I agree with you 100% elnator. Well, except for the anime part, but still i agree with you. Personally I like it when game has style and Ive always liked anime.
Just let me add though. Anime isnt always the stereotypical "cute" pokemon style art people always see. I.E Akira or Ghost in the Shell...
Yeah they dont realize it doesnt make people want to play the game. It just makes the community look cheesy and immature. There are posts in AE forums about that if they can come here and argue "just goes to show were up their with the big boys now". They also brag and encourage about giving it all tens to try and attract new players. Personally I think this makes this game looks worse then the graphics do.
Originally posted by Psyklon Yeah they dont realize it doesnt make people want to play the game. It just makes the community look cheesy and immature. There are posts in AE forums about that if they can come here and argue "just goes to show were up their with the big boys now". They also brag and encourage about giving it all tens to try and attract new players. Personally I think this makes this game looks worse then the graphics do.
The way I see it? Many of you are just taking any reference to AE way too personal. The fact that any of it upsets anyone shows that you have a competitive nature. So why is it so bad for any AE player to feel just as strongly in support of the game?
Well, due to all the attention the game has been getting over the past few days, I decided on Saturday to download it and give it a go, just to be fair. While I can see how the game can be enjoyable for those who play it, its not a game I can really get into. Given that, I will explain what I found the faults to be.
1. AE has been flamed much due to it's isometric graphics, and in all honesty, it doesn't really bother me at all. What does bother me is the SIZE of the graphics. Everything is just sooo small. The game plays in a window, with no way that I know of to make it full screen, and due to that I found it a serious strain on the eyes to play. This was especially apparent when trying to view your character's location on the minimap, where I found the icon representing your character to be incredibly difficult to see.
2. I also think that the spawning of enemies needs to be fixed a bit as well. I don't know if it was just the starting area, but I found it extremely hard to simply find something to kill, and when I did, it would be a whole gang. It would go something like this: I would walk around for literally 2-3 minutes (you can cover a lot of ground in that time) in the forest surrounding the starting town, and not find a single mob to fight. However, whenever I finally did spot something (like a snake or a bat), while fighting it I would suddenly be swarmed by five or six other enemies that seemingly just appeared out of nowhere. Where were they when I spent minutes looking for them? This would then ultimately lead either to my death or my speedy retreat. I would say that around 70% of combat situations I got myself into followed that pattern, and I got a little annoying to say the least. Then again, it could simply be something unique to that area, or those enemies.
3. The last thing I did not like, although it is understandable, would be the lack of any players in the newbie area. I played for about 4-5 hours total, and did not encounter any other players at all. Now, this wasn't something that I didn't expect (as newb areas of established games are usually barren), but it would have been nice to maybe see someone in game that I could have maybe questioned regarding some aspects of the game.
I have to admit the tutorial is very well done for an indie game--by the time I was into the game proper, I knew how to do all of the basics very easily. Cudos to that, as many other indie games I have played don't really focus on details like that. Along those same lines, the interface, while small, was very useable and easy to handle as well.
Well, that's my two cents on the subject. Not a bad game in my opinion (never really thought it would be actually BAD), but just not for me.
Yes, Silvest (If you picked a human) is quite generally a barren town. I try to go back occasionally to help any new players...but often just find newb alt's of higher level players - or noone. When this new update goes through testing I suspect to see a large quantity of new characters in the starting towns - as well as older players re-visiting the area. They are beta testing a new island to be included...I guess it will be for starting players. Looks quite interesting. They are adding 5 new paperdoll slots (boots, rings, etc...) and the combat is changing. Armor will defend against types of attacks (blunt, pierce, etc...). Before higher AC only effected %/chance to hit. Besides some specialized resistance items (frost set, Plate vs Disease, etc...)
I also enjoy the graphics in the game and I think that they are better than acceptable. Full-Screen is definitely the way to play.
Originally posted by Dantes77 I agree with you 100% elnator. Well, except for the anime part, but still i agree with you. Personally I like it when game has style and Ive always liked anime. Just let me add though. Anime isnt always the stereotypical "cute" pokemon style art people always see. I.E Akira or Ghost in the Shell... -Dantes77
Nope, for me any "anime" look to the graphics kills it for me. I don't want to play a cartoon. I want to play a person. I want my dwarf to look like I picture a dwarf... not like a cartoon rendition of one. Same goes for elves, humans, etc. Lineage II has beautiful graphics but they are too anime' for me. That + the horrendously boring gameplay killed Lineage II for me. Even EQII pushes my tolerance because some of the graphics for the elves, in particular, is somewhat anime, especially the hair styles. I've been heard grumbling by friends on many occasions that I only play a dwarf because they look the most realistic
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online. Sig image Pending Still in: A couple Betas
darquenblade, I like how you analyized ae and I see it very fair. However, I think I should tell you of things to come in the upcoming highly anticipated update in reply to your 3 points.
