Also, while everyone would love an innovative, fresh MMO to play, there just aren't any being released. Hard to prefer a game to ones like Rift when they don't exist yet.
Remove that silly "Buy it" button, highlight the last paragraph as a well-rounded summary instead.
It is not a button as it does not click anywhere. We are not trying to literally click you over to buy it. We just have a simpliefied "first look" system now. The "Buy It" is the highest rank in this new system. These are *not* our official reviews.
Can I borrow your new little icons and write my first impressions?
"Buy this game if you have fond memories of Everquest"
What the hell are you talking about, William Murphy? This game is nothing on Everquest. It is a shade of a game in comparison. There is none of the social interactivity, none of the depth and certainly none of the challenge. If you long for Everquest again then steer clear of Rift. It's a nothing game and will leave you more frustrated than you ever were for that title that matches Everquest.
Okay, Bill, we get it. You like Rift, that much can be gleaned from your past few columns. To me, you come off a bit starry-eyed over the whole thing, lacking critical objectivity. The take-away I'm getting from these sometimes gushing "impressions" is that Rift is "okay", but I'm not getting the sense that it's something people are looking forward to playing for any extended period of time. Maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I always thought that one purpose of a subscription-based MMORPG was a persistent world that people wanted to come back to month after month. I don't get that feeling with Rift.
I know that "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" is a popular admonition from people who become "fans" of something, but people rely on writers for sites like this to step out of themselves a bit and offer a more criitcal analysis for a product that is requiring such an investment in time, money, and emotion.
Nail + head
Sick of this site "gushing" over Rift, a game that hasn't intorduced a damn thing to the genre and only capitalizes on people's obsession for "not WoW".
Post something objective about the game for once, I beg you!
Everquest? What I remember from that game was that it was hard, particulary to solo, the world was vast and the game was very group focused.
Neither WoW or this game is like that so I have no idea where the Everquest formula comes from. The only thing that Rift and Everquest has in common is that both are in Fantasy setting and are Themeparks.
The differences however are plenty and significant. EQ was for hardcore people and leveling to cap took months, even more if you solo. In Rift I heard there are people at cap already, a week after release.
Moreover EQ had a very unforgiving death penalty, corpse running and downtime. Rift has neither of these things. So I ask again, beside themepark and fantasy, what is so common with this game and EQ?
have to say this ...... you cant pls every body for iam enjoying it : ) will see how the months go or years iam taking my time looking at stuff in games like rift for me i love guilds and player homes that was a big part of me and time well spent i felt more like family with those elements may be in the future they mite add that homes : ) for now i ll enjoy what we have : )
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, who’s to say it needed to?
Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre?
As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation.
This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, who’s to say it needed to?
Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre?
As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation.
This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
People still don't understand what innovation is.
Innovation is not creating something brand new. It is taking something that exists and improving on it in a way that is new.
So, yes, rift can handle a lot of people at the same time. It also changes a part of the game play. Becauswe, apart from perhaps Tabula Rasa, (which I didn't play long so can't really expand upon its events) it includes world events that players need to deal with or else parts of the world are closed off.
Whether or not someone likes this, hates this, think it needs to go farther or some other thought, I don't believe I've played a game that had this type of event happening and with such frequency. So that itself feels innovative to me.
I've tried quite a few of these games and can't really recall one that has this on this scale. Oh, there might be one, but it's not wow, not lotro, lineage 2, guild wars, vanguard, Final Fantasy 14, Aion, EQ2, AoC, city of heroes/villians, Champions online,. Allods, Perfect world, heck, the list goes on.
Maybe EVE has something like this?
This game does fall squarely in the WoW or even EQ flavor of games. But it doesn't entirely play like them because of this feature. Like it or hate it. And that's an innovation.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, who’s to say it needed to?
Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre?
As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation.
This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
People still don't understand what innovation is.
Innovation is not creating something brand new. It is taking something that exists and improving on it in a way that is new.
So, yes, rift can handle a lot of people at the same time. It also changes a part of the game play. Becauswe, apart from perhaps Tabula Rasa, (which I didn't play long so can't really expand upon its events) it includes world events that players need to deal with or else parts of the world are closed off.
