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Looking for community and city building
I know that this request is somewhat specific, and I also know that I will probably not find exactly what I'm looking for, but I am trying to decide on what the best option would be out of what is out there. If anyone wouldn't mind bearing with me and providing a suggestion, I would be very appreciative.
What I am looking for is a game that has support for a strong community and roleplaying aspect that involves player buildings and cities. I would love to be able to log on in the city that maybe I helped to build and be able to socialize with others that might live there. Perhaps I would have a role in the city, like the local jewelcrafter or seamstress. I am also looking for something a bit more modern and visually emmersive.
To help explain, let me mention a few games that I have tried that have this kind of thing.
Ultima Online: I got involved in a city in UO where I was the barmaid in a local tavern. This was a lot of fun and almost exactly what I was into, but as time went on people started moving away from OU. Also, the graphics are a bit too dated for me at present.
Star Wars Galaxies: This is another almost perfect example of what I am thinking of. The down side is that there don't seem to be many people left in SWG, and I keep hearing so many bad things since the more recent changes. I have been away from the game for a few years.
Shadowbane: This is another good example of what I mean. The problems are that the graphics are more dated than I think I would be able to bear, and there aren't many people left playing as far as I know. Also, crafting work isn't done by the players but NPCs. I would really enjoy being able to craft.
Age of Conan: At the moment this is the one I am looking at to go with. I've only just started with it so I'm too new to know what the cities are like, though. I'm not sure if it offers the experience I am looking for or not.
Vanguard: I know you can build houses and things on plots, but I have not gotten far enough in the game to know if people actually make cities and hang out there enough to develop communities there.
Darkfall: I had lots of hopes for this one, on paper it seems to support all of the things I am looking for. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get past my dislike for the graphics or the interface. I may give this one more of a try, I don't know yet.
So there you have it. Again, I know that nothing will have exactly everything I want, I'm just trying to decide which will have the most out of the options available. I would appreciate any thoughts or any suggestions of games that I haven't tried yet.
Comments
The only games that I know that even have features like these is age of conan or tale in the desert. however in tale of the deserts there is no fighting its just a pure crafting game.
It's crazy how close someone elses interests can be to your own :P. Your compiled list there is almost identical to my own.
That said, I hate to say it, but aside from the games you listed, I can't really think of any other that meet that Criteria. I would say that you should check out Asheron's Call (one of the grandaddies of mmo history), as it sports a skill system very similar to that of UO, and also has open world player housing (although, you can only buy certain types I believe; not build them yourself). The problem is, it's got to have the lowest population of any mmo out there, no joke.
I also feel exactly like you do when it comes to Ultima Online. I mean, the game has abolutely everything you could want in a "viritual world", but of course, it comes at the price of graphics =/. I don't know about you, but for me, it's hard to become immersed in a world that's in a 2D perspective. I've heard DarkFall was supposed to be a 3D equivalent to UO, but seeing as how it's free world pvp, including the looting of players (just like the original UO that I could never get into for that very reason), I think I'll pass, until a "trammel-like" server is opened
. I'm just not the hard-core pvp type, to be honest.
I noticed that you mentioned AoC, and seeing as how it's had me hooked for the last few weeks, I'd strongly recommend that you give it a try. If RPs your game, they have a really great rp/pvp server called Cimmeria that I'm currently playing on, and aside from the prepubescent jerks running around, it has an amazing community of RPers. Besides, although it is open pvp, there is literally no penalty for death so it's not a problem, and as long as your part of one of the great guilds (*Cough* check out this guild if you ever consider giving it a try - http://www.infernaldreams.com/invicta/home - *Cough* ), then you'll always have someone willing to help you when needed.
*Ahem* Anyway, I can't give you too many details since I haven't gotten very far yet, but I can say that AoC definitely has some of the most fun combat that you'll find in an mmo. Not to mention, it has a really immersive storyline that you start immedietly upon entering the game. And, if you're playing on Cimmeria, RP is not very hard to find - just make sure you turn off Global chat as it seems to be the cess pool for those that have no interest in it :P. And, of course, it does have player cities, which is a real plus for me.
OH! Speaking of AoC, I just realized that I still have an unused buddy key that I got when I purchased the game, so if you actually do decide you want to try it, just let me know and it's all your's
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Good luck on whatever you decide
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I'm quite curious to hear it once you've found a game that meets those criteria
my suggestion is www.mortalonline.com, in development. similar to old UO.
