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Author Topic: Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa - NCSoft - PC  (Read 15830 times)
schild
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on: January 07, 2008, 01:57:54 PM

From Morfiend.

Richard Garriott'sTabula Rasa. Now WITH Fun.

So I recently quit raiding and WoW in general, and decided to pick up the 3 day free trial of Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa. Here is my initial experience.

The download was large, coming in at 2.6gb but it's the full game, so not to horrible. The patching was about 10-15 minutes and then I was logging in. The character creation is pretty standard stuff. You pick your face and hair and the color of your starting clothes. One thing that I liked is when you name your first character, you give him first and last name, and it warns you "The last name that you pick will be applied to all characters on this account". When doing tells and group invites or talking in chat channels it just goes by just your last name. No more hiding behind alts.

On to the game. You log in to the "newbie zone" which is an instance for just you and you then get sent you on some beginner quests to get the hang of the UI and controls. The UI is a bit clunky at first, and I was annoyed that I couldn't move the bits and pieces around, but after playing for a bit I got used to it. You start with two "hot key" bars, one for weapons and one for abilities the "E" key cycles through your weapons and the "Q" key cycles through your abilities, weapons are used with a left click and abilities with a right click. I had read on the forums while at work you can set the game to MMOG UI mode and that it was better, so I tried that out. I did in fact like it better. In MMOG UI mode, you still have the two bars, but "Q" and "E" cycle only your weapon bar, and abilities are used by pressing "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" and not set to a mouse click.

I went through the tutorial and then got out in to the real world. I started picking up quests and I noticed that the end location is marked on your mini map with an arrow point where to go, and on your main map with an icon. This reduces a lot of the frustration of "The quest said to go north east, WHERE NORTH EASE?". So off we go to the first quest. I played for like 5 hours. At this point a strange thing happened. I found I was having fun. I continued playing and while I found a few annoying bugs, I was having a lot of fun.

Combat is fast paced and forgiving, so far not much DIKU type crap. Yeah there are healer type classes and tanker type classes but so far I found most stuff doable with ether class. The best way I can describe the combat is "Hellgate done right". Its like FPS with target lock also hit and miss is stat driven not twitch driven. The instances are fun, and they are much more open zones than WoW-esque dungeons. They also scale to the amount of people in your party so you can solo (some can be pretty hard solo) or go up to I think 6 people. My roommate and I have duo'ed every dungeon so far up to level 17. After playing the 3 day trial, both myself and my roommate bought the game, and a week later are still having a great time.

From what I hear there isn't much of an end game yet, and there are still a lot of bugs with questing, but from reading the forums the devs have been very active in patching in stuff, they are also doing content patches like the CoH Issues. The first one is due out next month and its going to add new races (right now can only be human) and also vehicles.

I also have to mention Cloning. Basically, you can clone your current character and make an identical alt, but with all his skill points reset. this is good because Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa uses class trees. At level 5 you make your first class choice, Soldier (direct damage) or Specialist (Healing + support). You can again make class choices at 15 and 30. Now the great thing about the clones is that you can make a clone at level 14.99 and then instantly have 2 characters, and you can try out both branches of the skill tree. I think this is a great feature when using a skill tree as you never have to replay the same part of the game as the same class to try a different end game class.

All in all I have been very surprised by Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa and have been enjoying it quite a lot.

Rating: Try the 3 day free trial.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2008, 02:15:09 PM by schild »
schild
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Reply #1 on: January 07, 2008, 01:59:55 PM

I'm going to immediately come in and say this, no reason to avoid it.

Quote
Combat is fast paced and forgiving, so far not much DIKU type crap. Yeah there are healer type classes and tanker type classes but so far I found most stuff doable with ether class. The best way I can describe the combat is "Hellgate done right". Its like FPS with target lock also hit and miss is stat driven not twitch driven. The instances are fun, and they are much more open zones than WoW-esque dungeons. They also scale to the amount of people in your party so you can solo (some can be pretty hard solo) or go up to I think 6 people. My roommate and I have duo'ed every dungeon so far up to level 17. After playing the 3 day trial, both myself and my roommate bought the game, and a week later are still having a great time.

