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Anarchy Online, Shadow of it former self
MMORPGcritc
Member Posts: 21
ANARCHY ONLINE, is a game released by Funcom, June 2001. It was the best MMORPG back in 2003 and up through the years it's been 3 expansions packs all offering something new and exciting game play. The game features the continuous battle for dominance between the corporate Omni-Tek and the independent freedom fighters the Clan(s). The battle takes place on Rubi-Ka. On the sideline stands the pussy faction Neutral! Up through the game you can choose what faction you will join, but you cannot go back to neutral while chosen a side in the conflict.
When the game starts you find yourself on the NoobIsland. This is the game area for all the noobs. First after you've gotten to the mainland you can start exploring and having some fun! Waste areas, cities, deserts, caves and canyons are all to the players disposal, featuring a huge variation of mobs and bosses. If you choose a specific profession you can start in ShadowLands, which is the levelling area for AO. I would recommend going to SL as fast as possible; it's the best place to ding!
Later it would be smart thinking of getting some alien xp. This is xp you get from aliens. Alien raids and AL missions are awesome. The loot are superb and if you're able to build some alien armour, the money will increase fast. Some armor, weapon, and spells needs to be build using instructions disks. Next up, Battlestations, or BS as it's called. It a place where people with about the same level come together and kill each other!
I guess next up are professions. In the start you chose a profession and you keep this for the rest of the game. You can make 8 players on each account, on 3 servers. It's different breeds, some weak, nano and magic oriented, some mixed, agility based or perhaps strenght and stamina based. These breeds get different weapons, magic and armour. The different professions also get different items so it's important not to choose wrong breed for wrong professions.
Missions. Here you got a funny thing. Missions and quests in AO give you nothing or everything, their super hard, or 2 minute missions. All depends on the difficult you chose. Guess it's not more to say about that subject. Game play it a little less realistic, but you have to play to understand. PVP is the most fun thing to do in this game. It's awesome, but again you have to play to belive. Should probably say something about bosses; low level bosses are easy to solo at same level, high bosses are opposite.
The screen setup is better that WoW, with more realistic buttons to get up the different panels. Inventory and other panels are slot based and not weight based.
Today, Funcom has gambled on Age Of Conan. Had a little fail, but the game is ok. At least they still have AO to look back on, but the graphic has become too bad to some, making them leave the game and never look back. I just can't forget about AO, all of the nights sitting up and playing with my friends. All the in game parties and raids, late nights sitting up playing.
"Anarchy Online is a game that will always have a special place in my MMORPG heart."
Would give it a 10/10 because I was hooked for 3 years, but I'm a game critic! AO is a good game, with good game play, little bad graphic; I give to a 8/10. Worth checking out!
And it's free to play, if you don't want expansions!
MMORPGcritc, 29 Nov, 2008.
Hope you enjoyed reading my presentation of Anarchy Online.
Comments
If they ever revamped the graphics, like they've been advertising on their website for the past 18 months, I might actually consider re-subbing.
really? They going to redone graphic? If so.. I might start again.
They should fix the clunky interface too.
Just rip off WoW:s, afterall that game has the best interface of them all.
They should fix the clunky interface too.
Just rip off WoW:s, afterall that game has the best interface of them all.
/slap
I remember back in 1999, folks kept asking me if I was stockpiling food. I always answered, "No, I'm stockpiling ammo and making a list of people who are stockpiling food"
They should fix the clunky interface too.
Just rip off WoW:s, afterall that game has the best interface of them all.
/slap
Blizzard invented fire. And the wheel. And the printing press. It's true.
Yeah, I tried playing again this past summer since having left back during what some would call AO's heyday in 2003. It was depressing to see tumbleweeds blowing through what used to be heavily trafficked areas. My org, while still technically in existence, never had anyone on, where 40+ players being on at any given time used to be a common thing (nowadays on RK1, it seems as if the server total isn't much more than that).
It's sad, but that's the way things go. All good things must come to an end and all that. While AO might continue to limp along for who knows how long, it will never again be what it was.
They should fix the clunky interface too.
Just rip off WoW:s, afterall that game has the best interface of them all.
How could they rip off something that didn't even exist when the supposed ripping off took place?
and to get back on topic I do believe that AO is a shadow of it's former self as the tile suggest and I can't see it ever deserving 8/10 even with a graphics revamp...
But then again maybe they've improved the gameplay so much it's no longer the campfest I remember...
For me AO is a great game, When the Revamp happends ill be right there with my soldier.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
Maybe you're right but the 2+ years I've spent there left me with a bitter after taste and little faith in funcom or their games. I won't bore you with a list of things I think are wrong with AO it would probably be outdated by now (though I seriously doubt they've brought the camping down to an acceptable level) but it will take a lot more than updated graphics to get me to try it again...
a shame really because the setting and backstory are great there are just to much gameplay issues not to mention funcoms (when I was playing) lethargic approach to bug fixing. They may not have invented Soon(tm) but they did take it to new heights...
Heya..here's something I think needs be said about AO, along with a sidenote regarding AoC...it was originally written regarding issues with AOC but pertains to AO as well since it's FC centric..
