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Asheron's Call deserves more respect
TenSpotting
Member Posts: 367
<Mod edit>
It was one of the best MMORPG'sever created. Much better than EQ1 ever was. The only reason EQ was bigger was because it launched first and MS did totally nothing to promote AC.
1. Biggest world ever created for it's time. About the size of RI i think
2. Totally seamless world. No loading or zoning anyhwhere. Not even into dungeons. EQ was still zone based crap.
3. Innovative magic system that challenged the player. You had to actually LEARN spells through trial and error.
4. Skill based progression system
5. Very fast paced action combat and running speeds
6. One of the best in-game communities ever
Too bad Turbine made that sorry excuse of game called Asheron's Call 2 and didn't have even the slightst ccomon sense to make a true sequel.
Comments
I didn't actually play myself but spent many hours observing a friend play - several times I tried to "get into it". I'm not one to demand great graphics or sounds but both on AC were pretty lame.
And while it's regarded as one of the best games ever made I was personally turned off by the number of bots I saw on his screen...I remember one time I wanted to go grab some food and figured he wasn't going because he was playing AC, but apparently his buff bot was going and it'd take like 20 mins for their group to auto-buff. That really seemed worthless.
I still wish I'd been there to get on that ship though, I'd probably still be playing. Pretty hard to get into any game once it's been out that long.
I did try AC for a short period when it first came out but didn't go much on it tbh. Though perhaps I do wish I'd have played it a bit more. I did have another try just after AC2 but by then it's graphics were sorry to say it but horrendously ugly.
Asherons Call HAD a lot of respect back in its day but Turbine stopped treating it with "respect" and kicked it to the curb in favor of all its new "golden children".
I played AC back in its prime when the gmae had a very large pop and it WAS a great game but now...its not much of an MMO without a population. Its mechanics are dated and it uses a lot of conventions that frankly just don't work anymore. The Buff system alone is an issue that has needed addressing for like 10 years now. Which leads directly to the next issue...bots. Only in AC will see as many bots as L2 only in AC they are legal for the mostpart except for the combat macroers. Trade bots, buff bots, portal bots...yup rather then fix these issues with the game Turbine just let it go to hell.
Not to mention the graphics are pathetically dated and will never draw in anyone these days. The UI is an antique from the late 90's, there wasn't even a basic quest journal so if you forgot what you were doing because oh...maybe RL called for a day or 2...you were just SOL. It had a lot of great quest BUT is was also very grind intensive. On and on.
And lets face it, the MMO genre doesn't need any more fantasy games right now. I think they got that covered.
AC1 did have some problems, but compared to the simplified, quest centric, class based linear drivel we're being served up now - it remains a superior game to every single one of them. After recently canceling WAR, I'd probably go back to AC1 again if only Turbine could figure out a way to merge servers (apparently there are some technical obstacles to doing so). I could care less about the graphics. But it's just too lonely for me in that game currently - having been there to see the glory days.
Terrific features AC1 had, but which you never see anymore:
- Random lewt and crafting generation. You never knew what fantastic and totally unique item might drop off the next mob while you were grinding, and the marketplace (just the IGN server forums in the early days) was always a fun and truly dynamic place to visit. Or you could even hang out at the AI merchants and directly buy things from them the higher level players were dumping on them to get quick coin.
- Multiple damage types and weaknesses. Yes some MMORPGs may have a few these days, but it never really seems to matter much anymore. In AC1 you'd need to check your monster database and arm/armor yourself according to the situation you'd be facing. Damage types were blunt, slash, pierce, fire, acid, cold, and hollow (ignored armor). And it was great fun planning and collecting the items needed which could help you win against these differing challenges.
- Multiple rare drop types. These could be used in special ways, and they created fun alternate trading economies in themselves. Things like motes, shards, chest keys (many different types), and a few more I'm forgetting the name of. And another interesting challenge was simply trying to determine what dropped where, or off exactly what. But everything is made easily 'understandable' for the players in MMORPGs now.
- Skill based character generation. w/both skill level and attribute level manipulation being possible.
Bah...., I could keep on going but what's the frigging point. It just serves to make me angry, and nothing is going to change. AC1 was a MMORPG created when the average player had a brain they didn't mind using, and when the average player age was 30+. But times have changed.
"You can never go home again." - Thomas Wolfe
(Zarin of the Eternal Conclave, Harvestgain saying hi if any of you old squidgelums are still alive!)
