Tabu..wait... Richard Garriott back from the dead

[Venkman]

Good point. I meant the stuff that's come since they changed the theme to sci-fi.

[HaemishM]

The latest trailer was certainly an improvement over the one at E3, but I still remain skeptical.

[Reign]

That's what I'm not good at... shooters.  For some strange reason, they make me feel panicky.  I would really like to see Garriott do something wonderful, though...

Signe, the 'panicky-ness' is just the adrenaline byproduct of another player trying to blow your virtual head off. ; )

[SnakeCharmer]

Another TR video, with interview with Richard Garriott.

I'm a big fat wet n00b.

[Merusk]

Another TR video, with interview with Richard Garriott.

That's from last year's E3.  The Night Elf Druid running around on his mount in the middle of the interview instead of a TR clip was amusing though.

[SnakeCharmer]

Oh.  Shit.   I didnt hear the sound when I watched it, only assumed.  Thought it was new.

Fuck.

Nevermind!

[Mi_Tes]

Applied and have the benefactor stone from several E3's ago - anyone have an idea of what is up with the betas?

[Merusk]

Applied and have the benefactor stone from several E3's ago - anyone have an idea of what is up with the betas?

A few folks around here are in beta already.  They aren't allowed to explicitly say so, but they've :NDA: 'd enough to gather that much info.  Given the way one's planning on spending the entire summer dedicated to the beta, I don't expect to see/ hear about open beta before Q4 at the earliest.    Then again, I still think it's not coming out this year at all, so I'm biased in that opinion.

Really, if the game's farther along than I'm thinking, then their press has been pretty abysmal, and PR needs a kick in the pants.

[Trippy]

Really, if the game's farther along than I'm thinking, then their press has been pretty abysmal, and PR needs a kick in the pants.

Or maybe they are just PR shy right now after having hyped the original game design and then being forced to scrap it and start over.

[Murgos]

Richard Garriot.  A.K.A. "Lord, I live in a fucking castle, British" publicity shy?

Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

[Merusk]

What Murgos said.

Plus, for a game that's supposed to release in 5-6 months (on the outside) there's very little info out there.  All anyone really knows is "It's going to be a FPS-RPG hybrid with a unique lore." 

At this point SOMETHING about the rest of the game would be great, but all we've gotten for a long, long time is "RPG-SHOOTER!!" in various forms.  Wow, ok.. so I want to play for months at a time and pay the $15/ month, WHY?  What can I do besides running around leveling-up or advancing my character or whatever.  Is it's a world, with houses and crap? Do I group up for lootz and trinkets? Is there a story I'm following until I hit the 'end' and have to wait for more content?  If it's just to run around shooting things because it's fun and I get some kind of 'ding gratz' it's a little shallow for the hype.

[Furiously]

You could do all that in SWG - RIGHT NOW!

[Merusk]

Can you feel me trying to kill you with my mind?

[waylander]

IF I had some guild members in the beta, they might be interested in running with other folks who MIGHT be in the beta.  IF that were possible, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone via PM to make that happen.

[Murgos]

IF I had some guild members in the beta, they might be interested in running with other folks who MIGHT be in the beta.  IF that were possible, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone via PM to make that happen.

Well, that was subtle.

Last I heard was an email saying, "We haven't forgotten you yet!  Hang in there!"  I'm pretty sure I saw something from them in my spam box as I was clicking 'delete all' though so I'll probably be waiting a while.

[Mi_Tes]

Thanks for the info - guess I will try to be patient a little longer. 

Just noticed the official site has a new look, now being referred to as "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa", and says PC Gamer will have a three-page preview in the July 2007 issue. 

http://www.playtr.com/index.html

Looks like perhaps the PR just started?

[Slayerik]

Yuck...The bobbing aliens things...ug.

[Venkman]

He's not talking to the community nor the testers but he is talking to the press. Article in PC Gamer this round, short on real details, and he didn't play it for very long.  But this seems very much like typical corporate approach: talk to the media, not the actual audience.

