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What I like and not liked of URU Live.
Seiren
Member CommonPosts: 89
My Review of Myst Online/URU Live
URU (the Deep City) is the online version and continuation to Cyan World's Myst series. To play the game doesnt take much; the requirements are very basic and minimum compare to what other big games demand these days. You do need good broadband dial-up wont cut it. But what serious gamer has dial up these days? You wont find URU on the shelves of your local game stop, no Sir, and Ladies of course. You can buy the game online for 0.99cents trough GameTap. (Additionally there is a subscription fee to GameTap). And there is a free trial for those that cant afford the sale prize.
Well It has been a week of interesting play. I tried to understand the unique concept of URU Live and will try not to judge only review what I like and dont like about the game.
To the hard core fans of Myst this game must be an incredible addition. To the casual players, like me, that have no idea what Myst and Dni means, this game will get old quick. There is no magic effect, nada, sip, absolutely nothing. Im sorry was that harsh? Well, okay just a bit, still there is no grind, nothing to shoot; you wont find any NPCs anywhere, no crafting, no skills to learn, no PvP, and no levels to gain. I told you, nada.
What you will find is a smart new concept for the explorer in you that likes to solve puzzles. Players enter the underground ancient city of the Dni as explorers (subscribers) or visitors (free players). While Visitors are limited to explore a few parts of the city, Explorers get to experience all the areas of the beautiful world of URU Live- provided the Dni Restoration Council (DRC) make those Ages available.
Customizing your avatar is pretty cool, like if you want to look like a young and hot purple-corn-rolls MAI undergrad geek that dont mind going down and getting dirty beneath the surface you can. Plus, the best part is you can always go back and change your characteristics features and clothes at any time.
The storyline of URU supposedly evolves in real time, meaning it is the closes to real life live you will ever get from any game. Since you are playing your self, time will pass, people will come and go, and sometimes nothing will happen, just like real life. This will give you the opportunity to return to the surface and visit the many, many, many many informational sites, to know what the hell is going on. So when you enter the game you might just find new neighborhoods, even player run events. Or, you join the friendly community that likes to help one another rally up and demand the DRC body of councils move their fat a*ss to open new Ages, or even form circles and imitate the Dni rituals and contact Yeesha, who is the mysterious being behind the messages you will find after exploring and solving the mind cracking puzzles. Dont worry; there are always enough donuts to go around during these gatherings.
While the game is interestingly complex it lacks in many ways. There are still many little bugs that prevent a smooth play, the city, the central gathering place for all players only holds 40 players at a time, its extremely hard to be there when so many ppl are because the lag is just awful. There is really very little open to explore and some areas are bugged; the hard part is that sometimes one cant tell if its a bug, or part of the puzzle, unless you ask other players or read the forum.
You can invite others to join you explore the Ages but the process one has to endure if someone accidentally crashes or gets stuck is not worth it. For example, if players want to team they need to enter each others Relto (Relto is your personal little island, basically your home away from home), in order to team you need to share your Relto book with your guest. So, they can link (teleport) to your Relto, then you can show them your collection of books to the Age you want to explore. If they crash you have to meet them again in one of the hoods and do the same process again, it really gets annoying. It happen to me once, the player I invited could just not make a particular jump and kept falling of the cleft. (Although one doesnt die in this game, in the event that you happen to fall or get stuck, which to me is the equivalent of dying, you are automatically returned to your Relto). I then had to exit the Age and try to get him back in, repeating the process again. Once is okay but when it happens two, three, four times you really start to think twice if you want to invite anyone again.
Whereas there are a zillion neighborhoods to visit, they all look the same, and for the most part all are empty with the exception of one or two. Making your own hood is a nice idea but if you dont have residents that want to join you what is the point? If you dont have an active community in your hood it gets deleted.
