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Roma Victor- NDA gone
nomadian
Member Posts: 3,490
http://www.roma-victor.com/community/bb/viewforum.php?f=3
Sounds like some good impressions though also a game that won't be everyone's game.
Sounds like some good impressions though also a game that won't be everyone's game.
Comments
Gotta agree with that. Graphics are not a large part of what makes a good game, but you still need to have decent graphics in games these days, especially with the graphics that games that are being released (oblivion, hl2, etc)
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SWG - Killed by $OE
WOW - Retired
Playing WAR
I find it comical when people always say Graphics dont make a game... Bwhahahaha
For SOME that might be true but for MOST of us we do not want to be playing a game that looks like it came out on a Atari.
I could careless if it has the best concept, depth, PVP, ect in the world..If its graphics look like Shadowbane when im used to City of Heros then ill pass..
Speaking of Shadowbane, graphics was was a major reason why that game bombed... If it had uptodate graphics people would have found it a little harder to uninstall.
Graphics are a major reason why I would choose Gods of War over Roma Victor.
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You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
FORGIVE THE LENGTH OF THIS POST ONCE I STARTED WRITING ABOUT IT I THOUGHT OF MORE THINGS TO WRITE ALSO THE ONLY EDIT IS THIS ONE, SO FORGIVE THE GRAMMAR. I LEFT OUT ALOT ASWELL
I've beta tested the Roma Victor Gamma server and I've heard someone say that it is either a love or hate game.
It's not wow and you shouldn't expect wow or eqII when playing it but I've had a great deal of fun while testing it even though that was not the intention of the test. Now the NDA is lifted, I want to share some of my favoured parts of the game whilst testing with other people who may be interested but not aware of the games strengths.
Firstly I want to say if you are looking for the same basic game as WOW and EQII this is not a massively funded project like Vanguard and in many ways is a work in progress but even as it exisited in the test is feature rich, innovative and offers gameplay which games like EQII and WOW don't even come close to touching. Firstly I'll briefly mention a few things that've happened in the game and a little on the community, RPing and support which enhances it, than. Than I'll talk a little about the huge range of crafting, a little on the skill based system and reputation&traits which aren't skills but still are earnt by the player(wethar there traits and reputation be honorable dishorable desired or undesired.)
Ok, the objectives of the game, some play for power in many different ways, some compete agaisnt other s politically to becoming the ruler of the area(local magistrate for Romans and lord for barbarians which come with certain powers), some want to command the highest quality of troops and fight agaisnt there enemies to prove there supremcy, some focuss on wealth and gain considerable influence via economics, to conquer there enemies and some just to be the strongest and fittest warriors(though I've found that infamous person in the test
The players recieve alot of in game support from in game mechanics allowing people to really have an immersive experience if they get involved in the larger community. The reputations and traits are a good way to gain status. The player driven economy allows powerful merchants and incentives for crafters. Being a lord or a magistrate gives the player political power. The variety of skills and flexiability of such a skill based system allowed you to take up many proffesions and the different types of guilds allows for different venues for one to pursue. One can join a crafting foccused house(house is what the roman players call there guilds) policitical house(patracian house), a relgious house(Cults) and a military house(a legion). All this and the community provided more immersivement than any visuals I've seen in a computer game or movie. The game allowed allowed the community to organise a huge varitey of in game events which I witnessed continually throughout the test(with support from a great deal of players) Barbarians would have festivals which involved sacrafices to the gods and on one occassion I remember a celebration they held after winning a war and welcomed there warriors home after devasting the Romans during the test. In Roman lands we had gladitorial games, had a kind of historically based kind of of philosophical debate or battle of the wits.(forget the real latin name but it was used for the in game event and that wasn't uncommon) There were also festivals for at gods and countless other events which were driven and controlled by the community themselves on both sides of the wall(Romans and Barbarians, hadrains wall seperates them in game), various treaties, raids and wars.
