Someone please defined "Sandbox" and tell me which games you thing are as such. My understanding was that old EQ (sans the current instancing) and current Vanguard were sandbox games.
Sandbox games are games that have multiple avenues of play, which do not interrelate to each other, and are not linear. EQ and VG are not sandbox games, because they have linear questing and leveling, pretty much, although VG does have crafting and diplo, but to me those are really mini-games, because they really lack deep content.
UO and EVE are sandbox games. Neither have set leveling paths or set leveling quests. You can mix and match skills, be a little of this and a little of that. You can't do that in non-sandbox games like ... well any level based game really. SWG is a sandbox game.
nethervoid - Est. '97 [UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1 20k+ subs YouTube Gaming channel
Originally posted by nethervoid Originally posted by Arclan Someone please defined "Sandbox" and tell me which games you thing are as such. My understanding was that old EQ (sans the current instancing) and current Vanguard were sandbox games.
Sandbox games are games that have multiple avenues of play, which do not interrelate to each other, and are not linear. EQ and VG are not sandbox games, because they have linear questing and leveling, pretty much, although VG does have crafting and diplo, but to me those are really mini-games, because they really lack deep content. UO and EVE are sandbox games. Neither have set leveling paths or set leveling quests. You can mix and match skills, be a little of this and a little of that. You can't do that in non-sandbox games like ... well any level based game really. SWG is a sandbox game.
I have to scratch the holy cow a bit: If EVE is so sandboxy, then why are there so many people with multiple accounts in this game? --- to the "instance"-discussion: I think, we just want a good illusion of a big, living virtual world. No matter what is running beyound our views. If loadingtimes are well hidden, then it is fine with me.
I think someone has alluded to this, but "sandbox" to me is about freedom. The spirit of most barbarian fantasy novels is you have a main character who doesn't have to pay taxes, work a job, or cover a mortgage; he just straps on a two-handed sword, takes a swig of ale, and marches off 200 miles in an arbitrary direction.
For cash, maybe the barbarian pilfers for a while,, maybe he sells his skills as a mercenary, perhaps does a little pirating; but the main theme is "freedom" in a wild and dangerous land.
In MMO's, someone mentioned sandbox games allow for different styles of play: fighting and levelling, crafting, harvesting, just hanging out and talking. It's kind of a "freedom" thing. The dev's don't tell you what to do, rather they just provide you with the environment and turn you loose.
Last and only immersive mmo for me was SWG. There were social and economic aspects to the game, integrated together with the combat aspect that created something more than the sum of its parts. You felt a part of the community. Many times it felt like my avatars were extensions of myself, living a virtual life in an imaginary world, something as a kid I always dreamed about (and still do).
Originally posted by nethervoid Originally posted by Arclan Someone please defined "Sandbox" and tell me which games you thing are as such. My understanding was that old EQ (sans the current instancing) and current Vanguard were sandbox games.
Sandbox games are games that have multiple avenues of play, which do not interrelate to each other, and are not linear. EQ and VG are not sandbox games, because they have linear questing and leveling, pretty much, although VG does have crafting and diplo, but to me those are really mini-games, because they really lack deep content. UO and EVE are sandbox games. Neither have set leveling paths or set leveling quests. You can mix and match skills, be a little of this and a little of that. You can't do that in non-sandbox games like ... well any level based game really. SWG is a sandbox game.
My friend, I beg to differ. Everquest, when I was playing it, was not linear at all. The quests were difficult and rewards were scant so very few people did them. I traveled all over EQ and hunted in various regions. In fact, I could argue that EVE is far more linear than EQ. Most players in Eve do the missions for faction and rewards; I daresay the bulk of rewards in Eve are obtained from those instanced missions. EQ was far more sandbox than EVE.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon. In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
The only real sandbox games on the horizon are Darkfall and Mortal Online, but whether their sun will ever see the light of day is another question altogether.
