Red's Read on Legends of Aria

System

Red's Read on Legends of Aria

With Legends of Aria releasing to Steam, Red Thomas gives the game a try. There is some unique history behind the title's development, so Red takes the risk on your behalf and gives his impressions of the game.

Read the full story here

Elvoc

I actually supported this game way back when it had a different name, and everytime i try to play it it just feels clunky and incomplete, Im hoping as things progress and its finally out of EA someone makes some mods for it or something..

Scot

Many people think it should not have launched yet, but I guess they were left with the cash shop as the only source of revenue.

Tokken

Elvoc said:

I actually supported this game way back when it had a different name, and everytime i try to play it it just feels clunky and incomplete, Im hoping as things progress and its finally out of EA someone makes some mods for it or something..

It is out of EA and officially launched. We can still hope it gets better!

Scorchien

There is only 1 place to get a UO experience

https://uo.com/

Slapshot1188

They went off track when they moved away from the Shards concept which was to let people create their own servers and hook them together (or not).

MightyUnclean

Slapshot1188 said:

They went off track when they moved away from the Shards concept which was to let people create their own servers and hook them together (or not).

Man this game has done the bait and switch so many times, it's hard to keep track.

Kyleran

Slapshot1188 said:

They went off track when they moved away from the Shards concept which was to let people create their own servers and hook them together (or not).

Went off the track you say...

Red_Thomas

Slapshot1188 said:

They went off track when they moved away from the Shards concept which was to let people create their own servers and hook them together (or not).

I'm a little bummed by that too, but I also kind of feel there were some technical challenges there that they probably didn't appreciate early on, not to mention the security issues involved in it. I think it's better that they redirected and went for something they knew they could execute on, rather than attempting to force a bad track.

Itzme123

I always thought star wars galaxies did a good job of player housing.
Sure there were some ugly looking places and perhaps too dense around NPC cities but the land masses were so large and barren that it was exciting to discover and explore a player made area.

Infact, player made cities were the only thing attracting players to most of the planets at all. In search of player made/harvested goods and services.

The Katrina hurricane at the time led them to disable upkeep costs on player housing to help those affected. Their development focus shifted multiple times and the rest is history. Had the game gone on as planned, the abandoned housing would have been rectified. Still think they had it mostly right to this day.
The player city played a tremendous role in the game's economy and progression systems. And provided unlimited hours of meta gameplay, as players scoured the galaxy for the best player made items or best resources. Which would dynamically change on a daily basis due to player randomness. It was legit brilliant.

Slapshot1188

Red_Thomas said:

Slapshot1188 said:

They went off track when they moved away from the Shards concept which was to let people create their own servers and hook them together (or not).

I'm a little bummed by that too, but I also kind of feel there were some technical challenges there that they probably didn't appreciate early on, not to mention the security issues involved in it. I think it's better that they redirected and went for something they knew they could execute on, rather than attempting to force a bad track.

I guess we will find out if it was the right choice based on whether the new version makes enough money to keep them in business. The Shards concept is what made them somewhat unique and would have fit better with today’s trend towards smaller scale multiplayer games (see Ark, Conan, etc...).   I agree that the decision was likely based on technical challenges but it may have been a fatal wound that resulted is a slow bleeding death.

mrneurosis

Nothing makes me lose interest in game faster than these words 'full loot open world pvp'

Valdheim

Something that bothers me a lot about this game is the bad optimization. Considering how dated it looks one might expect it to run smooth even on old machines but unfortunately it runs like crap. Maybe it's due to the fact that I've tested it about a year ago but a lot of recent steam reviews are telling the same story. Guess I'm gonna try again but honestly I doubt it has improved much.

Wizardry

That was a decent write up but i think the idea of immersion is truly missed.

For one thing a game doesn't need to have a tutorial quest at all,you are suppose to be a blind character arriving in a new world.We don't walk around in real life clicking people to get quests or look for some random person holding a sign "tutorials done here !!"

I do get the complaint of moving from a village directly into a metropolis however with open world housing it is not easy to make that situation any better.
Personally within Atlas a semi open world pvp game,players houses would be blocked within giant forts forming guilds/alliances.If you built a house randomly anywhere in the open,your likely seeing that house destroyed.

This is why i lean so heavily on survival games,i don't need a npc tutorial or anyone to tell me what to do,i simply act like i would in real life,survive,build,explore.

Honestly,nobody should expect a AAA game right now,none of the developers are trying their best,none can afford the time and cost to build a AAA game,so expect issues,bugs and lots of "lack of's"in games.

Kajidourden

Amazing it's still even running. I have a feeling this will be one of those games that like Shroud of the Avatar....the herpes/glitter of the mmo world.

Sabnock34

I probably have anywhere from 500 to 1k hours in this game, the community used to be amazing, but Citadel is a horrible company that broke too many promises and eventually ran away 90% of their loyal fanbase. This game had more potential in it than any other MMO going. Bad management was the downfall of this game, as well as the MASSIVE amounts of gamebreaking bugs.

Slapshot1188

Zreth said:

I probably have anywhere from 500 to 1k hours in this game, the community used to be amazing, but Citadel is a horrible company that broke too many promises and eventually ran away 90% of their loyal fanbase. This game had more potential in it than any other MMO going. Bad management was the downfall of this game, as well as the MASSIVE amounts of gamebreaking bugs.

Ehh I don’t know about that.  I think they are pretty cool.  After all Supreem didn’t ban me when I hunted him down and killed him during the first livestream for the game(He wasn’t in GM mode).  He tried to run but then gave up.  One of my all-time favorite gaming moments.  Never had an issue with the team.

ziabatsu

Wasn't even a year ago Aria decided they weren't a hardcore pvp game and removed open pvp and looting from the main lands. They realized the pve players who complained don't play anyways, so they reverted it back to hardcore again and were like, "We're introducing hardcore pvp!" as if it was a new feature or something.

Tokken

MightyUnclean said:

Slapshot1188 said:

They went off track when they moved away from the Shards concept which was to let people create their own servers and hook them together (or not).

Man this game has done the bait and switch so many times, it's hard to keep track.

One reason why I won't support a game again in crowdfunding or kickstarter.