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DDO Unlimited, a review.
Ambre
Member UncommonPosts: 104
I tried this game during the week break before Aion release, and it was actually a very good surprise. I wasnt expecting the game to be that different and refreshing from the mainstream MMOs out there.
If you're looking for something different, and don't mind loosing some of your usual routine for a game that has its own depth and complexity, you should definitely check DDO.
I posted on my mmorpg.com blog a very detailed review of my first week on the game. Have a look if you're interested 
Have fun !
Check my blog on mmorpg.com.
Comments
Very good review with both the pros and cons of the game which I mostly agree with! I hope you write another one if you choose to progress further into the game.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
ty for the review ,it give a good idea of the game
"By the way DDO is the first MMO I ever played that actually doesn't reward you for killing mobs at all, and that's quite an innovation. The progression and the experience your character gains are entirely objective based. That means you can choose to play a stealthy character that is going to skip most of the encounters to go directly to the main objective and it's totally fine...."
"Neither has some npc asked me to bring him back 10 wolf tails."
Two of the features I LOVE TO BITS! Sorry, I get carried away there. Every other game I have played had these stupid features and, strangely enough, after playing WoW and especially after trying Spellborn, I never want to see another "Collect 10 of this" quest ever again.
Excellent review, and a good game. Like you, this puts me in a quandary, because Aion will e dropping through my letter box shortly, too.
"I never want to see another "Collect 10 of this" quest ever again." Unfortunately for you, DDO has those too.
Not only that, but you get to do those quests in INSTANCES... fun. In fact, the entire game is summed up by farming instances over and over and over and getting some magical treasure chest to appear at the end. How is this any different from "WoW"? One of the biggest beef people had with WoW was grinding the dungeons over and over. In DDO, you do that from the beginning all the way to end game and more. In other words, they managed to take the thing people liked least about WoW and put it in every part of the game.
Furthermore, the only time you see other players is in hubs that link the dungeons, ala failed feature found in Hellgate London. Another problem people had with the single player game OBLIVION, is that every few steps there was another dungeon. Quite illogical really. In DDO, you are surrounded by "epic dungeons" which just so happen to be right next to eachother in a small space. Even an NPC's bedroom turns into a freaking dungeon... i mean give me a break. DDO is by far one of the worst designed games I have ever been able to play. Guild Wars uses instances and at least they got it right. Might as well play that instead, its more populated and cost no sub. It also actually has a thing called good pvp.
Well, thats kind of the point (in my opinion). It's not meant for people that are happy with other MMO's, it's something different for the rest of us to play.
--
DDO Permadeath guilds
Well, thats kind of the point (in my opinion). It's not meant for people that are happy with other MMO's, it's something different for the rest of us to play.
Except it seems Turbine is not so happy being different. I am waiting for the collect ten Kobold tail quest in the next patch. The ruining of fast paced fun combat in the last patch needs to be changed immediately.
I take it you'd rather your character had to walk, at a realistic pace, 10 to 20 miles to get to every dungeon or quest? Wow, that would take an hour or three out of your gaming time right there, but whatever floats your boat.
'Dungeons almost within walking distance' was part of the charm of the pencil and paper game, even back when I played AD&D over 30 years ago, in the Blackmoor Campaign. (Anyone else played using the white A5 boxed rulebooks?) None of the later modules were in any way "realistic" either, what with abandoned temples full of undead right next to a happy village, smugglers through a hatch in the floor in a tavern, monsters of all kinds in the town sewers...
Even in other games you will have played, there will be hostile groups of bandits or skeletons 20 yards from the town gates, and people who's eternal goal is to have you - and every other player in the game - bring them 10 Rats Tails, kill 10 Goblins or deliver a package to someone a mere 300 yards away that no courier has somehow ever been able to deliver. That's the genre for you, no matter what the game. You just turn up the Suspension of Belief up a notch, kick back and enjoy the ride, be it Eve Online, DDO, Wow, Aion, AoC, LotR, whatever.
In a "real" RPG or MMORPG (there never will be a "real" one, but you know what I mean) your character would take one hit from a longbow arrow and that would be game over, even if you didn't actually die. As for getting Fireballed - that staple of fantasy games - you'd have 3rd degree burns, seared lungs and loss of vision at the least.
Games are games. Reality is in abeyance for just a short, blessed while. Don't anguish over it. Just say "what the hell" and have fun.
I take it you'd rather your character had to walk, at a realistic pace, 10 to 20 miles to get to every dungeon or quest? Wow, that would take an hour or three out of your gaming time right there, but whatever floats your boat.
'Dungeons almost within walking distance' was part of the charm of the pencil and paper game, even back when I played AD&D over 30 years ago, in the Blackmoor Campaign. (Anyone else played using the white A5 boxed rulebooks?) None of the later modules were in any way "realistic" either, what with abandoned temples full of undead right next to a happy village, smugglers through a hatch in the floor in a tavern, monsters of all kinds in the town sewers...