Whether or not someone likes this, hates this, think it needs to go farther or some other thought, I don't believe I've played a game that had this type of event happening and with such frequency. So that itself feels innovative to me.
I've tried quite a few of these games and can't really recall one that has this on this scale. Oh, there might be one, but it's not wow, not lotro, lineage 2, guild wars, vanguard, Final Fantasy 14, Aion, EQ2, AoC, city of heroes/villians, Champions online,. Allods, Perfect world, heck, the list goes on.
Maybe EVE has something like this?
This game does fall squarely in the WoW or even EQ flavor of games. But it doesn't entirely play like them because of this feature. Like it or hate it. And that's an innovation.
Trion haven't innovated. They've stolen or diluted. Nothing in this game is a true innovation of anything that's come before. Even the class system is basically 4 classes with extended AAs.
There is simply nothing innovative about Rift, unless you mean their innovative ability to dilute the MMO as a genre.
Pretty good review, for the fans! But advertising this game as a "next-gen" and with lines like " We are not in Azeroth anymore" makes me wonder what the devs really want from this game. They already introduced older and very , very "wowish" feel on it. And please, don't start saying is different then WoW or War when it comes to UI , textes and such. Only a "blind fan" can say "You are wrong".
If you enjoy the game, that's fine .. I am really glad you've found your game. What I am not "agree" is the wowish feel ( while they say is not ) and "kids" texts when they advertising the game. Very amateur !
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
So people scream about innovation and yet praise Rift. I guess mmo crowd is so in need of a polished mmo they will get anything. The success of Rift will only show we need more WoW-clones with a few twists. Well at least Shogun 2 will be released soon =P
Everytime an MMO company has taken a leap they have been crucified by the American MMO market. Trion obviously realized or you would be seeing some crazy new UI in this MMO.
Like it or not there are certain in this genre that are never going away. This UI/mini-maps
Originally posted by holifeet Originally posted by Sovrath
Originally posted by Yamota
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, whos to say it needed to? Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre? As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation. This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
People still don't understand what innovation is. Innovation is not creating something brand new. It is taking something that exists and improving on it in a way that is new. So, yes, rift can handle a lot of people at the same time. It also changes a part of the game play. Becauswe, apart from perhaps Tabula Rasa, (which I didn't play long so can't really expand upon its events) it includes world events that players need to deal with or else parts of the world are closed off. Whether or not someone likes this, hates this, think it needs to go farther or some other thought, I don't believe I've played a game that had this type of event happening and with such frequency. So that itself feels innovative to me. I've tried quite a few of these games and can't really recall one that has this on this scale. Oh, there might be one, but it's not wow, not lotro, lineage 2, guild wars, vanguard, Final Fantasy 14, Aion, EQ2, AoC, city of heroes/villians, Champions online,. Allods, Perfect world, heck, the list goes on. Maybe EVE has something like this? This game does fall squarely in the WoW or even EQ flavor of games. But it doesn't entirely play like them because of this feature. Like it or hate it. And that's an innovation.
Trion haven't innovated. They've stolen or diluted. Nothing in this game is a true innovation of anything that's come before. Even the class system is basically 4 classes with extended AAs. There is simply nothing innovative about Rift, unless you mean their innovative ability to dilute the MMO as a genre.
If that's the road you're going to go down, then innovation is now impossible in the mmorpg genre of games.
However, let's pick your statement apart here. Unless an mmorpg previously had 4 classes with some sort of Alternate Advancement built into the character's progression, then you've given an example of something new. Innovation - the introduction of something new.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Everquest? What I remember from that game was that it was hard, particulary to solo, the world was vast and the game was very group focused.
Neither WoW or this game is like that so I have no idea where the Everquest formula comes from. The only thing that Rift and Everquest has in common is that both are in Fantasy setting and are Themeparks.
The differences however are plenty and significant. EQ was for hardcore people and leveling to cap took months, even more if you solo. In Rift I heard there are people at cap already, a week after release.
Moreover EQ had a very unforgiving death penalty, corpse running and downtime. Rift has neither of these things. So I ask again, beside themepark and fantasy, what is so common with this game and EQ?
WoW on the other hand...
Everquest wasnt a themepark. Everquest 2 was, but not 1. Yes, the class sytem was rigid but Norrath was most definitely a sandbox.