"...On Age of Conan: I think..the real issues with Age of Conan resulted in direct cause from the lack of appropriate directorship. Gaute Godager was the one to spearhead the AoC project, and Godager is well known by anyone who has played AO from the onset (that means you folks) as being the original game director for the Anarchy Online project when it opened. Many will recall the bugs, bad decisions and general frustration with a otherwise magnificient game when it first came out as a sharp and marked counterpoint to it's only other competition, DAOC and EQ1.
I know a lot of people may scoff when stock share values are brought up...but if you objectively look at the whole picture, what you are going to see is that when AoC first came out, FC's market shares were *very* high. As the game's potential declined while under the directorship of Gaute Godager, so did the stock shares, plummeting at one point from it's previous $50+ USD/share price to 7-and-some-odd-change USD/share price. Of course the correlation isn't really relevant until you continue and check back on FC during AO's release, compare the decisions, management and directorship path taken in both games while under Gaute Godager, and then note that Gaute Godager left the company citing a dislike for "...the direction the AoC project was taking...". After Gaute Godager's departure and the arrivial of Craig Morrison, notably the best thing that ever happened to AO, you'll see AoC's game potential rise and faith renewed in the game, and oddly enough...you'll see FC's stock prices on a share basis begin to rise again.
It's no real mystery. FC's administration got together, and asked Gaute Godager to leave the company. Why else would a employee with a controlling interest in the shares of FC, suddenly leave a project he had been working on for years? It doesn't make sense to work on something like that, while being a career employee of FC in the meantime, then suddenly depart based on the fact he didn't like the direction the game was taking. If he didn't, why didn't he change the direction? He *was* Lead Game Director, after all.
I am not ashamed to say I'm very glad to see Gaute Godager leave FC. If you look at FC's content in AO and AoC both you'll see the hand of some extremely talented developers at work, both in fresh ideas and concepts, and in graphics/audio and content production. FC arguably, with a capital loan to help them recover and the proper leadership, could be a rival for any of the larger MMO companies out there, including yes, Blizzard Entertainment. .."
This was part of a ongoing discussion in the 3305 Local forums, of which I am a member of in AO.
In short...the whole run of issues with AO and AoC both was due to Gaute Godager's blatant and irresponsible handling of the position of Lead Game Director. FC apparently finally tired of his mishandling and lack of professionalism, and despite him being a major shareholder, asked him to leave the company.
This is good..because FC is still in production for "The Secret World" and that's being spearheaded by Ragnar Tornquist, who by all indications, has his act together, is cognizant of what players want and are doing in the here-and-now, and is making sure Secret World adapts with those paradigms in mind.
-C.H.S.
Oh god, nostalgia bomb.
I remember playing this game, probably back in 2003 or 2004, non stop for 4 months, a brutal burn out happened followed by an uninstall. Still have a level 70 engineer, and half a dozen 40 some characters hanging in stasis.
The only mmo to drag me in for longer than a month, my engineer is my most prized possession.
What's the status on the population? God help me if I reinstall will the game be a ghost town?
It's far from a ghost town. They've held steady on population for a couple of years now, according to quarterly stockholder reports, but they keep adding content so ppl get spread over more amd more areas. Booster pack coming in a matter of weeks will add even more places for people and groups to head off to.
~\_/~\_O
This game also took 3 years of my life and when the graphics update hits, my 220 doctor will be back in action.
I always liked the implant system in AO....Thought it was one of the best features I have seen in any MMO......I used to spend hours maneuvering different ones around trying to get just the right build......I also like how they made you spend points for each and every skill....Nothing was just handed to you........
This was my 2nd MMORPG and I really liked it. I especially liked being able to fly virtually anywhere. It was all good. I also liked the bartering system too, where you had to locate items and travel to guilds shops and find the item in a vendor machine. Over equipping with buffs was a cool concept too.
Im disappointed that FC chose to focus on AoC, and I think they will regret it. Too bad they didn't make AO2 (imagine if they took the 60 million for AoC and invested it into AO2) instead, they could have offered a MMORPG that was evolved and Sci-Fi, they would be the only ones doing it.
I loved my Soldier, and he loved me too.
I'd probably take a look again at the game when (if) they release the graphic update. This is the 2nd MMO i played the longest after WOW and Asheron's Call. Among character i have 218 fixer, 200 engi, 170 MP.
I recently rejoined AO after an absence of 3 years. I started with a Fixer, since I've always wanted to get the Fixer Grid.
There are a lot of young hardcore gamerz on AO these days, and they don't have time to socialize. But there are old-timers, too, if you look around, and they'll do the usual thing of giving credits to noobs.
I'm mostly a solo player, so I don't need Rubi-Ka to be overflowing with players. However, it's nice to go on missions with people who know the techniques and lingo!
The graphic update has been talked about for some time now. Unfortunatly, due to AoC's direction, I don't think there is as much time invested in AO anymore . . .
I too will be one of the returning vets if they ever get that graphic update in. Returning to my 217 Doc. . .ahh good times.
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You wouldn't understand