Still wondering what kept killing me with ranged lightning attacks the first time I tried the game, but I'll start out in a different location this time, and keep your guide in mind.
Edit: cut out the actual guide from the quote as it was visible enough a couple of posts above.
Alright.. I gave this game a try. 2 days now into it and i can comment a little bit on what is it i actually dislike.
- First of all. There is indeed not much to do as someone stated. Crafting and forging/hunting seem to be the only real activities in the game. I like the freedom and all but this "freedom" does seem a boring grind...
- The second thing is linked to the first one... Ok... What exactly is the goal here? When i asked that in the main chat people said " Its a sandbox... You make your own goals!" But when i ask people what are they currently doing the majority said "Forging"... So what the damn goal in all this forging and mastering of skills? What can i get with it? Craft better gear? What for? To get better mats from kitins and/or more harder foes? Can i build something? Can i ACHIEVE something other then mastery of skills? It all just seems to be a grid in the sake of grinding...
Its a sandbox i get that. But look at EvE for an example... Corporations... Mass PvP... Galaxy wide trade... Building outposts, Getting a better ship[ etc. etc. There are goals there...More visible goals... Its a sandbox with GOALS you can actually achieve... In Ryzom i haven't yet heard of a actual goal.... except ofcourse "mastery of some skill".
A SKILL IS A TOOL NOT A GOAL ON ITS OWN. Atleast for me...
Also... The games race choice is all kind of deep in the uncanny valley... Just can't "feel" them...
EDIT:
- Ohh another thing! This "jack-of-all-trades attitude" is really annoying. As someone above stated already this game is full of healer+dps+tank people. It takes the fun away from the game and makes it feel silly. Why can everyone do everything? Even if i choose to not be this way i'll just propably gimp myself in the process...
I've been uplinked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading.
I'm a high-tech low-life. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bi-coastal multi-tasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.
I'm new-wave, but I'm old-school; and my inner child is outward-bound.
I'm a hot-wired, heat-seeking, warm-hearted cool customer; voice-activated and bio-degradable.
Finally got around to trying the game. I'm enjoying it, and I'll definitely subscribe at the end of my trial period to see more of it. There's a lot of things about the game to appeal to me. But, this is a dislike thread, and here are my general complaints. Keep in mind that these are from the perspective of someone that's still on the island and has only gotten maybe 20 hours or so of gametime so far.
1) No support for a good amount of integrated graphics chips. Plenty of games work on the Intel integrated chips, albeit at low settings, but most of those chips won't even allow you to get past the login screen on Ryzom. This is unfortunate and really should be something that got patched a long time ago.
2) Several of the tutorial quests require learning certain abilities to continue (especially in the magic tutorial chain). This unfortunately wastes points that you might want to use elsewhere to fit your character early on. Now, you've got the option to just not do the quest chain, but the quest chains give you gear that are extremely helpful early on. Example: The magic chain requires you to learn both root and fear, and magic skill points are already spread pretty thin early on. Neither of those skills are useful at all initially (later they get better with upgrades) because of their teensy weensy duration, and those skill points could be put to use in other abilities and upgrades instead.
3) The tutorial quests often go into detail about pretty obvious abilities (like accurate attack/increased damage attack), but either don't exist or only give scarce information when it comes to some that actually need some explanation. You'll run into several abilities that are more or less trial and error to learn how they work exactly.
4) I don't know if I accidentally changed an option somewhere or if this is actually how it's supposed to be, but after completing all of the skill quest chains and opening up the quests from Chiang, the Kamis, and the Karavan, I stopped being able to track quest locations on my map. Even if I right click on the compass, the Missions drop down is gray'd out. I haven't found a way to go back and review quest dialogue (if there is a way to do this, that's great, but it should be stated in the tutorial how to do it if it does exist). In some cases, the dialogue gives a pretty good idea of where to go, but there's a couple quests where that's vague; but the other problem is that if you don't remember the quest dialogue (for instance, you took the quest a couple days before and are just now getting to it), you've got no idea where you're supposed to go and the only way to find out is to ask other players or start wandering around an area that seems logical for the quest. Again, this may just be something I turned off somehow and normally the compass is supposed to work for these quests, I don't know.
5) I love challenging enemies, but there's one part that has just been frustrating on the island. There's an area full of bird-like creatures (and when I say full, I mean FULL) which can disarm you easily. There are two different quests which require killing said creatures, and another quest which requires harvesting materials in the area with them. These things can get downright annoying because if you've got 3 or more of them attacking you at once (which often becomes nearly unavoidable if you're harvesting), you're not going to be able to keep your weapon/tool in your hand at all. If this were later in the game, I'd welcome the challenge; however, this is the newbie island, and you don't want to frustrate new players.
6) The inventory system's a bit wonky. First and foremost, I don't like that, at least defaultly, there's only a single vertical-scroll inventory screen. It gets cluttered way too easily. Yes, you can filter out certain item types, but it's still not an optimal design. I haven't played around in the UI options enough to see if there are other options for the inventory screen, hopefully there are; but if there are, perhaps using one of them over this one defaultly would be a good move. Also, inventory weight isn't immediately clear. There's "bag bulk," a max item amount, and a bag weight... And you'll find pretty quickly that materials get heavy fast and you'll most likely not even realize it because as soon as you see that you can filter the inventory screen to not show materials, you will filter them out.
7) The early-game crafting is likely going to disappoint people really looking forward to crafting. Later on, I can definitely tell that crafted gear is the way to go. But on the island, you're first and foremost going to be extremely limited on what you can craft simply due to a lack of skill points to invest in plans and upgrades. It doesn't end there, though; you're going to get the best materials you can gather, and what you end up crafting will still likely pale in comparison to what you can buy from the island equipment merchants. On top of that, the gear you get out of the tutorial quests is WAY better. It'd be nice if there was something in place on the island to let crafters know that it gets better, or at least a means of them crafting comparable gear.
