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This Doesn't Feel Like the Game I've Seen Hyped
Apocamentus
Member UncommonPosts: 142
Hi All,
Some Background on My Game Hunting (skip if it's tl;dr)
As usual I've been on my endless quest to find a sandbox/open world/"good" MMO like most others on this forum. Out of the limited selection of modern games of this class, I'd say the top ones that I've tried are Runescape, Wurm Online or Fallen Earth.
I haven't tried Runescape in a while now but the devs seem to be making it more and more WoW-like as the days go by. That's put me off going back, but I might give the oldschool mode a try that was recently released.
Wurm seems great. I haven't put enough effort into it yet. Right now I just don't feel like I have the time time available right now to play it (an hour every couple of days).
Fallen Earth was my top choice for a game to go back to, but unfortunately the game doesn't recognise my graphics card so will only run on my crappy integrated graphics; this is really a deal-breaker for me.
Because of all this I thought I'd give EVE a try (I've tried to get into it a couple of times before, but lost interest) -- it really seemed like the only modern game left that fit the bill.
Then I heard more and more about Age of Wushu
Issues with This Game
Everyone who seemed to be into the same types of games as me (see above) seemed to be bigging up this game. That it was completely different to the current games, that it had many sandbox elements etc. So I went ahead and DLed it.
I've been playing for about 4 hours now and so far my time has consisted of
- Going from one boring quest objective to the next (that are all exactly marked out for you so requires 0 cognitive ability).
- Only being able to pick one crafting skill (and all the gathering skills are essentially exactly the same gameplay mechanic)
- Being pigeon-hold into a class - apparently I'm a dual-wielder and don't seem to be changing any time soon.
- The combat tutorial seemed promising in terms of different styles of tactical combat, e.g. blocking, feinting etc. But in reality I can win any fight with ease just by pressing the skills in my skill bar in the same order for every fight.
- Teleported around
- There seems to be no community. I've tried talking to some people and received no response.
Playing: Xsyon.
Played:
Tried: Ultima Online, Everquest 2, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Flyff, Perfect World, Silkroad Online, EVE Online, Ryzom.
Comments
I can tell you aren't very far into the game, which is why you probably don't think it's the game you expected it to be. I'll admit it now, the beginning sucks - bad.
If you are going from one quest to another, you are probably mired in the tutorial which shouldn't last more than a couple of hours. There's virtually no questing (as normally defined) in the game at all. It's mostly event based.
One crafting skill forces interaction with players. This is the basis of the game. You can create alts if you want to be fully independent (time consuming).
If there's anything about this game it's that you are NOT pigeonholed into anything. Every school has 3 (current) primary styles. You can learn any skill in the game via script stealing (advanced gameplay). If you just joined a school, you probably aren't far enough in the game to get the other 2 styles. I'm a lotus palm beggar, but I also have full sets of corrosion palm, eagle claw, demon heart chain, mantis, wind chasing blade and I'm working on sunset sword. Including my full beggar sets I could be rocking up to 8 different martial sets (that's about 45 different skills). Granted, I'm a top level player, in the top 10 of my sect.
You clearly aren't fighting people that know much about the game. If you want an example of how a good player will crush people that spam, just watch a top tier player fight against Leisure Kicks.
I was the headmaster of the beggar sect on BD until I had to do real life things. I'm always available to help.
it sounds like you played the tutorial and quit.
makes sense considering that is the absolute worst part about this game.
all of those things you seem to want in a game are here in Age of Wushu, but you have to wade through quite a bit of crap to get to it.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, this is the only decent game of its type out right now aside from maybe EVE Online and I personally don't enjoy playing spaceships.
The things you say aren't really indicative of this game though, those things you are mentioning in your post are pretty much not really relevant to the game once one has gone beyond the "learning the game" phase.
- If you don't like going from one boring quest to the next then once you are done with the tutorial experience don't do any more quests. You say you like sandboxes, go play in the sand.
- This is my personal favorite crafting system out of any game i've played since Ultima Online. You do only get one main profession per character. If thats a deal breaker then it is what it is.
- There is no pigeon-holing, all characters and schools can learn ALL skills and weapons styles. But yes, your 4 hour old character most likely only knows one weapon style and it may be a while before that changes.
- You won't win many pvp fights by hitting your rotation. PVE can be formulaic. This is standard to most MMORPGs but I can see how you dislike formulaic gameplay.