I agree with most you say, but then you trash ac2 your topic failed miserable.
Ac2 has failed mostly also by MS released it to soon on market.
Most could not play it becouse pc could not handle the game it stills look very good today.
And most AC tought it would be AC with grafhics update well it was not.
Still it was a good game but most did not give it a chance and with lack MS its died:(
But ac1 soon prolly die anyway with Darkfall comming some big clans from AC gonne play Darkfall and not a few but many:)
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Well being a person who LOVED AC when it was out and who eventually got 3 characters to max level, I feel that I know a bit about the game, not everything but alot. To correct a previous post Hollow weapons did not "ignore armor" instead it "ignored magic" if you had a robe on that had no armor value and you buffed it with level 6s at the time thinking your tough, and a level 20 newb with a hollow weapon came up and managed to hit you with it, your magic means nothing he is hitting only to your robe armor level and if that is 0 then you are most likely going to screem..LOL. Anyway probably just a mistype but i wanted to correct that.
As for AC2, while there were aspects of the game I enjoyed, and I did have 2 max levels there, a lugie and a human mage I disliked the idea that your gear made your character. That was one of the biggest drawbacks for AC2, the biggest one being no skill system instead we saw the birth of the talent tree but they tried to make it seem like a skill system but it really wasn't. I couldn't take that system, it was just crap to me after AC's nice no limits system. Turning everyone into a "class" is what annoyed me the most, I liked in AC being a sword fighter with creature/item/life and melee d.
Man the good old days...I want to play it again if they figure out the problem with antivirus programs-vista and ac then I will be back because nothing as of yet comes close to AC. If and when Darkfall comes out I think that will be a good replacement.
I agree imo AC is the best mmo ever made. And turbine are still adding comtent every month.I did play the game many years ago,it was mt first mmo.I played for about 3 years and then I did cancel my accounts and went on with other games.Well few months ago I had canceled the game I was playing and I could not find any new game I wantet to play and it was several months till next releace so I made some effort contacting turbine about revoke my 2 old AC accounts(when I left AC it was still managed by M$)and in just few houres they confirmed that both my accounts were intact. I resubscribed and have been having very fun revisiting AC.I still think AC is the best mmo ever made but it is very complex and has long learning curve.
Long live Asherons Call.
Take care and have fun what ever game you are playing.
Asheron's Call (AC) will always be the icon to beat when it comes to deciding on buying into any other mmorpg..
Microsoft (MS) did a great job on the creation of AC, combined with the imagination of TURBINE, the game simply rocks the socks. MS made a poor choice in making AC2, which could have been called 'A bugger on my Finger' and still would have held it's ground. But, however, they called it the sequel to AC.
The worlds of AC were not ready to embark upon a new game called AC2. They wanted the original game to remain, but to have it's graphic engine changed to something more modern. The developer in charge of making AC2 happen screwed the Beta Testers and future SUBS by releasing the game too early.
The graphics of AC2 were a bit groundbreaking, I admit. They lost millions of SUBS, however, by macroing every possible attack and counter attack. Instaed of using the mind, and a bit of dexterity, players could simply click one or two buttons and erase a battalion of invaders <yawn>. I never got the feel of any character I made.
MS, at that point in time, it was the biggest and most sucessful company. They had billions to toss into the Asheron Call mmorpg. But, they took the low road (nothing against accountants). They closed AC2, sold AC1 and allowed that little snowball named Blizzard to embarrass them. But WoW!!! Blizzard did a great job with a new graphic engine, and brought back the mechanics of battle.
I still love you Asheron's Call. You will forever stand above these cheap-ass, fake, developers who have no clue what players really want.
BTW, AC's Darktide is still the only place in cyber that gives me chills whenever I go there. It is the mold for a true PVP world... Sorry WoW, your PVP worlds are still carebear. In AC's Darktide, there is no protection, other than the bond made between players. I can level to 70 in WoW on a PVP server and never enter a single battle... OMG!!! This is a totally different conversation to be displayed later.
Sorry... I was about to move on then I read someone stating that Darkfall is going to replace AC SUBS... I have three words for that "LOL"
It's actually a compliment that anyone would think that an emerging mmorpg has the power to steal subs from an old game, like Asheron's Call. Turbine, in all it's ventures, has never forgotten it's playerbase in AC. The players are loyal and happy to have a world with less 'player chaos' and just as equal content as WoW.
AC has always been a family-style mmorpg. It appeals to all genres and will last another ten years.
