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Newsflash. I actually enjoyed AOC and consider it a novel MMO.
sludgebeard
Member RarePosts: 788
I would never play the F2P mess the game currently is, but back in its time AOC actually had alot of great features. Guild Housing in an instanced plain with multiple other guilds was something I had never witnessed before, and the way they did it was fun but also took work and effort. The combat wasnt exactly action-twitch combat but more of a middle group with the multi-directional swing buttons. And the singleplayer story was just in the beginning of the game, and it was littered with open PvP areas, and lots to do.
I think of AOC as the middle point before MMO's went to shit, where instances were introduced because the graphics made it a necessity, where combat wasnt fully expanding but relied on unique systems, and where singleplayer story didnt encompass a seperate part of the whole game, but was rather a fruitfull narrative that coincided with the actual gameplay.
The idea now of being in a mostly single player zone and then being able to openly PvP with a small group, actually sounds novel sadly enough because most MMO's just arent that creative now or willing to try something that different, they all have a perfect label on them of either "Themepark or not" and they strict to standard guidelines rather than unique gameplay.
Even though people didnt eat up AoC, that was mainly in part of the "Over-Instancing" the game had, and the lack of replayability with dungeons and small areae for graphical constraints.
Anyone else think AoC was a novel MMO for its time even if it didnt stirke it big?
Comments
Yep, it was indeed. The graphics, the gameplay, the writing and the NPC interaction, all was massive. Bug count, also massive
But regardless of the buggy / bumpy launch, it was and still is a great game. And Crom is still strong, after all these years (and merges 
), Eu PvE ftw.
Errr... what mess? Its only real problem is the sub-only Godslayer, the main game is almost fully free... (almost: 10gold cap and limited inventory). I admit I too used to say (even though I never liked Godslayer) that overall it's a weak model since there's a firm subscription wall at the endgame, but for anyone just want to have 1-2 months of free fun with leveling and playing the original dungeons / raids, it's a great pick.
edit: for Scot, the villa grind got an alternate route with the Turan expansion. Yep, that level range was a "dead zone" back in the days... (also there's a few new missions I think, but still not enough for advancing those levels. Turan is nice, though)
Yes, it sure was (or is I guess we can say because noone seem to have picked up the innovation where FunCom left it).
The somewhat lowfantasy theme, the epic sieging and city building, the rivalry between guilds, the combosystem combat.
And like you touch on, the quests, was wellwritten and you actually cared about the poeple that had been wronged etc (especially in Tortage).
It can be (and has been) written many walls of text of what was the recent for success (1,1 million sold copies and 800.000 subs in the beginning) and what went wrong.To sum it up I think the reason for success was the first game directors Gaute Godager's innovative thinking and that he dared to think big rather than stay safe. How many game directors do this these days? He wanted to make rts mmorpg for both pve and pvp players and came up with the battle keeps in border kingdoms and the pve city instances where you see other guilds and fight over resources (especially on PvP servers). He also looked at actionbased combat games and wanted to put that into MMO (the combosystem).
The way I see what went wrong: Unfortunately FunCom went out of developement money and the game would have to be released. Lacking polishing, more wellwritten quests (outside Tortage) and a leveling zone that was later put in. Problems with imbalances/bugs with classes and other bugs to too long to fix probably to long backlog and a bit to small staff. Also FunCom had read to many "marking books" and learned that focusing on the postive is always right, while in really you have to admit that something is not working. ;-) Gaute Godager took responsibility and left, and after that the focus was more to pve and and only fixing what was there. The vison of the game Gaute Godager seemed to take with him.
Both the the great atmosphere and epic music also has to mentioned as a thing that added a lot to the game experience.
edit: Yea, forgot the great graphics!
I had so much fun that game, like you say with small group PvP with other groups you stumbled over etc. Also the game was nice for rp battles (writing a backstory for why you fight and actually fight ingame).
Things that never went from the drawing board to being implemented ingame was hiving (npcs attacking your city), and the tower system (just some part of it was later added). But one can only speculate what if FunCom had the money to balance the classes, fix a lot of the bugs and add the mid-level zone before launch what the game would be for many years), because it was not the same after so many players left and became free to play.
To me the most intriguing MMO genre is low-fantasy gvg rts mmorpg. Where you fight over resources that you need to build/expand/upgrade your keep and that blacksmiths, tailors etc. needs to make pvp gear. Why do not developers feel the same?
I sort of enjoyed the game quite a bit myself when it first came out.However when i recently went back it definitely seemed to change in the graphics.I remember the graphics were quite good,this time i saw very low poly graphics,idk maybe because i was in free mode i just don't know.Also i got bored with the beginning rather fast,i never really started to enjoy the game last time until Tortilege and beyond.
There were a few nuances that bothered me and that was the constant look of a single player game design.Example the houses unlit until you finished a certain quest,then light comes on is a VERY ,limiting design.Also the scripted sequences were a little too one dimensional it sort of got boring.
However overall ,i would still say the game offered a solid experience,better than most games out there.I would say i could still pop the game into the top 10 of all time.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Well put!
Yea that was partly because the zone Ymir's Pass wasn't in on launch.
Playing: Smite, Marvel Heroes
Played: Nexus:Kingdom of the Winds, Everquest, DAoC, Everquest 2, WoW, Matrix Online, Vangaurd, SWG, DDO, EVE, Fallen Earth, LoTRo, CoX, Champions Online, WAR, Darkfall, Mortal Online, Guild Wars, Rift, Tera, Aion, AoC, Gods and Heroes, DCUO, FF14, TSW, SWTOR, GW2, Wildstar, ESO, ArcheAge
Waiting On: Nothing. Mmorpg's are dead.