Go buy the complete Ultima VII collection on GOG.com or something instead. Then cry about just how far Garriott has fallen from that lofty plateau. Now he's nothing but a washed-up has-been trying desperately to make some more cash for his next trip to space before his name fades into obscurity once and for all.
The problem and a big one i have with all these new era games is the "funding"
They all do the same thing,CLAIM you are investing i nearly development,when the REAL truth is that there is NO GAME unless people keep giving money to the game that does not exist.
When your developer makes a claim of early development,that means a game is most certainly coming,you are simply paying to join in early.However they are just instant cash grabs to help pay for the games development or completely pay for the development.
So these guys/devs make a healthy living off your money without having to have any product or any risk.Consumers are basically suckers in these cases or naive,however you want to spin it.
Another peeve i have with these recent funding games,is the developers are looking for the CHEAPEST possible ways to design and deliver the game,from using YOUR bandwidth both in running the game and downloading it.They also look for a cheaper design that allows for very low end bandwidth and visuals,yet still to this day so many people actually THINK this is by intention for any other reason that cost saving.I hear hings like "dated graphics hold up well over time" and other nonsense like that.
So yeah tons of naive people out there supporting these shotty operations.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The problem and a big one i have with all these new era games is the "funding"
They all do the same thing,CLAIM you are investing i nearly development,when the REAL truth is that there is NO GAME unless people keep giving money to the game that does not exist.
When your developer makes a claim of early development,that means a game is most certainly coming,you are simply paying to join in early.However they are just instant cash grabs to help pay for the games development or completely pay for the development.
So these guys/devs make a healthy living off your money without having to have any product or any risk.Consumers are basically suckers in these cases or naive,however you want to spin it.
Another peeve i have with these recent funding games,is the developers are looking for the CHEAPEST possible ways to design and deliver the game,from using YOUR bandwidth both in running the game and downloading it.They also look for a cheaper design that allows for very low end bandwidth and visuals,yet still to this day so many people actually THINK this is by intention for any other reason that cost saving.I hear hings like "dated graphics hold up well over time" and other nonsense like that.
So yeah tons of naive people out there supporting these shotty operations.
What in the world does this have to do specifically with SotA? Get off your needlessly high horse. Anyone that buys into any project that's either not started or not finished should understand what they are, and are not, supposed to get before they purchase. If they don't, THAT is when when they'd be naive, not just by purchasing. Any project I've ponied up for I've done because I support the idea, knowing it could be different or horrible all together. That's not naivety.
You should make that distinction when putting labels to others.
What I find appalling is that Shroud of the Avatar is still being called "Early Access" despite launching all the major game systems finished or not in a persistent and Live, Live, Live manner. The game has been released and launched and Portalarium is simply using a Clinton'sque manipulating of the language tactic to avoid the accountability of releasing a boring, unfinished mess of a game.
You could also ask what happened in its development in the past 3 years. As a former high dollar backer of the game that visited the Portalarium offices 3 different times in Austin, I can tell you that the game that Richard Garriott would talk about in person during those visit got my hyped and excited and I wanted to play the game he was describing, but unfortunately that description never matched up with that was being developed. One way or another, Mr. Garriott vision for the game was dismissed, abandoned or ignored and for that I decided to cash out and recover the money I had invested before it was too late. Needless to say I am disappointed in what I had hoped would be something awesome.
This game is a mess.
I am an Old School fan but this is not the kind of stuff I am looking for.
I tried to play it several times but could not last more than a couple of hours.
A game breaker for me are the small zones, I just don't understand this choice in a MMORPG, I am not a fan of loading screens.
Also the UI is atrocious and the character graphics are way outdated, and the P2W shop is just unacceptable.
I don't feel sorry for the people who spent thousands of dollars to buy virtual property....enjoy your investment, hope you are happy playing on your own.
Excellent review, 5 is what this game deserves, time for Lord British to think about retirement because he lost the magic touch long time ago.
I hope Pantheon invests in a good and modern UI, playing an Old School MMO with a 1998 UI is not fun.
One can afford to spend 20M to take a trip into space, but needs crowdfunding to mak a cheap ridiculously priced cash shop Indie game.
