Good review, but naive...AoC is far from being 'THE next leap forward in MMOs', unless you are strictly talking about the graphics. It's a cool game, sure, but I experienced nothing innovative at all, including the combat system. You also neglected to mention any bad aspects about the game, which there are plenty.
I assume you just don't have much experience with other MMOs, and WoW doesn't arm you with good experience in my opinion, so I can see why this game shines for you.
Anyway, it's still a good review, just wish you would have balanced the good with the bad and not blinded by the awesome graphics. Your character name gripe hardly qualifies as a major bad thing...
I hope you post a new review once the novelty wears off though
One thing I didn't quite understand, is your point about EQ having a negative effect on post-EQ MMOs?
Sounds - I was unsure what the Voice 1, Voice 2, Voice 3... options were so I tried a different one on each of five characters... I found that the voice-overs were too soft to hear? Not sure if I have set something up wrong, but the ambient sounds were very well done. (Though I had to stop playing the Necromancer because of the squeeling pig noise of her major DOT spell)
Hey, just wanted to comment that when I was in beta last week, I had problems with surround sounds. I had to uninstall my current driver and go with a generic HD sound driver. It works great now, and sounds awsome. For some reason the Realtek drivers that came with my motherboard were not functioning properly.
Just a suggestion. All I did was uninstall my sound drivers, restart, then let my vista 64 system find and install it's own HD sound drivers.
Sounds - I was unsure what the Voice 1, Voice 2, Voice 3... options were so I tried a different one on each of five characters... I found that the voice-overs were too soft to hear? Not sure if I have set something up wrong, but the ambient sounds were very well done. (Though I had to stop playing the Necromancer because of the squeeling pig noise of her major DOT spell)
Hey, just wanted to comment that when I was in beta last week, I had problems with surround sounds. I had to uninstall my current driver and go with a generic HD sound driver. It works great now, and sounds awsome. For some reason the Realtek drivers that came with my motherboard were not functioning properly.
Just a suggestion. All I did was uninstall my sound drivers, restart, then let my vista 64 system find and install it's own HD sound drivers.
Cheers!
Also about sound though... the SCORE is pretty damn nice.
Why do I write, create, fantasize, dream and daydream about other worlds? Because I hate what humanity does with this one.
LOADING screens LOADING screens LOADING screens in a MUCH too small world (how many zones ?) 4 to 5.
Originally posted by Zorndorf
Originally posted by Electriceye
...-The game opens up after lvl20. Did you know that? that would make it non-linear, much bigger zones --> less loading screens etc. And finally: I wish Darkfall was coming out soon but it ain't, sorry.
Past level 20 = the same number of loading screens sorry.
BUT much more Lag and Frames per second drops yes...
Think think think how could that be )))
I'm sorry, you really don't seem like you played the game, you seem like a Troll trying to bash the game for what he HEARD.
You seem more like if you are reffering to the Fileplanet open beta
Not much people got past lvl 20 yet in the EA, so...your post is obviously BS.
You'll be hard pushed to find any of RE Howard's Hyborian characters with surnames by the way. I can't recall a single one. I doubt they are allowing it, but Funcom should be letting players use the dash - to create names such as Thoth-Amon, Amon-Ra, Big-Titz etc. Wait, not Big-Titz obviously.
There are many characters in the original works of REH with surnames. Admittedly the majority don't have surnames, but they are there for sure.
Nice preview Wiccancircle ! It's a pleasure to read a Good Op post. I can't believe the improvement that have been made since pvp weekend I'm hoping they will improve it even further before release on the 20th, but regardless I hope to see you in game and have fun this weekend !
Do not mistake Indifference for Hate. Nor Kindness for Weakness. for this is the Bane of Judgment !
Great review but you really hate/seem biased towards WoW lol. All your comparison to it are about something negative.
It appears you are either WoW fanboi or WoW hater, no middleground there.
At least I got something out of that preview, he realy likes the first # of levels in AoC and hates WoW. It is kinda strange because there seem to be only 2 things that are realy diferent in that level span, graphics and combat. We all like graphics but not many people will get to see this game shine and I'm realy interested in seeing peoples reactions to combat once they get to play this game for a bit longer and do some PVP.
I was meh at first when AoC was anounced, then I got curious when all the talk about PVP and city building and crafting and combat started and I got meh again when I foundout howmuch of the game has arbitrary limitations. Instanced PVP, instanced guild citys and instanced dungeons, zones, zones, and loading screens, levels and loot and raiding.
I wait for a complete review once the game is out to see if my fears are justifyed, but until then I don't see much reason to leave the mothership.