I recommend reading the 16 page manual before you even start your avatar; it helps greatly in getting familiar with the game concept, history, mechanics plus some lingo of the world you will be exploring. Visit the 3 main websites (1)DRC (2)IC Forum (3) OOC Forum, so that you dont get lost on what is happening, new events may have already taken place since my review. Take your time and slowly merge your self into the Myst world, you wont be able to grasp the entire history of Myst in just one week, but it should be enough time for you to evaluate whether you want to be part of it. Be warned, reading is a big part of this game, so if you dont like to sit at your computer and pay to read about an ancient civilization dont bother, this game is not for you. Otherwise, get your glasses and that special drink you like and be ready to stroke your brain with interesting fiction, play with a mature community, and possibly throw your monitor out the window when you cant solve the Age of Kadish.
Comments
Wow, great little review there Serien, thanks so much for filling us in.
I've never really been into the Myst games but it's always interested me and little more so when I heard about URU Live. Think I'll look into it a little more.
Many thanks again.
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I was thinking the same thing.
Great review, gave me a users eyes in the world or Uru live.
Maybe one day I shall play it, when i am sick of killing "Beebop" the tauren or something.
Honestly, It sounds fun .. Like a PSU withouth the P , S or even U.
What I mean is instanced.
Thank you, guys.
I want to add that there are 2 NPC's that you will encounter and those are Yeesha and Zandi. Plus all of the DRC characters are played by a live team. Also it has been pointed out that one can invite others to explore with you by adding them to your KI.
Obviously I could not cover everything about URU but I hope everyone who reads the review will understand that URU is not your regular MMO. Whether its worth a try or not? That my friend will be your decision to make.
Also you can read URU's player opinion of the review here.
Ya know, I've always been a Myst fan. When I was a kid, Myst first came out, and it was my first "3D" game (I use quotes because it was originally just rendered images which you clicked to move... around that time, games weren't that amazing to say the least).
Since then I have played off and on, and finished most of the games.
I bought URU the day it came out, originally years ago, in hopes of the world coming to life. This was just another case of early adopters being screwed over, because there wasn't enough draw, and the world shut down before a true launch.
Since then, I beat the offline URU, and really find there isn't all that much more to do online. I played the little free entry a few months ago, and found while the community is great, I had nothing left to do, and just eventually faded out of it once again.
I wish Cyan the best, as they have always made niche games that deserve the credit, I just wish they would have done it when they said, and not now, and definately not with their current partners =/
That's a fair assessment of where the game was a few months ago (when it was still in testing). There's a little bit more to see now, though it appears technical issues delayed the release of new content since the game's February 15th launch. That seems to be righting itself now.
For players who haven't tried Uru, there is a huge amount to see. It's well worth a look. For those who played the previous version, the new stuff is only just getting underway.
That said, I do love the idea of the game. I love the puzzles, I love the story, and I love the history. The graphics aren't on par with today's top-of-the-line graphics, but that doesn't mean they fail to impress. I had a lot of fun during the beta solving puzzles I'd forgotten about since I played the offline version of the game, but, like theanimedude, I eventually ran out of things to do. Once you hit that point, your only options are helping other people solve puzzles you've already solved, roleplaying, playing a coded version of the "Rock, Paper, Scissors" game, or some other "self-created content" while you wait for new Ages/story events to show up. I guess lots of people like creating their own fun, but the Explorer part of me really wasn't happy once I ran out of things to explore. It's a terrific game to visit, but, in the end, I didn't want to live there. (For what it's worth, I really wanted to want to live there, though. Take from that what you will.)
It's true that the developers can never produce puzzles (and history and places to explore) faster than we can solve/see/admire them, but I think they know they have to produce more per week than they have since the 15th. I do think they can produce enough content to keep it entertaining for someone who visits it on a casual basis.
They've hinted that they're having some technical issues. I'm hoping those will get unstuck so we can finally see what fully-released online Uru is really like.
Great review, loved it. I still have yet to try it. I spend most of my time on Gametap playing the old arcade games. Your review and links has peeked my interest into trying this game.
I saw on Gametap that they are coming out with an "original" space game. From what little screenshots I seen, it looked good in the graphics.
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