8) Some more explanation about the factions would've been nice on the island. You go and take up quests from the Kami questgiver and the Karavan questgiver likely without even realizing that they're competing factions (though the quest dialogue from the Karavan quests do hint at it).
9) Fences. I don't mind there not being a jump, but since there isn't one, the use of fences should be a little more conservative. I haven't really run into areas outside of the starter "town" where I say to myself "Ugh, gotta walk all the way around to get over this tiny obstacle," but I definitely say that about the long fences they have around the starter camp.
Now, don't let this discourage you. None of these are really terrible complaints (except #1), just minor nuances I've run into so far. Overall, I'm loving the game. I personally really like the art style, the art style makes the game's graphics look far more appealing to me than other games I've played on the same rig (Vanguard, EQ2, WoW, WAR, DDO, and Fallen Earth to name a few), I love the stanza system, the community has been absolutely great (both helpful and friendly), and plenty of other features that just really appeal to me. I am concerned about the Jack-of-all-Trades thing, though... In the early game, it's entirely NOT possible as you don't have enough skill points to do it, and I hope that's the way it remains. It sounds like it is from the group requests I see in chat, so that's good news, but I'll find out soon enough.
In summary, if you haven't tried the game, give it a try. It's definitely a niche game, and if you enjoy exploration and more RP potential in your game, this is definitely one for you to try. If you prefer fast-paced gameplay with set goals to reach, you probably won't like it too much... But it's worth trying to find out anyway.
1. The skilless system has no boundaries at all. You can be master in melee & ranged combat, offensive & defensive magic, in crafting & gathering... This makes it for me a shallow grind system with no actual choices & consequences. I like choices & consequences, i like to "spec." into something - what we many times refer as the "role" in RPGs. In MMOs more specific i like the possibilities of blending multiple different roles together in a group and trying to achieve some good result out of it.
2. The so called interesting lore-wise world, has all its lore written into... HTML! Sorry but if i wanted to read a book i would be doing that. I expect from a game to have its lore scattered around the world, rendered into some old man's tales, into a nicely written quest or in some old book lost in time and space...
3. The quests: Ryzom doesn't really know whether they want to have quests or not. At the starting area you get some quite nice quests but it really stops there. On the mainland there are tons of totally uninspired quests. They wanted to create a sandbox game - i am cool with that - so why did they go and add quests? If you 're gonna add quests on a game, sandbox or not, make a couple of them but make them count! Put lore into them, give choices to the player, make the whole thing interesting... Otherwise don't put any at all. You can always spread the rewards you would give on your uninspired quest, directly to monsters...
4. The lack of people and grouping... need i say more on this?
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
I never heard about Ryzom until a few days ago. From what I read on paper, it seemed like the game I was looking for, since I was wanting a PVE based sandbox and didn't like piloting a ship around in EVE. After spending around 8 hours in Ryzom over 3 days, I uninstalled.
The combat is OK, just like most MMO's, so it's not as bad as some people say.
The Stanza system sounds perfect, but once I read the forums and actually thought about it, it seems broken. Like everyone can do anything broken. For some reason that turns me off from a game, since I like having limits to make characters unique.
The art style was decent, and so were the graphics. They weren't gamebreaking or anything.
Enemy AI was one of the best features. I liked how some come up to your character checking them out, and others just attack.
I can see how Ryzom is one of the better sandbox MMO's, and I think it deserves more subs than it has. But I just couldn't get past the no limits Stanza system. I reccomend it to anyone that isn't bothered by limitless progression.
Playing - EVE, Wurm
Retired - Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online, Mabinogi
1. The skilless system has no boundaries at all. You can be master in melee & ranged combat, offensive & defensive magic, in crafting & gathering... This makes it for me a shallow grind system with no actual choices & consequences. I like choices & consequences, i like to "spec." into something - what we many times refer as the "role" in RPGs. In MMOs more specific i like the possibilities of blending multiple different roles together in a group and trying to achieve some good result out of it.
Yeah this isn't a game for people that want set roles and skill caps.
2. The so called interesting lore-wise world, has all its lore written into... HTML! Sorry but if i wanted to read a book i would be doing that. I expect from a game to have its lore scattered around the world, rendered into some old man's tales, into a nicely written quest or in some old book lost in time and space...
The lore of the game develops through Live events. Ryzom has many missions scattered all through the world that you could do for different types of fame and encylopedia missions that teach you about the lore.
3. The quests: Ryzom doesn't really know whether they want to have quests or not. At the starting area you get some quite nice quests but it really stops there. On the mainland there are tons of totally uninspired quests. They wanted to create a sandbox game - i am cool with that - so why did they go and add quests? If you 're gonna add quests on a game, sandbox or not, make a couple of them but make them count! Put lore into them, give choices to the player, make the whole thing interesting... Otherwise don't put any at all. You can always spread the rewards you would give on your uninspired quest, directly to monsters...
I agree I actually left the game when i found out the devs added in quests to help new players to level to 50+. I don't mind the quests that teach you how to play but I see no reason to have sprawling chain quests at first and then you drop people into the real game and there's nothing. It's almost as if the devs pulled a bait and switch on people.
4. The lack of people and grouping... need i say more on this?
I agree, This game is a big time guild game. if you can't find an active guild willing to level lower skills to group with you your stuck soloing.
