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[Interview] Asheron's Call: Wayback Wednesday Parties Like its 1999
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Wayback Wednesday is ready to party like it's 1999 with the first foray through Asheron's Call. Rob was joined by six members of the Turbine staff as he took his first baby steps into the world. See how it went in this week's Wayback Wednesday and then leave your thoughts in the comments.
Asheron’s Call is the ultimate sandbox MMO. There are no classes in the game and therefore the trinity has never existed. Every character can tank, do damage, and heal. As you progress through the game and earn experience you can put points into stats and skills that you find helpful or interesting. One of these skills is Jump. The more points you put into jump the further and higher you can jump. This is helpful because AC does have puzzles in the game that require you to jump to different platforms. The team compared this to jumping on the moon. Does an MMO that lacks the trinity and has jumping puzzles sounds familiar to anyone else? I love going back and discovering things we consider innovative today already exist in older MMOs.
Check out more of Rob Lashley's Asheron's Call: Wayback Wednesday Parties Like it’s 1999.
Comments
Played on Morningthaw for off and on for many many years, under the Merek Gemm clan..
Awesome game! one of the greats!
The way mmo's were: Community, Exploration, Character Development, Conquest.
The way mmo's are now : Cut-Scenes,Cut-Scenes, solo Questing, Cut-Scenes...
www.CeaselessGuild.com
Asheron's Call was my first mmo. I played on Thistledown for about 2 years before moving onto DAoC and numerous games afterwards.
Nothing else has even come close to the openess of AC and is a great example of how a PvE sandbox style mmo can work. Unfortunately, I don't feel like the game has weathered well over the years though. I went back a couple of months ago, and was reminded how clunky the control scheme is and how beyond horrible it looks (and I'm not a graphics whore).
What I find most interesting, is that Turbine is sitting on this gem of a game and not attempting to move the IP forward. AC2 was reopened as a labor of love. However, if they were to make AC3 and utilizied the sandbox elements from AC1, I think they could have a real winner of a game.
good article, nice to see ac getting some love. i recently went back with some friends and we are loving it. absolute best pve game ever made and also has the best pvp ever made. its just a game that doesnt hold your hand and that turns off most gamers who cant play a game without a cheat code.
turbine though has let the ip slip, they need to remake and repackage ac1 with updated graphics, up the max level to 375 and call it ac3. the only thing that is keeping alot of players from playing it is the outdated graphics and the fact that most gamers cant see the game underneath the graphics.
still a fun game, glad to see you had some fun playing. btw exp was updated a few years ago so that is why you leveled so fast.
My First MMO! AC was so awesome
Darktide PVP>all others
"Negaholics are people who become addicted to negativity and self-doubt, they find fault in most things and never seem to be satisfied."
^MMORPG.com
Still the best MMORPG ever made. Completely open class system, massive action combat that was far deeper than what we have today, one of the best magic systems of all time and PvP duels that could last upwards of 30 minutes before someone dropping more from the PLAYER actually being tired than anything else (if there were 2 good players fighting each other).
So much better than the hand holding games that came out of DaoC.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
Great game, never understood why Turbine did not update the game. I would go back in a heartbeat.
Another great feature. You can dodge arrows and magic. If you aim at something and it moves you can miss. You also cannot walk thru people or npcs, they all have substance.
Microsoft. By the time Turbine bought full rights back from them it was already too late. The did at least release one expac and updated the graphics a little.
I just wish they would make Asherons Call 3 and make it more like the original with modern graphics...
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
This was one of the first games I played after UO. I played it for around two years on server TD. Great game for its time. But I'm NOT at all interested in going back to corpse runs, and lost gear if you can't reach it. I used to keep three sets of weapons and armor in the vault, just to have a chance to get mine back. But some times, it was just not possible.
Its too bad that between Mickeysoft and Turbine they managed to mess AC2 up so badly, that they ended up closing it. After selling us an expansion of course... ^^
Loved this game. Had lunch with the Turbine team before launch even. They where a fun group of people. Was what would consider the most perfect MMORPG ever made.
Would never go back to it and we will never see a MMORPG like this or any of the other greats again.
My first serious MMO as well. Played Neverwinter Nights on AOL before this, but I always consider AC1 my 1st. Always loved the skill it took to slidecast (when they nerfed sc I started losing interest), it made the game play alot like an FPS for casters and archers. Never really played melee that much. I recently went back to check it out, even tho I'm not much of a stickler for great graphics, the dated graphics in AC1 are just too painful. If they were to ever meld the gameplay of AC1 with a DX10+ engine I would return in a heartbeat.
Edit: BTW I was an Illuminati member on the Morningthaw server, Dark Crusaders division.
My gaming blog
I didn't play much of either, because I was pretty addicted to EQ at the time (really, didn't want to leave my in game friends) but AC2 seemed pretty open world to me. I just remember walking around and killing stuff.
AC released after EQ with worse graphics. Some of the things I thought were really cool, the discovering spell bits and the sponsoring of other players... it just looked bad at the time though.
AC2 had impassable areas. AC1 you could go anywhere with the exception of just a few areas with the highest mountains and those few had jumping gliches 1 of which was put there on purpose!
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
I spent several years in AC. Loved it! But as others have said the super dated graphics make it difficult to return. That and the fact that it is mostly a ghost town. I just sit around missing my old friends and thinking "If only this game had current gen graphics and a relaunch"
Asherons Call with CryEngine 3...... *drools*
Not sure why people here talk about both AC and AC2 in the past tense, they are both alive or revived...
Asheron’s Call 2 is back! Existing AC1 subscribers can participate in our AC2 Beta on the Dawnsong server. Learn more and download the beta client today!
http://www.asheronscall.com/en/content/ac2-returns
Played: Pretty much any fantasy MMO, some did not even make it to release ...
Favorites: UO, EQ2, Vanguard, Wurm Online, Salem, ESO, Creativerse
Playing: ESO, Creativerse, Guild Wars 2
Anticipating: (sigh) ... maybe Ashes of Creation
Either you were too young when you played it, and didnt understand its beauty. Or you played it too late and still did not see its beauty.
“I love going back and discovering things we consider innovative today already exist in older MMOs.”
We have lost a lot from older MMO’s, some good ideas make a return, but innovation is so rare to the MMO market that these old ideas are branded as new.
“They still have encumbrance.”
I am sure that will go down well with the easymode player generation.
“Once your character is around level 160 you will be able to spend enough points in a particular skill-set that you will be able to meaningfully participate in high level encounters.”
“What? Not able to play PvP from day one? Easymode players will be calling for their mummie!
You do not buy land and build, you buy a ready built house, villa or mansion.
All loot does not drop from all mobs that's why there are tiers of loot. Different level mobs have different tiers of loot. Unless they chaned that recently.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot