All Posts by Soldarith

Originally posted by Warcriminal

from the Beta forum:

We have a ton of stuff coming in the next few patches so we wanted to give you a 10,000 foot overview of what we are working on.

 

 

Death Penalty

New Tabbed Chat System

Crafting - the current system is just a placeholder.

Map system improvements and revamp

Clan PvP

Clan system improvements

Improved Audio and Art

More missions, story arcs, and areas

UI Improvements as listed in the UI post

 

This is a perfect example of what troubles me the most about the development mentality for this game: We will be releasing brand new content, one month prior to release, with the hopes that all the bugs and tuning get worked out before-hand...Honestly, whoever pulled the trigger on the release date ought to be hung - That action alone will hurt this title, very much; possibly to a level that is not recoverable.

I truly wish this game the best, I was very excited about it when I first heard about the game. But honestly, after playing months through the beta, this title is so far from completion it is down-right scary.

Honestly? Spend the $5 and do the pre-order thing. If you don't like it, hey, you're only out $5. If you like it, hey, your game cost that much cheaper in the end (and you will get a start in retail). It may or may not be for you. You can listen to all of our reviews, suggestions, comments, etc but in the end it is YOUR money; make the informed decision and try it for $5, I suppose.

Originally posted by donaldduck

All the NOs

Wouldn't even play it for free - its a pitiful effort especially coming from someone who said other MMOs are stale...

TR brings NOTHING new to the table and actually takes many steps backwards in most areas.

^ What he said.

I wouldn't touch it, even if it were free.

Informative and detailed. Although very long, I think that many people will gain a lot of insight into the game and how it works by reading through the whole posting - I skimmed through the details primarily because I've been through the beta for months myself.

All-in-all I totally agree with a majority, if not all, of what you wrote. In the end, I still cannot believe that this game has been in production for six years and this is what we end up with as a final product - Very disappointing, especially when I very much wanted to see this title succeed.

Originally posted by _Shadowmage

 

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However I did say that someone who has contributed nothing to the gaming industry shouldnt be calling someone like Richard Garriot (20+ years of RPG's produced, Hall of fame inductee) a has been.

Actually, Richard Garriot deserves all of the slamming that comes his way because of this title. RG is a "has been", at this point. His first shot at TR left nobody even wanting to touch the thing - How's that for "out-of-touch" with the industry? Then he markets himself and his game to the point that nothing short of a perfect MMO will meet a majority of players' expectations. Honestly? If he spent more time actually working and directing the product instead of marketing his name and the product, it may have turned out different.

So welcome to Brad McQuiadism, Richard! You can preach but you sure can't produce.

Let's see how long it takes for the game's title to change back with his name removed. Sorry, I cannot help but think RG's time is done and this title is nothing short of six wasted years and millions of investment dollars.

Originally posted by _Shadowmage

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Originally posted by Soldarith
However, the game code went gold this week as well. This means that "what you see is what you get" in retail.

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Maybe you could post a source for this? Otherwise I am calling BS on this one - the code hasnt gone gold. I havent seen any official post to that effect. Games generally go Gold - two weeks before release as thats the time it takes to get the disks burned, manuals printed and the games shipped to stores.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/34162/Tabula-Rasa-Goes-Gold

There is your official post. And umm no, games don't go Gold two weeks before release - That is an impossible distribution timelime. Games typically require one solid month to go from gold to actually sitting in boxes within stores - This includes burning the DVDs, packaging, QA testing, sending out the product to distributors, and then finally to retailers.

The NDA was lifted for the expressed purpose of the testing community to share their game experiences with the public. I have chosen to do so in the form of a "report card" from my playing perspective. Yes, the game is technically still in beta; and I take that into account. However, the game code went gold this week as well. This means that "what you see is what you get" in retail. Minus a few more bug fixes, tweaking, tuning, etc there is not a whole lot they can do in terms of drastic changes within one month's time - And their patch cycle is 2-3 WEEKS for any changes. The reason I wrote this article now is because the chances of any of these items being drastically changed or altered prior to release is just slime to absolute zero - This is being wholeheartedly truthful, not pessimistic.

One aspect that I did not even grade, and it would fail, is the game's infrastructure and networking. The game servers have been bombing for the past two weeks, making it impossible for players to get a full "session" of test time in without a crash or disruption. With these strict play test sessions, the game honestly has not been able to optimize network code or its infrastructure to support continuous high load play - This will hurt in retail when players are paying to play on their servers. Honestly, this is very frightening.