Darkfall is nothing more than a Shadowbane with the element of Sea battle. PVP does not make an mmorpg great. It takes so much more. In fact, when MS and Turbine decided to add 'RED DOTS' to thier main servers, this left a sour taste in the mouth of nearly every Monarachy.
It's pointless to compare an icon with a splashscreen like Darkfall. The game has no depth. It will be exactly what they designed... a killing field.
AC1 looked like a very good game. Back when i started playing MMOs i had a choice, buy AC or buy EQ, i went with EQ because i had friends playing it.
I dont regret the choice because EQ was FANTASTIC but i wish i would have given AC a try as well.
Have to agree it is up there in the fun department for MMOs; I really don't like comparing them - kind of like saying an apple is better than an orange, imo, but there are elements of AC that every other game could use to improve itself.
It's been 4+ years since I played and I still think about going back. It had (has) its flaws, but they all do, and in some ways it is unmatched.
Have played: Everquest, Asheron's Call, Horizons, Everquest2, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Darkfall
Sorry had to respond to this, I feel that the closest resemblance of AC in any MMO will be what Darkfall has "Claimed" to be. I personally feel that it will be a good replacement untill Turbine gets there collective heads out of there @$$es and realizes that AC is still populare and maybe they should make a game as a sequal to it, not a fake sequal like AC2, but a reall true sequal that pulls from its roots in the whole system not just the story line.
Will Darkfall steal subs from AC, who knows, we will see. IS it AC, heck no nothing ever has being and nothing will ever come close in the near future.
Sorry had to respond to this, I feel that the closest resemblance of AC in any MMO will be what Darkfall has "Claimed" to be. I personally feel that it will be a good replacement untill Turbine gets there collective heads out of there @$$es and realizes that AC is still populare and maybe they should make a game as a sequal to it, not a fake sequal like AC2, but a reall true sequal that pulls from its roots in the whole system not just the story line.
Will Darkfall steal subs from AC, who knows, we will see. IS it AC, heck no nothing ever has being and nothing will ever come close in the near future.
For me AC was always best mmo out there but now Darkfall comes i hope it will be Darkfall, and yes many and i say many clans already going Darkfall.
I still hope AC do well but lets face it its almost 10years old and its not what it use to be in early days.
Darkfall is made from ideas of AC UO and elderscroll so be proud that a new MMO have there roots in AC devs and tasos have also played AC.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
On Friday, October 22nd, 1999 I came home from work, plopped down at my computer and went to Gamespot.com for my usual round of reading up on industry news. There was an announcement about an open beta for an upcoming game called Asheron's Call, and I knew absolutely nothing about it. I'd seen Ultima Online in the store, and then more recently, Everquest. I was admittedly curious about how such games could actually work, but I wasn't curious enough to drop 40$ on either. A free open beta, however, I could do.
Later that night, after a long download and a short install, I created my first character. An Aluvian named Kelec, he was specced in Sword and Crossbow, and hailed from the chilly mountain town of Cragstone. I began playing around midnight, and the next thing I knew, it was 8am the following morning, and I was completely, hopelessly in love.
In the lost weekend that followed, I scarcely moved from my desk. I slept a bit, ate a little, and filled every other waking moment living in the world of Dereth. At one point, I stepped into a portal (just to see what would happen) and found myself warped to what seemed the other side of the world. Thus began a heroic, epic journey across foreign places I had never seen before - places with names like Nanto and Hebian-To and Shoushi. Through mosquito-filled swamps I trudged, dodging huge Phyntos Wasps and gibbering Mosswarts. At length I came to familiar green fields where I was chased by Reedsharks all the way to Rithwic. When I finally returned home I was level 8 - a mighty warrior indeed, by my reckoning - and clad in the armors of a distant people called the Sho.
Then, a great fire in the sky appeared, and the clouds turned ashen grey. Whole cities were laid waste, and all the world seemed on the edge of ruin. And it was!
But it would soon be reobrn, and this time, when I came back, I would not be alone. Heroic warriors named Rock, Vlad Taltos, Merlyn, Fenerick and many, many others would be at my side, united under the banner of The Black Company of Thistledown. These were my friends in "real life" - a phrase with a meaning that had become a bit blurred for me by then - to whom I had shown the glory of Dereth. Asheron's Call was answered by seeming multitudes, and we were glad to be among them.
