. All the parts are correct, they just don't add up to make a whole. If you asked me what was wrong with the game, I'd say 'the fun.'

[MrHat]

What I mean is should I waste time on this or not?

No.

To elaborate, there is something fundamentally wrong with the game. All the parts are correct, they just don't add up to make a whole. If you asked me what was wrong with the game, I'd say 'the fun.'

Can you elaborate more than that?  Good enough to steer me away from spending money, but should I try to beta it?

[schild]

No reason to not go ahead and beta it. There's never a reason not to beta. Hell, despite Blizzard fanbois, I'm still willing to beta WoW.

But you'll find, like I said that all the parts should equal something greater. There's a lot of cool stuff going on that just feels....boring. I don't know how else to describe it other than - compared to everything else out there, I should like it - but I don't. So go ahead, maybe you'll find it interesting, but I can near guarantee that you shouldn't spend money on it without having tried it.

[Soukyan]

Actually, from what I remember from my brief run through beta (may reinstall and kick around again to check out the improvements when i get my new rig on Tuesday), the purple clad spandexed human character is a representative of the Ultra High Tech npc faction.

 There are 4 PC factions, and two NPC factions.  One NPC faction is the Fantasy/Magic/Nature element, and the other is the Sci-fi/Technology/Science element. The idea being that the characters can decide who they want to ally themselves with as they progress, for diversification in the later skill trees.

And personally, I find their overall world history/story to be facinating.  I mean, nothing like living on a continent sized giant fucking tree.

I think the lore is rather fascinating also. As to the "mystery woman", part of the story will be uncovered as you play. They haven't laid all the lore out to start with. Once people start to get down into the roots of the world, more story will be uncovered. Their approach must be working, they've already drawn people in by making them wonder who that woman is and just what does she have to do with this strange and intriguing virtual world.

[Arcadian Del Sol]

If you're going to do that, I would appreciate that you at least try to come up with your own concept.

http://www.arcadiandelsol.com/2004/06/30-second-game-review-silent-storm.html
http://www.arcadiandelsol.com/2004/07/30-second-previews-of-games-i-never.html

[Glazius]

No reason to not go ahead and beta it. There's never a reason not to beta. Hell, despite Blizzard fanbois, I'm still willing to beta WoW.

But you'll find, like I said that all the parts should equal something greater. There's a lot of cool stuff going on that just feels....boring. I don't know how else to describe it other than - compared to everything else out there, I should like it - but I don't. So go ahead, maybe you'll find it interesting, but I can near guarantee that you shouldn't spend money on it without having tried it.

I have to second this, though they've probably changed things around a little in the several months since I pulled out of the open beta.

The world is unique. There are lots of NPCs just being foot traffic, which help it feel alive, and animals have migratory paths. Predators attack prey animals.

When it left, it was because it didn't feel like there was anything to do. To get your first harvest XP you have to pull from a randomly-appearing resource node since you can't look for them on your own (unless you specced in harvesting to begin with). Doing tasks for a harvest-master results in sometimes impossible demands and less reward than you'd get for selling the raw material. You have to gain about 30 craft levels before you can even make a complete set of light armor. (And you get craft levels by - yes - crafting things, and that's a money sink on the order of 5:1.) Craft tasks also pay less than you'd get for selling the stuff to an NPC. Combat is interesting with the skill-block system for magic and fighting, but there are so many _potential_ skill blocks to choose from and no indication which ones are any good.

When I left I ranted at length about ways to improve the game - craft tasks rather than raw crafting for craft XP, crafters at least able to recoup the cost of materials (since no way would you be able to sell all eleventy-skrillion boots to another player), and NPCs who could tell you, not just about the world, but what you could do in it.

Maybe they've put them in since then, but when I left Ryzom still seemed very much like a world in search of a game.

--GF

[Azhrarn]

As to the "mystery woman", part of the story will be uncovered as you play. They haven't laid all the lore out to start with. Once people start to get down into the roots of the world, more story will be uncovered.

The mystery woman is "Jena", the focal point of one of the two main non-player faction's (Karavan) religion.  They consider her a goddess.

[Nebu]

No reason to not go ahead and beta it. There's never a reason not to beta. Hell, despite Blizzard fanbois, I'm still willing to beta WoW.

I'm sorry, but beta testing Ryzom and Lineage 2 was a horrible waste of time.  I want those hours back... I want them NOW!  

I used to be in complete agreement with you and beta tested far more games than I had time to actually test with any sort of discerning eye.  As my time has become more and more scarce, I'm finding the whole beta process to be a lost timesink for the largest majority of cases.  

My advice would be to play something you enjoy rather than wasting even 5 minutes looking for the download link.  You will end up thanking me later.

[MrHat]

No reason to not go ahead and beta it. There's never a reason not to beta. Hell, despite Blizzard fanbois, I'm still willing to beta WoW.

I'm sorry, but beta testing Ryzom and Lineage 2 was a horrible waste of time.  I want those hours back... I want them NOW!  

I used to be in complete agreement with you and beta tested far more games than I had time to actually test with any sort of discerning eye.  As my time has become more and more scarce, I'm finding the whole beta process to be a lost timesink for the largest majority of cases.  

My advice would be to play something you enjoy rather than wasting even 5 minutes looking for the download link.  You will end up thanking me later.

Well, turns out I didn't have to look, got an email from [SoR] today inviting me to some open beta or something.  Client is downloading from Torrent as we speak.  I figure it should be a nice diversion for a few weeks before the Fall Gaming lineup comes out.  Anything I should check on to see if it's improved?

Edit: w00t got my man Portis on my fantasy football league.