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An unexpected experience.
aranha
Member UncommonPosts: 171
An unexpected experience.
About me:
So its been about 5 years since i did a write up on mmorpg.com but felt like it was time for another. Ive played mmorpgs since about 1999 and played several muds before that. Basicly ive played most mmorpgs to date excluding alot of the newer ones in the F2P circle which just seemed far too messy to jump into.
The never ending search:
Ive been sitting here on mmorpg.com mostly in the shadows since about 2002 reading up on games and trying new ones out with most games resulting in somewhat dissapointing. I noticed that i was growing more and more picky on game mechanics, features and depth as the mmorpg scene was growing more shallow for every year that past. Features and flashy things were being put in the spotlight while content and depth suffered creating short game experiences on a platform built for longetivity.
Lost trust:
These later years ive lost most trust to game developers and their new flashy products that constantly end up in shallow and short experiences for the masses rather then to those who search for a lasting experience. Ive gotten to the point where i can watch, listen and read about upcoming titles and projects and expect pretty much nothing from the end product. Ive been there so many times before listening and watching game developers talk about their amasing new games that will change what we percieve as the perfect mmorpg and actually beliving that some of what these devs are saying is actually great.
Growing tired:
At the moment i dont get really hyped about anything. Ive read, watched and listened to all the upcoming releases for this year or the next and the more features and mechanics the game devs reveal is just makes me belive less in the actual end product as it all feels like attempts to change things thats kind of unneccesary. I honestly havent had a real mmorpg experience since the Lineage 2 or swg pre-cu era.
Change:
Kickstarter.com has had a pretty neat effect on the mmorpg scene today as interesting projects that people want get attention and is getting made. Hopefully these devs will end up with great games that leaves a dent for the good in the mmorpg world becose as it stands now the players have no trust in the games being made.
An unexpected experience:
What made me start this thread was that i recently went back in time and downloaded an old mmorpg which made me feel great and excited with a feeling of excitement about the journey i was about to take. The old classic combat system was like a fresh breeze compared to most of todays action oriented combat systems that tends to sacrifice depth and functionality that one grows tired of withing the first days of playing the game. A sense of freedom was tingling as i progressed further into the game with loads of places to go, see and experience instead of a linear path leading to place A to place B. I felt free in my decisions and reason to socialize with players and guilds in the world as i actually had alot to learn which felt great for an old mmorpg player as myself. Im actually enjoying myself in an mmorpg for the first time in years!
The game im talking about is from 2004 and its EQ2 which i played upon release but never really got into. It made me realize that the most important features an mmorpg should have over everything else is functionality and content. To be honest i was planning to try EQ1 again but i admit that the graphics scared me away even though i once loved that game ages ago.
Do yourself a favor:
So to sum up this thread i humbly recommend people to go back to the old mmorpgs that we onced loved that wasnt affected by attempting to create new gen games for the masses. Kick yourself in the butt and download an old game that isnt a shiny themepark that follows the new trends.
Ive had such a fresh breeze this month and im looking forward for the journey to come. Do yourself a favor and try an old game becose to me it felt like the old experience was exactly what i was looking for in a new experience!
Thanks for reading guys and i honestly hope that alot of people will scroll down that gamelist and find somethiing great they had forgotten!
Comments
But is it really the old MMO? Most of them have redesigned stuff along the way so it's not actually the old game at all.
Case in point: WoW
Unless you go to a private server, there is no way to revisit vanilla WoW or TBC, et al. They've been morphed with each patch release altering everything under the sun.
So in essence, you are revisiting an old title that has been updated since it's release. Not the old game at all, just a revised version of it. I'm sure the XP has been sped up, quests have been removed or neutered, etc. I go back to WoW and see all the changes... I actually see where the quests were neutered, where the mobs have been removed, everything. I've played it for so long I notice all of them... and it's not a breath of fresh air, it's a sense of loss. I actually miss those things... if I didn't, I wouldn't have noticed that they were gone.
I agree that it would be nice to go back to the old... after all, it's the one that originally got us hooked. Sure it may have had it's flaws, but there is a level of challenge there that doesn't exist now... a sense of accomplishment that doesn't exist now. I can go back to old deskstop games and play them as if they were released yesterday. Not so with MMOs... they are constantly changing and usually not for the better.
You can't go back to MMOs... the game isn't the same. All you can do is revisit what once was.
The whole point of this thread is pretty much to avoid games like WoW. Some of the old ones have changed for the better and other have not. Change isnt allways bad.
E.g. swg, daoc, eq
Why is grabbing a larger audience bad? Make fun for more people is a GOOD THING ... particularly if you make entertainment.