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Pretty Paper Doesn't mean your getting a Great Gift.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 18 / 27
Date: September 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played Asherons Call (original) and I loved the game. I have play many online games. Ultima Online, Anarchy Online, Dark Age of Camelot.

AC2 is very pretty. The graphics are very nice, but all the new games coming out will have the same quality graphics. I played the Beta Test of this game and all I can tell you is this... BORING. It is very boring. There is little to do but level your character. The combat is simple minded and the number of choices you have for delveloping your character smacks of Diablo. It is just too simple a game to be worth much to me.

Online games like this should be a challenge. There will not be a big user base for this game after it turns retail. Simply because it's boring.

If you want simple game play, you probably will be better off with The Sims Online. If you want adventure and character development in a roleplaying environment, wait for something else to come along. Ever Quest 2 maybe. I haven't played it, but I will give it a try. Sorry to say it, but they should have done more with this game. It could have been great.

Don't take my word for it. The beta test is open to the public. Download the game and see for yourself.

Signed,
Long time Asherons Call Fan.

An enormous step for MMORPGs, from a long time RPGer

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 23
Date: November 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Our entire household plays Asheron's Call, and we've been RPGing on the net since the days of MUSHes. We beta tested Ultima Online, the first real graphic MMORPG, and the other MMORPGs as they came along. We were all beta testers for Asheron's Call 2 as well. We were very interested to see how the game would be updated, what they would keep and what would change. We got the full copy as soon as it came out.

The graphics are easily the first thing you notice, and they are a HUGE upgrade. Asheron's Call (AC) already had rather impressive graphics with a GEforce 3 - the weather changes, lighting, and outfits and monsters were done quite nicely.

But the Asheron Call 2 engine is an amazing step forward. Run through the water and watch the water ripple around your legs. Even better, dive off a cliff and watch your arching descent into the water. The trees leaves wave in the wind, the fountains shimmer and glow. The monsters are all unique with very intricate movements.

While in the previous version you chose from three types of human (generally 'European', 'Oriental', and 'Middle Eastern') you now choose from three types of sentient creatures. You can be the medium sized, athletic humans, the big, strong, solid Lugians, or the small, thin, wiery Tumeroks. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.

When you customize your character, the detail is amazing, much as in Earth and Beyond. You choose the body height and thickness, the hair color and style, the tattoos and clothing colors, and much more. In each case there are a whole range to choose from, from hair colors to hair styles to facial types. Your character is very much a recognizeable individual. Add in clothing, and you'll be hard pressed to find two alike in the world.

Each character has skills they choose to be good at, much like any other role playing game. If you wish to be good in combat and go out slaughtering the local creatures, you can do that. Learn magic, and either kill enemies directly or help 'buff' your friends so they are better, at least until your spells wear off. But the game also heavily rewards those who enjoy making items, something that was becoming popular on AC. Gather up items with the appropriate raw materials and craft yourself new clothing, a new bow, and much more.

This brings up one change that many AC players dislike. In AC, you could make minor items - say fletch wood into arrows, or catch a rabbit and make rabbit pie. I was a personal fan of cooking :) You could then sell the items back to shopkeepers (non-player characters) and earn money that way. In AC2, there ARE no non player characters. So if you make things, you have to find someone else willing to buy them. If you want something, you either have to make it for yourself or track down someone to buy it from. Since most people aren't on 24 hours a day, this can become somewhat tricky and frustrating.

Still, the way that most trades were made on AC were either in 'subway' (a dungeon with many entrances and exits) or for more important items, via auctions on web message boards. People would bid for items, bidding in the game currency, and whoever won the auction would arrange to meet the character to do an in-game swap. If anything, AC2 promotes even more of this in-game economy.

I enjoyed the human-shopkeep mentality from Ultima Online and thought it gave an outlet to those who were creative but not of a monster-killing mentality. I think that it was great for AC2 to head in this direction, but still think having a few basic shopkeeps around would have been helpful. When playing AC2 sometimes, there were literally so many people in some areas that I couldn't find monsters to kill to get raw materials, and I trudged far and wide trying to find some 'available' monsters.

There are all sorts of touches that show how great it is to have a game that's been played VERY heavily for many years. The characters can grab musical instruments and play different songs, and jam together. The commands are the same as in AC but have been tweaked to be even more useable. The changing of the day/night, and shadows, and weather, and seasons,all make you really feel part of an organic world.