I don't know about you guys, but it tells me pretty much everything I need to know.
Spending half his fortune (and having the economy then crash) to go into space didn't make sense to me, but hey, that's not confined to Garriott's behavior.
Curt Schilling discovered that investing far more of his own money doesn't always make things work.
There are tons of 'indie' developers who are just now discovering that it's not easy to make a cheap MMO.
First the problem is Indie developers. They are Great at writing lines of code but totally garbage at debugging, error handling and tuning any code. For example I worked with a India development company for I will not name that had problems with Java Garbage collection and understanding how it works and how to implement this. Now I am not a Programmer, I am a Sr. Windows Engineer who has worked very closely with hundreds of developers. I took this Java Program to one of our US Developers and in 2 weeks he had the JAva Garbage Collection working without a problem.
Indie developers like I say are great at writing lines of code but not at making that code quality. I have had countless run ins with people like this.
The reason why we went to Indie developers? Well when you can pay for a team of 10 to 15 developers for $100k to $200k for the year where as the same developer group in the US cost $1 Million to $2 Million. So when there is a LACK OF FUNDS we go to with the cheap solution.
You can thank the US regulations for that and tax code. US Life Style too. But when you have to sometimes pay an employee payroll tax 5 or 6 times there is a problem. For example, You match as an employer the Employees Federal, State and Local taxes, Plus Soc Sec and Medicare the Dollars really add up fast. This is why we went Indie but Indie and Cheap are not going to make you quality MMO or games for that matter. Yep It might run ok and look like a 20 year old game while at it.
And then there's Unity. More assets created by someone else. Just look in the Unity Asset Store. Portlarium didn't even try and hide the fact that many of the models used in the game were taken from there without hardly a modification. Look at the trees in the SotA store and then look at the trees in the Unity Store. Some are identical.
Knowing a tree is part of an asset pack isn't going to ruin a game for me; what will is poorly thought out game mechanics and a pay to win store.
Isn't the whole point of the Unity Asset Store to get access to a large number of pre-rendered assets so you don't have to reinvent the wheel? Why pay artists to spend months rendering common background objects which most people give no more than a passing glance?
That's not the point.
Other developers create their own assets. Some create their own game engines. Portalarium did none of that. Much of that 10 million was freed up by using Unity, buying assets, and allowing their community to create assets for them.
I think it would be really interesting to see how much $$$ PER EMPLOYEE, the game costs in comparison to other games. I think it would be an eye opener. In fact, I think it would be interesting to see for any game calling themselves "indie". I have a sneaking suspicion that indie developers are making a shit ton of money while delivering a shit ton of nothing. Best kept secret for wealth building in the gaming industry?
Where is the 10 million + telethon spoils + POT purchases ($900+) + store purchases going? Certainly not into building a quality game, that's for sure.
IMO, a LOT of people bought a bottle of snake oil...they just haven't figured it out yet.
It's pretty sickening to watch their telethons and see them sitting around drinking, getting fucked up and singing.
They basically are saying, "Thanks, idiots. Now we can party like rockstars for nothing but a bunch of bullshit and broken promises."
What a big spit in the face to their backers. How they can sit around and get fucked up on other people's money is sickening!
GET TO WORK, ASSHOLES! YOU GOT A TEN MILLION DOLLAR GAME TO FUCKING MAKE!
As of now, I bet a single developer could make a better mobile game with just his spare time.
Performance is unplayably bad in big cities its almost unbelievable considering how basic and bland these towns look. Its sad when you look at a game like Assassins Creed or Dying Light that can pull off almost endless city scapes with impossible amounts of high rez detail and complex shading shadows and lighting at 80 Plus frames per second.
I simply dont understand why they chose the Unity engine, its quite possibly the worst possible choice for a game with any kind of expanse, unless you have REALLY good coders who can rewrite most of their rendering engine.
Im kind of terrified for Pantheon for choosing this engine we will just have to wait and see with them.
Unity is fine for single player games, even ok for multiplayer games.
But mmorpg - ugh just no, the scalability is just not there, unity was not designed for massively multiplayer at all.