The last non-instanced MMO made was Vanguard. I think this is testimony to how long it takes to create a non-instanced, sandbox game. I wish two things had gone differently: 1. Microsoft should have kept investing in the project; because still today there are no MMOs to compete with a well-made and distributed Vanguard. 2. Sigil should not have given into the WoW mentality of linear gameplay. Because quest are the ONLY way to make fast xp in Vanguard; everyone does the quests; hence linear. When I look at PoBS and AoC, I see an utterly un-immersive world where you click on portals and are magically ported into rooms that look nothing like the area you just left. Worlds where inivisible walls and facade are standard. Games that cause one to bore in a matter of weeks. It isn't the gameplay; it's the utter lack of immersion.
Umm did you play the game?
1) Vanguard is instanced. There are instances all over, and you tended to freeze for several mins while Chunk.. urr excuse me ZONING (zones of course being nothing but large INSTANCES)
Um... zones are NOT instances? Zones were around a lot earlier than instances, don't try to invent facts to fit your own crazy logic. Instances are small zones that each individual person or group goes into or raid goes into, and no one outside that group will ever see anyone else if they enter the same location. Then there's AoC which has the new kind of instance. Each instance lets 46 people in it before it clones itself.
Zones are part of a large game world, everyone in a zone is always there and you will always be able to see them. Most "zones" are seamless. Dark Age of Camelot had seamless zones. If your computer wasn't crap then Vanguard zones were seamless too. At worse you froze for about 1-2 seconds while one loaded.
My friend, I beg to differ. Everquest, when I was playing it, was not linear at all. The quests were difficult and rewards were scant so very few people did them. I traveled all over EQ and hunted in various regions. In fact, I could argue that EVE is far more linear than EQ. Most players in Eve do the missions for faction and rewards; I daresay the bulk of rewards in Eve are obtained from those instanced missions. EQ was far more sandbox than EVE.
Everquest isn't a sandbox because there's nothing to do but fight mobs. PvE adventuring is all there is to do in that game, hence it can't be a sandbox game. A sandbox is a game where there are lots of different things to do, where you can do those things and never touch the other things the whole game. I guess VG is kinda sandbox. I just don't really like the crafting in that game. Too grindy.
Sandbox examples:
UO: Adventuring, Crafting, Running a shop, Treasure Hunting, Fishing, Factions...
SWG: Mining, Manufacturing, Running a shop, PvP, PvE, Space ship stuff...
EQ: Adventuring...that's it
nethervoid - Est. '97 [UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1 20k+ subs YouTube Gaming channel
It is true that most people in EQ made their living by killing mobs somewhere in the world. However, you could also do a lot of other things; including all of the things you list in UO. The only iffy one is "running a shop." Before the EQ bazaar, plenty of folks ran a shop in the East Commons Tunnel.
You did play EQ, right? It's just probably been a long time. It's about as sandbox as any other game, EXCEPT you could not build structures like you could in UO. I started out in UO, but found it unplayable; but that is a long story.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon. In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
It is true that most people in EQ made their living by killing mobs somewhere in the world. However, you could also do a lot of other things; including all of the things you list in UO. The only iffy one is "running a shop." Before the EQ bazaar, plenty of folks ran a shop in the East Commons Tunnel. You did play EQ, right? It's just probably been a long time. It's about as sandbox as any other game, EXCEPT you could not build structures like you could in UO. I started out in UO, but found it unplayable; but that is a long story.
No you couldn't run a shop. Running a shop is where you actually have a shop, and you put things into the shop that people can come by and buy from you. You have a location on the map, and you gain or lose clients based on location, reputation, and salesmanship. Standing around spamming trade (or ooc for EQ) is not running a shop. In UO even how you presented your wares set you apart from the competition. It was more like running a ... smithy, lets say than any other game since, even SWG.
You couldn't treasure hunt. Treasure hunting required a treasure map to drop from a monster, which real treasure hunters just bought from adventurers. Treasure hunters required a completely different set of skills from that of an adventurer, two of which were lockpicking and cartography, which would be pointless on an adventuring character. A treasure hunter was specialized. All they did was run treasure maps.
There's no factional warfare in EQ where you could take over towns and collect tax from sales in that town, etc. Nothing near that in EQ.
You can't place a castle or tower in EQ as a guild, and then have to defend it from a rival guild bent on PKing you until you quit.
You couldn't even mine or gather anything for crafting in EQ. Everything was driven off of monster loot.
