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What is this game about?
pupurun
Member UncommonPosts: 561
And please don't anyone mention the word "FUN" cause fun has to be taken granted when you play games. Besides fun, a game that costs you money and time must offer you more than fun. Must have targets, achievements,something to work on.
So what is this game about? What are the goals of the players? What is the key element that can make a player bypass the old look graphics and make him love the gameplay?
(**I love indie games and i don't mind the "age" in a game.On the other hand my gaming time is limited and i cant commite to an MMO unless i get enough info about it)
Comments
The main things that you should probably know about Istaria are:
You can play a number of races, including dragons. Being able to play a dragon is one of the bigger selling features.
The community is excellent, in game and on the forums.
Crafting is actually an important part of the game, instead of being an afterthought.
There is a free trial, if you're interested.
Dragons feel a little different to play, IMO, so it's almost like two games in one-- the dragon game and the biped game. And now I am kind of missing my Sslik (lizard person) and my dragon. (Istaria has been in the back of my mind lately.)
"So what is this game about?"
I only played the game for a short time, but based on that experience and what I've read, the game is mostly about connecting with other players to craft a world to live and adventure in. The community is small and tight, and I think the goals are to work together to build communities and to overcome whatever challenges that may exist, etc. I'm not sure what all those challenges might be, but maybe someone else can speak to them.
So I think this crafting and social aspect of the game is more of the main feature of the game than combat. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. But the game does have quests and monsters to go out and kill and all that stuff as well.
The game has any PvP at all?
its sandbox mmo right?
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Greetings,
The game is primarily a community game with a crafting centric system to it. As mentioned before, the community is smaller than other games and tightly knit. They are particularily helpful and will happily answer any questions asked by new players, instead of flaming the player. In most cases their goals are varied. Some enjoy hunting creatures all day, while others spend their time crafting or building onto their plot. Many also enjoy socializing.
As for story, the game revolves around the living races and the gifted fighting the seemingly endless forces of the undead withered aegis.
There is only pvp in a particular area of the world, the arena. Otherwise, it is a pve game. You are able to go anywhere you want, do what you want, and build what you want. To an extent, you could say it is a sandbox. Bipeds have a diverse range of classes to play with, and with the multiclassing system, you can make some very interesting characters.
Lastly, aside of the above mentioned community, and great flexibility in your characters, the game offers playable dragons and a rich crafting system. We have been very hard at work to put out more new content updates as well. Tiers of gameplay have seen massive revamps in the 1 - 40 range, and the elder game content had been reworked (100 - 120). Plans for upcoming things we hope will bring a lot of joy to the player base.
Please feel free to check in. You can play for free forever as a human on the demo account for as long as you like.
i heard something about building towns..Is it true? And if yes..what's the true aim behind building them? Power? Or just show off? Tbh the only bad thing i found so far(playing the trial) is the major lack of competition amongst the players...and i don't mean pvp. I mean there is not one goal for players to compete for...No rankings..no titles....nothing
Plus i read about building on areas which might get infested with Blight creatures! Is that so? Is that a random act?
So Istaria is about .....? In a few words people..like a)b) c) ...
didn't get very far, but I'll relay what I learned of Istaria. Basically, part of me really liked the game, but I just couldn't get into it. I like the idea of it, but the execution wasn't to my liking.
PvE only, no PvP.
You can play a number of unique races, all with customization options, including Dragons, Lizard-people, and all sorts of demi-humans (as well as your standard MMO races). However, Dragons are the big draw for people, and easily half the characters are Dragons. Gameplay for dragons is quite different than it is for "bipeds" (i.e., non-Dragons, things walking on two legs).
Crafting is a huge part of the game and quite rich and complex. I found it to be a bit overly-complex, in fact, but I guess it beats overly-simple. There's rather a lot of grinding, though, to advance.
Classes are kinda standard (if I recall correctly), but you can advance in more than one. There are downsides to multi-classing, though I can't recall what they were.
There is rich player housing, which includes player-built houses and cities, as well as "lairs" for Dragons.
The community is small, and unfortunately some can be a bit cliquey and closed-off to newcomers. However, there are plenty who go out of their way to help folks who ask for it, and are quick to answer questions. No mean-spirited folks that I saw. A bit over-dramatic and over-serious about the game, maybe, but basically good folks.
There is no economy. Everyone is pretty much 100% self-sufficient, as you can train all crafting schools and many do. Established players will give you stuff free and/or cheap, but there's no way for a newbie to break in and make economic inroads.
You can play free for life if you restrict your race to human, and forgo player housing and a few other perks reserved for members.
Population was pretty low, though the world is ridiculously vast. I think Istaria was one of the biggest land-masses in an MMO. Seemed like a lot of folks hung around in starter areas, though.
I played Istaria (known as Horizons back then) at release and for about 3 years after that. Some of my best friends and memories were from there. I haven't played since 2007, so a few things may have changed. Some of the things I can fill you in are:
Yes - graphics are a bit dated now. But you stated that doesn't matter to you, so great!
There are tons of races to play - even a playable dragon race.
No mounts in game - dragons are the only race that can fly.
It doesn't play like today's "Quest Based" MMOs. There are Quests, but its faster to AoE grind with friends.
The class combinations can be very interesting and unlimited (I was a Druid/Cleric/Spiritist).
There is alot of focus on crafting...but there is alot of adventuring as well.
Crafters depend on the Adventurers. Adventurers depend on the Crafters.
You can buy your own plot and build your own house. You can even create your own landscape to decorate.
Technically, you can build villiages - they have some huge guild plots that allow to coordinate beautifull villiages.
Their is no "true aim" of building a guild village other than to allow players to do it.
Although you can build extra storage on your plot - this would probably be the "true aim".
No - there are no rankings and no means of competing against players. Istaria is all about cooperation.
Istaria is pretty much a game that modles the "old school" approach of MMOs. Its a virtual world. You login to be a part of it. There are no real "mini games" or "goals" to achieve (other than the goals you set for yourself). I spent a good amount of my 3 years there exploring the world, fighting with friends in some of the most dangerous areas, and crafting/landscaping my house/plot. It took me about 8 months to a year to fully build my house (with all its sidewalks and gazebos and shrubbery, etc). It was an amazing thing to marvel when I finally completed it.
The class combiations (for bi-peds) is very unique. You can be a mixure of everything (if you feel like investing all that time). But I chose 3 classes that I liked and combined them. I never played the dragon race, but I know they follow a complete different path and playstyle than the Bi-Peds do.
As far as crafting goes. Everything is crafted. Armor. Weapons. Etc. The crafters depend on the adventurers to get the mats. And the adventurers depend on the crafters to make them the gear. Not sure if the NPC is still in the game...but the introduction of "Nadia" made alot of people mad (an NPC that sells many of the rare crafting mats).
Anyway, there is alot more. But I don't want to write a novel. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them if I can.