Its hard for me to take a "review" seriously after the reviewer saw no more than 0.5% of what the game had to offer. Said nothing about the combat other than he killed a couple things then died. Didnt talk about the loot system which is diabloesq in the random stats. Really didnt say anything at ALL except briefly mention customization and graphics. Verry verry poor review if one can even call it that.
AC in its time was a GREAT game. The UI, controlls, and graphics are all to outdated to think anyone could get into it again. I dont think many would argue that. Mechanics wise its still so far ahead of anything else. Except maybe Melee combat. That would definitly need tweaked to be more interactive at low levels. At higher levels you would thank your lucky horses it was nothing but auto attack since as a melee you spend the majority of your time trying to dodge spells ect so you dont die. Dodgeing spells in melee range wasnt exactly the easiest thing to do lol.
I'm one of the many who would go back instantly with updated graphics, UI, and controlls.
What a terrible an unthorough review. The reviewer barely experienced any of the game, even after explaining that they were willing to look past its age. Well... beneath its age, there are thousands of hours of -actual- questing, rewarding you with cool items and a very detailed story. The loot system was one of the most innovative of any MMO to date.
As someone else stated above as a (stupid) reason they quit, the loot system will always give you items. What that person failed to understand is that those items are -usually- trash. You're not meant to keep everything. The loot system was made of a series of tables based on quality and value. Certain types of creatures drop more magical items, or rarer things. Others drop a lot of trash items, and some drop items worth more. Some creature's rewards are the items they can potentially drop, not the XP they give. And some creatures are worth good XP but give you crap loot. Somewhere in there, you will find truly unique and incredible items. Pieces that complete a suit you've been working on for months, or pieces with major cantrips on them that can be extremely rare and valuable. And in that abundance of loot, there were hundreds of items you'd come across that were part of the hundreds of other quests in the game, or had cool purposes. Mnemosynes, keys (keys were a big one.. keys to a dozen kinds of chests you'd find around the world), shards. There were so many things, I'd often ask around just to see if something I had was something someone else could use, if I didn't need it.
The quests in this game are epic. Month-or-longer collection quests which require travelling around the game word and killing creatures to find certain pieces to turn into something cool and useful. Gear isn't outdated the second a new quest comes up. Quests are actual quests. Read something, find out where to get a piece, or what dungeon to go to..
Still remember my quest for mage armor. Took me a week to complete, from gathering the pieces, and then completing the dungeon, not to mention the time before-hand to get my magic skills high enough that I would make the highest quality of it.
The Shadow Armor quest back in the day would take MONTHS to complete. It took me 6 months or more to finally collect enough dark shards and crystal shards to make my suit. And when I did, I wore it for -years-, because it remained useful and because I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I made it finally.
It wasn't handed to me. It was earned. That's something a lot of MMOs don't get these days. It's sad that Turbine is generally a stupid company and never understood certain concepts in the gaming industry. They sold out to casual gamers in order to make money, and lost touch with their ability to innovate and make challenging gameplay.
Other quests involved getting pieces to activate certain dungeons. Or getting flagged so you could go into certain places. Then, you'd get a group of people together which took people of different roles. Had to have lockpick for some dungeons, or have people ahead of time tie to certain portals to make the run faster. And then, dungeons had dozens of paths which you could get lost in if you didn't have someone who had done the quest before to guide you through. It wasn't just a straight shot to the boss. Some quests even had server-wide messages to tell who just completed it.. like killing Lady Aerlinthe or the Olthoi Queen.
PvP on Darktide is as real as it gets. When you die, you lose items and coin, and you get a 5% penalty to your stats that has to be worked off by gaining XP. It's also one of the most skill-based experiences I've had in an MMO. Dodging magic and projectiles, speeding up your cast, etc. It's hard to even scratch the surface of what this game had.
In its form today, I couldn't see someone enjoying it nearly as much. Those experiences of the past are just that.. in the past. It is a shadow of its former glory, but there is still so much a new player could enjoy about it if they get involved in the community.
AC is where I started and nothing has ever measured up since. I'm desperately looking for something as fun (even with the grind), and in particular, as customizeable as AC was. Everything is so kid friendly now I never get to make any of the choices I want. I remember AC having dozens of skills and tons of points ot allocate. No one is willing to do that anymore. I've basically given up on the genre after one too many baby games...hopefully someone in the future will show the willingness to give us something that we can mess up our first few times. As hard as developers might find this, that is actually fun...that actually allows for replayability, something every MMO should want.
I believe the author fails to realize AC was never truly about the 'grind' but the adventure, the grind was just the system of developing your character's skills and in no way overshadowed the adventure. Sometimes it was necessary to 'grind' (i.e. kill the same type of monster 100's of times). Was it boring? No. Is it boring now? Perhaps, possibly because the western person is losing patience with the rat race that is prevailing in all forms of media. Or perhaps because the player population in AC has dipped so low it feels like you're grinding in a single player game, which of course is not fun. AC was always about the feeling, the journey, and the people. I played for three years and never reached maxed level and had only a minimal desire to. The 'end game' content could be experienced with the proper gear and buffs at mid-levels. People weren't restricted by level or class, it was open, free and wild. In its prime it had over 100,000 players and you could feel the population when you explored, and when you met a person you greeted them, excited to see another adventurer. You weren't concerned with what armor they were wearing or what class they were, you didn't even care if they were on a quest. You just felt the desire to say hello, or perhaps even explore with them. I think the AC experience can never be replaced because it existed in a time that is so very different from the one we live in now. It was a gem in the infancy of this great genre and remains an alien relic that hints to the past, it will never be replaced, but it might be alluded to or hinted at in the development of some future game. I haven't seen a title to come out to match the feelings I got from that game.
Very poor review. I've seen forum rants that provided more information and actual fact. Asheron's Call never handed you anything. You had to earn it. It's quite obvious that this concept is foreign to the "reviewer".
I can't believe that I'm actually going to say this, but it's never been more deserving...
When I played Two Worlds II recently all I could thing of was AC3 with this engine or feel of it. Not the Two Worlds II UI though as it is horrible.
I played AC somewhat recently and I believe the biggest thing was definitely UI/Controls. They are horribly outdated. I am not talking about looks so much a functionality.
