Tabula Rasa: Studio Visit and Hands-On

Stradden

Recently, Community Manager Laura Genender visited the NCSoft offices in Austin, TX to take a look at the upcoming MMORPG, Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa.

Recently, I traveled to Austin, Texas to visit the NCSoft offices and to take a look at the upcoming MMORPG, Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa. During my stay I got to talk with Garriott about the new game, as well as sample it for myself!

Speaking With Garriott

Tabula Rasa is so named for the blank Logos tablets that players start with, but the name also fits Garriott's approach to the game's design. He feels that our industry has entered a status of stagnation: MMOs today all base their foundations off of UO and EQ. In making Tabula Rasa, Garriott's goal has been to rethink the genre completely, and to start with a blank slate (the English translation of the title).

Garriott feels that TR offers players new approach to MMO gaming, and he highlighted five ways that it does so:

Combat: Garriott described the average MMO combat system as a more technical version of whack-a-mole: you autoattack, watch your UI, calculate what combination of skills produces the most DPS - rinse and you repeat.

Read the whole article here.

Vinadil

This game actually sounds more and more interesting with every report.  If the biggest low spot is that the in-game action takes away from your desire to read quest text... then I might actually consider that a good point.

In most games I generally skip the quest text... after a few years of reading the same basic thing with only the "end" different it all becomes meaningless anyway.  Until a game can come out with writing as good as a published novel and the ability for the player to actually reach the "end" of the story and impact it in some way... then I don't really see the need for quest text and such.  There are many, many good sci-fi books to fill my reading time, but a decent sci-fi MMO (that is avatar driven) would be something quite new.

defenestrate

Doesnt sound like laura was really impressed.

Mrbloodworth

As far as skipping dialog text, maybe Voiceovers are in order for this kind of a game.

The game sounds fund, and keeping the reviewer in mind (VG is "the shitt", and not into FPS's), i bet its allot more fun and engaging than this article leads you to think.

 

Good article nonetheless.

edmonal

It's interesting to see this game progress and some of the philosophy behind the design choices. Richard Garriot is creating it and I am biased to his work (Ultima I on Apple IIc anyone?) but he has put a lot of thought behind the player experience. It's nice to see something different then the usual run of the mill fantasy treadmill. Hopefully it won't end up being a run of the mill sci-fi treadmill.

Sramota

In all fairness, I don't like long quest texts and jibberish,
and I want fast action, and I hate fantasy...
For some of us this game is just getting insanely great.
Hopefully mr Garriott will have the decency to put in voice-overs AND shorten the info as much as possible and instead involve the story during the combat...

God I want this game soooo bad..

CuppaJo

Yup - Voiceovers are being added.

Romse

CuppaJo! Nice to see you around!

You may not remember me... I was "Premium" on the CoH/CoX boards



(CuppaJo is in charge of the community for Tabula Rasa and former Community Director...?(or something like that) for City of Heroes)



You know what you guys need? A good cinematic giving everyone an idea what the TR world is about.... something giving us a feel for the game and what can be expected. (and not just people shooting floaties).

Something like what CoH had where you see characters in "signature" situations... conversing in a way that you intuitively understand what their (and what would be your) world is like.



Right now all I get from what we've seen so far is that I'd be fighting waves after waves of aliens all from the interstellar force of invading aliens... so as I understand it... the same aliens... only tougher...

I think you guys need to break away from this perception people are getting.



Also, I get this very generic perception from the game... like it's every Sci-fi MMO... tech, guns, aliens, planets

I have not followed this game very closely but everytime something from it has managed to grab my attention, it did nothing todraw me in.



I find a video does the job real quick in a very efficient manner.

T3hpwn

I have one question: what is the point of a game so fast paced it slams you through without story where there is no PvP? At least if they are slaming you through sans immersion to end game PvP, there is a purpose.

Maybe I'll play, but most likely not until they add PvP. The game and setting seems so perfect for it too, that's what is sad. It could have been the game that changed MMOs forever by pitting the invasion forces against the "good guys" and making battles matter.

raykor

"Garriott even alluded to possible future plans of player-owned outposts and PvP, but not at launch."

This is good to hear.

I never played Ultima Online, but the general consensus seems to be that it was famous for its great PvP.  Given this background, it seems odd that Garriott didn't make PvP a higher priority for Tabula Rasa.

dalevi1

I have been looking forward to this game as well, but much more so when it was in it's infancy stages with housing and other social mechanisms being planned at launch. I have heard once that housing had been dropped altogether (Garriot made a random comment about the use of housing in a warzone), and now they are saying it is planned for a future update, which makes me queeez and wheez because I have heard that before in other games, never to see it hit the light of day. The quests text doesn't really bother me since a well made world can lead to people creating their own content. The lack of some planned pvp at launch also bothers me, because (even limited) pvp does facilitate the creation of player created content. I am not an all-out no-holds-barred pvp player, I do enjoy voluntary pvp though. The lack of a planned pvp system at launch makes me think there is no way they wil get it right the first time in a patch or expansion. Like housing, it may never come, or like other games be so badly done in it's inception that the company spends a year trying to get it right.