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, who’s to say it needed to?
Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre?
As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation.
This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
People still don't understand what innovation is.
Innovation is not creating something brand new. It is taking something that exists and improving on it in a way that is new.
So, yes, rift can handle a lot of people at the same time. It also changes a part of the game play. Becauswe, apart from perhaps Tabula Rasa, (which I didn't play long so can't really expand upon its events) it includes world events that players need to deal with or else parts of the world are closed off.
Whether or not someone likes this, hates this, think it needs to go farther or some other thought, I don't believe I've played a game that had this type of event happening and with such frequency. So that itself feels innovative to me.
I've tried quite a few of these games and can't really recall one that has this on this scale. Oh, there might be one, but it's not wow, not lotro, lineage 2, guild wars, vanguard, Final Fantasy 14, Aion, EQ2, AoC, city of heroes/villians, Champions online,. Allods, Perfect world, heck, the list goes on.
Maybe EVE has something like this?
This game does fall squarely in the WoW or even EQ flavor of games. But it doesn't entirely play like them because of this feature. Like it or hate it. And that's an innovation.
Trion haven't innovated. They've stolen or diluted. Nothing in this game is a true innovation of anything that's come before. Even the class system is basically 4 classes with extended AAs.
There is simply nothing innovative about Rift, unless you mean their innovative ability to dilute the MMO as a genre.
If that's the road you're going to go down, then innovation is now impossible in the mmorpg genre of games.
However, let's pick your statement apart here. Unless an mmorpg previously had 4 classes with some sort of Alternate Advancement built into the character's progression, then you've given an example of something new. Innovation - the introduction of something new.
You know, little things matter! Everywhere! In MMO's too! I don't really understand why does mmo devs can't just create a unique UI and feel of the game. Let them copy/paste 80% from the features but at least, for the good of future games, introduce little things that matters such a new UI , Mini Map , Loot , Texts . etc etc etc .They even copied the Text Designer from WoW.
When I first enter in a new mmo world, I don't want to have the same feeling when I played WoW. Why? Because I am trying a NEW MMo .
What I am trying to say is atleast give me a new feeling for playing a new game. Because the feelings you have while trying a new game matter alot.
Do I ask to much?..
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Lots of information already in here for you to look at, but I will say one thing though, when talking to someone who has played the game I would ask them how far into the game they got. If they haven't made it past level 20, I wouldn't put much value on their opinion.
I do enjoy the game and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I did notice that the game, no matter the class, doesn't come into its own until after at least level 20. You need to get down into the skills trees before the classes start to become unique. I didn't find the starter areas 1-15 (with 1-6 being its own zone) to be all that great or really pull me in. So if you do play, don't worry about it until after 20, its starts to define itself better.
I will also say that the Rifts/Invasions become a bigger deal as you progress into the game. I don't think you get a fair assessment of it until after level 20. It wasn't until then that I had some 'wow, this is crazy, we're all gonna die!' moments, especially with a full on invasion it can get pretty hectic. There's something about the randomness of these events that give it a little more epic feeling, often an invasion can grow to large levels very quick and overwhelm an area.
I do like PvP, but I'm not hardcore into it. I don't really care about open world PvP in Rift. The game wasn't built around it or promoted as a core feature, so I'm not worried about it as I didn't have any expectations for it. If you've ever played WAR's PvP scenarios, then you'll feel right at home (whether you like that 'home' is another thing altogether).
I'm not big into crafting and it doesn’t appear to be anything special here. You can tell who came from WoW to by the way these people snipe mining nodes. You'd think that Tin could be converted into real world money.
Overall, I've found that people who don't like this game, it's because they want so bad for this game or any other MMO for that matter to be their 'dream MMO'. That's fine; we all have our vision of a dream game, but some of the absolute hatred that fills these forums for this game is quite unfounded and immature really. I also wouldn't put much stock into anyone's opinion that Rift is the best game ever. it's not bad and it's not great (there's definitely potential for it here though), right now it's pretty damn good, and sometimes that's all a game needs to be.
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, who’s to say it needed to?
Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre?
As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation.