Anyway... Right now my band is on the road so i had to unsub from all my mmos for the next couple months. when i get back ill continue gathering info from you guys. Ty for adding to my thread.
I never heard about Ryzom until a few days ago. From what I read on paper, it seemed like the game I was looking for, since I was wanting a PVE based sandbox and didn't like piloting a ship around in EVE. After spending around 8 hours in Ryzom over 3 days, I uninstalled.
The combat is OK, just like most MMO's, so it's not as bad as some people say.
The Stanza system sounds perfect, but once I read the forums and actually thought about it, it seems broken. Like everyone can do anything broken. For some reason that turns me off from a game, since I like having limits to make characters unique.
The art style was decent, and so were the graphics. They weren't gamebreaking or anything.
Enemy AI was one of the best features. I liked how some come up to your character checking them out, and others just attack.
I can see how Ryzom is one of the better sandbox MMO's, and I think it deserves more subs than it has. But I just couldn't get past the no limits Stanza system. I reccomend it to anyone that isn't bothered by limitless progression.
Yeah... Ryzom is not a game for anyone that wants to limit a player to a cap or specific role. the way the game is designed is that you could switch to any role to fill in gaps of groups and level lower skills to group with new players even being 4 year old player.
I loved Ryzom, the atmosphere was terrific and my character was downright adorable.
The only problem I had was feeling like it was a world with others in it. I always felt rather alone and I tried joining a guild, but like three people were active in it. Maybe if I had more people to play with, it would be more fun, but I always felt alone.
I loved Ryzom, the atmosphere was terrific and my character was downright adorable.
The only problem I had was feeling like it was a world with others in it. I always felt rather alone and I tried joining a guild, but like three people were active in it. Maybe if I had more people to play with, it would be more fun, but I always felt alone.
I well know what you mean. I went back last year and it was pretty much a ghost town. I played for a few months after launch, and then went on to other games. Some of the game is amazing(the insectoid swarms for one) but these days, its like playing a solo game from years back. But I do wish them all the best.
I loved Ryzom, the atmosphere was terrific and my character was downright adorable.
The only problem I had was feeling like it was a world with others in it. I always felt rather alone and I tried joining a guild, but like three people were active in it. Maybe if I had more people to play with, it would be more fun, but I always felt alone.
I well know what you mean. I went back last year and it was pretty much a ghost town. I played for a few months after launch, and then went on to other games. Some of the game is amazing(the insectoid swarms for one) but these days, its like playing a solo game from years back. But I do wish them all the best.
The playerbase is trying really hard to reach out to new gamers.
How much could we really do when the devs wont even advertise? I know for a fact I got around ten players to try Ryzom on this thread alone.
With how massive Atys is we wont have a full community until the Dev get off their asses and toss banners up on sites.
Started the trial of this game a couple of days ago and have to admit it has got me enthralled. I don't know why but the setting has really grown on me, after only a few hours I've grown fond of it. I completed nearly every quest on the newbie zone, got all my skills up to 20 before jumping over to the mainland.
I have never been alone anywhere in the game so far, guess most people play in my timezone? Random players heal me while I struggle in some fights and so far everyone has been very friendly, reminded me of the community in FE.
I like the lack of music, I think the environmental sounds do enough to create a good sense of immersion.
I had no problem with the UI, felt intuitive to me.
FE is a great game but I didn't like its setting, I can see how that can make or break a game for people, Ryzom is unique in that sense which is a plus for many and a negative for many others.
If you're looking for something different from your average MMO, give the 21 day trial a go, it's quick to set up (no credit card needed) and the client download was fast for me. The game still requires some optimisation, on a rig that plays AoC at max with no problems I had to turn off shadows to get a good frame rate, that so far is my only gripe but it's still early days. So far i'm having lots of fun
Started the trial of this game a couple of days ago and have to admit it has got me enthralled. I don't know why but the setting has really grown on me, after only a few hours I've grown fond of it. I completed nearly every quest on the newbie zone, got all my skills up to 20 before jumping over to the mainland.
If I had a pound (or dollar, or Euro, or well...you get the picture) for every new player I've met in Ryzom who is "enthralled", or "amazed", or "pleasantly surprised", I'd go get myself a new video card.
The intriguing thing is, many of them, like yourself EvilGeek, are European. If not European, they're Pre-NGE SWG or Asheron's Call fans...sometimes all THREE!
I'm trying hard to come off as Elitist, but it also seems that "themepark" fans hate the game after the starter island...mostly because there's really very little linearity or questlines to capture their interest.
Ryzom is also caught in the vicious circle that a handful of really innovative games have found themselves:
1. New Player starts trial
2. New Player loves new game
3. New Player wonders why population is SO low
4. New Player, instead of staying around to help grow the community of this game he loves, decides to go back to the game that everyone else is playing...even though the New player is really tired of it.
5. Developers of the game that the New Player loved (but didn't stick around because there wasn't enough players) decide that they should close the game and go make a clone of the game that everyone else is playing.
Rinse, Wash, Repeat.
P.S. I'm really glad you like the game so far EvilGeek...I do too. I hope when your trial comes to an end, that you find it worth it to toss 10 pounds to support its survival.
True^ this games a struggle to play unfortunately, no matter how good it could be with more people. Right now I'm playing it until a new game really gets me. Then I'll probably let this loved idea of a game go forever. maybe. Heh, it's a pretty good one in my book.
To all of you who play the game or have tried or are trying it out and you want to put your gripes or ideas somewhere useful go to the Ryzom site and click on the tab that says feedback. The link I have is http://ryzom.uservoice.com/forums/2600-english?filter=top&page=9 . Many people have posted ways to improve the game. Theres tabs for completed ideas, planned ideas. yada yada. Check it out it's pretty cool to vote on what you want in the game and actually see it have a "planned" sticker next to it. Feed your energy to that forum, mwahaha, jk.