The magistrate/lord of an area or political representive or a town or village and conflict internally with other faction and externaly between the Romans and barabarians as a whole further intensifies the atmosphere which can be found whilst playing RV and the ability to leave ones mark on the game and the stories/plot which develop from the community and are supported by some in game features. Also there are plans for the devolpers to get involved amogst the community as players and even certain events which will be played out and will have an impact on the game. The devolpment team played as gods in the test for the most part and one could interact with them as you would any other player, although no other player were gods. This and players recieving certain gifts from the gods actually led to a sort crazed celeberty type satatus of the gods in the test and it was fairly common to find people searching and herding around the gods when the players learnt a god had been spotted.
I could go on about the stories and community driven events in game but I want to mention the crafting. Players can make just about everything that can be found in game from a loaf of bread, to a forge, to actuall buildings. However larger projects such as forges and houses are not easy by any means and are greatly assisted by other players. In fact most the vast majority of harder to make crafting devices and other structures were made by a group effort(It's made easier building in a group due to features in game that support this and the fact that "many hands make light work." Some idividuals during the test built substantial personal holdings but they were the exceptions and the larger player made villages and areas were done by communal efforts and far surparsed what idividuals were building for themselves.
The crafting process vary greatly depending on the actuall object being crafted, items, crafting devices and buildings all require the player to have various skills and have a certain amount of expertise/experience or points using those skills which is enhanced by training and will degrade to a certain level(capped by how good you were at the skill) degrading over a certain amount of time depending on the amount of skills you have so as to encourage specialization but by no means limit players abilities to a class like system(or typical level system which only allows players to do something if they are a certain race and/or certain class).
I'll give a few examples differing in complexity about the actuall
crafting process. To get an apple or firewood someone must go to a
certain area which contains apples and firewood and forage for apples
or firewood which only requires that one task to obtain the firewood or
apple. Having a good foraging skill helps alot aswell. Pottery can
involve gathering clay, having a piece of clay and some water whilst using a spinning wheel allows you to mould the clay into a jug(amphora) which than needs to be fired in a
kiln(which needs firewood) to be used as a water container. Farming starts with growing
crops which is done by dropping seeds on the ground and watering them periodically until full grown. In addition to planting the seeds and watering the plants the crops are affected by the fertility of the land which can be improved by fertillizing the area with dung.Than to harvest the crops a person needs to have approiate
equipment to harvest them which at minimuin is a clay mortar(fairly large clay dish) and a basic knife(i think you may need a actuall blade used for crops like a scithe(but wasn't much of a farmer and am not sure). The complexity increases when building usefull crafting devices like a forge, which needs tones and firewood gathered from certain areas, bricks and firebricks and if I remeber rightly a fair amount of other objects and is very time consuming, if planning to build alone or without a good deal of support. You can see a further rise in difficulty in general when comparing the crafting devices to some basic structures like small roundhouses(small huts) and this means that those planning on building lots of structures and devices shouldn't expect to be able to do it over night and shouldn't expect to really be abe to do it by themselve and should really get support from other players(either hire others or join a group of people that'd be able and willing to help you.) All objects, devices and structures have a quality level that affects either the durability and or effectiveness of an item/device or stucture. In the case of a poor quality item needed to craft other objects like a bad quality piece of wood will have impact on the product being crafted. Otherwise the quality of goods are practically determine by the skills required to craft different things
This skills system or charatcher development system in Roma Victor employs for crafting skills is not exclusive to crafting. A charather joining a Roman legion or barbarian warband would need combination of fighting skills such as the combat skill, block, dodge parry, spear melee, sword melee and their are others which contribute to the ability to fight. Whilst a Priest would typically have a high pray lore and/or Ritual skill, a musician(wasn't implemented when I was testing though) good skills in the instrument/s they use and so on and so on. Anyone can learn anything(players can teach other players skills via an in game feature but not teach someone to a master) and theire are no class restrictions although the political and reputation aspects of the game can let you become a citizen and hence run for local magistraterate if your Roman and such things like that but there is no actuall limitations to a certain race/profession learning any other skills or adopting a profession of there choice and one can actually start as a barbarian and become a citizen of Rome(that wouldn't likely make friends with the barbarians though they're an agressive bunch
There are many traits and reputations which allow for things like switching homelands and are gained in game by various circumstances, changing allegience from one culture to another has consequences that a born and breed player who stayed the same culture wouldn't experience such as NPCs discriminating agaisnt you and charging you extra for good or outright refusing to sell you goods,and in times of conflict it wouldn't be unheard for players to accuse you as a spy or call you a tratior and do you harm, which is the kind of RPing atmosphere which trived due to the nature of the game in the test. Traits such as "enemy to the empire" that barbarian warriors gain after certain amount and certain degree of hostile actions to Romans will result in the Roman NPCs(and more than likely if one gained that status) Roman players attacking the "enemy to the empire" upon seeing them
The economy is player driven and players can even hire NPCs to sell there wares, the amount of goods being sold to and by NPC players affects the prices which is to say player supply and demand determines the market price. There are economic groups(or as such Roman groups are called houses and barbarian groups tribes) which really gained alot of influence via economic dommination and there are many ways in which players can affect the actuall market and economy as well as use it to extend their power or influence but such extremes were only ever accomplished by factions during the test.(which I believe to be a good thing)
Okay I'm going to stop hear I've already written alot more than I intended to and every bit I write makes me think of something else to tell you
betaed it fir about a week.Yeah the graphics were quite old looking .But to me the problem was the gameplay felt very bland and after a week i really got bored .