While I'm glad you're playing this instead of WoW, TR is totally and completely Diku. The loot lacks no soul, so comparing it to a game like Hlellgate where - while it has it's own problems - is purely loot centric, is completely silly.

My new roommate played TR nonstop when he first moved in. Then he dropped it for Mythos. Now we play a lot of RTS lan stuff and TF2. But anyway, yea, it's diku and it's crappy loot, but there are worse things than that you could be playing.

And of course, try it, it's free. awesome, for real
WayAbvPar
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Reply #2 on: January 07, 2008, 02:09:49 PM

Quote
"The last name that you pick will be applied to all characters on this account". When doing tells and group invites or talking in chat channels it just goes by just your last name. No more hiding behind alts.

FINALLY!!! Glad someone finally sacked up and implemented this. I am taking credit for it, since I came up with the idea several years ago, and there is NO WAY that anyone else could possibly have imagined the same solution.

Hopefully my phat TR royalty checks will start arriving soon so I can build a castle to live in.

Quote
I also have to mention Cloning. Basically, you can clone your current character and make an identical alt, but with all his skill points reset. this is good because Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa uses class trees. At level 5 you make your first class choice, Soldier (direct damage) or Specialist (Healing + support). You can again make class choices at 15 and 30. Now the great thing about the clones is that you can make a clone at level 14.99 and then instantly have 2 characters, and you can try out both branches of the skill tree. I think this is a great feature when using a skill tree as you never have to replay the same part of the game as the same class to try a different end game class.

Interesting. Sounds like they at least tried to be different.

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
schild
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Reply #3 on: January 07, 2008, 02:11:01 PM

Quote
FINALLY!!! Glad someone finally sacked up and implemented this.

Guild Wars did this in a way, didn't it? Also, Granado Espada.
WayAbvPar
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Reply #4 on: January 07, 2008, 02:11:46 PM

Never played Granado. Can't remember Guild Wars. Not a real MMOG anyway  Ohhhhh, I see.

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
schild
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Reply #5 on: January 07, 2008, 02:12:53 PM

Never played Granado. Can't remember Guild Wars. Not a real MMOG anyway  Ohhhhh, I see.

If you've played TR, you'd realize that short of some large scale battles, it isn't one either.

TR, like everything not WoW or EQ2 in the Big Boy's Arena, just has a long way to go, still. It's not as bad as launch anymore though.
MrHat
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Reply #6 on: January 07, 2008, 02:14:31 PM

Sounds interesting enough to give it a spin tonight.

At least, before I reup my WoWhoring ways.
Morfiend
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Reply #7 on: January 07, 2008, 02:14:39 PM

I wasnt comparing the game to Hellgate, only the combat mechanics. Also, so far I dont feel Dike at all. Maybe in later instances, but its very far from Tank/DPS/Healer from what I can see. Maybe this changes at later levels but so far it doesn't seem Diku to me. WoW and EQ2 are very Diku, this I guess the closest thing I could call it would be semi-diku in that some classes can heal and some can take more damage.

What makes you call this game a Diku?
WayAbvPar
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Reply #8 on: January 07, 2008, 02:16:07 PM

Never played Granado. Can't remember Guild Wars. Not a real MMOG anyway  Ohhhhh, I see.

If you've played TR, you'd realize that short of some large scale battles, it isn't one either.

TR, like everything not WoW or EQ2 in the Big Boy's Arena, just has a long way to go, still. It's not as bad as launch anymore though.

Maybe they can unfuck it enough to make it playable in 6 months or so. I should be good and bored with EQ2 and PotBS by then...