This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
Rift doesn't do anything drastically "new", but it does do several 'old' concepts better. As you mentioned they handled the technical aspects of dealing very well with crowd scaling. They also improved on the character advancement system via souls, though nothing new still an improvement over locking into a single specifc class. They also vastly improved on the Public Quest concept.
For all the people criticizing Rift for being nothing new or special, I seriously question their ability to be impressed by anything new in the MMO industry, ever. It's very much like some people won't be satisfied until a developer comes along and makes an entirely new game genre based upon the bare concept of MMOs.
Rift isn't groundbreaking, but it is a very well polished and well rounded game. It takes a lot from it's predecessors, but it also advances on many aspects of what it draws from, and adds a few new things as well, all of which are incredibly polished, and fun.
I think i will buy rift in about 1 week, I'am really tired of WoW it feels like the staff doesnt really care about the players anymore and only aim for the quick cash, every expension its getting worse.. even tough i might come back one day when i want to WoW is still a great MMORPG..
For now on lets hope Rift will be awesome, thanks for the quick review i enjoyed it
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, who’s to say it needed to?
Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre?
As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation.
This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
People still don't understand what innovation is.
Innovation is not creating something brand new. It is taking something that exists and improving on it in a way that is new.
So, yes, rift can handle a lot of people at the same time. It also changes a part of the game play. Becauswe, apart from perhaps Tabula Rasa, (which I didn't play long so can't really expand upon its events) it includes world events that players need to deal with or else parts of the world are closed off.
Whether or not someone likes this, hates this, think it needs to go farther or some other thought, I don't believe I've played a game that had this type of event happening and with such frequency. So that itself feels innovative to me.
I've tried quite a few of these games and can't really recall one that has this on this scale. Oh, there might be one, but it's not wow, not lotro, lineage 2, guild wars, vanguard, Final Fantasy 14, Aion, EQ2, AoC, city of heroes/villians, Champions online,. Allods, Perfect world, heck, the list goes on.
Maybe EVE has something like this?
This game does fall squarely in the WoW or even EQ flavor of games. But it doesn't entirely play like them because of this feature. Like it or hate it. And that's an innovation.
I know what innovation means, thats why I quouted RE-invent and not invent. Innovation simply means do something that is already done but in a new and improved way.
Rifts are hardly innovative because it is not a very improved way of doing WARs Public Quests. They spawn randomly, spawn mobs based on some parameters and then are either killed by players or other mobs. So players really dont need to deal with them because they pretty much take care of each other if players choose not to act.
Now if they truly were dynamic and world changing, in the sense that they could actually destroy something (they cant, only kill NPCs which are respawned automatically) and something important was at stake and the players actually had to deal with them then we could talk about dynamic and world changing events. Right now they are nothing like that and are basically just randomly spawning mobs.
So I guess randomly spawning can be more fun than statically spawning mobs but really not that big of a difference.
Why do people get so offended if the site likes the game? Why do people get so offended if someone likes or dislike the game.
From this post, I see mostly people who like the game patting each other on the back for finding something they all like. Good for them. And then there are people who seem to have a chip on their shoulder about the review and those that agree with it. It's not an opinion of dislike about the game they have, but more an intense hate of those that enjoy something.
I think many people who try out the game will enjoy it. I was in a few betas and enjoyed it. Many of my friends are playing it. I personally don't think I'll end up getting it.
<blockquote><i>Originally posted by Swanea <br><b><p>Why do people get so offended if the site likes the game? Why do people get so offended if someone likes or dislike the game.
<p><br>
<p><span style="background-color:#ffff00;">Well, you have to remember that this site was really pro Aion and WAR, and look where those games are now today. Sensible player looks for something new in an mmo or at least done better than has been done before.
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, who’s to say it needed to?
Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre?
As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation.
This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
People still don't understand what innovation is.
Innovation is not creating something brand new. It is taking something that exists and improving on it in a way that is new.
So, yes, rift can handle a lot of people at the same time. It also changes a part of the game play. Becauswe, apart from perhaps Tabula Rasa, (which I didn't play long so can't really expand upon its events) it includes world events that players need to deal with or else parts of the world are closed off.
Whether or not someone likes this, hates this, think it needs to go farther or some other thought, I don't believe I've played a game that had this type of event happening and with such frequency. So that itself feels innovative to me.