- dunno about the teleporting, never happens to me
- Join a guild. That can help. Otherwise it is what it is, this game doesn't have the largest playerbase.
Old school french hardcore whiner. Online since T4C.
I was "Namless" and "Daroot" in AO (Rk2)
Been known as "Vindicar" (Aion (EU), SWTOR (EU), WoW (EU).
Recently Known as "Wundicar" and "Wundee" in Age of Wushu (US) and Wulin (EU)
Franky Rivera Reyes , From the Reyes Brotherhood (Star Citizen)
yeah bro you gotta walk before you fly
"I've been playing for about 4 hours now and so far my time has consisted of..."
The first 4-6 hours is all the questing you will do for the next couple months. Yeah, pretty boring unless you immerse yourself in the story.
Once you are done with the tutorial, never touch a quest again. Go out into the world and do your thing. Where most games make you quest to cap, and start "endgame" AoW makes you quest for 4 hours or so in order to get background on the dangerous world you just entered.
Good luck to you OP
Ask question in school chat. It will help you a lot.
edit- It's not hype your reading. You are reading personal stories by gamers
I'll try to cut into this point by point.
1. 4 hours is not long enough to judge anything. Food takes 10 hours to pass from mouth to arse, and until then you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into. So hang in there.
2. As already stated, you are in the tutorial mode. Cherish these moments and read and understand everything that's going on because when it's over, its over, and suddenly you will find yourself with no idea what you should do next. The tutorial is your compass.
3. One crafting skill can require up to three gathering skills. Inventory space is limited and bags are not permanent (meaning that they wear and tear and need to replaced over time, actually in a shorter time span than I really care for to be honest). This means that the moment you click into being whatever crafter you are going to be, you are suddenly in a maintenance situation that's going to require to you A. Stay fed (everybody's problem but the Chef), and B. Keep bags on you.
Between that, working on your levels in each of these skills (your main crafting skill and your 1-3 gathering skills), and selling in order to make unbound money in order to buy those things that your craftsmanship doesn't provide (not to mention shopping around for a good price because the Vietnamese dudes are not playing around at all when it comes to money), you will be crying and thanking Buddha that the crafting and gathering skills aren't more complicated than they are.
4. As already stated, picking a school is not picking a class. Picking a school is picking a theology. One can pick a school and go rogue in both belief and skill-set. Right now half the server doesn't realize that they are losing emotional capital with the NPC's because they are grouping with schools that go against their schools fundamental beliefs. That is your choice though, and no one really knows if that choice won't, in the long run, take you somewhere completely different than the choice to be fundamental might take you. (A lot of people are going to find out though).
5. Fighting PVE doesn't get hairy until you go into an instance (don't quote me on that though because I really have no idea LOL). Once inside an instance you will actually begin to "feel" what is more effective and what is not. Fighting PVP is completely rock paper scissors, only not like any of the tutorials really explain it. What is actually going on there is exactly what is going on in the kung-fu movies. You have to figure out which style is more effective against which style. Again, like crafting, once you realize how many styles you are going to have to identify just by their moves, and how many different ones you are going to have to counter those styles, you will be all up in Buddha's face again with the crying and praying thanks.
6. The world is freaking HUGE. Next time you are in game open up your map, hit the next level button and then hit the next level button again. Hold down your right mouse button and drag it around. Those are "regions", each as big as the one you started in of which your village was only a small portion of. By now Buddha is probably getting tired of seeing your face as you thank him for the three or four teleport spots that you began the game with.
7. The community is in your school tab. No one has time to talk to each other out loud, face to face because they are either in that tab or in their guild tab. If you want to get someone's attention personally, send them an instant message. But even then don't count on a fast response because the gold sellers clutter up peoples nearby chat and their instant message chat with ads for selling gold, and if you don't know how to blacklist them out of your nearby or turn on your auto response in your IM, it is hard to differentiate when someone is actually talking to you or if it is a goldspam. Not to mention that in a crowded marketplace, all of the people running stalls will big spamming their stall messages (also part of the atmosphere of the game).
Finally, as far as this vs Eve goes. Eve is massive. I will never say one bad thing about that game. But if you couldn't make it out of the woods to the beach on this game before coming here to complain about it, then Eve has way more sand than you are even capable of fathoming.