Though I've moved on to other games in the years since, AC has had a profound effect on my life. I am now blessed to count myself among those who work for a good MMO studio, and I help to make games like AC for a living. But no game will ever hold the special place in my little gamer heart that Asheron's Call does.
So to the OP, a resounding HELL YES! And Turbine, of you I ask only this - apply what you have learned these many years, and please take us back to the world of Dereth.
Sometimes, I still hear that call, and should the Empyreans have need of Kelec and his companions, we are ready to answer it again.
I started with UO and then heard about EQ and moved to play it on release. I never heard about
AC back then so didnt get a chance to play it.
I give AC respect though as being a leader in the genre and not one of the many
dumbed down clones that came after.
Nice read i had a simlar experience it bring a tear to my eye:)
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
I agree, Asheron's Call does deserve more respect. The game wasn't perfect but it was way better than what the mmorpg developers are feeding us these days.
AC2 also deserves more respect though. A sequel released after so many years shouldn't just be another AC1 with new graphics. People hoping for / demanding / expecting that must be crazy.
Games need to offer something new if they want to be a success. The only semi-exeption is the FPS genre. They can get away with making a new Quake game or something with a couple of new weapons, maps and updated graphics.
That's because FPS don't really have a fixed criteria for success like the MMORPGs do. They don't have to collect 10 Wolf Pelts, Slay 20 Drakes, get XP, get shards for a GSA etc.
Had AC2 just been a pretty AC1 remake, people would have been bored to tears in no time. People don't want to do all the same stuff over again. That would just be like making an Alt in a prettier world.
Unfortunately AC2 was released waaaaay too early and most of the players had already left when things actually started working. It was actually a very good game when they decided to kill the servers for good.
Anyway..
Asheron's Call (1) really started dying with all the housing, I think. Most players seemed to like the housing idea and I admit, I was one of them.
After a while a lot of us started realizing that all the allegiance mansions had left the towns deserted. People were no longer hanging out at Hebian LS etc. Instead they would hang out at their mansion because they got a free recall to that place and that made it easier.
All the smaller housing neighborhoods and appartment complexes didn't help either. Suddenly people had easy access to anywhere in the world just by jumping a few housing portals and that killed everything outside the towns as well. You didn't meet people running from Shoushi to Hebian anymore for example. The community started falling apart.
Well, then there's the marketplace issue.. In theory the idea wasn't that bad but it killed the sub/hub completely. It used to be a laggy place at times and I often cursed quite a bit while trying to lag my way through it but it was still a lot better than it being empty.
It was almost like Turbine decided to kill AC when you think about it. They did everything possible to prevent you from meeting other players and that's what killed my fun. What is a mmorpg without community?
A lot of mistakes were made when they tried to update the game to better compete with the newer games on the market. AC was an old game and of course it shouldn't offer everything the new games did. It was stupid to even try.
A good example was the Tinkering ("crafting"). It's the worst kind of "crafting" I have ever seen in a mmorpg.
Another example of trying to change AC was the introduction of re-spec or re-training.
Asheron's Call was a good game but I think it started dying when people wanted to change it. It was killed by the people who played it and the people who created it.
Imagine the same thing happen in a FPS. The Quake players would look at the success of Battlefield and think "We need airplanes and tanks too!". Just because it works in one game, doesn't mean it will work in every game.
I hope that we will see an Asheron's Call 3 some day but people need to stop the whole "Just remake AC1 with new graphics!" cause it will fail. Bigtime!
Only some of the old AC1 vets would be playing a game that offers so little today and that's simply not enough. They need more subscribers.
A lot of the old AC1 people don't even play mmorpgs anymore. It's not like they're all hiding in the shadows waiting for a new AC1 to come out.
Hello, just want to clear up misconception I continually read here
AC was not created nor handled (until way way later) by Microsoft.. .It was created by Turbine.. Turbine joined ventures with Microsoft Games for the making of AC2 and brought/sold rights over I believe.. since the failure of AC2, Turbine has since bought their rights back from MS and has continued on their own merits..So you can thank them tons for they spent alot of money to MS to get their IP back and continue the fun for their hardcore followers.. Not many companies would have done that.
With that, many followed turbine for the release of LOTR, but Turbine never re-captured the success they had with AC1 as they delved into the secure "BIG NAME TITLE" games, with childesh creations made to sell copies and create a game with as little Customer support as needed.
AC1 Ruled Them All, Ther is no doubt about it being the best MMORPG ever created...