I've tried quite a few of these games and can't really recall one that has this on this scale. Oh, there might be one, but it's not wow, not lotro, lineage 2, guild wars, vanguard, Final Fantasy 14, Aion, EQ2, AoC, city of heroes/villians, Champions online,. Allods, Perfect world, heck, the list goes on.
Maybe EVE has something like this?
This game does fall squarely in the WoW or even EQ flavor of games. But it doesn't entirely play like them because of this feature. Like it or hate it. And that's an innovation.
I know what innovation means, thats why I quouted RE-invent and not invent. Innovation simply means do something that is already done but in a new and improved way.
Rifts are hardly innovative because it is not a very improved way of doing WARs Public Quests. They spawn randomly, spawn mobs based on some parameters and then are either killed by players or other mobs. So players really dont need to deal with them because they pretty much take care of each other if players choose not to act.
Now if they truly were dynamic and world changing, in the sense that they could actually destroy something (they cant, only kill NPCs which are respawned automatically) and something important was at stake and the players actually had to deal with them then we could talk about dynamic and world changing events. Right now they are nothing like that and are basically just randomly spawning mobs.
So I guess randomly spawning can be more fun than statically spawning mobs but really not that big of a difference.
Though I would love it for them to be more "world changing" with some safeguards built in, I can say that they do take over towns and quest hubs. And can do it in such a way that unless a decent force is levied, that town hub will stay occupied.
Of course these things spawn depending on who is in the area as I've soloed and duoed a few rifts.
But I would say that is a significantly better way of implementing the public quests. Public quests just "were". They didn't take anything over or spawn invasion forces that would become footholds.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Rift was barely on my radar 1 month or so ago, now I can't wait to log on again tomorrow.
I have no idea if I'll stilll be playing in a couple of month, but I already feel I've got my money's worth.
It's not a gaming revolution, but it's a strong evolution and it's a lot of fun to play.
OzzallosRunes of Magic CorrespondentMemberUncommonPosts: 35
A dissenting opinion.
Was not impressed. The main consensus within the in-game chat (when they weren't arguing about whether this was like warcraft or not) was "This is fun because I'm tired of warcraft." That's not exactly a glowing letter of recommendation. Likewise your zomg!soul systems are nothing more than glossed up talent trees. There are more of them and logically more combinations to be created... I hear that's in the next warcraft patch anyway.
That's sarcasm, btw.
It's a pretty game, but then that's just competent use of a newer graphics engine, even if there's nothing visionary about the world design or characters. Other games do far more than this one with a lot less. But it's still pretty.
The entire plot borrows (read: rapes) from the deathknight opening stage, save you're the scarlet crusade getting bent over while attempting to escape to northrend... Or travel back in time, your choice. I've heard people comment on how gosh, Rift is so serious. Really? Undead armies slaughtering a bigoted society down to the last man, woman and child isn't serious enough for you? Moving right along...
The rifts encounters themselves feel like a thinly veiled plot device designed to artifially "encourage" players to interact with one another so that the game can claim a social element and players can grab super l3wt. It's a paper thin excuse desperately reaching for deeper player interaction.
You do know that the Haters are going to howl that you didn't pan the game out of hand, don't you Bill? ^^ I've been quite enjoying Rift myself. Its a good, well polished game, and thats all I'm interested in right now.
Later addition... Yep, Ithought so... There is simply NO pleasing some people. Well guys, I wish you the very best of luck, in your search for the One True Game(tm). I doubt any game is going to live up to your expectations, but best of luck any way.
Comments
Also, while everyone would love an innovative, fresh MMO to play, there just aren't any being released. Hard to prefer a game to ones like Rift when they don't exist yet.
Can I borrow your new little icons and write my first impressions?
"Buy this game if you have fond memories of Everquest"
What the hell are you talking about, William Murphy? This game is nothing on Everquest. It is a shade of a game in comparison. There is none of the social interactivity, none of the depth and certainly none of the challenge. If you long for Everquest again then steer clear of Rift. It's a nothing game and will leave you more frustrated than you ever were for that title that matches Everquest.
.
Nail + head
Sick of this site "gushing" over Rift, a game that hasn't intorduced a damn thing to the genre and only capitalizes on people's obsession for "not WoW".