This is a good place for sandboxers who still like to fight with swords. Eve is about turning on Eve radio, hooking up with some deeply disturbed and obsessed people (and I use those terms most endearingly) and really getting lost in a galaxy where isk is god and loss is real.
AOW is not far off of that, but at least you can pretend to be a sandboxer there longer.
The main difference between the two? Maintenance.
Eve doesn't allow you to progress without playing but it doesn't penalize you for not playing. AOW's limits on bag time, need to eat, and need to either be a paying customer to cultivate while offline, or to be constantly online if you are a free customer means that you start the game off, much like in life, at a negative, and that you must play it and do things to keep those negatives from becoming your permanent state.
Want to take a month off and then come back and catch up with your friends? You can do that, but you will either be spending out the yang to catch them in cultivation or remain weaker than them for the rest of your game lives. That's how real it gets.
You can't even keep a guild going without some form of maintenance. The time of the "guild of one" is gone. If you don't get at least 4 people (or is it 5) to respond to your guild it will dissolve in three days and you have to pay to get it back, that is if someone else doesn't steal the name. During that time you can take part in no votes against other guilds, and no guild activites.
That's more information than I've told my guild-mates or anyone in game. But that's what you need to know about the thing that you have only just grazed the surface of, and there is a lot more still that I haven't said.
Again, a blessing in disguise. Man there are a LOT of NPC's in this game, and I couldn't imagine how long it would take to find them the first time alone, not to mention find your way back to them after you'd gone and completed the quest.
You know what the most funny thing about this complaint is though? What game is out there right now that doesn't have this function in it in some kind of way already? Is the difference that in other games they put a dot on the map for you to run to instead? Or is is that little vapor trail that was so cool in EQ2 that made all the UO and EQ1 vets gasp at the /easymode?
It's obvious that I play and like the game, but comments like this one kind of irk me because they force me into the position of fanboy through their sheer lack of forethought and troll-like nature........oh wait! I see what you did there!
I'll go ahead and tell everyone who thinks they want to download this game to quest.
-- don't bother.
this game is a non-linear sandbox open pvp game. if that isn't your thing you're gonna have a bad time.
Thanks for the advice all!
This is true, and I like to think I've learned my lesson with respect to this over the years. Having said that, I was referring more to the hype I've heard from actual players of the game.
This seems like a common theme I'm seeing with these replies, and for this reason I'm going to stick with it! How many hours in would you say that it starts to pick up.
It's a real shame that this is the case -- I envision many players quitting early because of this.
For me this is a real shame, but I suppose I can see this particular advantage. On the other hand, in Runescape you get access to all the skills and I still had to constantly rely on other players to buy crafted materials off. It turns out that it's just a hell of a lot more efficient to buy materials needed to train one particular skill, rather than getting them all yourself.
I really wish I could do this, but I'm a real perfectionist when it comes to games. Even if it's a task I hate I'll still do it in a game I love in order to fill some psychological need.
This is very reassuring!
This is hard for two reason:
I'd much rather play the decent stuff and read up on how to do things online rather than work my way through a crap tutorial.
I'm pleased to hear that what's on offer will keep me busy. Despite that I still don't see how at least having the choice of multiple crafting skills would be a problem. You could, for example, spend two weeks working on one skill, and the if another skills takes your fancy, start working on that for the next three weeks. I would imagine it would image the issues you mention would only crop up to a significant degree if a player tried to do everything simultaneously.
Good to know, although I'm worried I won't be able to put in the time commitment to get good enough at PVP to make it work it. You never know though...
I wasn't disregarding people's positive comments about the game. I was simply confused that my initial experience of the game didn't match what other players had experienced. I thought it wise to get clarification on this before making a significant time investment in the game.
Thanks for the detailed post -- very helpful.
I'm in agreement with faxnadu. Maybe it is needed due to the overwhelming number of NPCs, but I'd argue that that is simply treating the symptom of a deeper problem. Why not introduce the NPCs at a slower rate?
Just because other games do it this way, doesn't mean it's be "right" way of doing things.
Thanks again for the comments everyone. It's definitely convinced me to stick with this game!
Playing: Xsyon.
Played:
Tried: Ultima Online, Everquest 2, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Flyff, Perfect World, Silkroad Online, EVE Online, Ryzom.
It was never a sandbox, people said it was because sandbox became a buzzword and used it to sell the game. I had the exact same experience in beta with the game.
