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boring

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 17
Date: August 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

[...] I seriously cant see how it got such a good rating. I definitely cant see people paying $15 a month for this either. I tried playing it and got bored very quickly. The keyboard setup was retarded (yes i changed the bindings but i still couldnt enjoy the game). It could very well be because i didnt leave the noob area. Though, IMO regardless of the area I should enjoy the game right away. If you want a real MMO get WoW or FFXI (2 MMOs i enjoy playing). Even Kal online was better than this game and it was completely free!

Same disaster that is Asheron's Call 2 and Horizons

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 20
Date: September 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Like most new games, it does have incredible graphics. And the tech that went into designing the environment and habits of the creatures of the wild are well done. Game concepts and character progression are nothing new to the genre, but what they chose to copy from other games are mostly good and it works well together to make a good game. The only thing that is lacking is the combat which consists mainly of pressing a button, going for a walk and coming back to see if you won or are dead. I may be over-exagerating a little, but it's definitely a step back in the evolution of RPG combat.

So, what's so bad about this game? It's not finished! When I say not finished, I mean, many skills are still not functioning. This includes skills from fighting, magic, harvesting, and crafting. Many NPC vendors still are not selling the equipment that they say they have. There are zero (that's right!), ZERO(0) quests in the game. There are short tasks from NPC's that ask you to go kill a wild anamal on the edge of town or knit them a sweater, but no real adventurous quests.

They managed to reduce server crashes to only a couple in the last week of testing. However the data rollbacks saw some people with over an hour of wasted character advancement. After having this happen to me personally I can tell you there is nothing more frustrating than knowing that you spent an hour or more on something that was all for nothing. And knowing that the developers were still having problems with crashes right up till the game went gold (release state of game), there will likely still be server crashes when the game goes live.

As is the case with the corporate world today, money talks. The game is heavily sponsored by Nvidia. The developers designed the graphics of the game to run smoothly on the Nvidia chipset. That means for all you ATI video card owners out there, you may encounter problems. For a lot of players during the beta test, they were unable to play at all. For others, they had to play with key video features turned off. I don't have many details about this since I don't have an ATI, but I do know it was a major issue for many players.

After being apart of the AC2 and HZ beta tests, it feels like the same problems all over again. People will rush in, hate the game because of its unfinished, no-content feel, and rush to the message boards to bad mouth the game. Subscriptions will suffer and the game will become very empty. And since it takes millions of dollars to fund these games, without the subscriptions, the game will go bankrupt, or live on life-support for a long time. :-(

Another unfortunate thing about this game is the monthly fee will be over $20 CAD. Which I wouldn't mind paying for well made game, but it's just not right paying that much to continue testing a product for someone.

If you've already ordered the game, I recommend waiting a little while before starting your subscription. Check all the popular (un-moderated) gaming message boards for the current state of the game. From what I've seen, Amazon.ca currently has the best price on the game, so if you are going to buy the game eventually, you might as well order it from here and save some money. :-)

3 day impression of full release

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: October 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The true test of a MMORPG is how you feel about it after 3 months; however, the fact that I still want to play this game after 3 days is amazing. It's amazing because I've tried Star Wars Galaxies, Legion 2, and Shadowbane and didn't play any of them for more than 2 days (I have played Dark Age of Camelot -DAOC- for a couple of years though).

Some points of note about this game that I don't see mentioned in other reviews:

- It has a steep learning curve because of the unusual classless system and because of the typical "We don't want to tell the players how things work or what they mean" philosophy that MMORPG companies have.

- The behavior of the creatures in the game is incredible. You'll see herds of herbivores being chased by a predator. You'll see some creatures come up to you and act like they want to play. It's hard to describe but it's obvious that a lot of time was put into the creature AI. Some of the herbivores are so cute I actually feel bad about killing them (pathetic huh?).

- The environment feels alive unlike any of the other games I mentioned above.

- The steep learning curve I mentioned above seems to have helped weed-out the immature jerks you find in other games but I've only played for 3 days so perhaps I just haven't run into any.