Honestly, Ryzom is a one of a kind harking back to days of the way things were done. Unfornately after plinking around with the game for so long, just had to give it up. Becuase my tastes for how things were done has changed. If it was something I found a year or so ago I probably would have been good to go.
But after playing games like Mass Effect 2 and The Witcher along with more 'actiony' type MMOs. The combat just seems to be too slow paced for me. Graphics/Interface are all fine and good. The ingame MP3 player was a very welcome addition too. As I plinked about and scrolled through the various skills and how they branched and listening to people talk in game. I realize I do not have the time or patience that I once did to advance in MMOs. Ryzom was and probably be my last trial for at least this year.
So it basically comes down Ryzom just isnt a match for me.
The OP answers their own question. Ryzom hasn't drawn in players because it is a throw-back to old-school MMORPGs.
Why is there this expectation that devolving game mechanics back to the past will somehow be appealing to players?
The only thing throw-back games like Ryzom will ever do is remind people that those 'good old days' were not nearly as good as they remember and force them to realize they're remembering those games with rose-colored glasses.
The playerbase is trying really hard to reach out to new gamers.
How much could we really do when the devs wont even advertise? I know for a fact I got around ten players to try Ryzom on this thread alone.
With how massive Atys is we wont have a full community until the Dev get off their asses and toss banners up on sites.
I used to play a similar game to Ryzom in the past and although it had way less people, it didn't felt empty at all... know why? It had a lot less areas. Maybe what Ryzom needs is that - limit the available maps to like 5-10 in order to make it feel alive. And they could even go as far as to change these 5-10 maps from time to time. Maybe they could implement this for example with some kind of weather like acid rain that makes the whole area unavailable, but the clouds would also move slowly, covering different areas.
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
Maybe it's because the Saga of Ryzom dislikes you.
Bold statements with nothing that justifies them is flirting with being reported.
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
The reason I disliked Ryzom when I trialed it was this.
1. Graphics are meh, so so, not horrible, but definitely not anything to write home about.
2. Controls and Camera - This was main reason I couldn't play it. You really have no way of changing your view of the character. Sure you can pan around it, but I didn't feel as though I had much control over the camera department.
3. It isn't fluid. It felt like a constant struggle to do ANYTHING in that game. Everything about the UI was un-intuitive and made me feel like I was having to work way to hard to do anything that shouldn't be that difficult.
Listen playing a game with challenge is one thing, harder monsters, difficult quest lines, I am all for it.
The game mechanics itself being a challenge kills a game. A trial needs to bounce you from one thing to the next so you get a good feel of everything going on in the game. From comabt, to crafting it needs to grab you. Make you want to do it, where you can't wait to see what is next.
The only thing the Ryzom trial made me wanna see next was the exit button.
Sigh...
EDIT ADDED - Should also be noted that I come from MMO's as far back as EQ and DAoC, so I know all about the throw back of old school MMO gaming. Thing is, that's fine, but like another poster stated, with the current age of gaming there really is no excuse to make a game THAT old school. Hell we could just all resub DAoC if we wanted horrible tank controls and UI.
With the new age of games in the last 3 years, you really NEED a fluid game with intuitive and easy of use UI's. Ryzom just falls way short.
Ryzom has a special charm and some original design ideas. With so many clone-mmos about, a few weeks in Ryzom was a breath of fresh air for me. I really enjoyed it for a while but then just got bored I'm afraid.
I certainly don't dislike Ryzom, and reckon it deserves more success. At the very least I would sugest people try it if they haven't.
However, if I consider the games Id like to play right now Ryzom just doesn't offer enough to hold my interest.
The reason I disliked Ryzom when I trialed it was this.
2. Controls and Camera - This was main reason I couldn't play it. You really have no way of changing your view of the character. Sure you can pan around it, but I didn't feel as though I had much control over the camera department.
3. It isn't fluid. It felt like a constant struggle to do ANYTHING in that game. Everything about the UI was un-intuitive and made me feel like I was having to work way to hard to do anything that shouldn't be that difficult.
Well, I may now sound like a fanbaoy, but you´re sadly mistaken.
I´m always astounded how people could state those things when in fact:
The camera is completely free to move around your character. Up down, left right, sideways and diagonaly, everywhere you can moce the mouse, the camera will move too. You´ll just have to hold the right mouse butten down and move it. Only thing may be the camera distance, but there´s a workaround to that. Just ask InGame.
You´re even able to chosse between four, different view angles, by hitting page up/down.
I know of no other game that does this.
And honestly, while the UI sure isn´t the most beautifull on the market, you can change almost every aspect of it by right clicking on the windows and/or clicking on the "Settings" button in the main Interface bar.
So please, what actually does "intuitive" mean to an UI for you?
I´m truly interested.
What does an UI have to do, that you might call it "intuitive" for I honestly can´t see any sigificant way in which Ryzoms UI differs from say... LotRos, or Aions. They´re almost the same. And I personally found Aions UI far worse than any I´d played with so far.
Please PM me, as to not compeltey derail the thread.
Thanks
CU
SaM
Ryzom, we dare to be different. Do you dare to adapt?
I still have to understand what "intuitive" means in regard of the UI of a MMO, where the components are almost always the same: some window for inventories, statistics, guild, team and some other management, and some hotbar.
I suppose most people just want the same "scheme" because they are so used in other mmos played.
I never seen any difference between the handbar of ryzom and other hotbars in other mmos, windows are... well, just windows.
