Chronicles of Spellborn - [RELEASED...kinda]

[Mrbloodworth]

There is no north America client yet, is there?

[ashrik]

Dang I can't register, the I'm-not-a-robot thing is broken

[Nija]

Chronicles of a Stillborn.

[Draegan]

Something to try later tonight.

[kildorn]

Dang I can't register, the I'm-not-a-robot thing is broken

Maybe you're a robot.

[Ard]

Dang I can't register, the I'm-not-a-robot thing is broken

Maybe you're a robot.

Apparently he's got the wrong cowboy as his avatar:

[Ghambit]

Dang I can't register, the I'm-not-a-robot thing is broken

I just told you to ignore that when it locks up.  Check your Acclaim account and see if you're "active."  Chances are it went through it just didnt show you the fancy "you are accepted" screen (hell, they probably dont even have one yet).

note:  you might have to register an acclaim account prior to trying to access the "beta."  I was already registered, so it just added the game to my list.  Y'know, all this still might not even work after I DL this damned client - that'd be humorous, but expected.

[ashrik]

I'm trying as hard as I can

Maybe I should have added the dash

[kildorn]

Use Bold tags, duh.

[Ghambit]

Intriguing... maybe try a different browser, right-clicking "view image," or fiddling with your browser settings (perhaps your security is too high)

[Draegan]

I refreshed the page and I got it to work, hit submit, the page hung.  Then I got an email saying I made an account.

Friend of mine tried the software and couldn't log in.  Though he probably made a mistake.

[ashrik]

I've not nothing in IE, Firefox, or Chrome. Same when security levels are dropped. You crazy kids go and have fun with your new toy. Sometimes it's fun to sit things out.

[Ghambit]

update

-Acclaim Closed Beta has been delayed to an unspecified date.

-Both Nov 27 and Dec 5 were the announced days that the game was to go into CLOSED BETA.

-If your Acclaim account says "Active" it is a bug (as of Dec 5). As of Dec 5 no beta invites have been sent out and nobody has been accepted to the beta

-Do not download the client from the tcos.com website. This is the client for the EU Version of the game and you will not be able to use it.

-If you are accepted into the Acclaim Closed Beta you will receive an email with a link to download the client. It is for this reason (in my opinion) that no invites have been sent out yet.

-Expected release is January 2009

I finished DLing my client and of course when I went to logon it wouldnt let me.  Seems even though it says "active" it's really not and I've gotten my hands on an EU version that wont work anyways.  (sigh)  are we surprised?  How in the hell do you have a beta for some people and a release for others?  Both with totally different clients,  whilst simultaneously releasing a free2play client for some while another region waits.  You cant even view the current TCOS website because it senses your location and routes you to shithole Acclaim... which is buggy and slow (just like the tcos site).  If you're already an acclaim registrant it still asks you to "register" and promptly hangs when you do-so.

... sometimes I wonder why, just "why?" 

[Zzulo]

this is an enormous clusterfuck of a release

what the hell are they even doing

[schild]

what the hell are they even doing

Wondering why your grammar and punctuation is non-existent, most likely.

[peryn]

The link for the European version redirects to the NA publisher if your IP isn't located in Europe. Just use a proxy located in Europe to bypass it. I used this one: 88.191.68.84: 3128.

[waffel]

Is it even worth all the hassle?

Can you sign up on the europe site, download the client, and play with an american IP?

[Iniquity]

what the hell are they even doing

Wondering why your grammar and punctuation is non-existent, most likely.

I felt his total lack of punctuation and grammar added to making the point.  Like the famous (100% NSFW) "WHY IS THERE A CHILD" photo, where it took a guy typing in all caps under the handle 'Assface' to be the voice of reason and decency.  Like how the only guy who refused to participate in the My Lai massacre was the one uneducated simpleton.  From the mouths of babes...

[Zzulo]

I am a lazy man and due to me forumiting at other forums, I've got used to a lesser form of grammar

[peryn]

Is it even worth all the hassle?