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
Trippy
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Reply #9 on: January 07, 2008, 02:17:02 PM

Guild Wars is just two part names (first and last) -- i.e. the last name doesn't have to be the same on every character. Granado Espada has a "true" family name that all your characters share.
schild
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Reply #10 on: January 07, 2008, 02:17:45 PM

I wasnt comparing the game to Hellgate, only the combat mechanics. Also, so far I dont feel Dike at all. Maybe in later instances, but its very far from Tank/DPS/Healer from what I can see. Maybe this changes at later levels but so far it doesn't seem Diku to me. WoW and EQ2 are very Diku, this I guess the closest thing I could call it would be semi-diku in that some classes can heal and some can take more damage.

What makes you call this game a Diku?

I watched a mid-tier player play through it for a few weeks.

Grind grind grind grind ding grind grind grind.

Just because it's shooty, it's still very much dice and still very much diku. Dice roll. You gain levels. You get a lot of useless boring loot. You fight the same shit over and over. You gain levels. You hope the endgame doesn't suck when you get there.
Morfiend
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Reply #11 on: January 07, 2008, 02:20:36 PM

I always thought Diku was Tank/DPS/Healer, not a game with levels and exp and "end game".
Rasix
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Reply #12 on: January 07, 2008, 02:23:06 PM

I see how people could like this title.  It had much more of an "actiony" feel to it.  It's trying to be different, I'm not really sure it succeeds or succeeds in a way that is interesting.

I'm not interested much in whether people call it DIKU or not (I don't think loot makes the decision, but action RPGs aren't DIKU and this isn't an action RPG), but the combat felt like SWG: NGE.  I couldn't get past that.  You hold a cursor over, lock on, and it's basically auto attack from there.  I'm not sure this game would have done enough different past the introductory levels to make me get past my dislike of the combat on an atomic level.

I really wish I would have tried this with my new set up.  It was REALLY ugly with my last vid card and I'm sure I'd get a better feel for the visuals with the settings on high.  However, I don't feel like jumping through the requisite hoops of going about another 3 day trial since it'd likely require another NCSoft account.   Ohhhhh, I see.

-Rasix
Rasix
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Reply #13 on: January 07, 2008, 02:27:41 PM

BTW, can we not get hung up on the DIKU definition again? This term almost generates as much useless text as Console v. PC.  This game is pretty much a tweener, and discussion can easily fall on either side. 

-Rasix
Morfiend
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Reply #14 on: January 07, 2008, 02:30:52 PM

What I tried to get across and really the only thing that matter to me is that I am having fun. The game feels fresh and it seems like its trying to do some thing different. This is my initial impression and so far I want to keep playing. Right now I am not asking for anything more.
Aez
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Reply #15 on: January 07, 2008, 02:41:08 PM

I played both game.  I can't imagine any angle from where TR's combat would be better than HG:L.  Maybe if you have a major paralysis or lacking 2 arms.

Maybe there's a little bit more of tactic in TR but it's great deal less twitchy than HG:L.
Johny Cee
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Reply #16 on: January 07, 2008, 02:43:44 PM

I'm not interested much in whether people call it DIKU or not (I don't think loot makes the decision, but action RPGs aren't DIKU and this isn't an action RPG), but the combat felt like SWG: NGE.  I couldn't get past that.  You hold a cursor over, lock on, and it's basically auto attack from there.  I'm not sure this game would have done enough different past the introductory levels to make me get past my dislike of the combat on an atomic level.

I guess I could see this, if you only ever fight one guy at a time.  Groups, baby, groups.  If you're fighting less then 5 guys you're doing something wrong.  Then, you have to priortize who you're taking down, what weapons you're using(shotgun for aoe damage and knockback?  chain gun for heavy single target damage? etc), movement (forward, back and circle strafing to stay out of melee range of mobs,  and to continue to line up the most mobs for your aoe attacks).

I'd call it a full on action rpg.
Ratman_tf
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Reply #17 on: January 07, 2008, 02:45:56 PM

What I tried to get across and really the only thing that matter to me is that I am having fun. The game feels fresh and it seems like its trying to do some thing different. This is my initial impression and so far I want to keep playing. Right now I am not asking for anything more.