Thats because they didnt want to spend a lot of money on Unreal 4 or building their own engine.
NO! It's because Richard Garriot never continued studying and learning video game developing and can only use the most basic engine to create a game.
Richard Garriot wouldn't know where to begin with Unreal 4. Actually, he made SotA on an Atari 2600.
I pretty much agree with this review, even more so then your part 1. I have been saying for a long time that they waited to long to try and make this a story based game, something that has really only been worked on during the last 6 months or so. Now it looks tacked on.
You didn't hit on the new raffle system for land that allows unlimited ticket buying and priced at 5k for PoT lots or 10K for place anywhere. This was supposed to allow those that couldn't afford to invest a huge amount in game to get a lot, but this is backfiring do to the fact many of the high backers and big guilds have millions in gold and will buy huge amounts of tickets making it almost impossible to win. Not to mention that those people can also win multiple times.
I'm happy you are doing a review the moment the game has the aspects of a released game, although they might call themselves alpha or what ever... If they charge money to play, get ready to be reviewed.
Sounds like they deserve the score of 5.
Pay Once to Play: No subscription fees. Each episode (released approximately annually) is a one time fee and everything in the game can be purchased with in game gold that can be earned (except for some exclusive backer rewards).
The UI is so horrible. To be old school like mmorpg, ui doesn't have to be so shit like it was back in the day. Not sure if they are even interested in making some real money.
In gave development, graphics and UI are further down the priority list. You have to get it running first.
A game, especially as complex as this one, is an ABSOLUTE FAILURE if you have to run outside of it, e.g. to a wiki page, web site, forums, etc, just to be able to play it successfully.
I'm an old school game designer that firmly believes everything about a game should be able to be gleaned SOMEHOW from inside that game. No game should require you to visit a wiki page just to succeed, or even figure out where you are going or how to accomplish your goals. If you have to do that, the game designers have FAILED one of their goals, badly.
I mean, to read a book, do you need to read other books in order to get through the first one?
I also think kick-starters, early-access, etc, are BEYOND STUPID, if you're a consumer.
How many 1/2 finished cars, lcd monitors, pc's, refrigerators, etc, do you buy? Zero. How many of you pay to alpha test your 1/2 designed fridge or toaster oven?
I paid for 2-3 games like this, and regretted all but one. Luckily, I paid next to nothing for them, and got them on sale. Ark is the only I don't regret mostly because there's tons to enjoy right now.. the other games are a mess, and have continued to be for a very long time. I wonder if they will EVER get released.
I was one that invested heavily when SOTA was first introduced, thankfully it became clear very early on that it was not going to be anything like it should be. The only thing they have done right is allow those that bought into it to resell that which they bought. So I got most of my money back and now sit only with a $45 account and am satisfied.
To those above asking about refunds I recommend you head over to the forums and find someone who wants what you got and sell it.
Yeah, I agree that you can find people to buy what you have if you invested and want out. I made a lucrative profit selling my account.
Very.
However, I now find that I want to play it again, if only for the wonderful fun I had decorating houses.
I've got over 100 hours streamed of my housing decorating and gameplay in SotA on my twitch account.
It's something I totally geek out on and love and SotA has this aspect in spades. I can decorate and craft and RP to my heart's desire.
So, I'll be playing again, regardless of Unity or whatever.
Thanks!
I was a UO player back when it first came out and played for years.
I really wanted to like this game.
But it's not just that the nostalgia factor didn't kick in, it's because this just isn't well done.
I played a number of the single player games starting with Ultima 6 but the one that hooked me was Ultima 7 The Black Gate.
The game was really clever, I still remember following the mayor after a town meeting, hiding in the shadows and watching where he went, to find out that instead of going home he went to the house of his secretary.
When I entered the house I caught them in bed together and then I was tasked with deciding if I should tell his wife or not. LOL
The game was full of stuff like that, while this game just seems dead, I have to admit I didn't get into it very far.
The real turn off was the graphics and interface, you don't have to make stuff look bad, to make it look old and whimsical.
I even thought of volunteering to make textures for the figures, I'm experienced at making 3D textures, especially character textures, but this game doesn't really have any.