But maybe it gets more intresting i dunno.
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Playing : Uncharted Waters Online
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well pre order launch is set to happen any moment now so i let others review the game and since i pre ordered in will still give it another shot anyhow.
My one week was too short to make a full judgement of the game but the week i played i have to say was dissapointing .
you were only off by a few years (roma-victor went into develpment in 2001). A small company like redbedlam cannot always afford the best of the best, like SOE or Blizzard, that spend millions and millions on the development of one game.
many of the screenshots are already a few years old, although i admit, the graphics will never be top knotch.
But, redbedlam has said that they will improve the graphics as the game develops..
and remember...graphics don't make the game
Can't have a player based economy if the game developers sell in-game coin directly created from thin air and inject it into the economy without context or relation to in-game actions.
Nope just isn't possible.
"We feel gold selling and websites that promote it damage games like Vanguard and will do everything possible to combat it."
Brad McQuaid
Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online, Inc.
Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
www.vanguardsoh
It's too common that people are willing to sacrifice good content simply because "it looks good though". It just makes for repetative gaming, where developers compete only on graphics but change nothing in game.
In my opinion WoW is just EQ slightly modernised.
ozmono's rather long but informative post really sells this to me, it's sounds like the developers have truely promoted a sense of community, which lets face it, is the reason you play MMORPG's.
The fact that the graphics may be alittle crap just means you don't have to spend a couple of hundred on a new graphics card and processor. And if the community is strong and the game is good it's possible that it not only takes your money but your heart as well and then graphics cease to matter.
My point of view my be alittle outdated.... i still think the 2D isometric view of UO made for some of the best gameplay, although maybe not the most realistic.
In regards to the post above(not quote above) I agree with what you said but understand also that my post was pointing out the strengths I saw in the game and I could've added more but I soley focussed on things I found in the game which I enjoyed(even though not all the things I enjoyed) but if you've taken just that, that it has and does allow for great community and RPing events, things about the crafting and possiabilities to play as cetain characthers than I don't think expectations will be unwarranted but don't expect a story driven game like EQII with monsters and mobs or a game that shines its best immediately. I needed to get invloved in the community before I started to enjoy it.
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
Its a matter of substance over seduction as far as games are concerned(i'm bored with SOE games and blizzard games so soon and have to pay monthly) that its a no brainer to choose substance
I'd prefer it to be as beutiful as anything on the market but because its not won't stop me from enjoying it however if you want the graphics as you do and not interested in the other aspects of the game(i mentioned and focussed on a few) than I wouldn't recommend it.
Look at a small developer like CCP. They have managed to make Eve a fine looking game. They aren't even close to Blizzard and major people in terms of funding.
Look at a small developer like CCP. They have managed to make Eve a fine looking game. They aren't even close to Blizzard and major people in terms of funding.
Again its a matter of substance over seduction If your only interested in the graphics and not in the game(the substance) than I wouldn't recomend it at the moment
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
PS assuming your looking for a different type of gameplay than what has been done