So "next-generation MMOG" to you is just better graphics? please... - where is the innovation? the combat system is only marginally different than WOW-style button mashing and isn't really 'real-time' at all. - where are the new game mechanics? - all the linear, instanced outdoor areas and continual zone loading are seriously annoying. damnit i don't want a linear game... The only MMOG i know of that it really pushing the boundaries of MMOGs and will be coming out soon is Darkfall. {Snip} It's WOW with better graphics.
AoC has something that I have never seen before, it has a slow solo-to-smll-quest-teaming-to-full-game progression. For many people looking for a reason to not like whatever new has come out, this is fodder for them. It is designed to be fairly linear until 20th level so that children are not overwhelmed and demand that training wheels, safety nets and secure railings be put in place for them. Would I like it to be more open prior to 20th? You bet, I am an Asheron's Call baby, I was weened in the deep end of the pool that was AC during the early days. No safety nets there, boy.
It is rediculous to say that the combat is only marginally different than WoW. Even in the first few levels it becomes apparent that WoW-crud this is not. It is the most interactive an MMORPG has ever been. Not enough for some? PLEASE... that is just kids trying to find a reason to hate the non-WoW games. They complain about it not being revolutionary enough on their way back to old, outdated, single button bashing games like WoW.
Is it live action? No, if kids wanted that they wouldn't be sitting on their overstuffed asses playing toy games, they would join SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, join a Martial Arts school or practice archery or hunting... they don't they sit at a keyboard too fat, too lazy to move and complain that it is "Just punching buttons" Forget it, lost cause, there is no reason to even debate this argument.
Finally, if you are waiting for Dark(vapor)Fall(ware) and saying that this nebulous, will-o-the-whisp of a game has all the answers then you are treading in to the realm of theology not reality. The Flying Spaghetti Monster and Darkfall have much in common. NEXT.
Originally posted by MMOPLAYER321
Great review but you really hate/seem biased towards WoW lol. All your comparison to it are about something negative.
Yep, I use WoW as a foil because it is about 90% of the MMO market yet aside from bringing in hoards of people, added next to nothing to the genre. It is what most people have played and what many have only played. It is a solid icon for comparison. I didn't like it one bit. It was shallow and more like an onld Nintendo game than AC/EQ and sent the MMO industry down a wrong path. But, it is what people know and expect now (which is where the damage is)
Originally posted by SolarRain
You also neglected to mention any bad aspects about the game, which there are plenty. I assume you just don't have much experience with other MMOs, and WoW doesn't arm you with good experience in my opinion, so I can see why this game shines for you. {SNIP} I hope you post a new review once the novelty wears off though One thing I didn't quite understand, is your point about EQ having a negative effect on post-EQ MMOs?
I have not seen many bad aspects yet. The 'bad' I have seen in no worse than the 'good' in other games. It has nothing wosre, yet a few things more, than any other game in the genre. As I progress through the levels I am certain to find things I don't like (Such as the class structure that is a hold-over from EQ as I will explain in a moment)
My background in MMORPGs started in late November/early December 1999 with Asheron's Call, the best MMO made to date. I went from there to EverQuest, Anarchy Online, Asheron's Call 2 (worst MMO made to date), Dark Ages of Camelot (shortly), City of Heroes (Beta tester), LotRO (briefly) Tabula Rasa (horrid game) and a few others I might have missed.
As for the damage that EQ did to MMORPGs it is in the slot-car style characters and classes. AC had an open class system where people could be a War Magic Casting Sword Swinger (they would be a gimp, but eh, to each their own) People could take any skills they wanted which led to freedom and some very unusual skill combinations. Was PvP unbalanced? You had better believe it was. And that was a good thing. Freedom is never bad. EQ had no freedom because the devs there and every single idiot dev since has woken up in the middle of the night, soaked with sweat, shaking uncontrollably, terrified that there was a BattleMage under their bed.
This phobia of BattleMages, that me thinkst must have been started by the communists to ruin our MMOs for a decade or more, is rediculous. But it is the lingering stink that was left on the MMO industry from EQ et al. Had Asheron's Call marketed itself better it would have become the basis of how games would have been designed and we would be lightyears ahead in our games than where we are now. EQ and its clone - WoW are anchors that are holding back inovation in the industry.
Originally posted by DeaconX
Also about sound though... the SCORE is pretty damn nice.
Ah oooh yes, the musci in this is very well done. And this is coming from a audiophile pianist
"The reality of the poor in America isn't the difference between The Haves and The Have Nots, it is the difference between The Haves and The Have Lots."
