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Tabula Rasa Delayed Two Weeks
The FPS/MMOG Tabula Rasa, developed for NCSoft by Richard Garriott's Destination Games, will now be delayed for about two weeks while some last-minute testing goes on. Eurogamer reports: "The extra time will apparently be used to fiddle around with stability and balance issues, as well as put high-level area Ligo through its paces and iron out some crafting niggles. This is very important to Starr, who was adamant to share the development mantra of, 'Stable, fast, fun. In that order.' In the coming weeks, creator Richard Garriott will be writing features detailing what endgame content we can expect in Tabula Rasa, and how Destination Games will go about adding updates over time."
I find the title of this game interesting. Tabula Rasa was the name of a Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode from Season 6. Those were the magic words used to erase or modify people's memory, in conjunction with a certain type of flower. I wonder why they chose this title!
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MMOs just seem to be stuck in a rut that they can't escape. Even games like Lord of the Rings online (one of the better MMOs at the moment) still can't escape from experience bars, skill points, menial quests and whatnot. I was hoping for more from Tabula Rasa and I really didn't feel there was much more.
I don't see how General Brittish, as he is known inside Tabula Rasa, and his code army is going to fix all of the substantial problems that the game has in only two additional weeks.
/stuck macro (which takes you back in time about 15 seconds, hopefully to a time when you weren't stuck in the terrain). Players can pass through terrain (walls, rocks, flowers (HUGE FLOWERS) intermittently, causing all sorts of interesting situations which can often only be resolved by using the /stuck macro. This area of the game needs a substantial re-design.
MISIONS:
Missions (Quests) break constantly. If you die (or disconnect - which happens frequently) while attempting a mission inside an instance, the mission will frequently become non-completable, forcing the player to abandon the quest, return to the quest-giver, and ask for the mission again. Missions outside of instances are frequently impossible to complete because you cannot interact with one of the objectives (ie, blow up a mining drill or power generator). Logos obtainment quests frequently do not complete when you obtain said logos.
TERRAIN:
Clipping and Bounding planes are simply not enforced in many areas. Players get stuck in the terrain frequently, forcing the use of the
GROUPING:
What is this? All instances (up to level 30, at least) can be soloed by any patient player of any class. All enemy characters can be avoided simply by running by/through their patrol and continuing running until you out-range them -- seriously. The single time I grouped to complete an instance, which was not necessary, mind you, each player simply did their own thing. Nobody healed their teammates, and nobody teamed up to beat the enemy characters. It was essentialy a FPS game with the storyline being played in co-op mode, but without any co-operation.
That being said, TR is a great game, or at least it might be if Richard Garriott doesn't give in to unrealistic publisher timelines, and deliver a beta product as a finished product.
I bought 3 Tabula Rasa preorder packs (me, wife, friend) for a buck at the local electronics store because they came with beta keys. We played for several hours the first day and a bit more for a second day. We'd all gotten through the introductory tutorial ("noob island") and completed several quests on the main land. Upon exiting the game and logging back in all 3 of us would find our characters back on noob island, yet the quests to get us back to the mainland were not available! None of us could figure out how to play the game again so we all uninstalled.
The biggest disappointment was the execution and design of this very ordinary MMO despite RG's frequent proclamations that this game would be far different from all the other quest/farming grind games out there. It's WoW with frickin' laser beams. Yawn. Even if the game had worked flawlessly I wouldn't play it for free.
One might well consider City of Villains an expansion pack for CoH. I will concede that considerable content has been added gratis, and for which I am grateful. In addition, they recognize that their main income from CoH/CoV is from monthly revenue, so after an initial sales period, they've offered many "new package" benefits (costume elements, product-granted powers like a limited teleport, etc that were granted with particular promotionally packaged items like the "Good Vs Evil" pack) for a nominal cost.
On the other hand, NCSoft also runs GuildWars, which HAS had expansion packs. GuildWars's revenue stream, though, IS those expansion packs.
Despite the vast number of Tabula Rasa sites out there, all I could find on pricing was the initial outlay for the game. My opinion, then, is that they'll follow one of the two paths - roll profits from monthly subscription back into the expansion packs, or regularly pump out expansion packs for a fee, but not charge a subscription price.
WoW, for all it's faults, at least conveys a sense of wonder, and the stylized characters generally convey a vibe of humor and fun. Characters and settings in TR are like dead wooden tokens that simply stand in as placeholders while you navigate the game.
I am currently play LOTRO and that game is becoming more and more like a direct WoW clone (not a good thing) so if there is anything that can avoid being a WoW/EQ clone I would welcome it.
So to any who have played it in the trials can you answer me this.
Does it have quests to gather X from Y and then X does not drop in a clear logical pattern?
Does it have items looted for crafting that drop from X that only spawns once in a blue moon if your avatar wears purple?
Is it impossible to craft to your own level (Lotro is very guilty of this) so that by the time you have harvested everything that is needed for a level 12 item, your are level 20?
Is there a reputation grind (we couldn't think of more story quests so now just go kill) that if you calculate the number of kills needed you realize you ain't getting out of the house this year?
Do the game makers put grinders and questers in the same place? (Lotro with its deeds (kill X Y for bonuss stats) often has people at very high levels killing X in low levels areas to get their deed and damned be any players at the right level questing there)
For that matter, does that crafting/loot system encourage, even enforce, farming?
Is there any system in place to deal with gold spammers (SWG has introduced player killing of gold sellers, WoW has finally introduced limits on spam messages, turbine... nothing).
In short, is this any different from the default EQ clone with all the same crap that really should have been elimenated since the days of EQ2? SWG tried, it really did but failed because of bugs ans was then turned into an EQ clone itself.
Don't mention Eve Online to me, I played it.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Richard Garriot created a legendary series of games - decades ago. He's not cut out for modern game development in my opinion. For all his proclamations about Tabula Rasa being so different, new, unique, etc. etc... it's absolutely NOT new or unique. It's a sci-fi online shooter with sub-par production values and some gimmicky ideas which don't provide enough fun to warrant a monthly subscription.
Sadly the game COULD have been a refreshing change of course IF it had better production values and more entertaining.... awww hell it's just trash there's no saving it, move along... move along...