You can't sail a ship in EQ and upon finding another ship, make them pay tribute or you would kill them and board their ship, taking it for yourself. Piracy. hehe
EQ was completely linear. It's actually a lot like WoW, except WoW actually has a LOT more things to do than EQ does (better crafting, arena, battlegrounds, so many more quests its funny EQ has quest in its name). The only thing EQ did was adventuring. Monster killing. It did have some quests, but they were very few and far between, and most of them weren't worth doing because the good loot were almost exclusively mob dropped. That's not to say the monster bashing wasn't the best I've ever played, but that's all it had.
I played EQ for a year and a half from gold till just before Kunark. I created and ran a guild at that time. Then I came back during PoP/GoD where I created and ran a progression guild (we worked through level-specific content like Tower of Frozen Shadow). I left for awhile then returned a third time during DoDN/PoS where I reformed my old guild into a casual raid guild hitting mainly Luclin/PoP stuff.
EQ is probably the least sandbox MMO I've ever played, besides maybe Planetside. ... I'm trying to think of a more linear MMO I've played, and I can't think of one.
nethervoid - Est. '97 [UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1 20k+ subs YouTube Gaming channel
Mining, PvP and the ability to create a house or PVP structure makes a game sandbox and non-linear? Your opinion is duly noted. I'm glad you love UO; I found it mindlessly boring and horrendously laggy. But these are mere opinions.
Saying EQ1 upon launch was linear is not an opinion; its an outright lie; and a silly one at that.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon. In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
Umm did you play the game? 1) Vanguard is instanced. There are instances all over, and you tended to freeze for several mins while Chunk.. urr excuse me ZONING (zones of course being nothing but large INSTANCES)
Zones and instances are not the same thing. The terminology is not interchangeable.
You are correct sir.Instances are nothing more than a map created and you would zone into it through some means.
Describing zones is a little tough for some people to understand,unless you ever worked with any game engines.This game uses an unreal engine wich is arguebly the best out there for heavy and fast modding,that is why so many choose to use it.This engine like i am sure many can do,allows the map designer to put in invisible ZONE barriers,so that you can break up a VERY high poly map so that it is playable and not total graphic lag.This is perhaps why so many like to use the term chunk loading.
The thing i laugh at is all the people who continue to flame the chunk loading.This is what will happen to EVERY game out there if they try to use a ton of content in a map.This is exactly why microsoft designed DX10,so that the graphic headroom of machines could be overcome and we could have giant sized maps with tons of high poly content.Problem is games havn't utilized DX10 yet or duo/quad cores or made any good drivers for it.
I know the unreal engine allows you to check your work and after some testing they would know the threshold they could allow for each zone without getting into lag.I will not question there skills as i am sure they checked the POLY count of there maps and zoned them properly.
I might also add i played on day 1 release,and even the chunking i did not find THAT bad at all.I also fell through the world ,when i was in the water in a couple places,but other than that ,the game was awesome.Falling through the world is a very simple mistake made by the mapper,whereby he misaligned something in his WATER zone[overlapped two zones possibly].I don't know there internal workings on who tests there maps and if enough testing was ever done,this is perhaps where they failed.
Once again i have to laugh at all the "BRAD" flamers.He was the designer NOT the game coder or builder.Was the design a failure?RFLMAO the game is the EXACT copy of every MMORPG out there,but with added features/content and higher end graphics.The ONLY and i mean ONLY problems this game ever had was in the mapping flaws.The chunking HAS to happen,how else is it going to load everything?Zones be it zone in a zone or into another map will always take time to load,most games just totally take you out of the map and load another.These guys tried to keep you in the same map using the invisible zones,that is a great design NOT a failure.
Look at how often you see people on the forums asking for a non instance game?or a one large world game with no zones.Then after they get a BETTER attempt at this ,they flame the designer ....lol.
Oh BTW,MICROSOFT didn't pull out on this game,they were nothing but a potential publisher.I am positive that SIGIL decided microsoft was going to cost them too much to publish it and would rather do it themselves.I believe this the case because it was VERY obvious they were hurting for money as to why the rushed release.No biggie, i don't think many have seen microsoft as a giant in the publishing ranks.How often do you even see them market there games?Not nearly as much as other games.I think the most marketing i ever saw in a microsoft game was with there FLIGHT SIMULATOR.