Having players beta test your game is a win-win, always. You ask someone for their time and in return you receive insight to play styles, play habits, performance, bugs, exploits, feedback, and ideas that your development staff never thought of - You cannot obtain this type of information and experience from anywhere else (not even from paid testing). Make no mistake about it, however, development knows that the beta testing process is a double-edged sword: If the player feels their game is strong, they will let everyone know; if the game feels the game is weak...likewise.

I have to say that while games do garner and generate a player's emotions (which is a good thing), there really is no need for you guys to flame one another back and forth - People will either like this game or not; simple.

Back on topic. There are a few features of the game that really could have set it apart from the rest of the crowd but fall SO short (shamefully):

1.) Logos. What an absolutely fantastic idea! It is a shame, however, that it was implemented so very poorly. Logos should really separate your character from all the other 'normal' humans...but the game just doesn't give you that "I'm special" feeling. You go around and collect countless Logos symbols, memorizing them into your tablet, then continue on your merry way in the game. There just isn't enough in-game emphasis on Logos or the use of them for your character - This is just a huge missed opportunity for the game to provide some much needed story depth and draw to the player.

2.) Character classes are just very bland. With so few abilities available to each class, and most of those abilities just being variations of other class abilities, there is a true lack of distinction among players (not only in abilities but appearance too). Shamefully, you really do not feel anymore powerful as a level 30 Spy than you did as a level 8 Recruit - You just now have some different named abilities. Overall, I found the class abilities to be very unoriginal and unimaginative and just plain dull. Looking through the Tier 4 abilities really made my Ranger sigh.

3.) The game's crafting system. WOW. I have to say that this was one of the absolute worst crafting systems I have ever seen implemented within an MMO. The crafting process is just plain boring and the items you create not only cost you more than their vendor versions but are hardly any different than vendor versions! There is just no compelling reason to craft in the game. Nevermind the fact that in order to craft, you will need to spend your valuable ability points into a crafting skill - This means NOBODY will train into crafting skills on their main character and everyone will be left with crafting alternate characters.

4.) Character cloning. What an absolutely fantastic idea that went from super to horrible in a matter of a patch. This was one of the largest draws to the game for many players and they choked it into ultra blandness. Now, you will have to "earn" your character cloning points in order to clone your character. Some character cloning points are based upon your character level, while others can be earned via in-game quests. Previously character cloning was unlimited and allowed players to explore all of the different bland character classes available. Now, character cloning is a very careful and very concious decision a player must be very concerned about making.

Two pieces of news I'd like to share:

1.) The game has gone gold. What this means is that the client you played in Beta this week is essentially what you will find on your TR CD when/if you purchase the game in the stores (this doesn't mean there won't be updates on opening day - I assure you there will be tons):

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/34162/Tabula-Rasa-Goes-Gold

2.) The game's pricing structure has been released. WOW, I am very disappointed/dismayed. $14.99/month...I wish them all of the luck in the world - I just cannot justify a monthly fee for this game.

http://www.plaync.com/us/news/2007/09/ncsoft_announce_22.html

Originally posted by pkim96

BUT I do have a major issue with the poster calling it a 'final' report card.  For a MMO that is still in beta, and for the MMO genre in general, it is absolutely ridiculous to think that you can do a final judgment of the quality of the game.

Many people have been sounding off and saying the game is incomplete in its current iteration.  In this MMO market, that is almost to be expected.  In any game development, the last months are the most critical.  I'm sure that the developers are aware of the Vanguard debacle, and they will do what they can to avoid falling into the same trap.

While I do respect your opinion, the game is set to release in about one month's time. There is no possible way to fix the glaring issues (or lack of *blank*) with the game before release. What you see now is what you will get in retail; this is how the final stage of beta testing works (minus some minor tweaking here and there).

Honestly, incomplete games should NOT be accepted by the player community. This game has been in production for 5 years. There is absolutely no excuse for this title to be in the shape it is in currently. Investors want to see return on their investment; players do to - And both rightfully deserve it.

What is truly concerning for me is that a pricing plan has not even been announced for the game; scary because nobody knows what the business model will be. Many in the testing community voiced concerns over any attempt to make the game a monthly payment service, simply because they did not feel it would be justified by a monthly cost - I personally think that tacking a monthly fee onto the game will sink it faster than Vanguard.

The game, in its current format, just does not hold interest beyond a few weeks of play for many of the testers/players of the game. The depth just isn't there. The fun factor subsides too quickly. The uniqueness of your character and class choice just isn't there. The content to support any play above level 30 just isn't there (except in the form of grinding) - Even if this content magically appears after retail, there has been no player testing or tuning and will more-than-likely result in many frustrations; at the paying players' expense. Many class abilities are still not working and/or are completely broken and have not had the chance to be tested or tuned (and with their track record of drastically nerfing/tuning abilities in late closed beta...the retail players have some very painful months ahead of them, I'm afraid).

