SOE Free Realms

[Rendakor]

Someone mentioned it early, but I've gotta ask for confirmation: No invert mouselook? Really?

[Grimwell]

But I was left with the incredibly disheartening question today: why the fuck can the art and polish be so good on this but we can't do this with EQ2? It made me sad because I was playing a free trial of EQ2 (rather than sub again) and it's just so ugly and clunky. And I love EQ2. It was kind of depressing.

You have to remember that EQ2 is over four years old now. It was made by different people, at essentially a different SOE. Free Realms is the product of a number of lessons and wisdom gained from everything the company did in the past, as well as things seen in other games. If we made the same old mistakes with this game, people would beat the Hell out of us for it; I'm very glad we didn't and had a solid game at launch. FR still needs lots of attention and love from it's team, and they are still hard at work on it, but I didn't find any of the launch issues to be game breakers myself.

With EQ2, I love it too -- but I was directly assigned to it for over a year. I'm very biased. :) I will say that the team does great work and continues to evolve the game in a great direction IMO. But they can't hand wave everything they want to change in in seconds. ;)

[Nebu]

You have to remember that EQ2 is over four years old now. It was made by different people, at essentially a different SOE. Free Realms is the product of a number of lessons and wisdom gained from everything the company did in the past, as well as things seen in other games. If we made the same old mistakes with this game, people would beat the Hell out of us for it; I'm very glad we didn't and had a solid game at launch. FR still needs lots of attention and love from it's team, and they are still hard at work on it, but I didn't find any of the launch issues to be game breakers myself.

Are you suggesting that someone other than Blizzard is capable of learning from the mistakes of the past... well... I'm in shock.  Mythic caused me to lose all hope in this regard. 

[Modern Angel]

Oh, I totally know. It just makes me a little sad. Nothing would make me happier than sinking cash into making EQ2 not ugly since it really is a good game now but I've no illusions it will happen.

This is why EQ3 needs to be made. But I don't want to derail too far here. Free Realms really is a feat of engineering and my wistfulness for an EQ2 I can convince people to play with me doesn't diminish that. But it needs an AH for real. You could have an inadvertently awesome economics game on your hands since crafting is actually fun.

[Dtrain]

Oh, I totally know. It just makes me a little sad. Nothing would make me happier than sinking cash into making EQ2 not ugly since it really is a good game now but I've no illusions it will happen.

This is why EQ3 needs to be made. But I don't want to derail too far here. Free Realms really is a feat of engineering and my wistfulness for an EQ2 I can convince people to play with me doesn't diminish that. But it needs an AH for real. You could have an inadvertently awesome economics game on your hands since crafting is actually fun.

I would like to see the new SOE make another attempt at a fantasy MMO, but probably not another EQ retread.

For one thing, MMO sequels just don't seem to do well - at least not at the rate that sequels apply to the rest of the gaming industry. I think an MMO sequel probably could be successful, but with the minimum space of maybe a decade between releases.

Also, EQ was basically an approximation of forgotten realms. Nostalgia aside, I think they could do much better with something entirely new.

But the point may be moot anyways, because I'm sure a lot of people think that the fantasy MMO is

[Nebu]

But the point may be moot anyways, because I'm sure a lot of people think that the fantasy MMO is

I disagree.  I'd love for a solid fantasy MMO to be released.  It's the diku format that is the dead horse. 

[Falconeer]

I am addicted to mining.
Things I don't like: minigames that don't belong to any profession. And minigames that don't give ut rewards.

And, where's fishing? How can you do a game like this without fishing? It's like Star Wars Galaxies without vehicles and mounts!

[Xanthippe]

Talking to Signe in the game, we discovered some bad words:

meco
alkis
pinga
tarte
tgirl

All forbidden by the chat filter. 

What do these mean?

[schild]

Pinga is slang for dick. I don't know the rest of them.

[Merusk]

Urban dictionary to the rescue:

meco - Cum
alkis - Nothing other than alcoholic came close.
pinga - Spanish for dick
tarte - French for prostitute
tgirl - "One who wishes to be considered by society as a member of the opposite sex." So a transsexual

[Modern Angel]

All I know is that I made a character with the last name Titanspice and it showed up Titan****e because spic was being censored. In a name approved by Sony in their little pregen name arranger thingy. I hope I was autoreported for it.

[Lantyssa]

Free Stuffs

Thank you!

[Xanthippe]

Urban dictionary to the rescue:

meco - Cum
alkis - Nothing other than alcoholic came close.
pinga - Spanish for dick
tarte - French for prostitute
tgirl - "One who wishes to be considered by society as a member of the opposite sex." So a transsexual

Thanks.  I think.  I feel more worldly somehow.

The reason we found these words isn't because we were using them as words.  It was because they were parts of words with spaces in between.  We were just talking.

"tarte" was found by typing "started"  and so on.

This really needs to be changed.  It's ridiculous.  Any 12 year old who wants to swear can always type
F
U
C
K

or whatever.

I blew 2 bucks today on leaves falling around me and blue flames shooting up engulfing me.  And somehow became the center of attention, despite the fact that Signe was right there as a frog!  A frog! 