The characters are flat and dead looking.
But the interface was what really turned my off, it's just so bad I couldn't get into it.
Like the graphics in general, you don't have to make an interface that's hard to use to make if bring back the feel of the old games, you can have it work like a modern game and still have a vintage look.
This is just bad.
I love the idea, but I wish it had been done so that it was as easy to use and had the quality to the visuals that a modern game does.
That doesn't mean it has to look photo realistic, but it should have style.
I'm afraid that this just doesn't do that and I'll be really surprised if more then a few hard core fans stick with this game for long.
I still wish I could get back the magic that the old games had, but maybe it's just too late for that.
Mike
If you shoot a mime, do you have to use a silencer?
STOP CALLING IT A SANDBOX GRR!!!!!!!! This is in no way shape or form a bloody sandbox game. It is a box that contains numerous smaller scenes (AKA, smaller boxes) that contain a never ending plethora of loading screens...erma ferkn gerd the never ever ever ending bloody loading screens. it's like play 5 min...loading screen...leave town...loading screen...exit overview map travel...loading screen. So stop calling it a bloody sandbox FFS!
/endragefilledrant :P
P.S. game is a total P.O.S. You take the cash and keep taking the cash you are in a RELEASED STATE! NO EXCEPTIONS!
Comments
They all do the same thing,CLAIM you are investing i nearly development,when the REAL truth is that there is NO GAME unless people keep giving money to the game that does not exist.
When your developer makes a claim of early development,that means a game is most certainly coming,you are simply paying to join in early.However they are just instant cash grabs to help pay for the games development or completely pay for the development.
So these guys/devs make a healthy living off your money without having to have any product or any risk.Consumers are basically suckers in these cases or naive,however you want to spin it.
Another peeve i have with these recent funding games,is the developers are looking for the CHEAPEST possible ways to design and deliver the game,from using YOUR bandwidth both in running the game and downloading it.They also look for a cheaper design that allows for very low end bandwidth and visuals,yet still to this day so many people actually THINK this is by intention for any other reason that cost saving.I hear hings like "dated graphics hold up well over time" and other nonsense like that.
So yeah tons of naive people out there supporting these shotty operations.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
You should make that distinction when putting labels to others.
You could also ask what happened in its development in the past 3 years. As a former high dollar backer of the game that visited the Portalarium offices 3 different times in Austin, I can tell you that the game that Richard Garriott would talk about in person during those visit got my hyped and excited and I wanted to play the game he was describing, but unfortunately that description never matched up with that was being developed. One way or another, Mr. Garriott vision for the game was dismissed, abandoned or ignored and for that I decided to cash out and recover the money I had invested before it was too late. Needless to say I am disappointed in what I had hoped would be something awesome.
I am an Old School fan but this is not the kind of stuff I am looking for.
I tried to play it several times but could not last more than a couple of hours.
A game breaker for me are the small zones, I just don't understand this choice in a MMORPG, I am not a fan of loading screens.
Also the UI is atrocious and the character graphics are way outdated, and the P2W shop is just unacceptable.
I don't feel sorry for the people who spent thousands of dollars to buy virtual property....enjoy your investment, hope you are happy playing on your own.
Excellent review, 5 is what this game deserves, time for Lord British to think about retirement because he lost the magic touch long time ago.
I hope Pantheon invests in a good and modern UI, playing an Old School MMO with a 1998 UI is not fun.
Indie <> India
It's pretty sickening to watch their telethons and see them sitting around drinking, getting fucked up and singing.
They basically are saying, "Thanks, idiots. Now we can party like rockstars for nothing but a bunch of bullshit and broken promises."
What a big spit in the face to their backers. How they can sit around and get fucked up on other people's money is sickening! GET TO WORK, ASSHOLES! YOU GOT A TEN MILLION DOLLAR GAME TO FUCKING MAKE! As of now, I bet a single developer could make a better mobile game with just his spare time.
NO! It's because Richard Garriot never continued studying and learning video game developing and can only use the most basic engine to create a game.