As for the review I think it is justified. If the game doesn't compel you to play it further then you won't either. This was afterall an article about him trying to find a new/old MMO to play and his opions on one he tried. Not really a full game review.
From here down is just me barfing up my thoughts on MMOs and thngs I want
I also was thinking about the whole quest railroad in most MMOs today. I believe the new "quests", to some degree, should be achievement style. Or rather pop up rewards. You know you get rewarded with xp/items from just doing things. Stop making me find this NPC or that just to start doing what I want to do.
Killed so many of that NPC or killed that specific NPC, boom here's your XP and reward. You found this dungeon, boom here is your reward. Made it to a certain point in a dungeon, boom here you go. Made it to this point at a certain pace from entering, boom there you go. You haven't died from falling, traps, monsters, lava or whatever for a certain time periods, boom there you go.
I just really like the mechanic employed by games recently that reward you for doing what you enjoy in the game. This has recently been driven home while playing the BF3 beta. I know it is an FPS but lots of the MMOs have achievments already, but you are not rewarded like you are with quests.
One thing I really want from almost all MMOs now is CoH style looting. I am not saying it is for everyone, but I really like loot I get just being put into my pack. I can't imagine how much time I have spent in MMOs looking at loot and deciding what to take, bleh. I expect many enjoy that aspect though.
Great game. I disagree with the writer. I have played it for many years and still do every now and then. There is no game where exploration is such a thrill as in AC. Thank God no classes. You can be who you want to be.
What have gained? Reading the article I see we now have better graphics, a better UI and the grind is coated with more sugar pilled quests. That’s it.
Well computers have been giving us better graphics each year since they began; same for user interfaces. So in all this time MMO’s have managed to hide the grind better, that’s all.
What have we lost, well talking AC we have lost GM driven world changing events and enough roleplaying tools to keep Frodo happy. You could take an in game book, write in it and leave it for another player to find. The lore was immense, the story of the world second to none.
But MMO’s have learnt how to mask ‘kill 10 rats’ with a better looking quest, not exactly come a long way have we baby?
Totally agree at this point. I played AC for more than a year, way back when. Great game for its time, but I REALLY hated the corpse runs and the lost gear if you couldn't get it back. I used to keep two entire sets of armor and weapons in the vault, just so I'd have a chance. But some times, it was better to just write it off.
Graphics wise, its WAY beyond its USE BY date. I seriously doubt that WB would allow Turbine to invest the resources required to update the AC engine. I have some fun memories from that time, but I'm never going back. Let the past stay in the past.
I like the system, with a few changes and a new engine this game could be reborn. It's been a long time since I have played Brom the Mediocre. Adding points directly to the skills you want to improve was/is a great idea.
You can call me a "fangirl" or whatever you like, but this is a terrible review. How long did you play, an hour? Was your first MMO World of Warcraft, and is that the only game you are able to wrap your head around? Are you completely unable to put aside your biase for "grind-masked-as-killtasks", and just focus on the real nitty-gritty of what gaming USED to be? Of what it has strayed so far from, because someone said that something should be a certain way, so no one else has been able to dig out of that hole?
AC is out of that hole. AC is an unparalleled skill and adventure game. The graphics are not great, but graphics do not a game make. Or in this case, actually the graphics are a BENEFIT to the game. Name to me another MMO where you can take on a literal legion of mobs, 50 or 100 creatures at once, down them with your sword and at the end, bask in the wealth of loot you have access to. You will never find the same peice of loot twice (unless that is, you are on a quest for a specifc peice). Unless you intentionally do so, you will NEVER look like everyone else. You are unique. You are a snowflake.
The graphics and physics engine also allow for the most skill-based and interactive PvP in the genre. Slide-casting, dodging missles, using jump to your advantage, strafing, open-world slaughterfest. It's terrifying, but damn it's fun.
You also seem to have entirely missed any quests. Did you make it to level 10 even? At that point, there is an amazing hub that you have access to, which will guide you from 10 to about 50. Also if you TALK to any of the NPCs and I dunno, read the text, it is perfectly clear what to do. There are also NPCs that sell "contracts", which get placed in your quest journal, and you get led by the nose (people seem to like that) to the area and are told very clearly what to do.
You seem to have completely missed the core of the game, which is exploration. It's dying, making mistakes, smashing baddies, collecting weird colored armor, standing around in the Marketplace doing nothing, changing the game economy, joining fellowships and clearing dungeons, and ultimately, if you lived in a fantasy world, all of the things you would actually do.
On top of all of this, I just got a guild mate of mine (we're in a multi-gaming guild) to come and try the game for the first time. Without me holding his hand, he found NPCs to talk to, figured out the easy coordinate system, went into a dungeon, got quest items, made it out of the dungeon and back to town, figured out who to sell to, figured out how to put points into skills, and generally would have been just fine if I'd left him alone. But I did come help eventually He is actually going to at least stick with the 2-week free trial. That's more than we can say about YOU, Mr. Reviewer.
So, what sucks about this game?
- The UI
- The buffing system - seriously, every skill and attribute has it's own buff
- The grind for "stuff", namely the "perfect suit" of armor
- Not being able to sell everything to just one NPC
- The world map needs an upgrade
I've played every major US release of an MMO to date (and some Korean ones, and some non-major titles). I always spend the time to sink into the game, look into it, read up on the community. That's the level of research that people reading your reviews expect, Reviewer Man. You don't have to like every game, but you have a responsibility to at least be able to give it a fair chance. Any game sucks if you only play it for 10 minutes.
I challenge you to do the full 14 day trial on Frostfell (not my server, but is the most populated), seek out an allegiance, read up on the player-made wiki (ac.wikkii.net), and actually try to play the game. Then come back wi th a real review.
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To answer the F2P question: presently, AC is $9.99 to purchase and $12.95/month. While Turbine did consider Asheron's Call to be their flagship F2P game, it simple was not feasible with the way the UI is coded. It would have to have a complete re-write, which they simply to do not have manpower, time, or money for. It, of course, is not ruled out for the future, but it won't be happening soon.
Asheron's Call is about one simple thing: grind. Whether this is through combat or crafting, the game harks back to that most central of themes, and does not coat the issue in fetch quests or collect X of Y objectives. In many ways this simple and honest approach is refreshing almost a decade into the facade of mission based MMOs, and yet at the same time, a startling revelation of how we got where we are with the genre now.