I completely forgot to mention earlier that AoC does take a really hefty computer to really enjoy at it's fullest. But as long as you meet the required specs, and play around with the settings you can get a pretty nice framerate; at the expense of some of the eye candy of course.
In all fairness though, after looking back over your post, the game may not have the "feel" you're looking for. I've actually been feeling that way myself, since it's a much darker and barbaric (pun intended :P) world. The game does have a ton of potential though, it just comes down to who you play it with.
Anyway, if you ever do decide to give it a go, just let me know. That key isn't going anywhere
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One last Edit and I'm done :P - If you're more into a laidback kind of atmosphere, I forgot to mention that the Wiccana server is the unofficial RP PvE server on AoC. It may not have RP in it's title, but I'm almost inclined to say that it has even more RPers than the RP/PVP server does lol. I'm actually thinking of moving over there myself; the griefing on Cimmeria gets very tiring at times.
Thank you all very much for your replies. They have been interesting to read. It seems I am not alone in at least some of my preferences.
The offer of the buddy key for AoC was very nice of you. Actually, I'm already playing it though. I decided to give it a try the other day. I'm still on the starting island. Annea is my character name there if anyone wants to find me. So far I actually like the feel of the game a lot. I don't really mind the intense nature of it. My worry, really, is if I will be able to find the kind of atmosphere I am looking for in the cities themselves. What I am most hoping for is that they will have some life to them, rather than just be empty places where no one ever hangs out.
For Darkfall, it does seem a lot like a more modern UO which was why I was hopeful. Though, in addition to my feelings on the graphics and the interface, there seems to be no type of localized 'say' channel, which in itself is usually a deal breaker for me in any game.
I think Mortal Online is a good suggestion. I have been following it a bit, but from what I see I do not think it will be available all that soon. When it does come, I have high hopes for it because it does seem to have quite a bit of what I am looking for but one can never tell. I have been disappointed before, as I'm sure we all have, so I am trying not to get my hopes up too much.
Just wanted to say that i heard that MO is dropping this summer but with that said it could easily get postponed 6 months or more so who knows. Closed beta is starting on the 18th i think so that should give you an idea on how far off it is. I would think more along the lines of Q4 of 09 but who knows, if the game isn't in that bad off shape it could be out this summer.
Ha, no kidding? That's actually the same thing that happened to me back when I decided to give the game a try. I was looking everywhere for a buddy key, but after not having any luck I took my chances and bought the game. Then I got home and noticed someone had e-mailed me about the buddy pass lol. Luckily, it didn't really matter since it was money well spent
.
Which server are you playing on? I've got a few lowbies on both, Cimmeria and Wiccana, but I'm still trying to pick between the two. I'm kind of leaning towards Wiccana, because as much as I like pvp, it's always a heck of a lot more fun when it's consensual. In any case, if you happen to be on either of those servers, it'd be great to group up sometime. I'm usually running around on my Bear shaman, Seilan (on both servers).
And no prob at all about the buddy pass offer
- in fact, if you have a friend that needs one, just let me know; I'd be more than happy to send it their way.
Istaria fits those criteria but thats all it has left. If you can get far enough to start building your home you might enjoy it.
Make games you want to play.
http://www.youtube.com/user/RavikAztar
Ooh I had almost completely forgotten about Horizons. I played that for a while but I haven't played it in years now. I can't quite rememver why I had left now that you bring it up. I remember I really did like the fact that you could influence the world so much. If you wanted to get accross a river, get your friends together and repair the bridge, or build a new crafting station for all to use out in the wild. I really liked that kind of stuff. The other fun thing was the fact that your player town could be attacked by NPCs and you had to defend it.
How is that game doing these days? I would imagine that pretty much all of the world changing stuff has already been built. Do people still play?
In AoC I am on Cimmeria
Yeah, Horizons is something I haven't thought about for quite some time. That game always seemed to have a lot of potential, but I could never understand why it ran so poorly on my older, mid-range computer. Honestly, that was my biggest reason for not giving it a fair shot. But now that I've got a pretty intense PC, I'm tempted to try it out again, assuming that the population isn't abysmal at this point lol.