[Mi_Tes]

He's not talking to the community nor the testers but he is talking to the press. Article in PC Gamer this round, short on real details, and he didn't play it for very long.  But this seems very much like typical corporate approach: talk to the media, not the actual audience.

That is odd.  Perhaps still a bit touchy given the AA experience?  But definitely doesn't seem like a game releasing this year with no hype and no word of mouth. 


PS  For anyone still missing the first TR, I finally found the unicorn screenies

http://media.pc.ign.com/media/016/016535/img_2226509.html



Edit by Trippy: made it a direct image just for fun

[Reign]

PS  For anyone still missing the first TR, I finally found the unicorn screenies   http://media.pc.ign.com/media/016/016535/img_2226509.html   http://media.pc.ign.com/media/016/016535/img_2226509.html

I seriously hate you man... past midnight here, I have church in the morning, and Im going to be laughing at that damn unicorn pic the entire night....and maybe through church tomorrow...

At least Garriott saw what a disaster the original would be and decided to make 'less' of a disaster...gotta give him credit for at least doing that much- Mcquaid should take a few pages from that methodology.

[Sir Fodder]

He's not talking to the community nor the testers but he is talking to the press.

He hasn't ever since the infamous apology statement was released during the Ultima IX debacle. His community manager advised him to stay away from the boards while she stepped up and took the heat (she was later axed in the TR meltdown). Weak.

[Lantyssa]

I seriously hate you man... past midnight here, I have church in the morning, and Im going to be laughing at that damn unicorn pic the entire night....and maybe through church tomorrow...

Some of us wanted one of those unicorns...

 

[Murgos]

Fortunately for the rest of us sentient red pandas don't make up a very large share of the MMO purchasing market...

[Chimpy]

Last time I checked, Unicorns only had one horn.

Sorry that is all I could think of after I looked at the picture. 

[schild]

I would've played the shit out of that weird harp slinging bard in the original TR.

That game had more color than Banjo Kazooie. It was gorgeous.

[Venkman]

He hasn't ever since the infamous apology statement was released during the Ultima IX debacle. His community manager advised him to stay away from the boards while she stepped up and took the heat (she was later axed in the TR meltdown). Weak.

Hrm, I missed that apology. Have a link? Just curious :)

As to titanic egos and their babies, maybe that's the case here. Or maybe they realize they can make money on releasing info through paid media so shouldn't waste juicy stuff on the folks charged to, like, you know, assess whether it's working or not.

Not that I speak from direct experience of course. This is just what I hear.

[Zonk]

I would've played the shit out of that weird harp slinging bard in the original TR. That game had more color than Banjo Kazooie. It was gorgeous.

I too will admit that 'what could have been' TR had an attraction. Nobody else would have played it, of course, but it was cool-looking. As far as that goes, Garriot's talk at GDC last year, where he broke down the huge problems the project had was as much of an apology as I think you're going to see.

Search indicated this hasn't been linked yet in this discussion, and it might be relevant, so: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/23/180259

Apologies if it's already shown up.

[schild]

There's something that's really bothering me about the PR for Tabula Rasa. Specifically, the ads and art they've chosen. If you're going to use phrases that make it sound like WWII propaganda. make the goddamn advertisements appealing in the same way. If I see a poster that says Know Your Enemy - I expect to see some crosshairs on a nazi looking mofo. I don't expect to see 2 people falling over while trying to shoot at some organicy looking mech. Also, I don't "Join the Fight" for a chick in yellow goggles. Even the website specific things like "Images from the Front" should have been sepia'd out.

If you're going to spend years and years on a game, scratch an entire version, restart - you need to make fucking sure that you have killer marketing, because, the way I see it - any of those pictures might as well say Failure. It's just as appealing, and possibly more honest given how mum everything is on it thus far.