1- I have no valid reply for 1, so we'll keep at that for now, but you can switch to full screen by pressing alt-enter.
2- IWG plans to release a new AI system with the new update. Update testers have been boasting of the extremely upgraded AI. I'm not sure if the new AI will effect the spawnrates, but I do know they have became much smarter. I don't know the specifics since I haven't experienced the update yet, but when they do come out I'm sure I'll know every aspect of the mechanics quickly.
3- There are some in game channels that you can find help. To join a channel just type /join ch:channelname
I recommend joining channel sanctuary since a lot of people frequent that. However, I warn you a lot of spam goes through that channel, so you might want to make your visit brief.
hahaha ok so far im trying it right now havent really got into the game yet but i just want to say iron wills icon introduction and logo kicks ass. Anyways, ill probably review if im not lazy later on
edit: ok i can see why you guys like this game. So far i only played a little, but this game is clean i havent experienced the community itself in game yet, but so far i like it. Thing is though, and this is just personal preference really, I dont find myself playing this game BECAUSE im more into sci fi but this game I would undersand why fantasy people would play. Umm heh I was just wondering, can iron will games maybe *scratches head* make a sci fi game as well based off of like the fallout series or post apoc setting that wuld be awesome. Anyways, wishful thinking heh.
Good game guys. Im gonna go play some more to see why you guys reaalllly like it. the only reason why fantasy doesnt interest me anymore is because i played so many mmorpgs with this setting im sure you understand.
Ashen Empires is soon going to release their newest update, "Demon Spire." If you did not know, this will increase the graphics engine, and while it still wont be 3D, its gonna be pretty darn spiffy 2D animation and look good. Characters will be more realistic and hundreds of items will be added including all forms of boots, cloaks, rings, necklaces etc etc. Monsters will be smarter stronger and faster. No joke, some monsters will be smarter then a lot of players you see these days. New monsters will be added along with a land expansion to increase territories. Things will be quite different once this update kicks in
Originally posted by Obake darquenblade, I like how you analyized ae and I see it very fair. However, I think I should tell you of things to come in the upcoming highly anticipated update in reply to your 3 points. 1- I have no valid reply for 1, so we'll keep at that for now, but you can switch to full screen by pressing alt-enter. 2- IWG plans to release a new AI system with the new update. Update testers have been boasting of the extremely upgraded AI. I'm not sure if the new AI will effect the spawnrates, but I do know they have became much smarter. I don't know the specifics since I haven't experienced the update yet, but when they do come out I'm sure I'll know every aspect of the mechanics quickly.3- There are some in game channels that you can find help. To join a channel just type /join ch:channelname I recommend joining channel sanctuary since a lot of people frequent that. However, I warn you a lot of spam goes through that channel, so you might want to make your visit brief.
Well, I've played a little more. The Alt+Enter tip for fullscreen does a great job in alleviating my initial gripe of hard to see graphics. And actually, I'll have to agree with Dante in that the game is very 'smooth'. I've encountered no bugs thus far, and everything is pretty easy to pick up on.
I still say that the one thing that I still find really annoying are the spawn rates of the enemies. It needs to be greatly increased. I was playing a bit before bedtime last night, and found myself dozing off at the keyboard because I was spending too much time just mindlessly wandering the wilderness, not encountering anything. Like you said, though, maybe that will be cleared up in the next patch.
Overall, I find this to be an enjoyable game, given some fixes, and that it has gotten quite a bit of unneccesary flak on mmorpg.com so far. However, while I find it has it's merits, I won't be continuing past the 7 day trial. It's just not good enough, in my opinion, to justify quitting what I currently play.
Try exploring a bit more. I know there are some dungeon-like caves and certain parts of the wilderness that have more consistent spawns. If you go exploring caves though, don't forget your torch.
pm me in game, or tell me how to figure out how to pm over these boards(is it possible, i dunno how yet?) To pm in game....a heck, this will be easier. When you log in, go to "tell" chat channell and join "vk" Then i will know whenever you log in and can talk to you anytime anywhere. I can set you up with some gear and show you some good hunting spots.