Can you sign up on the europe site, download the client, and play with an american IP?

Give me about 12 hours and I'll tell you. The downloader is cruising along at 20 kB/s.

[Falconeer]

I'm closer.

I could come up with an unfair BIIF in 4 hours from now.

[Falconeer]

No no no... just no NO!

My gawd NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[peryn]

Sounds like a hit.

[schild]

It's that bad? Say moar.

[Falconeer]

I am not doing my homeworks which would suppose I endure the punishment game well over the first 30 minutes, I try to understand how's advancement like, I give a fairer shot to combat maybe trying to figure it out in a PvP context, and cut it copious amounts of slack when it comes to the UI or the visuals.

But I can't. It's like I'm allergic to this game. Had to quit in a rush and now I am fighting the urge to uninstall and wipe it from my hard disk for good.

[ashrik]

It's alright. You're safe and it can't hurt you now.

Just try and remember what happened, it's important that you remember.

[peryn]

Just finished the download and install so I'll give my first impressions of my 45 minutes or so of playing.

As many have noted, the artistic design in this game is amazing. It's even more out-there than World of Warcraft which might turn off some. I've honestly never seen a game world quite like this one. Surely one of the high points of this game.

Technically, the game doesn't run amazingly. I'm getting 10-15fps, although my system is somewhat outdated -- Geforce 6800, 2.8GHz P4, 2.5GB DDR3200. It does look great, and turning the detail down makes the game run fine.

The gameplay seems unique so far, but altogether somewhat clunky. Think of the 10(?) hotkey bars in WoW, now imagine you could only use one of those hotkey bars at a time, and they rotate every time you use an ability. Essentially, you're picking one ability out of 3+, and then the hotkey bar rotates to the next one, and then back again. As you gain levels you unlock more abilities to place in each hotkey bar, or tiers as they are called, and unlock more tiers to rotate through.

If it sounds confusing, it is. But confusing in a good way maybe? There is obviously a tactical element here, not only in which abilities you use in combat, but which ones you select going in. This will definitely be interesting to see how this dynamic affects PvP.

Questing has been annoying so far. The directions are about as poor as you could imagine, as one quest told me to go west when the rabid dog I was supposed to kill was north. A lot of the quests seem to suffer from this.

The widlife and AI seems very nice. Some animals are somewhat timid and will slowly approach, and then back off if you approach them, slowly testing the waters. It's not quite as good as The Saga of Ryzom's creature AI, but it has the same feel.

Overall, first impressions are good. This is by no means a terrible, or bad game. I'm only level 2 however, but nothing screams "omgwtfdikufail" quit yet.

[Signe]

Dude.  You're naked.   

[peryn]

Dude.  You're naked.   

Just guess what's below the picture cutoff. 

Another picture. This game is purdy.

[Signe]

Is that your hair?  Or are you wearing a bonnet?  Also - your hands are SO BIG!  WOWSERS.  And someone glued a tiny cricket bat to your back.

Just sayin'.

[peryn]

Is that your hair?  Or are you wearing a bonnet?  Also - your hands are SO BIG!  WOWSERS.  And someone glued a tiny cricket bat to your back.

Just sayin'.

Sorry, I'll remake my character for you ASAP.

Here's my updated impressions after playing for a few hours:

Combat: This is the only selling point I see for this game. If I could describe it in a quick sentence, it would be Guild Wars, meets a trading card game, meets Rune (this Rune -- http://runegame.com/). Combat has a huge amount of tactical depth, and is at the same time takes a lot of twitch oriented reflexes.

You have to be aiming the reticle at whatever your attacking for the hit to land, and the target must also be in range. This gives the combat system its twitch feel, and you'll often find yourself falling back, or strafing around the enemy to dodge attacks. Fighting other humanoid NPCs is where this gets very interesting, and resembles somewhat of a dance. Unfortunately, it seems that strafing in circles might be a better tactic than moving in and out of combat, and strafing all the time gets to be very dizzy and tiring (for me at least).