- I haven't seen any undead. What!? An MMORPG without skeletons and zombies? Yep. Good.

- Be warned that the graphics are intense even at the "normal" settings. You would need a seriously powerfull computer to run this game at the best settings without getting jerky movement.

- Some people, particularly with ATI video cards, have had trouble with lock-ups (including myself). They applied a patch the second day I was on and the lock-up problem got better. It has still crashed once or twice for me but hey, DAOC still crashes sometimes and that's been out for years. Is there an MMORPG that doesn't have these problems? I don't think so.

- The interface is very intuitive, I've never had trouble finding what I was looking for.

- I love the classless system (I'm so sick of the totally unnecessary, archaic, restrictive class systems that I could scream); however, I think the "uniqueness" of characters is more of an illusion than a reality. Of course, I've only reached skill level 21 in the Fight tree and a few in Harvest and Crafting so perhaps there are more "branches" to follow at higher levels that would allow for more individuality. (I can't tell since I can't find a list of the skills anywhere. Are they trying to sell Prima guides perhaps?)

- I haven't experienced any server lag but I have had some jerkiness due to the graphics. I'm on a cable modem so I can't say how (or if) it would run with a dial-up.

- There doesn't seem to be any music or else it just isn't playing for me. I would have turned it off anyway so I don't care.

- The combat is only mildly interactive, similar to DAOC or SW: Galaxies, but it is fun to watch.

- So far the game is pretty darn easy. The only time I've died is when multiple creatures attacked me and one time I attacked something clearly too powerful for me. There doesn't seem to be a way to check a creatures difficulty short of attacking it, which is kinda bad. Fortunately, death hasn't been a big deal so far. You die, lose your health, stamina, etc, then you have to earn a certain amount of experience before you can get new experience applied to your skill trees. You don't have to go loot your body or pray at a grave.

- The thing I like the most so far is that it is relatively easy to create a good fighter or mage that can also craft his own items and even gather the materials to make those items.

- You can craft anywhere! That's right, you don't have to find a lathe or forge or something. For example, I can go out kill some monsters and do some harvesting and once I have the materials I need I can craft something right there in the middle of the wilderness.

- So far I kind of like the missions (AKA tasks) I've seen. The reward has always been money, which is fine since you get experience while carrying out the mission. There are missions for each of the skill lines (fighter/mage, harvester, crafter). The fighter missions may be "Collect X items of Y quality from monster type Z" or "Determine how many creatures of type X are on the island" or "Determine if creature of type X is on the island at all" or "Deliver this to person X in town Y". Sometimes they have time limits but usually not. I never had to go far to complete a mission, which is the main reason I don't hate them like the DAOC tasks.

- I don't have them but I hear you can get a pack animal and a mount. Nice! I don't know if you can own land or build/own a house. I hope they have player run merchants but I don't know for sure yet.

- I can't say too much about game content yet but so far I haven't seen or heard of anything that really stands out. It appears that in the end this game will be like all the others: Kill, Craft, and Chat are the only things to do, which is why I give it 4 stars rather than 5. Even so, I think the unique parts of the game are enough to make it worth trying.

Good playing game with lots of long term potential

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: September 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The one major thing I see this game having over all the other cookie cutter games out there is the advancement system. This is very different than many other games. You do not have to choice a class at the being of the game, which you are stuck with for the whole game with that character. Here you can be what ever you like.
Spent the first few hours of play as a fighter and decided you don't like it much? Ok go use some magic and see what that's like.
Tired of bashing creatures at the moment? Go do some crafting.
Want to just explore and maybe get something for it at the same time? Run around the world (watching out for the mobs) and do some harvesting.

Then there are the branches of the skills:
Made it way up there with your sword and now find it would have been better to use a mace? Go bash mobs with a mace. You need only to fight the mob that is at the level of your skill in mace, so no longer will you be stuck trying to whack a high level mob with a weapon that you only have skill in for a low level mob. You will gain exp in that skill and this will give you a whole new set of actions to use the skill points you gain in that skill on.
This goes for all the different skills, decide to work on a different branch of the skills and you need only to face a mob (or make an item, or search for a material) that is equal to the level of the new skill you are using. VERY COOL!
From this point of view it gives this game a longevity I have not seen in the games I have played (this is the 4th MMOG) yet.