Okay, maybe we can discuss some functionality, but really there is nothing missed in ryzom.
You can customize almost everything, you can change the whole (i repeat, the whole) keyboard, you can make macros (you cannot cheat with them tho), you can change all the colors, both for the minimap and the chat, you can drag and drop, stack/unstack, everything is also accessible via right mouse click.
With the handbar you can even change your weapons without open the inventory, while most other mmo have a specific window for weapons you have to open or need to right click in the inventory.
Move the mouse over *everything* and you get a tooltip, explaining extensively what the mouse is pointing at. Have you ever tried to move the mouse over all the stats in the Identity window or in the Fame window? Try it.
Finally, you can have 4 different presets of the UI and change them instantly with a single click, so you have 4 UI not just one!
Seriously... unintuitive? Ryzom has one of the most complete ui features set and don't need any PhD do be understood.
It can be improved, of course, but stop searching for something you have in other games and try to play a game for what it is (if you have fun, of course).
Me and friend decided to give Ryzom a try. We tried it some time right after it was brought back online just to give an indication when we tried it.
After going through the tutorial and reaching the recommended level to jump to the main land, we did so. We decided to give the desert land a try. After trying several quests and gathering materials, the uninterested feeling started sinking in for us. I can't say for sure what exactly it was about it either. Ryzom has something interesting about it but it wasn't really grabbing our interest enough.
I just love threads that ask your opinion and then argue with you about it. Reminds me too much of that six months of solid DarkFall viral advertising.
Ken
Oh come on I went back and forth with one guy and that was due to some wrong info he was giving on certain key features in the game. Besides that I've been helpful in giving both info and talking to a few of the players that started the game after seeing my thread this morning.
Bringing up Darkfall and Viral marketing is not needed.
Actually, what you did was disagree with his opinion, calling it misinformation. And from the "back and forth", a lot of what was being argued was based solely on opinion and taste, and not on fact. Given that, neither of you can be right or wrong, but you clearly believe that your opinion equates to fact with regard to Ryzom.
If negative opinions are going to hurt your feelings, don't ask the question.
As far as Ryzom is concerned, I haven't tried it yet, but intend to do so with the free trial.
Comments
Thanks a lot, that's very helpful
Still wondering what kept killing me with ranged lightning attacks the first time I tried the game, but I'll start out in a different location this time, and keep your guide in mind.
Edit: cut out the actual guide from the quote as it was visible enough a couple of posts above.
Alright.. I gave this game a try. 2 days now into it and i can comment a little bit on what is it i actually dislike.
- First of all. There is indeed not much to do as someone stated. Crafting and forging/hunting seem to be the only real activities in the game. I like the freedom and all but this "freedom" does seem a boring grind...
- The second thing is linked to the first one... Ok... What exactly is the goal here? When i asked that in the main chat people said " Its a sandbox... You make your own goals!" But when i ask people what are they currently doing the majority said "Forging"... So what the damn goal in all this forging and mastering of skills? What can i get with it? Craft better gear? What for? To get better mats from kitins and/or more harder foes? Can i build something? Can i ACHIEVE something other then mastery of skills? It all just seems to be a grid in the sake of grinding...
Its a sandbox i get that. But look at EvE for an example... Corporations... Mass PvP... Galaxy wide trade... Building outposts, Getting a better ship[ etc. etc. There are goals there...More visible goals... Its a sandbox with GOALS you can actually achieve... In Ryzom i haven't yet heard of a actual goal.... except ofcourse "mastery of some skill".
A SKILL IS A TOOL NOT A GOAL ON ITS OWN. Atleast for me...
Also... The games race choice is all kind of deep in the uncanny valley... Just can't "feel" them...
EDIT:
- Ohh another thing! This "jack-of-all-trades attitude" is really annoying. As someone above stated already this game is full of healer+dps+tank people. It takes the fun away from the game and makes it feel silly. Why can everyone do everything? Even if i choose to not be this way i'll just propably gimp myself in the process...
I've been uplinked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading.
I'm a high-tech low-life. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bi-coastal multi-tasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.
I'm new-wave, but I'm old-school; and my inner child is outward-bound.
I'm a hot-wired, heat-seeking, warm-hearted cool customer; voice-activated and bio-degradable.
RIP George Carlin.
Finally got around to trying the game. I'm enjoying it, and I'll definitely subscribe at the end of my trial period to see more of it. There's a lot of things about the game to appeal to me. But, this is a dislike thread, and here are my general complaints. Keep in mind that these are from the perspective of someone that's still on the island and has only gotten maybe 20 hours or so of gametime so far.
1) No support for a good amount of integrated graphics chips. Plenty of games work on the Intel integrated chips, albeit at low settings, but most of those chips won't even allow you to get past the login screen on Ryzom. This is unfortunate and really should be something that got patched a long time ago.
2) Several of the tutorial quests require learning certain abilities to continue (especially in the magic tutorial chain). This unfortunately wastes points that you might want to use elsewhere to fit your character early on. Now, you've got the option to just not do the quest chain, but the quest chains give you gear that are extremely helpful early on. Example: The magic chain requires you to learn both root and fear, and magic skill points are already spread pretty thin early on. Neither of those skills are useful at all initially (later they get better with upgrades) because of their teensy weensy duration, and those skill points could be put to use in other abilities and upgrades instead.
3) The tutorial quests often go into detail about pretty obvious abilities (like accurate attack/increased damage attack), but either don't exist or only give scarce information when it comes to some that actually need some explanation. You'll run into several abilities that are more or less trial and error to learn how they work exactly.
