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Can't wait...playing the beta test.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 19
Date: November 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'm playing in the Shadowbane beta test and it's great fun. A lot of hard core gamers, too! They're pushing the envelope with game features I've wanted for quite some time. ...When can I pre-order it on Amazon.com?!

This game is worth your time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: November 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It finally released and i must say it is very good. It is vastly different than any game out there and the graphics are much better than some would make them out to be. There are many classes and disciplines and an attribute system so it is near imp0ssible to run into a twin. This is a good game but if you don't like pvp then it won't be the game for you.

My 2 copper pieces worth

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 17
Date: December 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First don't know how somoene can give an honest review of a game thats yet to be released. But Wolfpack studios is striving to make an on-line game thats more than just mob or player bashing, uber loot camping or reliance on just player to player interaction to drive a game.
(which is just what EQ, Anarchy, DAoC and all the other so called great online games are realy all about)

If they pull off the basics of the games foundations, who cares if its running state of the art graphics or sound or not. Point is on a game is balanced playability. Looks can be adjusted over time, not core game system (all thats played online games know how much tweaking and nurfing mechanical systems of existing online games has ruined those games)

So I give SB a 5 simpley because they arn't going to fit the online game mold Sony and Microsoft set.

BTW there has been a post by one of the wolfpack team that they are striving to meet the feb release. I for one would rather have a game takes 6 years to make and it works then a game developed in a year thats [garbage] because a publisher demanded a release date.

Just got into beta, and... WOW

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 30
Date: December 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Like the titel say, I got into beta for Shadowbane. The play versus player system, which is actually a guild versus guild and kingdom versus kingdom system, is totally well thought through. It goes beyond the expectations of EverQuest or Asheron's Call 2. EverQuest and AC2 have an incredibly limited guild versus guilds sytem, where as Shadowbane's is very open and you can actually siege other guilds castles.

Some people say that the graphics are terrible. You just haven't taken the time to look at new screenshots with the updated graphics. With my system, 2.26GHZ, 512MB of Rambus... it actually looks better than Dark Age of Camelot and EverQuest: Planes of Power.

There is one downside. It has a problem with framerates. It is currently at about 17 per second on my computer. !0 per second on some minimum requirements users. However, that is why we are testing it. It is being revised and fixed, and soon it should get us 20+ frames per second.

I hope this helps.

Supposedly it will be a hyrbid CD

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 15
Date: January 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

According to the official website this game should be released as a hybrid CD that will work with either a Mac or Windows computer.

On-line gaming will cost you a per month fee, but the game comes with one month free.

Given that NWN has dropped the Mac toolset, this game looks like the only option of a decent MMORPG where Mac and Windows people can play together (EQ is coming out for Mac but that will be a Mac-only world).

Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 17
Date: January 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing the game on beta and I've just got to say... My social life is throughly destroyed. :P This game even in its unfinished state has all the addictive properties of EQ, the Graphics of AC2 and the PvP and skills specialazation of DAoC.
I'm totally convinced this game is gonna be a HUGE success and might just finally be the game to Give EQ the competition us gamers have been looking for.
I dont know why people are complaining about the graphics. Of Course there gonna be a little behind on the power curve... Its not released yet people.... All the polish and fine tuned pretty things arent added in yet cause Wolfpack is still working on more important issuses... Like gameplay, items, Quests, PvP. which , I might add, are AWESOME as of this review.
My opinion is this. If you got 40-50 bucks to spend order this game and order it early cause the shelves WILL be bare on relase due to the demand this game will generate. See you in game :)

Not exactly everquest...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 15
Date: February 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing Shadowbane as a beta tester for the last few months. The game play and character progression are good but the lag time is frustrating. Supposedly they will be switching to a better server when the game is actually released but we'll see.

Long time Testers (over a year) and Focus Group member.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 22
Date: March 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Shadowbane is not for those that do not like PvP combat. The game is very much centered on player conflict. Leveling is very fast with only about 40 hours of serious "leveling" to get into the mid 30s to upper 40s. The game has a "soft cap" of 50-60 but there is no real upper level limit. However, unlike MMORPGs out there today, 2 level 30s can and do kill level 50s or 60s. Its not a sure thing mind you but, its POSSIBLE. Levels do not have the monsterous effect they have in other games (and I have tested many from Illusia, M59, UO, AC, EQ, DAoC and more).

