Irth Online adapts strangest free-to-play model ever

[BigBlack]

http://www.irthworlds.com/

In a nutshell:  If you create an account between Thanksgiving and February 2008, and log in to play it at least once, your account will be free until February 2010.  Wait until March 2008 and, uh, you'll still have to play a monthly fee.

No word on whether or not the game is actually any good.  There's not a single substantive word about how the game plays on its website, and I can't be arsed to download.

[Venkman]

/statingtheobvious

I bet they extend it.

/statingtheobvious

Other than that, this sounds like little more than a way to drive some amount of awareness for an otherwise forgettable game (kinda like those million-dollar giveaway things) so people will talk about it. You sellout 

[Signe]

Dreadful game.

[Nebu]

Dreadful game.

Good concept.  Poor execution.

[BigBlack]

What's the concept they're trying to execute?

[Numtini]

Translation: if they do not have enough active accounts to attract playing customers by March 2008, there won't be a game.

[WindupAtheist]

Some of my UO guildies were all gung-ho for this when it went into beta, heedless of my warnings that it would be either vaporware or a trainwreck.  Sure enough it came out and was a forgettable little shitball trainwreck, and they all gave up on it.

[Signe]

I was hoping it would be fun, too, but I gave it a go and it was all bugger up.

[Nebu]

What's the concept they're trying to execute?

It's sort of ATitD meets EQ.  Combat and a building/crafting/gathering sim combined.  If I recall right, it was a large PvP world as well.  I was in the beta because it sounded really fun.  Then I got into the game... some things look better on paper.

[Yegolev]

I thought it was supposed to be a 3D UO.  I didn't get far... as in I think I ran out of town over the hill and then logged out.

[Azaroth]

I never played it. I'm curious as to what people would list as the specific reasons they thought it sucked?

Fixed properly, would you have still been interested in the game - or was the design itself a total trainwreck? Where'd it go wrong?

[Katal]

Supposedly, the developers of Irth (MagicHat) were a group of people who worked on a UO shard emulator (Sphere). They used that knowledge to create Irth, which was basically a true 3D UO.

There was supposedly some drama, budget and investor problems, developers fired, etc. The game was released very early. Hence what is left is a half-baked, very unpolished game.

The UI, gameplay, and ingame systems are completely slipshod. Even free, it is not a game worth playing or trying out at all.

Try it if you want, but your eyes will start burning within seconds when you do.

[BigBlack]

Anyone want to take one for the team, give it a go for a few hours, and let us know if it's improved at all?

[CharlieMopps]

I dunno man, its looks pretty good for being free. I'd give it a wirl.

[Xuri]

I dunno man, its looks pretty good for being free. I'd give it a wirl.

You forgot. I fixed.

[geldonyetich2]

I (and probably the majority of the people on this board) have long since progressed past the point of playing a game based on how it looks.  Too many games have been infused with major  in development that prioritizes eye-candy over substance.

So, what does Irth Online bring to the table?  Skimming the features list and the only feature I see that is even remotely innovative is the idea of a complete and fully featured underworld.  Not too many games have that.  Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with core gameplay, so my hopes are not raised.

[CharlieMopps]

My point was, I'm not playing a game with BAD graphics. And this ones look ok...

Are any of those features new and inovative? Not really... although I like that it uses a skill system instead of a leveling system.

It's worth a try because it's free. That's all. If I get around to it, I'll check it out.

[Mrbloodworth]

If i'm not mistaken, Irth is the game who purchased a lot of the wish assets.

[CharlieMopps]

I checked out their forum. This games in BETA still. Their most recent patch notes said they just made it possible for Town NPCs to move around... lol

[Cadaverine]

I tried to d/l the install torrent, but it said my account wasn't registered for downloads. 

Saves me installing it, and then uninstalling it 23 minutes later.

[Xuri]

Here, have some Irth-related drama, for free. Don't mention it.

[UnSub]

Here, have some Irth-related drama, for free. Don't mention it.

Undoubtedly that's probably the most interesting thing Irth has to offer.

[cmlancas]

Shit guys! That's a fun story. It's almost as good as the VG one that pretty much introduced me to f13. Unfortunately, I don't know what the fuck Irth Online is.

This story gets two out of three pedobears. 

[CharlieMopps]

I was able to get it running. Register for the forums. There are alternate download sites (filefont being 1)
Download from there... the torrent takes forever.

Getting a key was almost impossible. I finally had to log into their IRC server and one of the devs in there gave me one.

The patch took forever.

The games in VERY early beta stages. the UI loads all stacked onto itself. Character movement keys are mapped to something wierd and the mouselook is inverted. The graphics look... odd...

This whole thing is very INDI looking. I don't see it ever getting completed. The mechanics seem cool though.

[Mrbloodworth]

I was able to get it running. Register for the forums. There are alternate download sites (filefont being 1)
Download from there... the torrent takes forever.

Getting a key was almost impossible. I finally had to log into their IRC server and one of the devs in there gave me one.

The patch took forever.

The games in VERY early beta stages. the UI loads all stacked onto itself. Character movement keys are mapped to something wierd and the mouselook is inverted. The graphics look... odd...

This whole thing is very INDI looking. I don't see it ever getting completed. The mechanics seem cool though.

Funny thing is, i was beta testing this about 1.5 years ago. It really wasn't that bad.. But it was very indi, nothing wrong with that to me. I hadn't thought about it again until this thread.

Some of the thing i enjoyed is the little details they put into the game, such as being able to chop ANY tree, and the tree does go away for a period of time. In fact you can clear a whole forest..or make a town barren for a time. Thats kinda cool to me. Not sure if that changed. virtually every plant in the game is not just scenery, the almost all have a use, and can be harvested. The game does have very strong shades of UO. Very "worldly".