As for the damage that EQ did to MMORPGs it is in the slot-car style characters and classes. AC had an open class system where people could be a War Magic Casting Sword Swinger (they would be a gimp, but eh, to each their own) People could take any skills they wanted which led to freedom and some very unusual skill combinations. Was PvP unbalanced? You had better believe it was. And that was a good thing. Freedom is never bad. EQ had no freedom because the devs there and every single idiot dev since has woken up in the middle of the night, soaked with sweat, shaking uncontrollably, terrified that there was a BattleMage under their bed.
This phobia of BattleMages, that me thinkst must have been started by the communists to ruin our MMOs for a decade or more, is rediculous. But it is the lingering stink that was left on the MMO industry from EQ et al. Had Asheron's Call marketed itself better it would have become the basis of how games would have been designed and we would be lightyears ahead in our games than where we are now. EQ and its clone - WoW are anchors that are holding back inovation in the industry.
I understand now, although I don't agree with EQ doing any damage and in my opinion EQ has never been surpassed by any MMORPG since, though I partially agree, the develops screwed that game. At some point a MMORPG was going to follow a rigid class based system, but you should probably blame D&D pen & paper for this, not EQ. The best thing about this system was each specific class had their place in the world, each were important well defined roles (well some less so than others) and totally removes cookie-cutter builds that we see today (and even pre-EQ days ie Meridian59 and UO) albeit not very much customisation and variety. But there is not even much uniqueness in some of the games today that avoid such a rigid system, because most just follow builds, as I said.
But I guess you feel it's better to have a more open system, ie a world full of mages with bows? I realise we prefer differen't systems, I'm not criticising you..only your attack on EQ which is a bit unfair But there's really no correct answer both systems have their flaws. AC was a very cool game I agree, and they got a lot of things right, but I never felt unique or important ever in that game. Meridian59 is my favourite system, but still people used the most effecient builds.Anyway, sorry this got a little off-topic
Originally posted by DeaconX
Also about sound though... the SCORE is pretty damn nice.
Ah oooh yes, the musci in this is very well done. And this is coming from a audiophile pianist
Nice to see people appreciating the score, I agree the music is very good. Coming from a composer and pianst myself
Comments
Good review, but naive...AoC is far from being 'THE next leap forward in MMOs', unless you are strictly talking about the graphics. It's a cool game, sure, but I experienced nothing innovative at all, including the combat system. You also neglected to mention any bad aspects about the game, which there are plenty.
I assume you just don't have much experience with other MMOs, and WoW doesn't arm you with good experience in my opinion, so I can see why this game shines for you.
Anyway, it's still a good review, just wish you would have balanced the good with the bad and not blinded by the awesome graphics. Your character name gripe hardly qualifies as a major bad thing...
I hope you post a new review once the novelty wears off though
One thing I didn't quite understand, is your point about EQ having a negative effect on post-EQ MMOs?
Just a suggestion. All I did was uninstall my sound drivers, restart, then let my vista 64 system find and install it's own HD sound drivers.
Cheers!
Just a suggestion. All I did was uninstall my sound drivers, restart, then let my vista 64 system find and install it's own HD sound drivers.
Cheers!
Also about sound though... the SCORE is pretty damn nice.
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
BUT much more Lag and Frames per second drops yes...
Think think think how could that be
)))
I'm sorry, you really don't seem like you played the game, you seem like a
Troll
trying to bash the game for what he HEARD.
You seem more like if you are reffering to the Fileplanet open beta
Not much people got past lvl 20 yet in the EA, so...your post is obviously BS.
There are many characters in the original works of REH with surnames. Admittedly the majority don't have surnames, but they are there for sure.
Nice preview Wiccancircle ! It's a pleasure to read a Good Op post. I can't believe the improvement that have been made since pvp weekend
I'm hoping they will improve it even further before release on the 20th, but regardless I hope to see you in game and have fun this weekend ! 
Do not mistake Indifference for Hate. Nor Kindness for Weakness. for this is the Bane of Judgment !
It appears you are either WoW fanboi or WoW hater, no middleground there.
At least I got something out of that preview, he realy likes the first # of levels in AoC and hates WoW. It is kinda strange because there seem to be only 2 things that are realy diferent in that level span, graphics and combat. We all like graphics but not many people will get to see this game shine and I'm realy interested in seeing peoples reactions to combat once they get to play this game for a bit longer and do some PVP.
I was meh at first when AoC was anounced, then I got curious when all the talk about PVP and city building and crafting and combat started and I got meh again when I foundout howmuch of the game has arbitrary limitations. Instanced PVP, instanced guild citys and instanced dungeons, zones, zones, and loading screens, levels and loot and raiding.
I wait for a complete review once the game is out to see if my fears are justifyed, but until then I don't see much reason to leave the mothership.