This game is as good as ANY out there with the exact same content ,sometimes more.There only flaw?not enough players for such a huge world,that is too bad the game really is good.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Anyone who thought they could love VG but was completely frustrated by the bugs and horrible performance should come back and try it again now. I had worse performance than many in this game and was literally ripping my hair out over the non-stop bugs... and I just came back and it's a completely different game now. I am running completely smooth on it's highest settings (my FPS do drop some in towns though) and can't beleieve how great the gameplay is now. The world is gigantic, non-instanced, horses at level 10, flying mounts later, player owned boats, houses, intense crafting system, lots of quests and mobs, great scenery and ambiance.
I truly recommend this to anyone who left due to performance issues or content issues.
Nice to hear vanguard is going better. I played thru late beta until it became too damn choppy to move and all my friends left. Then when I came back i hoped it woul dbe better but it didn't take me long to leave again..same crapola. Not too interested in getting my hopes up over that game...I suspect I'll stick to lotro for the time being...it may , however, be approaching time for a return visit to Daoc and/or WoW since gaming isn't wowing me lately and at least with Daoc and WoW there was enuff fun parts to make it worth spending a few months trying to not get too upset over all the still broken crap i will find.
If you are after a slower paced, no pressure to level, no instance (except APW raid dungeon which has overflow shards). A game which gives you total freedom to go where you choose, loads of massive immersive dungeons to explore. If you want to own your own non instance house, sail your own boat which are made by the player's own hands. Would you like to own a flying mount or rent one when you choose with no level restrictions.
If you are after a slower paced, no pressure to level, no instance (except APW raid dungeon which has overflow shards). A game which gives you total freedom to go where you choose, loads of massive immersive dungeons to explore. If you want to own your own non instance house, sail your own boat which are made by the player's own hands. Would you like to own a flying mount or rent one when you choose with no level restrictions. If you answer yes, Vanguard is the game for you.
Sounds like you should work for sony cuz I suddenly have the urge to say sure i'll try it.
If you are after a slower paced, no pressure to level, no instance (except APW raid dungeon which has overflow shards). A game which gives you total freedom to go where you choose, loads of massive immersive dungeons to explore. If you want to own your own non instance house, sail your own boat which are made by the player's own hands. Would you like to own a flying mount or rent one when you choose with no level restrictions. If you answer yes, Vanguard is the game for you.
Sounds like you should work for sony cuz I suddenly have the urge to say sure i'll try it.
I will admit it does have it's faults. There's still s few broken quests. A few minor bugs still, but nothing IMHO game breaking. It can be a bit lonely in the early levels due to the size of the game world and all of the starter zones spread out, but things get better has you reach the mid to high teens. There have introduced riftways to make traveling to groups less tedious if you are like me that prefers to go on a dungeon crawl instead of following linear quest paths. Content is slow in coming due to the size of the dev team. I think SOE are waiting for the subs to increase before they commit more resources. Lastly the PvP server is in bad shape, if PvP is your game I would pass on VG for the time being.
I thought it was only fair to list the bad after listing VG's good points.
If you are after a slower paced, no pressure to level, no instance (except APW raid dungeon which has overflow shards). A game which gives you total freedom to go where you choose, loads of massive immersive dungeons to explore. If you want to own your own non instance house, sail your own boat which are made by the player's own hands. Would you like to own a flying mount or rent one when you choose with no level restrictions. If you answer yes, Vanguard is the game for you.
Sounds like you should work for sony cuz I suddenly have the urge to say sure i'll try it.
It's a pretty good game. The one thing that will make it or break it for you IMO is if you can choose NOT to powerlevel to end game. The real beauty of the game is in seeing so many different places and stuff like that, and also there are quests for just about everywhere.
nethervoid - Est. '97 [UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1 20k+ subs YouTube Gaming channel
Comments
Sandbox games are games that have multiple avenues of play, which do not interrelate to each other, and are not linear. EQ and VG are not sandbox games, because they have linear questing and leveling, pretty much, although VG does have crafting and diplo, but to me those are really mini-games, because they really lack deep content.