Even in other games you will have played, there will be hostile groups of bandits or skeletons 20 yards from the town gates, and people who's eternal goal is to have you - and every other player in the game - bring them 10 Rats Tails, kill 10 Goblins or deliver a package to someone a mere 300 yards away that no courier has somehow ever been able to deliver. That's the genre for you, no matter what the game. You just turn up the Suspension of Belief up a notch, kick back and enjoy the ride, be it Eve Online, DDO, Wow, Aion, AoC, LotR, whatever.
In a "real" RPG or MMORPG (there never will be a "real" one, but you know what I mean) your character would take one hit from a longbow arrow and that would be game over, even if you didn't actually die. As for getting Fireballed - that staple of fantasy games - you'd have 3rd degree burns, seared lungs and loss of vision at the least.
Games are games. Reality is in abeyance for just a short, blessed while. Don't anguish over it. Just say "what the hell" and have fun.
The key word here is "alienation". People dont realize that it carries just as much weight in game design as it does with film production. Good designers will work to actively create the illusion of a certain feature, even if it doesnt exist. Take Fallout for example, you travel across the west coast and while it connotes the actual travel, in reality it only takes a few seconds. There is really no excuse for illogical dungeons being scattered around everywhere within a small confined space. This is just Turbine being untalented and lazy.
They really are, there is nothing respectable about the company imo. They do not manage to do anything well, which is a bad when you consider the types of franchises they get. In other words, they spend more time and money acquiring a license than actually producing a good product to match it. To them, they let the name sell the game, not the actual quality. This is the result. Shoddy game design.
Not sure what pnp you have been playing, but I have yet to see an official campaign that has dungeons stacked right next to eachother and epic fights in every NPC's bedroom much less their toiletry.
You seem to mistake what games are... Games by definition are rule sets in which a challenge is created. Multiple types of challenges often help define the genres. With any visual medium, immersion and the lack of alienation builds on top of the challenge, giving it substance. If the substance is bad, regardless of the challenge, the game will not be great. Immersion is one of the most key factors in the RPG genre. Given the way DDO is designed, again its nothing more than a glorified hack n slash. If thats what you enjoy, its what you enjoy... its not for everyone, nor would it be very true to the pnp D&D experience.
What i pointed out earlier, was that you do not realize DDO does have the collect/kill X amount quests, and that grinding dungeons from a small hub over and over is no better, some might argue worse, than grinding individual enemies in a larger and open world.
... I think the people of Waterdeep would whole-heartedly disagree.
As far as I'm concerned, an "illusion of a certain feature" is just a meaningless game concept. Some games take the illusion further, some less so, but it's all just fakery no matter how well it is done and ultimately a fake is a fake.
If it's fun, I like it, whether it's Eve Online, Aion, Anarchy Online, Wow, Guild Wars or whatever. How they give the illusion of "reality" and to what degree they take it to is irrelevant, because I know I'm merely playing a game, a piece of amusement.
I started playing computer games when, for example, Star Trek was played on a 10 X 10 grid using ASCII characters, so my Suspension Of Disbelief muscles are pretty well developed.
... I think the people of Waterdeep would whole-heartedly disagree.
Waterdeep was one of the largest cities in Faerun, which was built on top off a vast network of tunnels which were part of the underdark, as well as having another city below it. Needless to say, there wasnt a dungeon every few steps, rather you had two entire cities build on top of one another, one more prone to evil than the other. Huge difference, especially when comparing it to DDO.
"Originally posted by Dibdabs
As far as I'm concerned, an "illusion of a certain feature" is just a meaningless game concept. Some games take the illusion further, some less so, but it's all just fakery no matter how well it is done and ultimately a fake is a fake.
If it's fun, I like it, whether it's Eve Online, Aion, Anarchy Online, Wow, Guild Wars or whatever. How they give the illusion of "reality" and to what degree they take it to is irrelevant, because I know I'm merely playing a game, a piece of amusement.
I started playing computer games when, for example, Star Trek was played on a 10 X 10 grid using ASCII characters, so my Suspension Of Disbelief muscles are pretty well developed."
Illusion is the greatest, least meaningless "game concept" one can use during game design. The idea is to give the impression of something going on visually, when its completely different, often more simple under the hood. Random features in games for example mostly use a number generator, its as simple as that.
For many developers, certain game concepts are not feasible given the budget, the time, or technology. IN that case you have to "cheat" in order to get the same results. A magician has to trick the user into thinking magic is taking place, or at least, prevent them from seeing what would ruin the show, aka alienate the audience. Games are not an exception from that either, for the most part.
Hey people use to think kicking cans was fun... times change, the boundaries are pushed. The more visual the medium, the more detail involved, the harder a developer has to work to get it right. You can make a vague game on a vague platform, but once you start adding in details, more responsibility is added. It is one of the pros and cons when considering how game development has changed with technology. No longer are games developed by 1 lonely programmer at his kitchen table, now they are made with teams of 30-50 people and budgets that surpass the 10 million dollar mark.
Don't get me wrong, there are illusions I am happy to go along with, be it book, film or game, but the the way a specific illusion tries to emulate a specific "reality" and the degree of success in which it emulates that "reality" is not a make or break deal for me.