As far as spawns? The entire map is covered with invisible zones that will spawn different monsters/quantities. I have played for nearly 2 years and I still discover "new" places to hunt/level. Most spawns/monsters you'll never even encounter in your 7 day trial.
As a human? I would recommend going west from Silvest. Find the spawn gate just outside of town. If you mark your spawn there you can head straight south and go into the snake pit. You have to fall down a hole near some treasure chests. There is no way out of the pit besides death. You should have your "protection" still though...so you will retain everything you have in your backpack. The snakes are low level and they occasionally drop poison potions. The potions sell for 500gp in the magery/alchemy store.
I imagine it must be a bit hard for a new player to get gold now as they reduced the gold drop rates nearly tenfold on a previous update. (Economy was getting saturated with goldpiles in banks, etc...)
Anyhow. If any of you off of this forum would like any assistance on Heroes Server (Pvp w/safe zones) just send me a /tell (pm).
Erm Jack, just so you know, there is an exit out of the snake pit... Grab a torch and go to the north part untill you see a way right, just go there and climb some vines that hang from the cieling, allso if you walk more west than that, you will encounter a cultist temple, lots spawn there, but kind of hard for total newbies, because those are level 6.
Allso, to see tons of info about the game, please check this handy site: AK's AE Realm Its really a great site with tons of info about monsters, hunting places, skills and much more. Anyone who wants to see what AE has to offer should jump there and take a look, the site has a great bestiary, so you can see most if not all monsters that you can find through the game, and they are not "rare" or anything like some games has very rarely seen monsters, but there are "bosses" such as Unkea and others, wich are really great opponents and take a team effort to take down.
Allso you can see the many skills that are in AE, and quests, but take note that those are static quests, and not dinamic quests, there is a neverending number of dinamic quests and are found all over the towns in the game, allso check this site for a bit more info about AE, but mostly because of the world map it has to offer: AE Stratics Alltho since the Dev's now made their own forums and stratics forums are closed now, you can still find some info there.
For loads of maps check the site here: Wolfbound maps Lots and lots of maps for you to see about the dungeons ingame and such, even one of them is mine
I sure hope that this info helps any new players that try to play AE, and provide you with any needed info.
There has been a rescent flamewar, with this community and the Game Community of Ashen Empires. It sickens me to see how quick some gamers are to other games. We are getting flooded with people review the game, and i will bet that they have not played 1 second of the game. They are mad that I posted on our forum to go out and rate our game on the page. No harm in that, i told them not to over hype and get fake results to get new people. Just had them post on how they feel about the game. and we are all in the love with the game so i knew that the game would get good reviews. Then here come faulty reviews, and flaming on the board, and people signing up for AE forums and posting crap. Im not one to start flame wars or point fingers, im not jumping on games that you play and giving bad reviews, its very sad that a MMORPG Community fights against eachother, very shameful. I just wish that we can quit this fighting and leave us be, we arent attacking you.
Thetyrant Iron Will Games Developer www.ashenempires.com www.dransik.com
Although I am a player Of AE, I feel this post just should be left to die. The more we explain the less it'll be liked. Sorry Eldaen. And has resulted in at least one Flamer on AE's forums(well not this post but the others).
People tend to be overaggressive of other games than their own, which is duly noticed.
Feel free to try out the game and have fun.
"They watch the sun disappear in the horizon, hopeful it will return and not go supernova causing them instant suffocation and death" --The Mating Habits Of The Earthbound Human
Comments
I agree with you 100% elnator. Well, except for the anime part, but still i agree with you. Personally I like it when game has style and Ive always liked anime.
Just let me add though. Anime isnt always the stereotypical "cute" pokemon style art people always see. I.E Akira or Ghost in the Shell...
-Dantes77
The way I see it? Many of you are just taking any reference to AE way too personal. The fact that any of it upsets anyone shows that you have a competitive nature. So why is it so bad for any AE player to feel just as strongly in support of the game?
It is all "just a game".
Well, due to all the attention the game has been getting over the past few days, I decided on Saturday to download it and give it a go, just to be fair. While I can see how the game can be enjoyable for those who play it, its not a game I can really get into. Given that, I will explain what I found the faults to be.