At its core, grinding enemies for the goal of levelling is fundamentally boring. We know this. We knew this in the late nineties, and the guys at Blizzard knew it when they added a questing system. While many complain that the genre has gone a little too far in making the experience more linear than was ever meant, the overall tools for progression Asheron's Call show that the genre has developed and refined ultimately for the better. Killing monsters within Turbine's game will give you skill points to spend on a palette of wide and varied skills, but after a while you will begin to question the point of it all. While simple missions can be tedious, they do give a certain reason for doing so and as such give a layer of immersion and purpose, and sadly this is where Asheron's Call now fails.
While the game still has a number of servers, the player base feels relatively thin. Aside from the occasional shout in the trade channel, the population of the game seems to be thinly spread about the world, and a lower level community is all but non-existence. The remaining community is that familiar selection of entrenched veterans and helpful players, resulting in any shouts of help to be answered by both offers of gold and insults of WoW pampering.
Throughout my time in the game I couldn't help but feel that the genre has simply progressed too far. While Asheron's Call will feel beautifully nostalgic and traditional for its veterans, for anyone coming to these lands anew it will simply feel outdated. In almost every way Turbine's original MMO has been outshined by newer titles, and while I can see its varied charms, I cannot truly recommend anyone seek it out as replacement game. Time is a cruel mistress, and while Asheron's Call has out lived its offspring by several years, I can't see many more years for it. These are truly the twilight years for a father of the genre. MMORPG.com salutes it, but it doesn't encourage you to try it. Leave memories where they are, and leave old legends shrouded in mystery.
Firstly let me say yes I agree AC looks dated, because it was built in the mid 90's and released in 1999. However it does have its charm and I promise you once you give it a day or 2 for the game to grow on you then the gfx become moot because the superior gameplay takes hold.
Now with that being said that is all that I agree with you about your post, the rest of your post is trivial, juvenile, and reeks of
condescension.
Yea the servers for the most part are "thin" but what the population does within itself with 600 at primetime is infinetly more helpful and rewarding comparing to any other game I played. Never do you hear Chuck Morris Jokes, nor do you hear about political viewpoints or the like, in fact 99% of the chat in game is directed towards the game and that is a breath of fresh air sir. I would take AC's 10k over WoW's 11 million any day of the week and twice on sundays. One last thing I might add, I have played AC since 1999 with a 6 year break for WoW, but im back to AC again and let me tell you I can go to any area of the map in AC and stand there and within 20 mins I am guarenteed to see an adventurer run along looking for something to do. For reference I can do the same in WoW and I will rarely see another player out i nthe wild. Give me AC's 10k in a MUCH lareger world and it feels alive, yet WoW's 11 million cant make a world that is twice as small as AC feel alive. Instancing and capitol cities destroyed the genre so much.
You never even played past level 10 yet you say the game is a grind grind grind. you sir are wrong on so many fronts. There is absolutely zero grind in AC, because the ultimate goal of the game is not to level it is to adventure.
I feel that the MMO genre regressed to far, as I would rather have AC's gameplay over the hand holding, bread crumbing, hell kitty land adventure of the current crop pf MMO's. WoW with no freedom vs AC with tons of freedom, how can there even be a choice.
Lastly shall we talk about questing in AC in comparison to questing in a themepark MMO such as WoW or Rift. hers the latters idea of a quest. See a yellow ! mark and talk to an NPC and go fetch him 10 rat tails, or kill 10 rats versus:
Use the Portal to Bur at 67.4N 30.5E. Stick left until you come to the portal to Kor-Gursha.
Go East to the Collector Golem and keep going East from him to Scout Leader Tmauruk(speak to him) and the Guruk Kill task guys. Then take northern most East Tunnel From here. To the Southern Catacombs.
Stick right past Guruk and use ROCK next to Temple of the Three, Ritual Chambers portal to enter Upper Catacombs.
The statue Roderick mentions is in the fourth room from the south in the east hallway on the right (east side of hallway running north to south). The statue will teleport you into the Falatacot Visitor's Alcove.
In the first dungeon, head right at the T-junction. Use the second door you come across and follow through. Do NOT jump into any pits, you will not be able to get out. You go down once, then up twice. The second door going up, stop and clear the spawn if you can.
Eventually reach a big, empty room. There is a floor lever just inside the room. Use this plate to spawn the statue and about 10 guards. After a few minutes you will receive a message that the statue's eyes have lit up and you can now use the statue to portal onto the next dungeon. You MUST hit that level to spawn the statue. Depending on where the guards spawn, you may be able to close the door and wait outside for the statue to charge up. If not, you can run around inside the room for a few minutes, dodging spells, until it is good.
In the next dungeon go right and down at the junction and follow it through to the end. When you reach a door, behind that is the empty room and the statue. As you go in seven Blood Priestesses and an Elite Zharalim Agent will spawn -- retreat into the hallway and close the door until the statue charges, or run around the room dodging them.
NOTE: The far wall behind the statues can be used to be avoided by the casters, and eventually even the melee types will get tired of you. If you die, you can run back quickly, and both statues might still be up.
NOTE: You must have the Diplomatic Message on you to use the statues.
Note: It is not necessary to use the corpse of the Elite Zharalim Agent (a yellow dot, NPC corpse) to use the statue.
Get to the end of the last dungeon and talk to the Falatacot Herald. He will take your Note...IMMEDIATELY run up and around the platform behind him! Several very tough monsters* will spawn. Tip: If you are an archer or mage, perch from the platform above the mob. Be careful the Laisu Sclavus casts Poison Health (20% lower health for 5 minutes) and there is no shortcut back.
Your job is to kill the Blood Priestesses. One of them holds the Trinket you need to give to Roderick. The Blood Priestesses are IMPERIL VULNERABLE to COLD. If you can Imperil them, they go down to cold weapons incredibly fast. If you are a mage, Yield them (Magic def is over 500), and do the normal fire undead slayer beat down.
If soloing: talk to the Herald and quickly jump up to the platform and wait, after a period of time the spawned creatures will ignore you allowing you to vuln and pull the Priestesses over one by one.
If running multiple characters: Only 1 character in 3 needs to give the message. Pick the one with Lockpick, so he can easily get his next time. Note that if you talk to Roderick before giving him the trinket, he will replace your message, even if you gave it already (he's assuming you died).