Blank Slate’s final report card

1.)    Introduction – A (excellent)

a.       Fantastic graphics and sound. Your background story was “kind of” told but it really felt like it left too many questions. At any rate, this is an improvement of galactic proportions compared to the previous in-game footage intro. This is your point in making a first impression on the customer and you deliver well.

2.)    Character creation – F (fail)

a.       This has to be the single-most disappointing factor affecting the game’s overall score. The character options are dull, lack any creativity or detail, and have a very “rushed” feel to them. The character creation process, and lack of meaningful options, harkens back to circa 1999-2001 MMO character designs. At this stage of MMO evolution, expectations are significantly higher than the game delivered. Furthermore, having players spend time customizing their character’s clothing and armor, giving the false belief that it is how their character will look, is disappointing and very misleading.

3.)    Controls – C (average)

a.       Over two decades of WASD/mouselook controls, in every known game genre, and the game attempts to break this design in lieu of “speed”? FPS games have been using mouselook very successfully, along with the countless twitch-reaction players. I’ve never seen one complaint in regards to sluggish or slow controls. I would like to chime in with the cynical “If it’s not broken…” line, however, if the designers truly believe the standard needs to change, the game/design team really need “ante up” to prove to the industry why. Performance, speed, quickness, etc just do not hold enough clout as reasons due to the quickest-reaction games (FPS) having no issues with current standard design. There are other very obvious and very severe problems that plague MMOs today; it’s not controls.

4.)    Quests – C (average)

a.       Excluding any pre-conceived notions because of the enormous amounts of hype surrounding the game, I must say that the quest system (minus very few exceptions) is average. The only exception to this average rating was the refreshing idea behind radio missions (a’la adhoc quests). However, this occurred too far and few to really affect this category’s overall rating. Quest types, quest dialog, and quest interaction were what you would expect for any MMO designed since 2001. You do receive some story background through the questing system; however, it fails to invoke any emotion, on my part as a player, toward the overarching storyline.

5.)    Graphics – B (above average)

a.       The only failing aspect of the game’s superb graphics system is the absolutely steep hardware requirements. I will cover system requirements in a later category, however, it is safe to say that the average gamer, with the average game system, will see average/below average graphics produced in the game -This is a shame because the game does some fantastic work on graphics, if you have the monster system to produce them.

6.)    Music – F (fail)

a.       The music within the game did not conjure any deep-rooted emotions in me that attached me to the game’s story or the survival of the human race. In fact, I found the music in zones and instances to be very repetitive and synthesized to the point of taking me back to the days of single-player games of the early 1990’s. Don’t get me wrong, that music was good for those days of gaming; however, we’ve advanced forward by almost two decades since then. A player should not just hear the music but feel it as well; it should invoke and convey the intended feelings the designers wish the player to experience. The repeating music loop on the login screen alone makes me turn the volume very low and in some cases completely off.

7.)    Sound – C (average)

a.       Sounds were found to be average in the game: from voices to weapons. Nothing really innovative, unfortunately. I was exciting when I heard an NPC vocally dictating my first mission to me, and then quickly became disappointed as the NPC went mute after the first paragraph. I believe that full vocal mission text would be a welcomed option by many gamers that would push the game above the average MMO system.

8.)    Performance – D (below average)

a.       I understand the game is currently in the final stages of Beta, however, I would have expected network performance and design to have been flushed out by now. With every new wave of recruits into the Beta test, performance continues to degrade. Unfortunately, with very limited testing sessions, I cannot see how this problem will be fully overcome prior to the game’s retail release.

9.)    System Requirements – D (below average)

a.       The bare minimum system requirements for the game are very high. However, optimum performance requirements are almost out-of-reach by many would-be players of the game. Honestly speaking, it is just unrealistic to expect your player base to consist of just gaming machines built within the last 18 months. Many of the “cool” features and graphics within the game are missed with gaming systems that hover around/above the minimum specs.