The more I read about this game, the less excited I am about it. They are making the same mistakes as 90% of the games out there, and I see nothing leading me to believe that 1) They are going to deliver on their ideas, or 2) That they are going to deliver it in a playable state. Player housing and PvP systems need to be structured for launch. Today's mmo needs to have their core systems in place before they hook umpteen thousand players, so those players don't feel cheated or scammed when they are forced into nerfs for a new system that doesn't exist. I had hoped TR would have learned this lesson after 6 years of development and one do-over. Apparently they have not. It's a real disappointment for me personally too.

0over0

The gameplay mechanics sound really great. And regardless of whether or not it ends up being a game that I play, I give them 5-star kudos for trying new stuff.

As long as everyone stands around saying "This is great. Everything's perfect," then nothing will change. Change is good.

Taera

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth


As far as skipping dialog text, maybe Voiceovers are in order for this kind of a game.
The game sounds fund, and keeping the reviewer in mind (VG is "the shitt", and not into FPS's), i bet its allot more fun and engaging than this article leads you to think.


 
Good article nonetheless.

Don't get me wrong, I think TR is a fun game and I feel like it introduces a lot of new elements to MMOs - I LOVE bringing tactics back into battle.  I had a lot of fun just finding new areas and figuring out how to combat the enemies there - is there a shield drone I have to get close to?  A security camera I have to avoid?  A linker I need to kill as fast as humanly possible?

My problem is that I'm not really feeling the world immersiveness that  I think they're aiming for - I think they have the pieces in place, but they need to find a way to bring the user closer to that.  I also didn't feel much quest direction, but it's still a ways from launch.  It's got my attention, which is no small task, but that leads to the next task: Keeping it.

Taera

Originally posted by Sramota


In all fairness, I don't like long quest texts and jibberish,

and I want fast action, and I hate fantasy...

For some of us this game is just getting insanely great.

Hopefully mr Garriott will have the decency to put in voice-overs AND shorten the info as much as possible and instead involve the story during the combat...
God I want this game soooo bad..

I don't like LONG quest texts and such, but a good storyline that draws you in - whether by shorter dialogue, or showing you a story playing out - really polishes up a gaming experience for me.  From my play experience, I had a good time doing quests and I felt like I was a part of the story, but I was never realy clear about what the story was.  There's still time before launch though and I think that, if they get that pinned down, this promises to be a good game.  I really, really enjoy the combat.  Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed the combat?

Thasri

I'm in agreement with most of you guys that quest text is a distraction but I'm sure the story arc's in the later parts of the game will be more engaging and compelling than the starting area. RG has said before that in the beginning of the game will be more like a tutorial and the good stuff comes after lvl20. So I'm still looking forward to the game, they need to just go ahead and send that beta invite to me lol. cough cough wink wink.

Robbgobb

Understood what was said but I am one that reads the text even if I am in a hurry. I like to read the text just because I like to know the story. The fact that one wants to rush by the text makes it seem like I will be having a challenge. Hope the game just keeps improving. I can't wait to try this game whether by beta or buying it.

Xix13

Got to throw in a little from the other side here.  I'm one of those who likes the stories.  I read quest text religiously.  Groupmates from many games will concur that Xix is usually the last in line for the tansport to the instance ("wait please...I haven't finished reading yet!").  I often get killed in games because I'm looking around at the environment while something nasty this way comes.  I'm kind of disappointed to hear that TR is becoming an FPS not only in combat style, but also in immersability ().  What's very strange is that while Lord British's single player masterpieces have always involved incredible storytelling and immersion, his MMO offerrings have been just the opposite.  UO was the original sandbox, with almost no questing or direction.  UO also had the crafting and housing we seem to be missing more and more in recent MMOs.  While not as complex and community-building as pre-CU SWG, UO broke the ground for both those mechanisms.

I'm wondering why MMOs are moving in the same direction as single-player games did.  From thought and take-your-time turn-based wargames to "fast-paced" RTS.  I can only hope that somewhere along the line, MMO developers will find a way to integrate the storytelling and community-building back into the action.  (I really think AA gave it the best shot to date, and for some reason even the producers of that one, which I still like a LOT, don't want to continue developing it.)  "Fast-paced" combat is fine, but if you want knuckle-grinding PvP action with no story, grab your copy of Unreal or the like and go to it.  I hope they at least give a thought or two to what's happened to the wargaming industry.  It's stagnated to the point of disappearing.  No more turn-based OR RTS stuf has come out in a LONG time.  No longer can grognards find those great complex chess battles of history, or even the fun of the old Warcraft II, C&C and TA days.  An entire segment of gaming is just virtually gone.