One of the Blood Priestesses will drop three Falatacot Blood Prophetess Trinkets that you must return to Roderick for XP and the title "Expendable". (If your fellowship is more than 3, the Herald respawns very quickly).
Recall Last Portal. If you went to Bur right from Roderick, this brings you back to the Mite Maze. Head back up to Roderick for your reward.
If you speak to the NPC a 2nd time, he will give you a ride to Teth
As you see almost every quest in AC is of the latter, and I would take that every freaking day of the week over the kill 10 rat BOOOOOORING quests that litter the MMO genre now.
Playing: GW2 Waiting on: TESO Next Flop: Planetside 2 Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.
AC was an incredible experience for those that really tried it, especially on Darktide.
PVP made the game for me, it otherwise was lackluster.
I've never had a better experience in any other mmorpg though. Theres nothing like patrolling a town guarded by your guild and spamming the chat box to them when 5 Blood members pop up on your radar.
PVP fights were super intense with everything on the line. Your rep, your guild, and the stuff in your bags. Really good fights would go along for awhile, and theres nothing like chasing someone down across the continent. And it is super satisfying when you finally get the best of them and get some mad loot from your troubles.
In terms of the questing, I recall large token quests. Things like the sword of the lost light and shadow armor were really good moments.
Despite the bad graphics the world felt completely dynamic and interesting to me. Exploring really felt like exploring. What you found you could fight to make yours.
Well to start with, there are a bunch of add-ons that really help out the UI. Without them it is rather awkward at best.
You did not even discuss combat which has no auto targeting and no auto attack. You can actually dodge magic and missles. There are several sites that have tons of info on the game, you really need to read up on them before playing.
Items that fall can have varied stats. You don't get the same item from the same npc.
You did not even cover the fact that the game is skill based, while it has levels they really don't mean much, just more skill points to spend. It has great flexibility on how you design your character, you can put skill points in anything you desire, but it does help to specialize in a few.
It still is one of the better games out there, but again it is a very grindy game.
Pretty much a terrible job on reviewing the game because you left out the basic facts. Where does MMORPG get such terrible game reviewers?
I agree 100% that where AC was unique in he did not mentioned at all he just gave review how ugly and grindy and outdated this game is..... YEH RIGHT 12YEARS OLD HUH...., insted of realy telling what kind of great game it was and still is.
But macroing was a part of its distruction im affraid:(
Realy bad reviewer, i even think they did it on purpose for some hidden agenda?
Hope to build full AMD system RYZEN/VEGA/AM4!!!
MB:Asus V De Luxe z77 CPU:Intell Icore7 3770k GPU: AMD Fury X(waiting for BIG VEGA 10 or 11 HBM2?(bit unclear now)) MEMORY:Corsair PLAT.DDR3 1866MHZ 16GB PSU:Corsair AX1200i OS:Windows 10 64bit
Wow I don't like to be to personally rude on comments, but the reviewer is an absolute moron and needs to re-apply for his old job at Value Village. I love the comment the genre has progressed to far to far for AC to be viable. This reminds me of Jay & Silent Bob and have the urge to find this guy and kick the crap out him for being clueless!!!
I think it was a little to rough to not have a shiny yellow "!" over npc's or quest guide arrows that point you to where your supposed to go. The UI is old and the graphics are certainly not very good anymore, but one thing AC has is the most in depth gameplay and character progression of any MMO. The genre could use a swift kick in the butt and return back to non linear classed based games.
AC was an incredible experience for those that really tried it, especially on Darktide.
PVP made the game for me, it otherwise was lackluster.
I've never had a better experience in any other mmorpg though. Theres nothing like patrolling a town guarded by your guild and spamming the chat box to them when 5 Blood members pop up on your radar.
PVP fights were super intense with everything on the line. Your rep, your guild, and the stuff in your bags. Really good fights would go along for awhile, and theres nothing like chasing someone down across the continent. And it is super satisfying when you finally get the best of them and get some mad loot from your troubles.
In terms of the questing, I recall large token quests. Things like the sword of the lost light and shadow armor were really good moments.
Despite the bad graphics the world felt completely dynamic and interesting to me. Exploring really felt like exploring. What you found you could fight to make yours.
Tried DT once and it was a total gank fest, so I quit that. But I did play more than a year on thistle down(if I remember right, its been years and years). Great game for its time, but I'm all done with corpse run games. I put up with it at the time, because it was pretty much sop. But I'd not wish to go back to it.
At this point I really do not see WB allowing Turbine to use the resources required to update the AC engine, or to provide much real new content for that matter. WB will likely milk what money it can from Turbines current IP, and then close them down, once they are of no further use to them.
Wow I don't like to be to personally rude on comments, but the reviewer is an absolute moron and needs to re-apply for his old job at Value Village. I love the comment the genre has progressed to far to far for AC to be viable. This reminds me of Jay & Silent Bob and have the urge to find this guy and kick the crap out him for being clueless!!!
I think it was a little to rough to not have a shiny yellow "!" over npc's or quest guide arrows that point you to where your supposed to go. The UI is old and the graphics are certainly not very good anymore, but one thing AC has is the most in depth gameplay and character progression of any MMO. The genre could use a swift kick in the butt and return back to non linear classed based games.
At which point, the majority of the massive modern player base, takes it time and money to another activity. Given that these games take millions and millions (of other peoples money...) to create, do you really think that the investors and/or business types are ever likely to do something like that?
A "return back to non linear classed based games" ISN'T what the vast majority of the gaming population wants these days. It wants WoW type theme park games. As much as certain types will howl about it, the fact that WoW has made Blizzard (and its share holders/investors) *billions* over the last almost seven years, is hard cold REALITY.
Do I personally like what WoW has become under Ghostcrawlers reign of error? Mostly no. But there have been good points. I really liked Dungeon Finder for example. For the first time in years, I was able to get semi decent gear for my characters, just by running dungeons and collecting drops and tokens. I didn't have to spent most of my limited time spamming chat endlessly, in the vain hope of finding a group to run with.
In AC I was in a good guild, and that helped a LOT. These days, unless one is in the Guild Masters inner circle, you can pretty much forget doing much beyond basic things. It happened then as well, but not nearly as frequently as it does today.
