Stood the test of time a reminder of how open world MMO's used to be.

Maca0716 · December 2012

The miltimillion dollar mmo's that have tanked so hard should be ashamed of themselves when a game like this with probably only about 500 players MAX is nearly a DECADE old and still pulling in a profit.

The crafting in this game is the best there ever has been in an MMO the ability to build houses from the first brick right down to the door you have on it.

Oh and Dragons beginning the game as a small dragon and eventually growing into something HUGE and powerful is a feeling that cannot be matched.

Biped multiclassing, you could with time master every class the game has to offer and be a god.

Devs of other games take note of what an MMO truely means, freedom to do almost anything you want.

vladww · December 2012

One of the best mmo's yup

& for sure my favourite Housing system

Got to resub one of these days

Caldrin · December 2012

I did by at launch but all i remember about it is that it was pretty buggy and empty..

For me the graphics are now a bit outdated for me to want to go back..

botrytis · December 2012

Your opinion - I thought the game was awlful. Full of bugs and other issues made the game unplayable.

I wish people would remember the games like they ACTUALLY were not with the romanticized eye we keep ssing. 'This game was the best because....' People forget how bad some actually were.

WoW - I played the first closed and open beta test. When the game went live there was no way anyone could get in for 2 weeks. the game had glaring tearing issues and generally was unplayable. This is an example.

vladww · December 2012

Buggy & Laggy at launch, just like most other mmo's, nothing special there.

Gimme Istaria II or Ryzom II anyday, instead of any WoW clone N° XX

Maca0716 · December 2012

Originally posted by botrytis
Your opinion - I thought the game was awlful. Full of bugs and other issues made the game unplayable.

I wish people would remember the games like they ACTUALLY were not with the romanticized eye we keep ssing. 'This game was the best because....' People forget how bad some actually were.

WoW - I played the first closed and open beta test. When the game went live there was no way anyone could get in for 2 weeks. the game had glaring tearing issues and generally was unplayable. This is an example.

I remember how buggy the game was and i remember the lies and mess the devs left the game in but 2 take overs and still people playing it says something.

The game has a magic feeling though it's an old school mmo where everything you achieve is throughly earned by you.

10 years old nearly.

I'm actually very tired of the constant theme park MMO's that are being put out and fail within 6 months and i'm tired of the constant hand holding throughout these theme park mmo's.

That's why i returned here, sure the game is old and looks very old but graphics isn't everything.

itchmon · December 2012

along with UO, the game i most want to go back in time to play.

a lot of very passionate people talking highly of it but for whatever reason i never played it. my loss.

i hope that, if not a nominal successor, the game at least gets a spiritual successor one day.

Karteli · December 2012

Hmm looked at the mmohut video for this game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUzxgsQb1wI

This game makes Everquest look like Next-Gen? Omer was funny, "Oh and Power Strike! Look at those awesome animations .. Power Strike, ooh!"

I recognized their original name though, Horizons. I guess changing the name helped give the game a 2nd chance?

Senan · December 2012

Originally posted by botrytis
Your opinion - I thought the game was awlful. Full of bugs and other issues made the game unplayable.

I wish people would remember the games like they ACTUALLY were not with the romanticized eye we keep ssing. 'This game was the best because....' People forget how bad some actually were.

WoW - I played the first closed and open beta test. When the game went live there was no way anyone could get in for 2 weeks. the game had glaring tearing issues and generally was unplayable. This is an example.

So when exactly did you play the game? And what are the bugs you are referring to that make the game "unplayable"? I play the game on and off quite frequently, and aside from some slow performance here and there (and occasional issues when running in fullscreen mode), I've rarely experienced anything all that noteworthy, let alone gamebreaking.

I understand that there are people that "romanticize" about games they played/liked long ago and potentially paint a prettier picture than it might have actually been, but conversely, do you really think it's any more productive to only focus on the negatives of past gaming experiences? Both are equally pointless.

Besides, this game has plenty of positives, even by today standards, so it hardly relies on "romanticized" testimony to speak for it; just check my review/turtorial thread a few threads down to see some of what it offers. That "you only like it because of nostalgia" argument isn't applicable in my case, considering I didn't even play this game for the first time until probably around 2008 or so - long after I started my online gaming career. The game simply dominates certain areas within the mmo standard (in my honest opinion), and I don't need rose-colored glasses to help me see it.

As for WoW, I was there at launch so I'm well aware of the difficulties it endured. Yes, it was rough for a while, but who really cares now? Did it cause the game to fail? Hardly. I'm failing to see the point of basing your opinion of a game on its rocky launch or any other temporary rough period in its life. The "here and now" is all that really matters.

protodoxa · December 2012

I seriously love Istaria, but there are glaring problems with the engine. I had to stop playing and tell myself to stop recommending it to people because of the continuous crashing to desktop issues I had while playing. If they could iron out the basic performance issues, this game would be one of my main games. As it is I still keep coming back to it, as it does seem to offer so much coolness at a very lofi threshold.

Still, New Tirismus and the crashes... gawd, how I want that fixed.