I collected a lot of stuff in Snowhill today, and got postman to 20. 

[Signe]

Everyone thought she was going to explode!  We had to stare!

[Xanthippe]

You're the one who looks explodey!

I doubt you could fit another fly into that belly.

[Xanthippe]

Pinga is slang for dick. I don't know the rest of them.

I bet I could type Johnson.  Or Peter.  Richard.  Weiner.   Shaft.  Pecker.  Tool.

Last time I tried typing in words like that I ended up squelched (at least I thought I was, I could only use stock phrases to chat), or I'd try it again.

Do kids know these words?  I mean, I know I'm old and stuff but they seem awfully colloquial to me.

[pxib]

The word filter isn't for kids. It's for parents.

"WHY DOES IT SAY PINGAS ON MY CHILD'S SCREEN?!"

[Grimwell]

 BTW, update tonight. Not a huge one, but if you are fond of hovering over 'play' buttons until you can try to be the first person on a server... tonight is your chance.

[Xanthippe]

Why would anyone want to do that?

Do they get presents?

[Grimwell]

Nope. They get to go 'First!' in local chat.

You would be surprised how much of a motiva.... actually no I'm sure you wouldn't. We've all seen that behavior somewhere at this point. :)

[Xanthippe]

When you say local chat, you mean... what exactly?

/say?

One thing I've noticed - it's a quiet game!  Is there some chat channel I'm missing?  The most talking I've seen was yesterday when Signe and I chatted while she shapeshifted into other things.

Like this:

[Triforcer]

Grimwell, are there any hard numbers on the number of accounts originating from FBI IPs?  I'm betting 10-15% 

EDIT:  FBI, not FRBI. 

[tmp]

Is there something about the racing/demolition derby mini games that i'm missing? No matter which place i take, the class progress bar doesn't seem to advance at all... tried to search free realms forums to see if it's bugged but couldn't find anything.

[Modern Angel]

Is there something about the racing/demolition derby mini games that i'm missing? No matter which place i take, the class progress bar doesn't seem to advance at all... tried to search free realms forums to see if it's bugged but couldn't find anything.

Same. it's making me nuts.

[Lantyssa]

Ghost pets are now available for members.  I went by Blackspore yesterday and saw them.  Today I'm informed they're now purchasable.

[Mrbloodworth]

jebus fucking pogo sticks that dog in the bee suit.   

[Xanthippe]

Ghost pets are now available for members.  I went by Blackspore yesterday and saw them.  Today I'm informed they're now purchasable.

My daughter already has 2 pets, and wants a dalmation and now she'll want a ghost dog.

This could be a real boon for me.  I bet I can get some chores out of her.  She's old enough to start cleaning the bathroom, I think.  That's worth a dalmation, or a ghost dog isn't it?

[Bandit]

Is there something about the racing/demolition derby mini games that i'm missing? No matter which place i take, the class progress bar doesn't seem to advance at all... tried to search free realms forums to see if it's bugged but couldn't find anything.

Same. it's making me nuts.

No advancement on Demolition/Racing as far as I know yet, the only thing you can do is tutorial/advanced tutorial for each track.  Hopefully soon enough, it seems the racing is very well done...but not enough incentive for others (I don't need the incentive).  My thousands of hours of drunken/stoned university Mario Kart racing may finally be put to use again.

[Lantyssa]

This could be a real boon for me.  I bet I can get some chores out of her.  She's old enough to start cleaning the bathroom, I think.  That's worth a dalmation, or a ghost dog isn't it?

Yes.  I'll buy her both if you send her over to take care of mine.

[Grimwell]

Grimwell, are there any hard numbers on the number of accounts originating from FRBI IPs?  I'm betting 10-15% 

What's FRBI?

Racing: There is no advancement right now. That is something that the team thought was too cool not to release, but they want to spend more time on any advancement system for the job to make sure it's sensible. I'm not sure what sensible is myself, but I don't get paid to think of those things so I can't screw it up for ya. ;)

[Fraeg]

having a blast, I love the racing, I love the demo derby, i love my archer, but....


please for the love of god allow people to remap keys

[Signe]

Sal Monella Special?  Really?   

[Ingmar]

jebus fucking pogo sticks that dog in the bee suit.   

Dare I link you to http://www.beedogs.com/ ?

[Merusk]

To celebrate the 1,000,000th registered player in Free Realms™, we are granting a reward to the first 1,000,000 Free Realms players! Log in to Free Realms to redeem your special in-game commemorative T-shirt to mark the milestone (note: it may take a few days for the items to show up in your account). You'll also receive a matching virtual T-shirt for your pet! As an extra benefit, we're kicking in 200 Station Cash™ for you to spend in-game!

Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

That's half a bee costume for my dog, right there!  Or maybe a whole bee costume!

Hmm.. did this just show up in everyone's inventory?  I signed up to play with my son at the beginning of the month, so I know we're in that one mil, but nothing's in the inventory.

[Lantyssa]

It took them a while to send out the beta tester items.  I'd expect it in a week or two.