Bottom line, AC was a great game. But its time has passed. It would take WAY too many resources to bring it into the 21st century, and its limited appeal and player base just do not warrant such an investment. One of the only ways I can see this changing is if some very wealthy type took it over and funded its update from their own pocket. Other than that, its a game from the past, and will continue to fade until eventually the plug is pulled.
I created an account and installed AC last week and could not get it working.. the game uses and archaic network connection system that simply does not work on some routers.. shame.
Comments
Its hard for me to take a "review" seriously after the reviewer saw no more than 0.5% of what the game had to offer. Said nothing about the combat other than he killed a couple things then died. Didnt talk about the loot system which is diabloesq in the random stats. Really didnt say anything at ALL except briefly mention customization and graphics. Verry verry poor review if one can even call it that.
AC in its time was a GREAT game. The UI, controlls, and graphics are all to outdated to think anyone could get into it again. I dont think many would argue that. Mechanics wise its still so far ahead of anything else. Except maybe Melee combat. That would definitly need tweaked to be more interactive at low levels. At higher levels you would thank your lucky horses it was nothing but auto attack since as a melee you spend the majority of your time trying to dodge spells ect so you dont die. Dodgeing spells in melee range wasnt exactly the easiest thing to do lol.
I'm one of the many who would go back instantly with updated graphics, UI, and controlls.
What a terrible an unthorough review. The reviewer barely experienced any of the game, even after explaining that they were willing to look past its age. Well... beneath its age, there are thousands of hours of -actual- questing, rewarding you with cool items and a very detailed story. The loot system was one of the most innovative of any MMO to date.
As someone else stated above as a (stupid) reason they quit, the loot system will always give you items. What that person failed to understand is that those items are -usually- trash. You're not meant to keep everything. The loot system was made of a series of tables based on quality and value. Certain types of creatures drop more magical items, or rarer things. Others drop a lot of trash items, and some drop items worth more. Some creature's rewards are the items they can potentially drop, not the XP they give. And some creatures are worth good XP but give you crap loot. Somewhere in there, you will find truly unique and incredible items. Pieces that complete a suit you've been working on for months, or pieces with major cantrips on them that can be extremely rare and valuable. And in that abundance of loot, there were hundreds of items you'd come across that were part of the hundreds of other quests in the game, or had cool purposes. Mnemosynes, keys (keys were a big one.. keys to a dozen kinds of chests you'd find around the world), shards. There were so many things, I'd often ask around just to see if something I had was something someone else could use, if I didn't need it.
The quests in this game are epic. Month-or-longer collection quests which require travelling around the game word and killing creatures to find certain pieces to turn into something cool and useful. Gear isn't outdated the second a new quest comes up. Quests are actual quests. Read something, find out where to get a piece, or what dungeon to go to..
Still remember my quest for mage armor. Took me a week to complete, from gathering the pieces, and then completing the dungeon, not to mention the time before-hand to get my magic skills high enough that I would make the highest quality of it.
The Shadow Armor quest back in the day would take MONTHS to complete. It took me 6 months or more to finally collect enough dark shards and crystal shards to make my suit. And when I did, I wore it for -years-, because it remained useful and because I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I made it finally.
It wasn't handed to me. It was earned. That's something a lot of MMOs don't get these days. It's sad that Turbine is generally a stupid company and never understood certain concepts in the gaming industry. They sold out to casual gamers in order to make money, and lost touch with their ability to innovate and make challenging gameplay.
Other quests involved getting pieces to activate certain dungeons. Or getting flagged so you could go into certain places. Then, you'd get a group of people together which took people of different roles. Had to have lockpick for some dungeons, or have people ahead of time tie to certain portals to make the run faster. And then, dungeons had dozens of paths which you could get lost in if you didn't have someone who had done the quest before to guide you through. It wasn't just a straight shot to the boss. Some quests even had server-wide messages to tell who just completed it.. like killing Lady Aerlinthe or the Olthoi Queen.
PvP on Darktide is as real as it gets. When you die, you lose items and coin, and you get a 5% penalty to your stats that has to be worked off by gaining XP. It's also one of the most skill-based experiences I've had in an MMO. Dodging magic and projectiles, speeding up your cast, etc. It's hard to even scratch the surface of what this game had.
In its form today, I couldn't see someone enjoying it nearly as much. Those experiences of the past are just that.. in the past. It is a shadow of its former glory, but there is still so much a new player could enjoy about it if they get involved in the community.
There was a downloadable map someone made. I would boot up the map and look for towns or dungeons I had never travelled to before...then I'd set off.
It was exploring and making your own quests...and trying not to die!
I don't think anyone has mentioned the scary 'drop your best item' death system...
It was big fun in its day!
AC is where I started and nothing has ever measured up since. I'm desperately looking for something as fun (even with the grind), and in particular, as customizeable as AC was. Everything is so kid friendly now I never get to make any of the choices I want. I remember AC having dozens of skills and tons of points ot allocate. No one is willing to do that anymore. I've basically given up on the genre after one too many baby games...hopefully someone in the future will show the willingness to give us something that we can mess up our first few times. As hard as developers might find this, that is actually fun...that actually allows for replayability, something every MMO should want.
I believe the author fails to realize AC was never truly about the 'grind' but the adventure, the grind was just the system of developing your character's skills and in no way overshadowed the adventure. Sometimes it was necessary to 'grind' (i.e. kill the same type of monster 100's of times). Was it boring? No. Is it boring now? Perhaps, possibly because the western person is losing patience with the rat race that is prevailing in all forms of media. Or perhaps because the player population in AC has dipped so low it feels like you're grinding in a single player game, which of course is not fun. AC was always about the feeling, the journey, and the people. I played for three years and never reached maxed level and had only a minimal desire to. The 'end game' content could be experienced with the proper gear and buffs at mid-levels. People weren't restricted by level or class, it was open, free and wild. In its prime it had over 100,000 players and you could feel the population when you explored, and when you met a person you greeted them, excited to see another adventurer. You weren't concerned with what armor they were wearing or what class they were, you didn't even care if they were on a quest. You just felt the desire to say hello, or perhaps even explore with them. I think the AC experience can never be replaced because it existed in a time that is so very different from the one we live in now. It was a gem in the infancy of this great genre and remains an alien relic that hints to the past, it will never be replaced, but it might be alluded to or hinted at in the development of some future game. I haven't seen a title to come out to match the feelings I got from that game.