4) I don't know if I accidentally changed an option somewhere or if this is actually how it's supposed to be, but after completing all of the skill quest chains and opening up the quests from Chiang, the Kamis, and the Karavan, I stopped being able to track quest locations on my map. Even if I right click on the compass, the Missions drop down is gray'd out. I haven't found a way to go back and review quest dialogue (if there is a way to do this, that's great, but it should be stated in the tutorial how to do it if it does exist). In some cases, the dialogue gives a pretty good idea of where to go, but there's a couple quests where that's vague; but the other problem is that if you don't remember the quest dialogue (for instance, you took the quest a couple days before and are just now getting to it), you've got no idea where you're supposed to go and the only way to find out is to ask other players or start wandering around an area that seems logical for the quest. Again, this may just be something I turned off somehow and normally the compass is supposed to work for these quests, I don't know.
5) I love challenging enemies, but there's one part that has just been frustrating on the island. There's an area full of bird-like creatures (and when I say full, I mean FULL) which can disarm you easily. There are two different quests which require killing said creatures, and another quest which requires harvesting materials in the area with them. These things can get downright annoying because if you've got 3 or more of them attacking you at once (which often becomes nearly unavoidable if you're harvesting), you're not going to be able to keep your weapon/tool in your hand at all. If this were later in the game, I'd welcome the challenge; however, this is the newbie island, and you don't want to frustrate new players.
6) The inventory system's a bit wonky. First and foremost, I don't like that, at least defaultly, there's only a single vertical-scroll inventory screen. It gets cluttered way too easily. Yes, you can filter out certain item types, but it's still not an optimal design. I haven't played around in the UI options enough to see if there are other options for the inventory screen, hopefully there are; but if there are, perhaps using one of them over this one defaultly would be a good move. Also, inventory weight isn't immediately clear. There's "bag bulk," a max item amount, and a bag weight... And you'll find pretty quickly that materials get heavy fast and you'll most likely not even realize it because as soon as you see that you can filter the inventory screen to not show materials, you will filter them out.
7) The early-game crafting is likely going to disappoint people really looking forward to crafting. Later on, I can definitely tell that crafted gear is the way to go. But on the island, you're first and foremost going to be extremely limited on what you can craft simply due to a lack of skill points to invest in plans and upgrades. It doesn't end there, though; you're going to get the best materials you can gather, and what you end up crafting will still likely pale in comparison to what you can buy from the island equipment merchants. On top of that, the gear you get out of the tutorial quests is WAY better. It'd be nice if there was something in place on the island to let crafters know that it gets better, or at least a means of them crafting comparable gear.
8) Some more explanation about the factions would've been nice on the island. You go and take up quests from the Kami questgiver and the Karavan questgiver likely without even realizing that they're competing factions (though the quest dialogue from the Karavan quests do hint at it).
9) Fences. I don't mind there not being a jump, but since there isn't one, the use of fences should be a little more conservative. I haven't really run into areas outside of the starter "town" where I say to myself "Ugh, gotta walk all the way around to get over this tiny obstacle," but I definitely say that about the long fences they have around the starter camp.
Now, don't let this discourage you. None of these are really terrible complaints (except #1), just minor nuances I've run into so far. Overall, I'm loving the game. I personally really like the art style, the art style makes the game's graphics look far more appealing to me than other games I've played on the same rig (Vanguard, EQ2, WoW, WAR, DDO, and Fallen Earth to name a few), I love the stanza system, the community has been absolutely great (both helpful and friendly), and plenty of other features that just really appeal to me. I am concerned about the Jack-of-all-Trades thing, though... In the early game, it's entirely NOT possible as you don't have enough skill points to do it, and I hope that's the way it remains. It sounds like it is from the group requests I see in chat, so that's good news, but I'll find out soon enough.
In summary, if you haven't tried the game, give it a try. It's definitely a niche game, and if you enjoy exploration and more RP potential in your game, this is definitely one for you to try. If you prefer fast-paced gameplay with set goals to reach, you probably won't like it too much... But it's worth trying to find out anyway.
Why i didn't like Ryzom:
1. The skilless system has no boundaries at all. You can be master in melee & ranged combat, offensive & defensive magic, in crafting & gathering... This makes it for me a shallow grind system with no actual choices & consequences. I like choices & consequences, i like to "spec." into something - what we many times refer as the "role" in RPGs. In MMOs more specific i like the possibilities of blending multiple different roles together in a group and trying to achieve some good result out of it.
2. The so called interesting lore-wise world, has all its lore written into... HTML! Sorry but if i wanted to read a book i would be doing that. I expect from a game to have its lore scattered around the world, rendered into some old man's tales, into a nicely written quest or in some old book lost in time and space...
3. The quests: Ryzom doesn't really know whether they want to have quests or not. At the starting area you get some quite nice quests but it really stops there. On the mainland there are tons of totally uninspired quests. They wanted to create a sandbox game - i am cool with that - so why did they go and add quests? If you 're gonna add quests on a game, sandbox or not, make a couple of them but make them count! Put lore into them, give choices to the player, make the whole thing interesting... Otherwise don't put any at all. You can always spread the rewards you would give on your uninspired quest, directly to monsters...
4. The lack of people and grouping... need i say more on this?
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
I never heard about Ryzom until a few days ago. From what I read on paper, it seemed like the game I was looking for, since I was wanting a PVE based sandbox and didn't like piloting a ship around in EVE. After spending around 8 hours in Ryzom over 3 days, I uninstalled.
The combat is OK, just like most MMO's, so it's not as bad as some people say.
The Stanza system sounds perfect, but once I read the forums and actually thought about it, it seems broken. Like everyone can do anything broken. For some reason that turns me off from a game, since I like having limits to make characters unique.