Do I care that Booty Bay has pirates permanently camped a stone's throw from the entrance? Nope, nor do several million other people. Do I worry in Guild Wars that once I wipe out some mobs in the wilderness, the same mobs will be there 5 minutes later? Nope. Did I worry because Qeynos in EQ had a "secret" tunnel a mere 20 feet from the guards that led to - you guessed it - The Sewers that were filled with mobs? No, I didn't. Neither did anyone else. I'm not that bothered that starships in Eve Online can fly through planets, nor is anyone else, because we can always shrug our shoulders and think, "well, maybe the ship's drive warps real space rendering matter permeable. Yeah, that'll do."
Why can MMO characters run and swim in plate armour? How can people in movies smash a car window with a fist and feel no pain and never bleed? How did no-one notice Jim hiding in a barrel in Treasure Island - the ship is tiny, the crew is large and no-one saw him get in or out? The Ringwraith mere feet from Frodo couldn't actually smell sweaty, terrified hobbits and not one of the hobbits pots and pans in their gear clinked or rattled? Yeah, fine. It's a contrivance. Don't fret it.
Illusions of reality. Irrelevant to the big picture.
i agree with Dibdabs. your crying about how a game is not real or believable.....lol...come on now!!!...i think you just have a thing for Turbine. a game is for amusement anf fun...ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT/
i have been playin DnD for over 20 years, so i love DDO and its, as you would call it, "cluster of dungeons". i have 7 other friends that play it and know of other people that play it, and you want to tell me it sucks, because you have a hard-on for Turbine.....lol...i just have to laugh and call you silly.
its a game and thats all, i have fun playin it and love the DnD feel. thats all that matters 2 me and all the others that play or want to play. ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT:
you base a games flaws on it not being believable...lol.....its a game silly boy!!
{mod edit}....I AM IN THE THELANIS SERVER AND MY NAME IS VOLJACK. IF YA GET ON THAT SERVER GIVE ME A SHOUT I HAVE A FEW PEOPLE THAT GET TOGETHER AND HAVE FUN IN THIS TERRIBLE GAME
Thanks, cosmocow - a kindred spirit!
... I think the people of Waterdeep would whole-heartedly disagree.
Waterdeep was one of the largest cities in Faerun, which was built on top off a vast network of tunnels which were part of the underdark, as well as having another city below it. Needless to say, there wasnt a dungeon every few steps, rather you had two entire cities build on top of one another, one more prone to evil than the other. Huge difference, especially when comparing it to DDO.
"Originally posted by Dibdabs
As far as I'm concerned, an "illusion of a certain feature" is just a meaningless game concept. Some games take the illusion further, some less so, but it's all just fakery no matter how well it is done and ultimately a fake is a fake.
If it's fun, I like it, whether it's Eve Online, Aion, Anarchy Online, Wow, Guild Wars or whatever. How they give the illusion of "reality" and to what degree they take it to is irrelevant, because I know I'm merely playing a game, a piece of amusement.
I started playing computer games when, for example, Star Trek was played on a 10 X 10 grid using ASCII characters, so my Suspension Of Disbelief muscles are pretty well developed."
Illusion is the greatest, least meaningless "game concept" one can use during game design. The idea is to give the impression of something going on visually, when its completely different, often more simple under the hood. Random features in games for example mostly use a number generator, its as simple as that.
For many developers, certain game concepts are not feasible given the budget, the time, or technology. IN that case you have to "cheat" in order to get the same results. A magician has to trick the user into thinking magic is taking place, or at least, prevent them from seeing what would ruin the show, aka alienate the audience. Games are not an exception from that either, for the most part.
Hey people use to think kicking cans was fun... times change, the boundaries are pushed. The more visual the medium, the more detail involved, the harder a developer has to work to get it right. You can make a vague game on a vague platform, but once you start adding in details, more responsibility is added. It is one of the pros and cons when considering how game development has changed with technology. No longer are games developed by 1 lonely programmer at his kitchen table, now they are made with teams of 30-50 people and budgets that surpass the 10 million dollar mark.
You don't like that game, the company or anything: WE GET THAT ALREADY!
You've made your point to people who disagree and no longer care. You can't talk someone into liking or not liking something simply by going on-and-on-and-on.
Give up and go home.
Playing: Ableton Live 8
~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
I agree. I've been playing a few weeks now, and liked it so much I prefer it over Aion which I bought the CE and did beta. I have since canceled and play DDO as my main MMO.
I understand not everyone will feel the same, but this game has really grown on me, and I'm having a blast.
I bought Aion too, which was a major disappointment. Aion is just another run-of-the-mill Asian game and I cancelled my subscription within 30 minutes of play, though I grit my teeth and grind on to see if it gets any better. I have no real hopes of this.
DDO is growing on me even more. It has a certain charm, it is objective driven, the community is very sociable and the combat is a change from the "autopilot combat" seen in so many MMOs. My greatest pleasure is the Rogue class, which actually does what it states on the label, so to speak - sneak attacks, disarming traps and pick lock.
I can see me sticking with this for quite a while, because it's something well thought out and rather unusual after 9 years of standard fantasy MMOs.