UO and EVE are sandbox games. Neither have set leveling paths or set leveling quests. You can mix and match skills, be a little of this and a little of that. You can't do that in non-sandbox games like ... well any level based game really. SWG is a sandbox game.
nethervoid - Est. '97
[UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1
20k+ subs YouTube Gaming channel
UO and EVE are sandbox games. Neither have set leveling paths or set leveling quests. You can mix and match skills, be a little of this and a little of that. You can't do that in non-sandbox games like ... well any level based game really. SWG is a sandbox game.
I have to scratch the holy cow a bit:
If EVE is so sandboxy, then why are there so many people with multiple accounts in this game?
---
to the "instance"-discussion:
I think, we just want a good illusion of a big, living virtual world. No matter what is running beyound our views. If loadingtimes are well hidden, then it is fine with me.
I think someone has alluded to this, but "sandbox" to me is about freedom. The spirit of most barbarian fantasy novels is you have a main character who doesn't have to pay taxes, work a job, or cover a mortgage; he just straps on a two-handed sword, takes a swig of ale, and marches off 200 miles in an arbitrary direction.
For cash, maybe the barbarian pilfers for a while,, maybe he sells his skills as a mercenary, perhaps does a little pirating; but the main theme is "freedom" in a wild and dangerous land.
In MMO's, someone mentioned sandbox games allow for different styles of play: fighting and levelling, crafting, harvesting, just hanging out and talking. It's kind of a "freedom" thing. The dev's don't tell you what to do, rather they just provide you with the environment and turn you loose.
Last and only immersive mmo for me was SWG. There were social and economic aspects to the game, integrated together with the combat aspect that created something more than the sum of its parts. You felt a part of the community. Many times it felt like my avatars were extensions of myself, living a virtual life in an imaginary world, something as a kid I always dreamed about (and still do).
UO and EVE are sandbox games. Neither have set leveling paths or set leveling quests. You can mix and match skills, be a little of this and a little of that. You can't do that in non-sandbox games like ... well any level based game really. SWG is a sandbox game.
My friend, I beg to differ. Everquest, when I was playing it, was not linear at all. The quests were difficult and rewards were scant so very few people did them. I traveled all over EQ and hunted in various regions. In fact, I could argue that EVE is far more linear than EQ. Most players in Eve do the missions for faction and rewards; I daresay the bulk of rewards in Eve are obtained from those instanced missions. EQ was far more sandbox than EVE.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
The only real sandbox games on the horizon are Darkfall and Mortal Online, but whether their sun will ever see the light of day is another question altogether.
Umm did you play the game?
1) Vanguard is instanced. There are instances all over, and you tended to freeze for several mins while Chunk.. urr excuse me ZONING (zones of course being nothing but large INSTANCES)
Um... zones are NOT instances? Zones were around a lot earlier than instances, don't try to invent facts to fit your own crazy logic. Instances are small zones that each individual person or group goes into or raid goes into, and no one outside that group will ever see anyone else if they enter the same location. Then there's AoC which has the new kind of instance. Each instance lets 46 people in it before it clones itself.Zones are part of a large game world, everyone in a zone is always there and you will always be able to see them. Most "zones" are seamless. Dark Age of Camelot had seamless zones. If your computer wasn't crap then Vanguard zones were seamless too. At worse you froze for about 1-2 seconds while one loaded.
Darkfall Travelogues!
I'm lvl 21 in VG, and haven't see one instance. Dunno, what that guy is talking about.
Anyways, so far I feel it is the most immersive, since DAoC. However, I still find it boring to solo all the time.
That's because there aren't any, the person who posted that is just really stupid.
Darkfall Travelogues!
Everquest isn't a sandbox because there's nothing to do but fight mobs. PvE adventuring is all there is to do in that game, hence it can't be a sandbox game. A sandbox is a game where there are lots of different things to do, where you can do those things and never touch the other things the whole game. I guess VG is kinda sandbox. I just don't really like the crafting in that game. Too grindy.
Sandbox examples:
UO: Adventuring, Crafting, Running a shop, Treasure Hunting, Fishing, Factions...
EVE: Mining, Manufacturing, Stock market trading, Empire building, Mission grinding...
SWG: Mining, Manufacturing, Running a shop, PvP, PvE, Space ship stuff...
