I've been hearing that Ages of Conan may have similar sandbox abilities, there's already housing in the beta I think. The animations in AoC is almost video-like, it might be an alright game and hopefully it gets a decent crafting and economy system.
Eve Online is the closest thing I found. Even though it has a great crafting system, it still does not compare to SWG. As for the community, I found it to be comparable. I'm looking forward to Age of Conan. After SWG and EQ2, I just prefer games that have fewer kids in it.
Saga of Ryzom, tho as the earlier poster stated the game in financial difficulties and will fold if a buyer not found very soon.
Most sandbox of any game and with an even better crafting system than SWG. No point allocation for skills which I found sorely limiting in SWG - not possible (at least in beta and during the 6-8 mths following that I played) to have a fully developed crafting and fight character; in Ryzom can pursue all skills to the max (250) level.
Crafting is similar to SWG in that the characteristics of the mats influences the properties of the items produced. Where Ryzom differs, and imo surpasses SWG, is that SWG crafting was largely determined by the random mat generator. - which on Intrepid produced crap fibroplast for 7 entire months heh. In contrast, all crafters have the same range of mats to work with in Ryzom, and what determines the outcome is the ingenuity with which the crafter combines the mats. The process is by no means proforma - can't just load all max damage mats and get an uber weapon - as each mat both raises and lowers various properties and too many max damage mats will dump speed, parry, dodge, raise the adversary's dodge or parry, lower durability etc to mention just some of the weapon's characteristics the crafter can influence. Armor can be made mob specific as another example of the customizability of items - we can max out dodge or parry, and protection for specific damage type to suit what we are fighting.
Skills are also customizable. We can eg, configure attacks to draw more or less from our character's stats, configure heals to do mostly hps with some stamina and sap replacement, or all stamina etc.
The ultimate mmo sandbox imo. And worth a look in its potential dying days from a game design point of view if nothing else as I understand the starter island trial is still available, and you will get an introduction to the features I described here which really are out of the box ingenious. While the range of mats on the starter island is sorely limited - no excellent or supreme quality mats which are needed to hit 100 on craft screen when creating items, you can get a sense of the system by placing 10 yubos eyes in the magic amplifier plan (which you get while doing the crafting quests) and making the best lvl 5 magic amplifier available there .
I have no idea who the designer of Ryzom's crafting system was, but lord I wish Turbine would hire him or her heh. Three years after the launch of Ryzom players are still creating new recipes with the same mats - deserves a spot in an mmo designer's Hall of Fame. Great shame you didn't stumble on this game as I did as it was a wonderful replacement for early SWG, and great pity so few have heard of it and it appears one of the very best mmos will dribble away .
i just had a thought, if you havent tried Oblivion yet take another look it is a type of singleplayer sandbox,
Excellent diversion, with a multitude of ways to play your char. Literally hundreds of dungeons,wide open spaces,Dozens of quests, Just wish they would come out with more expansion's. And make it multiplayer.
I beat Oblivion a few times already and after I found broken quests which in no way could be completed unless one used cheats, the game pretty much lost it's glamour.
Thanks for the feedback.
Ironicly, Oblivion doesnt hold a candle next to Morrowind if you look at singleplayer sandbox, and morrowind isn't even a whisper in a wind next to Daggerfall if you look at world, options, freedom, choices and "living" the game instead of gaming the game. Unless you only focus on GFX..then Oblivion rawks the other two heh..thats the only thing it rawks with.
The ironic thing, is that "The Elder Scrolls" have been NGE'd every time a new version has been released... And yet, people look to Oblivion as a "SWG singleplayer sandbox option".
Comments
I've been hearing that Ages of Conan may have similar sandbox abilities, there's already housing in the beta I think. The animations in AoC is almost video-like, it might be an alright game and hopefully it gets a decent crafting and economy system.
Eve Online is the closest thing I found. Even though it has a great crafting system, it still does not compare to SWG. As for the community, I found it to be comparable. I'm looking forward to Age of Conan. After SWG and EQ2, I just prefer games that have fewer kids in it.
Saga of Ryzom, tho as the earlier poster stated the game in financial difficulties and will fold if a buyer not found very soon.
Most sandbox of any game and with an even better crafting system than SWG. No point allocation for skills which I found sorely limiting in SWG - not possible (at least in beta and during the 6-8 mths following that I played) to have a fully developed crafting and fight character; in Ryzom can pursue all skills to the max (250) level.
Crafting is similar to SWG in that the characteristics of the mats influences the properties of the items produced. Where Ryzom differs, and imo surpasses SWG, is that SWG crafting was largely determined by the random mat generator. - which on Intrepid produced crap fibroplast for 7 entire months heh. In contrast, all crafters have the same range of mats to work with in Ryzom, and what determines the outcome is the ingenuity with which the crafter combines the mats. The process is by no means proforma - can't just load all max damage mats and get an uber weapon - as each mat both raises and lowers various properties and too many max damage mats will dump speed, parry, dodge, raise the adversary's dodge or parry, lower durability etc to mention just some of the weapon's characteristics the crafter can influence. Armor can be made mob specific as another example of the customizability of items - we can max out dodge or parry, and protection for specific damage type to suit what we are fighting.
Skills are also customizable. We can eg, configure attacks to draw more or less from our character's stats, configure heals to do mostly hps with some stamina and sap replacement, or all stamina etc.
The ultimate mmo sandbox imo. And worth a look in its potential dying days from a game design point of view if nothing else as I understand the starter island trial is still available, and you will get an introduction to the features I described here which really are out of the box ingenious. While the range of mats on the starter island is sorely limited - no excellent or supreme quality mats which are needed to hit 100 on craft screen when creating items, you can get a sense of the system by placing 10 yubos eyes in the magic amplifier plan (which you get while doing the crafting quests) and making the best lvl 5 magic amplifier available there
.
I have no idea who the designer of Ryzom's crafting system was, but lord I wish Turbine would hire him or her heh. Three years after the launch of Ryzom players are still creating new recipes with the same mats - deserves a spot in an mmo designer's Hall of Fame. Great shame you didn't stumble on this game as I did as it was a wonderful replacement for early SWG, and great pity so few have heard of it and it appears one of the very best mmos will dribble away
.
I beat Oblivion a few times already and after I found broken quests which in no way could be completed unless one used cheats, the game pretty much lost it's glamour.
Thanks for the feedback.
Ironicly, Oblivion doesnt hold a candle next to Morrowind if you look at singleplayer sandbox, and morrowind isn't even a whisper in a wind next to Daggerfall if you look at world, options, freedom, choices and "living" the game instead of gaming the game. Unless you only focus on GFX..then Oblivion rawks the other two heh..thats the only thing it rawks with.The ironic thing, is that "The Elder Scrolls" have been NGE'd every time a new version has been released... And yet, people look to Oblivion as a "SWG singleplayer sandbox option".