You know, another game you might want to check out is Ryzom ( or Saga of Ryzom, which is the full name I believe). I don't believe it sports player housing exactly, but it does have a really indepth crafting system and skill system. It's completely skill based so you can build your character just as you like. Also, it has one of the most beautiful worlds I've ever seen, personally, and despite the fact that it's been out for years, it still compares with some of the best, and it even runs really well on older systems surprisingly. But I think the most unique feature of the game would be the addition of "player-created" dungeon program. I don't really know any details about it, but I remember reading about an addition to the game that allowed played to create their owns adventures with a dungeon creator of sorts. I always thought that sounded really interesting. So I guess, in a sense, you probably could build your own city :P. The game is apparently still free to play (as they original company went bankrupt and the game was bought out by another who still haven't started subscriptions), so it'd be a good time to give it a try. I may do it just for the heck of it.
Cimmeria, eh? Nice
If you're still looking for a guild you should really check out the Invicta site that I linked earlier. They're an RP guild with a whole bunch of really helpful members. I've really enjoyed my time there so far. To be honest though, I haven't played in the last few days since my free month just let up, and I've been waiting on news of the new Everquest server that's supposed to be coming out soon. If it ends up not being a progression server of some sort, then I'll be back to AoC. In any case, If you end up sticking with AoC, I'm sure I'll see you at some point - AoC is one of those games that's definitely worth going back to, and if it wasn't for my nostalgic love for Everquest (and the fact that this might be my last time to ever experience EQ from the beginning on a new server) you can bet my AoC account would still be active 
.
Good luck - hope to see you around in one of these virtual worlds soon ^_^.
Might check some of these out. I been looking for a game to build in, don't really want to build anything personally as a player. More just design towns,dungeons, items, characters, etc for game use..I get tired of playing after awhile and just want to create stuff. If I don't find anything I'll probrably just start makin' crappy games usin' BGE or somethin'..
http://www.myspace.com/jhypsyshah
I think after some consideration and all of the input I have gotten (thank you all) I am going to stick with Age of Conan at least long enough to get to the point where I can become involved in the player city aspects. I mean, I'm still on the starting island after all so it's impossible for me to judge that part first hand yet.
At that point I will see if it fits what I am looking for, or reconsider what other options I might have then. If it turns out to not be for me I will probably either reconsider Vanguard, maybe Horizons, or look ahead to Mortal Online. It will likely be several weeks before I get to that point in Age of Conan so if anyone else is there please feel free to look me up on Annea, especially if you share common interests with me. Even if not, I like being friendly.
Tell me of you found the game iam also looking :P
, however iam looking for free to play.
Sounds like a good idea to me
Sorry if I came off as a killjoy, I just wanted to make sure to include all the information I've gathered so far about the game. I honestly still feel that this game has more potential than any that have came out for the last many years, and considering that Funcom has really got back on track, I think it has a very bright future. The combat is really exciting and entertaining, it's got an amazing community (with many awesome RPers), and it has a really nice blend of PvE and PvP content at the end game (which seems to be growing steadily).
In other words, I definitely agree that you should give this game a chance. It may not currently have everything you're looking for in an MMO, but given the right amount of time, I think this game will shape up to be one of the best. I'm still on the fence about reactivating (since I'm still waiting for word on that new EQ server) but if I end up resubscribing and you're still wanting some company, It'd be great to have a grouping partner. Even more so, considering Cimmeria has some pretty cutthroat characters, so it's good to have someone with you - power in numbers :P.
Anyway, I might just go ahead and reactivate later tonight; If I do, I'll be running around on my bear shaman Seilan (he's still in tortage actually - level 19), so if you're up for chatting or grouping, just let me know. In any case, I'll send you a /tell to say hi when I get on, regardless
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www.citiesxl.com Not exactly what you're looking for. However, it's in development and looks amazing. Sim City online mmorpg. Very unique. Hope you find the game you're looking for!
I'd give Runes of Magic a shot. It's a free to play game that has a cash shop, but you are not forced to use it unless you want to buy a permanent mount, house items, etc. To give you an estimate, you can buy around 400 diamonds for $15 (The amount you pay a month for P2P games) and a permanent mount goes for around 300 diamonds.
As soon as you get to the 2nd town there is a quest to obtain your house (which you can decorate with addons such as a bed, plants, etc.) which takes roughly 30 minutes to obtain your house. Not to mention they just implemented guild castles where you can have you and your guildmates own housing in the castle as well as it's own crafting areas.
I really think this will be a great game for what you wanted. I know I am enjoying it immensely and have yet to spend a dollar on it. It officially releases wednesday the 19th with lots of promises of regular updates.