TR comes up on another board I frequent. The common theme is that it's fun and interesting for about a week or two. Then you move on.




 "What I'm saying is you should make friends with a few catasses, they smell funny but they're very helpful."
-Calantus makes the best of a smelly situation.
Rasix
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Reply #18 on: January 07, 2008, 02:54:07 PM

I'm not interested much in whether people call it DIKU or not (I don't think loot makes the decision, but action RPGs aren't DIKU and this isn't an action RPG), but the combat felt like SWG: NGE.  I couldn't get past that.  You hold a cursor over, lock on, and it's basically auto attack from there.  I'm not sure this game would have done enough different past the introductory levels to make me get past my dislike of the combat on an atomic level.

I guess I could see this, if you only ever fight one guy at a time.  Groups, baby, groups.  If you're fighting less then 5 guys you're doing something wrong.  Then, you have to priortize who you're taking down, what weapons you're using(shotgun for aoe damage and knockback?  chain gun for heavy single target damage? etc), movement (forward, back and circle strafing to stay out of melee range of mobs,  and to continue to line up the most mobs for your aoe attacks).

I'd call it a full on action rpg.

Sounds like playing an ice mage in WoW.  awesome, for real  This is why I hate getting stuck on definitions.  The tweener label may apply here too, of course I may be an odd one in that I don't consider CoX an action RPG either.  But then this just becomes your definition v. my definition. 

That sounds like more fun than the game showed me.  Games, especially MMOs, need to hit me in the face with their strengths right away.  Otherwise, they just go into the huge ass bucket labeled "probably not as fun as resubbing to WoW".

-Rasix
Venkman
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Reply #19 on: January 07, 2008, 03:27:22 PM

I'm really confused. 1) Why is this not in MMOs; and, 2) Why is TR being discussed as if we don't have a 24 pager for it already, with comments?

Help! I didn't even know this sub board existed, and now I have to leave the MMO section to talk about an MMO? I can't do it! You can't make me!
Morfiend
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Reply #20 on: January 07, 2008, 03:31:57 PM

This is "But Is It Fun" its for mini reviews that consist of first impressions of games and links to the front page.
Fordel
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Reply #21 on: January 07, 2008, 04:51:27 PM

You can name yourself what ever you like in GuildWars, but all the characters on a single account are tied together.

If I join a Guild as Fordel Sturmvogel, then make an Alt called FatJoe BobJim. I'll show up on any friends/guild lists as FatJoe BobJim (Fordel Sturmvogel). So you can't really hide away behind alts.

and the gate is like I TOO AM CAPABLE OF SPEECH
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Reply #22 on: January 07, 2008, 08:41:47 PM

I'm not interested much in whether people call it DIKU or not (I don't think loot makes the decision, but action RPGs aren't DIKU and this isn't an action RPG), but the combat felt like SWG: NGE.  I couldn't get past that.  You hold a cursor over, lock on, and it's basically auto attack from there.  I'm not sure this game would have done enough different past the introductory levels to make me get past my dislike of the combat on an atomic level.

I guess I could see this, if you only ever fight one guy at a time.  Groups, baby, groups.  If you're fighting less then 5 guys you're doing something wrong.  Then, you have to priortize who you're taking down, what weapons you're using(shotgun for aoe damage and knockback?  chain gun for heavy single target damage? etc), movement (forward, back and circle strafing to stay out of melee range of mobs,  and to continue to line up the most mobs for your aoe attacks).

I'd call it a full on action rpg.

Sounds like playing an ice mage in WoW.  awesome, for real  This is why I hate getting stuck on definitions.  The tweener label may apply here too, of course I may be an odd one in that I don't consider CoX an action RPG either.  But then this just becomes your definition v. my definition.  
If you are running around with the shotgun TR definitely feels like an action RPG cause you have aiming but no targeting. It's the explicit targeting with the other weapons that turns the game back into an non-action RPG and it's why CoX isn't an action RPG either -- it never lets you "hide" the targeting mechanism like TR does with the shotgun.
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