The art style was decent, and so were the graphics. They weren't gamebreaking or anything.
Enemy AI was one of the best features. I liked how some come up to your character checking them out, and others just attack.
I can see how Ryzom is one of the better sandbox MMO's, and I think it deserves more subs than it has. But I just couldn't get past the no limits Stanza system. I reccomend it to anyone that isn't bothered by limitless progression.
Playing - EVE, Wurm
Retired - Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online, Mabinogi
Waiting - ArcheAge, Salem
Anyway... Right now my band is on the road so i had to unsub from all my mmos for the next couple months. when i get back ill continue gathering info from you guys. Ty for adding to my thread.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Yeah... Ryzom is not a game for anyone that wants to limit a player to a cap or specific role. the way the game is designed is that you could switch to any role to fill in gaps of groups and level lower skills to group with new players even being 4 year old player.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
I loved Ryzom, the atmosphere was terrific and my character was downright adorable.
The only problem I had was feeling like it was a world with others in it. I always felt rather alone and I tried joining a guild, but like three people were active in it. Maybe if I had more people to play with, it would be more fun, but I always felt alone.
I well know what you mean. I went back last year and it was pretty much a ghost town. I played for a few months after launch, and then went on to other games. Some of the game is amazing(the insectoid swarms for one) but these days, its like playing a solo game from years back. But I do wish them all the best.
The playerbase is trying really hard to reach out to new gamers.
How much could we really do when the devs wont even advertise? I know for a fact I got around ten players to try Ryzom on this thread alone.
With how massive Atys is we wont have a full community until the Dev get off their asses and toss banners up on sites.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Started the trial of this game a couple of days ago and have to admit it has got me enthralled. I don't know why but the setting has really grown on me, after only a few hours I've grown fond of it. I completed nearly every quest on the newbie zone, got all my skills up to 20 before jumping over to the mainland.
I have never been alone anywhere in the game so far, guess most people play in my timezone? Random players heal me while I struggle in some fights and so far everyone has been very friendly, reminded me of the community in FE.
I like the lack of music, I think the environmental sounds do enough to create a good sense of immersion.
I had no problem with the UI, felt intuitive to me.
FE is a great game but I didn't like its setting, I can see how that can make or break a game for people, Ryzom is unique in that sense which is a plus for many and a negative for many others.
If you're looking for something different from your average MMO, give the 21 day trial a go, it's quick to set up (no credit card needed) and the client download was fast for me. The game still requires some optimisation, on a rig that plays AoC at max with no problems I had to turn off shadows to get a good frame rate, that so far is my only gripe but it's still early days. So far i'm having lots of fun
If I had a pound (or dollar, or Euro, or well...you get the picture) for every new player I've met in Ryzom who is "enthralled", or "amazed", or "pleasantly surprised", I'd go get myself a new video card.
The intriguing thing is, many of them, like yourself EvilGeek, are European. If not European, they're Pre-NGE SWG or Asheron's Call fans...sometimes all THREE!
I'm trying hard to come off as Elitist, but it also seems that "themepark" fans hate the game after the starter island...mostly because there's really very little linearity or questlines to capture their interest.
Ryzom is also caught in the vicious circle that a handful of really innovative games have found themselves:
1. New Player starts trial
2. New Player loves new game
3. New Player wonders why population is SO low
4. New Player, instead of staying around to help grow the community of this game he loves, decides to go back to the game that everyone else is playing...even though the New player is really tired of it.
5. Developers of the game that the New Player loved (but didn't stick around because there wasn't enough players) decide that they should close the game and go make a clone of the game that everyone else is playing.
Rinse, Wash, Repeat.
P.S. I'm really glad you like the game so far EvilGeek...I do too. I hope when your trial comes to an end, that you find it worth it to toss 10 pounds to support its survival.
True^ this games a struggle to play unfortunately, no matter how good it could be with more people. Right now I'm playing it until a new game really gets me. Then I'll probably let this loved idea of a game go forever. maybe. Heh, it's a pretty good one in my book.
To all of you who play the game or have tried or are trying it out and you want to put your gripes or ideas somewhere useful go to the Ryzom site and click on the tab that says feedback. The link I have is http://ryzom.uservoice.com/forums/2600-english?filter=top&page=9 . Many people have posted ways to improve the game. Theres tabs for completed ideas, planned ideas. yada yada. Check it out it's pretty cool to vote on what you want in the game and actually see it have a "planned" sticker next to it. Feed your energy to that forum, mwahaha, jk.
Honestly, Ryzom is a one of a kind harking back to days of the way things were done. Unfornately after plinking around with the game for so long, just had to give it up. Becuase my tastes for how things were done has changed. If it was something I found a year or so ago I probably would have been good to go.
But after playing games like Mass Effect 2 and The Witcher along with more 'actiony' type MMOs. The combat just seems to be too slow paced for me. Graphics/Interface are all fine and good. The ingame MP3 player was a very welcome addition too. As I plinked about and scrolled through the various skills and how they branched and listening to people talk in game. I realize I do not have the time or patience that I once did to advance in MMOs. Ryzom was and probably be my last trial for at least this year.
So it basically comes down Ryzom just isnt a match for me.
The OP answers their own question. Ryzom hasn't drawn in players because it is a throw-back to old-school MMORPGs.
Why is there this expectation that devolving game mechanics back to the past will somehow be appealing to players?
The only thing throw-back games like Ryzom will ever do is remind people that those 'good old days' were not nearly as good as they remember and force them to realize they're remembering those games with rose-colored glasses.