Garriot could be the child of god and it wouldn't matter at this point. Blizzard will still have WoW out, and NCSoft hasn't made a single attempt to get positive word out about the game.

All I can do is hope that the inevitable launch of this title doesn't end in a series of interviews.

[Venkman]

I agree. There's a lot of inconsistent vision about this game, including, as evidenced, how to market it. The public image of TR has always been the weak link.

Fun though TR could be, I've long felt their biggest challenges are business related. Is PvE Planetside sellable in sufficient quantities? I hope we get to find out. But if the more time goes on, the more stiff competition it's up against. I still think they could can this thing. On one side is too much money spent to not get any ROI (though I'd contend that's offset by maybe wanting to avoid the ongoing cost sink of live). On the other side though is the public image challenges a non-uber launch/game could cause for many.

[Trippy]

Fun though TR could be, I've long felt their biggest challenges are business related. Is PvE Planetside sellable in sufficient quantities?

We still don't even fucking know if this game is really a shooter or some FSM-awful hybrid.

[schild]

Eh, it was playable at E3. It's what Star Wars Galaxies wanted to be. Mostly third person, twitchy-feeling lock-on combat with proper collission detection.

So, yes, it's a hybrid.

But!

The combat was tolerable. Basically, the metagame is going to make or break TR. Absolutely make or break it. Will the guild stuff be good? Will there be proper crafting? Player Housing? Will the loot system be appealing.

Honestly, if I was making a game with combat, the quality of loot would be directly below the gameplay/fun of combat itself. There's absolutely Nothing More Satisfying than a reward for your hard (or even easy) work. And, unfortunately, I think this is exactly where TR will fail. PvE battlegrounds is just a bad idea.

Let me explain all of this another way. This game has "been in development" for what, 5-6 years now? From what I was allowed to play at E3, short of some really gorgeous art assets, the game itself seemed like it could have been made by an indie dev house for 1/10th the cost. I hope I'm wrong.

[Trippy]

Eh, it was playable at E3. It's what Star Wars Galaxies wanted to be. Mostly third person, twitchy-feeling lock-on combat with proper collission detection.

So, yes, it's a hybrid.

Can you dodge shots or do you just stand there like a fucking idiot?

[Merusk]

The combat was tolerable. Basically, the metagame is going to make or break TR. Absolutely make or break it. Will the guild stuff be good? Will there be proper crafting? Player Housing? Will the loot system be appealing.

Exactly, and that's the exact stuff that there's been NO press on.  We just don't know what the rest of the game is. At this late date I don't take that as a good sign.

Eh, it was playable at E3. It's what Star Wars Galaxies wanted to be. Mostly third person, twitchy-feeling lock-on combat with proper collission detection.

So, yes, it's a hybrid.

Can you dodge shots or do you just stand there like a fucking idiot?

In that interview linked above, RG said something about there being dice rolls for shots.  So it sounds like you CAN move around, but the question is does it affect anything.  It's possible that moving adds a bonus to your doge roll, or the 'rolls' just determine how close to dead-on your shots have to be.   There's already "sticky" targeting, though, so I suspect movement is pointless.

[SnakeCharmer]

Re:  PR and advertising

Maybe they're taking an anti-Vanguard approach?  A quiet launch?  So, that if it falls and stumbles out of the gate, noone really notices, but if it takes off they can ramp up accordingly?

Wouldn't be the first time a MMO studio has tried something 'different'.

[Zonk]

I apologize for aiding in getting this conversation off track. I will now do my best to return it to the original focus: TR is still a mystery.

WarCry put up an interview last week with CuppaJo. http://tr.warcry.com/forums/read/191.42268

They um ... they still don't seem to know what their game is yet either. If anyone does, shouldn't they?

WarCry: We know that if your character dies in TR you will respawn at a checkpoint. What other penalties are there for dieing?

April Burba: We know we will have a death penalty, but it has not been added yet and we aren't really ready to talk about it until we have had a chance to put it in game and see how it works out.