I have not even touched on the Fame system, guild system or the mass mob invasions here.

As to balancing issues:
I don't see any problems in the balancing of this game. Being that the actions you use here are built on a -/+ stanza (sub-actions within a givein action) system, I don't see balancing being an issue. No set classes means you "balance" your character in what ever way you wish. Gone are the days of the devs nerfing a certain class because some whiney kid's cleric couldn't wipe out a high level warrior one on one. (At least we can hope this is the case.)

Does it have bugs? Yes. Is it better than 85% of the other games at this same time of those games evolution? Yes.
Let's face it people we buy software these days expecting it to have bugs. Whose fault is it? We still buy it... The name of this game is profit, if they can make a profit without making it perfect, DUH!!, they will. If we stoped buying it unless it was perfect (which is just about impossible to do in a dynamic type MMOG) then they would stop selling it with all the bugs.

Bottom line... Is it fun?
For me, yes it is fun. This is a subjective question that must be answered by each individual. Go look at the game on the web and decide if it looks like something you would like to play.

As to the ATI problems, well the drivers are pretty much hosed, this is not the first nor will it be the last program that has issues with ATI drivers. When you buy ATI you do it at your own risk, at this point in time. :( That said, I personally know of more than a few people who play the game fine with ATI cards.

A little tricky to get started on, but well worth playing.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: September 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just got this game yesterday, so no, I haven't gotten to the storyline yet-- but this is the opinion of a newbie starting out.

First off, the character creation system rocked. You can make body types ANYTHING you want, and they won't effect your character. The customization ability was phenomenal.

The graphics are excellent for an MMORPG, and it appears to have a very stable plot. It also has a nasty tendency to be addictive-- which is why I spent all of last night, until 1 AM, playing this game.

The one major problem I found is that it does get a little tedious for a newbie starting out, if you cannot find someone to help you out. My advice for anyone getting this game would be to stick around your home city and try to find someone with the same title to come out with you and explore.

Ah, titles? Yes. These are things you get when you qualify in a certain skill tree or other things. This means that, after a while, if you want to develop your fighting, you can change your title to 'Novice Fighter' or anything more advanced and people who are looking for parties-- or if you're looking for a party-- will see that you are a fighter and act accordingly.

Another problem was that I found the fighting skills a liiiittle useless in the beginning. There were a few worth getting, like healing yourself and increasing your HP and constitution, but any of the ones that pertained to actual FIGHTING I found no use for, except to get me new titles and advance me along the skill system.

Also, the crafting took a lot of time to get up to where it was useful so that you could make yourself armor. Despite this, I was glad I chose that skill for my character, as I managed to make some good weapons.

It's not a perfect game, but once you get out and around your starting place, it's really worth playing and a lot of fun. I can't wait to get to the mainland.

After I finish my homework, of course.

For what is to come.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ryzom at release was pretty much a world void of any content, it lacked what games like WoW and EQ2 are ripe with. On the flip side, Ryzom has a story that is not cliche like WoW or EQ2, and for the most part the community is a step above most MMO communities.

Slowly the game has evolved. Only two months from release and we have seen major changes to gameplay, as well as a full respec of the skills.

NOW is when it should have launched. Two months after release, the game is on par or better than any other game coming (and I'm on far too many "beta" lists NOT to know how the other games are).

Ryzom is a SKILL BASED game, and it will have a HEAVY focus on the story. Sound familiar? Anyone that ever played Asheron's Call or it's sequel should know this type of gameplay very well.

Already we have had a raid involving not only the primitive tribes, but the ever-watching factions of Kami and Karavan. Which brings me to another point. Your actions in the game determine where you can go, what you can do, and who you follow.

As a Tryker player, I am "born" with positive fame (faction for you EQ nuts) for the Karavan but I have been working on Kami fame and slowly but surely the fame I am "born" with has vanished. The big events in the game have a very strong lore focus. Even the unguilded, or smaller guilds get their mention for helping in these events - the GMs post the event story to the official forums.