Very poor review. I've seen forum rants that provided more information and actual fact. Asheron's Call never handed you anything. You had to earn it. It's quite obvious that this concept is foreign to the "reviewer".
I can't believe that I'm actually going to say this, but it's never been more deserving...
Go back to WoW.
When I played Two Worlds II recently all I could thing of was AC3 with this engine or feel of it. Not the Two Worlds II UI though as it is horrible.
I played AC somewhat recently and I believe the biggest thing was definitely UI/Controls. They are horribly outdated. I am not talking about looks so much a functionality.
As for the review I think it is justified. If the game doesn't compel you to play it further then you won't either. This was afterall an article about him trying to find a new/old MMO to play and his opions on one he tried. Not really a full game review.
From here down is just me barfing up my thoughts on MMOs and thngs I want
I also was thinking about the whole quest railroad in most MMOs today. I believe the new "quests", to some degree, should be achievement style. Or rather pop up rewards. You know you get rewarded with xp/items from just doing things. Stop making me find this NPC or that just to start doing what I want to do.
Killed so many of that NPC or killed that specific NPC, boom here's your XP and reward. You found this dungeon, boom here is your reward. Made it to a certain point in a dungeon, boom here you go. Made it to this point at a certain pace from entering, boom there you go. You haven't died from falling, traps, monsters, lava or whatever for a certain time periods, boom there you go.
I just really like the mechanic employed by games recently that reward you for doing what you enjoy in the game. This has recently been driven home while playing the BF3 beta. I know it is an FPS but lots of the MMOs have achievments already, but you are not rewarded like you are with quests.
One thing I really want from almost all MMOs now is CoH style looting. I am not saying it is for everyone, but I really like loot I get just being put into my pack. I can't imagine how much time I have spent in MMOs looking at loot and deciding what to take, bleh. I expect many enjoy that aspect though.
Great game. I disagree with the writer. I have played it for many years and still do every now and then. There is no game where exploration is such a thrill as in AC. Thank God no classes. You can be who you want to be.
What have gained? Reading the article I see we now have better graphics, a better UI and the grind is coated with more sugar pilled quests. That’s it.
Well computers have been giving us better graphics each year since they began; same for user interfaces. So in all this time MMO’s have managed to hide the grind better, that’s all.
What have we lost, well talking AC we have lost GM driven world changing events and enough roleplaying tools to keep Frodo happy. You could take an in game book, write in it and leave it for another player to find. The lore was immense, the story of the world second to none.
But MMO’s have learnt how to mask ‘kill 10 rats’ with a better looking quest, not exactly come a long way have we baby?
Totally agree at this point. I played AC for more than a year, way back when. Great game for its time, but I REALLY hated the corpse runs and the lost gear if you couldn't get it back. I used to keep two entire sets of armor and weapons in the vault, just so I'd have a chance. But some times, it was better to just write it off.
Graphics wise, its WAY beyond its USE BY date. I seriously doubt that WB would allow Turbine to invest the resources required to update the AC engine. I have some fun memories from that time, but I'm never going back. Let the past stay in the past.
I like the system, with a few changes and a new engine this game could be reborn. It's been a long time since I have played Brom the Mediocre.
Adding points directly to the skills you want to improve was/is a great idea.
is AC f2p yet?
You can call me a "fangirl" or whatever you like, but this is a terrible review. How long did you play, an hour? Was your first MMO World of Warcraft, and is that the only game you are able to wrap your head around? Are you completely unable to put aside your biase for "grind-masked-as-killtasks", and just focus on the real nitty-gritty of what gaming USED to be? Of what it has strayed so far from, because someone said that something should be a certain way, so no one else has been able to dig out of that hole?
AC is out of that hole. AC is an unparalleled skill and adventure game. The graphics are not great, but graphics do not a game make. Or in this case, actually the graphics are a BENEFIT to the game. Name to me another MMO where you can take on a literal legion of mobs, 50 or 100 creatures at once, down them with your sword and at the end, bask in the wealth of loot you have access to. You will never find the same peice of loot twice (unless that is, you are on a quest for a specifc peice). Unless you intentionally do so, you will NEVER look like everyone else. You are unique. You are a snowflake.
The graphics and physics engine also allow for the most skill-based and interactive PvP in the genre. Slide-casting, dodging missles, using jump to your advantage, strafing, open-world slaughterfest. It's terrifying, but damn it's fun.
You also seem to have entirely missed any quests. Did you make it to level 10 even? At that point, there is an amazing hub that you have access to, which will guide you from 10 to about 50. Also if you TALK to any of the NPCs and I dunno, read the text, it is perfectly clear what to do. There are also NPCs that sell "contracts", which get placed in your quest journal, and you get led by the nose (people seem to like that) to the area and are told very clearly what to do.
You seem to have completely missed the core of the game, which is exploration. It's dying, making mistakes, smashing baddies, collecting weird colored armor, standing around in the Marketplace doing nothing, changing the game economy, joining fellowships and clearing dungeons, and ultimately, if you lived in a fantasy world, all of the things you would actually do.
On top of all of this, I just got a guild mate of mine (we're in a multi-gaming guild) to come and try the game for the first time. Without me holding his hand, he found NPCs to talk to, figured out the easy coordinate system, went into a dungeon, got quest items, made it out of the dungeon and back to town, figured out who to sell to, figured out how to put points into skills, and generally would have been just fine if I'd left him alone. But I did come help eventually
He is actually going to at least stick with the 2-week free trial. That's more than we can say about YOU, Mr. Reviewer.
So, what sucks about this game?
- The UI
- The buffing system - seriously, every skill and attribute has it's own buff
- The grind for "stuff", namely the "perfect suit" of armor
- Not being able to sell everything to just one NPC
- The world map needs an upgrade
I've played every major US release of an MMO to date (and some Korean ones, and some non-major titles). I always spend the time to sink into the game, look into it, read up on the community. That's the level of research that people reading your reviews expect, Reviewer Man. You don't have to like every game, but you have a responsibility to at least be able to give it a fair chance. Any game sucks if you only play it for 10 minutes.