1. AE has been flamed much due to it's isometric graphics, and in all honesty, it doesn't really bother me at all. What does bother me is the SIZE of the graphics. Everything is just sooo small. The game plays in a window, with no way that I know of to make it full screen, and due to that I found it a serious strain on the eyes to play. This was especially apparent when trying to view your character's location on the minimap, where I found the icon representing your character to be incredibly difficult to see.
2. I also think that the spawning of enemies needs to be fixed a bit as well. I don't know if it was just the starting area, but I found it extremely hard to simply find something to kill, and when I did, it would be a whole gang. It would go something like this: I would walk around for literally 2-3 minutes (you can cover a lot of ground in that time) in the forest surrounding the starting town, and not find a single mob to fight. However, whenever I finally did spot something (like a snake or a bat), while fighting it I would suddenly be swarmed by five or six other enemies that seemingly just appeared out of nowhere. Where were they when I spent minutes looking for them? This would then ultimately lead either to my death or my speedy retreat. I would say that around 70% of combat situations I got myself into followed that pattern, and I got a little annoying to say the least. Then again, it could simply be something unique to that area, or those enemies.
3. The last thing I did not like, although it is understandable, would be the lack of any players in the newbie area. I played for about 4-5 hours total, and did not encounter any other players at all. Now, this wasn't something that I didn't expect (as newb areas of established games are usually barren), but it would have been nice to maybe see someone in game that I could have maybe questioned regarding some aspects of the game.
I have to admit the tutorial is very well done for an indie game--by the time I was into the game proper, I knew how to do all of the basics very easily. Cudos to that, as many other indie games I have played don't really focus on details like that. Along those same lines, the interface, while small, was very useable and easy to handle as well.
Well, that's my two cents on the subject. Not a bad game in my opinion (never really thought it would be actually BAD), but just not for me.
Alt+Enter goes full screen.
Reading the rest of your post now.
Yes, Silvest (If you picked a human) is quite generally a barren town. I try to go back occasionally to help any new players...but often just find newb alt's of higher level players - or noone. When this new update goes through testing I suspect to see a large quantity of new characters in the starting towns - as well as older players re-visiting the area. They are beta testing a new island to be included...I guess it will be for starting players. Looks quite interesting. They are adding 5 new paperdoll slots (boots, rings, etc...) and the combat is changing. Armor will defend against types of attacks (blunt, pierce, etc...). Before higher AC only effected %/chance to hit. Besides some specialized resistance items (frost set, Plate vs Disease, etc...)
I also enjoy the graphics in the game and I think that they are better than acceptable. Full-Screen is definitely the way to play.
Anyways...off to play the game right now! Heh.
Nope, for me any "anime" look to the graphics kills it for me. I don't want to play a cartoon. I want to play a person. I want my dwarf to look like I picture a dwarf... not like a cartoon rendition of one. Same goes for elves, humans, etc. Lineage II has beautiful graphics but they are too anime' for me. That + the horrendously boring gameplay killed Lineage II for me. Even EQII pushes my tolerance because some of the graphics for the elves, in particular, is somewhat anime, especially the hair styles. I've been heard grumbling by friends on many occasions that I only play a dwarf because they look the most realistic
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
darquenblade, I like how you analyized ae and I see it very fair. However, I think I should tell you of things to come in the upcoming highly anticipated update in reply to your 3 points.
1- I have no valid reply for 1, so we'll keep at that for now, but you can switch to full screen by pressing alt-enter.
2- IWG plans to release a new AI system with the new update. Update testers have been boasting of the extremely upgraded AI. I'm not sure if the new AI will effect the spawnrates, but I do know they have became much smarter. I don't know the specifics since I haven't experienced the update yet, but when they do come out I'm sure I'll know every aspect of the mechanics quickly.
3- There are some in game channels that you can find help. To join a channel just type /join ch:channelname
I recommend joining channel sanctuary since a lot of people frequent that. However, I warn you a lot of spam goes through that channel, so you might want to make your visit brief.
hahaha ok so far im trying it right now havent really got into the game yet but i just want to say iron wills icon introduction and logo kicks ass. Anyways, ill probably review if im not lazy later on
edit: ok i can see why you guys like this game. So far i only played a little, but this game is clean i havent experienced the community itself in game yet, but so far i like it. Thing is though, and this is just personal preference really, I dont find myself playing this game BECAUSE im more into sci fi but this game I would undersand why fantasy people would play. Umm heh I was just wondering, can iron will games maybe *scratches head* make a sci fi game as well based off of like the fallout series or post apoc setting that wuld be awesome. Anyways, wishful thinking heh.