In truth, this game should have waited to be released until now - but with a 14 day free trial available I imagine it's not so bad. An influx of new players has made the game ultimately more interesting and provides a lot of possibilities for an RP-lite mood.

I cannot say this game is "excellent" or "great", these are words I would claim for the future of this game. If the direction the developers have taken recently is any indication, only good things will come from the world of Atys.

For now, enjoy your free month of EQ2, or WoW - then quit those sissy games and play the real MMO: Ryzom.

Well-engineered core game leaves a lot of room for growth

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: July 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The blessing, and the curse, of MMORPGs is the evolutionary nature of the genre. What you get today will not be what the game is two years from now. Ask anyone playing STAR WARS: GALAXIES, for example, and you'll learn how a single patch can make a game go from being enjoyable to impossible, literally overnight. It's almost impossible to say how good the game is, because MMORPGs are genuinely living creatures.

Because of this, all I can tell you is what I think of the game so far, and where I think it's likely to go based on that past.

RYZOM has changed a lot since its release, building content slowly but surely. While the producers have tended to err on the side of caution, regularly missing patch release dates to allow for additional testing, the game has been fairly consistently stable as a result. Rarely have the coders introduced a patch that seriously screwed up the players' experience, and on those few occasions that they have, they've tended to react swiftly and offer up a "patch for the patch" that players have generally seen as a good compromise between progress and "tradition".

To be sure, Ryzom is in most ways a fairly standard MMORPG-at first glance. You spend a great deal of your time wandering around its huge world, meeting people, joining guilds, going on quests, killing things and questing. But, unlike other MMORPGs I've seen, it does seem to have solid fundamentals in place, and its development trend seems to be pointed in a satisfying direction.

Graphically, it's a very impressive game. You'll be hard-pressed to find other MMORPGs that look as good as Ryzom. Indeed, many console games can't hold a candle to the richly detailed environments. There are a lot of players who spend immense amounts of times just doing screen captures.

Level advancement was, at least on release in 2004, perhaps its biggest innovation, and it's still the thing that most separates RYZOM from other games in the genre. Unlike some RPGs that allow for several "classes" of characters, RYZOM instead focuses on four main skill trees: crafting, fighting, magic use, and foraging. As you gain experience in each one of these areas, you'll get more and more specific with your advancement. By the time you get up to the upper limit of level 250, the general "fighting" category will have narrowed down into something as specfic as "Master Pike User", or "Master Autolauncher User". What's cool, though, is that just because you choose to focus in one way to start with, you can theoretically attain level 250 in every single sub-branch. Making a choice today doesn't preclude your changing your mind about your character later on. This greatly reduces the incentive to re-roll your character. If you get bored with one line of development, you just start doing something else with the same character.

RYZOM is, in other words, skill-based, rather than level-based. And this skill system is richly detailed. Not only do you eventually gain incredibly detailed powers, but to also be able to create your own completely unique combinations of the skills, or "stanzas", you learn. These so-called "actions" can be highly specific.

Take for instance harvesters. A good many people spend a lot of time in this game gathering resources, which they then sell on the markets as raw materials, or maybe use to craft their own items. Well, let's say you're making guns. Guns require four different raw materials, and one of them is the material that makes the trigger. Different triggers give different properties to the gun. Some give greater range, some greater accuracy, some greater power, some greater speed. Maybe you're interested in making extremely rapid-fire guns, so you want to emphasize speed. To harvest the best materials for this goal, you would create an action which looks around you at a particular radius in front of you, for a particular distance, looking for a particular quality of trigger, but ignoring any other materials around you. So, if you've bought the right skills, you can string together a stanza for arc, another for distance, a third for quality and a fourth to only look for triggers. Once you've done that it's a relatively simple matter to stand in that location and fairly quickly amass a ton of exactly the kind of trigger you want.