I challenge you to do the full 14 day trial on Frostfell (not my server, but is the most populated), seek out an allegiance, read up on the player-made wiki (ac.wikkii.net), and actually try to play the game. Then come back wi th a real review.
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To answer the F2P question: presently, AC is $9.99 to purchase and $12.95/month. While Turbine did consider Asheron's Call to be their flagship F2P game, it simple was not feasible with the way the UI is coded. It would have to have a complete re-write, which they simply to do not have manpower, time, or money for. It, of course, is not ruled out for the future, but it won't be happening soon.
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Asheron's Call is about one simple thing: grind. Whether this is through combat or crafting, the game harks back to that most central of themes, and does not coat the issue in fetch quests or collect X of Y objectives. In many ways this simple and honest approach is refreshing almost a decade into the facade of mission based MMOs, and yet at the same time, a startling revelation of how we got where we are with the genre now.
At its core, grinding enemies for the goal of levelling is fundamentally boring. We know this. We knew this in the late nineties, and the guys at Blizzard knew it when they added a questing system. While many complain that the genre has gone a little too far in making the experience more linear than was ever meant, the overall tools for progression Asheron's Call show that the genre has developed and refined ultimately for the better. Killing monsters within Turbine's game will give you skill points to spend on a palette of wide and varied skills, but after a while you will begin to question the point of it all. While simple missions can be tedious, they do give a certain reason for doing so and as such give a layer of immersion and purpose, and sadly this is where Asheron's Call now fails.
While the game still has a number of servers, the player base feels relatively thin. Aside from the occasional shout in the trade channel, the population of the game seems to be thinly spread about the world, and a lower level community is all but non-existence. The remaining community is that familiar selection of entrenched veterans and helpful players, resulting in any shouts of help to be answered by both offers of gold and insults of WoW pampering.
Throughout my time in the game I couldn't help but feel that the genre has simply progressed too far. While Asheron's Call will feel beautifully nostalgic and traditional for its veterans, for anyone coming to these lands anew it will simply feel outdated. In almost every way Turbine's original MMO has been outshined by newer titles, and while I can see its varied charms, I cannot truly recommend anyone seek it out as replacement game. Time is a cruel mistress, and while Asheron's Call has out lived its offspring by several years, I can't see many more years for it. These are truly the twilight years for a father of the genre. MMORPG.com salutes it, but it doesn't encourage you to try it. Leave memories where they are, and leave old legends shrouded in mystery.
Firstly let me say yes I agree AC looks dated, because it was built in the mid 90's and released in 1999. However it does have its charm and I promise you once you give it a day or 2 for the game to grow on you then the gfx become moot because the superior gameplay takes hold.
Now with that being said that is all that I agree with you about your post, the rest of your post is trivial, juvenile, and reeks of
condescension.
Yea the servers for the most part are "thin" but what the population does within itself with 600 at primetime is infinetly more helpful and rewarding comparing to any other game I played. Never do you hear Chuck Morris Jokes, nor do you hear about political viewpoints or the like, in fact 99% of the chat in game is directed towards the game and that is a breath of fresh air sir. I would take AC's 10k over WoW's 11 million any day of the week and twice on sundays. One last thing I might add, I have played AC since 1999 with a 6 year break for WoW, but im back to AC again and let me tell you I can go to any area of the map in AC and stand there and within 20 mins I am guarenteed to see an adventurer run along looking for something to do. For reference I can do the same in WoW and I will rarely see another player out i nthe wild. Give me AC's 10k in a MUCH lareger world and it feels alive, yet WoW's 11 million cant make a world that is twice as small as AC feel alive. Instancing and capitol cities destroyed the genre so much.
You never even played past level 10 yet you say the game is a grind grind grind. you sir are wrong on so many fronts. There is absolutely zero grind in AC, because the ultimate goal of the game is not to level it is to adventure.
I feel that the MMO genre regressed to far, as I would rather have AC's gameplay over the hand holding, bread crumbing, hell kitty land adventure of the current crop pf MMO's. WoW with no freedom vs AC with tons of freedom, how can there even be a choice.
Lastly shall we talk about questing in AC in comparison to questing in a themepark MMO such as WoW or Rift. hers the latters idea of a quest. See a yellow ! mark and talk to an NPC and go fetch him 10 rat tails, or kill 10 rats versus:
Speak to Roderick in Mite Maze, where Harlune the Misanthrope used to be (take the first right at Alfrega the Reedshark, the room with the apple tree). He will give you the Diplomatic Message from Harlune (speak twice if you get A Crabbed Note at first).
Use the Portal to Bur at 67.4N 30.5E. Stick left until you come to the portal to Kor-Gursha.
Go East to the Collector Golem and keep going East from him to Scout Leader Tmauruk(speak to him) and the Guruk Kill task guys. Then take northern most East Tunnel From here. To the Southern Catacombs.
Stick right past Guruk and use ROCK next to Temple of the Three, Ritual Chambers portal to enter Upper Catacombs.
The statue Roderick mentions is in the fourth room from the south in the east hallway on the right (east side of hallway running north to south). The statue will teleport you into the Falatacot Visitor's Alcove.
In the first dungeon, head right at the T-junction. Use the second door you come across and follow through. Do NOT jump into any pits, you will not be able to get out. You go down once, then up twice. The second door going up, stop and clear the spawn if you can.
Eventually reach a big, empty room. There is a floor lever just inside the room. Use this plate to spawn the statue and about 10 guards. After a few minutes you will receive a message that the statue's eyes have lit up and you can now use the statue to portal onto the next dungeon. You MUST hit that level to spawn the statue. Depending on where the guards spawn, you may be able to close the door and wait outside for the statue to charge up. If not, you can run around inside the room for a few minutes, dodging spells, until it is good.
In the next dungeon go right and down at the junction and follow it through to the end. When you reach a door, behind that is the empty room and the statue. As you go in seven Blood Priestesses and an Elite Zharalim Agent will spawn -- retreat into the hallway and close the door until the statue charges, or run around the room dodging them.
NOTE: The far wall behind the statues can be used to be avoided by the casters, and eventually even the melee types will get tired of you. If you die, you can run back quickly, and both statues might still be up.
NOTE: You must have the Diplomatic Message on you to use the statues.