EQ: Adventuring...that's it
nethervoid - Est. '97
[UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1
20k+ subs YouTube Gaming channel
It is true that most people in EQ made their living by killing mobs somewhere in the world. However, you could also do a lot of other things; including all of the things you list in UO. The only iffy one is "running a shop." Before the EQ bazaar, plenty of folks ran a shop in the East Commons Tunnel.
You did play EQ, right? It's just probably been a long time. It's about as sandbox as any other game, EXCEPT you could not build structures like you could in UO. I started out in UO, but found it unplayable; but that is a long story.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
No you couldn't run a shop. Running a shop is where you actually have a shop, and you put things into the shop that people can come by and buy from you. You have a location on the map, and you gain or lose clients based on location, reputation, and salesmanship. Standing around spamming trade (or ooc for EQ) is not running a shop. In UO even how you presented your wares set you apart from the competition. It was more like running a ... smithy, lets say than any other game since, even SWG.
You couldn't treasure hunt. Treasure hunting required a treasure map to drop from a monster, which real treasure hunters just bought from adventurers. Treasure hunters required a completely different set of skills from that of an adventurer, two of which were lockpicking and cartography, which would be pointless on an adventuring character. A treasure hunter was specialized. All they did was run treasure maps.
There's no factional warfare in EQ where you could take over towns and collect tax from sales in that town, etc. Nothing near that in EQ.
You can't place a castle or tower in EQ as a guild, and then have to defend it from a rival guild bent on PKing you until you quit.
You couldn't even mine or gather anything for crafting in EQ. Everything was driven off of monster loot.
You can't sail a ship in EQ and upon finding another ship, make them pay tribute or you would kill them and board their ship, taking it for yourself. Piracy. hehe
EQ was completely linear. It's actually a lot like WoW, except WoW actually has a LOT more things to do than EQ does (better crafting, arena, battlegrounds, so many more quests its funny EQ has quest in its name). The only thing EQ did was adventuring. Monster killing. It did have some quests, but they were very few and far between, and most of them weren't worth doing because the good loot were almost exclusively mob dropped. That's not to say the monster bashing wasn't the best I've ever played, but that's all it had.
I played EQ for a year and a half from gold till just before Kunark. I created and ran a guild at that time. Then I came back during PoP/GoD where I created and ran a progression guild (we worked through level-specific content like Tower of Frozen Shadow). I left for awhile then returned a third time during DoDN/PoS where I reformed my old guild into a casual raid guild hitting mainly Luclin/PoP stuff.
EQ is probably the least sandbox MMO I've ever played, besides maybe Planetside. ... I'm trying to think of a more linear MMO I've played, and I can't think of one.
nethervoid - Est. '97
[UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1
20k+ subs YouTube Gaming channel
Mining, PvP and the ability to create a house or PVP structure makes a game sandbox and non-linear? Your opinion is duly noted. I'm glad you love UO; I found it mindlessly boring and horrendously laggy. But these are mere opinions.
Saying EQ1 upon launch was linear is not an opinion; its an outright lie; and a silly one at that.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
I have to agree Vanguard is nice..
Zones and instances are not the same thing. The terminology is not interchangeable.
You are correct sir.Instances are nothing more than a map created and you would zone into it through some means.Describing zones is a little tough for some people to understand,unless you ever worked with any game engines.This game uses an unreal engine wich is arguebly the best out there for heavy and fast modding,that is why so many choose to use it.This engine like i am sure many can do,allows the map designer to put in invisible ZONE barriers,so that you can break up a VERY high poly map so that it is playable and not total graphic lag.This is perhaps why so many like to use the term chunk loading.
The thing i laugh at is all the people who continue to flame the chunk loading.This is what will happen to EVERY game out there if they try to use a ton of content in a map.This is exactly why microsoft designed DX10,so that the graphic headroom of machines could be overcome and we could have giant sized maps with tons of high poly content.Problem is games havn't utilized DX10 yet or duo/quad cores or made any good drivers for it.
I know the unreal engine allows you to check your work and after some testing they would know the threshold they could allow for each zone without getting into lag.I will not question there skills as i am sure they checked the POLY count of there maps and zoned them properly.