Likewise in combat, maybe you want create a spell which does a certain amount of damage to the creature standing in front of you, but also to his companions standing next to him, who aren't nearly as powerful as he is. In other words, you want him to take the brunt of the spell, but it to remain powerful enough to take out his weaker friends. But you also want to be able to do it from a reasonable distance, so you have time to run and hide if it doesn't work. So you take a stanza for a ricochet spell. Then you add the kind of missile you want to send-in this case, let's say an ice blast. Then you fiddle with some other settings to have it set to maximum range. Then....you hope for the best.

Now some might say that this level of detail is just overwhelming. And, to be sure, this isn't your older sister's MMORPG. There is a kind of steep learning curve. But once you get it, you'll never want to go back to anything else. Because it lets you decide precisely the kind of player you want to be. And it creates a great deal of natural in-game discussion. Players are always having debates over how their action is better than your action. And if you get in on these talks, you'll soon find the conversation drifting away from RYZOM into other things. And you'll have made a friend before you know what was happening.

The attention to detail on the skill advancement side is fully justified by the complexity of the enemies you'll face in battle, and the range of tasks you have before you as a crafter/forager. The sheer number of beasts and NPCs you'll encounter is staggering, and the way you approach them is equally varied. Some attack you immediately. Some won't touch you until you attack them. All respond to different types of attack in different ways, completely succumbing to one type, while fully resisting others. You have to really get to know the game's wildlife to learn how to safely travel around.

On the levels of quality graphics, level advancement, and a rich, interesting environment to explore, RYZOM already has enough in place to be considered in the very top tier of MMORPG. As a functioning "level-grinder", I really doubt you'll find anything better. But is that enough to keep you playing? I think for a lot of people, it will be. RYZOM, though, aspires to be more than that-it wants to be taken seriously as a story-teller-and I think here the game is currently more potential than reality.

The basic storytelling tension in the game is of the political relations between the four main species, and of their adherence to the religions of two opposing groups. Much is made on the game website of the world's deep history, but not a whole lot is currently active in the game. More, surely, has come since January 2005, but still it doesn't really matter to game play if you pay attention to this stuff, as yet. Theoretically the game will receive major updates in the form of "episodes", which are supposed to fundamentally affect the way the world looks. As it is now, the world is, with the exception of the mostly unused gun technology, a very fantasy-oriented world. Also, even the über-powerful characters really don't make much of a difference to the persistent world. They kill a super-powerful character...and it just re-materializes a few minutes later. In the future, however, we're led to believe that the technologically-inclined religious group, the Karavan, might be brought to greater prominence, and the developer's promise that this world that blends science fiction and fantasy might one day be more obvious. Also, there is a long-promised development of "outposts" that should be introduced soon. This will allow a guild to actually capture a spot on the map, and then have to defend it from other players. If the developers manage to bring these changes about, then we might really have a dynamic storyline that players will actually be able to see in-game as obviously evolving. Suddenly, this inaugural year of a more fantasy-based world might come to be seen as a "prologue" of sorts-a "more innocent time"--and the part we've played in its development might form a kind of narrative thread.

But, for now, your enjoyment of a "storyline" amounts to merely reading the game's website and noticing a few things in the environment that have a bit of a connection to some of the things you've read. If you're lucky, you might encounter players who've read the website and are interested in doing some roleplay through the chat system. But, again, none of that matters. About the only thing to have been incorporated into actual gameplay is fame alignment. If, through doing missions, you curry the favor of one of the two religious groups, or one of the major species, you'll get access to other missions. Or maybe you'll be allowed to buy property in that land. Or you'll get a marginally better rate at the local merchant's. Or maybe one of the NPC tribes might resist the urge to attack you on site. Hardly the stuff of captivating legend-or indeed of a consistent one. Oddly, starting fame levels for the various races make little sense, given the website's stated histories.