[geldonyetich2]

Sounds like it's an experiment being screwed around with by a bunch of MMOG dev newbs and not really intended to be a serious project.  Inviting people to spend money on that personifies irrational audacity.

[Xuri]

*snip* The game does have very strong shades of UO. Very "worldly".

Not really a big surprise, seeing as Irth Online's servers are based on an UO server emulator. I think. :P

[Azaroth]

Funny thing is, i was beta testing this about 1.5 years ago. It really wasn't that bad.. But it was very indi, nothing wrong with that to me. I hadn't thought about it again until this thread.

Some of the thing i enjoyed is the little details they put into the game, such as being able to chop ANY tree, and the tree does go away for a period of time. In fact you can clear a whole forest..or make a town barren for a time. Thats kinda cool to me. Not sure if that changed. virtually every plant in the game is not just scenery, the almost all have a use, and can be harvested. The game does have very strong shades of UO. Very "worldly".

So if the game had a decent level of polish and better graphics, would you still be playing it?

[Mrbloodworth]

Funny thing is, i was beta testing this about 1.5 years ago. It really wasn't that bad.. But it was very indi, nothing wrong with that to me. I hadn't thought about it again until this thread.

Some of the thing i enjoyed is the little details they put into the game, such as being able to chop ANY tree, and the tree does go away for a period of time. In fact you can clear a whole forest..or make a town barren for a time. Thats kinda cool to me. Not sure if that changed. virtually every plant in the game is not just scenery, the almost all have a use, and can be harvested. The game does have very strong shades of UO. Very "worldly".

So if the game had a decent level of polish and better graphics, would you still be playing it?

i could see some reasons to, yes. Full answer, i don't know i played it years ago..im sure things have changed.

[KallDrexx]

In a nutshell:  If you create an account between Thanksgiving and February 2008, and log in to play it at least once, your account will be free until February 2010.  Wait until March 2008 and, uh, you'll still have to play a monthly fee.

Didn't AO do this as well?  I could have sworn it was something like "Sign up before the new year and you get to play for 2 years for free!" or something like that.  Maybe I'm mis remembering.  I think they then just indefinitely extended it and didn't make people pay after the new year.

[Soukyan]

In a nutshell:  If you create an account between Thanksgiving and February 2008, and log in to play it at least once, your account will be free until February 2010.  Wait until March 2008 and, uh, you'll still have to play a monthly fee.

Didn't AO do this as well?  I could have sworn it was something like "Sign up before the new year and you get to play for 2 years for free!" or something like that.  Maybe I'm mis remembering.  I think they then just indefinitely extended it and didn't make people pay after the new year.

AO did a similar promotion, yes. And I still get monthly letters offering me inexpensive expansion pack upgrades to attempt to get me to buy it and sign up for a monthly fee. I still have not done so and still have a free active account. Of course, it lacks a lot of content so I can't say that I've played it all that often. Sometimes I login just to see what's been happening.

[Lantyssa]

If i'm not mistaken, Irth is the game who purchased a lot of the wish assets.

They did.  If I took a screenshot from Irth today and compared it with one I have of Wish beta, the character would look identical, down to the clothes.  This isn't a bad thing as Irth back in its original beta remindes me of early EQ's looks.  Wish was very similar, although better IMO, so Irth feels like playing an earlier iteration.

One point in Irth's favor is that it is a purely skill-based system.  Do what you want and get better at it, rather than be given some arbitrary set of abilities you can never change.  (I'm biased against class systems though.  Take it for what it's worth.)  There is extensive crafting.  Mind-bogglingly so.

It's still very indie and rough.  I cannot see it being a game for much of the market, I'm not sure how long I will last once I get out of my exploration phase, but at least it is not another WoW or EQ clone.

[Azaroth]

The Ganked.org website also claims it has/had about 40 paying accounts. I'm biased against class systems too, but doesn't that speak volumes no matter how rough and indie the game is? The type of game just isn't attracting people.

Of course, as far as I can see, they've done just about everything wrong. Right down to the website, which is some forum template with a bunch of little text. I can't imagine anyone going to that website and saying "WOW, I'm going to play THIS - out of all the games I can play, I'm going to play THIS ONE". And, seeing as it's been said they had 40 paying accounts or so (before they went free or whatever I suppose), I suppose I'd be right.

I just wonder if there's no real market for a skill system game unless someone drops $150m and makes a true virtual world.

[Mrbloodworth]

The Ganked.org website also claims it has/had about 40 paying accounts. I'm biased against class systems too, but doesn't that speak volumes no matter how rough and indie the game is? The type of game just isn't attracting people.

Of course, as far as I can see, they've done just about everything wrong. Right down to the website, which is some forum template with a bunch of little text. I can't imagine anyone going to that website and saying "WOW, I'm going to play THIS - out of all the games I can play, I'm going to play THIS ONE". And, seeing as it's been said they had 40 paying accounts or so (before they went free or whatever I suppose), I suppose I'd be right.

I just wonder if there's no real market for a skill system game unless someone drops $150m and makes a true virtual world.

I believe that ganked website is drama from years ago.

[Azaroth]

Well, I'll be the first one to dispute the validity of any second or third hand internet drama postings. So take that site with a grain of salt I suppose, although I do know that the people who made the site are actually who they say they are.

The account numbers, or anything else really on the site, I have no idea. And I do know how annoying it is for people to believe all of the drama that they read, so I'll shut the hell up about it I guess.