Good game guys. Im gonna go play some more to see why you guys reaalllly like it. the only reason why fantasy doesnt interest me anymore is because i played so many mmorpgs with this setting im sure you understand.
Ive played Ashen Empires for a LONG time, lol liek DC (Dransik CLassic) days long, and i love it
Lots of stuff to dop in it. so just givit some time and befor you know it ull be hooked
i PLay on the Legends server my names are (Xale and Jolly Chris Cringle)
Well, I've played a little more. The Alt+Enter tip for fullscreen does a great job in alleviating my initial gripe of hard to see graphics. And actually, I'll have to agree with Dante in that the game is very 'smooth'. I've encountered no bugs thus far, and everything is pretty easy to pick up on.
I still say that the one thing that I still find really annoying are the spawn rates of the enemies. It needs to be greatly increased. I was playing a bit before bedtime last night, and found myself dozing off at the keyboard because I was spending too much time just mindlessly wandering the wilderness, not encountering anything. Like you said, though, maybe that will be cleared up in the next patch.
Overall, I find this to be an enjoyable game, given some fixes, and that it has gotten quite a bit of unneccesary flak on mmorpg.com so far. However, while I find it has it's merits, I won't be continuing past the 7 day trial. It's just not good enough, in my opinion, to justify quitting what I currently play.
Try exploring a bit more. I know there are some dungeon-like caves and certain parts of the wilderness that have more consistent spawns. If you go exploring caves though, don't forget your torch.
Glad to see you have tried it out!
As far as spawns? The entire map is covered with invisible zones that will spawn different monsters/quantities. I have played for nearly 2 years and I still discover "new" places to hunt/level. Most spawns/monsters you'll never even encounter in your 7 day trial.
As a human? I would recommend going west from Silvest. Find the spawn gate just outside of town. If you mark your spawn there you can head straight south and go into the snake pit. You have to fall down a hole near some treasure chests. There is no way out of the pit besides death. You should have your "protection" still though...so you will retain everything you have in your backpack. The snakes are low level and they occasionally drop poison potions. The potions sell for 500gp in the magery/alchemy store.
I imagine it must be a bit hard for a new player to get gold now as they reduced the gold drop rates nearly tenfold on a previous update. (Economy was getting saturated with goldpiles in banks, etc...)
Anyhow. If any of you off of this forum would like any assistance on Heroes Server (Pvp w/safe zones) just send me a /tell (pm).
Jack Grey is my name in game.
Erm Jack, just so you know, there is an exit out of the snake pit... Grab a torch and go to the north part untill you see a way right, just go there and climb some vines that hang from the cieling, allso if you walk more west than that, you will encounter a cultist temple, lots spawn there, but kind of hard for total newbies, because those are level 6.
Allso, to see tons of info about the game, please check this handy site:
AK's AE Realm
Its really a great site with tons of info about monsters, hunting places, skills and much more.
Anyone who wants to see what AE has to offer should jump there and take a look, the site has a great bestiary, so you can see most if not all monsters that you can find through the game, and they are not "rare" or anything like some games has very rarely seen monsters, but there are "bosses" such as Unkea and others, wich are really great opponents and take a team effort to take down.
Allso you can see the many skills that are in AE, and quests, but take note that those are static quests, and not dinamic quests, there is a neverending number of dinamic quests and are found all over the towns in the game, allso check this site for a bit more info about AE, but mostly because of the world map it has to offer:
AE Stratics
Alltho since the Dev's now made their own forums and stratics forums are closed now, you can still find some info there.
For loads of maps check the site here:
Wolfbound maps
Lots and lots of maps for you to see about the dungeons ingame and such, even one of them is mine
I sure hope that this info helps any new players that try to play AE, and provide you with any needed info.
Thetyrant
Iron Will Games Developer
www.ashenempires.com
www.dransik.com
Although I am a player Of AE, I feel this post just should be left to die. The more we explain the less it'll be liked. Sorry Eldaen. And has resulted in at least one Flamer on AE's forums(well not this post but the others).
People tend to be overaggressive of other games than their own, which is duly noticed.
Feel free to try out the game and have fun.
"They watch the sun disappear in the horizon, hopeful it will return and not go supernova causing them instant suffocation and death"
--The Mating Habits Of The Earthbound Human
Ashen Empires AKA Dransik|Click me to play Warriors2|Questionable Content
Ashen Empire is a great game. lots of updates lots of variety
yet wow is better 