However the thing that will be the biggest difference in Shadowbane is that the cities of the world are PLAYER MADE and can be DESTROYED. YOUR GUILD can build and own your own city. ALL players can see your OWN, PERSONALLY DESIGNED CREST when they fight you AND on the world map. You can even own MULTIPLE cities. The only limit is other players and your ability to AFFORD to build that empire. As your towns grow stronger, your shield grows larger on the world map. If it weakens..it grows smaller. And should your town fall to the enemy, the shield disappears or is converted into THIER shield..depending on how they won (you can submit to them to save your town if they let you even..heh).

But, some people won't like that you lose items rather quickly as they wear out...no EQ holding onto them forever. But, items are not overly important either. They help..but, again, like levels, are nice but not nessesary.

If you have trouble getting "ganked" or losing things you have worked long hours to get (like towns)...don't get SB.

If you want a world that YOU can make YOURS. Where YOU drive the game and where there is a very thick, rich lore that the game company will work to further with guilds that have power through GM events and the individual can still find a home too...get it.

UO's Successor

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 33
Date: March 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The leveling treadmill is relatively painless. You can hit close to, or better than, rank 3 in a days time if you are so inclined.

The graphics are satisfactory to me. I consider graphics secondary to gameplay. If all you want is eye candy, look elsewhere.

Frame rate and lag have recently been improved in beta. The only time lag is a problem is in the midst of a large siege, but even then, it is not a game killer.

The PvP is enjoyable. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses in PvP. One on one battles, on average, are well paced and require some strategy. Similar to UO's combat, but with more options. Large-scale battles and sieges are the highlight of Shadowbane.

Though I prefer the skill-based system, Shadowbane's class-based system is decent. Your characters are given a good amount of disciplines and traits to choose from, allowing diversity.

The world is huge. It took me hours to cross the continent with my scout (fastest character in the game along with the Centaurs) in the beta world. The size of the world will be increased when the game is released due to the larger population present and there will be different worlds (on different servers) of similar size, which are all connected.

Monster AI, which is not that important to me since I prefer human opponents, is adequate. None of the creatures are brain surgeons, but they are intelligent enough.

I cannot comment on the diversity of weapons and equipment since they may add items upon release. In beta, the weapon and armor selection is good. Clothes, on the other hand, are lacking. Hopefully they will be adding a vast array of threads, because, Style is Everything.

In my beta experience, there is always a good war going on. Cities were almost constantly being raided, enemies were being harassed as they hunted or traveled, allies would switch sides, Feature Characters (Gamemasters who create characters to start or further RP story lines) make appearances, and other such events happened often.

To me, UO (before being ruined) was the greatest MMORPG ever made. While Shadowbane is different in many ways, it still offers me the closest game to old UO that I will find. With the game going gold, and thousands of new players gaining entrance, Shadowbane has a chance to surpass UO in my eyes.

Warning- if you cannot handle being killed for no reason, do not play. EQers not wanted.

Sloppy

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 26 / 38
Date: March 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Would make a great MUD because of the rich class and skill system. However, it makes a terrible graphical RPG because it appears to built upon a MUD engine, which makes for horrible performance and lag. This is evident of how you see system messages of all the hits of other people in the "room".

They tried to make up for the lag by changing the movement system. You have to click on the ground or map where you want to go, then you have to constantly adjust the camera to find your target. There is no key to move forward or backwards or step sideways or backwards. This makes it very difficult to navigate in doors. You don't want to go inside because you start to have anxiety attacks with not being able to move around freely. The interface is highly customizable, but it takes about 2 days to get everything arranged to where it is usable. It still has problems from there. The immersion experience is completely ruined because you are trying to deal with the interface and not the content of the game.

Graphics are cool because it has a deep view range (which is unusable unless you have 1GB of 1066 RDRAM and a graphics card that doesn't exist) but the performance is poor. 512MB and an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro with 4x AA enabled is minimum requirements. The graphics are very ugly unless you have AA enable. On a GF4, you'll have to turn your graphic settings down to get a decent framerate of 10 fps with 4x AA. The system has a large delay when textures and objects are loading when you zone.

Lag is horrible. There are long pauses in the game where you will be jumped back to where you were 10 minutes before the lag started. You can still move around so it is sometimes hard to tell when you are actually lagged. The system also lags from feeding out all the system messages and chat message.

There PvP engine is questionable since after level 20, you are suddenly a target for attack. They have the ability to group with others to really gain experience points quickly. This is questionable because you get the same experience if you were solo when someone in your group kills someone. So you are always in a huge group, standing around, as other people gain your experience points. There is no point in playing the lower levels when this occurs. You just try to max out your player and wait for PvP action to determine who chose to use their skill points correctly.

I've been searching hard for a new MMORPG, this isn't it. Dark Ages of Camelot seems the most promising of what is out there now, along with the new Star Wars game coming out soon.

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