There are still quests, for those who enjoy questing. There are random monsters for those who enjoy hack-and-slash. There are things to make for those who enjoy creating. And there are the various monarchies and groups for those who enjoy community and want to forge friendships. Those who enjoy the 'richness' of AC's community might forget that it grew over many years, just as the communities in DuneMUSH and the early Ultima Online and at EverQuest have all grown. To expect AC2 to spring to life with that level is a bit unreasonable. Like every RPG, it will coalesce over time. Sure, AC2 has bugs to start with. Every on line game does. And over the weeks and months, those bugs get sorted out and gameplay is tweaked until it shines.

I know that many AC players will have invested so many months (if not years) in their characters that it'll be hard for them to give them up. In the boards I've been on, there is certainly a die-hard contingent that swears they'll stay on AC with their friends and characters until the server is shut down. But on the other hand, copies of AC2 are flying off the shelves and people are having to scrounge to get their hands on copies. The new game is AMAZING in many ways. And as the months go on, AC will seem more and more dated with its old style graphics and falling number of players.

I suppose I liken it to playing Doom when Unreal Tournament is out. Yes, I used to play Doom for hours and hours and loved the graphics and gameplay. But in 2002, given the ability to play Unreal Tournament with its gameplay and graphics, the Doom CD sits on the shelf. I have fond memories of Doom, and my time spent with it made me a better gamer, better to appreciate what gaming has to offer now.

no longer playable

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: July 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

this is an online game. it is no longer playable. do not buy this and expect to play it.

AC2 is a big disgrace to Turbine's AC franchise

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: March 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'd been playing AC1 for 2 years, then moved to AC2 from its very first days of beta, and all seemed to go well until the game went live. First of all, AC2 has undoubtedly the best graphic I've ever seen, but other than that, expect it to hold your interest in no more than 2 months or so. Most of the early generation of players had already quit the game by now, the ones who are still enjoying it are the newer players, and some hard core old timers. AC2's downfall is that it has NO high level content, whatsoever, absolutely nothing. People reached level cap (currently 50) within first month of release, and Turbine is NOT raising the level cap any time soon, and it's been well into the 3rd month of release. It is EASY to gain xp and level up, you can repeat quests every couple of days or so, and they have two or three quests that gives a substantial amount of xp, so even if you are a very casual player, and you don't powerlevel AT ALL, you just gotta re-do these quests over and over and you still gain xp at a decent rate. Getting to 50 is inevitable in this game, but after that, what else is there to do? Nothing. They have NO high level/boss monster, there are only TWO kinds of high level monsters that are worth killing for xp and loot, the "shreth" and the "armoredillo". You will start killing these around level 30 or so, and you will be killing the exact SAME shreths and dillos by the time you hit 50, there is NOTHING else challenging to entertain you after 50. Go read Turbine's site if you don't trust me, they are literally telling you once you hit 50, go reroll another toon and go through the same things all over again, or go raise your crafting skill up. Crafting, as it turns out, is another failure of AC2. They recently "nerfed" the crafted items once again, and NOBODY even bothered to craft weapons and armor any more, since it would cost too much money to craft a weapon, and they don't have high-end crafted items, so once you got to around level 30 or so, all crafted items would become obsolete compared to the loot-generated ones. If you don't feel like rerolling over and over till you have all five characters on your account to 50, and since the crafting system is a total joke, what else is there to do once you hit cap? Some people turned to pk'ing, and they have a pk "zone" right in the middle of a route to the highest level hunting ground, forcing everyone who wants to hunt for the most xp possible to have to risk their lives for it. Pk'ing, therefore, is NOT optional in AC2, whether you like it or not. Which led to hordes of utterly bored level 50's converging in that zone to gank hapless players hoping to hunt for some xp. Portal camping is rampant, when you will get nuked and killed right before you get out of portal space, when you have absolutely NO WAY to defend yourself, there is NO pvp grace period like in Anarchy Online when you have a couple seconds of immunity after zoning. AC2 is no fun, AC2 has no content, although they recently added the mounts, but look around, which game out there that still doesn't have mount now? It's not that big of a change, content wise. AC1 was a big success, and is pretty popular still. Except for the outdated graphics, AC1 is vastly superior compared to AC2, content wise. If you want some eye candies for the first month or two, and you have 50 dollars to waste, go for it; otherwise, hang on to it and wait till SWG is out next month, seriously.

Pretty graphics, and that's it

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: April 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Most POSITIVE reviews are from ppl that haven't been playing long. They're technically telling the thruth because it's a fun game for the first 2 continents. But let's face it, the casual player is done with those 2 continents in a few weeks. Then you reach Linvak, the final continent and a few weeks later, you quit the game out of boredom....