Post something objective about the game for once, I beg you!
Everquest? What I remember from that game was that it was hard, particulary to solo, the world was vast and the game was very group focused.
Neither WoW or this game is like that so I have no idea where the Everquest formula comes from. The only thing that Rift and Everquest has in common is that both are in Fantasy setting and are Themeparks.
The differences however are plenty and significant. EQ was for hardcore people and leveling to cap took months, even more if you solo. In Rift I heard there are people at cap already, a week after release.
Moreover EQ had a very unforgiving death penalty, corpse running and downtime. Rift has neither of these things. So I ask again, beside themepark and fantasy, what is so common with this game and EQ?
WoW on the other hand...
My gaming blog
have to say this ...... you cant pls every body for iam enjoying it : ) will see how the months go or years iam taking my time looking at stuff in games like rift for me i love guilds and player homes that was a big part of me and time well spent i felt more like family with those elements may be in the future they mite add that homes : ) for now i ll enjoy what we have : )
Also, regarding the final comment: Did it reinvent the wheel? Not really. But then, who’s to say it needed to?
Oh I dunno, maybe the concept which is called innovation and which is severly lacking in the MMORPG genre?
As the article says, the only innovation this game has is the possibility to handle loads of people at the same place without crashing/lagging either the client nor the server. But that is more a technical achievement than innovation.
This game is basically Aion for the west. I.e. a modern and further polished version of WoW.
My gaming blog
People still don't understand what innovation is.
Innovation is not creating something brand new. It is taking something that exists and improving on it in a way that is new.
So, yes, rift can handle a lot of people at the same time. It also changes a part of the game play. Becauswe, apart from perhaps Tabula Rasa, (which I didn't play long so can't really expand upon its events) it includes world events that players need to deal with or else parts of the world are closed off.
Whether or not someone likes this, hates this, think it needs to go farther or some other thought, I don't believe I've played a game that had this type of event happening and with such frequency. So that itself feels innovative to me.
I've tried quite a few of these games and can't really recall one that has this on this scale. Oh, there might be one, but it's not wow, not lotro, lineage 2, guild wars, vanguard, Final Fantasy 14, Aion, EQ2, AoC, city of heroes/villians, Champions online,. Allods, Perfect world, heck, the list goes on.
Maybe EVE has something like this?
This game does fall squarely in the WoW or even EQ flavor of games. But it doesn't entirely play like them because of this feature. Like it or hate it. And that's an innovation.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
this will be the first game that i will buy for
so i hope it will be a good choice
Maybe music isnt dead. Maybe we just forgot what it fvcking sounds like.
Trion haven't innovated. They've stolen or diluted. Nothing in this game is a true innovation of anything that's come before. Even the class system is basically 4 classes with extended AAs.
There is simply nothing innovative about Rift, unless you mean their innovative ability to dilute the MMO as a genre.
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Pretty good review, for the fans! But advertising this game as a "next-gen" and with lines like " We are not in Azeroth anymore" makes me wonder what the devs really want from this game. They already introduced older and very , very "wowish" feel on it. And please, don't start saying is different then WoW or War when it comes to UI , textes and such. Only a "blind fan" can say "You are wrong".
If you enjoy the game, that's fine .. I am really glad you've found your game. What I am not "agree" is the wowish feel ( while they say is not ) and "kids" texts when they advertising the game. Very amateur !
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Everytime an MMO company has taken a leap they have been crucified by the American MMO market. Trion obviously realized or you would be seeing some crazy new UI in this MMO.
Like it or not there are certain in this genre that are never going away. This UI/mini-maps
Innovation is not creating something brand new. It is taking something that exists and improving on it in a way that is new.
So, yes, rift can handle a lot of people at the same time. It also changes a part of the game play. Becauswe, apart from perhaps Tabula Rasa, (which I didn't play long so can't really expand upon its events) it includes world events that players need to deal with or else parts of the world are closed off.
Whether or not someone likes this, hates this, think it needs to go farther or some other thought, I don't believe I've played a game that had this type of event happening and with such frequency. So that itself feels innovative to me.
