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Exploration and Adventure: the path less travelled
I remember when I started beta testing EQ, the last couple weeks before it went live. Then, going live, taking my dark elf necromancer, and using invisibility, I went exploring.
I'd visit the desserts of Solosek Ro... the swamps that our troll brothers lived... I'd enter vistas of awe and beauty, often being the only soul there.
Once in a blue moon, i'd find another explorer. We would excitedly greet each other, and go exploring.
Eventually, the game turned into areas so bloated with people, that magic, of exploration and combat disappaered into camping and auctioning off spamming locally. Everywhere you look, people would be swarming back and forth, and there was no longer anything new.
I understand since I left so long ago, that had changed. I reclaimed a bit of that feel with Asheron's Call, but just a bit. And from there, it got worse and worse.
And now I wonder: what games are out there that have that old feel I used to have? Gigantic, and beautiful settings? Exploration that feels both exciting and dangerous? A social aspect of meeting new people without having swarms everywhere you go?
I want to take the path less travelled, without travelling utterly alone. What would you recommend?
Comments
I'm right there with you, I'm looking for a good place to explore myself
The problem with todays MMOs is that travel and exploration is set to "EASY" Back in the EQ days you had to raise a skill (sense direction) just to figure out which way you were walking. There was no in game map to refer to, information wasn't plastered all over websites, you had to actually figure out where to go and what to do. I have those same fond memories you do of just running around aimlessly in EQ and exploring.
Heck, even the quests were alot harder, there was no quest helper or log, you had to figure out what to say to the NPC to get him to respond and figure out the steps on your own.
Well, I try really hard to avoid threads and walk throughs, unless I am utterly stuck. Its too bad there isn't a game out there yet with a dynamic quest generation engine or something. Of course, if there was, it would probably be horribly buggy, broken, and flawed. At least.
But yeah. I was reading another thread, where people were arguing who had the biggest in game world, and... it started me reminiscing, hence this thread.
SWG has large open maps on nearly every planet and in every space sector. With the graphics turned up, the views you'll see are rather detailed - in many cases the graphics are better then many of the most recent MMO's released.
Have you considered giving Vanguard a try? While it may still be a bit buggy, it has improved greatly since beta from what I've personally seen. Not to mention that the game has beautiful, open areas to explore. In any case, you'll need a decent computer to run the game.
Then there's also FFXI. It's a very large, decent looking game with a great deal of potential for exploration. Whenever I get the urge to go exploring, I always jump back into FFXI. Also, it's a very difficult game, and every accomplishment that you achieve truly feels rewarding.
I have to admit, SWG never interested me.
I dont know anything about Vanguard, and my computer is near the end of its life cycle, so I may have to wait until this one dies and gets replaced before checking into that.
As for FFXI, thats another I hadnt been interested in at the time... and I was under the impression it wasn't doing very well marketwise.
I hate the online mmo guide sites for that reason, exploring has become less fun when you can never find anything that thousands of other people knew about without even having to log into the game to find. There is nothing unique or rare anymore, to find or to do. Even if devs place hidden or hard to find things in a game, someone will find it and tell everyone in the world how/where to do the same. Kinda goes along with the whole forced grouping/raiding style games are using anymore.
The games are designed to limit the success of any gameplay style other than clinging to your guild in order to get the best loot because if you don't you will suck, noob. What happened to the idea of allowing people to play the way they enjoy? Why can't a person who likes to solo, explore or group only with friends for the enjoyment be successful too. Why can't you get the best loot because you worked hard and got lucky, or found something (area with a special quest or mob etc) noone else has yet? Even if games were designed that way, the walkthrough faqs etc would ruin it. You would still have guilds grinding the mob that has the greatest % chance to drop so and so according to *playthegameforme.com*, or flocking to the secret place to do that quest and supply everyone in the guild with that reward.
Seems to me people don't look for a fun game, they look for a popular game where they can go and think they are special. It also seems there is more money to be made catering to that crowd and making a "carrot-on-a-stick" greedfest than making a great game true players will love.
But back on topic, i do wish people would stop making the ''howtoplaythegame.com'' sites so that exploration would be a bit more rewarding for those of us who enjoy it.
Those were the good ol days. I miss that in a game and totally agree with you. I wished at least one MMO would come out like that and have random changes to quests in order for people to figure shit out for themselves instead of going to a web site that has all of the answers posted all over it. Most people are lazy and want to level their chars in 2 days. I remember days, sometimes weeeks, of searching and grinding to complete quests or level. Those lazy people need to go to consoles.
"I'm not a racist...I only hate stupid people..."-SinisterCB
SWG was good a few years ago, but I don't like the current build of the game.
Anyway, if you decide to play FFXI, you should probably start on Asura from what I've heard, as it's one of the more populated servers now that you can actually choose the server you play on. I've never played on that server personally, so I can't vouch for it, but I've heard about it from a number of people. If you do a Google search, you can get an estimate concerning the subscriber numbers. Last time I checked, the game wasn't doing poorly at all when compared to the rest of the MMORPG market. Besides, an expansion was recently released, which has brought in both new and veteran players alike.
FFXI is a grouping oriented game, however, and I would make certain to join a good linkshell (guild) if you give the game a try. You can purchase a trial CD from Gamestop, or if you know someone who plays the game, they may be able to provide you with a buddy key (don't count on it though).