Note: It is not necessary to use the corpse of the Elite Zharalim Agent (a yellow dot, NPC corpse) to use the statue.
Get to the end of the last dungeon and talk to the Falatacot Herald. He will take your Note...IMMEDIATELY run up and around the platform behind him! Several very tough monsters* will spawn. Tip: If you are an archer or mage, perch from the platform above the mob. Be careful the Laisu Sclavus casts Poison Health (20% lower health for 5 minutes) and there is no shortcut back.
Your job is to kill the Blood Priestesses. One of them holds the Trinket you need to give to Roderick. The Blood Priestesses are IMPERIL VULNERABLE to COLD. If you can Imperil them, they go down to cold weapons incredibly fast. If you are a mage, Yield them (Magic def is over 500), and do the normal fire undead slayer beat down.
If soloing: talk to the Herald and quickly jump up to the platform and wait, after a period of time the spawned creatures will ignore you allowing you to vuln and pull the Priestesses over one by one.
If running multiple characters: Only 1 character in 3 needs to give the message. Pick the one with Lockpick, so he can easily get his next time. Note that if you talk to Roderick before giving him the trinket, he will replace your message, even if you gave it already (he's assuming you died).
One of the Blood Priestesses will drop three Falatacot Blood Prophetess Trinkets that you must return to Roderick for XP and the title "Expendable". (If your fellowship is more than 3, the Herald respawns very quickly).
Recall Last Portal. If you went to Bur right from Roderick, this brings you back to the Mite Maze. Head back up to Roderick for your reward.
If you speak to the NPC a 2nd time, he will give you a ride to Teth
As you see almost every quest in AC is of the latter, and I would take that every freaking day of the week over the kill 10 rat BOOOOOORING quests that litter the MMO genre now.
Everything you need to know about Elder Scrolls Online
Playing: GW2
Waiting on: TESO
Next Flop: Planetside 2
Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.
AC was an incredible experience for those that really tried it, especially on Darktide.
PVP made the game for me, it otherwise was lackluster.
I've never had a better experience in any other mmorpg though. Theres nothing like patrolling a town guarded by your guild and spamming the chat box to them when 5 Blood members pop up on your radar.
PVP fights were super intense with everything on the line. Your rep, your guild, and the stuff in your bags. Really good fights would go along for awhile, and theres nothing like chasing someone down across the continent. And it is super satisfying when you finally get the best of them and get some mad loot from your troubles.
In terms of the questing, I recall large token quests. Things like the sword of the lost light and shadow armor were really good moments.
Despite the bad graphics the world felt completely dynamic and interesting to me. Exploring really felt like exploring. What you found you could fight to make yours.
I agree 100% that where AC was unique in he did not mentioned at all he just gave review how ugly and grindy and outdated this game is..... YEH RIGHT 12YEARS OLD HUH...., insted of realy telling what kind of great game it was and still is.
But macroing was a part of its distruction im affraid:(
Realy bad reviewer, i even think they did it on purpose for some hidden agenda?
Hope to build full AMD system RYZEN/VEGA/AM4!!!
MB:Asus V De Luxe z77
CPU:Intell Icore7 3770k
GPU: AMD Fury X(waiting for BIG VEGA 10 or 11 HBM2?(bit unclear now))
MEMORY:Corsair PLAT.DDR3 1866MHZ 16GB
PSU:Corsair AX1200i
OS:Windows 10 64bit
Once again Tingle secures his thrown as the worst Game Reviewer of all time..
Way to state the obvious a hundred times man..
Maybe you should have, I dunno, look for a redeeming quality in the game?
Of course, nothing is more funny than the fact that the few compliments he gives in this review are things he Bashes other MMOs for implimenting.
What a joke.
I suppose it doesn't help that this guy never actually plays any of the MMOs he reviews.
30 minutes isn't sufficient to review an MMO man..
Wow I don't like to be to personally rude on comments, but the reviewer is an absolute moron and needs to re-apply for his old job at Value Village. I love the comment the genre has progressed to far to far for AC to be viable. This reminds me of Jay & Silent Bob and have the urge to find this guy and kick the crap out him for being clueless!!!
I think it was a little to rough to not have a shiny yellow "!" over npc's or quest guide arrows that point you to where your supposed to go. The UI is old and the graphics are certainly not very good anymore, but one thing AC has is the most in depth gameplay and character progression of any MMO. The genre could use a swift kick in the butt and return back to non linear classed based games.
Tried DT once and it was a total gank fest, so I quit that. But I did play more than a year on thistle down(if I remember right, its been years and years). Great game for its time, but I'm all done with corpse run games. I put up with it at the time, because it was pretty much sop. But I'd not wish to go back to it.
At this point I really do not see WB allowing Turbine to use the resources required to update the AC engine, or to provide much real new content for that matter. WB will likely milk what money it can from Turbines current IP, and then close them down, once they are of no further use to them.
At which point, the majority of the massive modern player base, takes it time and money to another activity. Given that these games take millions and millions (of other peoples money...) to create, do you really think that the investors and/or business types are ever likely to do something like that?
A "return back to non linear classed based games" ISN'T what the vast majority of the gaming population wants these days. It wants WoW type theme park games. As much as certain types will howl about it, the fact that WoW has made Blizzard (and its share holders/investors) *billions* over the last almost seven years, is hard cold REALITY.
Do I personally like what WoW has become under Ghostcrawlers reign of error? Mostly no. But there have been good points. I really liked Dungeon Finder for example. For the first time in years, I was able to get semi decent gear for my characters, just by running dungeons and collecting drops and tokens. I didn't have to spent most of my limited time spamming chat endlessly, in the vain hope of finding a group to run with.
In AC I was in a good guild, and that helped a LOT. These days, unless one is in the Guild Masters inner circle, you can pretty much forget doing much beyond basic things. It happened then as well, but not nearly as frequently as it does today.
Bottom line, AC was a great game. But its time has passed. It would take WAY too many resources to bring it into the 21st century, and its limited appeal and player base just do not warrant such an investment. One of the only ways I can see this changing is if some very wealthy type took it over and funded its update from their own pocket. Other than that, its a game from the past, and will continue to fade until eventually the plug is pulled.
I created an account and installed AC last week and could not get it working.. the game uses and archaic network connection system that simply does not work on some routers.. shame.