Overall – C (average)

b.      Tabula Rasa attempted to break some MMO design molds; however, the attempts within the game felt half-hearted and never thorough enough to completely follow through with ideas: crafting design, ever-present NPC-waged war, control points, class design/distinction, progressiveness/meaning in leveling, etc. Some critical features, like character creation, map graphics/detail, and lack of a full PVP system are nothing short of devolutionary in current MMO design. While the game’s hype machine will claim revolutionary and evolutionary designs and game play, reality shows that they are just concepts that never fully flushed out within the game’s world.

c.       In regards to content, it is deeply concerning to see the level 30+ game world devoid of appropriate level and new content; this late in beta testing. The game essentially becomes a grind to achieve any higher levels and I cannot feasibly see this changing prior to or even shortly after retail release. If the MMO market has proven to us anything in the past, it is that grinding/treadmill progression is not what excites players. Some aspects of content just feel incomplete, such as class goals/roles, lack of a trade medium (i.e. auction house or pawn shop), dilemma/moral system, and the map’s very blocky graphics. Furthermore, I would be hard-pressed to pay-to-play this title under its current content.

d.      The second largest threat to the success of the game is how it attempts to mesh FPS and MMO designs, while never really attaching and sticking to one or the other. I feel that, like some unsavory and unpopular politicians, the game “straddles the fence” on its overall design; never really pleasing one crowd or the other, in the end. This is dangerous design territory and fear for the worst (but hope for the best) in its reception by both divergent player groups (MMO and FPS fans).

e.      I feel the single largest threat to the game is the sheer amount of hype that is publicized by some of the lead designers. Hype is a double-edged sword and some tend to forget this. The more hype you place out into the public about your product, the more expectations that form because of it. This may sound well and good until you realize that if you do not meet those ever-increasing expectations that you planted, you may never recover that confidence again.

f.        Tabula Rasa is a solid average MMO title. However, with a market already saturated with average titles and the hype/expectation of this game in being a spectacular ground-breaking title, I fear that there will be disappointments to come. In playing through the beta, I must say that listening to Richard Garriott’s interviews and speeches make me feel like I am playing an entirely different game than what he is describing.

"Stillborn" is what I would call this title releasing next month. It has a solid 3 months of hard work needed, just to get it into what I would consider beta - Sadly, the game has been in closed beta for a while now but I would call what I've been playing for the last three months+ an alpha phase game.

Everything that needs to be said has pretty much been said already: There is just FAR FAR too much missing from this title that you would expect from any half-decent MMO being put to market today. The UI takes you back to EverQuest 1 days, no auction or pawn shop system, no mounts/vehicles, absolutely NO content beyond level 30 - Did I mention NONE?, uninteresting storyline, average MMO quests, experience system allows for rampart kill-stealing, no grouping advantages/bonuses, class structure doesn't support abilities to level 50 (the level cap), half of the Tier 4 abilities do not work and have not been tested, MANY core class abilities change dramatically each patch (i.e. are not even tuned)...etc. This list could go on and on for pages.

I truly appreciate being able to beta test this game for the amount of time that I have; it has save me lots of frustrations, missed expectations, and money. My advice: Stay away from incomplete MMOs; TR is an incomplete MMO. This game does not deliver on the empty promises. In my book, this title has played Richard Garriott in the same category as Brad McQuaid; that is NOT good.

I have recently taken part in a few MMO closed beta tests and have become increasingly unsatisfied with what I am seeing with the overall quality of the products. So I sat down this morning and wrote up a quick document that outlines my expectations of a "this generation" MMO. I visit MMORPG.com frequently, so I figured this was a good location to share my thoughts with a like-minded community.

1.)    Aim high on system specs but don’t forget about the “normal” people.

a.       Average gaming computer lifespans are at about 2-4 years. Remember this when you design your game’s hardware requirements. It is OK to utilize the latest, greatest, and sexiest hardware and features on the market – and players expect this. However, understand that not everyone can upgrade their gaming computers every two years to stay ahead of the hardware curve. Be considerate, and expand your potential target audience, and keep the minimal hardware specs as low as possible without sacrificing game quality. It is inevitable that you will cut some players at the legs if your minimum hardware specs are too high and they feel they cannot enjoy your game without a new computer – This is lost business!

b.      Just because your game is playable with 4 year old computer hardware does not mean you should not take advantage of the latest technology on the market. Your game’s highest settings should be forcing the latest hardware to spew out gorgeous visuals and sound, while providing spectacular smoothness and playing experience. Don’t be satisfied with just pushing the envelope, rip it completely open (ex. Currently graphical physics accelerators are getting good reviews but are still underutilized in the gaming industry).

2.)    Gripping, engaging, stunning, and tantalizing cinematic introduction/trailer/teaser.

a.       The graphics must be top-of-the-line. Never, ever, and I mean ever, exclusively use in-game footage for your game’s cinematic intro! This is your one and only chance for a first impression on the player, make it count.

b.      The core story of the game must be introduced to the player.

c.       The sounds and music must be able to fully support the graphics.

d.      Combined together, it should pull the player into the story, making them feel like they are integral.