Gameplay-wise, this game is overly simple. Creating a character consists of choosing one of 3 races.... that's it. You get to fiddle around with the colors, hair and build of your avata, but nothing else. Character attributes have all been dumped and only HP and Vigor have been kept. To simplify things, EVERY SINGLE character of the same race and level will have the exact same HP and vigor..... There are 10 slots for items, but the varitety is lacking. For example, at this point, there are a grandtotal of 4 types of helmets, 1 for humans and lugians, and 2 for tumeroks.

The game follows the Diablo-style skill tree. Up till level 15, you can chose skills in the magic/melee or missile tree then at 15, you choose one of 6 classes available to your race. So you have a grand total of 18 classes, out of which 6 or so cookie-cutter templates are very powerful and the rest is overly weak. It doesn't matter if you use level 5 or level 40 skills, they'll basically do the same damage so it's just a matter of preference. Also, there are still a lot of busted, over powerful, weak and badly described skills so changes to them come on a monthly basis.

Bugs you ask? There are TONS of them, and they're not going away. Simple things such as the chat functions stop working on a daily basis, but you won't worry much about that since there's a fairly large chance you won't even be able to log on anyways.

There are very few NPCs and they only give quests.

There are buildings, but you'll most likely NEVER be able to enter them since they said they will probably never bother giving them interiors.

They do add content monthly, but it's usually so easy (example : quests are basically solved for you in the quest description panel, you just have to follow the directions) that the casual player is done with it in a week, which leaves 3 more weeks of killing hundreds of Shreths and Dillos. The "Epic" storyline is far from epic (I haven't seen much of a story yet) and leaves a lot to be desired. Also, most new patches bring a slew of new bugs, either overpowering some skill or class, destroying another,causing random players to lose access to the game for days on ends. Most notable since the last patch is the "rollbacks" that are affecting players. What it means, is that your character is randomly returned to the level he was a few hours or up to a few days ago. You lose all the experience, items and quests you'd done in the time between the rollback and the point your character is returned to.

PvP does exist, but it's not very fun and it can be summed up in a few words : Archers and mages slaughter each other, melees get slaughtered by everyone else before they can even reach them. There are skills for the powerful PvP'ers, but I've never seen ANYONE that could use them. you'd nee to kill thousands of other players withouth EVER dying to get the most powerful ones.

To sum it up, if you want to play an extremely easy and buggy game where even casual players can get to the max level in a few months (level cap is intended to be raised in September), everyone looks the same, you like killing stuff for weeks on end, you like soloing, dying is just a quick means of traveling, etc. AC2 is for you.

Why the 2 stars you ask? Because the graphics are top of the line if you system can handle them (over medium setting, my p4 2.4 with 64 megs of video ram and 512 megs of ram showed signs of the game slowing down in busy areas).

To conclude, I eventually quit due to the inability of the devs to fix even the simplest of bugs without introducing new bugs. For over a month, I was forced to reset 2-3 times per hours just to keep playing and I couldn't get any worthwhile help since the official boards is HEAVILY moderated. Getting a new post up is a miracle unless it's one praising the game. As for the other means of help, they were stuck in a loop... Tech support's first suggestion was to un-install then re-install.. after that didn't work, they suggested a few more things, then after a 2 week break, they suggested I un-install and re-install... What I'm saying is, if you have a but that's only affecting a few players, don't expect to get help since they're too busy fixing bugs that affect a lot of players.

Take negative reviews with a grain of salt...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 25
Date: November 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Folks reading these reviews should be aware that there was a concerted effort by a gamer on one of the public AC2 forums to try and destroy AC2's rating here. This is undeserved and reflects the maturity level of the reviewers, not necessarily honest opinions about the game.

I've played AC1 since beta, and beta tested AC2. Most of these folks complaining about lack of content don't even remember the release of AC1 and the sparse amount of content that existed at that stage. Over the years, through /monthly/ updates Turbine has done a fantastic job of bringing new content to the players, and it's content players want- they have a great record of listening to their fans, and improving the game accordingly. Hence, you should expect no less in AC2. The first update is scheduled for shortly after release, and if you head over to the official site, you'll see that they have a lot of neat things planned.