I tend to think, though, that this dearth of storyline, and maybe even some its internal illogic, is soon to be reversed by the introduction of the game's first separately-boxed expansion, due out in a year or so. R2, or "Ring", is reportedly going to allow players themselves to create whole new persistent areas. Though apparently the development team is going to continue to release its own "episodes" through the patch system, they're taking a different approach to expansion packs by putting a great deal of creative control in the hands of their player base. We'll eventually get the ability to make our own "über-mods" that any other player can access at any time. The announcement of this new product is fairly recent, so specifics are a bit hard to come by. But if it's true that we'll eventually get the power to craft whole areas, maybe RYZOM will finally realize its storytelling potential because we, and not the devs, make it so.

Excellent MMORPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: September 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Regarding the comments on the bugginess where ATI video cards are concerned, it is not Nevrax's fault nor responsibility to create stable video card drivers. It is not that the game does not support the ATI features, it is that the drivers are substandard. If you're using an ATI, be sure you have the latest video BIOS and the latest drivers (preferably ones that are WHQL certified).

I currently run fine using an NVidia card with no display issues whatsoever. I have only crashed out of the beta test once in the last week. There are only minor bugs to be resolved prior to the game going live. The open beta just ended today (9/13).

Regarding the game itself, it is a skill-based advancement with a very deep and diverse skill tree. There are no "classes", which translates to having no limitations on your character. If you want a fighter/mage in heavy armor and duel wield, have at it. If you want a pure crafter, have at it. Game balance appears to be just fine from my perspective. Content (low through high level) is abundant and with over 100 sq. km. to explore, the world is quite large.

Go into the game with an open mind as it is very different than any other MMORPG I've been around, but it is in a good way.

The Sleeping Giant? Possible EQ Killer?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: July 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you've been looking for something outside the usual MMORPG with elves and fairies, this is going to be your game. I played in the beta and it started a little rough, but it's getting better every time I log in. This game has everything people have been begging for.

An actual storyline. They've got 8 years of story planned. 8 YEARS! Considering most MMO stories are "Oh, some orcs decided to invade," this is good stuff.

An original setting. No elves, no orcs, no castles, none of the usual high-fantasy stuff. If you're as sick of fantasy as I am, you'll breathe a sigh of relief. Best part: NO GIANT RATS! OR SEWERS!

Skills, Skills, Skills. It's a classless system. That means whatever you want to do, you do. If you want to sling fireballs and be a wicked swordfighter, go for it. Train in whatever you want. More importantly, you can actually build your own actions and spells.

Devs that care. How many times have we heard the whines, "This should've been in beta longer!"? This time they actually listened! If you read most of the whining, it's "They closed the beta! I can't play for free anymore!"

If you pass over Ryzom for more of the Usual MMO Fantasy, you're doing yourself a grave disservice. This one's going to be the sleeper hit of 2004.

Something to pay attention to...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: September 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have played Ultima Online for over 6 years and didnt think there was a game capable of keeping me excided for more then a few days. I have done Beta on Ryzom and here is a summary:
Pros:
1) Engine Flexibility is extremely high. It is extremely easy to build a unique(!) character; and unique combination of skills.
2) Crafting system just as character flexibility allows for very high distribution of items (i'd guess that there hardly be two items that are truly the same. Different combination of materials and skills provide flexibility i have not seen in other games.
3)There is actually a story line as opposed to just online world that is just "is". The story line is promising yet cant speak for it as it was shut down during beta (why would anyone want to reveal it prior to GA?)

Cons:
1) As every other company Nevrax is stock oriented, hence the release a bit sooner then it should have been (say another 2 months for bug fixes)
2) Flexibility of characters, items and evolution within the game is a great potential, and it could be it is biggest turn down I'm a bit sceptical on proper balance of things (i.e. fighers, mages, harvesters, craftsman) - it will take a lot of balancing on the developers part to get it right.

Opinion:
Dev team seems to know what it is doing (much more then i can say for Origin Systems Inc. - Ulitma Online) those guys spent over 6 years fixing things and still didn't get it right.

If you like online game play with other then pure 'shoot them' categories - give this one a try. It seems to be worth it and, i think, it would take a real genius to screw this thing up.
Someone above posted a comparison to Horizons - i have tried that and Horizons needed another year in ALPHA when they went release - this game needed another 2 months until 'done for now' statement.

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