The abilities you gain affect combat in more ways than just numbers. My Rogue Trickster, for example, has an ability that teleports me behind an enemy and disables their ranged capabilities. I can see how this will disorient players in PvP and really highlights the theme of the class a mischief-maker.

The hotkey rotation I talked about earlier makes combat even more unique. While you have to be focused on positioning your character and weaving in and out of combat range, you also need to be considering which abilities to use and when. There are many of the usual state affecting abilities, and my Trickster seems to specialize in reducing the concentration of my enemy which opens them up for a sort of fatality move. Sequencing the abilities in an efficient manner depends on timing, and the fact that your opponent is constantly moving makes this require a great amount of skill. I found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed in some combat situations because of the frantic pace of combat, and keeping up with which abilities to let off and at which times will undoubtedly frustrate many. All in all this is one of the best combat system I've ever experienced in a MMO, if only because it requires complete concentration and tactics to beat some harder foes. Simply pressing 1 over and over will beat weaker foes but it wont hold up against tougher enemies, and especially not in PvP.

Character Creation: Nothing too out of the ordinary. There's (I think) 3-4 body size presets, 2 races, and a dozen or so facial features. Where the customization comes into play heavily is with the items and clothes you give your character, which are purely cosmetic. The ability to choose from hundreds of colors for each individual item, and the dozen or so different clothing/gear sets available (which you can mix and match) I was able to make my character look pretty fucking terrible apparently. I haven't seen many people who look alike yet.

Questing: Fuck. FUCK. I don't know what they were smoking when they wrote the directions for the quests in this game but they are completely worthless. Go kill a Rabid Dog to the West, only by West we meant North. Go find this person whose near this building over here in this city, only we meant that other building on the other side of town that is completely different than the one we told you to go to. FUCK!

Honestly, the writing is fine, and the quests are fun when you figure out where to go. But someone just forgot to proofread the fucking directions.

Interface: Pretty standard. I can't find anything to complain about other than the chat window being impossibly hard to read most of the time.

Controls: Takes some getting used to, and I think they could improve them quite a bit more. Rotating your character without using the mouse is unusually slow, but when using the mouse it's fine.

Sound: Great, although sparse music. The ambient sounds are what you hear most of the time, and they're great. The other sound effects don't stand out too much, but they aren't bad by any means.'

Other stuff: Combat mechanics really need to be explained more in depth. I didn't even realize until about 30 minutes of playing that the reticule needed to be centered on the target for a hit to land. Also, strafing feels unintuitive. Why am running in perfectly uniform circles around bears again?

Stability isn't bad for release. There weren't many players around, but I didn't experience any lag and had only on crash when I was modifying some UI elements.

I can't wait to try PvP, and I have a strong feeling that with NPC combat being good that PvP will be great.

[Iniquity]

Anyone care to get me up to date on the PvP ruleset(s)?

[lac]

If anybody was interested in this but was put off by the slow download speeds, it's fixed. Their torrent client does a steady 1700 KB/s for me now where it was terribly slow before.

[Signe]

I didn't say you looked TERRIBLE.  I was just wondering if it's hard to swing your cricket bat with your GIANT HANDS. 

I haven't tried this yet.  I'm too distracted by other stuff right now to a new MMO.  I want to, though.  Hopefully before they completely bugger everything up.

[Falconeer]

it's giant hands AND giants feet. Characters are possibly the worst looking part of Spellborn and what definitely made me nauseous yesterday.

I'll try to force me to play again, after a fair dose of antiemethic, and I'll check out the points Peryn made. But there's something toxic about this game.
The clunkyness for starters. The bad performances especially when coupled with imaginative but overall poor visuals, and the general feedback of combat and UI.
Can you spell "not satisfying"? Ryzom flows strong in Spellborn blood. Just without the originality of that one.