Most of the positive reviewers have said what I would about the game. The game engine has a ton of potential, and the graphics are stunning. The skill system is diablo-esque. Will I long for the excitement of combat AC1 style? Maybe, but I have more options than I did there. The fauna is novel and unique. Turbine has introduced a Kingdom vs. Kingdom element, and I believe that they placing a fair amount of emphasis on the world that player communities will create. If you're not into KvK, there are plans for a non-conflict server. In fact, they've got server types for all preferences in the works. Normal (limited KvK), free-for-all (full pvp), non-conflict, KvK, and role-playing. They've also introduced a quest-points system and are improving crafting, so there's something for everyone.

In my opinion, this game has a lot of potential, and knowing Turbine's great track record with AC1, I'll definately be there!

Nothing New

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: October 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As a Beta Tester of the game I got a sneak peak at the play and feel of the game before retail. (Not much content - they're saving that for the paying customers)

How would I describe the game? Simple.

If you're new to the MMORPG Genre of games this will be an excellent "first" game for you to get your feet wet. Everything about the game is simple and straightforward in an easy to understand format. If you're an experienced MMORPG gamer looking for a new home you may want to look elsewhere for your entertainment.

Character Creation: As complex as selecting your features. There are no "stats"
Character Development: As you level (Yes, AC2 maintains the age old "level-grind") you gain exp and skill points. These can be spent to purchase skills along the various skill tree's offered to each race. The skills are interesting but lack any real complexity in use.
Combat: Again, very straightforward. You target a monster and hit the attack key. You can then hit an occasional skill (or combination thereof) to do a bit of extra damage or "debuff' the mob. Occasionally the mob will flash yellow and you can use a special skill to hit it for a lot of damage. No hit locations or weaknesses to certain types of attacks to worry about.
Crafting: The craft system is also very simple. Each item you loot has "Traits" with a certain quality. Each crafting recipe requires Traits of a certain quality. Put the items in the "recipe" box and hit "Craft". No need to find a forge or use a tool - you can do it all right out in the field. Certain workshops and tools to provide some bonus, but not enough to really notice.
Loot: The items in AC2 have very little variation. Weapons of the same level range all have the same available range of damage and delay - from sword, to drum, to axe, to dagger. Rarely you will find one with a special "ability" but it will typically be weaker than the weapon you are already using. AC2 also sticks to the age-old tradition of animals dropping items they could in no way be carrying. Instead of running back to town to sell your items to vendors or other players AC2 allows you to "Transmute" your items wherever you are. Together with no supply needs (no food requirements, no spell components, no ammo), a lack of NPC's, no banks and no location requirements on crafting there is little or no reason for people to gather in towns.
Spell/Magic System: There is none. There are skill tree's called "magic" but that's all they really are - other skills. Each spell is just a different skill in the "magic" tree - no components to gather and it uses the same "Vigor" as melee and missile skills.
Graphics: The first saving Grace of AC2 is the graphics - they are phenomenal. Naturally you'll need a fairly substantial system to see them.
Content: Something Turbine has always done fairly well is on-going monthly content - they plan to continue that tradition in AC2 perhaps even letting us see the events that shape the world instead of reading about them after the patch. Time will tell.
A.I.: Monster AI in AC2 is actually some of the more advanced I've seen so far in MMORPG's - monsters will call for help, hide from missile attacks, cut and run, and a variety of other sometimes unpredictable responses.
Quests: So far as we've been shown in Beta the Quests in AC2 are the same as quests in any other game - only given by statues and randomly found potions instead of by NPC's. They all still amount too much the same: Kill mob X [and Loot item Y [and take it to location Z]]. The much-lauded Vault Quests are just a series of arbitrary dungeons you can sprint through for a little bit of AC Lore and some XP. Sadly even the slide show with the lore is a bit disappointing; as the art in it doesn't even match up to the concept art used to design the game... much less what they are capable of with their brand new engine and outstanding graphics.

I give Turbine one star for their Monthly Content, one star for the Graphics, and one star for creating a game basic enough to pull in new gamers to the genre. Sadly, they fail to break any new ground and even lose some ground many 1st Gen games had firmly established. Instead of a 2nd Gen game I feel AC2 is perhaps 3/4 Gen.