It left a bad taste in my mouth given I was hoping for a sandbox with time based progression and action packed martial arts combat.
What I got was a lot of auto-pathed quests I hated doing, the realization that combat wasn't very fun and that there was zero point to pve combat, that most of the interesting stuff occurs in the form of mini games that grew old fast, and I hated being forced to choose classes mid game as well as crafting choices...to top it off the combat was clunky, slow, and it didn't really matter what I did I still won, granted I couldn't find any realistic reason to use combat outside of pvp...something that never seemed to occur outside of planned clan pvp.
I watched a pvp video highlighting how great the pvp was and I unistalled if that's what I have to look forward too.
In all honesty... other than the time base...err cash shop based progression...theres nothing that really even relates to a sandbox, im not big on minigame fluff, I don't care that my character walked around town while I was logged off, and the pvp looked dreadful.
The problem is that the game's first hours are spent, allegedly, doing things that don't represent the nature of the rest of the gameplay.
The first hours of a game need to capture you. Unfortunately for me, and I'm guessing countless others, despite trying to get in to the game on 4 different occasions, I just couldn't make it through the beginning.
Maybe they will rework the beginning in the future and people like me will give it another shot.
People have to realize the first 2 or 3 days of wushu dont really reflect upon the game it becomes. This is because there is SO much to explain to bring you into the world of wushu, if you aren't familiar with the stories or how it works, you will be totally lost. Even after days of intro stories that take you from newbie to a member of a school, they barely even scratch the surface of all that you need to know to actually master the game.
All that to say, for those who get the first impression that "this isn't what I signed up for", the beginning doesn't accurately represent the actual game itself and the open sandbox world that exists beyond the tutorial.
Like others have said, the tutorial is quite possibly the worst tutorial ever conceived. And to those who complain about auto-pathing quests . . . you really only need to focus on your School's quests until you have learned all three styles. Then you can promptly ignore every other quest in the game if you so choose.
The combat takes a while to build up, you really need more than one set of fighting skills and a handful of flight skills before it really opens up. And when you have your first open world fight flight chase thingy you'll see that you haven't even scratched the surface.
Uninstalled this game after about 10 minutes - took one look at it and saw a vanilla asian grinder.
Also, this game is capped at 60 fps maximum. That alone is enough for an uninstall if you are using a 120hz LCD.
No amount of money will do it for you. You do not have to spen a thing. I spend $9 per month on VIP, nothing else. Time and attention is the fee for Age of Wushu.
If you don't make it past the tutorial, you might feel like some of these guys. If you continue you will have stories every bit as epic as you read, literally everyday something will amaze you.
You'll have to complete the story to get your school's 2nd and 3rd skillsets. While story doesn't really take all that long, you don't have to do that immediately.
You can quickly reach the part where you join a school and get your 1st school inner and 1st skillset. Provided that you like the skillset, you can level the inner a bit to unlock spy missions, script theft events etc. and keep playing like that until you want to return to story for your other skillsets.
"The game I saw hyped" isn't ever really delivered.
That's pretty much what hype means, yes?
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Wow, then the tutorial is the worst possible advertisement for the game, because it drove me away.
I'll give it another shot when it releases here in Europe as Age of Wulin.
This is not the game for you, or anyone else like that. This is a good thing. A great thing in fact. They game is growing everyday, and a steam release is immanent.
Wushu is as much a sandbox as EVE. If Wushu is not neither is EVE.
So please DMK continue to enjoy Defiance, that seems to be more you pace. Leave the hardcore progression to us please
Anyone frequenting the forums knows your level of fanatical praise for this game, but with responses like this and your previous ones laced in almost vomit-inducing praise are likely driving people away from what could be a game they're looking for. Nothing DMKano said was negative in the sense that it was bashing nor untrue. But apparently the slightest hint of negative and you go into passive-aggressive mode to bash someone in your "I'm so clever I said that" method.
As for the game, he was spot on in the fact that majority of people have to be hooked within the first 30 minutes. That goes for EVERYONE. The tutorial should be something to grab your attention immediately, while helping you understand the game's basic mechanics. No one is going to torture themselves trying to wade through a pile of dung and razorblades to get to the rainbows and sunshine on the other side, save maybe masochists.