I've tried quite a few of these games and can't really recall one that has this on this scale. Oh, there might be one, but it's not wow, not lotro, lineage 2, guild wars, vanguard, Final Fantasy 14, Aion, EQ2, AoC, city of heroes/villians, Champions online,. Allods, Perfect world, heck, the list goes on.
Maybe EVE has something like this?
This game does fall squarely in the WoW or even EQ flavor of games. But it doesn't entirely play like them because of this feature. Like it or hate it. And that's an innovation.
Trion haven't innovated. They've stolen or diluted. Nothing in this game is a true innovation of anything that's come before. Even the class system is basically 4 classes with extended AAs.
There is simply nothing innovative about Rift, unless you mean their innovative ability to dilute the MMO as a genre.
If that's the road you're going to go down, then innovation is now impossible in the mmorpg genre of games.
However, let's pick your statement apart here. Unless an mmorpg previously had 4 classes with some sort of Alternate Advancement built into the character's progression, then you've given an example of something new. Innovation - the introduction of something new.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Everquest wasnt a themepark. Everquest 2 was, but not 1. Yes, the class sytem was rigid but Norrath was most definitely a sandbox.
You know, little things matter! Everywhere! In MMO's too! I don't really understand why does mmo devs can't just create a unique UI and feel of the game. Let them copy/paste 80% from the features but at least, for the good of future games, introduce little things that matters such a new UI , Mini Map , Loot , Texts . etc etc etc .They even copied the Text Designer from WoW.
When I first enter in a new mmo world, I don't want to have the same feeling when I played WoW. Why? Because I am trying a NEW MMo .
What I am trying to say is atleast give me a new feeling for playing a new game. Because the feelings you have while trying a new game matter alot.
Do I ask to much?..
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Lots of information already in here for you to look at, but I will say one thing though, when talking to someone who has played the game I would ask them how far into the game they got. If they haven't made it past level 20, I wouldn't put much value on their opinion.
I do enjoy the game and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I did notice that the game, no matter the class, doesn't come into its own until after at least level 20. You need to get down into the skills trees before the classes start to become unique. I didn't find the starter areas 1-15 (with 1-6 being its own zone) to be all that great or really pull me in. So if you do play, don't worry about it until after 20, its starts to define itself better.
I will also say that the Rifts/Invasions become a bigger deal as you progress into the game. I don't think you get a fair assessment of it until after level 20. It wasn't until then that I had some 'wow, this is crazy, we're all gonna die!' moments, especially with a full on invasion it can get pretty hectic. There's something about the randomness of these events that give it a little more epic feeling, often an invasion can grow to large levels very quick and overwhelm an area.
I do like PvP, but I'm not hardcore into it. I don't really care about open world PvP in Rift. The game wasn't built around it or promoted as a core feature, so I'm not worried about it as I didn't have any expectations for it. If you've ever played WAR's PvP scenarios, then you'll feel right at home (whether you like that 'home' is another thing altogether).
I'm not big into crafting and it doesn’t appear to be anything special here. You can tell who came from WoW to by the way these people snipe mining nodes. You'd think that Tin could be converted into real world money.
Overall, I've found that people who don't like this game, it's because they want so bad for this game or any other MMO for that matter to be their 'dream MMO'. That's fine; we all have our vision of a dream game, but some of the absolute hatred that fills these forums for this game is quite unfounded and immature really. I also wouldn't put much stock into anyone's opinion that Rift is the best game ever. it's not bad and it's not great (there's definitely potential for it here though), right now it's pretty damn good, and sometimes that's all a game needs to be.
Rift doesn't do anything drastically "new", but it does do several 'old' concepts better. As you mentioned they handled the technical aspects of dealing very well with crowd scaling. They also improved on the character advancement system via souls, though nothing new still an improvement over locking into a single specifc class. They also vastly improved on the Public Quest concept.
For all the people criticizing Rift for being nothing new or special, I seriously question their ability to be impressed by anything new in the MMO industry, ever. It's very much like some people won't be satisfied until a developer comes along and makes an entirely new game genre based upon the bare concept of MMOs.
Rift isn't groundbreaking, but it is a very well polished and well rounded game. It takes a lot from it's predecessors, but it also advances on many aspects of what it draws from, and adds a few new things as well, all of which are incredibly polished, and fun.