I used to play a similar game to Ryzom in the past and although it had way less people, it didn't felt empty at all... know why? It had a lot less areas. Maybe what Ryzom needs is that - limit the available maps to like 5-10 in order to make it feel alive. And they could even go as far as to change these 5-10 maps from time to time. Maybe they could implement this for example with some kind of weather like acid rain that makes the whole area unavailable, but the clouds would also move slowly, covering different areas.
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
Maybe it's because the Saga of Ryzom dislikes you.
Bold statements with nothing that justifies them is flirting with being reported.
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
The reason I disliked Ryzom when I trialed it was this.
1. Graphics are meh, so so, not horrible, but definitely not anything to write home about.
2. Controls and Camera - This was main reason I couldn't play it. You really have no way of changing your view of the character. Sure you can pan around it, but I didn't feel as though I had much control over the camera department.
3. It isn't fluid. It felt like a constant struggle to do ANYTHING in that game. Everything about the UI was un-intuitive and made me feel like I was having to work way to hard to do anything that shouldn't be that difficult.
Listen playing a game with challenge is one thing, harder monsters, difficult quest lines, I am all for it.
The game mechanics itself being a challenge kills a game. A trial needs to bounce you from one thing to the next so you get a good feel of everything going on in the game. From comabt, to crafting it needs to grab you. Make you want to do it, where you can't wait to see what is next.
The only thing the Ryzom trial made me wanna see next was the exit button.
Sigh...
EDIT ADDED - Should also be noted that I come from MMO's as far back as EQ and DAoC, so I know all about the throw back of old school MMO gaming. Thing is, that's fine, but like another poster stated, with the current age of gaming there really is no excuse to make a game THAT old school. Hell we could just all resub DAoC if we wanted horrible tank controls and UI.
With the new age of games in the last 3 years, you really NEED a fluid game with intuitive and easy of use UI's. Ryzom just falls way short.
Ryzom has a special charm and some original design ideas. With so many clone-mmos about, a few weeks in Ryzom was a breath of fresh air for me. I really enjoyed it for a while but then just got bored I'm afraid.
I certainly don't dislike Ryzom, and reckon it deserves more success. At the very least I would sugest people try it if they haven't.
However, if I consider the games Id like to play right now Ryzom just doesn't offer enough to hold my interest.
Well, I may now sound like a fanbaoy, but you´re sadly mistaken.
I´m always astounded how people could state those things when in fact:
The camera is completely free to move around your character. Up down, left right, sideways and diagonaly, everywhere you can moce the mouse, the camera will move too. You´ll just have to hold the right mouse butten down and move it. Only thing may be the camera distance, but there´s a workaround to that. Just ask InGame.
You´re even able to chosse between four, different view angles, by hitting page up/down.
I know of no other game that does this.
And honestly, while the UI sure isn´t the most beautifull on the market, you can change almost every aspect of it by right clicking on the windows and/or clicking on the "Settings" button in the main Interface bar.
So please, what actually does "intuitive" mean to an UI for you?
I´m truly interested.
What does an UI have to do, that you might call it "intuitive" for I honestly can´t see any sigificant way in which Ryzoms UI differs from say... LotRos, or Aions. They´re almost the same. And I personally found Aions UI far worse than any I´d played with so far.
Please PM me, as to not compeltey derail the thread.
Thanks
CU
SaM
Do you dare to adapt?
started yesterday.
loving it.
Might be playing this and EVE for awhile.
There are two kinds of people in this world. People who pick their nose.. and liars.
I agree with the last post from Madsam.
I still have to understand what "intuitive" means in regard of the UI of a MMO, where the components are almost always the same: some window for inventories, statistics, guild, team and some other management, and some hotbar.
I suppose most people just want the same "scheme" because they are so used in other mmos played.
I never seen any difference between the handbar of ryzom and other hotbars in other mmos, windows are... well, just windows.
Okay, maybe we can discuss some functionality, but really there is nothing missed in ryzom.
You can customize almost everything, you can change the whole (i repeat, the whole) keyboard, you can make macros (you cannot cheat with them tho), you can change all the colors, both for the minimap and the chat, you can drag and drop, stack/unstack, everything is also accessible via right mouse click.
With the handbar you can even change your weapons without open the inventory, while most other mmo have a specific window for weapons you have to open or need to right click in the inventory.
Move the mouse over *everything* and you get a tooltip, explaining extensively what the mouse is pointing at. Have you ever tried to move the mouse over all the stats in the Identity window or in the Fame window? Try it.
Finally, you can have 4 different presets of the UI and change them instantly with a single click, so you have 4 UI not just one!
Seriously... unintuitive? Ryzom has one of the most complete ui features set and don't need any PhD do be understood.
It can be improved, of course, but stop searching for something you have in other games and try to play a game for what it is (if you have fun, of course).
Nickname registered on www.mynickname.org
Me and friend decided to give Ryzom a try. We tried it some time right after it was brought back online just to give an indication when we tried it.
After going through the tutorial and reaching the recommended level to jump to the main land, we did so. We decided to give the desert land a try. After trying several quests and gathering materials, the uninterested feeling started sinking in for us. I can't say for sure what exactly it was about it either. Ryzom has something interesting about it but it wasn't really grabbing our interest enough.
Wish I could be more descriptive and helpful.
Actually, what you did was disagree with his opinion, calling it misinformation. And from the "back and forth", a lot of what was being argued was based solely on opinion and taste, and not on fact. Given that, neither of you can be right or wrong, but you clearly believe that your opinion equates to fact with regard to Ryzom.
If negative opinions are going to hurt your feelings, don't ask the question.
As far as Ryzom is concerned, I haven't tried it yet, but intend to do so with the free trial.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.