More Horizons Impressions

ianubisi

I'm still very early in the playing of Horizons.  When you only have characters in the lowest rungs of the ladder you can't possibly say you know enough about the game to provide a good idea how good or bad it is.  So read this with that understanding...there's still a lot for this gamer to learn. 

Some general comments:

This is a pretty good launch, by MMOG standards.  Aside from the debacle of login on Friday night, which hasn't even once reared its ugly head since, I have encountered next to no problems with the game that weren't minor.  Sometimes a spell or ability wouldn't refresh, causing me to relog.  Sometimes quest text would appear when completing the task, but before handing an item in (which is when quest dialog would normally appear).  What does concern me, though, is that the game seems to peg my CPU at 98-100% constantly, and memory eventually is hogged and starts swapping (after many, many hours).  They need to clean that up, because that's just not cool.  There are quite a few video display options, so I might have some set too high or too low...I'm not sure, there's not much documentation on it (which few companies have anyway).

Combat isn't terribly unique, but I wanted to take this moment to challenge what others have said about it being boring.  If I took on a mob that was even to my character abilities and did nothing I would be dead.  By using the abilities and innate racial skills I can survive what would otherwise be a deadly encounter.  Class abilities tend to only be usable one at a time, each with their own refresh rate.  So there is a question as to whether my warrior should start with Power Strike, Rend Armor, or Negate Attack.  There is a difference in how the combat comes out depending on which I choose.  The system seems interesting so far, but we'll see how it holds up as I progress through levels.

I've seen plots of land for sale in the game.  You can buy them, in one case I saw, in city limits.  You can then open up shops, etc...  Whether that will be good or bad is something yet to be seen, but it's a major incentive to me right now.  Damn shame I have to go to work this week.  I'd love to make the 79,000 copper coins needed to buy one.

There are a couple of things unique about Horizons at first glance. 

They may have found a decently innovative way to stop twinking.  Because you can simply change classes at any time you like, there's really no reason to start another character simply to start a new class.  Since you don't really lose anything from your main by trying another class, why not take what money and items you have and give it a go?  That being said, I'm really disappointed with the 5-slot character limit.  This game has 9 races, most of which have unique abilities.  You can add more slots by applying another licence key, but I want more slots out of the gate.  5 is too few.

The crafting system definitely is interesting.  With the 4 tiers, and multiple grades of items per tier, there's a good chance that saturation won't become completely detrimental.  The application of techniques promises each crafter their own special brand of quality on items...but I have yet to see how that works.  Theoretically that should mean that I can make a sword that nobody else can make, provided the techniques are numerous enough and difficult to get so that not everyone will have one.  If this works correctly, this could be a completely new take on player crafting that could make player-made items and thus those professions highly desirable.  Keep in mind, the crafting system in is clearly not an afterthought in this game.  The attention to detail in the UI and the components is high, and that makes it very interesting.

Here are some things that seem well done in Horizons:

Town styles are very unique.  A fiend city looks like a sci-fi-meets-goth fortress.  A dragon city looks like a series of caves dug out on a spiraling mountainside.  Each location has its own unique feel to it, and they are definitely not just carbon-copy settings with different textures.  The music, which is well done in the game, changes from location to location...so you really get a sense of immersion.

Travel is made easier by teleporters and recalling, but you still have to hoof it quite a bit to get to raw materials and mob encounters.  The world seems pretty big, and the lack of a world map enhances that quite a bit.  I don't like not having a map, but I haven't ventured out far enough away from the towns to really get a sense for it.

More to follow in the weeks coming.

AmericanJoe

nice review, the crafting system sounds very nice. that was 1 thing that made me loose interest in earth and beyond, nothing was unique to the player

Peg Bundy "Al, why don't you ever buy me flowers?"
Al Bundy "Cause I don't like ya Peg"

Still Waiting For A Good MMORPG!!!

papasmf

I've had login problems ever since the first day it was released.  Frankly, I'm sick of trying to play it; even though it seems like a cool game.  I'm considering canceling my account.  I don't want to be charged for weeks of not being able to login.

Graphics are VERY VERY laggy unless you reduce detail to medium.  This is a programming issue because I've had much more demanding graphics run smoothly from korean servers during Lineage 2 open beta Korea.  I'm in America playing on American servers and lag is ridiculous.

My personal opinion is that they were not aptly prepared for p2p launch.  Obviously the beta test should have gone to an open beta stage so they could have dealt with the login issues and the lag before releasing the game.  I think they are more interested in making the money before finishing the product.  I'm very dissappointed. 

I do promise to give it a chance though since i already paid for the game and have 20 or so days left.  But, if things don't improve QUICKLY... I'm canceling my account.  

One awesome thing that is well done i must say: The Music is great!

Has anyone else had problems like mine?

ianubisi

What are your system specs?  Running a Ti640/2.1AMD/1GBram system I get pretty decent frames with maximum LOD and low textures (playing around with the settings, some are better than others for reducing lag).

Jiraiya

Sigh. So many good reviews of horizons. For me, i have such a boring time in the beta of it. Maggots maggots maggots. lol. Ok, its not that bad, i think my poor pc with poor performance adds to my boredom. Can't really enjoy game if the game is lagging yea? Glad to see people enjoying it now.

Kiamde

The final is alot better than the beta. There are many different types of skeletons and zombies.

Kiamde