I think i will buy rift in about 1 week, I'am really tired of WoW it feels like the staff doesnt really care about the players anymore and only aim for the quick cash, every expension its getting worse.. even tough i might come back one day when i want to WoW is still a great MMORPG..
For now on lets hope Rift will be awesome, thanks for the quick review i enjoyed it
I know what innovation means, thats why I quouted RE-invent and not invent. Innovation simply means do something that is already done but in a new and improved way.
Rifts are hardly innovative because it is not a very improved way of doing WARs Public Quests. They spawn randomly, spawn mobs based on some parameters and then are either killed by players or other mobs. So players really dont need to deal with them because they pretty much take care of each other if players choose not to act.
Now if they truly were dynamic and world changing, in the sense that they could actually destroy something (they cant, only kill NPCs which are respawned automatically) and something important was at stake and the players actually had to deal with them then we could talk about dynamic and world changing events. Right now they are nothing like that and are basically just randomly spawning mobs.
So I guess randomly spawning can be more fun than statically spawning mobs but really not that big of a difference.
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Why do people get so offended if the site likes the game? Why do people get so offended if someone likes or dislike the game.
From this post, I see mostly people who like the game patting each other on the back for finding something they all like. Good for them. And then there are people who seem to have a chip on their shoulder about the review and those that agree with it. It's not an opinion of dislike about the game they have, but more an intense hate of those that enjoy something.
I think many people who try out the game will enjoy it. I was in a few betas and enjoyed it. Many of my friends are playing it. I personally don't think I'll end up getting it.
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<blockquote><i>Originally posted by Swanea <br><b><p>Why do people get so offended if the site likes the game? Why do people get so offended if someone likes or dislike the game.
<p><br>
<p><span style="background-color:#ffff00;">Well, you have to remember that this site was really pro Aion and WAR, and look where those games are now today. Sensible player looks for something new in an mmo or at least done better than has been done before.
Though I would love it for them to be more "world changing" with some safeguards built in, I can say that they do take over towns and quest hubs. And can do it in such a way that unless a decent force is levied, that town hub will stay occupied.
Of course these things spawn depending on who is in the area as I've soloed and duoed a few rifts.
But I would say that is a significantly better way of implementing the public quests. Public quests just "were". They didn't take anything over or spawn invasion forces that would become footholds.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
in my opinion the review is spot on.
Rift was barely on my radar 1 month or so ago, now I can't wait to log on again tomorrow.
I have no idea if I'll stilll be playing in a couple of month, but I already feel I've got my money's worth.
It's not a gaming revolution, but it's a strong evolution and it's a lot of fun to play.
A dissenting opinion.
Was not impressed. The main consensus within the in-game chat (when they weren't arguing about whether this was like warcraft or not) was "This is fun because I'm tired of warcraft." That's not exactly a glowing letter of recommendation. Likewise your zomg!soul systems are nothing more than glossed up talent trees. There are more of them and logically more combinations to be created... I hear that's in the next warcraft patch anyway.
That's sarcasm, btw.
It's a pretty game, but then that's just competent use of a newer graphics engine, even if there's nothing visionary about the world design or characters. Other games do far more than this one with a lot less. But it's still pretty.
The entire plot borrows (read: rapes) from the deathknight opening stage, save you're the scarlet crusade getting bent over while attempting to escape to northrend... Or travel back in time, your choice. I've heard people comment on how gosh, Rift is so serious. Really? Undead armies slaughtering a bigoted society down to the last man, woman and child isn't serious enough for you? Moving right along...
The rifts encounters themselves feel like a thinly veiled plot device designed to artifially "encourage" players to interact with one another so that the game can claim a social element and players can grab super l3wt. It's a paper thin excuse desperately reaching for deeper player interaction.
The rest is not remarkable enough to comment on.
Verdict: F2p inside a year.
You do know that the Haters are going to howl that you didn't pan the game out of hand, don't you Bill? ^^ I've been quite enjoying Rift myself. Its a good, well polished game, and thats all I'm interested in right now.
Later addition... Yep, Ithought so... There is simply NO pleasing some people. Well guys, I wish you the very best of luck, in your search for the One True Game(tm). I doubt any game is going to live up to your expectations, but best of luck any way.