I might also add i played on day 1 release,and even the chunking i did not find THAT bad at all.I also fell through the world ,when i was in the water in a couple places,but other than that ,the game was awesome.Falling through the world is a very simple mistake made by the mapper,whereby he misaligned something in his WATER zone[overlapped two zones possibly].I don't know there internal workings on who tests there maps and if enough testing was ever done,this is perhaps where they failed.
Once again i have to laugh at all the "BRAD" flamers.He was the designer NOT the game coder or builder.Was the design a failure?RFLMAO the game is the EXACT copy of every MMORPG out there,but with added features/content and higher end graphics.The ONLY and i mean ONLY problems this game ever had was in the mapping flaws.The chunking HAS to happen,how else is it going to load everything?Zones be it zone in a zone or into another map will always take time to load,most games just totally take you out of the map and load another.These guys tried to keep you in the same map using the invisible zones,that is a great design NOT a failure.
Look at how often you see people on the forums asking for a non instance game?or a one large world game with no zones.Then after they get a BETTER attempt at this ,they flame the designer ....lol.
Oh BTW,MICROSOFT didn't pull out on this game,they were nothing but a potential publisher.I am positive that SIGIL decided microsoft was going to cost them too much to publish it and would rather do it themselves.I believe this the case because it was VERY obvious they were hurting for money as to why the rushed release.No biggie, i don't think many have seen microsoft as a giant in the publishing ranks.How often do you even see them market there games?Not nearly as much as other games.I think the most marketing i ever saw in a microsoft game was with there FLIGHT SIMULATOR.
This game is as good as ANY out there with the exact same content ,sometimes more.There only flaw?not enough players for such a huge world,that is too bad the game really is good.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Anyone who thought they could love VG but was completely frustrated by the bugs and horrible performance should come back and try it again now. I had worse performance than many in this game and was literally ripping my hair out over the non-stop bugs... and I just came back and it's a completely different game now. I am running completely smooth on it's highest settings (my FPS do drop some in towns though) and can't beleieve how great the gameplay is now. The world is gigantic, non-instanced, horses at level 10, flying mounts later, player owned boats, houses, intense crafting system, lots of quests and mobs, great scenery and ambiance.
I truly recommend this to anyone who left due to performance issues or content issues.
Nice to hear vanguard is going better. I played thru late beta until it became too damn choppy to move and all my friends left. Then when I came back i hoped it woul dbe better but it didn't take me long to leave again..same crapola. Not too interested in getting my hopes up over that game...I suspect I'll stick to lotro for the time being...it may , however, be approaching time for a return visit to Daoc and/or WoW since gaming isn't wowing me lately and at least with Daoc and WoW there was enuff fun parts to make it worth spending a few months trying to not get too upset over all the still broken crap i will find.
If you are after a slower paced, no pressure to level, no instance (except APW raid dungeon which has overflow shards). A game which gives you total freedom to go where you choose, loads of massive immersive dungeons to explore. If you want to own your own non instance house, sail your own boat which are made by the player's own hands. Would you like to own a flying mount or rent one when you choose with no level restrictions.
If you answer yes, Vanguard is the game for you.
Sounds like you should work for sony cuz I suddenly have the urge to say sure i'll try it.
Sounds like you should work for sony cuz I suddenly have the urge to say sure i'll try it.
I will admit it does have it's faults. There's still s few broken quests. A few minor bugs still, but nothing IMHO game breaking. It can be a bit lonely in the early levels due to the size of the game world and all of the starter zones spread out, but things get better has you reach the mid to high teens. There have introduced riftways to make traveling to groups less tedious if you are like me that prefers to go on a dungeon crawl instead of following linear quest paths. Content is slow in coming due to the size of the dev team. I think SOE are waiting for the subs to increase before they commit more resources. Lastly the PvP server is in bad shape, if PvP is your game I would pass on VG for the time being.
I thought it was only fair to list the bad after listing VG's good points.
Sounds like you should work for sony cuz I suddenly have the urge to say sure i'll try it.
It's a pretty good game. The one thing that will make it or break it for you IMO is if you can choose NOT to powerlevel to end game. The real beauty of the game is in seeing so many different places and stuff like that, and also there are quests for just about everywhere.
nethervoid - Est. '97
[UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1
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