With TR being the ONLY Sci-Fi on the visible horizon, I intend to give it a try.  It's got both a designer and a company I like behind it (Garriot and NCSoft).  But I'm very worried that it won't be anything at all that I'll have the ability, reflexes, etc. to play. 

Lobotomist

Ok...yet another Guild Wars



Just that is not as indepth strategy like Guild Wars , and it has monthly fee.



Only good thing going for this game is their graphic department...

Kremlik

Originally posted by Lobotomist

Ok...yet another Guild Wars



Just that is not as indepth strategy like Guild Wars , and it has monthly fee.



Only good thing going for this game is their graphic department...

 

Hmm? I'd like to know where you assummed this from..

Let me guess 'It has instances it's published by NC so it MUST be GW..' by that logic Dungeon Runners is also GW...

Try again..

Kremlik

Anyway ignoring the oddness above...

Althogh many players would be going ZOMG! it's not a true FPSMMO as it has targeting!! I do actally like the idea of soft targeting as long as it comes with some sort of limitation (for example guns overheat more, if they actally will overheat that is) but I also like it becuase although it's kinda FPS ish the softtargeting also allows the non-elite shooters out there to enjoy the game (I know I'm one of them) also as it stated in the article it speeds up the gameplay a lot more as you'll spend more time moving and less time aiming..

The only problem a forsee with these types of games is lag, lag will deffinitly disrupt and destroy gameplay theres nothing like shooting a ton of buttles that don't actally do anything for at least 6 seconds but then you suddenly fllop over as about 60 have only just registered hitting you and you'll have no idea where they came from.. As long as the servers can cope with the numbers of players (and on the client side their pcs can run the numbers ok) I see a lot of fun from this...

Shotgun anyone?

_Shadowmage

---

Originally posted by Xix13
No more turn-based OR RTS stuf has come out in a LONG time. No longer can grognards find those great complex chess battles of history, or even the fun of the old Warcraft II, C&C and TA days. An entire segment of gaming is just virtually gone.

---

You need to get out a little more.

- WH40K: Dawn of war, dark crusade, winter assault
- Battle for MIddle Earth
- Star Wars Empire at War
- Command & Conquer 3
- Supreme Commander
- Company of Heroes

There is a ton of great RTS games out in the last 2 years and more on the way.

_Shadowmage

---

Originally posted by dalevi1
The lack of some planned pvp at launch also bothers me, because (even limited) pvp does facilitate the creation of player created content. I am not an all-out no-holds-barred pvp player, I do enjoy voluntary pvp though. The lack of a planned pvp system at launch makes me think there is no way they will get it right the first time in a patch or expansion.

---

I think they meant Clan pvp holding/losing outposts is not in for release.

They were certainly talking about having voluntary - dueling and group pvp in for launch.

I could be wrong on that though.

Individual housing - I just dont see that fitting the war setting. I would like to see clan bases though.

Aseenus

Stradden no offence or anything but maybe ur not as good a multi tasking mmoer?



some people can read and shoot etc fast as and some cant, myself id probebly be like u, but i dont care much for story line or reading quests :P

shae

I really liked the part about questing and coming upon a town that had been taken over by the "bad-guys", thus forcing you to help in the fight. I'm really interested in how much this game is going to bring you into the story line, for that reason alone I'll keep an eye on it.

Thanks for the article Laura. TR is certainly staying on my watch list.

Landogarner

TR reminds me of Huxley, minus the pvp content and player skill actually making a difference in battle. I'm doubtful of the amount of actual strategy needed. All pve is the same, you learn to beat an ecounter then rinse and repeat it over and over. Though I would like to give it a try to see for myself. I would love to be proven wrong.   

Jerana

I blame Garriott for getting me addicted to gaming in the first place with the Ultima series. I am definitely interested in seeing how this game takes shape. Lately it seems that "player immersion" is what I am looking for in a game and the idea that instances could be used like a single player story driven game excites me because it offers a change from the "lather, rinse and repeat" versions of questing and adventuring that we get with other MMOs.



With the addition of voiceovers I think it would help to capture my interest, I don't mind reading the quest text, but a poster above pointed out that we have plenty of good novels to read, we don't really want to waste time reading a ton of text. Especially if that text could be captured better by a few lines of voice dialogue. They need to blend an Oblivion style dialogue into the games.



Thanks for the informative article!



~Jerana