AoC has something that I have never seen before, it has a slow solo-to-smll-quest-teaming-to-full-game progression. For many people looking for a reason to not like whatever new has come out, this is fodder for them. It is designed to be fairly linear until 20th level so that children are not overwhelmed and demand that training wheels, safety nets and secure railings be put in place for them. Would I like it to be more open prior to 20th? You bet, I am an Asheron's Call baby, I was weened in the deep end of the pool that was AC during the early days. No safety nets there, boy.
It is rediculous to say that the combat is only marginally different than WoW. Even in the first few levels it becomes apparent that WoW-crud this is not. It is the most interactive an MMORPG has ever been. Not enough for some? PLEASE... that is just kids trying to find a reason to hate the non-WoW games. They complain about it not being revolutionary enough on their way back to old, outdated, single button bashing games like WoW.
Is it live action? No, if kids wanted that they wouldn't be sitting on their overstuffed asses playing toy games, they would join SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, join a Martial Arts school or practice archery or hunting... they don't they sit at a keyboard too fat, too lazy to move and complain that it is "Just punching buttons" Forget it, lost cause, there is no reason to even debate this argument.
Finally, if you are waiting for Dark(vapor)Fall(ware) and saying that this nebulous, will-o-the-whisp of a game has all the answers then you are treading in to the realm of theology not reality. The Flying Spaghetti Monster and Darkfall have much in common. NEXT.
Yep, I use WoW as a foil because it is about 90% of the MMO market yet aside from bringing in hoards of people, added next to nothing to the genre. It is what most people have played and what many have only played. It is a solid icon for comparison. I didn't like it one bit. It was shallow and more like an onld Nintendo game than AC/EQ and sent the MMO industry down a wrong path. But, it is what people know and expect now (which is where the damage is)
I have not seen many bad aspects yet. The 'bad' I have seen in no worse than the 'good' in other games. It has nothing wosre, yet a few things more, than any other game in the genre. As I progress through the levels I am certain to find things I don't like (Such as the class structure that is a hold-over from EQ as I will explain in a moment)
My background in MMORPGs started in late November/early December 1999 with Asheron's Call, the best MMO made to date. I went from there to EverQuest, Anarchy Online, Asheron's Call 2 (worst MMO made to date), Dark Ages of Camelot (shortly), City of Heroes (Beta tester), LotRO (briefly) Tabula Rasa (horrid game) and a few others I might have missed.
As for the damage that EQ did to MMORPGs it is in the slot-car style characters and classes. AC had an open class system where people could be a War Magic Casting Sword Swinger (they would be a gimp, but eh, to each their own) People could take any skills they wanted which led to freedom and some very unusual skill combinations. Was PvP unbalanced? You had better believe it was. And that was a good thing. Freedom is never bad. EQ had no freedom because the devs there and every single idiot dev since has woken up in the middle of the night, soaked with sweat, shaking uncontrollably, terrified that there was a BattleMage under their bed.
This phobia of BattleMages, that me thinkst must have been started by the communists to ruin our MMOs for a decade or more, is rediculous. But it is the lingering stink that was left on the MMO industry from EQ et al. Had Asheron's Call marketed itself better it would have become the basis of how games would have been designed and we would be lightyears ahead in our games than where we are now. EQ and its clone - WoW are anchors that are holding back inovation in the industry.
Ah oooh yes, the musci in this is very well done. And this is coming from a audiophile pianist
"The reality of the poor in America isn't the difference between The Haves and The Have Nots, it is the difference between The Haves and The Have Lots."
I understand now, although I don't agree with EQ doing any damage and in my opinion EQ has never been surpassed by any MMORPG since, though I partially agree, the develops screwed that game. At some point a MMORPG was going to follow a rigid class based system, but you should probably blame D&D pen & paper for this, not EQ. The best thing about this system was each specific class had their place in the world, each were important well defined roles (well some less so than others) and totally removes cookie-cutter builds that we see today (and even pre-EQ days ie Meridian59 and UO) albeit not very much customisation and variety. But there is not even much uniqueness in some of the games today that avoid such a rigid system, because most just follow builds, as I said.
But I guess you feel it's better to have a more open system, ie a world full of mages with bows? I realise we prefer differen't systems, I'm not criticising you..only your attack on EQ which is a bit unfair
But there's really no correct answer both systems have their flaws. AC was a very cool game I agree, and they got a lot of things right, but I never felt unique or important ever in that game. Meridian59 is my favourite system, but still people used the most effecient builds.Anyway, sorry this got a little off-topic 
Ah oooh yes, the musci in this is very well done. And this is coming from a audiophile pianist
Nice to see people appreciating the score, I agree the music is very good. Coming from a composer and pianst myself