Richard Garriot wouldn't know where to begin with Unreal 4. Actually, he made SotA on an Atari 2600.
i remebmer the stupidly long newsletters with all the "buy this buy that" content
Error: No Keyboard Detected!
Press F1 to continue......
You didn't hit on the new raffle system for land that allows unlimited ticket buying and priced at 5k for PoT lots or 10K for place anywhere. This was supposed to allow those that couldn't afford to invest a huge amount in game to get a lot, but this is backfiring do to the fact many of the high backers and big guilds have millions in gold and will buy huge amounts of tickets making it almost impossible to win. Not to mention that those people can also win multiple times.
TL;DR
~~ postlarval ~~
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer
Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/Pay Once to Play: No subscription fees. Each episode (released approximately annually) is a one time fee and everything in the game can be purchased with in game gold that can be earned (except for some exclusive backer rewards).
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/
No one is forcing you to pay right now when it isn't done.
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame
In gave development, graphics and UI are further down the priority list. You have to get it running first.
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame
Monetized?
If you didn't back this on KS you get housing like any other game:
By earning it in the game.
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame
I'm an old school game designer that firmly believes everything about a game should be able to be gleaned SOMEHOW from inside that game. No game should require you to visit a wiki page just to succeed, or even figure out where you are going or how to accomplish your goals. If you have to do that, the game designers have FAILED one of their goals, badly.
I mean, to read a book, do you need to read other books in order to get through the first one?
I also think kick-starters, early-access, etc, are BEYOND STUPID, if you're a consumer.
How many 1/2 finished cars, lcd monitors, pc's, refrigerators, etc, do you buy? Zero. How many of you pay to alpha test your 1/2 designed fridge or toaster oven?
I paid for 2-3 games like this, and regretted all but one. Luckily, I paid next to nothing for them, and got them on sale. Ark is the only I don't regret mostly because there's tons to enjoy right now.. the other games are a mess, and have continued to be for a very long time. I wonder if they will EVER get released.
Do tell how you do that....it will be very hard to win that silly raffle if you didn't already have the money from big backing.
Yeah, I agree that you can find people to buy what you have if you invested and want out. I made a lucrative profit selling my account.
Very.
However, I now find that I want to play it again, if only for the wonderful fun I had decorating houses.
I've got over 100 hours streamed of my housing decorating and gameplay in SotA on my twitch account.
It's something I totally geek out on and love and SotA has this aspect in spades. I can decorate and craft and RP to my heart's desire.
So, I'll be playing again, regardless of Unity or whatever.
Thanks!
I was a UO player back when it first came out and played for years.
I really wanted to like this game.
But it's not just that the nostalgia factor didn't kick in, it's because this just isn't well done.
I played a number of the single player games starting with Ultima 6 but the one that hooked me was Ultima 7 The Black Gate.
The game was really clever, I still remember following the mayor after a town meeting, hiding in the shadows and watching where he went, to find out that instead of going home he went to the house of his secretary.
When I entered the house I caught them in bed together and then I was tasked with deciding if I should tell his wife or not. LOL
The game was full of stuff like that, while this game just seems dead, I have to admit I didn't get into it very far.
The real turn off was the graphics and interface, you don't have to make stuff look bad, to make it look old and whimsical.
I even thought of volunteering to make textures for the figures, I'm experienced at making 3D textures, especially character textures, but this game doesn't really have any.
The characters are flat and dead looking.
But the interface was what really turned my off, it's just so bad I couldn't get into it.
Like the graphics in general, you don't have to make an interface that's hard to use to make if bring back the feel of the old games, you can have it work like a modern game and still have a vintage look.
This is just bad.
I love the idea, but I wish it had been done so that it was as easy to use and had the quality to the visuals that a modern game does.
That doesn't mean it has to look photo realistic, but it should have style.
I'm afraid that this just doesn't do that and I'll be really surprised if more then a few hard core fans stick with this game for long.
I still wish I could get back the magic that the old games had, but maybe it's just too late for that.
Mike
If you shoot a mime, do you have to use a silencer?
/endragefilledrant :P
P.S. game is a total P.O.S. You take the cash and keep taking the cash you are in a RELEASED STATE! NO EXCEPTIONS!