I can see why it isnt overly popular. I gotta say though, to the person who told me about it when I made a post about resources that have stats. It is a very complicated game, with very interesting crafting. Even at the start crafting is complex, and everything you make is different from the other crafters there. The combat is fun to, with making your own ability with the different things you can get. The graphics are surprisingly good to if you max them out. I think they are actually better than some modern mmos. I think this because you can turn on 12x aa edge detect, and all the Amd stuff, and it still has a good frame rate. The NPC are great too, make you feel like you are in a real world, with them talking to each other and walking around doing stuff. The wild life is some of the best I have seen. The only thing I can compare the wild life too, is Skyrim modded
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10175/? , which is Sky test. I have alot to learn, but it has everything I want, great sandbox mmo.
I see why it isnt overly popular, because it is super complex, and it takes a long time not only to level, but to figure out the game. It isnt like a modern games with instant results. I just wanted to share, it is going on steam, so hopefully more can find this gem. Any one looking for a SWG alternative this would be it.
Comments
Do you ever think Ryzom even when it was released has big marketing and a lot of exposure? It never did.
It's been on my list for ages and I still haven't made it in.
- everything is player crafted -- all drops are mats, no weapons or armor drops. So everything is player made.
- it is a world simulator, a sandbox, there are basically no quests, no storyline. Some money quests and faction quests are all there are. The starter island uses quests as a tutorial, the mainland has almost none.
- all actions are also player crafted -- you build your own powers, based off of skills and modifiers. Want more range? Faster firing? You have to offset that with credits.
- the same goes for prospecting and harvesting. Digging is a huge part of the game, and your prospecting and digging skills make a big difference. Digging can get you killed if you don't watch out
- there are no instances, although there is zoning between major areas. There are no dungeons, but there are overland bosses.
- PvP is of three types: you can flag yourself at any time, anywhere. You can go into PvP areas which have the best mats to dig. Or you can join in an outpost battle, where guilds compete for outposts. PvP is optional.
- crafting is complex, there are no recipes to learn. Each item, say, ammo, can be made using different mats, and each player makes their own items using their own combinations.
One of the coolest things is that there are no player levels, only skill levels. I can be 100 in healing, 150 in digging, and 200 in 1H/Shield, for example, and can therefore play at any of these levels. I could join a team fighting lvl 100's as a healer, or fight 200's with my sword, or dig lvl 150 mats. All with the same toon.
The other cool aspects are:
- real seasons, with differing looks. Snow in the winter, flowers in spring, etc. And the animals migrate based on season.
- real day/night cycle, and a real weather system. You may only be able to dig up certain mats in spring, at night, during the rain, for example.
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
The graphics are stylized also, I happen to think they are great, but not everyone will. It was created over 10 years ago.
The other feature I miss is the Ryzom Ring, where you could create your own scenarios, publish them into the game, and then be the DM and watch people run your creation. Probably the most fun I've ever had in an MMO. I hope they re-activate it if they get enough people coming into the game.
Getting several skills to 125, the F2P limit, will take quite some time, so give it a try. Create several different characters and get them to the mainland. The different races all start in dramatically different environments.
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
In other words an old school MMO community as it used to be when MMO's were niche and the money first publishers hadn't got hold of them
If nothing much has changed over the years; and it sounds like it hasn't. Then a new players experience will be excellent starting island followed by one of the most pure sandboxes. In other words a sandbox with zero direction, you are just dumped in there with no clue what to do next. As I said above, the start lifts you up to a certain degree of expectation and the main game slams you straight back down again. So anyone trying it for the first time, ask the other players if there are still enough of them around to help you out.
Once on the mainland, your goal is to make money and level up some skills. Forget quests, or storyline.
Learn to dig. If you don't like digging, you probably won't like Ryzom nearly as much. Digging gives you mats to sell, to craft with, and skill points. Learn to prospect too. Start venturing out of town to prospect and dig stuff. Ryzom is an exploration/harvesting/crafting dream game.
Learn to farm NPC's. Decide early how you're going to do this: with magic or weapons. Choose a magic or weapons style and use that to farm, so you get XP in that skill line. Remember, no XP from quests, it's all old-school farming.
The ultimate end-game is: "Our guild needs to get some ABC Mushroom to make the Uber Sword of Doom. But ABC is only found in a nasty PvP zone. It'll take a full group just to protect the diggers from the PvE monsters, but it's also in a PvP zone. Good times."
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
For a sandbox, there is no sand. And grinding on those little trees all day or digging in the dirt gets horribly dull.
Ryzom did have boatloads of that, at least in the past. There were huge treks that players organized around the world, tons of events, etc.
I don't know how populated the game is right now, as it has forever remained one of those fairly cult, unknown projects, I expect it to be really low. Which is probably a good explanation for the lack of economy right now.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
I wouldn't say the population is really low, but that of course is relative. I agree with you about changing the world. That never works out well. I bought mine craft, spent like 50 hours figuring out how to run a dedicated server, made it so you couldn't change other peoples blocks. Within 12 hours of my server being up, and me sleeping, some one came on and felt the need to dig out all the blocks under my cave, and remove everything that wasn't protected.......... I don't think a mmo sand box, needs what hes talking about. It just needs no hand holding, or direction, with a great story line, and people willing to get into the story. SWG had all that, and a little bit of changing the world, and all the land turned into a bunch of randomly put houses everywhere, and it was ugly, and looked horrible.
I can see though why he wouldn't play it. It takes dedication, this guy on the ryzom forums i think said it best.
katriell
You've got games that put a lot of trust into their community to build an experience together, without really telling them how. The you have games that attempt to structure interaction with various rules and types of content catered to specific players.
The ability to plant random trees, construct housing wherever you want or chop pixelated blocks out of the ground does not make or break a sandbox MMO. It doesn't even necessarily add to the experience.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Not even FIVE minutes into the game a complete stranger came up to me, opened up a trade window and gave me some decent starter gear to make the beginning a bit easier, he wanted nothing in return. Shortly thereafter someone in General chat asked for a rez and more then 5 people responded asking where his body was and that they would be on their way.
This was the first 10/15 minutes in the game and I already saw more social interaction then I have seen in any MMO in the last year. Thank you OP for your post, I will be around in Ryzom for a while again.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
You hear nothing from it, no ads, no publications, nothing.
I certainly am not googling the name every now and then. how do you expect any younger post-Ryzom player to find the game?
Might as well google Tabula Rasa, maybe that game is around too in some form?
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
MurderHerd