AC2 Beta to Retail

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 17
Date: November 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played Ac2 beta form about august 02 until e.o.b. (end of Beta), and i have to say that despite dealing with glitches and constant updates -which should both be expected during a beta test- the game is amazing. Alot of people will have nothing but bad things to say about lag, but I rarely had diffulty. Sure I had to turn some of the fancy textures down, but tall grass in this type of setting creates its own problems. My computer is also not a super computer. I have a modest 866mhz coppermine processor with a geforce3 ti 500 video card a 7200 rpm Maxtor hard drive, and 384 MB pc 133 sdram. These are not amazing stat by any computer standard, yet I had very little difficulty with lag problems unles I was in an area that was very highly populated area, and believe me there can be plenty of other reasons to stay away from highly populated areas.
So, I say to everyone who has not played AC1 -I never did- and who has thought about playing AC2, I you like RPG's this game rules! Sure it has a few problems, but all games do, and I the thing that all of thes negative reports are not telling you is that you will find versatility, graphics, and practical solutions to most of your old RPG disappointments that may have stemmed from other RPG games which were seriously lacking. I also strongly suspect that updates to the retail version will come fairly quickly and most of AC2's problems will be solved.

Thank you for letting me speak,
Tony (AC2 Fan)

If I can save one person from buying this game...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: May 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

[...]

System Specs
P4 1.9
256MB Ram
GeForce 4 64MB IT
Cable Internet
Not exactly top of the line but I had to turn all of the graphical options to very low or off.

System Specs
P4 1.8
512MB Ram
GeForce 4 IT 128 MB
Cable Internet
This one has a better video card and more ram but I was able to bring the settings up to High. In group combat (9 players vs. NPCs) however, server lag kills.

Pros:
- Breathtaking graphics
- Monthly updates
- Able to unlearn spells

Cons:
- No real content. Story quest limited to 13. After which you can get a scarce quest here and there.
- No NPC venders. NPCs are only there for quest.
- No use for money except learning smith and whatnot.
- Breathtaking graphics if you have a 128mb video card (Radeon 9700)
- Monthly updates are always an anticlimax.
- Authentication problems when logging on.
- Massive lag if you are fighting with a group of 9.
- Groups are limited to 9 players [...]
- PKers are able to camp zone spots.
- MOST of the game's population has a character at level +40
- The level cap is limited at 50 and will not be removed until September at the earliest.
- Lack of In-Game Admin support.
- No point in towns because there is nothing to do there.
- NPC mobs all look the same but are given different names and strengths.
- Waste of [$$$]

AC2 Does not live up to high expectations :(

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 26 / 52
Date: October 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

...I have actually PLAYED this game in late Beta - and I will not be purchasing this game when it launches (unfortunately) very soon.

In reality, this game should be called Dark Age of Asheron's-Quest, as it have taken many features from Skill based games such as Dark Age of Camelot & Everquest... and most of their bad features as well.

Issues in Brief:
1) Terrible character creation modification ability and game GUI. Worst of any current MMORPG.
2) UNBALANCED SKILLS. Where have you heard this before? (AO/DAoC/etc). Most character class paths have severe trouble, others may be too effective... NERFS WILL COME.
3) BAD Chat/Grouping features. You will laugh or cry when you see it.
4) INSANELY bad & tedious Crafting system. Why can no game get this even partial right? Crafting requires large numbers of rare (extremely rare) dropped items. Impossible for a casual crafter.
5) Leveling treadmill post-20/30th is worse even than DAoC's or Everquests. Plan on spending at least a week to make each level (if the vitae penalty even will let you hunt).
6) Lack of a "wow" factor. Very pretty graphics... and nothing to do other than kill critters, repeatedly, over and over again.
7) Lack of low level/mid level NPC character interaction assistance. There are NO NPC's folks, so if you want to know where you need to hunt you'll have to check your favorite game message board - no one is going to tell you or help you.
8) No "Uber Loot" - this was the only good thing about the original AC. Now all of your items are "level appropriate" or much worse if you can't craft or loot anything suitable (like me). I have never seen a SINGLE MAGIC ITEM in this game!
9) Everyone looks the same - same armor, same weapons... really boring.
10) KvK, PvP, RvR - another fancy word for other players are going to be trying to kill you too. In order to hunt the highest level creatures and maybe find that rare magic loot you will have to go into zones where you will get 'ganked' by someone who enjoys making your day miserable. There is no excuse for shoving player vs player combat down our throat - even DAoC makes RvR combat "optional".

Sorry this was so long, but this is just a short list of the games most glaring faults. In a recent poll on the AC2 Vault Board over 35% of Beta players voted that they would NOT buy or play this game after launch. I predict that this game will need significant updating after launch to even become remotely enjoyable. The reason I did give a rating of '2' is that Turbine will be providing monthly content to this game - but I doubt they can graft a "soul" onto it.

It's a shame - I've been waiting for this game eagerly for about 2 years now :(

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