Creatica · December 2012

I played this game when it was released as Horizons, too, but I have better memories of it. I remember the world event to unlock the dryad race. Helping to do some of the crafting to repair the tunnels to the 4 islands. High level adventurer's clearing out the waves of attack to make it safe for the crafters to work. The game definately had some problems that eventually led me to stop playing but my computer was certainly not up to par. I remember just after the tutorial world there was a series of trials to complete and my computer would not let me complete the one where you had to get from one point to the other in a certain amount of time. So frustrating. But oh the crafting! I loved it! I loved going off exploring the world! I loved that it was RP friendly, and even encouraged! All the GM-run events...invasions (though I couldn't take part in them because my computer always froze, heh). I never was high level, but I enjoyed what I was able to in the game. Every now and then I want to go back, but since I have played so many MMORPGs, it sorta has to share a "cooldown" timer with about 8 other games, haha. I, for one, am glad it is still around. And I hope to get back to playing for a while sometime in the next year.

StonesDK · December 2012

Originally posted by DMKano
I played this when it released, it was called Horizons, the game that promised everything, and delivered nothing. One of the worst MMORPGs I tried period. It's in my top five 5 worst games of all time.

no surprise that it has no population, I am surprised its still alive.

i hope that lots of things got fixed, but at release this game was absolutely horrible. Worst than even AO launch (which was still amazingly bad).

Yup, I played a total of 1 hour before I uninstalled it never to touch it again. Can't speak for what happened to it since launch but it was the worst game I ever played

Creatica · December 2012

<>

While I do agree that the crafting in Horizons/Istaria is one of the best out there, I liked the crafting on Star Wars Galaxies better. Mainly because you had different versions of the same resource, each with its own set of stats, and thus one particular version might be better for this, while another is better for that. Plus the experimentation could improve the power of an item, or the storage, or whatever.

But aside from SWG, I haven't found a game with better crafting than Istaria. The crafting is definately what keeps me wanting to return.

<>

This was another point that was a HUGE plus for this game. I played a dragon for a short time, and while it was very cool, it wasn't exactly my style. I love the concept though...questing to move on to the next phase of dragonhood, with eventual flight. Especially when the other races didn't have the same type of setup. That's a big deal right there. So many people want the races to be cookie cutter on abilities/ease of play/coolness, just with different pictures and different words used. I don't. I like having each race be a completely different play experience. That's where customization comes into play. Otherwise you pick the race with the best intellect to be the mage character. The best mage is the right race + the right gear + the right spell choice...etc. People come on and ask what they should choose for this item or ability...they get the textbook answer because there is no difference of playstyle. Having one race, the dragon, that advanced not only in level, but also maturity...is perfect!

Creatica · December 2012

<<Yup, I played a total of 1 hour before I uninstalled it never to touch it again. Can't speak for what happened to it since launch but it was the worst game I ever played>>

1 hour is hardly enough of a chance to give it the title of "worst game I've ever played". That's like putting in a backup QB for 1 play, him missing the pass, and then saying he's the worst QB ever - he (or the game) never was given a chance. I'm not telling you to go play it...but it's not really a fair assessment.

Geeky · June 2013

Graphics just don't matter enough to me I suppose. They look good enough for me to be able to tell who I am and whatever it is I'm supposed to be attacking. I like the game. I wish I had more time to play and invest in it because there is so much crafting you can do.

redcapp · June 2013

Aye. This is the game that people always overlook when clamoring on about how there has never been a pve sandbox.

Geeky · June 2013

My wish is that Developers of new up-coming games would play this game to see how things can and should be done.

Myrdynn · June 2013

Originally posted by Geeky
My wish is that Developers of new up-coming games would play this game to see how things can and should be done.

yep. Horizons/Istaria is a game that good developers should be stealing ideas from

awesome crafting (best ever imo)

awesome multi-classing (best ever imo)

dragons done well, something we have still never seen

community events (still never see them) for those who dont know, when the servers all opened, each server had 2 races hidden somewhere in the "Blight" (evil area), and the entire community of crafters, farmers, fighters all had to band together, to construct roads, build bridges, and defend the workers, eventually as a community discovering the Satyrs and allowing our server to be the first server to have Satyr as a new playable race.

excellent economy (also one of the best)

The developers of the original Horizons had a multi-million dollar game, with only a $10 budget and know how, if a company with the resources could have backed this game, I have no doubt it would have been one of the top 5 MMORPG's of all time.

Geeky · June 2013

Just one of my favorite things of this game is the story of who you are and how you are entering the world.

I don't create a character that looks like The Rock and after 5 minutes am wearing ridiculasly pointy over powered armor. This game has lore and makes the effort you put in worth it when you do earn armor.

NasherUK · August 2013

This game had a lot of potential, but I think it lacked the talent to carry it through. I remember playing it a couple of years after it got released and while it was fun and interesting, the bugs and terrible performance ruined it. The fact the company that ran it didn't have a clue didn't help either (I think it's changed hands twice since then).

If they could update the engine and polish things up to more modern standards I think people would flock to this game, but I doubt it will ever happen now.

Doogiehowser · August 2013

Originally posted by Maca0716
The miltimillion dollar mmo's that have tanked so hard should be ashamed of themselves when a game like this with probably only about 500 players MAX is nearly a DECADE old and still pulling in a profit.

The crafting in this game is the best there ever has been in an MMO the ability to build houses from the first brick right down to the door you have on it.

Oh and Dragons beginning the game as a small dragon and eventually growing into something HUGE and powerful is a feeling that cannot be matched.

Biped multiclassing, you could with time master every class the game has to offer and be a god.

Devs of other games take note of what an MMO truely means, freedom to do almost anything you want.

Devs don't need to take note because opinions regarding 'best MMO evahhh' are subjective. And how many companies would want to dump millions to only end up with 500 players?

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Stood the test of time a reminder of how open world MMO's used to be.

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