I wanted to like AoW and I gave it about an hour or so before I literally couldn't stand forcing myself to continue. A complex game like this needs to open up slowly and hook the player with small, meaningful attributes early or they're going to just become overwhelmed (EVE had to redo their tutorial, numerous times, before it was actually comprehensive and allowed players to LEARN the basics while being fun and engaging). The original EVE tutorial was garbage and had the same affect of losing potential players.
That aside, I'm highly interested in a game that has meaning and depth; tired of standard, linear, phased, instanced, spoon-fed dribble. Any suggestions from anyone as to what I can do starting out again to learn the game and potentially enjoy getting setup rather than wanting to stick rusty forks into my eyes doing the tutorial and figuring out their Engrish mess?
I will glady discuss with you. DMK eeh if you hang around these forums you would understand.
You see, this is where I disagree with you. I see things completely different form you. In fact, I'm put off by tutorials in general (community Spotlight & OP) Even worse are these "flash forward, fight huge monster" style tutorials. I may not be the majority, but I'm not alone.
What the Wushu Tutorial does (if you can get past there being no dragons) is give you background on the world you just entered.
Do you remember the little girl you tried to help, the one with the kite on the roof? I'm sure you do, you were socked, or atleast it gave you pause when you returned her kite and she raged at you for messing up her scam. What the little girl teaches you is, trust no one (kinda like the mmorpg forums.) Ming era China is a ruthless, lawless place There is not a person playing who has not been scammed or lost silver.
Next you move on to your school. This tutorial gives you back ground on why it exist, how they behave, and how they fight. This is where you get your fist set of skills and your internal, the teachings that make you a part of the school. From this point on, you are free. You get nothing more. The rest is for you to grow into and learn.
Now I do agree that no voice, the quest giver to quest giver start, and the autopathing feature can be off putting, or even make you say same old same old. It did the same thing to me. Then to add a block button, fly skills, time releases cultivation, quest that give nearly no XP, mobs that give less, all in a FFA pvp world. It's just too much for some.
MMORPGs of the last 7-8 years have been simplified to a point that you could sum the entire game up in a 15 minute walk through. Wushu is simply not that. At the sake of "gushing" AoW has more systems than the last 4 major releases combined, RIFT, SWTOR, TSW, and GW2. I have no reason to lie to you, there's just that much. No walk through that can prepare you for that. Your first 3 months will be your walk through.
Now believe me I understand, that this is not for everyone. That's ok though. For those like myself, and those who maybe, I write what I've experienced.
I don't this game is deep or complicated, it is just not well explained. In game text is generally vague at best, incorrect at worst.
The tutorial phase is pretty crap and if you have an understanding of basic computer games rather annoying. Does it really need to show me how to open my bag and place skills every single time?
Back to being deep and complicated:
PvE: 99% of enemies just stand there and take it. The defacto standard for instances like Twilight Village and other low level (never done GCC) is to round up as many trash mobs as you can and aoe them down. They dont do enough damage for you to worry about them killing you, so you can gather 30, 40, 50, and push one button and kill them.
The bosses telegraph the dangerous moves just like any other mmo. Other than that it is just button mash till it is dead.
PvP: Open world with little consequence for death. Escorts, guild raids, school wars, spying, kidnapping...all encourage PvP. PvP is generally won by the person who has the most CC and the highest dps. A group of lowbies can indeed kill a higher player but stunlocking them indefinitely. Not exactly skill as many "schools' (read as base class) has a plethora of CC.
Combat Progression: You get XP from quests (spy missions, instances, random npcs) and pitiful amounts from other things like harvesting, killing mobs, doing crafting. XP is converted into cultivation which is then placed in skills that you choose. XP also contributes to Chi which increases stats in meridians that you choose to use.
Crafting progression: Play Bejeweled, win, level.
Where is the deep in that?
Drop the next-gen marketing and people will argue if the game itself has merit.
AOW provides you a platform, you can make it as deep as you want, or keep it as simple as you want. There is a freedom there. bcbully mentioned the other day the school politics, if you want deep go play politics in your school or in your guild, it is players interactions with each other in this game make things deep and complicated. Name me one MMO that offers spying? kidnapping? boss calling players to help them in dungeons? What else you want? For fcuk sake it's a game that offers you lots of entertainment values, learn to play and have fun with it.
Talking about PVP or PVE, you do button mash? lol epic fail.