Blunder's views on SOG (long)

Well, a mere 20hours after their announced release time I finally logged in and got to play. Alas I dont know how to take screenies so i can't post any but I'll take you through my first 2 hours in the game.

First up, I'm playing in Korea, on a 3gig pc with a 6600 and 1 gig of fast RAM.

I logged in, my heart skipped a beat when I didnt get the annoying "character maximum error" I was in!

Choosing a dwarf I quite like the char models. There are very limited char options, and when I logged in my char looked like the default drawf model. But I play for gaming not for a pretty char (took me over an hour to even realise).

Logging in I chose the light side. For those fearing it would be dominated by dark, from my view I saw plenty of light siders. The FIRST thing to do when u log in is to press L and put one point in travel, to get your dragon. If your a settler, at level 3 you can get a dodo.

The graphics arent all that bad. On my rig the level 4 style graphics gets a consistent 20fps. Sounds bad, but regardless of particle effects and number of players it only dropped to 18. On full wack I get 10fps. The difference in quality is negliable. Unfortunately (depending on how u look at it) the graphics are not cutting edge. The huge view distance obviously lowers its performance. I didnt really notice shadows or anything, so on foot, I'll say the graphics get a 6/10.

I called my dragon. When you call him he comes flying in front of you in a couple of secs. If you want to change his name target him and type /petnick <name>. Double clicking on him mounts you, then u hop along the ground with WSAD. Running forward and pressing 0 on the numpad has him take off, immediately press S (not W) to rise. The second your in the air your view on the Gfx changes. The detail sticks up really well, and its fantastic. Flying i'd give the gfx 8/10. As for the whole take on gfx i see it as no issue. They are functional and work well in the game. I STILL enjoy UO and it is 2d!!

Flying on my dragon i headed away from the crowds to a small island near the coast. I came across a pack of wolves, with a healthy 98experience next to their name. Forgetting to arm my mace (I was holding my torch still) I approached dragon in tow. I hit the wolf. BANG I got hit for 440 hp (i started with 120) and my dragon went down in one blow too. I respawned at my starting village.

(The 98 i saw was actually the level of the beast. Only found that out the hard way)

With a 10min cooldown on my summon dragon I decided to take a moonlit walk on the beach. No mobs in site for a good 5mins but a nice beach with the odd tent or bit of driftwood. Comming across a small stream I followed it into a copse of trees. I found a number of light AND dark fighting some wolf cubs at level 6. After attacking I lasted 1 min and respawned.

(This is the time I found the points I put in dragon call can also be put in ur first offensive spells too. You get 2 "points" a level (at least initally) so you can put one in pets and one in attack, you also get to retract points as you level, furthering your abilities to tailor your own skills).

With my new dragon we decided to explore the area near the city. I also found out I had a mace in my backpack which was MUCH more effective than my torch. We found some spiders in a hunting ground, will LOADS of people camping them. After killing 3 I levelled up!! Buying a ranged attack skill and another point towards dodo we went looking for a less crowded area.

We stumbled across an abanadoned Dodo farm, the once tame creatures now feral. They ranged from level 4 to level 6. With my new abilities and shiny mace (well dull steel really) I did a bit of grinding.

Now I'm level 7. I've got a pet dodo as well as a dragon and have become a hunter. This means I have 6 skills to invest points in, I think the skill sets lend themselves to a healthy amount of diversity. I'm playing around with traps, which are really good against PVE but not got into PVP yet. My dragon hasn't leveled once tho, might be cause it dies all the time.

So in summary

Gfx: 7/10 They are dated. Its plain fact. BUT they are smooth and flying rocks. The particle effects are nice. UI is somewhat dodgy.

Combat: 6/10 I understand why many people complain about this. You can be 2m away and have a special not cast, likewise 30m away u cant use ur range skill cause your too far and 28m your too close.
But, I think the animations are fine, the skills themselves are nice and once you crack the system you can happily solo mobs a good 3/4 levels above you.

Sound: 3/10 This is the worst thing in the game at present (IMHO). Nicely atmospheric but very repetitve. (I mean VERY)

Content: 7/10 I like exploring. I aint fussed about dungeons really, and there are loads of little touches which makes me smile. The exploring is nice. Mobs are cool. I think the real content will be in the cities and pvp.

Fun: 9/10 This game is free. Its buggy and crude but its got potential. I had a LOT of fun playing it and I barely scratched the surface of it. Even the mistakes, like hitting dismount on my dragon at 1000ft made me smile, despite the respawn required. Death penalty is not too harsh, after u start looting goth you drop some when u die, regardless of how. I never noticed how much. Loot isnt bad, i got a couple of potions, about 3 weapons and a lot of armour. Impossible to comment on quality of it.

Basically I went in with low expectations and I've come away happy. Its a fun little game, and there is not another mmorpg at the mo I wanna play anyway.

Now for my complaints

Gfx need updating, tho is gameplay is good I see this as secondary.
Promises re:crafting and pvp need to be made. These are the things which will differentiate the game between the competition.
UI is nasty. Its workable, but confusing (ie no way to tell your level, no experience bar)
Controls need minor fine tuning. They are perfectly adequate but not GREAT

Basically without the PVP and crafting this will be Horizons, not bad per se but nothing new. They need to make the crafting and pvp good.

Addressing others compaints:

Gfx: see above
Combat: clunky at the moment, but this is pretty easily changed
UI: again, its pretty bad, but its not a HUGE change
Lack of mobs: LIES!! There are plenty of mobs, I can fly in any direction and find something my level to kill.
Animations: I saw no problems

The game is well worth playing, if I'd payed for it standalone, with no monthly fees like Guild Wars I'd be happy. I'm happy with it and I am a pioneer.

One last thing. Settlers will have a noticeably harder time than pioneers, the dragon is a HUGE boon. (I've ridden dragon and dodo). You can get a dragon but u must invest 20 points into mounts, which represents a lot of skills you miss out on (think of it as a whole jedi tree in SWG).

If your playing light look me up, I'll show you the dodo farm which is lovely to level at at the moment, 5 mins on foot from the starting place and plenty of mobs (on more than one occassion I had to many and died through ganking). I'm Blunder the Bardic Dwarf.

To all those dissappointed, give it a fair trial. Despite the utter cack we had to put up with the last week (unless ur like inferno and jackdog, who have been putting up with delays for years) I went in with a positive view and I had lots of fun.