Anyone who complains about it as you can tell found it in its later stages.. (Too many bots, bad graphics, blah, if you played the game you'd understand.... graphics = shit play and crap loot..) In AC you'd gear up with knowledge and prepare yourself for your upcomng battles.. and man did the preparation pay off in big time FUN... it was fun killing things in AC.. i can still go back today after already killing 30,000,000 lugians in their citadel and kill 30,000,000 more.. Never ever can i remmber a bored day in AC..
Bots, who cares? If you dont bot.. dont bot, why does seeing bots bother you? Oh they are in your way? File a petition and away they go...
Loot, OMG collecting motes, just seeing that stupid mote icon, makes you feel so friggan special.. yet you needed tons of them, and then molded them into ingots or whatever.. lol...SO MUCH FUN they had an economy that worked... but gold sellers ruined NLY BECAUSE YOU IDIOTS COMPLAIN FOR NO REAON) so now they make games where there is no ecomomy because... of no reason... ok no gold sellers.. but no game to play either.. thanks for bitching to CS on that... have fun with your crap high res graphic mmo's... you will never play one again for more than 3 months.... For the simple reason.. there is NO content, and noone can handle high res graphics and offer itemization.
Those of us who enjoyed AC from launch have memories that will last us a lifetime, Memories of learning the spells before cheats were available on websites... Guilds were not even in existence.. The term adventure actually had meaning in a game. Getting scared to death trying to solo the bandering tower..
Complain all you want... The secret is this.. if you want fun.. YOU MUST PLAY AC and you must get involved with the bestiary and how to kill the mobs and prepaer for them... then haev absolute carnage
destroying them for hours.. you will learn what "REAL GRINDING" is and GRINDING IS MAD FUN, but no you get these whiners that can't focus on a game for more than 10 minutes cuz their wife is bitching in their ears... come watch a movie with me.. so yeah, now we get non grind games of 1 on 1 boring ass combat.. dont matter what the mob is.. its the same thing.. cuz dumbass Johnny couldnt handle the grind and had to bother CS every night...
And OMG was killing Golems fun or watch, i still here the crumbling sound in my brains... GET THOSE GRANITES, you might get the KEY DROP! hahah
I think you summed up the magic of AC beautifully here. I had a similar starting experience, having started off in Holtburg on Frostfell, as Locrian, a defenseless battlemage that did more running than fighting haha. My real-life bud (a Sho archer) was down in Mayoi and another friend of mine (a Gharu xbower) had just joined him and they were both begging me to hurry up and meet up with them. And so I had to make my way across the world to join them, watching the environments change along with the indigenous creatures, and architecture and armor styles, as I made my way further south. Just traveling from place to place was an adventure. Exploration was such a huge part of that game for me, and it was fun in the early days when magic casters were rare and my buddies really relied on my abilities.
May I ask which studio?
Haha! Totally! I have so many sounds and sights and tidbits of info from this game permanently burned into my brain.
I totally agree here,never has any game been so fair, you want to solo fine you want to group with a friend fine,you want to group with 15 friends fine that too. You can choose how you play this game and I promise you it is a hevy fun from the first step you take in Dareth.
Sure you entile to say whatever you want about Darkfall np , that your ill informed well thats obvious.
And i know it hurts when all major clans darktide switch to darkfall its pain thats true but it will happen.
Always funny to see so many clueless people talk about Darkfall while they dunno shit:P
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
No zoning? While it did have very little zoning, it did have zoning. You don't remember the purple portals to zone into dungeons? I do agree is was one of the best.
Sure you entile to say whatever you want about Darkfall np , that your ill informed well thats obvious.
And i know it hurts when all major clans darktide switch to darkfall its pain thats true but it will happen.
Always funny to see so many clueless people talk about Darkfall while they dunno shit:P
Now be fair, AC is a quality game most that play there are not unhappy and it is not an easy game. Many of it's ideas were stolen by newer games like wow. On the other hand DF will have very good crafting and some new guild and player housing. You can also murder your neighbor on both games, there is enough room for everyone I think.
No zoning? While it did have very little zoning, it did have zoning. You don't remember the purple portals to zone into dungeons? I do agree is was one of the best.
No, it didn't have zoning, the portals only teleported you.. dungeons were just really far away and really deep underground to prevent lag. If you had no clip on you could fly straight to land without a single load screen
this game is creative. up to now i hold interest on this game. the online game market is fluctuating, i do think this game worthy trying and playing. we should respect it.